Rethinking Pakistan’s FDI obsession
Note: This article was originally published in The Express Tribune
ISLAMABAD: Many economists love quoting the declining or rising figures of the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) coming to Pakistan. Not only do our governments boast about increasing FDI, but the commentators also appreciate it as an important gain. The SBP regularly updates the figures. Their fascination with FDI appears, if not like a panacea, certainly as a major breakthrough in achieving a faster growth rate or economic development.
The April 23, 2024, newspapers published a story based on the SBP data highlighting an increase in the FDI. One newspaper, Dawn, reports that ‘Foreign direct investment jumps 51pc.’ Another newspaper, The News, reports that ‘investment surges 52pc to 21-month high in March.’
But do mind the devil that resides in the details. The FDI jumping by 51.7% increased to $258 million in March as compared to $170 million in the month …
Hyperinflation and the mystery behind no protests
Note: This article was originally published in The Express Tribune
ISLAMABAD: In their latest survey, Gallup & Gilani Pakistan asked a nationally representative sample of adult men and women: “Compared to ten years ago, do you feel more financially prosperous, less prosperous, or indifferent?”
Surprisingly, 35% of respondents reported feeling financially better off now compared to 10 years ago.
In their responses, 14% of respondents felt ‘Very prosperous’, while 21% reported feeling ‘Somewhat prosperous’ (totalling 35%). Additionally, 16% indicated ‘No difference’, 29% expressed feeling ‘Somewhat less prosperous’, 15% noted feeling ‘Much less prosperous’, and 5% either did not know or did not respond.
This optimism is surprising, particularly considering the severe political and economic instability in Pakistan from 2014 to 2023. The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated social and economic challenges, disrupting global supply chains, which are still in the process of recovery.
Following the COVID-19 lockdowns, increased government spending, combined …
Privatising successfully – the case of Czech Republic
Note: This article was originally published in The Express Tribune
ISLAMABAD: Altering the economic system is not an easy task. It is more complex when carried out half-heartedly. Privatisation is only a part of this process. It may not succeed if done in an isolated manner. Among other things, it requires a competitive environment to bear fruit.
A case in point is the erstwhile Czechoslovakia. It provides us with a good learning experience to see how after the fall of a collectivist state, the gigantic task of changing the economic system was handled.
Dr Vaclav Klaus was one of the key members of a movement, Velvet Revolution, which overthrew communism in Czechoslovakia. He was the prime minister (1993-1997) and the president (2003-13). An economist and politician, he was the first non-communist finance minister of Czechoslovakia.
According to Klaus, the starting point of a change in Czechoslovakia was liberalisation and deregulation …
نیا سال مبارک Happy New Year 2024
…
What’s an anti-tax narrative?
This is in response to my own short piece: Why there is no anti-tax narrative in Pakistan?
Actually, the Tax Payers Alliance Pakistan (TPAP) asked me to send something for their first ever issue of the Voce of Taxpayers. I thought what could be better other than this piece, why there is no anti-tax narrative in Pakistan. However, the editorial board of the magazine apologized for not using it citing the reason the TPAP is not against the taxes/taxation.
Is an anti-tax narrative really against the taxes/taxation, I asked myself?
Here is the answer.
The first country teeming with an anti-tax narrative that comes to my mind is the USA.
Also, I may claim and with no pride that it’s I who kickstarted an anti-tax narrative in Pakistan.
I do realize the acclaimed pride is misplaced; rather pitiful and sad. At best shameful.
The question is: Why this pride was …
The Value Economists Create
The idea struck me as a surprise: Poets create aesthetic value. What value do the economists create?
In simple words, what’s the purpose that the economists serve?
I shared the idea with a number of friends including a few proper economists.
They did not like it. They rather took it as something questioning the rationale of their profession. Sort of an existential affront.
To me, it is a serious question. The intuitive proposition needs to be elaborated. And that happens so often: we elaborate things afterwards.
Poets, artists, etc, do create value, that is, aesthetic value. They create values such as art, form, structure, excellence, and above all, aesthetic value. And the literary critics explain and bring to fore these values and judge them. Thus, these critics create meta-values to judge and evaluate the values created by poets, artists, etc.
Likewise, philosophers create philosophic value. That is, they try to …
A substantial classification
A clearly demarcated line can be drawn.
On this side of which are found people who follow the rules and/or agreed upon rules.
And on the other side of which are scattered people who follow no rules whatsoever but their own whims and notions.…
Imran Khan’s Anti-Politics
Let me dispel this impression:
“PTI supporters hoped Khan would challenge the entrenched power structures that have kept Pakistan underdeveloped…”
[From an article that was published in The Express Tribune]
Most of the supporters of the IK/PTI were/(are) haters of politics and politicians generally, and especially Sharif Family and Benazir Bhutto/Zardari Family.
That’s why not many of these supporters got disappointed by the politics of Imran Khan while in the government and while out of the government.
That was and that is largely a revengeful campaign.
…a revengeful campaign eventually embraced by the Establishment and wholeheartedly supported also.
Whereas it is imperative that by repudiating politics, and out of politics, there’s no other way to better organize a society.
Mostly they are fascists who are anti-politics.
Anti-politics is not politics. It may be this or that form of fascism, but it’s not politics at all.…
Why there is no anti-tax narrative in Pakistan?
In Pakistan, almost everybody, especially economists, politicians, etc, wants to tax the people, but they never tell, WHY.
Because there is no anti-tax narrative.
Because there are no anti-tax writers but hardly a few.
Because there are no anti-tax economists but hardly a few.
Because there is no anti-tax opposition.
Because there is no anti-tax political party (but one: Civil Pakistan Party).
Because there is no anti-tax lobby.
Because there are no anti-tax MPAs/MNAs.
Because there is no anti-tax newspaper.
Because there is no anti-tax TV channel.
Because there are no anti-tax voices but hardly a few.
Let’s develop and promote an anti-tax narrative.
Let’s inspire/train more and more anti-tax writers.
Let’s inspire/train more and more anti-tax economists.
Let’s create/gather an anti-tax opposition.
Let’s help/strengthen a political party that’s anti-tax (There is already one: Civil Pakistan Party).
Let’s create an anti-tax lobby.
Let’s inspire/train anti-tax MPAs/MNAs.…
Politics, Consultants and Fees
A few years ago, friends from a political party, that formed the government then, asked me to tell what things our party should do.
I told them the following:
– that party contested the elections, they had an election manifesto, they already know what to do.
– There are so many op-ed writers, analysts, etc, and they are already telling the government what to do.
– If you want me to tell what to do. Tell your party to contact me officially and pay me a negotiable fee, and that fee would be paid by the party from its own funds, not from the government.
My friends never contacted me again for the purpose!
26 August, 2023…
Filers, Non-Filers and the Property Rights in Pakistan
There was a joke about Gen Zia and Noor Jahan in which understandably Gen Zia was meant to be punished. But it appeared he was rather being rewarded and Noor Jahan was being meted out a punishment.
The same is the case of Filers and Non-Filers.
The government wants to punish the Non-Filers, but in reality it’s the opposite: the punishment is being meted out to the Filers.
The latest case of such punishment, from the standpoint of the government, meant to be meted out to the Non-Filers is in reality a punishment being meted out to the Filers.
And that’s sort of a clearance certificate every Filer is required to obtain from the FBR before he/she sells a property registered in his/her name.
That’s another dent in the already fragile property rights in Pakistan.…
The arrogance of economists
A friend was an economist proper, trained in a foreign university. When I tried to express myself on an economic issue under discussion, he told me ‘You’re not an economist.’ After keeping quiet on a number of occasions, I insisted ‘let’s see what I have got to say.’
Yes, I am not an economist, trained even in a local institution. I read Marxism, almost whole of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, and was involved in the politics of the Left for years. To many, that would be a disqualification!
I was taught economics by an illiterate, who could find a shop by matching its name written on a chit. From him, I learned about inflation, depreciation of currency, and the price of money.
But isn’t common sense one of the greatest teachers?
And like everyone is a philosopher, isn’t everyone an economist also!
Then I from a philosophical angle read …
غصہ اور تنقید کب تک؟
انیق ناجی اور ایک انوکھا منصوبہ
دانشور اشرافیہ اور فکرودانش کا بحران
آپ سوچنے سمجھنے والے فرد ہیں۔ تصورات و نظریات میں دلچسپی رکھتے ہیں۔ درپیش معاملات و مسائل کے بارے میں پڑھتے ہیں۔ اپنے خیالات کو مجتمع کرتے ہیں، اور یہ چیز ایک مضمون کی شکل اختیار کر لیتی ہے۔
اب آپ کیا کریں گے۔ یہی کہ یہ مضمون کہیں شائع ہو تاکہ پڑھا جائے، زیرِبحث آئے۔ اور یوں آپ کے خیالات پرکھ و جانچ کے عمل سے گزریں۔ اور اگر درست اور موثر ہیں تو ان کی پذیرائی ہو۔ اور یوں ممکنہ طور پر یہ کسی تبدیلی کا سبب بن سکیں۔
مگر پاکستان میں ایسا ہونے کے امکانات قریب قریب نہ ہونے کے برابر ہیں۔ آپ نے مضمون قلمبند کر لیا۔ اب یہ مرحلہ درپیش ہو گا کہ یہ شائع کیسے ہو۔
پہلا کام تو یہ ہوسکتا ہے کہ آپ اسے بطور خط یا بطور ایمیل کسی اخبار کو بھیج دیں۔ مگر یوں اس کے شائع ہونے کا غالباّ کوئی …
Meet my mentor Lakht Pasha aka Pashi
He died last year. Till death, he was a Marxist.
He left his home and family to devote himself to serve the cause.
His last years were marked by disappointment over failure of the Movement of the Left in Pakistan. He died in depression.
He was a polymath. A poet, literary critic, film critic, singer, Tabla-player, playwright, debater, teacher/trainer/mentor. A true, sincere and honest friend.
Such were the persons and personalities that shaped the Movement of the Left in Pakistan.
But unfortunate is the fact they did not/could not create an intellectual capital, including Pashi.
He too spent the last quarter of his life working for the Punjabi language and literature.…
رضا ربانی بطور شو روم پیپلز پارٹی
Karachi Mayor Election: Role and Politics of the JIP
Present Hyper-Inflation: Why there is no unrest
I try to explain why there is no unrest (or it is in a latent state).
- There is no political group or party to lead the disgruntled people
- There is too much political and hence social uncertainty and insecurity disallowing the people to act and come out on their own
- The current political crisis has already complicated the things too much and people fear the worst
- There may be political loyalties not allowing this or that section of the people to raise voice against this or that political party
- And most important of all, there is the Civil Economy (informal economy is an integral part of it) that provides the people with the cushion that absorbs the shocks of the hyper-inflation and there is ample evidence scattered around us that endorses this point.
- No doubt, the lowest rung of the middle classes bears the brunt of this unprecedented inflation, but
شیریں مزاری پر کونسے ظلم و ستم کے پہاڑ ٹوٹ پڑے
دانشور اشرافیہ، ثقافتی اشرافیہ اور سیاسی اشرافیہ کا ایک مخصوص حصہ شیریں مزاری پر ظلم و ستم کے جو پہاڑ ٹوٹے ہیں، ان پر ہاہا کار مچائے ہوئے ہے۔
یہ ہاہا کار اس وقت بھی مچی تھی، جب ایک مرتبہ پہلے انھیں گرفتار کیا گیا تھا اور ان کی دختر ایمان مزاری نے جینرل باجوہ کو گالی دی تھی۔ اور غالبأ ایک اور موقعے پر شیریں مزاری نے خود جو پولیس انھیں گرفتار کرنے آئی تھی، انھیں بھی گالی دی تھی۔
ایمان مزاری نے اپنی والدہ کی پے در پے گرفتاری پر جو اشک بہائے، ان پر بہت دکھ کا اظہار کیا جا رہا ہے۔ یوں معلوم ہوتا ہے کہ پاکستان کی تاریخ میں پہلی اور آخری مرتبہ کسی ’’سیاسی قائد‘‘ (شیریں مزاری) پر ظلم ہوا ہے۔
گو کہ یہ واضح نہیں کہ شیریں مزاری تحریکِ انصاف میں کیونکر اور کیسے شامل ہوئی تھیں، اور اب اگر یہ مان بھی …