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Subject: Pakistan among top reformers
K2    9/21/2005 1:48:15 AM
It is easier to start up or wind up a business, hire and fire workers, in Pakistan than India, says a latest report of the World Bank. The report Doing Business 2006 included Pakistan in one of the 12 top reformers in the world. The bank gives Pakistan an overall ranking of 60 on the basis of its score in 10 different indices, against 116 for India, 91 for China and 113 for Philippines out of the 155 economies studied. http://www.pakpositive.com/2005/09/14/pakistan-among-top-performers-in-doing-business/
 
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K2    RE:Pakistan's economy turns the corner   9/21/2005 1:54:27 AM
Once looked down upon as a political pariah infested with institutional corruption, Pakistan seems to have turned a corner, with economic indicators pointing to a revival of business confidence. A spectacular 8.4 per cent growth rate in the fiscal year ending in June has surprised many analysts. Among the most impressive indicators is the booming business in Karachi, the 15-million-population city located on the Arabian Sea. In the last five years, the automobile sector, mostly based in Karachi, has seen a five-fold expansion - from 30,000 cars per annum to almost 150,000 during 2004-2005, according to the central State Bank of Pakistan. Motorbike sales have surged to half a million a year, with export earnings during 2005-2006 expected to reach the $17 billion mark. The figures are impressive for an economy that long suffered from mismanagement, fiscal and trade deficits, bureaucratic bottlenecks and corruption that, according to the Berlin based Transparency International, made it the second most corrupt nation in the world in the late 90s. "After four consecutive years of growth rates, the incomes of people have risen and this is expressed in the purchasing power and the purchasing power raises the demand for the various goods and services," Ishrat Hussein, the head of the State Bank told DPA. While the element of institutional corruption still remains a debatable issue, the economy seems to have turned the corner. Hussein, an ex-World Bank official, says the country has moved out of a decade-old vicious cycle of stagnation and structural snags that impeded progress and obstructed investment. In early 2001, Pakistan's per capita income growth was negative, largely because of the economic repercussions of the 1999 bloodless coup staged by President Pervez Musharraf and the country's association with radical militants in Afghanistan and Kashmir, the Himalayan state disputed between India and Pakistan. Today the per capita income has risen to almost $700 per year, compared to $400 in 2001, as a result of financial and administrative reforms coupled with privatisation and liberalisation of the banking sector. "Pakistan's economy is on solid ground due to macroeconomic fundamentals, more private investment and significant expansion in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP)," a recent Asian Development Bank report said. When Musharraf seized power in October 1999, Pakistan's external debt - a staggering $38 billion - to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio was over 60 percent, today it has come down to 37 percent, said Nadeem Naqvi, CEO of AKD securities, one of the brokerage houses. Pakistan's membership in the international coalition against terrorism, however, also has provided a big breather to Pakistan as far as its external debt is concerned. "No doubt 9/11 has been the most critical factor in the restructuring of high-cost debts and a renewed inflow of new resources from donor countries, the World Bank and the ADB (for infrastructure projects), replacing the expansive with soft loans," said Naqvi. One indicator of the renewed trust in the business environment is registration of 410 new public and private companies in IT, Telecom, and the Energy sector with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) in August alone. http://www.webindia123.com/advt/fr_vertical.asp?id=11%3A23%3A50+AM
 
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papareezoo    RE:Pakistan among top reformers   9/21/2005 6:52:43 AM
This is good, but i wonder why all the posts/threads are given to Indian board?
 
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tjkhan    RE:Pakistan among top reformers - but where does Pakistan rank overall?   9/25/2005 4:29:57 PM
Here is the link to the World Bank top 30 ranking...Pakistan is not there despite the presence of many other Asian nations, including Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. http://www.doingbusiness.org/Main/TopRanked2006.aspx A bit of an excerpt for you: "New Zealand has the most business-friendly regulations in the world, as measured by the Doing Business indicators (see table). Singapore is the runner-up. The United States is third. Five other East Asian countries -- Hong Kong (China), Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and Korea -- are among the top 30. So are the Baltic countries -- Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. Their ranking is a remarkable achievement, as only a decade has passed since they first implemented reforms." In short, Pakistan has a long way to go, and should not be congratulating itself on its standing in the Top Reformer rankings, and ignoring overall rankings.
 
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