Pakistan ranks 34th in WEF report

[Naveed Yaseen]

M RAFIQUE GORAYA
LAHORE (December 12 2008): Pakistan ranked 34th in the World Economic Forum's (WEF) first Financial Development Report, which was released in Pakistan through the Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF) on Thursday. CSF is a world Economic Partner Institute.

The report is a comprehensive analysis of financial systems and capital markets in 52 countries that explores key drivers of financial system development and economic growth in developing and developed countries and serves as a tool by which countries can benchmark themselves and establish priorities for financial system improvement.

Arthur Bayhan, Chief Executive of the Competitiveness Support, said: "I am very happy to see that financial system in Pakistan is well reformed and competitive vis-à-vis Asia and Europe. At 34th, Pakistan is ranked ahead of the Russian Federation which is ranked at 35, Indonesia 38, Turkey 39, Poland 41, Brazil 40, Philippines 48 and Kazakhstan 45."

The United States narrowly edged the United Kingdom to take the top position in the Financial Development Index. The United Kingdom was second while China ranked 24th and India 31st.

The rankings are based on over 120 variables spanning institutional and business environments, financial stability, and size and depth of capital markets, among other factors, in assessing the complex financial systems of the 52 countries studied. An important and unique measure captured by the Index includes the degree to which businesses feel they can easily access capital.

The Financial Development Index is based on three main pillars - Factors, Policies and Institutions, Financial Intermediation and Capital Availability and Access. These are further divided into sub - pillars. Under Factors, Policies and Institutions pillar, Pakistan ranks 49th in institutional environment, 50th in business environment and 37th in Financial Stability.

In the Financial Intermediation Pillar Pakistan ranks 25th in banks, 42nd in non-banks and 17th in Financial Markets. Under Capital Availability and Access, Pakistan ranks 33rd. Indicators showed that in business environment Pakistan had development advantage in Cost to Export, ranking 6th, Cost of closing business 5th. In Financial Stability Change in Real Effective Exchange rate ranked 20th, External debt to GDP 10th, Frequency of banking crises 1st, stability index 15th.

In corporate governance, Pakistan ranked at the very top in shareholder rights index, 14th in strength of investor protection. In the non-banks pillar, Pakistan ranked 9th in the real growth of direct insurance premiums. In equity market movement Pakistan ranked at the top again in equity market turnover. The report draws on data taken from a variety of publicly available sources as well as the World Economic Forum's Executive Opinion Survey, a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the World Economic Forum (WEF) with its network of Partner Institutes (leading research institutes and business organisations).

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