MARCON 2016: State termed hurdle to documenting economy

Former minister says nobody knows exact size of parallel economy

KARACHI: The state is part of the problem when it comes to documenting the economy in Pakistan, commented former information minister Javed Jabbar while speaking at the closing ceremony of Marcon 2016, organised by the Marketing Association of Pakistan (MAP).

“We all know that a land worth Rs10 million is usually registered at just Rs2 to Rs3 million or maximum Rs4 million with the land registration authority,” Jabbar said, adding manual land registration had opened the gates to corruption and shattered any hopes of properly documenting the parallel economy.

Citing different studies on the size of Pakistan’s economy, he said nobody knew the exact size of the country’s parallel economy. “Some estimates say it is worth about $1 trillion; even if we consider it to be double or triple the size of our formal economy, it is too big.”

Speaking on the occasion, Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry former president Humayun Bashir said marketing techniques were changing very rapidly. “The role of marketers is also changing, therefore the situation demands a more proactive role from marketing practitioners.”

Interflow Communications CEO Mansoor Karim Shaikh said, “People are spending more time on their mobile phones now than watching television or reading newspapers, so much so that even daily soaps are watched on mobile phones.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 28^th, 2016.

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