Open AccessImport Licensing and Import Liberalization in Pakistan
Author(s) -
Philip S. Thomas
Publication year - 1966
Publication title -
pakistan development review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.154
H-Index - 26
ISSN - 0030-9729
DOI - 10.30541/v6i4pp.500-544
Subject(s) - liberalization , investment (military) , pace , economics , government (linguistics) , private sector , agriculture , international economics , business , economic policy , international trade , market economy , economic growth , politics , ecology , linguistics , philosophy , geodesy , political science , law , biology , geography
Import policy has played a particularly important role inPakistan's economic planning. The amount and allocation of importedmachinery and raw materials have directly affected the nature and paceof both industrial and agricultural development. The composition ofimports has had a very significant effect on internal relative prices,which, in turn, essentially determine the allocation of investment inthe private sector. Finally, imports have provided both the government(in the form of tariffs) and the private sector (in the form of profits)access to potential savings, which to a large extent have been convertedinto investment during the last decade. While import policy should notbe viewed completely in isolation, it is sufficiently important to meritcareful and intensive study. Over the past several years, substantialresearch has been carried out on two aspects of Pakistan's importpolicy: the description and analysis of the institu¬tional arrangements;and the development of reasonably accurate statistics. In terms ofinstitutional arrangements, three contributions are especially worthy ofmention. Naqvi [22] has presented a detailed description of the importlicensing system, indicating the agencies involved and the majorproblems faced by them,