Workshop: IGC Pakistan Macroeconomics Group 2011

The IGC Pakistan Leadership Team is working in collaboration with the IGC and its network of researchers to; provide policy advice to Pakistan that draws on the research of leading experts; strengthens local academic capacity to produce country-specific research in collaboration with a global network of researchers; provide an independent expert forum that promotes policy dissemination and discussion between government and stakeholders; and create an interface between government and leading thinkers on growth, sustainability and poverty reduction.

The Pakistan Programme has three pillars of research – new growth initiatives, macroeconomic stabilization, and state capability and social services. Research on firms is part of the new growth initiative. To promote research on macroeconomics, IGC Pakistan has formed a cluster of local and international academics who have undertaken extensive theoretical and empirical work. The cluster has been set up under the leadership of Dr. Ehsan Choudhri and Irfan Ahmad Qureshi of the Lahore University of Management Sciences. To encourage networking and collaborations, the IGC organized the first meeting of the cluster at the State Bank of Pakistan in Karachi. The meeting, chaired by Dr. Ehsan Choudhri, was attended by researchers from the State Bank of Pakistan, the Pakistan Planning Commission, the World Bank and academic institutions along with the IGC Pakistan team.