April 08, 2007	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 19, 2007

ISLAMABAD, April 7: The World Bank has asked Pakistan to speed up the finalisation of its “Competition Policy” which will be ensuring prudent and transparent business practices in the country.

Official sources told Dawn on Saturday the bank had also promised adequate financial and technical assistance to help finalise a new competition policy in consultations with the business community, regulatory bodies and relevant government agencies.

“As soon as the federal cabinet approves the conversion of Monopoly Control Authority (MCA) into a modern Competition Commission in its next meeting, the World Bank is expected to start lining up sizable financial and technical assistance for developing new competition laws in Pakistan,” said a senior government official.

He said besides World Bank, the Department for International Development (DFID) of Britain would also be extending significant grant assistance for institutional design, capacity building and recurring costs and an action plan supported by a project concept to implement the donor funded portion of the proposed Competition Commission.

The government, he said, was urged by the World Bank to promote sustainable economic development and improve the well-being of all citizens by protecting and promoting competition.

The bank is of the view that the private and public barriers to competition need to be prevented from hindering the development path, to guarantee maximisation of consumer and producer welfare in a dynamic framework.

The competition policy and its regulatory framework, the bank believes, will support an environment in which entry, and growth is fostered, anti competitive behaviour by all firms is prevented and abuse of market power by dominant firms is restrained.

The bank has been expressing its serious concern over the delay in converting the MCA into a Competition Commission the objective of which is to creating a competitive environment and regulating business activities in the country.

It has asked the government to firm up an action plan to be supported by the donors for the drastic restructuring of the MCA and thus having a Competition Commission.

The bank had regretted that although Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has approved the conversion of the MCA into a Commission was being delayed for so long.

The World Bank mission when visited Pakistan in November last year, it was assured that draft competition law would be approved by early December 2006.

The mission worked closely with MCA and the Maxwell Stamp consultants and stressed the need for early approval of the Competition Commission with a view to ensure level-playing field to the businessmen and discourage unfair business activities and cartelisation by various business groups including that of cement, sugar and ghee industries.

The mission was informed that a summary paper proposing a new draft competition law had eventually been approved last month by the ministries of law and finance.

Sources said that the officials of ministry of finance have informed the World Bank that they expected full cabinet discussion any time next week for having the Competition Commission. Despite the substantive nature of the new law and anticipation of detailed discussion at the cabinet level, the ministry of finance believed that completion of this process and submission of the law to the parliamentary process remains a priority.

Earlier, at the request of the chairman MCA, a two month activity was initiated by an international consultant to provide a design paper for the new competition agency. Maxwell Stamp Associated LLP was hired under international competitive bidding in September 2006 and the work began in October last year.

Based on a two week inception visit, the Maxwell Stamp consultant team presented to the MCA and to the mission its initial report, the key elements of which were included in the mission’s presentation to the minister of finance on November 9 and 16, 2006.

The principal element of the design involved plans for restructuring the organisation and staffing its departments, including a scaling up a three year period, and operating along a three tiered system covering law enforcement, public advocacy and market research and detailed costing of start-up and recurring activities, with a view of donor funding projects to support the new agency's launch.The World Bank mission, sources said, is gauging the work so for done for converting the MCA into a Competition Commission.

A concerned official said that he was watching all businesses and was constantly in touch with the market. He said he wanted the industry to grow and thrive but it must conduct itself in a non-manipulative manner.

He said while he wanted the business to grow, he could not careless about the public interest. The new proposed law, he said, would protect obligations and that the capacity of the businesses needed to be strengthened.

He said he has gotten a study conducted to ensure prudent business practices and that he has already cleared pendency in the MCA. All the cases, he said, had been disposed of as he has adopted a very progressive approach to deal with the issues.

“But we are keeping a watch on collusive approaches and we would apply the law to deal with unscrupulous people,” he said. He said the working of MCA has been streamlined to some major extent. The emphasis, he said, was on integrity and anybody who lies during proceedings in the MCA, he is taken to task.