Keep the dollar flying

[Norwegian]

He ruled for less than 7 years., The country is over 70 years old. How can a 7 years ruin a country. Adolph Hitler for fcuks sakes erased Germany and killed 15 million Germans. The fcukin country was booming with 5 years of his departure. Yet in Pakistan 42 years later apparently the reason they can't make car, a decent tractor, a decent road or farm properly is because 'Phuttoo'. Does this even make sense?

Yes, it doesn't make any sense. In 1978 China changed economic course from failed policies of Mao. This move changed the country completely.
Sadly with Pakistan no leader tried to change the course Bhutto took.

 

[Isotope]

in some European countries and also Indonesia they use dot/fullstop when seperating numbers, specially currencies. comma is used for decimal separation in these cases.

And in US as well.

 

[Indos]

Yes, it doesn't make any sense. In 1978 China changed economic course from failed policies of Mao. This move changed the country completely.
Sadly with Pakistan no leader tried to change the course Bhutto took.

Butto do nationalization and you guys blame him, but if you see China economy, much of the economy is also owned by state owned company.

Just see China companies who are in FORBES 500, around 200 of them and 95 % is state owned companies

 

[Maula Jatt]

That statement I made that Pakistan has no industry was tad harsh.A more nuanced statement would be only Sialkot in Pakistan has real industry. You want to take Pakistan forward? Replicate Sialkot everywhere.

Sialkot is not raping remittances - meaning living off the demand created by remittances. You know CKD kit car Toyotas, CKD TV's, CKD etc etc which are just local packing operations of global multinationals like Toyota, Suzuki, Hiear etc.

Sialkot actually makes products that are sold abroad and at prices that compete with rest of the world. It is genuine industry and in the best tradition of entrepreneurship. It depends on no subsidy, import substitution, a packing racket etc. Siakot actually generates real wealth.

So people need to study this city. What does it have? why are the people so 'industrious'?

THIS,THIS,THIS GODDAMN IT THIS!!

People look at other countries to replicate but I think Pakistan should look at Sialkot (as far as manufacturing is concerned)

Sialkot is king of SME sector in Pakistan, they make literally a whole lot of things that you'll be surprised we make in Pakistan (if you are from a family of factory people you'll know how much we rely on Sialkot) and income inequality is some of the lowest in the country cause almost everyone in the city is involved in some kind of export industry (yes even the small houses contribute through their SME), Gujrat is a small city but is somewhat similar to Sialkot in its approach to industry
In comparison Faisalabad is where big industries are located at but SME is still work in progress

Kashmir relies on remittances for everything

For the future country should focus on Islamabad, Peshawar , Lahore for IT and other service/education related stuff
Punjab triangle of Sialkot, Gujrat, Faisalabad for industrial output

and Karachi can do both and plus some

city focused approach where you give them all the facilities to do business, have SMEs that feed into bigger industry, cheap loans for SME, great infrastructure in the cities, technical institutes in industrial cities

research university , good quality universities in Peshawar, Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi to help us with some of the higher quality stuff

Actually make clusters of specific things in cities as its easier to help them from governmental prespective

 

[Norwegian]

Butto do nationalization and you guys blame him, but if you see China economy, much of the economy is also owned by state owned company.


Just see China companies who are in FORBES 500, around 200 of them and 95 % is state owned companies

One major difference is that China's state companies are very profitable unlike Pakistan where they all suffered heavy losses after nationalization. PIA, Steel Mills etc never recovered to this date.

 

[SQ8]

I have yet to find two economists that agree on everything

 

[Indos]

One major difference is that China's state companies are very profitable unlike Pakistan where they all suffered heavy losses after nationalization

There is system in China in overhauling their state owned companies. There is a name of the system, I forgot.

I also dont agree on getting other people business using force, not right morally but state owned companies are still needed if it can be managed properly.

This is the exact number

For the first time, China has more companies on Fortune Global 500 list than the US

• The number of US companies on the list has declined to 121 from 126 last year
• The contribution of state-owned enterprises has risen to 80.2 per cent of Chinese companies on the list from 76.3 per cent last year

https://www.scmp.com/business/compa...has-more-companies-fortune-global-500-list-us

 

[Norwegian]

I have yet to find two economists that agree on everything

You don't need economists to fix Pakistan's broken economy. There are many countries in Asia, even in the region that Pakistan can learn from to fix its economic mistakes.

 

[Pak Nationalist]

Interesting to see the OP like the comment from an Indonesian member on page 1 and still repeating the same thing that contradicts the Indonesian member's position.

 

[Norwegian]

Interesting to see the OP like the comment from an Indonesian member on page 1 and still repeating the same thing that contradicts the Indonesian member's position.

Everybody is more interested in Op's rating pattern than the discussion at hand

 

[Pak Nationalist]

Everybody is more interested in Op's rating pattern than the discussion at hand

You like launching personal attacks on others, don't you? A country like Pakistan cannot have a completely free float. Speculation is the bread and butter of people here. What the Indonesian member said should have made you realize how speculation-led runaway devaluation is a serious threat in Pakistani conditions. Maybe in your heart of hearts, you did realize it, giving his comment a like as a show of approval. The statement of the Finance Minister was warranted entirely because he is well aware of the dynamics of the money market and how speculators make a fortune through their bets once the bout of devaluation begins. There must be a strong message to these malign actors that PKR would not be allowed to be devalued beyond a specific limit (in line with the market fundamentals). The depreciation that is a consequence of speculative attacks on PKR is also distorting the money market's functioning. These attacks weaken the PKR more than it is actually worth at any given moment. I favor exchange rate flexibility, but with strings attached (as it should be in developing economies with a weak rule of law and a strong speculation culture).

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Rupee needs to be increased in value
People who need to eat high quality rice , mangoes , fruit and vegetables will pay even slightly higher price

 

[Enigma SIG]

But my Tucson will cost me 10 lac more if rupee depreciates!

 

[Norwegian]

You like launching personal attacks on others, don't you? A country like Pakistan cannot have a completely free float. Speculation is the bread and butter of people here. What the Indonesian member said should have made you realize how speculation-led runaway devaluation is a serious threat in Pakistani conditions. Maybe in your heart of hearts, you did realize it, giving his comment a like as a show of approval. The statement of the Finance Minister was warranted entirely because he is well aware of the dynamics of the money market and how speculators make a fortune through their bets once the bout of devaluation begins. There must be a strong message to these malign actors that PKR would not be allowed to be devalued beyond a specific limit (in line with the market fundamentals). The depreciation that is a consequence of speculative attacks on PKR is also distorting the money market's functioning. These attacks weaken the PKR more than it is actually worth at any given moment. I favor exchange rate flexibility, but with strings attached (as it should be in developing economies with a weak rule of law and a strong speculation culture).

Nobody is arguing for complete free float here. You can learn from Malaysia after 1997 financial crisis that came out way better than for example Indonesia.
Point is currency must not overvalue too much or we end up like 2018 situation over and over again.

Rupee needs to be increased in value

Yes by increasing exports, remittances, investment not by state bank manipulations.

 

[American Pakistani]

The long term solution to be less dependent on fuel import is to go green and bring electric vehicle policies. Example, give 5 year ultimatum to all local automobile assemblers to only "manufacture" electric vehicles. No imports on non electric vehicles as well. Increase electricity generation as well. Fuel is the main cost of huge import bill and is also critical import. In an event of war an enemy can easily cut this supply paralyzing the nation completely.

Second industry to look for is pharmaceutical. It is one of the easiest industry and critical as well. Countries like India and Bangladesh are exporting pharmaceutical to Europe and North America while Pakistan is one major importer always begging for low cost pharmaceutical import.

Third is to heavily tax the non essential stuff like used clothes, cereal, chocolate, ice cream, processed foods, etc.

Just taking care of these 3 will save Pakistan about 8 billion yearly.

At the same time increase exports. Easily pakistan can dominate the poultry and halal meat industry of the world. Plus free lancing from Pakistan can bring a boom in IT sector.