Chinese whispers
QUOTE:
Numbers can be obscure and complicated, but sometimes they tell a tale of their own. So, with fair warning, chew on these figures a minute: $5.4 billion, $3.7bn, $2.1bn, $1.6bn, $820 million, $1.4bn, $1.6bn and $710m.
That’s the Foreign Direct Investment in Pakistan for each fiscal year from 2007-08 to the first nine months of 2014-15. Not very impressive, is it?
Peak FDI was $5.4bn in 2007-08, the year after the highest GDP growth rate of the Musharraf era of roughly 7pc.
In the first nine months of this fiscal year, FDI (basically, foreigners setting up or buying businesses inside Pakistan) from every country of the world, including China, was $710m.
Now, compare that to the figure you’re going to be hearing a lot this week: $46bn.
QUOTE:
o, let’s start with Turkey. Remember that distant past, some seven years ago, when Punjab was in love with Turkey?
Turkey was the solution to Punjab’s problems and soon there would be so many Turkish people in Punjab and so many Turkish liras sloshing around that you’d think Lahore had become a part of Istanbul’s old quarters. All courtesy the N-League.
But a funny thing happened: nothing. No Turkish people, no Turkish liras, no turning Punjab into a sea of red and white. The PML-N’s economic love affair with Turkey proved such a non-event that you may struggle to remember the frothy nonsense the N-League spouted mere years ago.
Nope, all we got were Turkish soaps.
(If you really want to know the net FDI position, Turkish investors have withdrawn $3.2m from Pakistan this year.)
COMMENT:
A healthy dose of reality to offset the hype generated on the eve of the "higher than mountain " friend ! 