Bharat Rakshak

Cyrano wrote:Any investment by Indian businesses is like putting one's child under mafia care. Invitation for blackmail and perennial ransom payments. Moreover, what business sense does it make to invest in a failing state where mobs appear in a jiffy for pelting and arson? Paagal ho gayein hai kya ? This delusion must stop.

chetak wrote:That said, there are some parsee and kannadiga "industrialists" very very keen on investing across the border and raring to go.

such scum must be taken down a peg or two or three...

Cyrano wrote:

chetak wrote:That said, there are some parsee and kannadiga "industrialists" very very keen on investing across the border and raring to go.

such scum must be taken down a peg or two or three...

When a million opportunities are available within India and elsewhere, anyone going out of the way to invest in Pak despite obvious risks is not an entrepreneur out to make money. He is a colluder in the ransom game to generate leverage for Pak against India. Such people are traitors and must we dealt with as such.

Neela wrote:https://www.dawn.com/news/1745591/stock-market-decline

Even though the benchmark KSE-100 index dropped just 1pc in the three-month period, the returns tumbled 21pc in dollar terms — the highest decline in three years after the index fell 33pc in the same period in 2020 — with the home currency falling 20pc against the American greenback

Paul wrote:Wajahat S Khan has migrated to the US and from there is striking out for Imran Khan. He was always anti Sharifs , self styles himself of Baloch origin

Manish_P wrote:

Neela wrote:https://www.dawn.com/news/1745591/stock-market-decline

Enchandee being maintained

Neela wrote:...
Gentle jirga members who can speak native Pashtun and pure Islamic Urdu...what does "Watt laga di dada ji" mean ?...

Neela wrote:https://www.opindia.com/2023/04/pakista ... rom-india/
‘Watt laga di dada ji’: Pakistani journalist Arzoo Kazmi regrets grandfather’s decision to migrate from India

Gentle jirga members who can speak native Pashtun and pure Islamic Urdu...what does "Watt laga di dada ji" mean ?


Surely, India is a hotbed of Hindutva terrorism. Why do these folks yearn for this monstrosity of a country?

Bart S wrote:.....

She is a fan of Indian movies and frequently quotes them on her channel which is mostly (maybe exclusively) watched by Indians and her humour is pretty good on a lot of Paki things. She probably picked this (typical Bombay slang) up from Ajay Devgan etc type movies.

Neela wrote:https://www.opindia.com/2023/04/pakista ... rom-india/
‘Watt laga di dada ji’: Pakistani journalist Arzoo Kazmi regrets grandfather’s decision to migrate from India

Gentle jirga members who can speak native Pashtun and pure Islamic Urdu...what does "Watt laga di dada ji" mean ?


Surely, India is a hotbed of Hindutva terrorism. Why do these folks yearn for this monstrosity of a country?

The country has produced 34 per cent less cotton this year as compared with the crop yield last season, reveals data with Pakistan Cotton Gin­ners Association (PCGA).

The final figures for the crop year 2022-23 show that Pakistan produced 4,912,069 bales, the lowest in around four decades, of cotton against 7,441,833 in the 2021-22 season, a year-on-year decline of 2,528,764 bales or 34cpc loss.

It means the textile industry will have to import around 10 million bales to satiate its annual hunger for 15 m bales. However, mill consumption in the year 2022-23 has also been reported at 8.8vm bales, the lowest in over 20 years, mainly because of severe import financing issues.

Manish_P wrote:After bhooka bakistan, time for nanga na-pakistan?

Yawn - Pakistan sees lowest output of cotton in four decades

The country has produced 34 per cent less cotton this year as compared with the crop yield last season, reveals data with Pakistan Cotton Gin­ners Association (PCGA).

The final figures for the crop year 2022-23 show that Pakistan produced 4,912,069 bales, the lowest in around four decades, of cotton against 7,441,833 in the 2021-22 season, a year-on-year decline of 2,528,764 bales or 34cpc loss.

It means the textile industry will have to import around 10 million bales to satiate its annual hunger for 15 m bales. However, mill consumption in the year 2022-23 has also been reported at 8.8vm bales, the lowest in over 20 years, mainly because of severe import financing issues.

Politicians and the IMF are failing Pakistan’s most vulnerable, laments Murtaza Syed
A former central banker on the coming chaos in his country and what to do about it

Mar 28th 2023

The problems of Pakistan are encapsulated in the lives of two people I have met in recent months. Mariam Bibi still lives with her five children in a makeshift tent beside the Indus River in north-west Pakistan, eight months after their lives were turned upside down by extensive flooding. Even finding enough to feed and clothe her children is problematic. There are 30m poor people like her in Pakistan who are still feeling the effect of the floods.

Asif Zaman is a designer at an advertising agency in Karachi. Despite having an undergraduate degree, he makes less than $4 a day. Over the past year, the cost of his groceries and bills has shot up because of soaring inflation and a 60% depreciation of the rupee. There are 45m lower-middle-class people who are struggling like him.

The country’s economic crisis has brought it to the brink of default. Pakistan’s politicians and the imf are failing people like Mariam and Asif, and the consequences of this could be disastrous.

It did not have to be this way. Scarcely 18 months ago, Pakistan was doing relatively well. It handled covid-19 successfully, keeping casualties and economic fallout to a minimum. The pandemic saw public debt soar across the world, but it fell in Pakistan as a result of commendable fiscal discipline. Foreign-exchange reserves rose to all-time highs of over $20bn.

But at the end of 2021, with a large amount of external debt coming due over the next few years, the government had no choice but to resume the imf programme that had been paused due to covid-19. Everybody knew it was the only way for Pakistan to meet its external payments.

This is when policymakers took some reckless decisions. Amid political instability, a populist energy subsidy created a fiscal hole of 1.5% of gdp. More recently, the rupee was artificially propped up through curbs on imports, bringing many industries to their knees. No attempt was made to reduce wasteful government spending or energy usage, nor to win back external creditors who dumped Pakistani assets, unnerved by irresponsible comments from policymakers. As a result, foreign-exchange reserves have today been nearly depleted and the currency has tanked.

The imf has watched Pakistan commit hara-kiri with bemusement. Although it now appears willing to help pull the country back from the abyss by reviving its lending programme, the Fund is also complicit in some grave mistakes.

First, despite all the talk of putting the burden of adjustment on the rich, the main fiscal response the Fund has agreed with the government is an increase in the sales tax—a highly regressive measure. There is not even a hint of taxing property (an unproductive asset where illicit wealth is frequently stashed), agriculture (which is dominated by large landlords) or the retail sector (home to most of Pakistan’s nouveaux riches). This is a historic opportunity missed to broaden the tax base in a progressive way.

Second, the only real protection being offered to the poor is through bisp, a cash-transfer programme covering 9m families who live on less than 70 cents a day. They will receive an extra 30 cents per day. In a country where 40% of the population—90m people—earn less than the World Bank’s middle-income poverty line and where inflation is running at a 50-year high of 30%, this protection is little more than cosmetic.

Third, the government and the imf are pretending that Pakistan’s public debt is sustainable. Pakistan has external financing needs of $35bn in each of the next five years, against foreign exchange reserves of just $4bn. During this time, the government will need to pay 5% of gdp each year in interest payments on the debt it owes to residents and foreigners. Our total tax take is only 10% of gdp. If ever a country needed debt relief, it is Pakistan. Denying this is a recipe for disaster. The austerity it would necessitate could spark major social unrest.

And fourth, the imf is faltering in its traditional role as lender of last resort. Instead of helping to round up creditors, it has asked Pakistan to do so on its own, reflecting the imf’s weakened role at the heart of the global financial safety net as new creditors, like China, have emerged. Even the World Bank is no longer automatically coming to the rescue, though the imf has approved Pakistan’s policies.

So where to from here? The imf programme needs to be revived immediately. Flexibility is needed on both sides. Next, debt relief must be delivered despite the obvious co-ordination difficulties. Last, the most vulnerable must be protected while shifting the burden of austerity onto the rich.

Beyond this immediate relief, Pakistan must start to tackle the underlying maladies that have led it to the imf a record 23 times: a low tax take, faltering exports and abysmal levels of investment in human and physical capital. A good place to start would be to redefine its social contract. This will require Pakistan’s elites to put aside their differences and finally gamble on economic development. In turn, the global community can help by providing a conducive environment for Pakistan’s exports and by investing in the country. The hour is late. The poor and vulnerable, like Mariam and Asif, cannot wait much longer.■

Murtaza Syed recently served as acting governor of the central bank of Pakistan and was previously an official at the IMF.

eklavya wrote:...
Politicians and the IMF are failing Pakistan’s most vulnerable, laments Murtaza Syed
...

It did not have to be this way. Scarcely 18 months ago, Pakistan was doing relatively well. It handled covid-19 successfully, keeping casualties and economic fallout to a minimum. The pandemic saw public debt soar across the world, but it fell in Pakistan as a result of commendable fiscal discipline. Foreign-exchange reserves rose to all-time highs of over $20bn.

But at the end of 2021, with a large amount of external debt coming due over the next few years, the government had no choice but to resume the imf programme that had been paused due to covid-19. Everybody knew it was the only way for Pakistan to meet its external payments.

...

The Pakistani rupee hit a new all-time low at Rs 288 against the US dollar on Tuesday in the interbank market amid delays in the revival of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme and the looming high risk of default on foreign debt repayment.

The currency slumped 1% (or Rs 2.86) to Rs 287.90 against the greenback at around 10:23 am today. A day earlier, the rupee had closed at Rs285.04 per US dollar.

Manish_P wrote:

eklavya wrote:...
Politicians and the IMF are failing Pakistan’s most vulnerable, laments Murtaza Syed
...

It did not have to be this way. Scarcely 18 months ago, Pakistan was doing relatively well. It handled covid-19 successfully, keeping casualties and economic fallout to a minimum. The pandemic saw public debt soar across the world, but it fell in Pakistan as a result of commendable fiscal discipline. Foreign-exchange reserves rose to all-time highs of over $20bn.

But at the end of 2021, with a large amount of external debt coming due over the next few years, the government had no choice but to resume the imf programme that had been paused due to covid-19. Everybody knew it was the only way for Pakistan to meet its external payments.

...

hard to take him seriously when he makes statements like that.. He is just trying to sell non-existent bridges

All he is doing is to demand debt relief (IMF to pay off China debts) and requesting that they (the west) be flexible while bakistan will try and attempt to get it's elites 'to gamble on economic development' for which the world again needs to make special concessions 'by providing a conducive environment for Pakistan’s exports'

neela wrote:
Wasnt debt repayment paused due to the pandemic?
World Bank debt service relief: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/debt ... initiative
IMF relief: https://www.imf.org/en/Topics/imf-and-c ... acker#CCRT

That's commendable action there hain Manish-ji? Pakistan is very clever.

Neela wrote:

Manish_P wrote:
hard to take him seriously when he makes statements like that.. He is just trying to sell non-existent bridges

All he is doing is to demand debt relief (IMF to pay off China debts) and requesting that they (the west) be flexible while bakistan will try and attempt to get it's elites 'to gamble on economic development' for which the world again needs to make special concessions 'by providing a conducive environment for Pakistan’s exports'

chetak wrote:....

are these scum born entitled or do they attend some specialized "entitlement madraasa" that teaches them how to leach off the kaafirs eternally....

Manish_P wrote:

eklavya wrote:...
Politicians and the IMF are failing Pakistan’s most vulnerable, laments Murtaza Syed
...It did not have to be this way. Scarcely 18 months ago, Pakistan was doing relatively well. It handled covid-19 successfully, keeping casualties and economic fallout to a minimum. The pandemic saw public debt soar across the world, but it fell in Pakistan as a result of commendable fiscal discipline. Foreign-exchange reserves rose to all-time highs of over $20bn.

But at the end of 2021, with a large amount of external debt coming due over the next few years, the government had no choice but to resume the imf programme that had been paused due to covid-19. Everybody knew it was the only way for Pakistan to meet its external payments....

All he is doing is to demand debt relief (IMF to pay off China debts) and requesting that they (the west) be flexible while bakistan will try and attempt to get it's elites 'to gamble on economic development' for which the world again needs to make special concessions 'by providing a conducive environment for Pakistan’s exports'

chetak wrote:Manish ji,

Vaat lagli.....

The fact that there are phone assembling units in pukestan is news in itself

"We need more resources and financing," the minister told the ambassador, in response to which Blome assured cooperation from the United States.

The meeting with Blome came days after FinMin Dar met UAE's ambassador to Pakistan Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salim Al-Zaabi, where they discussed economic relations.

Aditya_V wrote:Why this obsession with flour, Pakistan still has a lot of livestock

g.sarkar wrote:https://www.dawn.com/news/1746154
“We all knew that poverty exists and persists, but the sheer scale of misery which has surfaced with this flour distribution scheme is alarming,” says Farooq Tariq, a leader of the Pakistan Workers Party.
.....
Gautam

partha wrote:US to 'help Pakistan' unlock IMF deal

Any body language experts? The way US ambassador is clutching his hands to the sofa, it seems like he wants to run away from the meeting.

Dar pulls out of WB-IMF spring meetings

Cites deepening political uncertainty, developing judicial crisis in country as reasons.
“I am not going due to the domestic state of affairs,” the finance minister confirmed to The Express Tribune on Thursday.

Dar had a confirmed meeting with IMF Deputy Managing Director Antoinette Monsio Sayeh next Thursday but Managing Director Ms Kristalina Georgieva did not give time for the meeting.

The sources said that Janet Yellen, the treasury secretary, also had not given an appointment, nor did Waly Adeyemo, the treasury deputy secretary.

Similarly, Samantha Power, the USAID administrator, was also not available for the meeting but a meeting had been scheduled with the assistant administrator of the USAID to South Asia.

partha wrote:...

If KSA confirmed giving a deposit of $2 billion to secure IMF loan, why cancel a crucial trip to US to secure IMF loan? Was the news of KSA's $2 billion deposit yesterday fake news just like Russian oil arriving in March?

The State Bank reported the closing price of dollar as Rs284.42 against Rs287.85 on Wednesday. The rupee appreciated by Rs3.42 or 1.21 per cent.

“I believe the PKR appreciated against the US dollar only because of the reports that appeared in the media that Saudi Arabia was ready to provide $2bn to keep in the account of State Bank,” said Zafar Paracha, general secretary of the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan.

The finance minister is scheduled to visit the UAE for another $1bn required to fulfil the IMF demand

partha wrote:https://tribune.com.pk/story/2410418/da ... g-meetings

Dar pulls out of WB-IMF spring meetings

A National Security Committee (NSC) meeting on Friday agreed to launch an “all-out comprehensive operation” to rid the country of the menace of terrorism.

The NSC acts as the principal decision-making body on national security matters. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif presided over the body’s 41st meeting today, which was attended by senior civil and military leadership.

The meeting was held at the Prime Minister’s House and initially lasted for two hours. It was later resumed and concluded in the evening.

partha wrote:https://www.dawn.com/news/1746397/pm-sh ... al-turmoil
...
Most likely this meeting was to discuss the real possibility of default.

Amid a thorny debate in political circles over the conduct of elections in Punjab in mid May, the top civil and military leadership on Friday reaffirmed their commitment to thwart terror threats and vowed to re-launch the National Action Plan (NAP) within 15 days to crush militants reportedly coming in from Afghanistan.

Without directly blaming the previous PTI government for the resurgence of terrorism in tribal districts along the border with Afghanistan, they agreed to initiate new multi-pronged and comprehensive operations, as well as combined efforts on the diplomatic, security, economic and social fronts for the elimination of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

The NSC’s decisions to launch a massive operation may further shrink chances of elections in Punjab, two days after the government had categorically refused to implement the court order regarding May 14 polls.

After the central bank hiked its policy rate to a massive 21pc and following a historic surge in secondary market coupons, the Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) on Friday increased profit rates on all national savings schemes by significant margins.

..

The returns on saving accounts and certificates are linked with the central bank’s policy rates and are normally kept slightly higher to ensure better returns to small savers without drastically affecting the government budget.

However, the government is paying over 21pc returns to secondary market players in investment bonds and Treasury bills but still paying lower returns to its own citizens.

According to a series of notifications issued by the Ministry of Finance on Friday, the CDNS has increased the profit rate on the Defence Saving Certificates by 261 basis points to 14.87pc. The rate was 9.29pc in May last year.

Likewise, the returns on Behbood Savings Certificates, Pensioners’ Benefit Accounts and Shuhada Family Welfare Accounts have been raised by 264 bps to 16.56pc.

The return on Regular Income Certificates has been raised to 12.84pc of total investment, an increase of 24 bps.

The profit margin on the three-year Special Saving Certificates and Special Savings Account was increased by over 400 bps to 17pc for the first five profits and to 17.8pc for the sixth profit. The average return for this category now stands at 17.13pc compared to 13.1pc previously.

The return on Saving Accounts (running accounts) has been increased by 400 bps to 18.5pc.

On the other hand, the return on Short-Term Savings Certificate has been raised to 19.92pc, 19.64pc and 19.82pc for three-, six- and 12-month tenors, respectively, after an increase of about 380, 364 and 386 bps.