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Pakistan Cut Public Debt in Half On Musharraf's Watch in 1999-2008

Yes. A golden opportunity was missed to have a workable peace with India. By 2008, the 'Judges Movement' in Pakistan, the Lal Masjid spawned violence, and indeed TTP originated terrorism in Pakistan had made Musharraf as 'the Bunker President'. He was physically attacked by, among others, some Kashmir factions for making compromises with India over Kashmir. He HAD to leave power in 2008, giving it to some form of civilian rule, and PPP was the only choice available. Pakistan has never tolerated its dictators for more than 10 odd years!
The Indian PM at that time was popular enough in India to make a political compromise.

Ironically, MMS was born in today's Pakistan while Musharraf was born in Delhi. While watching interviews from Musharraf, I see that he had a good personal opinion about MMS. I don't think that many Indian politicians can claim that :cheers:
 
@Mav3rick

Although that I wonder if we had many options through 2010 to 2015 to decide and act on filling the gaps.

Actually, you have hit the nail on the head. By 2008-10, it was clear that Pakistan was facing a serious energy crisis. At THAT point of time, coal and nuclear were the only possible options - solar was way TOO expensive at that point of time and wind too unreliable. Pak policy makers were left with no option but to opt for coal based generation, which now in hindsight looks a bad bet. But as we have discussed earlier, it is easy to be wiser after the event.

We have abundance of sunlight and air corridors which we can utilize to setup hybrid solar/wind power generation systems and if we start now, we can be there in 15-20 years.

I think Pakistan is already working in that direction; in any case events worldwide will push Pakistan in that direction willy nilly.

We do not have money to invest in anything and hence we will need to invite investors to do so on BOT basis.

That is OK. Every modern economy generates power through private capital owned plants.

In the meantime, we need to think out of the box like Brazil and investigate if we can follow a similar line as we also have abundance of sugarcane and corn production to produce ethanol for replacement of imported fuel.

It is certainly worth a thought. But go for sugarcane, not corn, as long as it uses water rationally. Corn is too energy inefficient.

I wonder if dear Niaz sb ( @niaz ) still posts these days. He is better equipped to answer these questions than anyone here.

Regards


Undoubtedly cost of the renewables came down in during the last decade. According to a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), since 2020 on a lifetime cost basis, both the wind & solar power are cheaper than the conventional fossil fuel generated power. These sources are however not a “ Panacea” for the energy requirements of a country. Primarily because the power demand of a normal economy fluctuate wildly between day & night and each season has a different demand pattern.

Solar panel power generation varies with the time of day and the wind power depends upon the wind speed. Neither can be increased or decreased to match the sudden fluctuation in demand. Nuclear is the only non-carbon emitting power source which fulfils all the requirement of the economy but there is the stigma of the possibility of a reactor melt down attached to it.
What is therefore needed is a mix of of the wind, solar, hydro, nuclear and fossil fuel based power generation. For a country like Pakistan, solar power use for the households and wind power for the south Sind region should be maximised but for major urban centres and the industry in general; either nuclear energy and fossil fuel based power plants will remain indispensable.

By the way, Wind & Solar energies are not 100% ‘Green’ either. Here are the some of the ‘Cons’:

Wind Turbines Could Be Threat to Wildlife; especially birds and other flying creatures that may be in the area. Wind Turbines would also lead to Noise and Visual Pollution of the locality.

The environmental impacts associated with solar power are land and water use and pollution, habitat loss, and use of highly hazardous materials in the manufacturing process.
Solar panels need additional support to be securely mounted, due to the weight of the panels. If the roof is not durable or has any weak spots, the panels could cause your roof to crack or “flatten” over time due to additional weight.

In my humble opinion, for her long term strategy, Pakistan should focus on the nuclear energy. Initial costs would be high but it would free the country with the constantly increasing oil & gas prices. For the short term, increase investment on the oil exploration.
 
Number of tv channels rose from just 1 to 100 in Musharraf years in Pakistan. There was a big media revolution. Unfortunately, Pakistani media & journalists became more unethical & irresponsible with all the money that poured in. PMLN bought many out.


In Musharraf years, Pakistan university enrollment jumped from 270,000 to 900,000. Universities & degree colleges rose from 57 in 2000 to 137. Without this human capital, there would be no #tech industry, no freelancers, no fast-growing tech exports today.

 
Record FDI in Musharraf years (2001-2008) came in many sectors. Telecom operators built networks worth billions of dollars. Without this telecom #infrastructure, there would be no #tech industry, no freelancers and no fast-growing tech exports today.

@RiazHaq bhai, Musharraf's time was one of the better times for Pakistan.

Even if Musharraf was a Western supported leader, he was still one of the better times for Pakistan.
 
My dear, it seems your as deluded as the PM. If it were a democracy Imran Khan would’ve been out of office by now. 90% of The people of Pakistan who voted for him actually hate him today. That’s the ground reality.
Hate him for what? For not looting Pakistan?

Riaz Sahib,
You could share all the facts and numbers but some people would never accept them. Those who blame Imran Khan's economy on the previous decade-old rules of PPP and PMLN (2008-2018) would never accept that the same PPP and PMLN had in a previous decade (1988-1999) ruined Pakistan's economy. Some cognitive dissonance!?


Yes. A golden opportunity was missed to have a workable peace with India. By 2008, the 'Judges Movement' in Pakistan, the Lal Masjid spawned violence, and indeed TTP originated terrorism in Pakistan had made Musharraf as 'the Bunker President'. He was physically attacked by, among others, some Kashmir factions for making compromises with India over Kashmir. He HAD to leave power in 2008, giving it to some form of civilian rule, and PPP was the only choice available. Pakistan has never tolerated its dictators for more than 10 odd years!
Pakistan doesn't tolerate so called democratic leaders either for more than 5 years
 
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Pakistan's employment growth was the highest in South Asia region in 2000-2010, followed by Nepal, Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka in that order, according to a World Bank report titled "More and Better Jobs in South Asia".



Total employment in South Asia (excluding Afghanistan and Bhutan) rose from 473 million in 2000 to 568 million in 2010, creating an average of just under 800,000 new jobs a month. In all countries except Maldives and Sri Lanka, the largest share of the employed are the low‐end self-employed.



The report says that nearly a third of workers in India and a fifth of workers in Bangladesh and Pakistan are casual laborers. Regular wage and salaried workers represent a fifth or less of total employment.

Analysis of the labor productivity data indicates that growth in TFP (total factor productivity) made a larger relative contribution to the growth of aggregate labor productivity in South Asia during 1980–2008 than did physical and human capital accumulation. In fact, the contribution of TFP growth was higher than in the high‐performing East Asian economies excluding China.




The report argues that South Asia region needs to create a million jobs a month just to keep up with the growth of the workforce. In addition to corruption, conflicts and political instability, the report specifically mentions electricity shortage as a key factor inhibiting job growth in the region. Power sector financial losses across the region are large, resulting from the misalignment of tariffs, the high cost of power procurement, and high transmission and distribution losses. In India the combined cash loss of state-owned distribution companies is more than $20 billion a year, compared with $300 billion of investment needs in 2010–15. The sector deficit in Pakistan is estimated at about $2 billion a year, compared with $32 billion of investment needs in 2010–20.


 
Not hard to achieve when you’re in America’s pocket, and aid is equivalent to nearly 10% of your annual budget and dollar payments are no problem at all.

Sellout dictators always manage to post decent figures if taken at face value.

As much as I criticise the guy. I’ll take 10 years of IK over a single year of some oath violating sellout dictator.
 
Hate him for what? For not looting Pakistan?


Pakistan doesn't tolerate so called democratic leaders either for more than 5 years
Hello? For the hyperinflation that’s taking place? Devaluation of the exchange rate? Massive increase in debt to GDP ratio? And then coming on tv and pretending as if nothing is wrong ? It’s like adding fuel to the fire. But Ofcourse you won’t feel it unless your living in country. Go out in the street and ask literally anyone what they think about pTi and IK. Punjab, kpk or Sindh.
 
Hello? For the hyperinflation that’s taking place? Devaluation of the exchange rate? Massive increase in debt to GDP ratio? And then coming on tv and pretending as if nothing is wrong ?
Hello? When former govt was having artificially overvalued exchange rate, was everybody sleeping? Didn't anybody set off alarms that it would lead to mass devaluation and thus inflation in future? What you are experiencing today is the fallout of previous govts disastrous monetary policy
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Go out in the street and ask literally anyone what they think about pTi and IK. Punjab, kpk or Sindh
Why? Is everybody on the street macro economist who could tell what's actually wrong with Pakistan's economy?
 
resident Pervez Musharraf inherited a massive debt of over 100% of GDP run up by the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) governments in 1990s

same thing happened in 2018 man, this is absolutely ridiculous man
A national security risks from the very beginning
Khata Hai tu lagata bi tu Hai
 
Hello? For the hyperinflation that’s taking place? Devaluation of the exchange rate? Massive increase in debt to GDP ratio? And then coming on tv and pretending as if nothing is wrong ? It’s like adding fuel to the fire. But Ofcourse you won’t feel it unless your living in country. Go out in the street and ask literally anyone what they think about pTi and IK. Punjab, kpk or Sindh.
If Mian sahab was such a stellar steward of the economy, why did he take out $45 billion worth of loans. And pray tell what did he do with those $45 bn when CPI and dallar were so low, no inflation and everything was so cheap. How did he spend those $45 bn?
 
If Mian sahab was such a stellar steward of the economy, why did he take out $45 billion worth of loans. And pray tell what did he do with those $45 bn when CPI and dallar were so low, no inflation and everything was so cheap. How did he spend those $45

Irrelevant since pTi is in power now but a good question, The PM should’ve asked Nawaz that before letting him leave the country with all that stolen wealth.
 

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