This week, the Bank of Punjab hosted an interactive session with Professor Stefan Dercon and prominent members of the local industry in Karachi. Mr. Stefan teaches economic policy at the University of Oxford’s Economics Department and Blavatnik School of Government. He works as a policy advisor, offering strategic guidance on economics and development, in addition to his academic job.
His most recent book, “Gambling on Development: Why Some Countries Win and Others Lose,” will be released in May 2022. It explores why some nations have succeeded in striking elite deals that support growth and development while others have not, drawing on both his academic research and his policy experience spanning three decades and roughly forty different countries.
Professor Dercon reviews the government’s strategic economic plans and integrates worldwide best practices in collaboration with important stakeholders at the highest level of policymaking. He is in charge of the Pakistani government’s “Committee on the Home-Grown Economic Plan” and provides advice to the government on how to create and carry out a medium-term reform agenda that will boost economic growth by increasing trade with other countries and enlisting the private sector to help create jobs and reduce poverty. The government’s economic stabilization plans as specified in the IMF EFF agreement will be strengthened by these changes.
Professor Dercon emphasized regions that need significant economic improvements during the conversation. He underlined how the economy’s existing structure stifles productivity development by distorting resource allocation. Additionally, he emphasized the need to shift the economy from import substitution to export-led growth and the policies’ anti-export bias. He emphasized the necessity of taking remedial measures to enhance the investment climate and encourage both domestic and international capital inflows into the economy.
Professor Dercon gave Pakistan some insights and examples of how successful policy implementation has been in other developing nations. Professor Dercon offered views that government policy has to consider the distributional repercussions of policies and factor in risk mitigation measures on implementation restrictions and political economy issues, based on his experience working in 40 nations.
Professor Dercon and the business community were welcomed to the event by Mr. Zafar Masud, CEO of the Bank of Punjab. He provided the Government of Pakistan with information about the work being done as part of the “Committee on the Homegrown Plan,” including the implementation plan and the economic impact assessment completed by Mr. Dercon.
