Pakistan may fail to meet international orders

KARACHI: Pakistan will not be able to meet international trade orders during the Eid season this year due to the recent floods and incidents of violence witnessed across the country, a businessman told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity.

He said that every single day of violence, especially in Karachi, had resulted in a massive loss of productivity for that particular day.

When asked how the matter could be dealt with, the businessman responded that the damage had already been done and it was too late to resolve the issue for this season but businesses need to brace themselves for next year.

He added that entrepreneurs need to be more inclined towards capital-intensive production instead of relying on labour as better technology can help boost efficiency.

However, Razzak Hashim Paracha, chairman of the Korangi Association of Trade and Industry, did not share the same pessimistic outlook, although he did agree that lack of initiative taken by businesses has cost Pakistan efficiency and access to international markets.

He warned that the country would have to face some tough economic challenges ahead.

“Local businessmen tend to play it safe with expansion and diversification due to which Pakistan continues to have  limited trade access,” he pointed out. Grading industrial technology in Pakistan on a scale of one to ten, he gave Pakistan “a four, if not five” as he said that businesses did not believe in innovation and continued to practice run-of-the-mill methods.

“If I invest into machines, I will get improved efficiency, better returns and more money to play with. Only then can I tap into new markets,” he shared. “However, that would mean additional utilisation of human and financial capital, time and the profits made by the company. This is where we come to a halt.”

Paracha stressed that it was pivotal to retain profits made by a company and to reinvest them into improving business conditions by training employees, expanding productions and spending on the maintenance of machines.

Former president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Anjum Nisar, was of the view that organisations fear diversification due to uncertainty. “We have limited capital and fear losing it, therefore, we stick to traditional successes,” he said.

He highlighted that Pakistanis are not even spending half a per cent of the Gross Domestic Product on technology. “We are not spending on education so there is more of unskilled labour. Our priorities are different. We are behind our own South Asian neighbours as far as technology is concerned,” he added.

Nisar said that the floods had led Pakistan’s economy to revert back by 20 years, adding that the private sector was also increasingly feeling the effects of the natural disaster.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2010.