A study says the flow of financing to the manufacturing sector in Pakistan has witnessed a gradual increase in absolute terms but its share in total industry credit has seen a sharp decline over nine years, while financing to manufacturing and small and medium enterprises after witnessing a declining trend, saw an increasing trend over six years.
Infrastructure Housing and SME Finance Development Additional Director, State Bank of Pakistan, Imran Ahmad who quoted the study on Thursday said, on the second day of the conference on economy with the theme of 'Pakistan as a regional manufacturing hub', that the study used available literature and data on the manufacturing sector of Pakistan, while the analysis was based on the descriptive statistics in an effort to summarise the general nature and characteristics of the small and medium enterprises sector. The conference was organised by the Lahore School of Economics.
In his paper, he presented a detailed profile of flow of credit to the manufacturing based small and medium enterprises in Pakistan and also discussed the challenges being faced by the small and medium enterprises sector and the role of State Bank of Pakistan.
Lahore School of Economics Rector Dr Shahid Amjad Chaudhry chaired the session of the conference titled 'Towards a strategy for Pakistan as a regional manufacturing hub', with Professor of Economics and Director, Graduate Institute of Development Studies, Lahore School of Economics Dr Rashid Amjad, Chairman, Kohinoor Maple Leaf Group Tariq Saeed Saigol and Professor London School of Economics Dr Robert Wade jointly conducting the session.
Kohinoor Maple Leaf Group Chairman Tariq Saeed Saigol talked about the private sector's perspective on the key challenges facing the economy with recommendations to address these challenges in a medium and long-term scenario.
Dr Amjad then provided an excellent summary of the key messages that emerged in the conference, with Dr Wade presenting an in-depth analysis from an expert's viewpoint in thinking about appropriate strategies to make Pakistan a regional manufacturing hub in the future.
In a paper, Pakistan's Economic Minister to the European Union, Brussels, Dr Safdar Sohail discussed about the reasons and implications of the popularity of geo-economic narratives in the context of the country's trade policy. The paper concluded that a successful trade policy must keep a fine balance between the geo-strategic environment in the region and market considerations while making regional integration choices.
Special Advisor at the South Centre, Geneva, Dr Irfan-ul-Haque also gave a detailed overview of the ingredients of a coherent industrial development programme for Pakistan. His paper pinpointed an effective industry policy ought to focus on reducing the incidence of management failures, creating and strengthening Pakistani firms' links with the global value chains defining the strategic interests in regional trade and making domestic competition a force to enhance the firm-level productive efficiency.
Professor of Economics at the University of Malaya Dr Rajah Rasiah presented a paper, jointly written by Nazia Nazeer, in which they argued that Pakistan needed a dynamic industrial policy that should focus on technological up-gradation of her existing manufacturing sectors and the creation of competitive advantage in high value-added sectors to achieve sustained long term economic growth.
In another paper, a senior fellow at the Initiative for Policy Dialogue at the Columbia University Dr Akbar Noman examined the implications of recent theoretical and empirical work on leaning, industrial and technology policies for Pakistan's economic revival.
Visiting Professor at the Graduate Institute of Development Studies Lahore School of Economics Dr Khalil Hamdani argued that there was a need for Pakistan to be actively engaged in globalisation. The paper presented main features of globalisation and also suggested how these could be tapped in ways that modernise the country's industrial sector and also integrate the economy into international production.
Dr Hanns Pichler from the Vienna University of Economics and Business presented the last paper about the importance of small and medium enterprises and the significance of formulating small-and-medium-enterprises-conducive policies.
The conference earlier opened with a session on finance and industrial development chaired by South Asian Studies Director, University of Oxford, Dr Mathew MacCartney.
Professor of Financial Systems at the Lahore School of Economics Dr Shakil Faruqi presented the first paper focusing on how development finance institutions could be used to promote industrial growth in the country.
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