Pakistan Economy: News & Discussion

Haldilal

लड़ते लड़ते जीना है, लड़ते लड़ते मरना है
Senior Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2020
Messages
29,419
Likes
112,982
Country flag
Ya'll Nibbiars I will put the Pak Military corporate development into the following Chapters.

Chapter 1: Development of Military-Civilian relationship in 1950s.

Chapter 2: Political growth of Pakistan's Army and its mandate, organizational structure and ethnic composition in the 1960s .

Chapter 3: The growth of financial interests of the officer cadre of the army in the late 1960s.

Chapter 4: The development of the command and control structure of the Military economic empire, and various methods used to exploit economic resources in the late 1960s and the early 1970s.

Chapter 5: The growth of military business activities during the period 1970 -1980. Where it expanded its stake in Agriculture, Manufacturing and Service Industry.

Chapter 6: Expansion of Military Business during the period 1980 -2000 setting up of institutions like Bahria Foundation and Shaheen foundation, entry in finance and banking sector.

Chapter 7: The urban and rural land acquisition of armed forces since 1950.

Chafter 8: The Fraud Welfare program for serving and retired Military personnel, inequitable distribution of resources that shows bias towards smaller provinces and ethnic minorities.

The whole MILBUS controls 20 percentage of the Paks Economy.
 
Last edited:

Haldilal

लड़ते लड़ते जीना है, लड़ते लड़ते मरना है
Senior Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2020
Messages
29,419
Likes
112,982
Country flag
I wonder how sharp their economy will fall if Indian forces start seeking out and killing the generals heading these companies during overt hostilities. Being a general makes them a valid target and no one can claim it goes against international laws but they're also the one's dragging Pakistan's crumbling economy through the bumpy road. I don't know much about the hierarchy in such an organisation though.

What could be the effect of hitting them?
Ya'll Nibbiars I will put the affects as follows.

Military-Civilian relationship will be affected.

Political growth of Pakistan's Army and its mandate, organizational structure and ethnic composition will be destroyed .

The growth of financial will halted and will be in red.

The command and control structure of the Military economic empire will totally collapse, and the exploit of the economic resources will be started by others.

The Agriculture, Manufacturing and Service Industry will be greatly affected.

The urban and rural land of armed forces will see Hughes fights.

Welfare program for serving and retired Military personnel, will have inequitable effects.

The financial cost of the Military Economy will be huge.

Looks at the effects of Military's Economy on its professionalism, and the politics of the state and the conclusion.
 

Villager

Tihar Jail
Banned
Joined
Dec 1, 2016
Messages
993
Likes
1,223
Country flag
How did Pakistan contain COVID without a second lockdown? Is everyone wearing a mask and socially distancing?
I hear the Chinese have stopped funding of money for CPEC for quite a few months because Chinkies companies are accused by NAB of kicbacks to Pak govt. Rivers of gold must have gone dry now. No money for testing I suppose.
 

Haldilal

लड़ते लड़ते जीना है, लड़ते लड़ते मरना है
Senior Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2020
Messages
29,419
Likes
112,982
Country flag
Ya'll Nibbiars The only thing Pakistan is the global leader in, is the Hawala industry. Where you convert currency at better rates but bypass the banking system altogether. You give USD to Yusuf in USA, and majid will deliver equivalent in INR to some relative in India. But this is the retail version. This happens in a big scale as well. Eg: politician gets a bribe in India, but hands it over to Majid and next day equivalent CHF are deposited in a swiss bank. An actor does a free dance performance at a wedding in Dubai but the gratuity gets handed to his manager in India. So on and so forth.

These are just hypothetical examples. Now yusuf and majid both work with isi. For all you know pakistan uses its diplomatic bags to trf hawala money. Its likely the only industry they have but they are the original data miners. They know which politician, which actor, which industrialist has transferred how much money to which country on what date and purpose and since China took over Pakistan it has all this data as well. Which is why it owns leaders the world over. Tells them my army will encroach 30 km in your territory but you will do nothing, or else the data might leak. Hears some money for top up and for distribution to your media, journos etc to not report on this. Or they may force govts to accept obor projects and ply countries with debt to own them like they own Pakistan.

Bhagwan Uvacha
 

Haldilal

लड़ते लड़ते जीना है, लड़ते लड़ते मरना है
Senior Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2020
Messages
29,419
Likes
112,982
Country flag
Ya'll Nibbiars Pakistan have ran out of legal options in Reko Diq case. It will have to pay a massive ~6 Billion USD penalty to Tethyan Copper Company within 24 months or face severe consequences from World Bank.

@NeXoft007

Pak owns 370 crores towards India.
 

Mikesingh

Professional
Joined
Sep 7, 2015
Messages
7,353
Likes
30,450
Country flag
Ya'll Nibbiars Pakistan have ran out of legal options in Reko Diq case. It will have to pay a massive ~6 Billion USD penalty to Tethyan Copper Company within 24 months or face severe consequences from World Bank.
Severe consequences from World Bank means squat for Porkistan. They'll never pay the $6 Billion penalty to Tethyan Copper Company. They'll continue to blunder on with the help of their masters, China.
 

Chinmoy

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 12, 2015
Messages
8,678
Likes
22,551
Country flag
Severe consequences from World Bank means squat for Porkistan. They'll never pay the $6 Billion penalty to Tethyan Copper Company. They'll continue to blunder on with the help of their masters, China.
Then it would be interesting to see a new CC front opening up. The last battle in itself is not over yet. Another diplomatic battle on way then against China.

Time to grab popcorn I must say.
 

Haldilal

लड़ते लड़ते जीना है, लड़ते लड़ते मरना है
Senior Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2020
Messages
29,419
Likes
112,982
Country flag
Ya'll Nibbiars I will not be surprised one bit if it is revealed that Pakistan carries out hawala transactions using its diplomatic pouches.

Bhagwaan Uvacha.
 

Haldilal

लड़ते लड़ते जीना है, लड़ते लड़ते मरना है
Senior Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2020
Messages
29,419
Likes
112,982
Country flag
Ya'll Nibbiars The state of Pakistan cannot exist without hawala ops. They generate revenue and also provide leverage over foreign polticians which keeps them funding Pakistans budget through development assistance. Allegedly, of course.

Bhagwaan Uvacha.
 

ezsasa

Designated Cynic
Mod
Joined
Jul 12, 2014
Messages
31,729
Likes
147,035
Country flag
Read an interesting anecdote on twitter a few days back, unable to find it again, So paraphrasing the gist of it.

In late 90's, both pakistan and India were competing for establishing foreign IT companies in our respective countries. Pak army even used to give VIP treatment to visiting company representatives to the extent that they used to send limousine for airport pickup.

Indian govt never bothered with such tamasha.

the guy who is narrating this says, ultimately the company which was scouting both pak and India for establishing their dev centre, chose India. and over a period of time the guy who as assisting them in scouting India became friends with the team who were scouting team, he asked how come they chose India considering he went to pick them up in a maruti omni and Pak army sent them a limousine.

The american guy's response was, when they were about to start their lunch/dinner after they arrived, the pak army host offered their food to be taste tested by a person for poison. That sealed the deal for having their dev centre in India.
 
Last edited:

Haldilal

लड़ते लड़ते जीना है, लड़ते लड़ते मरना है
Senior Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2020
Messages
29,419
Likes
112,982
Country flag
Ya'll Nibbiars The PTI government has been left with no other option but to seek rollover of $4 billion deposit loans obtained from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) for another year in order to avoid dwindling of foreign exchange reserves.
 

RoaringTigerHiddenDragon

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2020
Messages
3,966
Likes
16,933
Country flag
Breaking news: Pakodastanis say Kaavan, the elephant is a Hindu and are deporting him to Cambodia. Mullah Haramullah in an interview to PorkTV said, Islamabad zoo is exclusively for sunni bachabaazis. And not to blame the lashkar-e-sunni if they filed a blasphemy case against Kaavan seeking death penalty. The PTI minister for elephants, Fawad 'the fat' chaudhury, fearing a love jihad and sexual exploitation of Kaavan, immediately ordered deportation of Kaavan, but to Cambodia. India, meanwhile, had offered to provide a home and citizenship to Kaavan under CAA, but Pakshaitani foreign office rejected it saying ' Modi is a fascist and RSS is a nazi organization'.

 

Indx TechStyle

Kitty mod
Mod
Joined
Apr 29, 2015
Messages
18,243
Likes
55,889
Country flag
Faisalabad, Lahore surpass Delhi as most polluted cities
Smog blankets many parts of city on Friday. — White Star

Smog blankets many parts of city on Friday. — White Star
LAHORE: Smog levels reached hazardous levels on Friday as Faisalabad and Lahore topped the world’s most polluted cities index, followed by New Delhi.
The overall air quality of Lahore was recorded as 321 with a high concentration of PM2.5 of 270 microgrammes per cubic metre, which is the most damaging of the particulate matter in the air and is absorbed directly into the bloodstream and impacts organs. Faisalabad ranked even worse with 440 US air quality index (AQI).
Lahore’s smog conditions have gradually worsened this week with the AQI rising to 281, 295 and 296 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, respectively and Friday being the worst. Weekends are being seen as a few degrees better when there is less transport on the roads.
While the Environment Protection Department is quick to point out that the Air Visual monitors are giving incorrect readings of the smog levels, experts maintain that the conditions are as bad as they seem.
According to environmental experts and an earlier report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the cause of smog remains years-long pollution caused mostly by the transport sector and industries, and not just crop burning. Trans-boundary pollution is also not the main reason as the Met Department has confirmed that Punjab primarily experiences a westerly wave during winter.
Meanwhile, the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco) is also actively providing information regarding the weather conditions and has highlighted 28 districts in Punjab where smog levels have been increasing.
Through satellite images, Suparco has told the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) that 28 districts in Punjab are contributing to smog by burning crop remains. This includes Lahore and its adjoining areas as well as Bahawalnagar and Bahawalpur.
The respective district administrations have been directed by the PDMA to ensure zero tolerance for crop stubble burning. For the past two days, Suparco has pointed out 1,290 areas for burning stubble.
According to environmental experts and an earlier report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the cause of smog remains years-long pollution caused mostly by the transport sector and industries, and not just crop burning. Trans-boundary pollution is also not the main reason as the Met Department has confirmed that Punjab primarily experiences a westerly wave during winter.
Meanwhile, the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco) is also actively providing information regarding the weather conditions and has highlighted 28 districts in Punjab where smog levels have been increasing.
Through satellite images, Suparco has told the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) that 28 districts in Punjab are contributing to smog by burning crop remains. This includes Lahore and its adjoining areas as well as Bahawalnagar and Bahawalpur.
The respective district administrations have been directed by the PDMA to ensure zero tolerance for crop stubble burning. For the past two days, Suparco has pointed out 1,290 areas for burning stubble.
Meanwhile, out of the 162 brick kilns still operating on the old technology, around 80 were converted to zigzag recently, while work was under way on the others. Out of the 80 zigzag kilns, 30 have been newly built and the remaining converted.
Brick kilns were shut down on Nov 7 till Dec 31. Even as the government claims to be cracking down on kilns, several of them were still operating, some even overnight.
 

Indx TechStyle

Kitty mod
Mod
Joined
Apr 29, 2015
Messages
18,243
Likes
55,889
Country flag
Next five years’ economic growth not encouraging

ISLAMABAD: With the highest population growth rate in the region, Pakistan is already the fifth most populous nation in the world but the economic growth outlook at least for the next four to five years is not encouraging.
“Pakistan needs a high economic growth rate, 7-8 per cent, for the next 30 years to absorb the new entrants to the labour force,” said a summary of the Population Situation Analysis (PSA) launched by the Ministry of Planning and Development, which was finalised with the support of international development partners.
Speaking on the occasion, President Dr Arif Alvi said Pakistan had adopted a multi-pronged approach to check population growth and address other issues like mother and child health, malnutrition and stunted growth.
The strategy included women empowerment through financial inclusion besides creating awareness about the importance of gap in births through various means of communication and by taking on board different segments of the society, including the ulema, he added.
Report projects population to reach 383 million by 2050
Dr Alvi said frequent pregnancies led to stunted growth in a child and affected the mother’s health, adding that it was important to educate people on birth spacing and use of contraceptives.
The report noted that the status of human capital factors was not lending support to the potential harnessing of the demographic dividend. Structural inequalities in social and economic opportunities shape the demographic transition and affect population outcomes, associated with local contraceptive prevalence and higher fertility level as well as maternal and child health care.
Although Pakistan has been classified as a lower middle income country since 2008 and its per capita GDP in 2018 reached $1,565, demographic and some social and health indicators are comparable to those of least developed countries, the report said.
It said the current assessment of the population situation in Pakistan pointed to the prevailing high-level annual population growth, amounting to 2.4pc for the period 1998-2017.
The population increased six fold between 1951 and 2017 from 34 million to 208 million and is projected to reach 263 million by 2030 and 383 million by 2050 – an increase by 84pc during the period 2017-2050 unless serious actions are taken to halt the growth and rationalise population dynamics.
The assessment showed this growth confirmed the slow pace of the demographic transition process because of slow decline of fertility at national and provincial levels.
In 2017, out of about 33 million married couples, there were approximately 8.9 million users of modern methods and of these 4.9 million had received their method in the past one year, indicating that the services footprints are very small – 15pc utilisation of services in a given year.
This indicated that little progress had been made in family planning, an area critical to maternal, newborn, infant and child health and survival and with major spinoff effects on women’s agency, education and labour force participation as well as impacting environment and quality of life, although a few sexual and reproductive health areas have witnessed notable progress. The progress has been uneven by the component of reproductive health and across region, urban-rural area, income groups and other important age and parity sub-groups.
The slow onset of demographic transition, the persisting high fertility level and the low contraceptive prevalence are clearly delaying the potential harnessing of the demographic dividend. A sustainable decline in fertility presents the economy with an opportunity through the surge in the relative size of the working-age population (15-64) and at the same time a gradual decline in the percentage of the population in the age group below 15 years.
The report also noted that Pakistan suffered not only from a low economic growth but also an inequitable distribution of the gains from such growth and associated opportunities of education, employment and income. This is particularly true for the female population.
The economic profile of the country, however, indicated that economic growth mainly financed by consumption was not creating enough employment opportunities for middle and higher skills and social exclusion by various characteristics was highly prevalent and seemed to be culturally rooted and was reflected in economic disparities.
Also, although female labour force participation rate has increased from 13.7pc in 1990 to 20.3pc in 2020, it is still very low. The status of women remains a challenging issue and the country ranks near the bottom of the world’s countries on indicators such as women health and survival, education attainment and equal economic participation and opportunity. Moreover women and children are showing one of the highest levels of malnutrition, undernourishment and childhood stunting in the world and only 15pc of children consume a minimally acceptable diet.
Alarmingly, Pakistan has the highest percentage of population experiencing dietary energy consumption poverty, compared to India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
In 2019, 24pc of Pakistan’s population had insufficient food intake to meet dietary energy requirements. The PSA advised that the debate and action about inequality and poverty should not only be limited to income but it needs to be extended to focus on access to health, education and unemployment.
Pakistan has a relatively weak industrial and manufacturing sector, with little capacity to absorb new entrants into appropriate jobs. The situation of the service sector is not different either.
Planning Minister Asad Umar said the population control in Pakistan should have gained momentum much earlier due to which Pakistan became the fifth most populous country in the region, having the highest population growth rate.
The government is committed to deploying efforts to reduce the population growth rate for the health of mothers, children and families and the prosperity of Pakistan by reducing the impending burden on its resources, he added.
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan said Pakistan’s total fertility rate was 3.5pc, where un-met need for family planning was 17.3pc and the contraceptive prevalence rate was 34.2pc.
 

Latest Replies

Global Defence

New threads

Articles

Top