More positive reports on Pakistan’s rapidly improving economy:-
Pakistan’s positive angle on difficult times](BBC NEWS | Business | Pakistan's positive angle on difficult times)
Interesting article:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_11-5-2003_pg5_6
Musharraf’s economic policies paying dividends
Daily Times Monitor
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has gained substantially in terms of its economy since it joined the US-led “war against terrorism”, with rapid growth in foreign exchange earnings, the manufacturing sector and tax revenues, reported Asia Times.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to rise by more than 4.5 percent during the current fiscal year ending June 2003, and latest forecasts project a 5-5.5 percent growth rate during the next two fiscals. The rate of inflation is stable at below 4 percent, with little threat of any dramatic rise. The budget deficit is also likely to be contained within the announced benchmark of 4.6 percent of GDP.
The turnaround started soon after September 11, 2001. Large external flows of new concessional multilateral loans, re-profiling of the entire official bilateral external stock of debt and one-off budgetary grants helped build coffers to the tune of $10.5 billion. The current account, which was in a historical deficit, posted a surplus of $2.22 billion last year (July-June 2001-02), and $4.38 billion until April 2003. Even if official transfers, including the Saudi Oil Facility (SOF), are excluded, the current account balance was in surplus by $2.56 billion this year, as compared to $1.014 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal.
The State Bank of Pakistan made large outright purchases of dollars of almost $10 billion in recent years to accumulate these reserves. Growing inflows sent by overseas workers through official banking channels provided this window of opportunity. Remittances during the July-April period were about $3.2 billion, which the government hoped would cross $4 billion mark during the year.
Foreign Direct Investment has also trickled in, with a $658 million total in 10 months. At least one major private sector bank, United Bank Limited, has been sold during this difficult period. Portfolio investment is also in the positive column after a long time, showing an over bullish trend in the market that has taken the KSE-100 Share Index to all-time highs.
There were genuine reasons to be skeptical about this positive trend in the external sector. Many believe that it was due to one-off factors and would not be sustainable. However, recent signs of growth in the real economy are more promising. “There are indications suggesting that the growth was broad based,” said Nawid Hamid, senior economist of the Asian Development Bank. He maintained that industrial sector activity, agriculture growth and trends of international trade all support this assessment.
The large-scale manufacturing sector (LSM), according to official data of the Ministry of Industries, registered an average growth of 11.71 percent during July-March period of the current fiscal. The growth rate registered in the third quarter (January-March) was the highest, at 15.38 percent, as against 10.39 percent during second quarter (October-December) and 5.11 percent during the first quarter of 2002-03.
A new wave of car leasing and auto-cash facilities offered by commercial banks, awash with liquidity, along with new consumer finance schemes, has provided new impetus. However, the textile, cement and sugar industries have also shown buoyancy. The production of cement during this period was up by 20 percent, sugar grew by 12 percent and cotton cloth by 13 percent. With textiles having 19.1 percent weightage in the LSM basket, followed by 8.6 percent of sugar and 1.9 percent of cement, the overall growth rate has been dramatic.
The consumer goods industry, like deep freezers, refrigerators and TVs, and the auto industry, including cars (52 percent), motorcycles (33 percent), light commercial vehicles (58 percent), buses (42 percent), trucks (118 percent) and tractors (17 percent) have all shown robust performances in this period.
As a result of the higher economic activity, the Central Board of Revenue collected about Rs 310 billion (US$5.3 billion) in taxes during July-March 2002-03, registering an increase of 15 percent over the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. The board needs to collect another Rs 149 billion in the last quarter of the current financial year to meet its annual target of Rs 460 billion, which it is sure to do. The revenue generation will also mean that the budget deficit will remain within limits.
Exports during the period under review totaled $7.86 billion, as compared to $6.53 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year, registering a record increase of 20.4 percent. Mainly textile manufactures, ready-made garments, knitwear and bed wear were exported during this period. Imports during the first three quarters increased at an even higher pace of 22.8 percent, from $7.3 billion of the last year to about $9 billion during the current fiscal year. This includes 37 percent higher machinery imports, which the government claimed was a reflection of increased industrial, manufacturing and investment activity in the country.
On the trade account, the facility granted by the European Union in response to Pakistan’s support against the Taliban and al-Qaeda helped a lot, as the textile sector results show. However, the United States has not offered much in terms of trade concessions. Only a $142 million additional quota was granted over a three-year period. Pakistan’s exports to the US increased from $2.25 billion in the year 2001 to $2.3 billion in 2002. At the same time, imports from the US increased from $542 million to $693.8 million.
However, US support for Pakistan within the multilateral institutions, as well as bilateral debt relief, helped Pakistan reduce its debt-servicing burden from 66 percent of budgetary revenues in 1999-2000 to 46 percent in 2002-03. The US recently provided Pakistan $188 million under the Economic Support Fund (ESF) to help buy down the $1 billion bilateral loan that Islamabad owed to Washington. US budget proposals for 2004 also indicated $395 million in new commitments, including $200 million under the ESF to help reduce the debt burden further.
However, Islamabad had made an official request to the US to waive the remaining stock of $1.8 billion debt in recognition of Islamabad’s support against terrorism. Pakistan has helped catch and extradite almost 450 terrorists during the past 18 months, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and Abu Zubaida.
A senior official at the Ministry of Finance said that Pakistan was also seeking continued support in the issue of market access, and sales of defense articles from the US during 2004. This issue, he said, would be discussed in detail with Richard Armitage, US Deputy Secretary of State, who arrived in Pakistan on Wednesday “to promote peace and stability in the South Asia region”.
One of the primary agenda items of Armitage’s visit is to help facilitate dialogue between India and Pakistan ahead of President General Pervez Musharraf’s visit to Washington in June 2003. Musharraf is due to meet President George W Bush to seek further economic assistance, investment and trade guarantees, and military cooperation in the fight against terrorism.
The timing of his visit is also crucial for Musharraf’s personal political standing. Opposition parties have refused to accept a president in uniform, and the wide powers he still retains, including the discretion to dismiss the elected assemblies and the prime minister.
However, many diplomatic observes believe that it is time for Musharraf to concede more to the US to pave the way for better Pakistan-India relations, a process that has been revitalized in the past few weeks with the planned resumption of air, rail road and diplomatic links. Islamabad has also added 78 more items to the tradable list under the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.
For fully-successful ties, though, much will depend on concessions granted on the issue of Kashmir, and the Line of Control (LoC) that divides the disputed Himalayan region between the two countries. In this regard, Musharraf’s summit meeting with Bush could hold the key
Interesting projection on the growth rate:
http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/may-2003/11/main/top4.asp
.2 per cent GDP growth target likely
From Mehtab Haider
ISLAMABAD – The Jamali government is considering to set 5.2 per cent GDP growth rate target as Pakistan’s economic managers are looking towards ambitious goals in the upcoming fiscal in a bid to boost economic activities in the country.
The “Finance Ministry is likely to set GDP growth rate target of 5 to 5.2 per cent for the fiscal year 2003-04 and consultations in this regard are already under way at the highest level,” a high-level official in the Ministry told The Nation here on Saturday.
The International Financial Institutions (IFIs) such as the IMF, WB and ADB have been claiming conceded this fact that poverty was on the rise since 1999 and Pakistan could combat this menace effectively only if it consistently achieved the GDP growth to the level of over 5 per cent in years to come.
About 36 per cent population has been living below the poverty line, though there is no official data about the rising trend of poverty in Pakistan since 1999 after military take-over.
Pakistan wants to achieve 4.5 per cent GDP growth rate target during the current fiscal year and performance in agriculture, large-scale manufacturing and services sectors remains well due to which the economic managers are quite confident to achieve the set target. The country had achieved GDP growth 3.6 per cent in fiscal year 2001-02.
“We have decided to set over 3 per cent agri growth target in next fiscal year, which will help to realise the overall growth rate target in upcoming financial year,” the official added.
Agriculture growth in Pakistan has suffered badly over the last three years mainly due to IMF backed anti-growth policies accepted by the economic managers for this neglected sector. The situation also aggravated due to unprecedented water shortage faced by Pakistan in last three years.
Although the water crisis still persists in Pakistan, its intensity remained low during the current fiscal year, enabling the government to achieve its set goals in ongoing financial year. The government believes that it will be able to achieve its desired 2.7 per cent agri growth target during the current financial year.
The large-scale manufacturing also seems set to perform well during the current financial year and economic managers are optimistic about achieving the desired target of 6.5 per cent by the end of the day.
The services sector is also performing well during the current fiscal year. “We may surpass set GDP growth target of 4.5 per cent in current fiscal year,” the official claimed. He added that the large-scale manufacturing was growing almost 8 per cent against the target of 6.5 per cent in first 10 months and agriculture sector was also moving in the desired direction.
“We expect bumper wheat crop this time,” he said and added Pakistan’s economy would achieve its desired goals in the ongoing fiscal.
According to the Finance Ministry bigwigs, the country’s economy has reached to the take-off stage and now the ambitious growth rate target could be achieved with concerted efforts. The ground is set for achieving the desired GDP growth target, which will also help to reduce the prevailing poverty in Pakistan, he added.
“We want to set a realistic target for the GDP growth in next financial year and now everything is in place to achieve almost 5 per cent growth per annum,” the official said, adding that it required consistent implementation of reforms process.
The government is reluctant to go ahead with subsidies for the agri sector in view of growing pressure from the IFIs, and economic managers are ignoring this fact that the developed countries are consistently providing huge subsidies to their own agri sector.
“The government should refuse to abolish subsidy mechanism in next fiscal if it wants to achieve ambitious GDP growth rate target in a bid to kick-start economic activities in Pakistan,” said the official.
Way to go…:k:
Pakistan all da way! 
KSE crossed 3000 mark.... time for correction not far off.
naysayers can rant and rave all they want.
http://www.dawn.com/2003/05/21/ed.htm
Signs of a turnaround
Pakistan’s economy has made significant strides during the current financial year after having remained in a state of stagnation for over five years. Large-scale manufacturing is up by 10.2 per cent in the first ten months of the current year, exports by 20 per cent and tax revenue collection by 15 per cent. Meanwhile, the trade deficit, foreign debt and current account deficit have come down perceptibly.
Speaking at pre-budget seminar in Lahore on Monday, Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz attributed these achievements to the government’s correct and timely economic decisions taken in the last three years. There is no denying the fact that in the last three years the government succeeded in raising the foreign exchange reserves to over 10 billion dollars.
At the same time, as a result of various reforms carried out in this period, Pakistan has, for the first time in many years, achieved a modicum of macro-economic stability which is considered by many as the most essential plank for the economy to stage a take-off. The share of the value-added products in the textile exports has already crossed the 60 per cent mark and is likely to go up to 70 per cent by 2004-05. This is the result of large investments made in balancing, modernizing and replacement by the textile industry during the last few years.
Meanwhile, the government has removed all the barriers to export/import of better count yarn and obtained better access to the European market for textile exports. Former commerce minister Razzak Dawood and his team had worked hard on these aspects of textile trade whose benefits are now being reaped in the shape of a jump in exports. Higher export demand has given a boost to the manufacturing sector which is yielding higher revenue collection.
The finance minister has very rightly proposed to focus on poverty alleviation in the next budget. This he wants to achieve by accelerating growth in agriculture, construction and the manufacturing sector. At the same time, he intends to enhance allocations for the public sector development to alleviate poverty. In his opinion, the textile and engineering sectors have emerged as ‘engines of growth’, indicating that these two sectors would perhaps receive further support from the government in the next budget.
The Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, Dr. Ishrat Hussain, in his inaugural speech at the seminar, held out the prospect that from next year onwards Pakistan’s annual growth rate would begin accelerating to reach six per cent by 2005-06 with tax revenue increasing by 10 per cent annually and public sector investment going up by 6.2 per cent. Both the finance minister and the SBP governor were, however, very candid in stressing that much more needed to be done to consolidate the gains made so far.
According to Dr. Ishrat, political stability, strong democratic institutions and local governments were essential to achieve and sustain fast economic growth. He also conceded that so far the economic strategy had focused almost exclusively on the restoration of macro-economic stability and neglected the economic growth rate, poverty reduction and employment generation, so that poverty and unemployment have become widespread, while basic services such as health, education, clean drinking water and transport are available only to a small section of the population. He also conceded that post-9/11 developments did help the domestic economy to an extent and that IMF help was sought mainly to obtain debt relief.
According to Dr. Ishrat, all political parties are agreed on the primacy of poverty reduction, employment generation and stable prices. However, agreeing on objectives does bind one to the strategy to be adopted to achieve those objectives. The present strategy is clearly based on the age-old IMF prescription which draws its inspiration from the discarded trickle-down theory which has not succeeded anywhere in the world in alleviating poverty. It has only served to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. It is, therefore, time to take a second look at this strategy and amend it to suit the conditions and needs of our people and to maximize the comparative advantages that Pakistan enjoys in relation to its trading partners.
Pakistan is situated at the centre of very active trade routes. This is one of its major comparative advantages. Next, as the finance minister said, we have one of the best human resources. All that is needed to get them to give of their best is to train their skills according to the demands of the market. We should be planning to put these advantages to work before the year 2005 when textile quotas would be abolished worldwide.
We should also keep in mind that we do not enjoy any comparative advantage in engineering goods either in the region or in the world. Attempts to boost this industry through concessions and incentives over the last several years have only created a class of rent seekers. The aim should, therefore, be value addition in textile and, at the same time, we should adjust the trade barriers in such a manner that all kinds of goods in semi-manufactured and knocked-down conditions could come in and go out after value addition and assembling in our warehouses.
Finally, our private sector, which has been spoon-fed all these years by the government, is still learning to cope with market forces. Therefore, at least for the next 10 to 15 years the public sector should continue to take the lead in investment in social and physical infrastructure.
We are already at 4.5 percent growth up from 2.5 and expect to grow between 5.5 and 6 by 2004/2005. :smokin2:
RECORDER REPORT
KARACHI (May 21 2003) : ** Federal Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz has predicted 6 percent economic growth, per capita income at $ 625, and poverty level at 23 percent from the present 31 percent during the next five years. ** :k:
Addressing a pre-budget seminar organised by the Management Association of Pakistan (MAP) at a local hotel on Tuesday he presented the salient features of the economic vision for future which put investment at 18 percent of the GDP, against the current 15 percent; -5 percent inflation rate; deficit at 3 percent; development expenditures 4 percent of the GDP; and public debt 75 percent against the present 90 percent of the GDP.
He said that the objectives of the future vision could only be achieved only when there is political stability at home and in the region; sound law and order situation; consistency in policies and structural reform programme; and fiscal accountability of the government.
Responding to questions he said he would look into the demand for freezing mark-up on projects other than defined as sick projects.
The facility has already been granted by the State Bank to the projects grouped for Committee for Revival of Sick Projects.
He said that the facility of advance tax ruling was being considered for income tax cases as was granted to the Customs cases.
The Minister refuted the suggestion that brain-drain was taking place among the high class salaried persons and said that the process of brain-drain is now in reverse.
He said that the law and order situation was gradually improving and diplomats are calling back their families.
He praised the efforts of the law enforcing agencies in apprehending culprits, which in the past remained at large after committing sabotage activities.
The Finance Minister said that structural and tax reforms were being introduced at the provincial level.
The government raised the outlays for social sector from Rs 135 million to Rs 161 million.
The government would be able to spend more on health and education provided it gets some more fiscal space in the absence of payment of Rs 50 billion subsidy to Wapda and KESC.
He invited the private sector, NGOs and philanthropists to join hands with government in efforts for the development of human capital.
Agriculture, SMEs, large-scale manufacturing and construction and housing would be key pillars of growth in future, he added.
He said that despite some achievement there was no room for complacency.
“The private sector has to come forward to lead the process of growth. There is no need for more rules and policies and the main job now is to implement those policies already framed.”
The minister said that punitive laws are framed to catch only 10 percent unscrupulous businessmen, while 90 percent of them carry out business honestly.
In this connection, he referred to the introduction of risk-based clearance system.
Those with clean profile would get their goods cleared in 24 hours. A risk-based system will also be introduced in the sales tax regime.
He said that the new budget is being framed when the country is out of economic crisis it faced about three years back.
The focus in new budget would be on higher employment, better infrastructure and quality of services.
The government will take a number of measures to push growth in the next few years.
Earlier, presenting budget proposal, tax consultant Ebrahim Sidat suggested that general investment allowance should be given to the new entrants.
He said that there should be a preferred tax structure for SMEs owned by single persons.
Further, initial depression should be allowed on imported second-hand machinery.
He called for withdrawal of the condition of 15 percent payment before filing an appeal.
The President of MAP, Masood Naqvi, in his address called for making the refund regime more realistic and decreasing rates for sales tax, withholding tax.
He praised the present political government for continuing the policy of economic reforms spearheaded by Shaukat Aziz.
Copyright 2003 Business Recorder (http://www.brecorder.com)
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Abdali: *
naysayers can rant and rave all they want.
[/quote]
what good does that do when u find ppl becoming more and more upset with the price hikes in the country... sitting outside of pakistan and dancing at these news reports of such type is easy... earning money in pakistan and dealing with these increasing commodity prices isnt.
Oh and many of the stuff in these news reports above are a result of musharraf's 'do whatever the US says so' policy.
KSE vs BSE
KSE 100 Index is higher than the Bombay Stock Exchange Index. Currently, the KSE Index stands at 3053.18 while BSE is at 3048.78. It must be the first time after KSE broke the 3000 barrier recently.
Pakistan Zindabad
awwww.. now wasnt that sweet... khano lubs numbers
When is all this gonna make the lives of the Pakistani people easier?
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Spock: *
what good does that do when u find ppl becoming more and more upset with the price hikes in the country... sitting outside of pakistan and dancing at these news reports of such type is easy... earning money in pakistan and dealing with these increasing commodity prices isnt.
Oh and many of the stuff in these news reports above are a result of musharraf's 'do whatever the US says so' policy.
[/QUOTE]
The other option is very good take the country back to where it was when the General kicked the thieves out . Would you perfer a bankruptycy.. Naaaa you don't care about bankruptcy right, I am sure for you the best decade in Pak history was the 90s .. And when every moron analyst come out and say it was due to mismanagement of previsous govts they are just farting through mouth. You are right bankruptcy is the better option. With genius like you Pak should have no worries.
P.S: You want to see the price hikes try Argentina especially after it declared bankruptcy.
Another good read...
Pakistan's Outlook better, brighter
By Shahid Javed Burki
It has been my practice to provide in this space some impressions about Pakistan after every reasonably long visit to the country. I have recently returned to Washington after a two and a half week stay in Pakistan. During this time I visited three cities - Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad - and met dozens of people. What impressions do I bring back with me this time around?
There is a fairly simple and straightforward answer to this question. I am more hopeful today about Pakistan's future than I have been for a fairly long time. I know that my optimism is not shared by many people. I met several pessimists during my stay and had long conversations with them to understand their reasons for losing hope in the country's future.
I believe these people could be more optimistic if they took into consideration several subtle changes that have taken place in the recent past, both inside Pakistan and in the country's external environment. These changes may begin to move Pakistan forward simultaneously on a number of parallel tracks - economic, political and social. But why do pessimists persist in maintaining a gloomy outlook?
A long period of poor performance in many fields has produced a mindset that is not prepared to notice when things begin to change for the better. A society battered by poor governance, by the wilful mismanagement of the economy, and by the utter disregard for the welfare of the common man (particularly the common woman) - which was the situation in Pakistan for more than a decade - finds it difficult to see the light at the end of a long tunnel. The tunnel for Pakistan has been long but we can see a light that indicates that we may be approaching its end.
Pakistan functions today in an extremely complicated environment in which international and domestic politics, international and domestic economics, international and domestic social change have all come together to form a bewildering and complicated mosaic. So much is occurring inside and outside Pakistan to make predicting the future an extremely hazardous exercise. In this discussion I will not speculate about the future but only reflect on some of the positive developments that have taken place recently in and around the country.
The most important of these perhaps is the sudden easing of tensions with India. The pace with which this is happening is truly remarkable. It was about a month ago when some of India's senior leaders were describing Pakistan as a better target for a pre-emptive strike than Iraq.
According to this line of thinking, Pakistan posed a greater danger to world peace than Iraq did. It possessed weapons of mass destruction and was supposedly harbouring terrorists. Within a few days of such bellicose statements, an entirely different line was taken unexpectedly on April 18 by Atal Behari Vajpayee, India's prime minister. He called for the resumption of a serious dialogue between the two countries.
Pakistan's response came quickly and comprehensively. President Pervez Musharraf suggested the denuclearization of South Asia. Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali proposed a series of "confidence-building measures." India designated a veteran diplomat to be its new high commissioner in Islamabad. A group of Pakistani legislators crossed the border at Wagah and travelled to India.
Pakistan announced additions of several items to the list of goods that could be imported from India. A week, they say, is a long time in politics. A month seems to have done wonders in reducing the tension between South Asia's arch rivals.
This was not the only happy development on the international scene, from Pakistan's perspective. On April 22-23, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan visited Islamabad and met Pakistan's senior leaders, including President Musharraf and Prime Minister Jamali. The main purpose of that visit was to iron out the wrinkles that had appeared in the fabric of Afghan-Pakistan relations.
From Afghanistan's perspective, the seeming resurgence of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the south-eastern parts of the country bordering on Pakistan was an extremely troubling development. During the weekend before President Karzai's visit to Islamabad, two American soldiers were killed in Paktia province by a pro-Taliban group thought to number around 800 men who continued to enjoy the hospitality of the tribal leaders dominant in the area. How to flush out these people, secure the border with Pakistan and win the hearts and minds of the tribal people were some of the subjects Karzai's team discussed with Pakistan's leaders in Islamabad.
Pakistan also seemed to be making progress in dealing with the menacing problem posed by the presence in the country of some remnants of Al Qaeda. On April 29, the country's security forces carried out an operation in Karachi and arrested half a dozen Al Qaeda operatives, including the man wanted by the US for masterminding the attack on USS Cole which had claimed the lives of 19 American servicemen. Also found in this hide-out was a large arsenal of weapons and explosives. It was said that the group was planning an aerial attack on the US consulate in Karachi.
Improvements in Pakistan's relations with its neighbours and some successes in dealing with the threat posed by foreign terrorists in the country were not the only positive movements I noticed during my recent visit. There were some interesting developments in the field of domestic politics as well.
[continued]
The government coalition and the opposition assembled a group of legislators and entrusted it with the task of finding a solution to Pakistan's latest constitutional crisis - the opposition's unwillingness to accept the Legal Framework Order used by President Musharraf to amend the Constitution.
This question was discussed at length around the dinner tables, in the drawing rooms and in the columns of several influential newspapers while I was in the country. There were a number of people who were in the process of shedding their almost romantic attachment to the 1973 Constitution. Among them were two influential columnists writing, respectively, for Dawn and The Nation.
Both Kunwar Idris and Humayun Gohar had reached the conclusion that a presidential form of government was more suitable to what President Ayub Khan had once described as "the genius of the Pakistani people." Was the temperament of the Pakistani citizens so different from that of the people of India that they couldn't work a parliamentary system to their advantage? Should they, instead, opt for a system that vests greater authority in one person, duly and periodically elected by the people?
Such systems have worked well in several countries of east and south-east Asia and in Latin America. Should Pakistan continue to follow slavishly its attachment to the Westminster system or should it, once again, indulge in some experimentation to come up with a structure that would work for its people and the environment in which they live?
These questions will linger and continue to be asked for as long as the various social groups represented in the parliament failed to work with one another. This confrontation between the forces that represent the current establishment in which the military has a heavy presence and the opposition could upset - even, possibly, topple - the constitutional applecart assembled by General Musharraf. If that were to happen, Pakistan will face once again the type of political uncertainty that took a heavy toll on the economy in the eleven-year period between 1988 and 1999.
The dialogue on General Musharraf's Legal Framework Order was taking place while encouraging news about the state of the economy had begun to reach the people. On April 30, the head of the Asian Development Bank's office in Islamabad called in the press to give his impression about the state of the Pakistani economy. He expected the rate of GDP growth during the 2003 fiscal year, ending in June, to be 4.5 per cent, perhaps even a bit better. This was the consequence of some return of confidence which was bringing back investment into several sectors, including large-scale manufacturing.
The output of the manufacturing in the first three quarters of the year had increased by over eight per cent compared to the same period in 2002. The value of exports had increased by over 20 per cent. For the first time in the country's history, export earnings were set to cross the $10 billion mark. Remittances sent by Pakistani workers living abroad were estimated to set a record, at over four billion dollars.
The State Bank of Pakistan was continuing to accumulate reserves. Ishrat Hussain, the Bank's governor, told the press that he had set the target of reserves at an amount equivalent to eleven months of imports. This target would help protect the country from the volatility it had experienced in the past, caused by precipitous plunges in the levels of reserves. Interest rates continued to decline, providing further impetus to those who wished to invest in the economy. The rate of inflation remained low.
** Also encouraging were some stirrings in the capital markets. A group of Pakistani investors launched a new issue on the Karachi Stock Exchange in early May. This was the first initial public offering in thirty months. Its successful launching not only signalled investor confidence. It was of particular importance for two additional reasons.
One, the sponsors belonged to the large Pakistani expatriate community in the United States. The fact that they were committing a significant amount of their own capital to a Pakistani enterprise was a reflection of the confidence they had in the economic future of their homeland. Two, they had entered an area in which Pakistan, because of its demographic situation, had considerable potential.
The company founded by these entrepreneurs was planning to buy call centres operating in the United States and bring them to Pakistan.
A study by Forrester Research, a US consulting company, estimated that this type of migration generally referred to as out-sourcing could send out 3.3 million American jobs by 2015.
India, with its large pool of English speakers and more than two million college graduates every year, is expected to get 70 per cent of these jobs.
This is an area where Pakistan should be able to compete with India and add significantly to its exports.
In sum, the stage seems to be set for Pakistan to launch itself on a path of growth of some six to seven per cent a year which it could sustain for many years into the future. However, for that to happen, the country will need to set its political house in order.
The burden for achieving that is on the shoulders of the politicians who seem reluctant to accept the basic premise on which the new political structure has been erected - that to obtain political stability people's representatives will have to accept some constraints on their free-wheeling ways. **
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Abdali: *
The other option is very good take the country back to where it was when the General kicked the thieves out . Would you perfer a bankruptycy.. Naaaa you don't care about bankruptcy right, I am sure for you the best decade in Pak history was the 90s .. And when every moron analyst come out and say it was due to mismanagement of previsous govts they are just farting through mouth. You are right bankruptcy is the better option. With genius like you Pak should have no worries.
P.S: You want to see the price hikes try Argentina especially after it declared bankruptcy.
[/QUOTE]
Abdali, youre a hypcrite... Firstly, you dont live in Pakistan, so you buy what these newspapers state... Secondly, when did I say the people before Musharraf had merits of good performances attached to them? If you think Musharraf has angels running the show right now, youre probably an idiot. Only idiots would believe in people like Chaudhry Shujaat, who are part of your previous regime, for which you guys have so much hatred for. The only difference is, a handful of crooks are out, the majority of them (who are ball-washers) are still here. Oh and btw, didnt musharraf kick out your beloved Taliban? What do you have to say about that? Alot of that accounts for these articles that you read.
Oh and dont compare Pakistan to Argentina or other failed economies... Its like another petty excuse from you. Its like saying, oh you guys should be glad we have a few crumbs of bread, our neighbours have nothing. Brother, if I see a positive change actually visible in Pakistan, ill be the first one to appraise that here!
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Bilal_Tarar: *
When is all this gonna make the lives of the Pakistani people easier?
[/QUOTE]
Right, and the funny thing is... Go and talk to a person working on the streets of Pakistan. They wont buy all this crap, they still have to pay Rs. 40+ per liter for petrol and a higher amount for annaj. Sometimes I laugh at the people living abroad and praising these articles.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Spock: *
Abdali, youre a hypcrite... Firstly, you dont live in Pakistan, so you buy what these newspapers state... Secondly, when did I say the people before Musharraf had merits of good performances attached to them? If you think Musharraf has angels running the show right now, youre probably an idiot. Only idiots would believe in people like Chaudhry Shujaat, who are part of your previous regime, for which you guys have so much hatred for. The only difference is, a handful of crooks are out, the majority of them (who are ball-washers) are still here. Oh and btw, didnt musharraf kick out your beloved Taliban? What do you have to say about that? Alot of that accounts for these articles that you read.
Oh and dont compare Pakistan to Argentina or other failed economies... Its like another petty excuse from you. Its like saying, oh you guys should be glad we have a few crumbs of bread, our neighbours have nothing.
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Well if you are blind then I can hardly help your moronic rantings and ravings. Do you want to compare the performance of present govt with the lost decade of the 90s? Are you trying to say that 4.5 percent growth is better then 2.5 are you saying 400mil reserves are better then 10 billion are you saying 1 billion FDI is better then 50 million are you saying 8.5 billion exports are better then 11 billion are you saying that the bankruptcy was better then what’s going on right now. If thats what your saying then you beat idiots hands down.
And why not compare it with Argentina after all you are the one who crows BS like price hikes from roof tops. You want to know what happened to the prices after Argentina defaulted? Perhaps you should do more digging as to why Pak was flirting with bankruptcy in the late 90s. plenty of media out there for blind morons like you.
And don’t give me that crap he brought tom dick and harry back as long as economy is growing and thieves are not stealing reserves. May be that could be your reasons of screaming you can’t lay your hands on the dollars.
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*Originally posted by Abdali: *
And don’t give me that crap he brought tom dick and harry back as long as economy is growing and thieves are not stealing reserves. May be that could be your reasons of screaming you can’t lay your hands on the dollars.
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haha so now my critisicm of all this is because I cant lay a hand on all this foriegn aid, hahahahah What a great conclusion by an idiot!! Bachay, there are plenty of generals up in high posts doing hera pheri, lets say they dont need my hand right now. p.s. why do you keep on bringing nawaz and bb govts into this... clutching on straws ;) Oh, and you dont want to bring the US aid into this? Its not ok to support them when it comes to bombing other muslim nations, but its ok to accept their aid eh?
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*Originally posted by Spock: *
haha so now my critisicm of all this is because I cant lay a hand on all this foriegn aid, hahahahah What a great conclusion by an idiot!! Bachay, there are plenty of generals up in high posts doing hera pheri, lets say they dont need my hand right now. p.s. why do you keep on bringing nawaz and bb govts into this... clutching on straws ;) Oh, and you dont want to bring the US aid into this? Its not ok to support them when it comes to bombing other muslim nations, but its ok to accept their aid eh?
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Why beat around the bush stupid lets comapre the economy of the 90s with present.. If I am not going to compare the present situation with those two crooks then what do you expect I am gona compare it with? santa!! LOL
Go check any international source and read any report on Pak wrt economy. Pakistan was very close to default and every report is saying two words mismanagement and corruption. perhaps a kid like you do not understand the meaning of deafult. Thats why I sugested reading on Argentina.... do ur homewrok kid this is not ur command.