The bourse rallied on the news that the PPP governemnt had decided to get rid of Dar-wanism. The break up of the PMLN-PPP was hailed by the Karachi Stock Exchange. With Darnomics dumped, perhaps a sound economist can take charge and put the country back on track. Did the PPP provoke and then dump PMLN
Actually the Finance Ministry given to the PMLN was a trap to begin with. The PPP insisted that the PML(N) take the ministry. With run away infaltion, and persistant food shortage, and Mr. Dar spending and borrowing money like there was no tomorrow–the country is preparing for lynch mobs who would hang every PML(N) minster to the nearest tree. The Six pack of PPP blunders
Will Darnomic or Deficit Voodoo economics work in pakistan?. We wrote this article several weeks ago. The obvious answer is no!
Dar-wanism over? Good riddance to bad rubbish. $11 Billion deficit in just a few weeks!
During previous administrations and in the recent past the Finance Minsiter would go to a foreign capital and negotiate a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), request debt forgiveness and ask for a university. This has resulted in FTAs with China, Sri Lanka, Malysia and other countries. It has materialized more than ten foreign world class universities in Pakistan. Several Bilion Dollars of debt has been forgiven. This impacts future generations.
Why isn’t the PMLN paying attention to the real problems of the people? is ther a psychopathic obsession of revenge based on some deep rooted ethnic hatred, or is simply in inability to ocmprehend the profound issues facing the land? Neglected issues of Pakistan. Eliminating food, fuel subsidies. Keeping the IMF out. Stopping the US drones, Afghan mercenaries. Shutting down the Indian consulates in Afghanistan. What is the Judge Ifti nawaz connection?
So many words on the Pakistani blogs, “full of sound and fury-signifying nothing.” So little sense.
Mr. Dar shocked Pakistan on his return from China when he boasted that he had obtianed a loan of $500 million. In addition he got a loan from Japan and everyone else he could ask. This has again increased Paksitan’s debt and will invariably get the intrusive IMF back into Pakistan.
Sharif wants a Bangladesh style Jude coup in Pakistan
The real reason Mr. Sharif quit was not becuase of Mr. Iftikhar Chaudhry, but because of Mr. Dar. Mr. Dar cannot keep his hands out of the tilly. He has been Finance Minsiter for a few weeks, and has done more damage than any other Finance Minister can hope to do. Actually no Foreign Miniser on the planet can beat the record of his earler two stints in which he and his PPP counterpart increased the the debt of Pakistan from $12 Billion (durng Zia era) to $38 Billion during the Musharraf/Aziz era. The much maligend imported Prime Minister reduced the budget deficit despite the horrendous earthquake and a war on the Western border.
During his last tenure, Mr. Dar left Pakistan on the brink of bankruptcy with huge IMF interference in Pakistani affairs. Now Mr. Dar in just a few weeks has taken the Paksitani rupee from Rs. 60 to Rs 75, and
The Rupee and pirces had been stable for the best part of the decade. The people are asking, why has everything gone to pot in a few weeks.
Well! One doen’t realize how bad “biryani” ( rice pilaf) can be unless one has had horrible biryani. The people have suddenty realized how good they had it.
How much longer can Mr. Sharif milk the Judiciary cow. Sooner or later, the people will say, ‘we have had enough of this nonsense”. The food shortages during the tail end of Musharraf/Aziz era was short lived and a result of some miscalcualtion, a lot of smuggling, CIA psy-ops and an international shortage of wheat. This current food crisis is a result of gross incompetence and horrid neglence of real issues. One trick ponies playng the ethnic card may end up like Badshah Khan-ostracized and irrelevant***.
Geo has been openly supporting the Nawaz Shairf position, with Hamid Mir leading the charge. The news cycle focuses on the judges as if there is no other issue facing Pakistan. ARY news camera follow Nawaz Sharif and Zardari playing “carmen Sandiego” across world capitals. GEO constatnly tries to brianwash the naive and illiterate and emotional viewers that restoring Mr. Sharif’s friend as the chief judge issue will solve all problems in Paksitan. Any person with an IQ higher than a six pack can understand that the resoration of a person who has already agred to Martial once and signed thePCO in order to supercede Justice Wajihuddin cannot solve the country’s problems other than try to eliminate his arch-nemesis, Mr. Musharraf.
But the tube light flickers but does not turn on. It will take a while.
So if Rupee news can look inot the crystal ball and see which seed will gorw and which will not, we need to carefully watch the antics of Mr. Hussain Haqqani. The Manchurian candidate is a mole and represents the worst of America. His blatent interference in the negotiations and his attempt to forge a faustian deal between the protagonists was an act of pupettering worth watching. The vantriliquist “the low level US official” showd up on London, but the puppet was the one that was trying to keep Mr. Sharif in toe. It didn’t work.
Resistance is futile–you will be assimilated!
Why is Mr. Haqqani participating in al the discussions? Whose interests is he representing? Isn’s Mr. Haqqani the Pakistani Ambassador to the US? Shouldn’t be be preparing for his new assignment? Doesn’t he have enough to do? Perhaps he brings the all important Neocon point of view on the judges!
Pakistan’s Neocon Ambassador to the USA has been part of the Ultra Right Wing establishment of the US Think Tank industry. From The Carnegie Institure, The Hudson Institute, AIPAC (American Israeli Polical Action Committee) to JINSA (Jewish Institute of National Security Afairs), Mr Haqqani even worked with Steven Shwartz the known Islamphobe.
Karachi – Pakistan’s financial markets roiled by a month of political uncertainty and rumours of fresh taxes being imposed surprisingly on Tuesday welcomed the breakup of political coalition, analysts said.However, the overall reaction across the trading community was mixed.
‘It was certainly welcomed by the market hugely because the politics is now going to be one-sided instead of in doldrums,’ said Khurram Shezad, head of research, at Invest Cap Securities.
The Karachi Stock Exchange’s key KSE-100 Index was leaped up by 255 points to close at 14,542.50 against Monday’s 14,286.61 points, a hefty increase of around 1.9 per cent.
Similarly, in the inter-bank market the Pakistani rupee recovered to close at 68.20/68.40 against the US dollar as compared with 68.25/68.75 on Monday.
In an unofficial open market the rupee also surprisingly strengthened against the US dollar to close at 68.00/68.20 against 68.50/68.70 on Monday.
‘Both inter-bank and open market traded in almost the same levels today,’ said a dealer at Dollar-East Exchange.
Nawaz Sharif, the former premier and head of Pakistan Muslim league-Nawaz, the second largest coalition partner on Monday announced the withdrawal of its ministers from the six-week-old set- up as it failed to honour the pledge to reinstate some 60 judges axed by President Pervez Musharraf.
The key finance minstry was amongst the 15 ministries that nine ministers of PML-N were holding.
On Tuesday all cabinet members from the party tendered their resignation to Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, who refused to accept them, saying he would decide on the issue after consultations with his Pakistan Peoples Party’s head, Asif Ali Zardari, widower of slain Benazir Bhutto.
However, the financial markets are buzzing with rumours that change in the ministry of finance is on the cards. Pro-market faces such as seasoned investment banker and former country head of Citibank (Pakistan), Shaukat Tarin, or Naveed Qamr, who currently holds a portfolio at the Privatization Commission, were being discussed as outgoing minister Ishaq Dar’s successors.
‘Both are very good names and will be welcomed by the market,’ said Shehzad.
Dar was quite critical of the policies of previous government led by Shaukat Aziz as well as the slow pace of tax collection.
He was planning to impose anywhere between 10 to 15 per cent of Capital Gains Tax (CGT), something which Pakistan’s financial markets have been severely opposing for the last five years.
‘The breakup in the coalition was certainly a welcomed move and improved sentiments in the financial markets as both Tarin and Naveed are very pro-market,’ said Nabeel Iqbal, head of marketing at Khannani and Kalia, the country’s largest foreign exchange firm.
Shehzad said the change in the Finance Ministry would certainly help the market pundits to convince the federal government for not imposing the CGT in the upcoming budget for fiscal 2008-2009.
Pakistan is expecting a shortfall of around 20 per cent in tax collections amid rising trade deficit of around 16 billion dollars in 10 months (July-March) compared with 13 billion in an entire 12 months last year (July-June) due to a sharp spike in international oil prices. Pakistan imports 85 per cent of its energy needs.
The Pakistani rupee during the last month lost over 6 per cent against the dollar while the KSE-100 Index lost over 700 points due to directionless politics in the federal capital amid weak economic fundamentals.
Meanwhile, across the country the sentiments of the overall trading community were mixed and predicted an economic meltdown if the contentious issue of judges’ reinstatement was not resolved soon.
‘Smooth running at this critical juncture is a must,’ said Tanveer Ahmed Sheikh, President of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI).
Tariq Sayeed, President of Chamber of Commerce and Industry for South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, a consultative body among six South Asian nations said: ‘The business community wants the coalition to remain intact.’
