Beyond Art and Culture: How Creative Industries Shape the Future | Sana Noor

In the last 20 years, the creative economy has developed from having an unrecognized value to being identified as a global sector worth an estimated 4.3 trillion USD per year, contributing to 6.1% of the global economy. Even as recession gripped many parts of the world, creative sectors remained resilient. Dynamic creative industries are tools for inclusive economic and social development, creating jobs, improving skills, reducing inequalities, and improving quality of life and well-being. In this increasingly globalized world, Pakistan possesses a unique opportunity thanks to both its established and emerging creative sectors. According to UNESCO figures, Pakistan’s total exports of cultural goods have increased from 60 million USD in 2004 to 437 million USD in 2013. Pakistan’s creative economy has huge potential but the framework within which it operates needs to better reflect the sector’s needs. The current structures simply don’t provide the flexibility that these businesses need to achieve that potential. The legal framework – structure, tax, copyright, and a raft of other issues – within which these businesses operate don’t reflect their commercial reality.