Policies held back by lack of implementation

Entrepreneur for enhancing efficiency of govt departments

LAHORE: A deadlock over building capacity of the workforce of government departments has blocked smooth sailing of investment and trade policies in Pakistan, said The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Lahore President Salim Ghauri.

Talking to the media here on Monday, he said this dismal situation had given birth to a negative impression that incentives for the growth of investment and trade were a sheer wastage of public money.

He referred to press reports which suggested that the Ministry of Finance and Planning Commission had challenged the Strategic Trade Policy Framework (STPF) 2012-15 of the Ministry of Commerce, arguing that the offer of Rs30 billion in subsidies for promotion of trade was sheer wastage of public funds.

Ghauri said the issue of implementation of policies, and not the policies itself, should be addressed.

Lacunas in government policies and their misuse are even common in a country like the United States.

The fall of energy company Enron and the collapsing automobile and banking sectors in the US were recent examples of these, but an efficient government mechanism got hold of the faulty areas by some timely actions and moves, he said.

In Pakistan, on the other hand, visits of labour inspectors were suspended as a policy decision on the excuse that they were involved in extortion rather than examining safety measures in factories and other workplaces. As a result, he said, the country saw Pakistan’s worst industrial disaster which left more than 250 workers dead.

The Indus Entrepreneurs was founded in 1992 in Silicon Valley by a group of entrepreneurs, corporate executives and senior professionals with roots in the Indus region.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 2^nd, 2012.