You are right, we can’t comment on the validity of the piece but what it says is so on point!

Everything is so true. It is all the stuff we have been reading about and writing about.

The only thing is, why is the government so “oblivious”? I say oblivious in quote marks because judging from a few articles by Usman Bhai yesterday, especially the one regarding the “sadness” of the aide to the PM, it shows that they are all well aware of the situation and have been, always. Why make a big row and suddenly highlight it? Why is it that just as suddenly, after said highlighting of the issue, it all just goes quite again? Hint Hint.

There is so much to unpack in this thing we could write a big piece on it. Suffice it to say Pakistan is struggling or outright failing on every metric.
And the ones our dear leaders put in place to fix the issues are themselves being called out on illegal practices in international papers, it doesn’t bode well for Pakistan’s chances to get out of these problem areas anytime soon or probably EVER!

As Reported:

Stop just blaming America and instead blame the Japanese and yourself 

“You have to stop blaming the west for your economic woes , the Japanese have damaged your economy more than anyone else “. The doddering Pakistani official from the finance ministry was taken aback at these words from the outspoken member of the visiting Chinese think tank .

The Chinese economist clarified :“ Look , one single Japanese import has damaged Pakistan both economically and socially and that one sweet poison is the Japanese auto import “ 

Ask yourself what good has it done for you ?

 Even after 3 decades of the Suzuki ,Toyota and Honda assembly plants you can’t produce a complete car without importing most Japanese components. These imports are for your consumption not for selling outside of Pakistan.
Your import is paid through foreign exchange which u don’t have and then you run to borrow from the IMF and other institutions..

You run these vehicles on imported energy which again is paid in dollars which you don’t have and you again borrow or beg from international institutions or friendly countries .

More imported parts means more cars and more imported energy needs . 

Plus you ban the import of old affordable vehicles to provide a monopoly to these rapacious few manufacturers who rip off the public by overcharging at will.

How can you justify this waste ,it is a criminally stupid way to manage your economy. 

How long will you beg beg and beg just to import expensive cars and drive overpriced vehicles 

Then he touches his middle finger on his right temple and says “ change your mind set”

Understand Thrift and save for the future .

 Make it hard for people to buy cars and make it easy to invest in productive sectors.. .manufacturing ,software services , water management, modernize agriculture .

 Create jobs for your exporters not importers.Force the youth to acquire skills and become productive. 

Then he points his finger towards the Pakistani official and says: Take examples from other countries .
 But don’t even try to imitate the Chinese model, your society is too broken and will fail to commit to a Chinese model based on secularism, discipline and productivity.

 It requires immense governance capacity support chains, efficiencies, sacrifices and vision. 

I would suggest you to take an example of Morocco , it has similarly limited resources as Pakistan.

 They modernized their agriculture and industry by reducing waste . Energy is available. Society is moderate and tolerant. Rule of law is enforced. Specialists craft policy ,strong local governance is empowered through devolution.
You know in two decades of automotive assemblies , in their sez’s they have become the biggest exporter of autos from Africa , even aerospace companies are heading towards Morocco . 

Their agricultural exports are found all over Europe and productivity per acre is constantly rising.

Shut down Toyota and Honda plants if you cannot export from them and completely stop importing expensive vehicles show the true picture of the financial disaster of these imports to your Prime minister 

This verbal drubbing by the Chinese economist left the dim witted Pakistani self styled financial guru red faced and shaken out if his smug comfort zone and as he exited the meeting in discomfort he wondered what kind of report he should prepare on this meeting for his boss , Mr Shoukat Tarin an avid lover of luxury vehicles himself!

As received!

😂😂😂

You hit the nail on the head.

But wait…

…however the Minister says he is okay with CKDs since according to him there is some sort of ‘conversion’ happening but would still consider imposing higher duties on vehicles with bigger displacement engines.

Oh come on. 😑