Pakistani Economic Stress Watch

Brad Goodman · Post by **Brad Goodman** » 28 Jan 2011 02:59

Pakistan’s remittance growth highest in world: SBP

PESHAWAR: Pakistan presently has the highest growth of remittances in the world which is the second largest source of foreign exchange in the country, a central bank statement said after a workshop on remittance initiatives on Wednesday.

The State Bank of Pakistan’s Peshawar office arranged the day-long workshop with the help of Pakistan Remittance Initiative, a joint initiative of the central bank, overseas Pakistanis and finance ministries.

Participants set a draft of recommendations for further action in the field of remittance. More than 100 participants, comprising branch managers of remittance rich areas of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, regional heads of banks and bank officers dealing in foreign exchange attended the workshop.

Owing to the importance of remittance for the economy, the banking industry was expected to focus this area on priority, the statement said.

Rising interest rate is seen as one of the main causes behind the recent increase in remittances, which grew by almost 17 percent to 5.3 billion dollars during the first half of the current fiscal year.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 31 Jan 2011 09:38

http://www.business-standard.com/india/ ... an/423326/
Pakistan - South Asia's sick man

Today, Pakistan is South Asia’s sick man. This year – the financial year ending on June 30 – if the Pakistani economy grows at all, the rate of increase will be no more than the rate of growth in population. This means that there will be no increase in average income and, for most of the population, income per head will decline. This will add another 10 million to the pool of poverty, bringing the total to over 70 million. In the immediate future, the national output is likely to increase at a rate less than one-half of that expected for Bangladesh and one-third of that projected for India.I pointed this out to Pakistan’s President Ass-saaf Allie Zardari in a recent meeting. He responded by saying that by comparing the performances of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan I was comparing apples and oranges. India had had a democratic system of government for more than 60 years and Bangladesh had been under democratic rule for a longer period than Pakistan. He said he had inherited a damaged economy and a dysfunctional political system from a military dictator. His government’s first priority was to provide the country with a political system that was fully representative of the wishes of the citizenry.
the Indian rate of domestic savings and its tax-to-GDP ratio are more than twice that of Pakistan. Islamabad has had to go repeatedly to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to save itself from bankruptcy. India needed to do that only once in the last quarter century.
New Delhi put a great deal of emphasis on developing public sector institutions of education, training and learning in a number of sectors. The famed institutions of administration and technology have produced skilled people who have led some important parts of the Indian economy. They also constitute the core of the community of Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), who are playing an important role in transforming the Indian economy at this time. Pakistan does not have a single such institution in the public sector.The third important difference is that the Indians have allowed the development of scale in the modern sectors of their economy. Consequently, some of the Indian firms are now of the size and competence to challenge those in the West. The Indian firm has arrived on the international scene. That may have happened in Pakistan’s case too but for the nationalisation undertaken by former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the early 1970s. He was, in a way, adopting the Indian socialist model of economic management without realising that India built up the state sector through investment, not expropriation of private assets.
The two differences that stand out between Bangladesh and Pakistan are in the areas of industrial policy and the treatment of women in the workforce. Dhaka adopted a model of development that put small enterprises at the centre of the economic stage. Such micro-lenders as the Grameen Bank and BRAC were able to provide small amounts of capital to hundreds of thousands of small entrepreneurs, most of them women. These enterprises contributed to the development of the ready-made garment industry which, in turn, encouraged the participation of women in the workforce. This development model, focused on women, has produced the most rapid demographic change in South Asia. The increase in the median age of the population was more rapid in Bangladesh than any other South Asian country.

James B · Post by **James B** » 01 Feb 2011 04:17

Privatisation or bust?

ON Saturday, Pakistan Railways announced an increase in passenger fares and freight charges of between 10 and 20 per cent. The same day, the Planning Commission in a new report recommended an initial partial privatisation of the Railways. The problem is straightforward: Pakistan Railways is sinking. Mismanagement, underinvestment, overstaffing and a fare and route structure that is politicised and inefficient mean the entity is on the verge of collapse. Of course, the problem goes far beyond Pakistan Railways. In 2009-10, losses at Pepco, PIA, Railways, Pakistan Steel, NHA, Passco, TCP and Utility Stores added Rs245bn to the federal budget. Given the deteriorating fiscal situation, losses on this scale are simply unsustainable.

Brad Goodman · Post by **Brad Goodman** » 02 Feb 2011 02:27

Guys I see this interesting news in marathi news paper (Saamna) so not posting link but translating the gist.

The article talks about prices of food items in TSP. I assume prices are in paki rupees

Tomato : 110/ kg
Ghee: 700/ kg
Mutton: 600/kg
Chicken: 200/ kg
Fish: 880/kg
Okra (lady fingers/ bhendi): 400/kg

anupmisra · Post by **anupmisra** » 02 Feb 2011 16:22

Debt at record Rs9.473trn violates law. I didn't know that the pakis had a law on this.

With Pakistan’s total public debt at the highest ever level of Rs9.473 trillion, the government has violated almost all the four limits on borrowing imposed in the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation Act. “The total public debt stood at Rs8.894 trillion as of June 30, 2010, an increase of Rs1.265 billion or 16.6 per cent higher than the debt stock at the end of last fiscal year,” revealed a mandatory debt policy statement for 2010-11 released by the ministry of finance on Tuesday.

The Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation Act of 2005 requires the federal government to take measures to reduce total public debt and maintain it within prudent limits. The government has violated all the five restrictions prescribed under the act.

Four or five? Don't worry. Be happy!

anupmisra · Post by **anupmisra** » 02 Feb 2011 16:25

India urged to honour cotton deals

Spinners on Tuesday urged the government to take up the issue of cotton with the Indian government and at the diplomatic level so that cotton deals contracted by Indian exporters are honoured. The spinning industry would run short of cotton within next three to four months if Indian exporters did not fulfill contracts signed with Pakistani importers.

There would be a gap of around three months before the arrival of next crop in July during which mills would either have to close down or look for alternative sources of raw material.

Due to geographic proximity (Alas!), he said Pakistani spinners had been importing cotton from India for the last so many years but this season the sudden change in the world cotton prices prompted the Indian exporters to back out of their commitments.

Taqiyya alert!! When pakis urge and not demand for something, something is seriously afoot.

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 03 Feb 2011 11:06

IMF refuses talks with financial crisis-hit Pakistan on restoring 11.3-bn-dollar package

Amid the snowballing financial crisis in Pakistan, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has refused to send a mission to the country for talks on restoring the 11.3-billion-dollar bailout package.
The IMF took the decision after Islamabad failed to hold out a firm commitment to implement tax and power sector reforms.

The delegation said that mission-level talks would only be held if the Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST) was levied from March 1 and fiscal slippages were controlled.
However, the Pakistan government, which is sandwiched between the IMF, pressing for implementation of economic reforms - and other political parties warning it against taking unpopular decisions under the IMF's diktat, insisted that the implementation should be delayed till July.
The IMF had suspended the bailout package in July 2010 after Islamabad failed to deliver on its promises of levying the RGST a second time. Although the organisation extended the programme till September this year, it has refused to release the sixth tranche of 1.7 billion dollars.

uncle tightening screws slowly. pakis have the gun on their head attitude.
now what will happen- more blood letting and ieds on the streets.
more power to pakibaduls.

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 03 Feb 2011 12:49

anupmisra wrote:India urged to honour cotton deals

Spinners on Tuesday urged the government to take up the issue of cotton with the Indian government and at the diplomatic level so that cotton deals contracted by Indian exporters are honoured. The spinning industry would run short of cotton within next three to four months if Indian exporters did not fulfill contracts signed with Pakistani importers.
There would be a gap of around three months before the arrival of next crop in July during which mills would either have to close down or look for alternative sources of raw material.
Due to geographic proximity (Alas!), he said Pakistani spinners had been importing cotton from India for the last so many years but this season the sudden change in the world cotton prices prompted the Indian exporters to back out of their commitments.
Taqiyya alert!! When pakis urge and not demand for something, something is seriously afoot.

Simple, Pakis thought they had a masterplan by denying us Onions, now with Surplus Onion in India, they lost Onipon sales along with a negotiating point for cotton. Talking about shooting ones own foot.

These fools did not have the forethought of looking at India's Onion shortage was probably for just 15 days, instead of blocking Onions, if they had sold them, and then the WKK crowd could have have just gone GA GA and how Pakis help the common man in need and hence forgetting Terror is OK , but then they said no Onion export, we have a surplus, so no need of cooton export and No positive good will in Indian Public whioch they require.

abhischekcc · Post by **abhischekcc** » 03 Feb 2011 14:17

Pakistan's biggest enemy is Pakistan itself, not India, America, Israel, Ahmediyas, or other hate targets.

anupmisra · Post by **anupmisra** » 03 Feb 2011 15:49

Aditya_V wrote:Simple, Pakis thought they had a masterplan by denying us Onions, now with Surplus Onion in India, they lost Onipon sales along with a negotiating point for cotton. Talking about shooting ones own foot.

Weren't the paki onions that made it to the Indian market rejected by the locals in India? People thought that they smelled or something. Pakistaniyat?

anupmisra · Post by **anupmisra** » 03 Feb 2011 15:53

abhischekcc wrote:Pakistan's biggest enemy is Pakistan itself, not India, America, Israel, Ahmediyas, or other hate targets.

Kufr, don't you know that for a super hero to exist, there has to be a "super villain" (or several super villains)? Without the Riddler, there would be no Batman. Without Lex Luthor, there would be no Superman. Batman and Superman need reasons to go about damaging public property without being prosecuted and sued.

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 08 Feb 2011 01:29

Pakistan adds zero to huge debt burden

The total debt and liabilities of Pakistan have reached a record 10 trillion rupees (US$117 billion), as the government violated almost all the limits on borrowing imposed in the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation Act.
Every Pakistani owes more than 57,000 rupees per head to foreign and domestic lenders, compared with 22,000 rupees per head when the present government took over in 2008.
The country this year has to spend almost 900 billion rupees on debt servicing alone, which is five times more than the revised
federal development budget. The financing of a large fiscal deficit is forcing the government to rely on borrowing from the central bank and commercial banks, triggering inflation and squeezing(peace be upon groper)the private sector.

Local analysts argue that the economy has been dragged to the brink where the nation cannot do away with loans, as there is still no plan in the cards for retiring the debt burden - though the government does have a plan for securing more loans from international lenders.

Pakistan's debt-servicing obligations have been squeezing (peace be upon groper)resources meant for development projects, particularly in the social sector.

The total public debt stood at Rs8.894 trillion as of June 30, 2010, an increase of Rs1.265 billion or 16.6 per cent higher than the debt stock at the end of last fiscal year,” Dawn reported, citing a mandatory debt policy statement for 2010-11 released by the Ministry of Finance this week.

Debt servicing has increased by 43% in the past five years to $3.11 billion in 2009-10, up from $2.16 billion in 2005-06. The total external debt increased 49% over the past four years, to $55.62 billion in June 2010 from $37.24 billion in June 2006. After making a payment of $6.03 billion during the past three years, the country still owes $53.7 billion in foreign debt.

Airavat · Post by **Airavat** » 09 Feb 2011 06:03

Cement exports decline 20%

abhijitm · Post by **abhijitm** » 09 Feb 2011 19:07

Actually name of this thread should be 'pakistan's suicide economy'. Fits perfectly well as its current state and its ever thriving suicide industry.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 13 Feb 2011 06:38

Lost & Not Found

On the economic front, the fact that inflation has been relentless and has actually made living a very expensive business is common knowledge. Yet the government feels that hiding these facts will save them from the wrath of the public. The World Bank report on poverty in Pakistan has not been allowed to be published. The report highlighted the decrease in poverty from 39 percent to 22.5 percent from the year 2006 to 2008 {that itself was a falsehood} while in 2008 to 2010 it has spiralled once again. The finance ministry and planning commission have gone to great pains to suppress the report with the typical response of the statistics not being correctly tabulated.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 18 Feb 2011 01:15

X-post from I_F:

Table - 1: Pakistan's Debt and Liabilities-Summary : End December 2010

Total Debt and Liabilities = Pak Rs. 11,054.7 Billion

Pakistan’s 2009 – 2010 : GDP (Market Prices) = Pak Rs.14,668.428

Thus Pakistan’s Total Debt and Liabilities equate to 73.36% of the GDP

Narad · Post by **Narad** » 02 Mar 2011 10:35

ISLAMABAD: The government decided on Tuesday to impose a 15 per cent flood surcharge on income tax and increase special excise duty by 150 per cent through a presidential order soon after the prorogation of the National Assembly session.

LINK

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 02 Mar 2011 10:56

anupmisra wrote:
Aditya_V wrote:Simple, Pakis thought they had a masterplan by denying us Onions, now with Surplus Onion in India, they lost Onipon sales along with a negotiating point for cotton. Talking about shooting ones own foot.
Weren't the paki onions that made it to the Indian market rejected by the locals in India? People thought that they smelled or something. Pakistaniyat?

Not surprising, if you know the normal fertilizer used for onions!

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 02 Mar 2011 10:59

ramana wrote:X-post from I_F:

Table - 1: Pakistan's Debt and Liabilities-Summary : End December 2010

Total Debt and Liabilities = Pak Rs. 11,054.7 Billion

Pakistan’s 2009 – 2010 : GDP (Market Prices) = Pak Rs.14,668.428

Thus Pakistan’s Total Debt and Liabilities equate to 73.36% of the GDP

That's actually not so bad saar.

1 Zimbabwe 241.60 2010 est. Africa
2 Japan 196.40 2010 est. Asia
3 Saint Kitts and Nevis 185.00 2010 est. North America
4 Lebanon 150.70 2010 est. Asia
5 Greece 144.00 2010 est. Europe
6 Iceland 123.80 2010 est. Europe
7 Jamaica 123.20 2010 est. North America
8 Italy 119.00 2010 Europe
9 Belgium 102.50 2010 est. Europe
10 Singapore 102.40 2010 est. Asia
11 Ireland 98.50 2010 est. Europe
12 Sudan 94.20 2010 est. Africa
13 Sri Lanka 86.70 2010 est. Asia
14 France 83.50 2010 est. Europe
15 Portugal 83.20 2010 est. Europe
16 Canada 38.10[2] 2010 North America
17 Egypt 80.50 2010 est. Africa
18 Dominica 78.00 2009 est. North America
19 Nicaragua 78.00 2010 est. North America
20 Israel 77.30 2010 est. Asia
21 United Kingdom 68.10[3] 2009 Europe
22 Germany 74.80 2010 est. Europe
23 Malta 72.60 2010 est. Europe
24 Hungary 72.10 2010 est. Europe
25 Austria 68.60 2010 est. Europe
26 Netherlands 64.60 2010 est. Europe
27 Spain 63.40 2010 est. Europe
28 Cote d'Ivoire 63.30 2010 est. Africa
29 Jordan 61.40 2010 est. Asia
30 Cyprus 61.10 2010 est. Europe
31 Brazil 60.80 2010 est. South America
32 Mauritius 60.50 2010 est. Africa
33 Ghana 59.90 2010 est. Africa
34 Albania 59.30 2010 est. Europe
35 Bahrain 59.20 2010 est. Asia
36 United States 58.90 2010 est. North America
37 Seychelles 58.80 2010 est. Africa
38 World 58.30 2010 est.
39 Morocco 58.20 2010 est. Africa
40 Bhutan 57.80 2009 Asia
41 Guyana 57.00 2010 est. South America
42 India 55.90 2010 est. Asia
43 Philippines 55.20 2010 est. Asia
44 Croatia 55.00 2010 est. Europe
45 El Salvador 55.00 2010 est. North America
46 Vietnam 53.50 2010 est. Asia
47 Uruguay 52.70 2010 est. South America
48 Malaysia 52.60 2010 est. Asia
49 Kenya 50.90 2010 est. Africa
50 Poland 50.50 2010 est. Europe
51 Argentina 50.30 2010 est. South America
52 Pakistan 49.90 2010 est. Asia
53 Tunisia 49.50 2010 est. Africa
54 Turkey 48.10 2010 est. Asia/Europe
55 Norway 47.70 2010 est. Europe
56 Denmark 46.60 2010 est. Europe
57 Aruba 46.30 2005 North America
58 Latvia 46.20 2010 est. Europe
59 Finland 45.40 2010 est. Europe
60 Colombia 44.80 2010 est. South America
61 United Arab Emirates 44.60 2010 est. Asia
62 Costa Rica 44.10 2010 est. North America
63 Thailand 42.30 2010 est. Asia
64 Dominican Republic 41.70 2010 est. North America
65 Mexico 41.50 2010 est. North America
66 Slovakia 41.00 2010 est. Europe
67 Mozambique 40.80 2010 est. Africa
68 Sweden 40.80 2010 est. Europe
69 Panama 40.80 2010 est. North America
70 Malawi 40.40 2010 est. Africa
71 Bolivia 40.30 2010 est. South America
72 Czech Republic 40.00 2010 est. Europe
73 Switzerland 39.60 2010 est. Europe
74 Bangladesh 39.30 2010 est. Asia
75 Ethiopia 39.30 2010 est. Africa
76 Yemen 39.10 2010 est. Asia
77 Bosnia and Herzegovina 39.00 2010 est. Europe
78 Ukraine 38.40 2010 est. Europe
79 Montenegro 38.00 2006 Europe
80 Serbia 37.80 2010 est. Europe
81 Lithuania 36.70 2010 est. Europe
82 Slovenia 35.50 2010 est. Europe
83 Romania 34.80 2010 est. Europe
84 Cuba 34.40 2010 est. North America
85 South Africa 33.20 2010 est. Africa
86 Senegal 32.10 2010 est. Africa
87 Taiwan 31.40 2010 est. Asia
88 Syria 29.80 2010 est. Asia
89 Guatemala 29.60 2010 est. North America
90 Papua New Guinea 27.80 2010 est. Oceania
91 Indonesia 26.40 2010 est. Asia
92 Trinidad and Tobago 26.40 2010 est. North America
93 Honduras 26.10 2010 est. North America
94 Gabon 25.80 2010 est. Africa
95 Algeria 25.70 2010 est. Africa
96 Macedonia 25.70 2010 est. Europe
97 New Zealand 25.50 2010 est. Oceania
98 Venezuela 25.50 2010 est. South America
99 Moldova 25.00 2010 est. Europe
100 Zambia 24.10 2010 est. Africa
101 Korea, South 23.70 2010 est. Asia
102 Peru 23.60 2010 est. South America
103 Tanzania 23.30 2010 est. Africa
104 Ecuador 23.10 2010 est. South America
105 Paraguay 22.80 2010 est. South America
106 Botswana 22.60 2010 est. Africa
107 Australia 22.40 2010 est. Oceania
108 Uganda 20.40 2010 est. Africa
109 Angola 20.30 2010 est. Africa
110 Namibia 20.00 2010 est. Africa
111 Hong Kong 18.20 2010 est. Asia
112 China 17.50 2010 est. Asia
113 Cameroon 16.80 2010 est. Africa
114 Saudi Arabia 16.70 2010 est. Asia
115 Bulgaria 16.20 2010 est. Europe
116 Luxembourg 16.20 2010 est. Europe
117 Iran 16.20 2010 est. Asia
118 Kazakhstan 15.90 2010 est. Asia
119 Gibraltar 15.50 2006 Europe
120 Nigeria 13.40 2010 est. Africa
121 Kuwait 12.60 2010 est. Asia
122 Qatar 10.30 2010 est. Asia
123 Russia 9.50 2010 est. Asia/Europe
124 Uzbekistan 9.00 2010 est. Asia
125 Estonia 7.70 2010 est. Europe
126 Chile 6.20 2010 est. South America
127 Wallis and Futuna 5.60 2004 Oceania
128 Azerbaijan 4.60 2010 est. Asia
129 Oman 4.40 2010 est. Asia
130 Equatorial Guinea 4.10 2010 est. Africa
131 Libya 3.30 2010 est. Africa

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 04 Mar 2011 19:59

chetak wrote: That's actually not so bad saar.

1 Zimbabwe 241.60 2010 est. Africa

Are these percentages?

I mean - for Zimbabwe above - is that 241.60 figure a percentage of GDP?

If so I have a few observations to make as an uninformed non economist.

The minor point is that Pakistan's GDP is always inflated.
But more important IMO would be the ability of other parties to write off or buy that debt.

Nations with a small GDP can literally be "bought" by a wealthy nation if there is reasonable confidence that buying the debt will give returns from an honest and hardworking nation. I am guessing that the buying of a small part of Greek debt by China falls in that genre. China bought (I think) 5 billion of Greece's 400 billion debt.

In the case of Pakistan the debt is too big for anyone to write off entirely. "Buying debt" I think would mean that there is confidence that the country, with its debt burden eased would make the buyer of debt earn more from that purchase in the long term in various ways.

What seems to happen with Pakistan is indicated by a news item I read recently. Italy wrote off a small part of the debt owed to it by Pakistan. Pakistan had "rendered services" to Italy related to the "war on terror"

and Italy adjusted that payment against the debt.

So a lot pf Pakistan's creditors are doing that. they have lent Pakis money which of course has either been pocketed by the wealthy or used to buy arms against India. In exchange Pakistan gives them "services" - could be security, tourism, transport, whatever. "Security" as a service appears to be Pakistan's best business. The more insecure Pakistan appears to be is the more security is needed. They exploit that. The foreigner is told "Don't go there alone. We will send you with an armed escort". The escort gets a free ride in the car and Pakistan charges for "security" provided. That fee is written off against debt.

As long as the security situation in Pakistan is under control of Pakistani authorities this is a great business. One idea would be to use covert methods to make security dreadful in Pakistan with foreigners getting killed. of course - getting ISAF and the US out of Afghanistan would take the bottom out of the Pakistan security racket.

Another money earner for Pakistan is a different type of security. Pakis are serving as private or special militia in all sorts of despotic forces like Saudi Barbaria and Libya. The money from these people is counted as inflow from expats. Pakistan's "security" business must be sabotaged.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 04 Mar 2011 21:17

mid east countries hiring pakistani serving or retired service personel must fear and doubt the cuckoos in their nest... perhaps the religious fervour of these bearded faujis might come back to haunt them...?

somnath · Post by **somnath** » 04 Mar 2011 21:43

chetak wrote:That's actually not so bad saar

YEs, if the numbers are correct, they are better than India's!

But Pak's major problem is their extremely thin debt servicng ratio margins...Tax-to-GDP is so low, and the govt has few non-tax revenue sources, that they find even a small blip to be stressful...

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 04 Mar 2011 22:03

The pakistan government does not invest in its nation. All the money goes straight to Bakshish. As such its needs for money is very low. When the budget runs into trouble the development budget, education, health, etc is cut. Often by 50% with no complaints. Right after the floods $2 Billion was transferred from development to military in anticipation of the relief inflow. AFAIK this de-funding was not restored even after the inflows failed to show up. They can cut more if they have to.

Their debt is sustainable in such a situation.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 04 Mar 2011 22:59

I guess folks can't resist bringing in India in Pak Economic watch thread !

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 05 Mar 2011 06:10

Once again - I speak as a person with no knowledge of economics - I only know about numerator and denominator in fractions.

A debt to GDP ratio can be reduced by decreasing debt or increasing population. What is Pakistan doing?

Apart from the mechanism that I have mentioned above where debt is exchanged for services rendered, what makes it profitable for anyone to lend to Pakistan?

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 05 Mar 2011 08:27

73% Debt:GDP is plain and simple debt trap .It would be difficult to out of it. Close the tap ( unkil funding) and pak ceases to exist as nation. So in reality it is a Unkil protectorate . So we need to think how to make Pak irrelevant for US.

somnath · Post by **somnath** » 05 Mar 2011 15:56

73% debt-to-GDP isnt really earth shattering..Lots of countries have similar ratios.....But Pak still has a sovereign rating of CCC, whereas India's is BBB-...The reason is simple - Pak govt has such low capacity to pay back....Symptomatic of a skewed economic pyramid and an elite hell-bent on preserving its wealth by using its levers in the govt...

Ashoka · Post by **Ashoka** » 06 Mar 2011 07:42

But we are missing the whole point here. A debt to GDP ratio of 73% is earth shattering or even a nominal problem IF you want to progress, if you want to develop your people. Poaks do not want to do any of that. See how they cut their development budget by half right after floods & gave the money to army? For such a nation this ratio is hardly anything, they can afford to take it to 100% too. Their main goal is to keep the IT exports alive.

Our best bet resides with the common abduls of Pakistan. When they get fed up of the mediocre living hopefully they will make a revolt like Egypt or Libya. Unless something like that happens Poaks are going nowhere, at least due to the debt. Or unless something accelerates the process.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 06 Mar 2011 09:58

Ashoka wrote:But we are missing the whole point here. A debt to GDP ratio of 73% is earth shattering or even a nominal problem IF you want to progress, if you want to develop your people. Poaks do not want to do any of that. See how they cut their development budget by half right after floods & gave the money to army? For such a nation this ratio is hardly anything, they can afford to take it to 100% too. Their main goal is to keep the IT exports alive.

Our best bet resides with the common abduls of Pakistan. When they get fed up of the mediocre living hopefully they will make a revolt like Egypt or Libya. Unless something like that happens Poaks are going nowhere, at least due to the debt. Or unless something accelerates the process.

Do not wish this on your worst enemy.

The pakis will flood India "trying to escape" army "atrocities".

MMS and his ilk will accommodate all because of "shared heritage" or some such nonsense.

We would have transplanted the paki problem to India in double quick time.

RDX will then be available through the PDS!

Narad · Post by **Narad** » 08 Mar 2011 13:31

Pakis to impose tax on agriculture

That is akin to blasphemy in India.

shravan · Post by **shravan** » 18 Mar 2011 07:33

No train left Quetta for want of fuel

QUETTA: No passenger or goods trains could leave Quetta for their destinations on Thursday morning because of the non-availability of diesel and hundreds of people, who had bought tickets, faced hardship.
..
On Wednesday, the Pakistan Railways had announced the suspension of train service from Quetta. “We are waiting for our quota of diesel supply from Pakistan State Oil,” an official of the Quetta railway division said, adding that a consignment of diesel was expected to reach on Friday.

Guddu · Post by **Guddu** » 20 Mar 2011 07:25

U.S. to give China a pass on NSG commitments for Pakistan nuclear deal
http://www.thehindu.com/news/internatio ... 554159.ece

Initially, I was angry at Unkil, but maybe we should be thankful. This means that they will be bankrupt even faster...pakis are circling the drain, soon you will hear the whoosh as they go down the drain. Perhaps, the best strategy is to bankrupt them by increasing our defense budget even further.

Dhiman · Post by **Dhiman** » 20 Mar 2011 08:28

chetak wrote:
Do not wish this on your worst enemy.

The pakis will flood India "trying to escape" army "atrocities".

I don't know about our netas holding up to this Pakistani flood, but if the electrified border fence and BSF hold up the flood will go in other directions.

arun · Post by **arun** » 25 Mar 2011 07:20

The BBC on the violence endemic to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan‘s principal economic hub of Karachi:

Karachi: Pakistan's 'smouldering cauldron' of violence

menon s · Post by **menon s** » 27 Mar 2011 09:04

In Pakistan three out of four Pakistanis make Rs170 per day or less. Imagine; atta sells for Rs600 per 20-kg, ghee for Rs143 per kilo, tea Rs90 for 200 grams and red chili powder Rs64 for 200 grams. PPP, in the meanwhile, gets up every morning prints Rs300 crore worth of currency notes and by the time PPP is finished printing notes it’s already time to call it a day.A trillion rupee annual deficit will burn us all and not just our skin but our muscles, bones and our blood vessels.

http://old.thenews.com.pk/27-03-2011/et ... -38420.htm

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 27 Mar 2011 13:46

Pakistan needs more IMF loans

The government has decided in principle to go for a fresh International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme and economic managers are examining three options for negotiations, while suitable cost of borrowing would be the decisive factor for reaching an agreement with the IMF, official sources informed Daily Times on Saturday.

Sources explained that Pakistan would also keep an option of issuance of sovereign bonds in the international market open for the repayment of IMF, in case terms of the IMF loan programme were found difficult to meet.

They added that at present the government was negotiating bridge financing that would be for a transition between the ongoing $11.3 billion Stand-By-Arrangement to a fresh
loan programme.

“New IMF loan programme is a must,” while explaining three options available to the government for going for a new IMF loan programme, the official sources told this scribe that to allow the existing IMF loan programme to continue for another term, merge the existing programme into a fresh loan or allow the existing programme to complete and then go for a fresh loan programme.

“Giving a positive signal to the local and foreign investors is needed at this point in time and it depends how the government moves from the existing programme to a fresh loan programme,” sources elaborated.

They added that IMF authorities believed that the measures taken by the government on Rs 120 billion expenditure cut and Rs 53 billion fresh taxation, along with Rs 37 billion administrative measures for revenue generation, were one-time measures. “We have not been able to hand over some thing concrete that could help IMF authorities themselves on Pakistan’s resource mobilisation efforts,” they said, adding, “We will be required to increase our efforts for domestic resource mobilisation in order to meet not only the loan repayment obligation, but also the security and development needs of the country.”

IMF authorities are more interested in measures that are necessary for resource mobilisation on permanent basis, especially in years when the country is going to repay the IMF loan.

“IMF wants us to improve domestic resource mobilisation so as to create a fiscal space for loan repayment as well as meet development goals of the country,” said the sources.

The sources said that the present state of relations with IMF authorities were the consequence of commitments Pakistan made to the Fund and failed to honour them. “No one in the economic team is aware about reaction from the major political forces on tax and power sector reforms especially the RGST,” they concluded.

Harish · Post by **Harish** » 27 Mar 2011 18:13

shravan wrote:No train left Quetta for want of fuel

QUETTA: No passenger or goods trains could leave Quetta for their destinations on Thursday morning because of the non-availability of diesel and hundreds of people, who had bought tickets, faced hardship.
..
On Wednesday, the Pakistan Railways had announced the suspension of train service from Quetta. “We are waiting for our quota of diesel supply from Pakistan State Oil,” an official of the Quetta railway division said, adding that a consignment of diesel was expected to reach on Friday.

Have the pakis heard of "electrification"?

Akshut · Post by **Akshut** » 27 Mar 2011 18:50

^^ I don't think so. They have only heard of "load-shedding".

Narad · Post by **Narad** » 31 Mar 2011 15:16

PAKISTAN: Struggling to cope amid rising food prices

LAHORE, 30 March 2011 (IRIN) - The price of wheat in Pakistan has almost tripled since 2008, making people in places like the poorer suburbs of Lahore, capital of Punjab Province, wonder how they will feed their families, local residents say.

“A few years ago we paid just a little over Rs 200 [US$2.35] for a 20kg bag of wheat flour,” Saleem Yousaf, a father of four who works as a cook said. “Today, we pay over Rs 550 [$6.47] for the same amount, which lasts us less than a month, while the prices of vegetables, lentils, spices and everything else have also soared.”

Javed Saleem, his 11-year-old son, told IRIN “We only eat at dinner time and have a mug of tea at breakfast. My parents cannot afford more.”

Other families in the impoverished Shadra area of Lahore, where Yousaf lives, face a similar situation - as do tens of thousands of others across the country.

Ironically, fields of wheat stand all around the Shadra, on the outskirts of Lahore, but the grain, which is the staple food in Punjab, is largely inaccessible to many because most of the crop is sold for export.

According to the Famine Early Warning System (FEWS NET), a combination of inflation and chronic food insecurity means many in Pakistan are vulnerable to price increases. Poverty and high food prices threaten food security, and in turn fuel inflation.

“The high food prices have impacted people's ability to obtain required calories to live a healthy life,” Amjad Jamal of the UN World Food Programme Public Information Unit told IRIN from Islamabad. “The majority of Pakistanis spend half of their income on buying essential food items and are left with very little for health care and children’s education.

“This also leads to malnutrition in the longer run, which has been seen especially in the wake of recent floods, where Sindh is facing malnutrition problems,” he added.

Ghulam Nabi, a doctor in Shadra, said: “I see children brought in all the time who suffer malnutrition. They are simply not getting the calories they need and the families cannot manage to give them better food.”

Narad · Post by **Narad** » 05 Apr 2011 12:22

Textile export of $2.5b may be lost

LAHROE – The country may lose foreign exchange worth over $2.5 billion, as the textile export target of $4 billion in the last quarter is now on stake amidst gas suspension of three and a half days a week to the industry.

$11b remittances target unattainable

ISLAMABAD - Expatriation of a large number of Pakistanis due to the turmoil which engulfed the Middle East recently, has lessened the chances to achieve target of $11 billion at the end of this fiscal year.
According to data taken from Ministry of Labour and Manpower, so far 4,901 Pakistanis have returned back from Libya, 300 from people from Cairo. Apart from them a large number of other have returned from Tunis, Aljazair, Yemen, Lebanon and Dubai which support the argument that remittances of over $11 billion cannot be achieved during this year, said officials Monday.

Cement dispatches drop since July

KARACHI - Cement dispatches dipped by 7.8 per cent to 16.017 million tons in nine months (July-March) of the current fiscal year, compared to the dispatches of 17.383 million tons recorded during the same period of the last fiscal year, All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) said on Monday.