Pharmaceutical sector have great potential to further grow and contribute significantly in Pakistan’s export if Pharma industry is facilitated by incentives for long-term sustainable growth. This was stated by UBG.
UBG further commented that pharmaceutical potential need to be unleashed in Pakistan so that this sector could hit exports targets of $5 billion in just a few years and change the image of Pakistan same like the IT industry and garment industry have changed the image of India and Bangladesh respectively, similar could be the case with pharmaceutical sector for Pakistan,
The government should strive to raise annual pharmaceutical export by extending incentives to Pharma sector as well as ensuring ease of doing business for the industry, UBG added. The government should focus to increase pharmaceutical exports through tariff rationalization, trade-related investment, institutional reforms, conducive-environment and easing business regulations. UBG further said that aggressive marketing drive may be designed to promote Pakistani products in new market, which would greatly help increase the volume of pharmaceutical sector exports particularly in African and SAARC regions.
In last two years 2020-21 the value of the pharmaceutical sector of Pakistan was estimated to be around $3.2 billion while its total exports in 2020-21 stood at $218 million. The exports from the Pharma sector accounted for only 0.9 per cent of Pakistan’s total exports to the world in 2020-21. “UBG said that the timing is absolutely right to focus on the pharmaceutical sector as the government desire to attain economic stability during its tenure.
They said that the global pharmaceutical markets in a flux due to major restructuring, there is an opportunity for Pakistan to enter the global off-patent drugs market that will be worth $700 billion in branded generics and $381 billion in generics by 2025. Pakistan, with a local market of 215 million consumers and more than 700 pharmaceutical companies, is poised well to gain from opportunities provided under these shuffling global patterns of supply and demand.
There are approximately 650 companies in the Pakistan pharmaceutical market out of which less than 30 are multinational companies.
