Pakistan to become 5th populace country in 2050
CSF to develop sustainable competitiveness framework
“As the world marks 7 billion population count Pakistan will become the 5th most populace country with 314 million people in 2050 from the current 177 million.
Pakistan must prioritize its economic resources for a sustainable growth and economic development”, Shahab Khawaja, Chief Executive Officer of Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF), a partner of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Pakistan.
To measure the impact of sustainability on economic competitiveness, CSF and WEF will work together in developing a new analytical framework ‘The Sustainable Competitiveness Index (SCI)’ with a long-term approach to highlight factors that could represent vulnerabilities to national competitiveness and productivity in future.
CSF is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) established to reposition Pakistan’s economy on global competitive footing.
Khawaja said, “Through its flagship Global Competitiveness Report, World Economic Forum has over the course of the last three decades studied and measured the drivers of national competitiveness, including a wide range of factors such as governance, infrastructure, education, innovation and proper functioning of markets. To supplement this traditional analysis, the new index accounts for elements required to make competitiveness sustainable over the longer run, in economic, social and environmental terms”.
According to CSF, poor institutional water and disaster management capacity in Pakistan are key indicators which will be addressed by the SCI as its sub-indices focuses on the access to improved drinking water, forest cover change and water stress index.
The SCI maintains almost all of the elements already captured by the Forum’s existing competitiveness work, which are important for both short and longer term objectives, but it also integrates a number of additional concepts, including social cohesion, environmental policy, resources efficiency, management of renewable resources and environmental degradation.
To promote competitiveness in Pakistan, CSF disseminates the results of the Global Competitiveness Report and the rankings of Pakistan in order to identify areas where competitiveness can be improved. It also encourages dialogue and debate on competitiveness on Pakistan’s business, government and academic forums.