February 16, 2008	Saturday	Safar 08, 1429

KARACHI, Feb 15: The Governor of State Bank of Pakistan, Dr Shamshad Akhtar, has asked the Competitive Support Fund (CSF) to prepare an action-oriented report, with clear implications to Pakistan’s sectors to improve its competitiveness on a global footing.

During her meeting with the officials of the CSF, which is working on ‘State of Pakistan’s Competitiveness Report 2008’, Ms Akhtar lauded the fund for preparing such a report. She provided her valuable input and shared that the report should include defined actions and implications for the respective sectors and especially include relationship between inflation and competitiveness to educate the audience on the inter-linkages between these two.

This includes decomposing macroeconomics and sector level issues, such as energy crisis and competitiveness as well as issues, such as raising per capita income, increasing demand and collusive behaviour. She linked the raised interest rates in Pakistan with worldwide oil prices and global food commodity prices to combat inflation. The report will track Pakistan’s performance, spotlighting the areas of progress and areas of further focus, says a press release.