Improving Private Sector's Voice in Preparation of Economic Manifestos

Improving Private Sector's Voice in Preparation of Economic Manifestos

Partner: National Network of Economic Think-Tanks (NNETT)

Locale: Islamabad, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh,

Time Period: October 2016 till June 2017

Introduction:

The next general elections in Pakistan are planned for 2018. The Prime Minister in consultation with other political parties has already constituted an Electoral Reforms Committee, Chaired by Federal Minister, Mr. Zahid Hamid. Amongst other matters the committee will be responsible for proposing rules under which all political parties will present their manifestos as per the announced schedule by Election Commission of Pakistan and well before the general elections.

A key criticism by the private sector has been the lack of vision, insight and research-depth in the commitments made by political parties towards economic reform, in their party manifestos. Most segments of private sector, particularly those represented by Pakistan Business Council and Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industries, have expressed these concerns in media. Equally important is their concern that they are usually not asked by political parties, regarding business facilitation needs, which can be factored as part of future political agenda.

There is a clear gap in policy engagement as there is no public-private platform which can invite the private sector’s deliberations and inputs in the manifestos prepared by the political parties. There are few think tanks who act as information-intermediaries however even these organizations can also not claim that the voices of private sector are comprehensively transmitted to the party secretariats.

We propose an approach which can capture inputs on key economic reform areas (e.g. energy, taxation, financial sector, monetary policy etc.) and also be nationally representative. Therefore a series of focus group discussions will take place, at provincial level, to acquire inputs from private sector as to what they would like to see as part of the next pre-election manifestos. SDPI will document these inputs and communicate to the political party heads and information secretaries

Objectives:

The key objective is to organize and document inputs from the private sector on desired economic reforms which can result in a reduction of cost of doing business, through a process of informed dialogue, and communicate the same to party secretariats and manifesto preparation committees.

Activities:

1. Desk Review
2. 4 Focus Group Discussions on Model Economic Platform in Provinces and Training Seminar on PPD in Provinces:

• Quetta: 27th October 2017
• Peshawar: 21st December 2016
• Karachi: 22nd March 2017
• Lahore: 13th April 2017

2016. Held 01 focus group discussion on model economic platform in Islamabad held in October 2016.
2017. 10 Key Informant Interviews
2018. Training Seminar on PPD in Islamabad held on 8th December 2016 during 19th Sustainable Development Conference.
2019. Final Draft of the Model Economic Platform.
2020. Op-ed article Published.