Alternative strategy for Pakistan

[ziaulislam]

Need 15 years of austerity. Corruption free and high performing governance. That is all. Pakistan has never had a sustained competent leadership. Its been these Sharifs and Zardaris who have now been found out, it look long enough and they are sinking with the ship.

PTI in its 3 years without a majority mandate was already having a positive impact. Imagine with a majority what could be possible.

No needs 3 months to sell the 100 golf courses fire 100,00,000 batsman/ardalis(or put them to better work) fire, FBR(they don't do anything anyway), reduce massive military size and put real estate tax

 

[Indos]

The reason Pakistan have current economic situation IMO is more due to structural reasons, so the solution is simple, structural reform ( better institution, better regulation/ease of doing business, better resources allocation on budget, etc)

When the structural change is conducted, it will then bring confident to the market and also optimism among the population, even it will likely give positive impact on mental side of people (responsible for domestic consumption) and market overall (responsible on investment, financial market, etc) before the reform actual effect is happening.

 

[Indos]

Domestic politics should be made more civil and less confrontative. People dont need to hate the other side of political spectrum. Pakistan is easy to be controlled by their military because the civilian are too divided. In any society where the civilians are too divided, it will be controlled by their military (Egypt, Thailand, Tunisia, Algeria).

The snowball effect happen when IK wants to hang Musarraf (Military) and Nawaz Sharif (Opposition). No wonder they are now in coalition. Action create equal reaction.

This is also happening in Egypt when MB in power and put Mubarak on trial and also happened in Sudan when the liberal sack the Islamist politics. Thailand red and white skirt protester. Then they get backlash from Military intervene.

 

[SaadH]

There were already plenty in Musharraf's years from 1999-2007: Less corruption, less waste, less focus on using religion in daily discourse, political stability, making an honorable peace with India. Yes, his govt got help after 9/11 but such help but I don't think $20-30 billion 'aid' over so many years, of that aid a chunk was for military support, was the most important factor in Pakistan's relative properity under Musharraf. Also, Pakistan can learn a lot from Bangladesh.

If it would come to that, Pakistan can more than survive following some kind of North Korean version of the 'Juche' philosophy: There is a lot of internal industries and agriculture and service base. There is a huge domestic economy and potential trade with Iran, China and countries to the north and west of Pakistan. There is a huge diaspora which can support Pakistan. It is not a country like Greece or Sri Lanka who were/are over-reliant on tourism.
I certainly believe Pakistan can get out of its trouble under the 'right' leadership. I also think Pakistan CAN get out of the reliance on the West in no longer than medium time frame if Pakistan decides to. Really decides to.

Maybe in khooni liberal utopia where almost daily drone bombings of civilians and constant suicide attacks elsewhere were the norm and laal masjid operation/drama was raging in full view and as long as the targets and victims weren't the urbane english speaking westernized elites, all was good.

Mushy setup the disaster that is Pakistan currently.

 

[Meengla]

Our largest market is the West and it will continue to be the West so it is extremely important for Pakistan to maintain good ties with the West but at the same time, Pakistan also needs to maintain good ties with China which is considered an enemy of the West.

Reliance on West can only be broken if there is painful emphasis on self-reliance. It can be done. Most Pakistanis are not spoiled like the one-wonder Greeks (tourism). Right leadership can do it. Short of that, it would be suicidal for Pakistan to annoy the West--and there is no 'West' as such, only America.

There is nothing wrong with IMF. Pakistan can get free from IMF if Pakistan has good economy, then it can finance its economy using many kind of bond from market with free condition (USD, Yen, Sukuk, own currency bond, etc).

The reason Pakistan government asked IMF is because IMF can provide Pakistan with large USD loan and with much low interest rate.

Yes.
IMF is a bank, looking to make money. Yes, it CAN be used as a geopolitical tool by great powers but ultimately it is a financial institution. I wonder how much of my 401k or other investment 'portfolio' has some 'foreign' funding element?? Also, Pakistan even managed to get out of IMF's loan offer under Musharraf in early 2000s.

 

[Meengla]

Watching this right now. Pertinent to this thread. Dr. Shahida Wazarat makes much sense but still watching it...

 

[nahtanbob]

We can get cheap oil and gas from Iran and Russia

Anything stopping you now ?

 

[TheSolution]

The reason Pakistan have current economic situation IMO is more due to structural reasons, so the solution is simple, structural reform ( better institution, better regulation/ease of doing business, better resources allocation on budget, etc)

When the structural change is conducted, it will then bring confident to the market and also optimism among the population, even it will likely give positive impact on mental side of people (responsible for domestic consumption) and market overall (responsible on investment, financial market, etc) before the reform actual effect is happening.

Yes, but the reason this doesn't happen is due to severe nepotism and lack of meritocracy. Capable and qualified people aren't able to implement such beneficial and effective reforms. Too much corruption.

 

[Ich]

Our largest market is the West and it will continue to be the West so it is extremely important for Pakistan to maintain good ties with the West but at the same time, Pakistan also needs to maintain good ties with China which is considered an enemy of the West.

Sounds like catch 22. Mostly can be resolved be a decision.

 

[Baburfromsarmarkand]

Any nation ending in "stan" never became an economic giant. Stan literally means noob in English

 

[doorstar]

and is at risk of going into default

afraid there will be no default no matter how much PTI and bharatis wish it.

instead there is a big danda coming to shaft all the crooks, all PDM self-given relief will be cancelled and the crooks of the PTI will also suffer the same fate before this year ends. just you web analists and think-tanks wait a lil bit.

imam khan is soooo not corrupt, yeah right! when a motorway was being inaugurated cm illahi complained that it did not pass near his residence, imam sahib said no problem, we'll reroute it (make it longer, waste more land, incur more costs, but hey we ain't no crooks).

 

[epebble]

Yes, but the reason this doesn't happen is due to severe nepotism and lack of meritocracy. Capable and qualified people aren't able to implement such beneficial and effective reforms. Too much corruption.

This explanation is quoted frequently. I am curious how much truth it holds. As an experiment, can you make a 'Dream Cabinet' of 20 capable and qualified people of impeccable merit? As an example, I will consider these people as qualified to be in a 'Dream Team':

1. Rishi Sunak
2. Dominic Raab
3. Janet Yellen
4. Ben Bernanke

I can think of one man from Pakistan: Miftah Ismail. But after that?

 

[R2D2]

Bhutto tried to reorient Pakistan from Western club to the Socialist Club and was punished for it. The realignment must be done in such a way as not to annoy the West. That is why I said Pakistan can join the old Non Aligned Movement (NAM) as a first step in which India used to lead in the past when there was competition between USA and USSR, and get closer to Russia, China and Iran as a second step. Meaning having relations with both the West and the opposite Bloc. We should also revive and strengthen the ECO with Muslim countries. Also diversify exports and imports eg. trade with South America, Central Asia, ASEAN as well as Malaysia and Indonesia.

In the meantime, we can increase our geographic size by doing a Confederation with Afghanistan based on One country, Two Systems model of China and Hongkong. As a first step, we can remove the Customs Duties with Afghanistan and Iran so that we increase the market for our products and also get cheap imports.

 

[R2D2]

A Suggested Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran Federation​

Louis Dupree
Middle East Journal
Vol. 17, No. 4 (Autumn, 1963), pp. 383-399 (17 pages)
Published By: Middle East Institute

 

[OldenWisdom...قول بزرگ]

Master and Slave
The purpose essentially is to deliver labor or fruits of labor ... remember it is your need, superficial or coerced, that keeps you glued to western inflation, dollars in this case

Again a basic comprehension issue...
Pakistan and like countries are consumers of western inflation. The understanding is that, more you sell(cheap), more you'll reap.
The essential, and, most important here is the understanding of wealth transfer to actually consumers, in the west.
A product in third world keeps getting devalued by mere debasing of their currencies, an example is China that purposefully kept its currency undervalued to sell consumer goods to the West.
Pakistanis, whether they work as cheap labor in Middle East or in the west are essentially serving the same purpose. It merely shifted from indentured import of labor in the previous century... present in front of you is only it's modern iteratio


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