Leading Pakistani businessman and philanthropist Syed Babar Ali said on Thursday that Pakistan should focus on reducing population growth, promotion of quality education and improving Pakistan's agriculture competitiveness to harness the country's future growth potential. He was addressing the participants on the second day of the Fifteenth International Conference on Management of the Pakistan Economy organized by Lahore School of Economics with the theme of Economic Challenges in a Changing National and Global Environment.
Director Center for Research in Economics and Business Dr Naved Hamid in his paper co-authored with Fatima Arshad and Fatima Tanveer provided important insights about potential interventions that could get Pakistan back on a high growth path.
Former World Bank advisor Dr Daud Ahmad focused on national policies, institutional reforms and changes in the governance structure of Pakistan's energy sector since independence. He ended his talk with multifaceted recommendations including lessons for governance, financial and the technical side. Visiting Researcher at Water, Informatics and Technology Center, Lahore University of Management Sciences Dr Mahmood Ahmad and Mahira Khan from Lahore University of Management Sciences talked about water management issues facing Pakistan by examining the institutional mechanisms, technical challenges, and practices with regards to Pakistan's National Water Policy.
The paper concluded with a need to focus on cost efficient demand-management policies to solve the country's water issues and some feasible suggestions varying from participatory groundwater management to transforming electricity pricing policies to control groundwater overdraft.
Assistant Professor at the National University of Sciences and Technology Maha Ahmad and Dr Eatzaz Ahmad Professor of Economics, Quaid-i-Azam University provided an overview of agricultural pricing policies in Pakistan. This included a cost-benefit analysis of major agricultural products by providing their employed effective protective rates as well as profitability rates.
Professor of Economics, University of the Punjab Dr Abdul Salam explored the consequences of varying exchange rates on costs of important farm inputs used in the production of wheat and rice -both are important contributors to the agricultural sector in Punjab.
The last session of day focused on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Pakistan's relationship with China with a special emphasis on trade including Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and Special Economic Zones (SEZs). The chairperson for the session was Dr Azam Chaudhry Professor of Economics and the Dean of the Faculty of Economics LSE.
Associate Professor, University of Oxford Dr Matthew McCartney analyzed the prospects of the CPEC initiative for the Pakistani economy with a particular focus on the study of western China.
Trade Adviser, Ministry of Commerce Dr Yasmin Abdul Wahab and Advisor, Ministry of Commerce Ghulam Qadir reviewed the first phase of the China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA) with the objective of predicting the impact of the second phase of the CPFTA, that is currently under negotiation, and to design policies to correct huge trade imbalance and facilitate economic development through free trade agreement.
Associate Professor of Finance, Catholic University of America Dr Jamshed Y. Uppal Rabab Mudakkar discussed the implications of the emergence of the Chinese yuan as an international currency, playing a major role in global finance. In particular, the paper explored how the Yuan-Rupee exchange rates have evolved over time vis-à-vis other hard currencies, and how it has been affected by CPEC projects and provided policy implications for managing the country's foreign exchange.