Author(s)

Ishrat Husain Dr.

Author Affiliation

  • Dr. Ishrat Husain is a former Advisor to the Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms and Austerity with the status of Federal Minister and former Dean and Director at Institute of Business Administration, Karachi.

Faculty / School

School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS)

Was this content written or created while at IBA?

Yes

Document Type

Article

Source Publication

Discourse Magazine

Keywords

Industrial policy,Deindustrialization,Human capital,Labour laws,Infrastructure

Disciplines

Business Administration, Management, and Operations

Abstract

Pakistan, which has gone through deindustrialisation in the last few decades, has to examine carefully whether it can benefit from evolving an industrial policy of a kind different from earlier periods. What is the rationale and purpose of this new industrial policy? Had Pakistan maintained its export-to-GDP ratio at the level of 16 percent as in 1999, the total merchandise exports would have reached USD 56 billion in 2022, i.e. 75 percent higher than USD 32 billion actually realised and the current account deficit – with even higher level of imports – would have been manageable. The previous industrial policy thus failed to make the country competitive internationally. How to recapture this lost market share and become more competitive is the challenge. This goal is attainable because empirical evidence shows that Pakistan’s publicly listed exporting firms are found to be on average 20 percent more productive than domestically oriented firms (World Bank). The present incentive structure is biased against manufactured exports and favors production and imports for the domestic market.

Publication Status

Published

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