Pakistan Ranks at 105 among 144 countries on World
Economic Forum’s Global Information Technology Report 2013
Despite
efforts in the past decade to improve information and communications
technologies (ICT) infrastructure in developing economies, there remains a new
digital divide in how countries harness ICT to deliver competitiveness and
well-being, according to the 12th edition of The Global Information
Technology Report, released today by the World Economic Forum.
Published under the theme, Growth
and Jobs in a Hyperconnected World, the Report suggests
that national policies in some developing economies are failing to translate
ICT investment into tangible benefits in terms of competitiveness, development and
employment. This is in addition to the profound digital divide that already
exists between advanced and developing economies in access to digital
infrastructure and content.
Pakistan continues to lag behind in
the rankings. Unable to achieve a sustained rapid economic growth may put Pakistan’s
ICT-competitiveness in jeopardy unless the right investments are made in ICT,
skills and innovation.
Amir Jahangir, Chief Executive Officer
of Mishal Pakistan, a partner institute of Global
Competitiveness & Benchmarking Network of the World Economic Forum said, “As other countries are improving rapidly, Pakistan has shown little change, this is a matter of concern. Pakistan is 37 ranks behind India. The big challenge for the next government in Pakistan
would be to put more emphasize on ICT environment and regulatory framework. The
role of ICT for sustained economic growth and job creation is crucial to
improve Pakistan’s competitiveness". "ICT has revolutionized the way businesses
are done and the country has not being able to capitalize on this”, he further added.
Pakistan's Score on the Global Information Technology Report 2013 |
Some of the areas where Pakistan
lost its ICT competitiveness are; govt’s procurement of advance technologies,
which ranked 109 this year as compared to 91 in 2012. Although Pakistan has
improved the fixed broadband Internet tariff substantially by making Pakistan the 68th most competitive broadband provider in the world,
individuals using Internet, which depicts affordability of Internet for
citizens is shrinking. Pakistan lost 22 points in 2013 and ranks at 120 on
individuals using Internet. The report highlights that the gains in broadband
affordability are being achieved by cannibalizing the individual Internet
users.
Pakistan achieved
significant gains in the last decades, when it embraced the mobile technologies
and led the region by providing human resources capital and technical knowhow
to the global pool of mobile communication providers. However this gain has
been greatly diminished due to lack of advancements and inconsistency in
decision making to adopt new technologies at the right time. The Importance of
ICTs to govt’s vision has deteriorated from 92 to 117 in 2012 and 2013
respectively. Making ICT as one of the least priority areas for the govt. in
Pakistan.
On the economic impact pillar,
Pakistan failed to show progress on creating impact of ICTs on new
organizational models by losing 10 points (91). Keeping businesses in mostly
traditional areas and connecting Pakistan with the global knowledge economies.
Similarly, government’s failure to
create social impact through ICT also showcases it’s poor understanding of
innovation ecosystem and value creation for the citizens in the digital age.
The government failed to create value through ICT use and improving efficiency,
where Pakistan lost an alarming 16 points (121 among 144 countries). Not being
able to improve any regulations on venture capital availability has also
created a bottleneck for an innovation economy in the country. This signifies
Pakistan’s lack of correlation between innovation and competitiveness with
finance, thus further isolating Pakistan from moving towards a knowledge-based economy.
Pakistan also lost 15 points on the
E-participation index, where government engages citizens through online services
and grievance mechanism, thus resulting in stronger red-tapism slower economic
progress.
On the overall political and
regulatory environment, the efficiency of legal system in challenging
regulations has also deteriorated, where Pakistan is ranked 97 as compared to
79 in 2013 and 2012 respectively. Intellectual property protection has also
been neglected and Pakistan lost 13 points by securing 103 on the network
readiness index.
Some of the areas where Pakistan has
shown improvements are on the business and innovation environment pillar, where
the business sector has ensured the availability of latest technologies for ICT
competitiveness by improving 10 points and securing 83 rank among 144
countries.
The Report’s Networked
Readiness Index (NRI), which measures the capacity of 144 economies to leverage
ICT for growth and well-being, finds Finland (1st), Singapore (2nd) and Sweden
(3rd) take the top three places. The Netherlands (4th), Norway (5th),
Switzerland (6th), the United Kingdom (7th), Denmark (8th), the United States
(9th), and Taiwan, China (10th) complete the top 10.
“This analysis shows how matching
investments in ICT with investment in skills and innovation can help economies
cross a ‘magic threshold’, beyond which return on investment increases
significantly,” said Bruno Lanvin,
Executive Director of the e-Lab at INSEAD and co-editor of the report.
“Individual countries need to identify what separates them from reaching that
threshold if they have not reached it yet in order to fulfill long- term growth,
competitiveness and innovation targets” he added.
“ICT’s role in supporting economic
growth and the creation of high-quality jobs has never come under such
scrutiny. Despite initial concerns that ICT would hasten the deployment of
resources towards developing countries, the benefits of ICT are now widely
recognized as an important way for companies and economies to optimize
productivity, free up resources and boost innovation and job creation” said
Beñat Bilbao-Osorio, Economist, Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking
Network, World Economic Forum, and co-editor of the report.
Against this backdrop, “countries
need tools to measure and track progress and the report has become the most
comprehensive and respected international assessment, providing policy-makers,
business leaders and civil society at large with a useful tool for designing
national strategies for increased networked readiness and for benchmarking
their country’s performance against other relevant comparators” said Soumitra Dutta, Anne and Elmer
Lindseth Dean at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at
Cornell University and co-editor of the report.
“Digitization created 6 million jobs
and added US$ 193 billion to the global economy in 2011. Although in aggregate
positive, the impact of digitization is not uniform across sectors and
economies – it creates and destroys jobs” said Bahjat El-Darwiche, Partner,
Booz & Company and sponsor of the Report. He added that “policymakers
wishing to accentuate the positive impact of digitization need to understand
these different effects if they wish act as digital market makers in their
economies.”
“This report demonstrates that
economies that fail to implement comprehensive national broadband strategies
risk losing ground in global competitiveness and may fall behind in the delivery
of societal benefits from ICTs. Plans that incorporate both supply and
demand-side measures offer countries the best opportunity to advance broadband
adoption," said Dr. Robert Pepper, Vice President for Global Technology
Policy, Cisco and sponsor of the report. "
The Network Readiness Index (NRI) uses a combination of data
from publicly available sources and the results of the Executive Opinion
Survey, a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the Forum in collaboration
with partner institutes. This Survey of more than 15,000 executives provides
insight into areas critical for networked readiness.
The World Economic Forum is an independent
international organization committed to improving the state of the world by
engaging business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape
global, regional and industry agendas.
Incorporated as a not-for-profit foundation in 1971
and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the Forum is tied to no political,
partisan or national interests.
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