Pakistan is really a Banana republic ?

[epebble]

3 trillion is way too high and even conservative estimates say only about half of the economy is underground
.

A back of the envelope calculation can be made by adding major inputs: Like amount of steel produced/used, autos/vehicles, electricity produced/consumed, cement produced/consumed, electronics, pharmaceuticals etc., If you add up the top 100 or 500 items you get a fairly good picture. If Pakistan is a 3 trillion economy, its per capita production/consumption of steel, cement, electricity, vehicles, petroleum, electronics, etc., will be in line with other economies with similar per capita GDP. Nominally, 3 trillion divided by 243 million gives $12,000 per capita.

 

[K_Bin_W]

A back of the envelope calculation can be made by adding major inputs: Like amount of steel produced/used, autos/vehicles, electricity produced/consumed, cement produced/consumed, electronics, pharmaceuticals etc., If you add up the top 100 or 500 items you get a fairly good picture. If Pakistan is a 3 trillion economy, its per capita production/consumption of steel, cement, electricity, vehicles, petroleum, electronics, etc., will be in line with other economies with similar per capita GDP. Nominally, 3 trillion divided by 243 million gives $12,000 per capita.

I am no economist nor do I understand how it works. Still, when I first visited Pak my very 1st impression was "Pak is not as poor as it's made out to be" My observation was based on living conditions, infra, cars, restaurants, malls, etc...

 

[HAIDER]

A back of the envelope calculation can be made by adding major inputs: Like amount of steel produced/used, autos/vehicles, electricity produced/consumed, cement produced/consumed, electronics, pharmaceuticals etc., If you add up the top 100 or 500 items you get a fairly good picture. If Pakistan is a 3 trillion economy, its per capita production/consumption of steel, cement, electricity, vehicles, petroleum, electronics, etc., will be in line with other economies with similar per capita GDP. Nominally, 3 trillion divided by 243 million gives $12,000 per capita.

Remember...wealth is only in a few hands ..big class gap.

 

[nahtanbob]

Few days ago, i was following a debate on Pak economy, where they gave a brief calculation if Pakistan's economy is 383 billion by govt figure but people on the ground claim figure is 400 billion then the underground parallel economy is always 3 times to 4 times higher in number. Imagine do you have any correct record of Gold import and sales in Pakistan? no ..its just one example.

documented or undocumented what do you produce in the underground parallel economy ? opium ? prostitution ?

 

[HAIDER]

documented or undocumented what do you produce in the underground parallel economy ? opium ? prostitution ?

for years construction industry to the motor industry are all undocumented ... a main source of income to buy tangible to fixed products is unknown... and lots of other trades .. sugar mafia and the list goes on....both opium and prostitution should be taxed like US and Canada. What do you think ?

 

[I.R.A]

documented or undocumented what do you produce in the underground parallel economy ? opium ? prostitution ?

Real estate, Huge retail, wholesale, distribution, supply, dairy, agriculture, tourism, movie production, music industry, actors, medical industry etc. Except for registered companies, firms, Salaried class ... most of other trades are not registered nor they file their tax returns.

The problem is and remains that Pakistan has a very sophisticated online tax filing system, but the taxman and the tax payer are not educated enough to use and implement it properly to get the maximum benefit from it.

Middle finger to your opium and prostitution guesses, I am sure you hardly know anything about what BayNami is in Pakistan.

The reason Pakistan relies heavily on indirect taxation and withholding of income tax.

 

[RescueRanger]

FRAUDISTAN.

Please don’t mock our nations name like that. Thanks

 

[SoulSpokesman]

For those trying to establish the real size of Pak economy, a good proxy will be to use energy consumption data. GDP data can be fudged but energy data is difficult to fudge. Almost all power, coal and petroproducts can be tracked with reasonable amount of accuracy.

Energy Consumption by Country 2024

worldpopulationreview.com

If this data is anything to go by IND's energy consumption is 8 times Pak's- in per capita terms about 1.2 times. India's GDP per capita too is roughly about 20% higher.

List of countries by electricity consumption - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

And electricity consumption is higher by about 2 times

It is difficult to believe that proportionately the hidden economy is that much higher in Pak than in other South Asian countries.

Regards

@epebble Thanks. I didnt see your post above before saying my bit

 

[epebble]

For those trying to establish the real size of Pak economy, a good proxy will be to use energy consumption data. GDP data can be fudged but energy data is difficult to fudge. Almost all power, coal and petroproducts can be tracked with reasonable amount of accuracy.

A person commented that there is too much theft of electricity. So, really, in Pakistan's case, practically no data is trustworthy. With that, it gets hard to track anything with confidence. So, the original assertion may after all be correct. i.e., Pakistan's true economic size may be indeterminable. If every data point is fudged, what rule can you use? It is like someone messed up with the rules of arithmetic.

 

[SoulSpokesman]

@epebble

A person commented that there is too much theft of electricity.

You can solve that problem by going by the power generated rather than consumed. You can further assume that a sizeable chunk of the diesel is being used for generating power off grid. It wont change the picture much either.

Regards

 

[epebble]

@epebble

A person commented that there is too much theft of electricity.

You can solve that problem by going by the power generated rather than consumed. You can further assume that a sizeable chunk of the diesel is being used for generating power off grid. It wont change the picture much either.

Regards

What if they generate 1000 KWH of power in a day but declare that they produced only 700 KWH and sell remaining 300 KWH under the table? All papers will show only 700KWH has been generated. Someone may say, Hmm, this power plant is rated to produce 1000 KWH for which the response can be, sir, we have inefficiencies, a lot of power is "wasted" before it goes into the Grid. Fundamental problem is, with rank-and-file corruption, no data is reliable. IMF is facing this problem, every undertaking they make with Pakistan is broken. Pakistan agrees to whatever IMF dictates to get the money and then they ignore it.

Pakistan, IMF resume talks on suspended funds | Independent Pakistan

By Staff Reporter ISLAMABAD: Pakistani officials started a much-delayed talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday, asking the Fund to extend its loan program for a year and boost the $6 billion loan to help support the country's battered economy.

independent-pakistan.com

 

[SoulSpokesman]

@epebble

What if they generate 1000 KWH of power in a day but declare that they produced only 700 KWH and sell remaining 300 KWH under the table?

Unlikely, although nothing is impossible in Pakiland. Power has to be wheeled through transmission networks which have very detailed controlled systems in place and monitor power flowing in each and every HV line on real time basis. It would require collusion on an immense scale. Maybe @niaz sb can throw some light on this.

Regards

 

[PradoTLC]

PTI is still unable to file an FIR after attempted assassination. Pass 7 days. Arshad Sharif's mother begging for her son's postmortem report. Govt gave pictures to Kamran Shahid, but the family has no access.
COAS selection in UK Avensfiled apartments.
Extreme lawlessness from the police stations to superior courts.
Toothless PM of Pakistan.
NRO 1 and then NRO 2.

it has been a banana republic for a long time.


with so many institution rotten with corrupt and incompletent people. the funny bit is people who are enjoying this dont think any thing is wrong.

zero understanding of Islam our people have.

 

[SoulSpokesman]

@PradoTLC

zero understanding of Islam our people have.

Unfortunately many people are Muslims in name only

Regards

 

[PradoTLC]

@PradoTLC

zero understanding of Islam our people have.

Unfortunately many people are Muslims in name only

Regards

for an indian you actually under stood the problem with Pakistanis. It isnt Islam it was always lack of correct Islamic understanding

Noman Ali Khan did a recent tour of Pakistan I sincerly wish Pakistanis undertsood what he said.