Archive for category Economics

Any people friendly and honest government would do two things first of all. It would recover all the written off and bad loans with lightening speed and without giving in to the pressure of the powerful vested interests, influential lobbies and parasitical classes. There should be zero latitude in the recovery of the unpaid big loans unless it is crystal clear that the remission was inevitably the only option.

Secondly, all taxable businesses and incomes must be brought into the taxation network with full force of law and is in vogue in the United States. Presently in Pakistan only 2 per cent of the population pays income tax.

In case of the first task, the strategy should be to retrieve the written off loans and spend the recovered money on revival, refurbishing and modernization of run down public service institutions as Railways, PIA, Steel Mills, the power generation sector and on setting up of manufacturing units to overcome the shortage of sugar and urea etc. The retrieved money can also be utilized on upgrading the judiciary, local governments, police and similar funds strapped departments.

Let us peep into the loans that were sanctioned and then written off as bad loans without taking any legal action against the recipients or without asking any questions. The written off, unrecovered and bad domestic loans amount to around Rs.500 billion till now.  These loans were given to entrepreneurs, mill owners and big business tycoons in Pakistan for kicking off their marooned businesses, to start new ones, or for agricultural needs.  

There is a long list of influential individuals from among the politicians, parliamentarians, the army generals, the powerful bureaucrats and crooks who are beneficiaries of these loans from banks and lending financial institutions. A total of 212,114 individuals and companies are the recipients of the written off loans.

According to the statics available, from 1972 to 2007 a sum of Rs 256 billion was written off as bad debts by banks in Pakistan. From December 31, 2008 to March 31, 2010, NPLs (non-performing loans) have put an additional burden of Rs 112 billion on the banks. During Musharraf

Let Supreme Court of Pakistan take suo moto notice against the water and power minister Raja Pervez Ashraf for imposing rental power plants on Pakistan to overcome the acute power shortage in the country. His second unpardonable offense is to derail or hamper the offer of electricity supply by Iran. Iran has offered Pakistan up to 2270 MG way back in 2008 to beef up the indigenous power production and to offset the shortage that has brewed up an unremitting social and economic chaos.

The Iranian ambassador in Pakistan Mashallah Shakiri has been knocking at every door including that of the president and the prime minister with an offer of concomitant concessions about the price etc. He has been reportedly cold shouldered by everyone leaving him in a state of utter amazement as to why Iran

 
Have been watching different economists and budget gurus giving their expert opinions and feedbacks on the budget. It is interesting to see the secret desires of most analysts: if they were the finance minister this is how the budget would have been free from all glitches. Was planning to scribble some thoughts on the reactions of these experts and the budget but at midnight the news of the so-called US