Bharat Rakshak

Why not give up wheat and go for a pure Beef and camel based diet, increase wood exports etc.

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Industry deplores ‘knee-jerk U-turns’ in economic policy - Khaleeq Kiani

ISLAMABAD: The government and the country’s big businesses entered into a serious tug of war over electricity tariff that has increased by almost 35 per cent on average over the past 18 months.

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https://www.geo.tv/latest/267866-wheat- ... he-country
Wheat prices skyrocket across the country
Flour prices across the country have skyrocketed across the country, selling for Rs62/kg across the stores, Geo News reported.
According to Retailers Association, the price of the flour has increased by five rupees in just the last week due to a shortage of wheat supply. “Fine flour is available for Rs62/kg while the price of mill flour has been increased by five to six rupees and being sold between Rs 62/kg to Rs70/kg,” president retailers association said.
In Karachi, a sack of flour is being sold for Rs500.
According to the dealers in the open market, the price of what per kilogram has increased from Rs47 to Rs52 in the open market, while a sack of flour after an increase of Rs500, a 100kg sack is being sold for Rs5,200.
In some parts of the city bags of 10kg flour which cost Rs450 before the crisis are now being sold for Rs700 after an increase of Rs250.
In Hyderabad, the price of flour has reached a record high with a 10kg bag of flour being sold for Rs640.
In Lahore, the Flour Mill Association Punjab has increased the price of flour by Rs6 per kg, after which flour is being sold at Rs70 per kg across the province.
.....
Gautam
Let them eat biryani.

Cash crunch may force PSO to stop oil supply to airlines

ISLAMABAD: The chairman of Pakistan State Oil (PSO) board of management has cautioned the government that oil supply to domestic and international airlines may come to a halt as the company is facing a financial crunch due to payments stuck in the energy chain.

Receivables of PSO swelled to Rs355 billion by January 20, 2020. Financial condition of the oil marketing company appears to have worsened as the board chairman has apprised finance secretary of the situation and difficult state of affairs.

It seems PSO is heading towards a financial crisis which may bring to a halt oil supply to the airlines.

The issue was taken up in a recent meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) when the Petroleum Division sought to offset the loss of Rs28 billion incurred on loans by PSO.

The ECC was informed that PSO had so far suffered a net exchange loss of Rs28 billion on bank loans in the wake of rupee depreciation against the US dollar.

PSO was facing a liquidity crunch as its receivables from power producers, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and the government of Pakistan had swelled to Rs335.7 billion by December 15, 2019, the meeting was told.

PSO profit drops 17% to Rs3.5b

The huge overdue amount was undermining PSO’s ability to make uninterrupted energy supply to different sectors across the country. There was a risk of default by PSO on local and international payments and in that case jet fuel supply to domestic and foreign airlines may be hampered.

The state of affairs had already been conveyed by the PSO board chairman to the finance secretary and delay in reimbursement of the exchange loss on loans may aggravate the situation.

The Petroleum Division told the ECC that the Finance Division had advised oil-importing companies to explore the possibility of making long-term financing arrangements with banks and other financial institutions.

In such financing facilities, extra costs and risks were to be borne by the oil-importing companies whereas the federal government committed to defray such costs and risks.

Following the directives and advice of the Petroleum Division given from time to time, PSO had been utilising FE-25 loans – a deferred payment facility – from domestic and international banks operating in Pakistan since 2013.

In that respect, PSO had to date borne a net exchange loss of Rs28 billion because of rupee depreciation against the dollar.

The Petroleum Division proposed that provision of Rs28 billion on account of exchange loss may be approved in favour of PSO in a bid to improve its liquidity position and ward off any untoward situation.

The ECC gave directives for considering allocation of the requisite amount for PSO in the next financial year. It also directed the finance secretary to explore the possibility of clearing some of the claims in the current fiscal year in consultation with the petroleum secretary.

Responding to The Express Tribune‘s queries, PSO spokesperson said: “PSO is committed to supporting the economic wellbeing of Pakistan with consistent supply of petroleum products. Circular debt is, however, a serious problem in our mission to serve the nation and to expand and grow in future. We continue to work with the government of Pakistan at every level to resolve this longstanding issue.”

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Aditya_V wrote:Why not give up wheat and go for a pure Beef and camel based diet, increase wood exports etc.

If they want to destroy the country, sure. 1kg of beef production requires around 100kg of wheat and a lot of water. Thats a very bad idea for Pakistan and keeping with their tradition, they should go for it.

Please no need to educate them.

High energy, water costs may push Pakistan's apparel industry towards crisis : Our Correspondent

LAHORE: The apparel industry has criticised what it called excessive billing by the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa), Lahore, believing high energy costs coupled with rising water charges will have a disastrous impact on exports and trigger a crisis in the export-oriented textile sector.

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Finance ministry terms govt’s borrowing data misleading.

The Ministry of Finance has declared a report of the economic affairs ministry about $5.5 billion worth of borrowing by Pakistan over the past six months “against the national interest”, saying it has sent erroneous signals to the market.

“Contentions of the report are not only misleading, but also against the national interest as the report sends erroneous signals to the markets, which can have potentially negative consequences for Pakistan’s rapidly stabilising economy,” said the Ministry of Finance in a statement while commenting on news stories based on the economic affairs ministry’s report.

The statement was issued three days after the economic affairs ministry published a report that showed that bilateral and multilateral creditors and commercial banks disbursed $5.52 billion in loans to Pakistan in Jul-Dec of current fiscal year 2019-20.

The economic affairs ministry’s report is also available on its website and this news site.

The term “national interest” has been repeatedly exploited by various governments to hide their inefficiencies and a lack of inter-ministerial coordination.

The media published stories on the basis of economic affairs ministry’s monthly foreign disbursement report, which was made public by the ministry on January 21. Till about six months ago, the Economic Affairs Division was part of the Ministry of Finance. But Prime Minister Imran Khan separated the division from the main finance ministry and appointed Hammad Azhar as the minister for economic affairs.

It was reported earlier that the State Bank of Pakistan had not released the external debt repayment data for the first half, therefore, it was not clear how much of the $5.5 billion had been utilised to repay the maturing debt.

The finance ministry on Saturday disclosed the repayment figure for Jul-Dec 2019 for the first time.

The economic affairs ministry report showed that the disbursement of $5.5 billion was higher by $3.4 billion or 156% compared with loans of $2.2 billion received in the same period of previous fiscal year.

The finance ministry contended that reporting the gross external debt inflows only presents one side of the picture, ignoring outflows on account of repayments, which are the other side of the picture, and a prerequisite for calculating the net or actual increase in external indebtedness of the country.

“Whereas the reported gross disbursement was $5.5 billion in Jul-Dec 2019, deducting the $3.8 billion, which the government paid back during the said period, leaves a net figure of $1.7 billion,” stated the Ministry of Finance. Therefore, the real addition was $1.7 billion, and not $5.5 billion, it added.

The Ministry of Finance maintained that the government recorded net inflows of multilateral and bilateral debt while there was a net retirement of commercial loans and Eurobonds during Jul-Dec 2019, depicting enhanced debt sustainability.

“It is also important to highlight that the growth in gross external inflows was recorded at 31% during Jul-Dec 2019 when compared with the same period of last year, instead of 156%,” it added. The ministry clarified that the gross external public debt inflows during fiscal year 2018-19 were recorded at $10.5 billion and not $16 billion as claimed by a section of the press.

However, the finance ministry is misstating the facts by claiming that the gross external public debt inflows stood at $10.5 billion. It did not include the disbursement of $3 billion by Saudi Arabia, $2 billion by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and $500 million by Qatar in the gross foreign receipts.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had twice visited Riyadh to seek help of Gulf countries in order to avoid default on international debt obligations. The finance ministry stated in its statement that the government repaid $7.4 billion in the last fiscal year, resulting in a net increase of $3.1 billion in the external public debt.

But it has again hidden the full facts. After including $5.5 billion in loans from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, the net increase in debt was $8.6 billion in the previous fiscal year.

https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/whea ... ter-275435
Wheat crisis deepens in Pakistan: People eat more bread in November-December, says minister
WION Web Team New Delhi, Delhi, India Jan 20, 2020.
Pakistan is facing a massive food crisis. Wheat flour shortage has hit the people of the country which has, in turn, resulted in anger amongst the public against the Imran Khan government.
The crisis, which has been looming for the past several months, became even more severe even after prime minister Imran Khan issued orders to the provincial governments to play an active role in curbing food prices, profiteering and hoarding.
The Nanbais (bread makers) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are on a strike against the government, as various associations in Punjab had given a five-day ultimatum to the government asking it to provide them flour at the previous rates or allow them to raise the prices of wheat and wheat products.
While the flour crisis has equally hit all the four provinces and the federal capital, the blame game has ensued between the two. The provincial governments have blamed the federal govt led by Imran Khan for the wheat crisis and subsequent increase in flour prices.
......
Gautam

kittoo wrote:

Aditya_V wrote:Why not give up wheat and go for a pure Beef and camel based diet, increase wood exports etc.

If they want to destroy the country, sure. 1kg of beef production requires around 100kg of wheat and a lot of water. Thats a very bad idea for Pakistan and keeping with their tradition, they should go for it.

Sirji,
You may have the math right, but you are still wrong. It is the dhimmies that produce beef, wheat, camels etc. The peacefools just take them.That is the system.
Gautam

Vips wrote:Pakistan gets record foreign investment hot money in T-bills.

Porkis are touting the hot money as "investments" . The PTI ministers/supporters and other HNI porkis are making a killing by sending money through hawala abroad and bringing back in and getting interest at 10-11% . Similarrly anybody can borrow at 2% from abroad and invest in Pakistan for a 8% spread.

This is part of their by now regular and familiar cycle -

1. Spend forex to keep exchange rate low to feed the expensive tastes of imported goods of the RAPEs and RAPETTEs. Claim Bakistan is a land of Milk and Honey compared to poor dirty India.
2. Run out of forex. Send finance minister out begging to friendly countries (read SA and China) for more loans and gifts.
3. Figure out it is not enough. Watch economy go down the toilet along with exchange rate and aam abduls start going hungry.
4. Run to IMF and YooEss in desperation and negotiate with a gun to their own head as usual.
5. Agree to all IMF conditions knowing fully well none will be complied with.
6. Get IMF money followed by more loans from elsewhere, selling govt. bonds etc. at high interest rates.
7. Forex comes in and swells coffers. Proclaim bakistan as a land of milk and honey once again.
8. Keep going till debt payments come due. Rinse repeat.

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Govt only borrowed Rs4.11tr in 15 months - Our Correspondent

The finance ministry on Sunday said the government had borrowed only Rs4.11 trillion in 15 months to finance the budget deficit and there were other factors responsible for the country’s total debt and liabilities increasing by Rs11.61 trillion = Rs 11,610 Billion or 39% during this period. About US$ 70 Billion

According to a statement issued by the ministry, the figure of total debt and liabilities consisted of five components —total public debt, public sector entities’ debt, debt for commodity operations, foreign exchange liabilities of the State Bank and the private sector’s external debt.

It maintained that Rs3.54 trillion or 31% of the increase was due to currency depreciation, which was “a consequence of the misplaced exchange-rate, industrial, and trade policies of the previous government that led to large and unsustainable current account deficits and ultimately to sharp exchange rate adjustment.”

The ministry attributed around 27% of the increase or Rs3.13 trillion to cash balances and SBP’s foreign exchange liabilities. “It should not be interpreted as debt because it is an offset by cash balances of government and liquid assets of the SBP,” the statement read.

It further said Rs0.47 trillion or 4% of the increase was due to borrowing by public sector entities for spending on their financing needs.

Around 2% of the increase or Rs0.25 trillion was attributed to accounting adjustment due to difference in realised value and face value of long-term bonds issued and Rs0.18 trillion or 2% of the increase to borrowing by the private sector from external sources. which was “a healthy sign indicating private sector’s capacity to borrow from abroad for domestic investments”.

Fake account opened in LTC’s name

The ministry also noted that Rs0.08 trillion or -1% of the increase had been retired on account of commodity operations, which was “a welcome development”.

“Rs4.11 trillion or 35% of the increase has been borrowed [by the government] for financing of the fiscal deficit,” it added.

The ministry said the finance division presented the debt policy statement and fiscal policy statement before the National Assembly every year to fulfil the requirements laid out under Section 6 and 7 of the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation Act 2005.

The finance ministry had informed the lower house of parliament that the per capita debt had jumped by 28% to Rs153,689 at the end of last fiscal year, while confessing that all the budget strategy targets were also missed that caused faster accumulation of public debt.

It also revealed that the current expenditures remained at 19-year high level in last fiscal year 2018-19. Compared to this, the development spending was the lowest in 11 years in terms of total size of the economy.

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US soft on Pakistan, which is trying to get off the `Grey List' in FATF.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-ne ... L6mcL.html

However, diplomats from both European nations [neither of the two European countries is buying Pakistan's nonsense about doing enough to come off the grey list] contended that there has been a softening of the US position on Pakistan’s case at FATF, and they attributed this to Washington’s hope that Islamabad will play a role in arranging a deal with the Taliban. Such a deal is crucial for US plans to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, preferably before the American presidential election later this year.

I am almost certain that Pakistan will be let off once again. If anything, this should show us the folly of believing that the US will ever side with India. US doesn't care about terrorism that affects India, and we shouldn't bother to worry over much about the US concerns.

Shanmukh wrote:US soft on Pakistan, which is trying to get off the `Grey List' in FATF.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-ne ... L6mcL.html

However, diplomats from both European nations [neither of the two European countries is buying Pakistan's nonsense about doing enough to come off the grey list] contended that there has been a softening of the US position on Pakistan’s case at FATF, and they attributed this to Washington’s hope that Islamabad will play a role in arranging a deal with the Taliban. Such a deal is crucial for US plans to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, preferably before the American presidential election later this year.

I am almost certain that Pakistan will be let off once again. If anything, this should show us the folly of believing that the US will ever side with India. US doesn't care about terrorism that affects India, and we shouldn't bother to worry over much about the US concerns.

I think our real folly is the belief that FATF (or international pressure, in general) can get Pak to mend its ways. It can’t. We’ve repeatedly learnt that international pressure comes and goes based on geopolitical events, not moralities. Pak will simply lie low until the current pressure dissipates.

Pak has been kicked out of Commomwealth, has had sanctions imposed, and had itself promised to “not let its territory be used against India”.

At the end of the day, Pak only understands one language and we cannot depend on anyone to fight our war.

I think our real folly is the belief that FATF (or international pressure, in general) can get Pak to mend its ways. It can’t. We’ve repeatedly learnt that international pressure comes and goes based on geopolitical events, not moralities. Pak will simply lie low until the current pressure dissipates.

Pak has been kicked out of Commomwealth, has had sanctions imposed, and had itself promised to “not let its territory be used against India”.

At the end of the day, Pak only understands one language and we cannot depend on anyone to fight our war.

Pakistan is lead by the military who see everything from a security perspective. While civilian governments keep armies to maintain control, Pakistan keeps a civilian population to support the army.

Only way that TSP will stop terror funding, is if goes against the interest of the armed forces. It is not only about India, it is also about Afghanistan. From a TSP perpective, investing in a few thousand Jehadis, keeps 500K IA soldiers busy. So Indias strategy is to make it expensive other places, like mendling in Balochistan. Having said that, statistics show that terror has been going down but were up again in 2019.

If you watch Pakistani TV, people are increasingly challenging the nurturing of terrorists in Pakistan. Pakistan built its whole foreign policy and security strategy around getting Kashmir. This is proven a disaster for TSP economy and reputation (were used by US in Afganistan against USSR. Now they have been screwed by the Chinese who have made them invest in costly infrastructure at very high costs).

Between 5:30 and 7:30 - This year the total revenues of Pakistan is not even enough to pay the interest on its outstanding loans.
The economist who is giving this information is that Pakistan is not even capable of generating enough resources to give money to its armed forces.
Note the first thing he could think of is the armed forces and not about development and social expenses

Vips wrote:

Between 5:30 and 7:30 - This year the total revenues of Pakistan is not even enough to pay the interest on its outstanding loans.
The economist who is giving this information is that Pakistan is not even capable of generating enough resources to give money to its armed forces.
Note the first thing he could think of is the armed forces and not about development and social expenses

Is there a different link? The video does not seem to be available anymore.

Here it is:

Vips wrote:Here it is:

Thanks!

Here are a couple of more recent videos by Paki economists:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP5eBos2YsE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hawDfFnuzrc


Another one by Najam Sethi (not strictly about economy) in which he states that Pakis are still heavily dependent on Saudi and America and they are getting diddly squat from Malaysia or Turkey other than some meaningless statements (i.e talk is cheap).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9KkwFX0p_Y

The IMF people are there in Islamabad, insisting on a mini budget and more taxes.

The closing of the attari border has hit them hard, the price of onion, potatoes and tomatoes and dal has shot up by 78%.
and they know it but would not admit it.

any which way, they are going to end up with 9% fiscal defecit, which will make 2020 the most painful year since 1971.

He omitted the third one, the 800 pound gorilla. The Army. Which has the first dibs on country's resources but has nothing to show for it. If the army's expenditure can be cut to 2% of the GDP there would be no need for IMF bailouts

saip wrote:He omitted the third one, the 800 pound gorilla. The Army. Which has the first dibs on country's resources but has nothing to show for it. If the army's expenditure can be cut to 2% of the GDP there would be no need for IMF bailouts

Typical Paki "intellectual". He was kicked out because he is an Ahmediyya but he is unwilling to take on the pakfauj. BTW, pakfauj is the golden nexus between the landed/aristocratic/rent seeking class (which is the first culprit identified by him) and the religious extremists (which is the second culprit).

Do any one know what dictate IMF given to Imran for next trench ?

Having looked at Pakistan, I dont think the nation can really survive without its 3.5 friends. for the 3.5 friends the value of Pakistan is that it is a pain in the Butt to India and stops our access to Central Asia. It is a tool to control India.

Now the 3.5 friends don't want to admit the true agenda and with the Indian diaspora becoming more critical hence FATF type fake actions. If even 1 completely withdraws complete support, Pakistan becomes economically unviable.

But Paki generals have got used too Big and too important to fail as they been repeatedly propped up that they are no longer bothered about making their population work. AT some time if we hold on long enough somebody is going to find Pakistan too expensive to maintain.

yensoy wrote:

saip wrote:He omitted the third one, the 800 pound gorilla. The Army. Which has the first dibs on country's resources but has nothing to show for it. If the army's expenditure can be cut to 2% of the GDP there would be no need for IMF bailouts

Typical Paki "intellectual". He was kicked out because he is an Ahmediyya but he is unwilling to take on the pakfauj. BTW, pakfauj is the golden nexus between the landed/aristocratic/rent seeking class (which is the first culprit identified by him) and the religious extremists (which is the second culprit).

Should see one of the previous posts of Dr Kaiser Bengali, he doesn't hesitate to take the Fauj head on. Says, they should confront the elephant in the room. At the very least look at non-combat expenditure (indirectly hinting at Generals and their fancy land grabs) & capital assets.

Interest payments swallow 57% of tax revenues - Shahbaz Rana

ISLAMABAD: The federal government’s efforts to consolidate its budget have been overshadowed by a 46% increase in interest payments that ate up Rs1.3 trillion or 57% of tax revenues in first half of the current fiscal year, showed the Ministry of Finance’s latest data.

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Pakistani traders face 'huge losses' due to coronavirus outbreak - Ihsan Dawar

b]ABBOTTABAD: Pakistani traders are suffering “huge losses” in the fallout of coronavirus outbreak[/b] owing to delays in the imports of goods from China besides a major slump in demand of Chinese products.

The death toll from virus epidemic jumped past 1,500 on Saturday but new infections fell following a mid-week surge caused by a change in the way cases are counted.

More than 66,000 people have now been infected in China from a virus that emerged in central Hubei province in December before spreading across the country a month later and causing global panic.

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^Bakistan is reaching new heights! Its' perishable food inflation is now 78%, better growth than the 72% which they aimed for. Too bad that their non-perishable food and general inflation has to still catch up to 72%.

BTW, what is the difference between: "non-perishable food", "food" & "perishable-food" ? I mean how come Bakistan has invented a category of food which is between non-perishable and perishable? Something like non-perishable perishable OR perishable, non-perisable ?

disha wrote:^Bakistan is reaching new heights! Its' perishable food inflation is now 78%, better growth than the 72% which they aimed for. Too bad that their non-perishable food and general inflation has to still catch up to 72%.

BTW, what is the difference between: "non-perishable food", "food" & "perishable-food" ? I mean how come Bakistan has invented a category of food which is between non-perishable and perishable? Something like non-perishable perishable OR perishable, non-perisable ?

disha Ji :
Non-perishable food items are those with a much longer shelf life and don't require refrigeration. ... Typically, non-perishable foods include canned goods, dry goods and dehydrated foods.

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Baaz ji, What about the food-after-perishing? (I refer to the bakras, murgis etc)

Manish_P wrote:Baaz ji, What about the food-after-perishing? (I refer to the bakras, murgis etc)

Manish P Ji :

If Halal then OK otherwise not!

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Understood that, sir. I was asking about the prices? When we can expect to see the Baki awaam shifting to donkeys and dogs... after all they are not seasonal like the locusts.

PS - Growing vegetarianism in Pakistan — a choice or a necessity?

A recent report showed Pakistan to be the second-fastest growing vegetarian country in the world. Analysts say high inflation is impacting the food patterns of many Pakistanis, compelling them to give up eating meat.

Manish_P wrote:Understood that, sir. I was asking about the prices? When we can expect to see the Baki awaam shifting to donkeys and dogs... after all they are not seasonal like the locusts.

PS - Growing vegetarianism in Pakistan — a choice or a necessity?

A recent report showed Pakistan to be the second-fastest growing vegetarian country in the world. Analysts say high inflation is impacting the food patterns of many Pakistanis, compelling them to give up eating meat.

No no no. Please only beef and leather industry. And full cutting of all it trees. Pakistan in population density, landscape etc. should be like west Asia.

^^you do realize at some point we will have to handle that mess sir
also can they eat locusts? insects are richer protein no??? there used to be a song in 2011-12 days by a pakistani singer ...meri main ne banaye aloo ande...in which they guy is regretting he can't have mutton/chicken and has to live with daal aloo ande, he also talks about ajmal kasab, extensions of jernails and why abussalam is not remembered....there still seem to be few odd sane souls in the country.. hope they are being identified curated for post IROP phase....