State of the Procurement: 2024 Pakistan Version
With the turn of the clock, we entered a new year, but several things seem to be same as previous year despite a few changes most of the factors remain same. Almost three months have been passed in this year, but I will start that count from this moment. Main reason being current political situation; took longer than what was expected. At last elections were conducted; and now we have a full-time civilian government; that will bring stability and regulate the chaotic economy to some extent.
Art of procurement is heavily dependent on the audience and the environment in which this is presented or performed, that is why I started with a long preface that seem to be totally abstract of what day to day procurement is involved with.
Procurement or purchasing is deeply impacted by governmental policy and outlook, since Pakistan is a supplier’ market and availability of material resources is dependent on mood of available administration. Suppliers tend to limit supplies due to unstable foreign exchequer position and domestic trends. I have long time ago explained that there is scarce local production of any kind of goods that are consumed locally; Pakistan’ trade or economy is import oriented; Hence all this is corelated.
We are seeing capital flight; most businessmen became property dealers in previous decade and now they are plundering and banishing dollars somewhere else. That activity has deeply impacted the buying power and perhaps procurement.
On the other hand, we have seen efforts of moving towards e-procurement is governmental segment. PITB is rolling out e-procurement initiative with launch of e-procurement system last year. Now they are conducting training sessions across various governmental agencies in Punjab. Hopefully this will bring transparency and agility in our governance attitude.
Other factors remain same, hopefully after bailout package from IMF, things would come out of hibernation mode and economy will start revolving. I can name countless people in my professional circle who became jobless, particularly in procurement, due to stagnation of economy. Last year was the worst since the pandemic for procurement professionals, since most of the workforce was absorbed in construction industry, but these construction projects are now almost completed, and the buying needs are already fulfilled for these domestic projects.
There is a rejuvenated trend in procurement niche, that is, offshore companies are now hiring people from Pakistan to perform back of the office or remote jobs. So, the people tend to find some kind of refuge doing these kinds of jobs, although these are in US/North American Time zone setting but are good enough to bring some respectable income. Pakistani procurement community is regarded very professional and competent; foreign companies prefer to hire Pakistani talent, but they are restrained due to visa policies of west, and businesses don’t want to mess with any bureaucracy anywhere. So, this is the hack they come-up with, Procurement in shape of BPO service.
The key takeaways are, economy will hopefully stabilize, this will start local economic activity, this in turn will lead to more procurement needs, and good prospects for procurement professionals, outlook now seems positive.