PM for urgent steps to check gap between import, exports

[Desprado]

Finally sense prevail. Rumors are that Aliya hamza malik was very unhappy that FDI is in decline, outflows are in faster pace and panic in the currency. According to Ary She requested to keep close eyes on Shuakat Tarin this month.

PM if you fire Shaukat Tarin right now i swear you will win and PMLN and PPP is no position to win 2023 election. Otherwise, people will not come out to vote for anyone.

 

[Pak Nationalist]

Finally sense prevail. Rumors are that Aliya hamza malik was very unhappy that FDI is in decline, outflows are in faster pace and panic in the currency. According to Ary She requested to keep close eyes on Shuakat Tarin this month.

PM if you fire Shaukat Tarin right now i swear you will win and PMLN and PPP is no position to win 2023 election. Otherwise, people will not come out to vote for anyone.

Shaukat Tarin was the guy who selvedged Pakistani economy when it was even in direr straits in 2007-2008. The mission he has been given (to pump growth) entails swelling of trade deficit. We have a narrow manufacturing base, and even many basic inputs for our manufacturing sector have to be imported. If manufacturing grows, so will the raw material imports. As for FDI, why would anyone want to invest in Pakistan if there are bomb attacks, a dozen or more soldiers get killed each week, key stakeholders have no trust in the political system of the country, there is nothing remotely like the rule of law, intellectual property laws are either nonexistent, weak or not enforced at all, investors face harassment from the taxman and anti-corruption bodies, policies are made in silos and hence get frequently revised/withdrawn as drawbacks/weaknesses become apparent once these policies are put into practice in an environment where multiple factors are at play, the size of the middle class is shrinking rather than expanding (decreasing purchasing power)? In these circumstances, who would invest? Shaukat Tareen is no wizard who could fix all this in a year or so. Heck! some of the things I have mentioned are even beyond his preview. To attract FDI, you need a whole of nation approach where you put various things in your house in order first. A mere finance minister cannot make Pakistan a magnet for foreign investment. BTW, we might not like hearing this, but Chinese investments have also discouraged other potential investors from investing in Pakistan (especially with weak IP protection laws where trade secrets of investing companies could be vulnerable to be stolen by "other" players in the market). If Pakistan was a formidable economy with a large middle class like India's, we could have afforded Chinese investments because then no one could have afforded to not invest in Pakistan, it is not, so we must protect the interests of all investors and the first step towards that should be strengthening the IP laws in the country so that no foreign player could steal IP of other investors on our soil. Secondly, the foreign missions we have are the focal nodes for attracting investments. PTI is not focusing on pushing them in this direction. It is admirable that it is the first government that has consciously pushed these outposts of Pakistan to watch out for the welfare of the diaspora, but that is not the sole function of these.

 

[Desprado]

Shaukat Tarin was the guy who selvedged Pakistani economy when it was even in direr straits in 2007-2008. The mission he has been given (to pump growth) entails swelling of trade deficit. We have a narrow manufacturing base, and even many basic inputs for our manufacturing sector have to be imported. If manufacturing grows, so will the raw material imports. As for FDI, why would anyone want to invest in Pakistan if there are bomb attacks, a dozen or more soldiers get killed each week, key stakeholders have no trust in the political system of the country, there is nothing remotely like the rule of law, intellectual property laws are either nonexistent, weak or not enforced at all, investors face harassment from the taxman and anti-corruption bodies, policies are made in silos and hence get frequently revised/withdrawn as drawbacks/weaknesses become apparent, the size of the middle class is shrinking rather than expanding (decreasing purchasing power)? In these circumstances, who would invest? Shaukat Tareen is no wizard who could fix all this in a year or so. Heck! some of the things I have mentioned are even beyond his preview. To attract FDI, you need a whole of nation approach where you put various things in your house in order first. A mere finance minister cannot make Pakistan a magnet for foreign investment. BTW, we might not like hearing this, but Chinese investments have also discouraged other potential investors from investing in Pakistan (especially with weak IP protection laws where trade secrets of investing companies could be vulnerable to be stolen by "other" players in the market). If Pakistan was a formidable economy with a large middle class like India's, we could have afforded Chinese investments because then no one could have afforded to not invest in Pakistan, it is not, so we must protect the interests of all investors and the first step towards that should be strengthening the IP laws in the country so that no foreign player could steal IP of other investors on our soil. Secondly, the foreign missions we have are the focal nodes for attracting investments. PTI is not focusing on pushing them in this direction. It is admirable that the first government has pushed these outposts of Pakistan to watch out for the welfare of the diaspora, but that is not the sole function of these.

PM is dump to hire this cheat. He did a fraud with IMF on 2009 and run away because he knew he has done forged promises with IMF and resigned. It was Hafez Sheik who came to rescue PPP from the trap and renegotiated IMF program again. However, they have kicked out Hafez and but blessing for PTI is that they know his import growth numbers very early and FDI has also now only in outflows.

 

[Pak Nationalist]

PM is dump to hire this cheat. He did a fraud with IMF on 2009 and run away because he knew he has done forged promises with IMF and resigned. It was Hafez Sheik who came to rescue PPP from the trap and renegotiated IMF program again. However, they have kicked out Hafez and but blessing for PTI is that they know his import growth numbers very early and FDI has also now only in outflows.

You have a ticking time bomb to your West, and the investor is jittery. Also, the fallout of Afghanistan withdrawal could have ushered/still ushered in Pakistan's economic hardships (no relief from multilateral lenders or even sanctions). Obviously, in these circumstances, prudent businesses would secure their positions. Shaukat Tarin has nothing to do with it. PS. Hafeez Sheikh was the one who rode the wave of relative stability unleashed by the prudent macroeconomic policies of Shaukat Tareen (in last PPP stint at government). Hafeez Sheikh was booted because he secured a politically lousy IMF program continuation deal for PTI, which would have lost the election (if these are fair, it would probably still lose). When your economic fundamentals are all over the place, it is not wise to expect miracles from a single person. As a nation, we have never learned the importance of foundations. When the foundations are hollow, no master mason could erect a sturdy structure on these, and fixing foundations takes time. In Pakistan's case, correcting these also entails stepping on the toes of some mighty lobbies, interest groups, institutions, and lobbies.