Creative Industries Pakistan
Global Development Pakistan at Red Yellow Blue (RYB)
Located at the crossroads of Asia, Pakistan has become a focal point for Investors and has in recent years, gained recognition as an important market among other textile manufacturing countries of the region. Considered as one of the top 10 textile exporting countries of the world, Pakistan is the 4th largest producer of cotton yarn and cloth, and the 3rd largest player in Asia with a spinning capacity of 5% of total world production. It also ranks 2nd in the export of yarn, 3rd in the export of cloth and contributes 3% to the total textile trade of the world.IGATEX
Cultural and Creative Industries in Pakistan | British Council Report
Pakistan’s contemporary creative economy is founded on a rich and diverse cultural, creative and artistic heritage. Visual arts and crafts, books and press, performance, audio-visual and interactive media, and design and creative
Services are all well represented nationally, with strong representation in some sectors
provincially. Common to many developing countries, the urban centres and their emergent middle-class populations are major arenas of creative endeavour with international connections and markets, providing new opportunities,
particularly for Pakistan’s youthful population.
In addition, rural Pakistan makes its own contribution with a highly diverse set of craft, literary, musical and performance activities contributing to a nationwide creative economy.
Sectors such as crafts and design are creating economic opportunities for Pakistani women, who are also increasingly represented in other Creative Industries sectors. The uptake of new technologies is also set to engage wider sections of Pakistan’s population in creative opportunities beyond those typical of the urban centres.
Read the article britishcouncil.org/research-policy-insight/research-reports/cultural-creative-industries-pakistan
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Economy
Decades of internal political disputes and low levels of foreign investment have led to underdevelopment in Pakistan. Pakistan has a large English-speaking population, with English-language skills less prevalent outside urban centers. Despite some progress in recent years in both security and energy, a challenging security environment, electricity shortages, and a burdensome investment climate have traditionally deterred investors. Agriculture accounts for one-fifth of output and two-fifths of employment. Textiles and apparel account for more than half of Pakistan’s export earnings; Pakistan’s failure to diversify its exports has left the country vulnerable to shifts in world demand. Pakistan’s GDP growth has gradually increased since 2012, and was 5.3% in 2017. Official unemployment was 6% in 2017, but this fails to capture the true picture, because much of the economy is informal and underemployment remains high. Human development continues to lag behind most of the region.
In 2013, Pakistan embarked on a $6.3 billion IMF Extended Fund Facility, which focused on reducing energy shortages, stabilizing public finances, increasing revenue collection, and improving its balance of payments position. The program concluded in September 2016. Although Pakistan missed several structural reform criteria, it restored macroeconomic stability, improved its credit rating, and boosted growth. The Pakistani rupee has remained relatively stable against the US dollar since 2015, though it declined about 10% between November 2017 and March 2018. Balance of payments concerns have reemerged, however, as a result of a significant increase in imports and weak export and remittance growth.
Pakistan must continue to address several longstanding issues, including expanding investment in education, healthcare, and sanitation; adapting to the effects of climate change and natural disasters; improving the country’s business environment; and widening the country’s tax base. Given demographic challenges, Pakistan’s leadership will be pressed to implement economic reforms, promote further development of the energy sector, and attract foreign investment to support sufficient economic growth necessary to employ its growing and rapidly urbanizing population, much of which is under the age of 25.
In an effort to boost development, Pakistan and China are implementing the “China-Pakistan Economic Corridor” (CPEC) with $60 billion in investments targeted towards energy and other infrastructure projects. Pakistan believes CPEC investments will enable growth rates of over 6% of GDP by laying the groundwork for increased exports. CPEC-related obligations, however, have raised IMF concern about Pakistan’s capital outflows and external financing needs over the medium term.
The Centaurus is a mixed use real estate development in the most prime location of Islamabad, which is rapidly taking its shape to be one of the most desirable addresses in Pakistan.