AP

How do you folks think, the present ruling regime can address the issue of increasing our industrial base? Specially in the light of lack of electricity.

Only time will tell how the new government deals with this problem; i already knew that this problem would arise sooner or later.

I don't remember anyone pointing this issue out here, except for Maverick. And people here still were of the opinion that it weren't the case and that Pakistan's industrial base is increasing at a phenomenal rate under Gen. (r) Musharraf's tenure. Was it not the case?

Maybe the industrial growth that has been mentioned is merely industrial expansion that happened not like a boom in industries?

So, the boasts were misleading? If yes, how can we address this issue now? Given we've little or no electricity to begin with.

i think i agree with Das Boot. we are still incurring a deficit in exports to imports. its a frightening concept but nobody seems to care in Pakistan. how can we expect to grow faster and keep growing if we're consuming more than we're producing. this is a HUGE problem and i dont know what the government is doing about it. i dont know how a developing nation can contiue to consume and operate at a defecit like this.

If we dont have electricity, how do we expect a boom in our industrial base. We have to solve this problem of electricity; i wonder what options does Pakistan have regarding this issue of energy.

The fastest (due operational in 2010/11) projects will be Thar coal and IPPs.

Thanks for the shout out (at least I hope you meant me )
The problem has always been that we looked good on paper early on because of 9/11 and the increase in remittances. That was always going to be a temporary flow (at least in the volumes that we saw immediately post 9/11).
Second, a liberalization of the economy leads to immediate benefits in terms of greater investment, opening up of more banks generating more deposits. Now if the number of banks is greater than the Minimum Efficient Scale of the Financial sector, (imagine you pay a fixed rent for two showers whether you use them or not, u can never be efficiently using two because you cannot be in two showers at once) then banks start to take more risks to make a higher return for their particular depositors to attract more business. In the absence of a good regulatory framework, this can lead to bad financial management leading to bank closures and lack of trust in the banking system. Third, with all the funds coming in, the government did not look to invest in programs with grassroots benefits such as primary, secondary, and vocational education. We never tax our agriculture because most lands belong to feudals who then are in the parliaments (we could use these taxes to help out the industrial sector).
People kept on roaring about how forex reserves were so high, fact of the matter was that most of the incoming flows were from selling of nationalized industries that were then privatised (UBL, Steel Mill you get the picture). Now those flows have dried up hence the balance of payments crisis. You can only sell so many of your household items before you have nothing to sell off right?
Finally people talked about growth but did not talk about the increase in income inequality in Pakistan and the high inflation rates which made real growth much more insignificant. The lack of policing of the stock exchange further led to problems for industries trying to raise capital. We have managed to strangle our economy with a banker in charge (a banker remember is NOT an economist. an economist is someone like Dr. Mahbub-ul-Haq, who gave the Koreans their 5 year plans in the 60s and 70s they are a growth phenomenon, we kicked him out of office).

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SPARTANSSSS!!!!!! EAT HEARTY, FOR TONIGHT WE DINE IN HELLLLLLLL!!!!!
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There is no other Maverick that I know of, at least in here.

The point about income inequality was readily downplayed here and in Pakistan, by suggesting that the trickle down affect of a fast growing economy will take 'time'. Even now, Gen. (r) Musharraf is of the opinion that his economic policies should be continued by the new political setup.

Maverick, if I'm reading it correctly, this issue will directly affect the value of our rupee which in turn will affect the inflation rate in the country. Am I right? If so, the rates of items of daily consumption are only going to increase unless they're heavily subsidized by the government. Btw - it was on tv that Pakistani government's subsidization bill runs at around almost Rs. 300 billion.

technically if there is downward pressure on your currency (through a balance of payments crisis or otherwise ) that will mean foreign goods or at least foreign inputs for local production will become more expensive and if these higher costs are passed on to consumers by retailers and manufacturers then that will indeed cause inflation. Now the key is to stabilize the rupee and that can be done through the forex reserves for now but the government needs to have a long-term plan in an overall economic sense for the country so as to introduce intrinsic stability in the rupee, otherwise the forex reserve situation will be useless, essentially a stop-gap.

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SPARTANSSSS!!!!!! EAT HEARTY, FOR TONIGHT WE DINE IN HELLLLLLLL!!!!!
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Musharaf .. Musharaf .. Musharaf .. !!!!!!

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'Accept getting old or cease to exist' - My Wife | 'Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.' - 1984 - George Orwell

Spend another year on the roads, rioting marching and calling for strikes, Insha Allah jo bacj gaya hai woh bhi nahin rhaya ga

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After Monday and Tuesday even the calendar says W T F!!!!

uss saay keya faraq parhata haay .. roti millay naa millay .. CJ bhee restore hoo jayay gaa orr constituation bhee .. yahi dono chezay too ghareeb admi kaa pait bharte haan.

MY BACKSIDE

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'Accept getting old or cease to exist' - My Wife | 'Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.' - 1984 - George Orwell

Exactly !!! Aur jo last 9 years main asmaan sey baatayn karti hui inflation hui hai, ussay tou ghareeb aadmi ka aisa pait bharra k usnay roti khana chorr di, and now many of them just once a day.