Pakistan trade deficit shrank $4 billion. 13.1% reduction in trade deficit in 10 months.

[BHarwana]

Nobody is curbing imports but a 13% reduction is insignificant and less than 1% in exports is a sad thing. You must not have accused Dar if you didn't know whether his policies were right or wrong. It is unfair.


IK's new economic team might be brilliant but they have a prescribed strategy to fix economic health of the country.


Agreed that technicaly IMF's prescription is logical but that's not the only solution. It's a stoic but lathargic, casual, apathatic & callous aproach. We have been under IMF regim from 1999 to 2014 and what we got, is known to everyone i.e. a dismal growth rate of 2% to 2 5%.


But, then Dar decided to abandon IMF & adopted a different strategy of strong rupee, controlled fiscal deficit, low inflation & cheap financing...which are essential for making an investment viable and therefore help improving growth & GDP. One of the best thing he did was boast investor confidence.


He built FE reserves, FDI increase, the domestic revenue collection doubled, yes virtually doubled. This allowed him to lower the interest rates thereby lowering the cost of doing business. The alternate path he used to raise FX was Sukuk, short & medium term Euro bonds, increase saving rates, trade & fiscal incentives. Remember that the current account deficit is the main culprit and it can be overcame making investments in new sectors as well as the older ones


Today's currency devaluation phenomena is a loot, plunder & ecomnomic decoity by vested interest who are hoarding dollars since a long time. Whenever there was a spike in the rate of USD in Kirb market Dar use to go into the throat of money changes. Malik Bustan Khan the President of Foreign Exchange Association had to go to Islamabad to assure him of keeping the exchange rate under control.


Everybody has weakness and Dar might have them too. But given the state of the economy of this country which is notorious not performing for decades except for massive US Aid he did a good job.

Do you are saying that Dar's policies were good. Okay what have those policies done good please explain that as well?

Was Dar able to reduce electricity price without subsidy?

Was Dar able to make economy grow without depleting foreign reserves?

Was Dar able to provide jobs in Private sector to rural areas of Pakistan?

Was Dar able to reduce trade deficit?

Was Dar able to increase foreign reserves without loans?

Was Dar able to increase threshold of direct tax returns?

What comfort did Dar gave?

Dar only wasted billion dollar induced into economy by CPEC by giving subsidy to every Pakistani rich business by reducing dollar value. That is what Dar did in reality. He directly gave dollar in foreign reserves to rich elite which took them abroad and made Pakistan to stand in line of IMF again.

I am not with PTI I am with Pakistan and if PTI also follow Dar to hit us economically I will speak against them. But reducing trade deficit by 13% in 10 months is a good achievement of PTI I will praise it because I like this policy.

 

[shah_123]

That's right.. but what about the promises you have already made to your creditors?


Something is better than nothing..

Quran 2:275 ----
Those who consume interest cannot stand [on the Day of Resurrection] except as one stands who is being beaten by Satan into insanity. That is because they say, "Trade is [just] like interest." But Allah has permitted trade and has forbidden interest. So whoever has received an admonition from his Lord and desists may have what is past, and his affair rests with Allah . But whoever returns to [dealing in interest or usury] - those are the companions of the Fire; they will abide eternally therein.
--------------
Honor international commitments (as you have no choice) --- At national level, declare interest based transactions illegal (this will help bring down inflation considerably)

This is about locally manufactured, right?

ISLAMABAD: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile and Industries Abdul Razak Dawood on Wednesday said the 10 per cent federal excise duty (FED) on locally manufactured cars and sports utility vehicles etc with engine capacity exceeding 1,700cc would be withdrawn.

It should be called locally assembled.--- all parts are imported and car assembled here.

1700cc + cars are for rich, whatever reduction in tax, govt will compensate the amount from somewhere else.

 

[Sine Nomine]

On the other hand, nation wakes up and starts producing things internally..

As an example, one of the imported item is cheese.. our milk companies may start producing fine quality cheese internally and later on we may be able to export that to other countries..

Yeh kam nahi hona hum sai,koi plate mai rukh kar dai dou.

1800 and above cc cars.. I mean people who are buying these expensive cars should be able to pay 100% more duty..

Govt should make a list of very important items and rest should be slashed with 10000% of tax duty on value.

 

[BHarwana]

@bafxet Dar model was similar to India. Billion dollar foreign reserves but made up of loans of trillion dollars. They have many billionaire but their Farmers are committing suicide. When debt increases too much you have to make your population go into starvation to keep a good debt rating to please your foreign master for next payment of loan. I will agree with @shah_123 on one thing that loan is a curse he is 100% correct in that and yes we are again going to IMF and this is what IMF debt trap looks like.

Greetings we are in a IMF debt trap and who place us here?

Options
A. Assad Omer
B. Imran Khan
C. Asif Ghafoor
D. Nawaz Sharif
E. Dar
F. Zardari
G. IMF

If some is working to crub trade deficit to break the loop of IMF debt trap every one starts screaming. Lol
If we have to die we will but as a nation we need to get out of this lanat of loans. It is Haram and we need to quit this habbit.
We have to break the chain of IMF loans.

Pakistan is going to IMF but let's make sure this is our last ever loan.

We as a nation did many thing with unity and we can do it again. Pakistan is the oldest civilization known to man and our culture is embedded with a lot of experience at least we can say wrong as wrong. I know PMLN and PPP getting a lot of blame but they never tried to move against the tide that is their biggest mistake. Either we will drown or make through but we have to swim accross.

The best thing from this all is that slowly this country is becoming economically aware and that is what will decide the future of our politics. This will limit the bad policies now.

 

[crankthatskunk]

No one wants to die hungry. If business fail to import raw materials they will make them domestically. Transition is painful but it helps in actual growth. PMLN had full 5 years of their economic policies and pain we suffer today is because of those policies.
No one paid any attention on reducing the deficit but instead all policies were directed to increase it and make dollar cheap and look where it brought us today. High taxes and high energy bills just because of loans to keep dollar cheap and poor are suffering today because of that. What they achieved is a high growth rate in Moody's but what they gave poor is expensive electricity.
They shouldn't have played the classic American ball game of taking loans and running the country because in the end if you defy Americans this is what happens. Yes you get growth but along comes the devil of core inflation which makes everything so expensive. So instead of throwing country into a debt crisis one should take a step back and reduce the trade deficit.

Pakistanis have to understand one simple truth. The Americans can play that game because of one and one reason only. That reason has caused upheavals and wars in recent years and would continue to do so, until and unless USA go down the proverbial dump.

That one reason is "Dollar" as reserve currency of the world.

At the moment, USA can print and pay any import bill in dollars, their own currency.
The day it changes, USA would be history.
Until then USA would threaten any country which tries to challenge Dollar's supremacy in the world as trading currency. USA would throw the planet earth in to nuclear wars rather than accepting it.
Their survival as world leaders and rich depends on it.
Make no mistake, forget about slogans of "civilisation" BS. We are still living in dark ages, where the survival of the fittest works.

 

[Sunan]

Youthias r celebrating it as a success not realising the Cost.Pti dont even have a economy policy ,Whatever they r doing hastly only will increase the size of desastor for Pakistan.These baboons don't even understand economy just like haramkhor Munshi asad umer.

 

[crankthatskunk]

Youthias r celebrating it as a success not realising the Cost.Pti dont even have a economy policy ,Whatever they r doing hastly only will increase the size of desastor for Pakistan.These baboons don't even understand economy just like haramkhor Munshi asad umer.

Yeap, you are right. When you don't have brain, everything make sense. Idiot.
How you think the deficit reduced by $4 billions!!
I am sure, you only call it a policy, if it is hatched to destroy Pakistan, otherwise, it is no policy. Right!!

For everyone. The enormity of the situation is not just the current deficit of $10bn + a year.
The problem is worse. Unfortunately, Pakistani journalists are either crooks or in cahoot with the devils of PMLN and PPP. They don't explain to the public why the need for IMF bailout and why goods are getting expensive. If it is not done now, it would be too late for Pakistan to survive, it would definitely be bankrupt, enable to pay its international obligations.

The problem is enormous because the government not only have to finance the current deficit but it also have to pay off the existing loans and interest on them.
Therefore, the deficit and foreign exchange requirements are far greater than just $10 bn.

 

[BHarwana]

Pakistanis have to understand one simple truth. The Americans can play that game because of one and one reason only. That reason has caused upheavals and wars in recent years and would continue to do so, until and unless USA go down the proverbial dump.

That one reason is "Dollar" as reserve currency of the world.

At the moment, USA can print and pay any import bill in dollars, their own currency.
The day it changes, USA would be history.
Until then USA would threaten any country which tries to challenge Dollar's supremacy in the world as trading currency. USA would throw the planet earth in to nuclear wars rather than accepting it.
Their survival as world leaders and rich depends on it.
Make no mistake, forget about slogans of "civilisation" BS. We are still living in dark ages, where the survival of the fittest works.

It depends on what you consider a dark age? Now if you look at thar coal reserves the combined energy output of Thar is more than the energy out put of Saudi oil reserves so. It is not dollar that is strong but dollars ability to trade against energy is what makes it strong. Why dollar has ablity to trade against energy because Saudis like things made by USA and want to buy them and that is what gives dollar that ablity. The people who sell energy want currency which can buy them what they want and now there is competition from China as China is also selling things which Saudis want to buy and what China needs to reach there? China needs an energy rich country to only accept Yuan to make it achieve that status.

 

[crankthatskunk]

It depends on what you consider a dark age? Now if you look at thar coal reserves the combined energy output of Thar is more than the energy out put of Saudi oil reserves so. It is not dollar that is strong but dollars ability to trade against energy is what makes it strong. Why dollar has ablity to trade against energy because Saudis like things made by USA and want to buy them and that is what gives dollar that ablity. The people who sell energy want currency which can buy them what they want and now there is competition from China as China is also selling things which Saudis want to buy and what China needs to reach there? China needs an energy rich country to only accept Yuan to make it achieve that status.

Sorry brother. You misunderstood my post. I didn't meant that dollar as a reserve currency just for the trading of the oil. I know it was handed over to them by the Saudis in 70's after the oil embargo, in lieu of their security. But now the problem is wider. The USA after abolition gold standard, do not have to abide by any rules, even though rules were devised by them when they de-linked the dollars from the gold standard.
That's why they keep increasing their budgetary deficit almost every year and keep increasing the limit.
They pay all their imports not only the oil, by printing any amount of money they want.
That's how they are financing trillions of dollars commitments.

The day they have to earn the foreign exchange by selling in the competitive world, they would be finished.
At the moment, their only exports are defense equipment, services and some computer components and systems.

 

[BHarwana]

Sorry brother. You misunderstood my post. I didn't meant that dollar as a reserve currency just for the trading of the oil. I know it was handed over to them by the Saudis in 70's after the oil embargo, in lieu of their security. But now the problem is wider. The USA after abolition gold standard, do not have to abide by any rules, even though rules were devised by them when they de-linked the dollars from the gold standard.
That's why they keep increasing their budgetary deficit almost every year and keep increasing the limit.
They pay all their imports not only the oil, by printing any amount of money they want.
That's how they are financing trillions of dollars commitments.

The day they have to earn the foreign exchange by selling in the competitive world, they would be finished.
At the moment, their only exports are defense equipment, services and some computer components and systems.

I think we are derailing the thread towards USA instead of our own problem. Yes I understand what you mean brother but this is the world we have and life is never fair and many have succeeded in this unfair life so nothing can be given the blame except our own self.

 

[AsifIjaz]

There are some simple and easy steps that government needs to take that will eliminate smuggling and also increase revenue by hundred of million of dollars... e.g.
- We need to install high pressure / hydraulic scrap press at ports of entry... Press every scrap that enters the country.... would save the alot of money on account of smuggling of automotive, electronic and industrial parts imported as scrap
- Same way all tires imported into Pakistan need to be weighed to calculate the amount declared vs amount smuggled via putting 2 or 3 tires inside one tire. The smuggling of dry batteries placed inside tires will also end this way.
- detailed spot checking should be done on frequent travellers within and outside Pakistan. These people smuggle stitched, un-stitched clothes, shoes, electronics etc. Markets are littered by stuff brought by these khaepiyas.

Small individual steps combing into saving of millions of dollars.

 

[CrazyZ]

Energy independence and boosting exports of agricultural commodities/textiles/garments is the easiest short term fix. In the long term we have to invest in more value added export industries and services.

 

[Wikki019]

Do you are saying that Dar's policies were good. Okay what have those policies done good please explain that as well?

Was Dar able to reduce electricity price without subsidy?

Was Dar able to make economy grow without depleting foreign reserves?

Was Dar able to provide jobs in Private sector to rural areas of Pakistan?

Was Dar able to reduce trade deficit?

Was Dar able to increase foreign reserves without loans?

Was Dar able to increase threshold of direct tax returns?

What comfort did Dar gave?

Dar only wasted billion dollar induced into economy by CPEC by giving subsidy to every Pakistani rich business by reducing dollar value. That is what Dar did in reality. He directly gave dollar in foreign reserves to rich elite which took them abroad and made Pakistan to stand in line of IMF again.

I am not with PTI I am with Pakistan and if PTI also follow Dar to hit us economically I will speak against them. But reducing trade deficit by 13% in 10 months is a good achievement of PTI I will praise it because I like this policy.

the only thing to be asked is, was Dar able to increase exports? it was written in PMLN's manifesto they will increase exports to 100 billion dollars and they did the opposite

 

[RIP Pak LAW]

But, then Dar decided to abandon IMF & adopted a different strategy of strong rupee,

Obviously you don't know anything. Your Dar went for imf straight away. A bit of Google search won't be that difficult.

 

[BHarwana]

the only thing to be asked is, was Dar able to increase exports? it was written in PMLN's manifesto they will increase exports to 100 billion dollars and they did the opposite

You have to be an idiot to believe that someone can increase exports to 100 billion over night and if PMLN wrote that in their manifesto then PMLN has serious issues with education or they have jinny.