ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has a bright opportunity to take benefit of the digital transformation, biomedical science/technology, healthcare and energy transformation through an expected surge in e-commerce to put the economy on growth trajectory in the post-pandemic recovery period.
This was stated by Nobel Laureate Professor A Michael Spence, while addressing a webinar titled, “The Global Economy in Post-Pandemic recovery period” organised by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), here on Wednesday.
Professor Spence was the keynote speaker at the session, where more than 100 people joined and participated.
The session was moderated by Dr Nadeemul Haque, Vice-Chancellor, PIDE.
Professor Spence, shed light on the post-pandemic recovery patterns, vaccine manufacturing on global level and post-pandemic recovery of global economy.
While expressing his opinion regarding the current pandemic situation, he had an optimistic view of how Pakistan has handled its crisis contrary to its neighbours.
While talking about the challenges that the world has to face right now, he also mentioned the hidden opportunities this post-pandemic recovery will bring. Spence, predicted that complete global recovery can be expected around 2022, provided the vaccine production and manufacturing increases.
He also sees potential for global explosion of entrepreneurial activities.
Sectors that had to shut down because they could not function without unsafe human-to-human proximity will now (or soon) reopen.
Businesses that survived the pandemic closures will experience rapid expansion, powered by pent-up demand.
He said that globally growth rates will surge for a limited period of time before subsiding toward normal levels.
“We will enter the post-recovery world sometime in 2022” he opined.
While there are many areas of uncertainty in the post-recovery economy, some industries seem poised for a period of extraordinarily rapid growth. Specifically, in sectors with a combination of technological possibilities, available capital, and high demand for creative new solutions, conditions will be highly favourable for investment and new company formation.
Among the broad sectors with the greatest growth potential, he said, there are three leading candidates the application of digital technologies across the entire economy, biomedical science (and its applications in health care and beyond), and technologies that address the various challenges to sustainability, especially those associated with climate change.
Elevated growth in this context means not just sector growth, but high levels of entrepreneurial activity and innovation, a plethora of new fast-growing companies, and large inflows of capital carrying higher expected rates of return.
For investors, policy-makers, businesses, and households alike, a major question is whether and to what extent we will return to pre-pandemic growth patterns.
Will we witness a shift to some markedly different set of dynamics?
In his closing remarks, Professor Spence gave an optimistic view of how Pakistan will emerge economically post-Covid-19 pandemic referring to Pakistan’s ongoing recovery pattern.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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