Zardari can turn around economy




Wednesday, September 03, 2008

By our correspondent

ISLAMABAD: There is a growing feeling in business and economic circles of Pakistan that given his sharp business instincts and active participation in mega projects during the last PPP governments, Asif Ali Zardari, if elected president, may actually turn around the economy.

These circles recall that it was the direct involvement of Zardari during the second government of Benazir Bhutto which resulted in the massive induction of power generation through the IPPs.

It is also to the credit of the PPP government in the 90s that fibre optic lines were laid down in the entire country and Pakistan became one of the few countries where the telecommunications revolution arrived ahead of others.

Though, at that time the IPP deals were considered to be outrageous and shady, the fact is that if those power projects had not been launched, Pakistan today may have been in a very critical condition with massive power outages.

“The expertise of Zardari in launching projects and cutting deals could actually prove to be an asset for Pakistan, because if he launched some mega projects quickly, generating employment and bringing about foreign investment, serious economic troubles may start to ease,” a friend of Zardari said in Islamabad.

It is widely known that Zardari is very sharp in business deals and during his four years of stay outside Pakistan, when Benazir had sidelined him, he was involved in a lot of business matters and gaining valuable experience of international deals and making friends with the top business entrepreneurs worldwide.

Likewise, the list of companies he owns, whether that list is genuine or not is another question as it was released by the NAB when the trial of Zardari was going on, also shows that he knows how to get investments from where and how to handle money matters.

If this vast experience is enlarged and expanded to a scale when he has to make similar deals for Pakistan and with major world investors, Zardari could actually turn out to be an asset for the economy in a major way.

His critics, circles in Islamabad say, often raise the issue of accusations against Zardari and his ways of making deals, but when a politician with a lot of money reaches the pinnacle of political power and becomes head of the state, it is unlikely that he would adopt the same style and manner of business that he may have done in the past.

As leader of the largest political party with offices of the prime minister and shortly of the president, Zardari and all others will have to think in the larger national interest and focus their full attention on reviving the economy. This would only be possible once he gets all contentious political issues out of his way and concentrates on what he can do the best — make deals, this time for Pakistan.

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=16994

he already has done, the article is too late, he took a booming economy and turned it 180 degrees into a failure.

Even if he wants to and if he can, I think he just has too many people he neeeds to oblige by letting them play loose, a guy with his background just can't afford to say no to so many quarters and hence can't be the disciplinarian that is key requirement.


The IPP project were quickly implemented because the companies were eyeing huge profits ensured by sovereign guaranteees the PPP government provided at the cost of national interests.


So, its at best wishful thinking, nothing else

Who is the author of this article trying to fool?

This bastard Zardari can only turn around his ASS to be kicked so hard that #### comes out of his mouth... oh well it already does whenever he speaks

As far as the IPPs are concerned could anyone tell this dumbass writer that how much commission was involved in it? and at what rates was the govt. to buy energy from these IPPs as compared to the neighboring countries? You would be astounded to know the figures(read corruption) involved.

"Zardari can turn around economy" because he's He-man with bulging biceps and his passion to do right over wrong.

yeah he can turn around the economy...that is..to his own favour!

most of these businessmen pleaded to Musharraf to use 58(2)(B) including the jerk Aqeel Karim Dhedhi!! Now either some of them have been bought off or are too scared too raise their voices!!

given his sharp business instincts and active participation in mega projects during the last PPP governments,


Seriously .... what a load of horseshit! OOOOoooo wait ... jang news .... hahahahahaha .. .I sincerly wish that Jang become the first casualty of Zardari's War on Pakistan

The only way he can be of any positive to the economy is that if he returns the $4~ billion USD he stole from Pakistan.

I stopped reading the article after that sentence... If Zadari's claim-to-fame is his super-duper sharp business instincts in filling up his pockets with ill gotten stolen wealth... then its straight to hell for Pak economy!

thanks to those IPP's that mostly run on fossil fuels we have this electricity crisis.when india is making dam after dams we are investing in these inefficient power plants .mind u ,the kalabagh dam has been cancelled by the PPP govt

KSE is not even fluctuating any more...it is a plain simple decline......

Well said.

Since he has officially been elected, there are no excuses anymore for inaction. We are all waiting for his miracle 'master plan' and I hope it doesnt involve going into Waziristan guns blazing.

President Zardari needs $10 billion to stay afloat
By Farrukh Saleem
The News International, Pakistan
9/9/2008 link

ISLAMABAD: Last month, we paid out $1 billion more than we earned. Last month was actually a good month because for the last nine months we have been loosing an average $1.3 billion every month. Loosing dollars at that rate means that the State Bank will not be able to pay back the principal, amounting to $500 million due for repayment in the middle of Feb 2009.

As of the last day of Dec 2007, the SBP's foreign exchange reserves stood at $15,589 million. By the end of August 2008, total reserves had dropped to $9,129 million out of which reserves with SBP were a mere $5,759 million. After accounting for gold and forward sales, the SBP is left with under $4,000 million. At the current rate of reserve depletion, the SBP desperately needs a multi-billion dollar cash injection by end of September.

Since 9/11, the US has already pumped in $12,277 million. Additionally, Pakistanis working abroad had remitted $33,277 million, and that's a total of $45,554 million. At the end of it all, we are now back to begging the Saudis for more free oil, the Americans for flour plus dollars and the Chinese for electricity.

Can Pakistan avoid a sovereign default on its external obligations? According to Forbes, the prestigious American bi-weekly, "Pakistan will probably avoid the sovereign debt default that markets increasingly expect, even though the country faces more downgrades to its credit rating as it grapples with dwindling reserves and a sliding currency. The stability of Pakistan, a key US ally in the war on terrorism, is so important a geopolitical factor that institutions such as the International Monetary Fund will eventually help it meet obligations to creditors."

We routinely go bankrupt. Last time we went broke was 1998; every ten years we go belly-up. The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE), Pakistan's premier stock exchange, is practically closed for business. Our foreign debt is now the riskiest on the face of the planet and our currency is the weakest. Why? Are we a financially viable entity? To be certain, we are hooked; hooked on arms and ammunition, addicted to F-16s and AMRAAM air-to-air missiles. Look at the budget 2008-09: Defence allocation of Rs296 billion plus Rs100 billion in military pensions, and that's 33 per cent of the country's total tax revenues.

President Zardari now faces a powerful military emboldened by the fact that the civilian coalition couldn't survive the test of time. The military alone needs $7 billion in the following 12 months (historically, a quarter of our defence budget has been financed by the US).

At the IMF, the United States has 371,743 votes. The ADB loves to fight poverty in Asia but the United States holds the largest voting block. Intriguingly, the Saudi Oil Facility is also being negotiated in Washington.

Pakistan will not default, declared the SBP. Imagine; if there was no 'war on terror'. Lucky us, the war on terror will not let Pakistan default ó as long as there is terror and as long as there is a war. The World Bank is here and so is the Asian Development Bank (ADB). We are going to need the IMF to give us a 'letter of comfort'. A billion dollar from the World Bank, half that much from the ADB and a $5,900 million Saudi Oil Facility. I have done the numbers; President Zardari desperately needs a $10 billion injection just to keep the angry bulk of our population only slightly above sea level.

Pakistan's Next President Is a Category 5 Disaster
September 2, 2008, Page A21, Global View By Bret Stephens

If there's a case to be made against democracy, few countries make it better than Pakistan. On Saturday, Pakistani legislators will elect a new president to replace Pervez Musharraf, the general-turned-strongman who resigned the office last month. In one corner there is Mushahid Hussain Sayed, a former journalist and one-time political prisoner of Mr. Musharraf who is nonetheless running as the candidate of the general's old party. Mr. Mushahid, probably the best of the bunch, stands next to no chance of winning.

In another corner there is Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui, candidate of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's party. Mr. Sharif -- whose record includes bankrupting his country, presiding over a disastrous military campaign against India, and attempting to implement Sharia law while awarding himself near-dictatorial powers -- has made it clear he intends to gut the powers of the presidency should he return to office.

And then there is Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and leader of the Pakistan People's Party. Mr. Zardari, who has compared himself to Jesus (an innocent accused of crimes he did not commit), is easily one of the most notorious figures in the long parade of horribles that make up the country's political history. He is, of course, expected to win Saturday's ballot handily.

Just how bad is Mr. Zardari? It would be a relief if it were true that he was merely suffering from dementia, a diagnosis offered by two New York psychiatrists last year. But that diagnosis seems to have been produced mainly with a view toward defending himself against corruption charges in a British court.

Mr. Zardari -- who earned the moniker "Mr. 10%" for allegedly demanding kickbacks during his wife's two terms in office -- has long been dogged by accusations of corruption. In 2003, a Swiss magistrate found him and Mrs. Bhutto guilty of laundering $10 million. Mr. Zardari has admitted to owning a 355-acre estate near London, despite coming from a family of relatively modest means and reporting little income at the time it was purchased. A 1998 report by the New York Times's John Burns suggests he may have made off with as much as $1.5 billion in kickbacks. This was at a time when his wife was piously claiming to represent the interests of Pakistan's impoverished masses and denouncing corrupt leaders who "leave the cupboard bare."

It's an open question whether Mr. Zardari will be more or less restrained in his behavior if he's elected: His return to politics has meant the dropping of all charges against him and the release of millions in frozen assets. (The presidency will also confer legal immunity.) That may make him one of the few men in Pakistan to get richer this year: The economy, which grew in an unprecedented way under Mr. Musharraf, has tanked under civilian management. The Karachi stock exchange has lost about a third of its value and the currency about a fifth in recent months. Markets often have better memories than voters.

It's also an open question whether Pakistan's increasingly dire security outlook will focus Mr. Zardari's mind on the urgent tasks of governance. Mr. Zardari has sought to parley himself internationally as a pro-Western candidate, and maybe he is. Yet over the weekend the Pakistani government agreed to stop its air strikes on the Taliban, in exchange for which Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, a religious party, agreed to throw its support to Mr. Zardari. The Taliban has used previous cease-fires to regroup and re-arm for operations against both Afghanistan and Islamabad.

Then there is al Qaeda, now openly endeavoring to use its last redoubts in Pakistan to take over the country. Last month, Ayman al-Zawahiri issued a long broadcast (in English, no less) denouncing Mr. Musharraf as an American tool and calling on Pakistan's army to come over to his side.

That call was unlikely to be heeded against Mr. Musharraf, who could count on the loyalty of his troops. But Mr. Zardari is a caricature of everything that's morally bankrupt with the country's Westernized elite, and thus an inviting propaganda target for al Qaeda and the Taliban. It doesn't help, either, that they are working fertile political soil: 71% of Pakistanis oppose cooperating with the U.S. in counterterrorism, and 51% oppose fighting the Taliban at all, according to a June poll.

Al Qaeda and the Taliban feed on chaos, and a Zardari presidency will almost certainly provide more of it. For Pakistanis, this is a self-inflicted wound and a rebuke to their democracy. For the rest of world, it's a matter of hoping that Pakistan will somehow muddle through. For now, however, this looks like a Category 5 hurricane, dark and vast and visible just offshore.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Link

Trade deficit widens to $1.87bn in August

Thursday, September 11, 2008

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit widened to $1.87 billion in August compared with $1.64 billion in July and $1.28 billion in August last year, the statistics bureau said on Wednesday.

Exports stood at $1.58 billion in August this year, against $1.46 billion in the same month last year. Imports were worth $3.46 billion compared with $2.74 billion in August last year.

An analyst said a strike of more than a week by lorry drivers at the main port of Karachi in late August disrupted exports worth millions of dollars.

“Export numbers are likely to improve in September partially due to the backlog,” said Asif Qureshi, head of research at Invisor Securities Ltd. Qureshi said it was encouraging that imports showed a sign of decelerating in August, declining 2.48 per cent compared with $3.54 billion in July.

The trade deficit swelled by 52.95 per cent to $20.74 billion in the 2007-08 (July-June) fiscal year, as against $13.56 billion in the 2006-07 year, mainly on account of a heavy import bill for crude oil and food.

The import bill for crude oil and petroleum products rose more than 66 per cent to $11.35 billion in 2007-08, compared with $7.33 billion the previous year, as world fuel prices surged. The food import bill was up nearly 54 per cent to $4.20 billion in 2007-08, compared with $2.74 billion in 2006-07.

The rising import bill has contributed to a fall in foreign reserves which slipped to $8.89 billion in the week that ended on Sept 3 from an all-time high of $16.5 billion in October last year.

The current account deficit widened to $14.016 billion in 2007-08, while in July it expanded 24 per cent to $1.01 billion from July last year. The government last month imposed duties up to 50 per cent on 379 “luxury goods” to help cut the import bill.

Well KSE is not declining because of lower cap of 9100, the shares and KSE-100 index cannot go below this, had the cap not been there it might have been in range of 7k-8k. Do anyone of us expect Zardari will change the fate of this country the way he sparkled being the husband of Beanazir Bhutto.

Would you trust this man?

Where is the Mugshot number he is holding?

How much is 10% of what Paksitan is worth?

Sorry guys, please pardon me, I have to ask this, how did Banzir married him? They even produce children!!!! Honeslty man I would not take panga with this guy, would like him do things his way, I am scared.