Pakistan Economy: News & Discussion

mayfair

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^^ Of course, the report fails to identify the specific courses for which the nanne mujahid are heading Down Under
 

LurkerBaba

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Foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into Pakistan have been declining, even though worldwide FDI has been rising every year. The latest SBP report indicates that during first ten months of the current fiscal, FDI of only $ 563 million was received. At this rate, no more than $700 million would have arrived by June 2012.


That would mean a decline of over 60 percent from FDI in 2011, which itself recorded a decline of 35 percent over FDI in 2010, which witnessed a big drop of 44 percent over FDI in 2009, which again had declined by 30 percent over FDI in 2008!
Heading for another trap - Syed Mohibullah Shah
 

Son of Govinda

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Pakistan May Return to IMF for Funds, Says Central Bank Governor

Pakistan May Return to IMF for Funds - WSJ.com

KARACHI—Pakistan may have to return to the International Monetary Fund for financial assistance this year amid an unstable macroeconomic situation, the nation's central bank governor said Monday.

Yaseen Anwar, governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, said Pakistan could meet its overseas debt obligations for now. But looming repayments to the IMF from a program that ended last year are likely to test the nation's finances in the months ahead.

"From next fiscal year we're going to have stresses. We see reserves going down quite aggressively," Mr. Anwar said in a interview at the central bank's headquarters in Karachi.

Mr. Anwar said the government's failure to get a massive budget and mounting trade deficit under control could make it difficult to meet the more than $4 billion in IMF loans coming due in the fiscal year starting July 1.

"There are many serious challenges," Mr. Anwar said. "I have a rough job here."

The IMF ended a three-year $11 billion program with Pakistan last year after disbursing only around $8 billion. The fund withheld the final tranche of more than $3 billion in large part because the government failed to take steps to reduce its budget deficit. Payments on the loans have already begun, but they ramp up in the months ahead.

The fund and foreign leaders, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have been publicly critical of Pakistan for failing to tax some of its richest citizens, including politicians.

The country's tax-to-GDP ratio at 9% is among the lowest in the world, and whole sectors, including agriculture, are exempt, reducing funds to spend on education and create employment opportunities in areas where Islamist militancy is rampant.

Meanwhile, large subsidies on electricity and other commodities have kept expenditures high and exerted enormous pressures on state finances.

The government of President Asif Ali Zardari has done little to address the problem since coming to power in 2008. On Friday, Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh will announce the budget for the year starting July 1. But with elections due by early 2013, Mr. Shaikh was keen last week to say there would be no tax surprises in the budget.

"Our tax-to GDP ratio is way below where it should be," Mr. Anwar said. Instead of raising taxes, he said, the government has in recent months increased its direct borrowing from the central bank, effectively printing money to cover the deficit.

The government, has borrowed 442 billion rupees ($4.8 billion) directly from the central bank so far this fiscal year, Mr. Anwar said—financing requests that he can't turn down. "I still have autonomy, but not enough to bounce a check" from the government, he said.

That borrowing has kept inflation in double digits even as economic growth has slowed to around 3%. Mr. Anwar said he expected inflation, currently hovering just below 11%, to pick up "in the next month or two." The central bank, he said, is unlikely to be able to cut its key lending rate—currently at 12%—in the near future. Even at these high rates, companies are finding it hard to get loans in Pakistan as the big commercial banks prefer to make profits buying government treasury bills, he added.

Concerns over the economy also have hurt the Pakistan rupee, which has been trading around record lows at 92 rupees to the U.S. dollar in recent weeks. The central bank hasn't intervened in the foreign-exchange market in recent weeks. "We let the market force dictate the exchange rate," Mr. Anwar said.

The governor pointed to some positives. Remittances from Pakistanis working overseas are up 20% at more than $13 billion in the current fiscal year. The central bank has worked out currency-swap agreements with China and Turkey which will help ensure currency liquidity, he added.

The pressure on the trade deficit also is muted as global oil prices have come off highs, although exports took a "nose-dive faster than we expected" in recent months due to lower global prices for cotton, Mr. Anwar said.

Pakistan's heavy reliance on oil imports caused a balance-of-payments crisis in 2008, forcing the country to turn to the IMF. This time around, concerns are focused on the budget deficit—which is 8% of GDP—and the IMF repayment schedule.

Mr. Anwar said the central bank won't repay the IMF loans by buying U.S. dollars. That fear sent the Pakistani rupee careening lower earlier this year, but the currency has since stabilized. The bank instead will run down foreign reserves, which Mr. Anwar expects to fall by about half in the coming fiscal year to $8 billion, representing less than two months of imports.

Pakistan's Taliban insurgency and macroeconomic instability have led to a fall off in foreign investment to just over $500 million in the current fiscal year from annual levels over $8 billion a few years ago.

Low foreign investment is a "real challenge," Mr. Anwar said. He said he had turned down requests from local banks to buy the Pakistan business of HSBC Holdings PLC, which announced last month it was pulling out of the country, and is instead inviting foreign bidders.
 

Yusuf

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All the beat trying to get a loan. This is where the fun begins.
 

thakur_ritesh

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It will be a huge clean up job for the next government, if I am not mistaken, they are suggesting their forex reserves to hit 8b usd sometime mid next year from the 16-17 odd b usd. Pakistani rupee trading at well over 100 to a dollar by next year seems a more likely scenario. The investors there would have started hoarding dollars. :D

People are shouting for Imran Khan as the next PM, boy, this chap would have started having sleeping disorder by now.
 

Ray

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Pakistan is up a gum tree.

Imran Khan alone can save the world!
 

ajtr

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Iran ready to finance gas pipeline

TEHRAN: Iran is ready to finance a multi-billion dollar gas pipeline in Pakistan, which has been delayed for two years due to western pressure, the Fars news agency said on Wednesday, quoting an `informed source'.

"Financial difficulties and obstruction by some western countries have slowed down the construction of the pipeline on Pakistani soil," Fars said.

"To speed up the progress, Iranian oil ministry officials have proposed that Iran is ready to invest in the construction of the pipeline inside Pakistan" in addition to the one inside Iran, it added.

In 2010, Pakistan and Iran signed a deal under which Tehran would supply natural gas to its eastern neighbour from 2014, with sales to reach 750 million cubic feet to one billion cubic feet per day by mid-2015.

The project envisaged a pipeline, 900km in length, be built from Assaluyeh in southern Iran to the border with Pakistan.

Another 800km pipeline is also needed inside Pakistan to receive gas from Iran's South Pars field in the Gulf.

While Iran has almost completed work on its side of the border, the plans in Pakistan have run into difficulty over reluctance by investors who fear they could be hit by sanctions.

Pakistan insists the pipeline is vital to efforts in overcoming the energy crisis it faces, but the United States has expressed strong objections to the project. It is urging Islamabad to abandon it because of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme.

Pakistan, which produces just 80 per cent of its own electricity needs, sees the $7.5 billion gas project as a partial answer to the crisis which has led to blackouts and suffocated industry.

Iran, which has the world's second-largest gas reserves, is rapidly developing its production but can only export a small part of it due to lack of pipelines or liquefaction infrastructure.
 

p2prada

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Pakistan revenue collection up 25 percent


slamabad, May 20 — Revenue collection in Pakistan has registered a 25 percent growth during the first 10 months of 2011-12 fiscal year as compared to last year, Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh has said.

"If the trend continues, the revenue target of Rs.1,952 billion (about $21 billion) is expected to be achieved by the end of current financial year," the official APP news agency quoted Shaikh as saying Saturday.
Wait! What? $21Billion. I thought it was $26Billion last year. Crazy.

That would mean their Military budget vs Revenue is well over 30%. Double Crazy.

:lol:
 

ajtr

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Pakistan working on 'revolutionary' steps to import Indian gas: PM

Pakistan now has the best-ever ties with India and is working on measures to import electricity and gas from the neighbouring country, Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Sunday, describing these steps as a "revolution".

"Our relations with India, Iran, China, Afghanistan and Russia are very good. We never had such good relations with them ever before," Gilani said while interacting with journalists at the State Guest House in Lahore.

"Our trade agreement with India will benefit our economy. We are working on measures to import electricity and gas from India," he said.

Besides India, Pakistan is signing agreements for gas with Qatar and Iran.

"It is a revolution, isn't it?" he asked.

Responding to a question about the outcome of strains between the government and the judiciary, Gilani ruled out the chances of martial law being imposed in Pakistan.

"The era of martial law is over. There is no room for martial law," he said.

To a question about the alleged involvement of Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry's son in improper dealings with real estate tycoon Malik Riaz Hussain, Gilani said neither his government nor the army would benefit from the scandal.

Asked about the tycoon's links with Rehman Malik, the advisor on interior affairs, Gilani said Hussain was the "friend of all politicians."

The apex court recently initiated suo motu proceedings against the Chief Justice's son after TV channels highlighted allegations that he had been paid up to Rs400 million to influence cases in court.

The Chief Justice has recused himself from the bench hearing the case against his son.

Gilani said the Chief Justice should now take up the allegations of corruption levelled against the Premier's son Ali Musa.

"I ask the Chief Justice to take up the alleged corruption case of my son, Ali Musa, and to consider him as his own son as he (Chief Justice) cannot listen to the case of his son," Gilani said.

In response to another question, he said Pakistan would decide on reopening supply routes for NATO troops in Afghanistan in line with the recommendation of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security.

Pakistan had closed the supply lines after a cross-border NATO air strike killed 24 of its soldiers in November last year.

The US and Pakistan have been unable to finalise a deal on the supply routes due to several factors, including Islamabad's insistence on an apology for the air strike and differences on the fees to be paid for NATO containers.

Gilani said Pakistan should believe in self-reliance as there was a global recession, though the country had not been hit very hard by it.

Referring to domestic politics, Gilani said main opposition PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif was hurling "abuses" at him these days because Sharif wanted to tell the people that his party was the real opposition.

"Sharif is doing so because of the fear of Imran Khan," he said.
 

Archer

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So, you will now beg India for natural gas?

How will you pay for it?

Do you guys even earn a honest living to pay for valuable natural resources?

Or will you send across more C-grade actresses to strip for bollywood mags and b-grade movies?
 

ajtr

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So, you will now beg India for natural gas?

How will you pay for it?

Do you guys even earn a honest living to pay for valuable natural resources?

Or will you send across more C-grade actresses to strip for bollywood mags and b-grade movies?
you'll pay for the gas as jaziya from Dar-ul-Harb(india) to dar-ul-islam(pakistan) for being non-muslim on subcontinent.
 

sukhish

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ajtr,
I like you humor. India has to realize that all these years it has been at the mercy of pakistan. if pakistan decides to do gazwa-i-hind, then the dhooti shevers
will have no other option, but to concede defeat. India should provide free gas and electricity to pakistan , so that pak does not feel like attacking india. otherwise india should be ready for the befetting reply form pak. hinduism is actually being protected from taliban by pakistan all these years. it's not the sikhs, but the pakis which have at the fore front of saving hinduism from the barbaric taliban's.
 

sehwag1830

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Don't trust any of these Pakistani tax collection numbers. Last year they were caught pants down when they overstated tax collection numbers to meet IMF condition for getting loans. IMF caught that they were cooking books.
Overstating tax collection - Dr Ashfaque H Khan

Pakistan GDP is maximum 160 billion $. They know that they can't match India, so now they are calling for "peace" with India.
 

sehwag1830

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Pakistan Revenue Overstates Collection Figures

The original figures had been announced at a press conference on June 30, when chairman of the FBR Salman Siddiqui reported that tax revenue had reached PKR1.6 trillion. On Friday, however, Siddiqui had to backtrack and announce that the actual collections figure was only PKR1.55 trillion.

Pakistan Revenue Overstates Collection Figures

:laugh::laugh::laugh::lol::lol::lol:

This is how you fool Kaafirs.
 

Archer

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you'll pay for the gas as jaziya from Dar-ul-Harb(india) to dar-ul-islam(pakistan) for being non-muslim on subcontinent.
are we paying jiziya or are you?

you send veena malik to do naach gana in india, your cricketers to beg for scraps at our table, your diplomats to get do-wakht-ki-roti from indian diplomats, your women (the good looking non burkha ones) come to india to look for husbands (unlike the taliban matt hitting retards in pakistan)....now you are begging us for natural resources...

looks like india has recreated the delhi durbar, and all sorts of third rate vassal states send their maa-beti, izzat-abroo, zewar zewrat along with usual circus of entertainers to the emperor of india

good, keep it up. you are learning. nice pi...err doggy.

it pays for you vassals to learn who your master is.
 
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Archer

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Best car of Pakistani origin
Habiib Sitara


One of several vehicles of Indian origin


Pakistani ka matlab kya? Bhikari hain, paisa mangta hain na!?
 

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