Framework for Economic Growth, Pakistan - Planning Commission

International conference on “Framework for Economic Growth, Pakistan”DiscussionDiscussant: Rahat KunainChairperson, Competition Commission of PakistanFirst of all I would like to thank PlanningCommission to give me an opportunity to behere. We are the Competition Commissionagency to ensure a competitive and healthyenvironment for doing business. In telecomsector we went for an inquiry forcartelization. What happens here is that aperson goes to court and takes a stay. Sameis with edible oils and many other sectors. Areport made by Competition Commissiontells that in banking sector 95% of the profitmade was concentrated in just top five bankswhereas there are 51 banks operating in thecountry. The banking sector needs to beclosely monitored and regulated to improveefficiency and increase healthy competition.Another important issue to be addressed inour society is cartelization. Cartelization istaken as something normal in our societyand we need determination to address thisissue. Penalties of 7.3 billion rupees weremade by Competition Commission onvarious firms and sectors but the cases arepending in the courts. There are 140 cases inthe courts with decisions pending. Peopleare making profits in our country due tounhealthy business competition practices.What these regulatory bodies doing ifdecisions are not being taken there?To have an impact on the economy we arefocusing now on two areas in CompetitionCommission. One is public procurementsand the other is concessions being given.PPRA rules are not being followed in publicprocurements. Companies are makingprofits and still taking concessions. So thereare many areas which we need to look at tocreate a healthy competition in the country.***Discussant: Farhan BokhariPakistan Correspondent & Country Manager,Financial Times UKIt is not much difficult to come up with asuccess story as in many years Pakistan hasgone forward. It is very important to discussabout the issue of institutions andgovernance in Pakistan. The role of theinstitutions is very central to the economicdevelopment of the country. It is the time tocome up and take Pakistan towardseconomic growth. It was 2008 whenPakistan celebrated one of the largestinflows of US $ 8.4 billion, including FDIetc. We need to focus on many aspects tomove forward. Collapse of the democracymay result in collapse of the economy. If wewant to be a democracy, democraticaspiration should not collapse. Regionaltrade is also one of the important factors weneed to look at.33