The World Reporter: News Opinion and Analysis

Pakistan's MFN Status to India; Who Will Gain Out of This?

2012-04-24T01:10:00.000+05:30

India and Pakistan at Wagah Border. '
Photo taken by Kamran Ali

India and Pakistan are the two countries who are involved in normal trade with the rest of the world. But when it comes to the neighbourhood, they are hardly trading with each other. Many times opening free trade between the two neighbours was discussed. Pakistan had its own ups and downs in declaring India its most favoured nation, but now the discussion is about who will be benefited more from Pakistan's Most Favoured Nation status to India.

Do you think Pakistan should give India MFN Status?

India and Pakistan, known in the world as major nuclear rival neighbours, always had tensed relations. Within this rivalry many steps towards peace were taken, some of which were successful and some eventually failed. The dialogues between two nations had almost stopped when Pakistan's terrorist organization's involvement in November 2008 Mumbai attacks came in the picture. India maintained a no dialogue policy until Pakistan would take action against the culprits of Mumbai attack.

It was in July 2009 when tourists from around the world in Egypt were diving in Sharm el Sheikh, a beautiful tourist destination facing the Red Sea, there were some really interesting developments happening between India and Pakistan. Indian and Pakistani premiers met in Sharm el Sheikh and had a meeting for the first time after Mumbai Attacks. The outcomes of the meeting were lauded in Pakistan, whereas were chided by Indian analysts, but the most important aspect of the meeting was the resumption of the peace process.

While India has given a good reaction prior to the developments in Pakistan about granting MFN status, Pakistan is giving mixed response. There are analysts who think giving MFN to India is a right decision and there are analysts who have censured this step. The main reason of Pakistan for castigating this step is that India has been very strict to Pakistan in terms of providing its market for Pakistani goods.

India had given MFN status to Pakistan as soon as WTO (World Trade Organization) replaced GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) in 1995. The MFN rule requires that a WTO member must apply the same conditions on all trade with other WTO members, i.e. a WTO member has to grant the most favorable conditions under which it allows trade in a certain product type to all other WTO members. "Grant someone a special favour and you have to do the same for all other WTO members."

Even after India giving MFN status to Pakistan, India's non-tariff barriers, technical, security and custom standards were so strict that Pakistan couldn't make most out of it. Pakistan on the other hand, which has comparatively less stricter standards, fear that Indian products will burgeon in their markets challenging their local industries if such status is given to India.

India has complex trade barriers not only for export to India, but also for import from India. Dr. Ashfaq Hassan, Dean of NUST Business School, Pakistan shared his experience when Pakistan imported live animals from India during the shortage of meat in the country. He mentioned that custom office had problem because the animals were not vaccinated, and they had to take the animals all the way back to Delhi to get them vaccinated.

However, Federal Secretary Commerce, Zafar Mehmood, who believes that trade should normalize between the two countries, maintains that India and Pakistan were trading normally between 1947 to 1965, and Pakistan's export to India was quite high in number compared to India's export to Pakistan. Regarding non tariff barriers imposed by India, he said they have been working with Indian establishment and Indian commerce minister to sort out all the issues and doubts which can later be problematic for either Pakistan or India.

To make things easy for Pakistani exporters and to make them understand about Indian custom regulation, Pakistan invited Indian trade regulator officers to give presentation to Pakistani exporters in Lahore and Karachi. Pakistan is also interested in signing three agreements with India, which stress on the delay in customs in India, discrimination in evaluation of Pakistani goods in customs, resolving disputes of exporters/importers, recognition of Pakistan's internationally credited laboratory and standards institute in India.

One of the most important thing that Pakistan will gain from giving India the MFN status will be reduced importing costs of machinery and machine parts, for example parts of textile machines, rail wheel, sugar mill machinery, and electric power generation machinery, etc which India produces on par or even better than international level. Thus, often "Made in India" equipment items end up arriving on Pakistani ports when Pakistani industries/companies order from third countries. These parts are then not allowed to pass the Pakistani customs.

This complexity in trade between India and Pakistan has helped trade mafias whose job is to order parts from India in Dubai or Singapore and then remove "Made in India" markings to sell it to Pakistan on higher rates, causing loss to Pakistan's industries. If trade is normalized between the countries, Pakistan will not only save the transportation cost but will also get rid of these trade mafias who sell the same thing for higher rates.

Moreover, Pakistan's textile and textile finishing has high appreciation in India and India is considered as great market for textile industry of Pakistan because of the high quality and similar traditions. Another industry which will gain from giving MFN status to India is Pakistan's Cement industry. Pakistan produces high quality cement in surplus, that is more than what Pakistan needs. Also, while approximate cost of one bag of cement in Lahore is 100 Rupees, the same bag twenty Kilometres across the border costs 500 Rupees, this price difference can be utilized by the Pakistani industries for their benefit.

Various analysts in Pakistan believe that Pakistan's bank sector also has a good opportunity in India. India is believed to be a major market for banks. Many analysts stressed on the fact that international banks are earning more profit from India than from Pakistan.

Pakistan's restricted trade with India is an international obligation which has to be resolved, there is also a huge number of population (nearly 50%) in Pakistan's north eastern and eastern areas which borders with India, this population will gain a lot if trade is normalized. These are some of the main reasons why Pakistan government should consider granting India MFN status.

The two countries share almost similar culture, similar dressing style, similar food and similar language, thus there is a huge opportunity for trade among the two. While India is a powerful economy which can threaten Pakistan's local industry, Pakistan should not forget that India is also a huge market of one billion people from which Pakistani industries can make huge profit.

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Study: Changing Face of Retail Stores in India

2012-04-17T12:00:00.000+05:30

Walmart, Image by Matteson Norman

Students from University School of Management Studies, Delhi have taken up a new research project to study the burgeoning organized retail stores in the country and its effect on the consumer as well as on the growing economy of India. Indian Retail Market had changed a lot over years. Presence of Organised Stores in India is increasing. Retailers are not restricting themselves to physical stores only, they have moved to online retailing or e-tailing as well.

Retail stores are the powerhouse of the business for manufacturers and producers. It doesn't only target customers aggressively, but also provides various option at competitive rates and quality for a specific product. Retail stores have changed the culture of buying and selling in India. Indian consumers are now open to try new or alternative products.

Even after this market change, there are customers who prefer conventional shops where they form some kind of relationship with the shopkeepers over time, because of trust and quality of the products and prefer to buy only from that store.

This questionnaire is required to know more about the consumers’ intensions towards a store, as this research is required to study the effect of such stores on Indian consumers and Indian markets and to come up with a solution to increase the quality of the stores around the country, we would request you to take this small (less than 7 minutes) survey.

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Faulty Indian Policies Causing Damage to Indian and International Airlines

2012-04-06T01:40:00.001+05:30

Lufthansa Airlines

It was a dream come true when the low cost airline business burgeoned in India, fulfilling the dream of flying for many Indians. Today is the day when there is hardly any contrast in fare between the low cost domestic airlines and state run Air India.

While low cost airlines have instead become high cost airlines, the five star airlines (at least considered as five star airline) like Kingfisher are facing its extinction. Is it Kingfisher's awry business strategy or the government's faulty policies that is grounding India's one of the most popular airline? The answer lies in a fact that we will be covering in this article.

Thailand's Prime Minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, paid a State visit in Jan 2012, as a chief guest for Indian Republic day celebrations. The visit did what India had been looking for: bracing its forgotten look east policy. As a result, there were 6 bilateral agreements signed, including the treaty of transfer of sentenced person.

Though India's business and trade ties with East Asian countries came back on the right track, India's airport authorities gave a big blow to trade ties, by forcing Thai Air Asia and Air Asia (Malaysia) to reduce the number of flights to Thailand and Malaysia from New Delhi. The reason was high operating costs at Indian airports, that include high airport and fuel charges. Air AsiaX, a long-haul subsidiary of AirAsia, has completely pulled out from India for the same reason.

India already has a high sales tax rate on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF), which is one of the highest in the world, at 24 percent. It is believed that these taxes are proposed to be increased further, making India a high cost market for airlines. Fuel surcharge alone is the major part of the total fare on domestic airlines.

Airport charges will also be hiked. The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority has proffered an increase of 280 per cent in landing and parking charges at Delhi airport. The airport operator had asked for 774 per cent increase in the charges.

Meanwhile, one of Europe's largest carrier, Lufthansa airline, has pulled out from the city of joy, Kolkata (Calcutta). Sources from the industry said that a lack of route profitability and unpredictable fuel costs have posed challenges for European carriers trying to operate out of Kolkata [Read: No flights: Europe drifts further away from Kolkata | The Statesman].

Following the steps, Austrian Airline pulled out from Mumbai on 25th March 2012, and Air France is reducing its frequency to Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore to six flights a week in its summer schedule. Though Airlines did not disclose a countrywide financial data, global profits of these airlines have come under pressure, due to increased competition and high operating costs. [Read: Austrian Airlines, Air France to reduce India flights | Business Standard]

In a statement, Austrian Airline said it was suspending its Mumbai flight, "due to the challenging economic situation.'' The airline has suffered operating losses of $100 million (Rs 650 crore) in the past two years and is restructuring operations. The airline said it was focusing on Israel and Tehran and would ply the Boeing 767 it used in Mumbai.

Till date, the trend was that the majority of international carriers were delaying or cancelling their services routes to several countries, except India, even in the downturn, considering the country’s market potential.

“Now passengers are just not travelling, with companies resorting to video conferencing due to cut in the travel budget. Several international carriers are mulling reduction in the frequencies or pulling out from India,” said a senior executive with Kingfisher Airlines Ltd.

In another similar move, British Airways had suspended its flights between Kolkata and London Heathrow around 3 years back. The airline has operated flights to Kolkata intermittently since the 1930s and currently operates three flights per week [Read: Foreign airlines start pulling out of India as traffic declines].

“The decision to suspend flights between Kolkata and London has been a difficult one to make. However, the route is not making a profitable contribution to our business and we are unable to sustain it,” Amanda Amos, British Airways’ area commercial manager South Asia, said in a statement. “India remains an incredibly important market for British Airways and we continue with our growth plans on routes that we believe will be profitable.”

KLM Royal Dutch, Singapore Airlines, Air Mauritius and Finnair are also in the line to pull out or reduce the number of flights to India.

In the end, India's faulty policies have not only blemished the business of domestic carriers but have also troubled International carriers that they had to pull out. With ongoing contention with European Union over Emissions Trading System (ETS), India, Russia and China might also ban flights complying with ETS to fly over their airspace. Thus, European carriers, flying to East Asia, will have to follow a longer path taking a round of Africa and then over Indian ocean, which could be economically unfeasible.

In a consultation meeting with Airports Economic Regulatory Authority, British Airways, Air France-KLM and Lufthansa said they would reconsider their expansion plans for India, saying the proposed increase of 774 percent in charges is very high.

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Turkey: A Rising Power in the Backyard of Europe

2012-04-04T00:18:00.002+05:30

Image from Business Insider

According to Alice Lyman Miller, Professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School, the definition of a superpower is "a country which has the capacity to project dominating power and influence anywhere in the world, and sometimes, in more than one region of the globe at a time, and so may plausibly attain the status of global hegemony". A superpower is not only militarily strong but also has a strong economy as well as is self sufficient and politically stable [Read: Top 10 Superpowers of the World]

Turkey bridges Asia and Europe, geographically and culturally, and occupies a strategic geopolitical position on the world map. The land, which was once a hub of trade routes, is now a hub of strategic pipelines. It is the 17th largest economy in the world and, according to Goldman Sachs, it would be breaking into the elite club of top 10 economies by 2050. Turkey is the voice of modern Muslim world as well as a member of NATO. Hence, it is believed that the country can play a major role in initiating a peace process between the Middle East and West.

John Feffer, the co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies says, "All roads once led to Rome; today all pipelines seem to lead to Turkey. If superpower status followed the rules of real estate -- location, location, location -- then Turkey would already be near the top of the heap."

Talking about real estate, the period of 2003 to 2005 was seen as a gilded age for the real estate industry of the country, as property purchases were opened for foreign nationals in 2003. Turkey became popular for wealthy Europeans and American property buyers who bought property in Altinkum, Istanbul, and other holiday destinations, bringing in lots of investment.

Looking at the amicable and progressive conditions in and around Turkey, some analysts have even mentioned Turkey as China of Eurasia. There have been many case studies and reports of Turkey possibly chasing China in almost every area. [Read: Stealth Superpower: How Turkey Is Chasing China in Bid to Become the Next Big Thing; Assessing Turkey’s Potential as a Global Superpower]

Like China and India, Turkey also managed to endure the recession wave in recent years. There was not a single Turkish bank which had gone under. That is probably because, unlike many Western banks, they have few toxic assets and limited mortgage exposure, as pointed out by The Economist, so the government did not have to divert public money into rescuing banks. However, its economy budget deficit swelled to 23.2 billion Turkish liras ($15 billion) in the first half of 2009, 13 times higher than last year.

In 2011, Turkey experienced a colossal growth of 9.6% in the first 9 months of the year, making the country one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

Brent E. Sasley, Assistant Professor in Political Science at the University of Texas at Arlington, says Turkey certainly has the ability to be a regional power, especially in the Middle East.

“The shift to a private sector economy, combined with the foreign loans, gave a real boost to the economy,” Sasley said. “It has a large population, a dynamic reserve of human capital, a growing economy, a central location, and a history of being a contiguous great power with a high civilization and leadership role.”

Turkey's strategic position and its growth stories makes it a substantial contender for the EU membership, although its major part lies in Asia. Turkey has been in discussion for years on EU's table for the possible inclusion of the country in the group. If the European Union was not in the picture, Turkey would have caught the attention of BRIC nations. Many analysts believe that the addition of Turkey in the original BRIC nations could have been a better move, rather than the inclusion of South Africa.

Professor Aslı U. Bâli of UCLA School of Law explains that Turkey’s current position is actually an outcome of the “zero problems with neighbors” policy, that prioritized stability and peace in the region. She argued that the foreign policy was not so much an outcome of Turkey’s desire to lead the region, as it was a byproduct of the Arab Spring, requiring Turkey to take a leadership role as a non-Arab state in the midst of regional turmoil. [Read:Turkey: What to Make of the New Superpower in the Middle East]

She further added, "to exert its “zero problems with neighbors” policy, Turkey advocated speaking to all sides. That includes mediating between Israel and Syria, and between Iran and the international community on the nuclear issue."

To appease western nations, Turkey allowed Europe and the United States funding a series of pipelines that uses Turkish territory in a bid to bypass Russia. At the same time, it negotiated with Russia for another project of pipelines—the South Stream, which goes from Russia to Bulgaria through Turkish territorial waters, and the Samsun-Ceyhan pipeline that would transport Russian and Kazakh oil from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean through Turkey. However, with the Arab Spring rolling on, it looks like an arduous task for Turkey to maintain the same policy, since it has already ceased its support to Libya and now to Syria.

Nevertheless, there are strong claims of Turkey following the path of China, but it is more relevant if we look from the European perspective. Europe has recently seen downfall of some of its big economies. At this time, Europe would require a strong nation that can support a collective growth and recovery of the continent.

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BRICS Summit 2012: A long Journey to cover; Overview, Outcomes and Expectations

2012-03-31T17:50:00.000+05:30

BRICS Summit 2012 Logo

Leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa met on Thursday, Mar 29, 2012 in Delhi for the fourth annual Summit. Earlier known as BRIC before the addition of South Africa, BRICS is the group of emerging economies around the world, who are exploring new ways of collaboration, collective economic growth and developing common ground on foreign policy.

Sao Paulo, Brazil

All five economies maintain a great potential to become a superpower, but most of them are dependent on western economies. Any ups and down in the western markets leave their impact on these markets.

Moscow, Russia

The summit stressed on linking economies, as in trading in local currencies as well as linking stock exchanges of the member countries. The leaders also stressed on setting up of an international bank on par with Asian Development Bank, IMF and World Bank. It would fund various development projects in member countries and other emerging economies and may act as a relief provider for first time buyer mortgages in case of real financial crisis and disaster. The goal of the bank will also include lending, in the long term, if there comes a global financial crises such as the Eurozone crisis and issuing convertible debt, which could be bought by the central banks of all the member nations. Hence it will be acting as a vessel for risk-sharing.

Mumbai, India

Shanghai, China

The idea of setting up such bank was put forward by India, which received a good response from the member countries as well as from the countries who were observing the event carefully. Analyst John Mashaka called India's move "long overdue", and said that setting up a bank was a means of "pulling out of the western-dominated World Bank and the International Monetary Fund." Assistant professor at the Institute of African Studies (China) Yuhua Xiao noted that setting up the bank showed signs of growing self-assertiveness and inter-dependence among developing economies. Dr. Alexandra A Arkhangelskaya noted that creating such a bank would effectively "shift the weight of economic power", and could also be very beneficial to non-BRICS nations.

Johannesburg, South Africa

The nations also signed an agreement to extend credit facilities in their local currencies, a step to reduce the role of dollar between them. As of now, if Russia wants to trade with India, Russia will convert Rubles to Dollars send it to India, and then India will convert Dollars to Rupees. Completely removing the intermediate step of converting to and from dollar is not so easy, but if removed, the trade between the two countries will become independent of what the value of dollar is, which is highly unstable.

Also the nations will be launching a benchmark equity index derivatives that would allow investor of one member country to bet on the performance of stock exchanges of other member countries without currency risk.

Accounted 50% of global economic growth in last decade, BRICS accounts for 26% of global landmass, 42% of the global population and 40% of global GDP.

Below is the tabulation of the countries and their economy in therms of GDP (PPP). The data is taken from CIA World Factbook GDP PPP data update of 2011. PPP is one of the scale to measure difference between two economies. Using a PPP basis is arguably more useful when comparing generalized differences in total economic output between countries because PPP takes into account the relative costs and the inflation rates of the countries, rather than using just exchange rates, which may distort the real differences in income. The table shows BRICS as a single entity is more powerful than European Union. The data for GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP) has also been re based using the new International Comparison Program (ICP) price surveys and extrapolated to 2007. Final figures are estimates in billions of international dollars.

Rank	Country	GDP (PPP) $Billion	Year
—	BRICS	20,975	2011 est.
—	European Union	15,390	2011 est.
1	United States	15,040	2011 est.
2	China	11,300	2011 est.
3	India	4,463	2011 est.
4	Japan	4,389	2011 est.
5	Germany	3,085	2011 est.
6	Russia	2,373	2011 est.
7	Brazil	2,284	2011 est.
8	United Kingdom	2,250	2011 est.
9	France	2,214	2011 est.
10	Italy	1,826	2011 est.

Another method of measuring economy is GDP (nominal) based on official exchange rates. The list below includes mostly 2011 estimates from the CIA World Factbook. The table shows BRICS as the third largest economy after EU and US.

Rank	Country	GDP nominal $Billion	Year
—	European Union	17,720,000	2011 est.
1	United States	17,720,000	2011 est.
—	*BRICS*	13,766,000	2011 est.
2	China	6,988,000	2011 est.
3	Japan	5,866,000	2011 est.
4	Germany	3,739,000	2011 est.
5	France	2,919,000	2011 est.
6	Brazil	2,407,000	2011 est.
7	United Kingdom	2,370,000	2011 est.
8	Italy	2,135,000	2011 est.
9	Russia	1,995,000	2011 est.
10	India	1,954,000	2011 est.

The performance of the BRICS nations on the international platform has been brilliant, despite the fact all these countries come from different continents, having different government, political and economical structure. How far this concept of BRICS will sustain no body knows, but if it works then it will bring a great change in the current world, a change for good.

The countries have been working together to find some common ground and fortunately their thoughts match on the issues of West Asia, North Africa and Afghanistan. All five countries called for the international community to continue development projects in Afghanistan for 10 years after America led international forces will withdraw from the nation by the end of 2014.

BRICS nations together have strongly condemned the Western world’s politics on Iran to make other countries stick to the restrictions imposed by them on trade ties. China's Trade Minister Chen Deming said that the "rise [in the price] of crude oil has impacted all countries. The Iran issue has become an issue for all. We need to continue with normal relations with Iran, but, at the same time, we respect UN resolution. We hope that unilateral movement by one country will not affect other countries." The group warned against any military intervention in Syria by the West or by Israel in Iran. They added that a war with Iran would have "disastrous consequences."

Landmass of BRICS vs EU, Click to Enlarge

Out of five BRICS nations, three of them have remained or are super power. India before 14th century, Russia in the 20th century and China almost in 21st century. No matter these countries possess power and wealth, but they may not share good relations with each other. Brazil and South Africa being geographically isolated from these nations share good relations with all. The best example is China and India, both of them have faced each other in the war in 1965 and China is still occupying a large part of North India and claims some part of Indian territory in North East India. China was also about to open the front in Indo Pakistani war in 1971 but didn't do so, fearing Pro Indian Soviet Union might take action against them. Russia and China have also shared cold relations following the illegal migration of Chinese in Russia's far east and border dispute which was recently resolved.

Russia and India have been sharing good relations from the Soviet times. India also shares good relations with South Africa, one of the major reason being Mahatma Gandhi, whose work in South Africa promoted equality between blacks and whites. In South Africa, Mahatma Gandhi is equally respected as in India. Brazil has also been close to all the countries.

Leaving aside all these solid claims about BRICS, there are critics as well who discuss why BRICS might fail with some genuine facts. One of the reason is all these countries come from different continents, different social, economical and political systems and some of these countries do not share good relations as well as common ground.

One of the best example of this claim is that after the declaration of setting up of an International bank, these countries fear that China will be the most benefited country out of all and will enjoy the most.

However, just after the summit was over, India and China declared that they will keep their border issue aside for now and will take more steps to increase trade between the two neighbors. Indian government also expressed their interest in inviting Chinese investment in India's manufacturing sector. Both the countries have together declared this year as Indo Chinese year of friendship and cooperation.

After the summit, Brazil and India also took the opportunity of exploring their way of cooperation. The two countries signed six pacts in areas ranging from closer cooperation in science and biotechnology to cultural exchanges. Under a signature, Brazilian initiative Science Without Borders, the two sides inked a pact that envisages placement of Brazilian students and young researchers in India. It will be funded by Brazil.

US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said, "We reviewed the leaders' Delhi declaration and believe that their efforts to engage in global multilateral institutions productively can only strengthen the international system. United States welcomed the efforts by the so-called BRICS -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- to support the recovery of the global economy as well as "

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Pakistan Real Estate - Pakistani Realtors Are Optimistic About the Future

2012-02-29T11:16:00.000+05:30

High Rise Apartments in Karachi Pakistan,
Image by Edge of Space

The financial crisis of 2008 has affected badly the real estate sectors worldwide. Everybody knows how the spectacular Dubai real estate sector collapsed when global crunch hit Dubai. Despite the fact that Pakistan is a developing country, the financial crisis could not affect it as drastically as it affected other developing nations. Experts believe that one of the reasons behind it is that Pakistan's economy relies less on its real estate sector. The performance of Pakistan's real estate has remained unstable after 2008. Some experts believe that is because the prices of properties have been stagnant for the last six years while others think that the sector is under stress.

Realtors are still pessimist about the future!

The contribution of the construction sector in the country’s GDP has been slashed down to a mere 4%, from 28% in 2009. This shows that developers are reluctant to start new projects, due to the inability of the government to facilitate new gas and electricity connections for the newly build units, the high prices of the construction materials and the low demand of properties determined by people's low purchasing power.

Though people have mixed views about the current performance of Pakistan's real estate, all the industry specialists and Pakistani realtors are optimistic about the future of realty market. This is because the Government of Pakistan is vigilant in fixing the problem of its once spectacular real estate sector as soon as possible. The realtors three main reasons of optimism are as follows:

Better law and order

Though the law and order situation in Karachi is currently weak, causing some of its residents to shift to a city with better law and order i.e. Lahore, yet the government is taking stern actions to stop target killing and blood shed in the city. The Government has appointed rangers and other law enforcement agencies at the public places. Moreover, security measures have been taken on the exit and entry points of the residential colonies to provide a complete secure environment to residents.

Elections are drawing near in Pakistan and with new government, it is expected that bringing a better law and order situation in Pakistan would be its top priority list, which could increase the investment of local people in Pakistan's properties and can bring this sector back to life.

Decrease in interest rate

Currently, the prices of properties in Pakistan are quite high which is merely due to high inflation in the country. Because of the floods of previous three years, prices of commodities have increased drastically, affecting badly the purchasing power of people in the country. The low purchasing power is the main hurdle for people to secure or even apply for a decent mortgage deal. The Government, in collaboration with the State Bank of Pakistan, is not only trying to curb inflation but also decrease the interest rate on home loans.

The State Bank of Pakistan slashed down the interest rate from 14% to 13.50% during 2011. This shows that the government is seriously interested to increase the purchasing power of people to help them secure a better mortgage deal for themselves. Further decrease in interest rate is expected during the following years, which would increase the demand of properties in the country. Diminishing the disparity between demand and supply would bring prices down and set Pakistan's real estate sector back on track.

Author Biography:
William King is the director of Pakistan real estate and mainly deals in Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore real estate. Being an entrepreneur and passionate blogger he likes to share his knowledge and expertise with the industry people by writing for various related blogs.

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Charity in China; Reforming China's Non-Profit Sector

2011-12-13T23:21:00.000+05:30

China Red Cross, Source: AsiaNews.it

Posted by Jessica Drun, AsiaEye

Recent scandals involving charity misspending and embezzlement have tarnished the image of China’s non-profit organizations (NPO). News of these controversies has spread like wildfire across Chinese micro-blogs and public philanthropy suffered a blow by alienating potential donors. For instance, China saw an immediate decline in blood donations following the Guo Mei Mei incident, in which the supposed general commercial manager of the Red Cross flaunted her lavish lifestyle on Weibo, a Chinese social networking site. The Red Cross in China now reportedly faces a 30-40% shortage. With Chinese people increasingly wary of corruption, monetary contributions to charities have reportedly more than halved from June to August of this year. The consequences of these trends are grave, as Chinese citizens across the board have called for government reform in the country’s nascent third sector—and Beijing is feeling some pressure to respond.

The economic reforms spearheaded by the late Chinese patriarch, Deng Xiaoping, are largely credited with unleashing market forces that spurred China’s rapid growth. The “opening up” policy contributed to a wide scale privatization campaign, leaving in its wake a debilitated social safety net. These trends, coupled with an upsurge of development-induced social problems, have opened space for Chinese NPOs to emerge at the forefront of the country’s public service sector. Under- resourced and overextended, China’s third sector has been a reoccurring topic in legislative debates in recent years—both in the front lines of grassroots initiatives and among many levels of government officials. The situation presents an interesting contradiction, wherein the Chinese government must face the need to address social problems while at the same time realizing that such a move could detract from its authority.

The landscape of the country’s third sector has changed significantly in recent years. This change is reflected in official government statistics that show the number of registered organizations has shot up over 40% between 2005 and 2010 alone. This increase does not include unregistered organizations, which are blocked from formal proceedings by China’s dual-registration system and strict guidelines. Comparatively, the non-profit landscape was practically barren under Mao’s rule and these types of organizations did not emerge until the 1980’s. This surge coincides with the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) decision to defer social management responsibilities to NPOs as a means to promote Deng’s economic policies and encourage market forces. The initial non-profits were directly under government jurisdiction but as social problems emerged at a faster rate than the Party could manage, the central government began to defer control and reform the system.

Approaches to reform have been multifaceted. The central government, citing the importance of preserving social order, has sought to revise the current bylaws underlining non-profit management. The central government has overseen the establishment of experimental sites in Wenzhou, Shanghai, and Shenzhen to test the prospect of transferring more government functions to non-profit organizations. The National People’s Congress and the CCP Central Committee have dedicated a section of the country’s next Five Year Plan (FYP) to charity management, ostensibly to address rising public discontent towards corruption in NPOs.

In Chapter 39 of the 12th Five Year Plan, the central government called for the development of social organization through a streamlined application process, improved tax incentive laws, and policy support a la legal and regulatory protections. Before final approval in March 2011, the government disclosed the FYP guidelines to the Chinese people through a series of public hearings, seeking e-mail feedback and leaving room open for revision. Consequently, a Charity Law, drafted by the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MoCA), which has been on the table since 2005, has resurfaced for consideration. In July 2011, the government reopened the draft as the “Guideline for the Development of Charity in China” and solicited public input to give direction to charity growth and expedite processes conducive to the 12th FYP. However, the draft has since seen little movement within the legislature.

Meanwhile, frustrated by government inaction, local and provincial governments have apparently taken matters into their hands. Respective authorities in Jiangsu, Ningbo, Hunan, Beijing, and just recently Guangdong have each enacted their own set of regulations, facilitating registration processes and allowing for more accountability in non-profit management. These moves have been commended by officials higher up in the government. In late 2010, a MoCA representative voiced his hopes that these developments will help guide those on a national scale.

The general consensus on the need for reform paints an interesting picture for future developments of the third sector. The timing of the FYP and its related reforms comes at a critical crossroad in China’s development. First, the 12th FYP coincides with a transition of power to its fifth-generation leadership that will take place in 2012. Chinese leaders seek a seamless power change, but they must address the growing challenges posed by increasing social unrest. By adhering to the tenets set by the FYP and by shaping public interests through the charity law, the Party could mitigate discontent among the masses, while at the same time demonstrate responsible leadership. Moreover, promoting China’s international image should provide further incentive for the government to amend its non-profit regulations by legitimizing the new leaders through social progress. It should be noted, however, that certain types of non-profits within the sector, such as those dedicated to religion and human rights, will see little change in their directive.

These advancements in the third sector may also point to the prospect of more comprehensive reform throughout the country. Grassroots movements empower and educate citizens for involvement in the public sphere, which then calls for a more active and informed society, with its own functions and claims. Larger citizen involvement, enabled by a burgeoning nonprofit sector, could lead to a further decentralization of power. This would be in line with the CCP’s “big society, small government” policy that seeks to create a network of social protections wherein citizens serve as intermediaries between the government and social organizations to sustain and promote a “harmonious society”. In essence, nonprofit reform may equip the citizenry with the capacity to take on the Chinese government’s social functions and become that “big society.” The deciding factor, however, is largely dependent on the direction the central government takes from its current Catch-22: toward third sector reform at the cost of its relative power or the continuation of the status quo at the risk of social instability.

Please share and join the discussion on facebook by clicking the "Like" below. Published with the written permission from AsiaEye (Project 2049 Institute).

Neutral Analysis: Occupy Wall Street Movement and Its Impact

2011-11-26T11:49:00.003+05:30

Zucotti Park, cleared and cleaned on November 15, 2011

Occupy Wall Street is an ongoing protest against social and economic inequality, high inequality, greed and corruption in US initiated by the Canadian Activist group Adbusters. The protesters believe that most of the wealth is controlled by only 1% of the population. The slogan "We are the 99%" was raised referring to the growing difference in wealth.

The movement has faced several police crackdown across the United States and fuelled several similar protests in other western nations as well. Where this protest is taking us is still uncertain, but it's true that this movement has become a hot topic for debate around the world.

The protesters claim that increasing unemployment, spending cuts, and income stagnation has made the so called 99% of the American population suffer. They blame the Wall Street for the global recession. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2010, real median household income has declined 6.4 percent since 2007. Meanwhile, the income of the top 1 percent continues to rise according to analyses of cfr.org.

The major factor driving the Occupy Wall Street movement is unemployment among the youth of the nation. The very same young population equips themselves with all social media tools to keep the movement alive while it grows.

Loosening Grip

While the Occupy Wall Street movement grows, it is still unable to gather the support of most of the Americans. The polls conducted in October and November shows a decreasing support of the public for the protest. According to a poll done by Quinnipiac University on November 3 only 30% of the American voters had favourable views on the ongoing protest, while 39% were against and rest were unsure. Another survey by the TIME magazine on October 13 showed that 54% of the Americans supported the idea of the movement, while 23% had negative impression.

Most of the Americans believe that 99% term being used as a slogan might not be correct. Dave Gilson at Mother Jones explains how this term "We are the 99%" has come up in the protest with the help of statistics and graphs as he tries to expose who are the 1% in his article.

Percent of Total Assets owned, by wealth
in 2007, By Dave Gilson

Average Income including capital gains, 2008
US Dollars, By Dave Gilson

According to E. D Kain at forbes.com, the slogan "We are the 99%" is little exaggerated, his analysis shows that we could be 75% or atmost 80%, but not 99% or even 90%.

The Goal

The public is unclear about which path the protest has taken. According to most of the people in America, the protest is losing focus and lacks a unified aim, while some journalists feel the protest has a strong message but the way to put it forward has been wrong till now.

Adbusters co-founder Kalle Lasn says while it is difficult to talk about the protest and the path which it has taken, he believes that the goal of the protests is economic justice, specifically, a "transaction tax" on international financial speculation, the reinstatement of the Glass-Stegall Act and the revocation of corporate personhood. Another group has written an unofficial document, "The 99 Percent Declaration”, that calls for a national general assembly of representatives from all 435 congressional districts to gather on July 4, 2012, to assemble a list of grievances and solutions.

Views of the American Government and Leaders

President Obama during a news conference, on October 6: "I think it expresses the frustrations the American people feel, that we had the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, huge collateral damage all throughout the country ... and yet you're still seeing some of the same folks who acted irresponsibly trying to fight efforts to crack down on the abusive practices that got us into this in the first place."

Ron Paul, U.S. Congressman and 2012 Republican presidential candidate: "If they were demonstrating peacefully, and making a point, and arguing our case, and drawing attention to the Fed—I would say, 'good!'"

Herman Cain, 2012 Republican presidential candidate, calling the protest as anti capitalist: "Don't blame Wall Street, don't blame the big banks, if you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself!"

Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve Chairman: "People are quite unhappy with the state of the economy and what’s happening. They blame, with some justification, the problems in the financial sector for getting us into this mess, and they’re dissatisfied with the policy response here in Washington. And at some level, I can’t blame them. Certainly, 9 percent unemployment and very slow growth is not a good situation."

John Paulson, billionare and founder of Paulson & Co.: "The top 1% of New Yorkers pay over 40% of all income taxes, providing huge benefits to everyone in our city and state. The protesters are vilifying our most successful businesses"

Vikram Pandit, head of Citigroup: "Protesters' sentiments completely understandable, Wall Street had broken the trust of its clients."

Manmohan Singh, Economist and Prime Minister of India: "There are reasons why people are protesting. People are protesting in Wall Street, in Europe about the fat salaries that the bankers are getting when people are being asked to tighten their belts. There is problem of growing unemployment in the United States. There is also worry in Europe. So there are problems which the system must have credible answers to take them on board."

Mikhail Gorbachev, President of former Soviet Union: "The protest is justified, Americans should put their own house in order before attempting to do such with other countries."

A similar protest took place in India in the month of August against the government over corruption. The protest was extremely peaceful where the public marched the roads with candle lights and also sat on hunger strike without damaging any property or harming anyone. The movement was successful to gather support of a large number of Indian public, nearly 75% claimed by an unknown source.

Though India might not have much to say on economic issues of America, but the land of Gandhi has a lot to teach the violent protesters in New York.

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Future of Apple after Steve Jobs

2011-10-08T22:45:00.000+05:30

Apple was just a fruit for all of us some time back, nobody would have ever thought that this name will bring a revolution in the electronic industry. Wherever Apple stepped in, it managed to touch the sky. From an interactive desktop operating system, Apple was determined to bring best sound technology and so the old Walkman and disk man were transformed into a smart music player which could even play videos in later versions. And later the smart music payer was merged with a smart phone which only left the competitors with their jaws dropped.

Many worry about the future of Apple Inc. without Steve jobs, but the current time which holds a risk of retreating recession, looks good for this company. It was clear long back that Steve Jobs is not keeping well. Still investors had trust in the company as the coming products look very promising. His bad health didn't prevent the stocks to shoot higher. Apple shares moved when he announced last August that he is stepping down as CEO and then it moved after hearing the news of his loss. But what keeps the shares shooting high is the enormous number of products in the pipeline.

Steve Jobs

Now when Cook is set to take the charge, it is believed that he is more easy to work with while Jobs was strict. It's a big open question that how will he guide Apple to new heights, but it's true that his success at Apple is due in large part to his sharing many of his boss's traits: a demand for perfection, an exhaustive attention to detail, and a hard-nosed attitude at the negotiating table.

For now Apple has been just churning out the better versions of the current products, now is the time to think of something new and different and launch it to gain a monopoly. This must be something Cook would be having in mind if he has to keep Apple alive. Developing something totally new is not a little kid's game, but we all know Apple is not a little kid.

Jobs and Apple have managed to encourage people to go with the technology. Apple didn't just launch products but carried people along with it. Apple for sure is not sticking to its previous products. When we talk about the "Next Big Thing" many analysts believed after shaking our desks, pockets, now it is time to shake our living rooms. Yes, apple may be looking towards a a simple but smart TV. Which can be simpler, more beautiful and more feature loaded with better quality. While Samsung is already out with a smart TV, it's the time to do something.

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Test Your Leadership Skills; Build Better Indo Romanian Business Ties

2011-05-24T18:37:00.009+05:30

Indians and Romanians are two way too different people, different languages, different cultures and almost negligible people to people contact they share, but still we find lots of similarities between these two communities. For example language, business and general etiquettes.

We at TWR are stressing more on business etiquettes and are conducting a survey on leadership skills. Beside studying the similarities, we want to show just how great you are! The World Reporter with the students of Academia de Studii Economice, Bucuresti will be conducting a survey on leadership skills, which will be open for the following 2 weeks, starting from today 24th May 2011! International economist experts with revert back to the first 100 people who will answer this questionnaire to provide them with their personalised results if they provide their email ID which is optional.

After these 2 weeks, International Economist Experts will analyze all the results and publish a new article here on TWR.

The survey analyses your social and communication skills, how you delegate, your emotional intelligence, how you work in teams. For the results to be accurate, you need to be sincere in your answers. All information provided is confidencial and will not be provided to any third party.

TWR is maintained and updated by students from around the world, This is not a sponsored survey or something of that sort, we are doing this for a students project. Please note that this survey doesn't judge who among Indians and Romanians are better, instead we are trying to understand the behaviour of the two to accelerate and improve the business ties and deals. This is why we recommend that you take this survey and answer the option which you can relate best to you. Please don't leave the survey in between as it doesn't help us to provide you with your personalized scores and summary.

The Survey is closed now. We will be publishing the results soon. Thank you for participating.

*the image on the banner is by epSos.de under creative commons license 2.0

Impact on Japanese Economy After Earthquake and Tsunami; Update

2011-04-12T18:19:00.001+05:30

Continue from the article: Impact on Economy after Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami (written on March, 11 2011)

Tokyo Tower, by Sebastien Batardy

March 11, 2011. Now many Japanese consider this day as the black day. The worst day after the nuclear attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the Americans in 1945.

March 11 was the date when Japan was recovering from last year's economic trouble, everything was going on peacefully with several deals and treaties with western world, India and Russia, Japan was moving ahead, but an 8.9 magnitude earthquake which was later corrected to 9 magnitude on richter scale jolted Japan damaging life and property. Rest was swept away by the triggered tsunami.

But the disaster didn't stop here. Just after few hours and days of everything which happened reports started coming up of a minor explosion in a nuclear reactor in Fuskushima. Earlier the government tried to cover up the matter, telling the public everything is normal and there is no need of panic. But when the government opened itself and released the news, it was late. This nuclear incidence has now been declared as the highest level emergency on par with Chernobyl Disaster.

"It is now understood that the the impact on the economy of Japan due to the earthquake is much more than how it was expected earlier", said Kaoru Yosano, Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy.

According to a recording of a meeting held last month, central bank officials refrained from any discussion on new economic stimulus measures.

Business confidence in the trade sector registered the largest decline in March, since the government began recording this data in 2000.

According to the Analysts of Capital Economics, in the year 2011, Japan's economy will shrink by 1.5%.

In the month of March, the government of Japan estimated that the impact of the earthquake and tsunami on their economy is as huge as 25,000 billion yen, that is Japan has lost 297.8 billion US dollars in this disaster last month itself.

In a response, many politicians have been prompted to seek the formation of an economic stimulus package of 20,000 billion yen (or, 238.2 billion US dollars) to bring Japan out of this trouble.

Japanese companies have started liquidating foreign holdings, that is to sell foreign asset and buy more yens, in order to generate capital to pay for the reconstruction work.

Auto manufacturer, Toyota and major electronics manufacturer, Sony, and other foreign countries having their plants in Japan have halted their production. That is a loss to the company as well as the government of Japan.

Toyota and Sony have halted their work. The workers from the plants have been evacuated and international officers and employees have been sent back to their home country for their safety.

29% of Japan's electricity comes from these nuclear power plant which have been shut down for safety. Now when Japan is short of 1/4th of its electricity, the progress work has been affected a lot.

Japan, the third largest economy in the world will come out of this economic disaster soon. This is the hope and prayer of every individual in this world.

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Wal-Mart - Analyzed Inside Out; The Truth; The Good, The bad, And The Ugly

2011-04-04T18:34:00.010+05:30

Image by matteson.norman from flickr

The store which sells product at a low price attracts a lot of customers. But no one thinks what makes Wal-Mart sell products at such low prices. They sell cheap quality Chinese products.

Earlier, the Chinese had to find a market for their cheap quality imported goods; now they have a supplier in Wal-Mart. It’s the people of America who suffer the wrath. They have to work at unbearable low wages, do overtime without being paid, and forced to stay silent when inspection is being done or else they lose their job.

Wal-Mart has also been accused for giving employment to a large number of illegal immigrants, who work at late nights secretively and face allegation of over $11 million. They even have not been paying their employees for the extra hours they work for. Wal-Mart also has lawsuits in 31 different stated across USA for age an hour abuses involving hundreds and thousands of workers.

The low wage given to the employees has led the workers to take public assistance to be able to afford basic amenities like health care, and education for their children. Imagine the distress caused to the employees when they work night and day knowing that they will still need public assistance. Wal-Mart costs taxpayers a whopping $1,557,000,000 to support its employees.

On the other hand, the Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott claims that they keep in mind the welfare of their employees. As a matter of fact they have a funding program called “CRITICAL NEED FUND” that allows employees to donate from their pay check to help their fellow employees in times of crises like a fire or a tornado. In 2004 Wal-Mart employees donated over $5,000,000 in the fund and WALTON family, the owner of Wal-Mart, donated $6000, keeping in mind Walton family is the richest family in USA worth $102 billion. Adding to that, WALTON family has given less that 1% of their Wealth in Charity, whereas Bill Gates has given 58%.

Wal-Mart has not only been a misery to their employees but also to the local businessmen. There are families who have been running a hardware store for 3 generations, knowing a great deal about the products they are selling, providing good quality products. The business of these people crashed with the coming of Wal-Mart to the locality. Wal-Mart provides cheap quality products at low prices which allures a large number of people. They wouldn’t mind having a salesman at a hardware section knowing nothing about hardware.

Not even this, when the employees of Wal-Mart think of making a union for their own welfare, anything and everything is done to kill the campaign. This can be seen looking at the following figures

$7,000 ANTI-UNION CAMERA PACKAGE per store

$30,000 UNDERCOVER SPY VAN per store

$100,000 24-HOUR ANTI-UNION HOTLINE

$7,000,000 rapid response team with CORPORATE JETS

Amidst all that bad there are people who are aware of what a Wal-Mart store can turn your area into and thus they held anti-WALMART campaigns which finally led the court to accept the people’s plea. The likes of Chandler, Arizona and Inglewood, CA are some of such places where people thought that being a part of democracy; they can take power and take control. Even a community voting was done in Inglewood, CA to approve or not to, the construction of a Wal-Mart on their property which followed a court’s order to stopping them from setting up the store. People of the USA have shown that LOW PRICE IS NO EXCUSE to sell anything they want.

Ashish Hasija is a passionate writer who writes interesting articles on various topics. you can read his blog here http://ashish-hasija.blogspot.com/

Impact on Economy after Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami

2011-03-11T21:45:00.022+05:30

The world's 7th strongest earthquake has destroyed Japan's recovery gains. The quake occurred at the time when the world's third largest economy (after US, China in that order) was doing good in recovery as the final quarter of their last year was not so good.

Shutting down of nuclear power plants and oil refineries and many other industries have caused a huge loss in one single day.

The yen fell by 0.3 percent against the US dollar at an instant, whereas Nikkei (Tokyo) stock fell down nearly by 5 percent at the other instant.

The effect of Japanese market was seen on European and other Asian markets as well. Bombay Stock Exchange or Sensex (India) plunged by 0.84%. Some of the major re insurers like Swiss Re, Hannover Re and Munich Re were all down more than 4 percent.

(Read: Impact on Japanese Economy After Earthquake and Tsunami; Update (Updated on 12th April, 2011)

Japan is a small country of islands in the far east corner of the world. One of the major powers in the history was damaged totally by the American nuclear bombs in 1945, but even after that today its economy makes it a superpower, the third largest economy.

Japan is a strong automobile, electronics and related technology producer. It's most of the economy is dependent on such trade. Toyota and Nissan said they were halting production at all of their 20 factories. Two of Honda's three plants remain closed. Most of Japan's energy requirement is met by resource imports. Shutting down of industries like nuclear power and oil refineries has temporarily left Tokyo powerless.

"We still don't know the full scale of the damage, but considering what happened after the earthquake in Kobe (A major Earthquake in Japan in 1995), this will certainly lead the government to compile an emergency budget. We can expect consumption to fall. This could temporarily pull down gross domestic product," Yamamoto said. "The government would have to sell more bonds, but this is an emergency, so this can't be avoided".

An estimated 2 million homes are without power and about 1.4 million do not have running water.

Continue Reading:

Weeks After Japan Tsunami, 27000 Missing; Cleaning in Progress

8.9 Earthquake in Japan, Tsunami Warning to Russia, Taiwan and South East Asia

Japan Earthquake Triggered Russian Volcanoes
Japan Could Have Avoided Nuclear Disaster
Work at Fukushima Nuclear Plant Suspended

Fear of Nuclear Radiation Leak Aftermath Japan Earthquake
Earthquake Shifts Japan Islands and Earth Axis
Nuclear Radiation leaking in Japan
Radiation level exceeds legal limit at earthquake hit Japan

Second Blast at Quake Hit Japanese Nuclear Plant
Life in Japan stuck, Quake kills 10,000; Economy falling down
Third Explosion at quake hit Nuclear Plant in Japan
Image of Japanese Tsunami Gets Shocking; asked IAEA for help

International Response: United Nations, International Atomic Energy Agency, United States, United Kingdom, India, China, Canada, Germany has expressed their interest in helping Japan and the people of Japan who are affected by the earthquake and tsunami.

Scroll down and post your prayers for the innocents in Japan in the comment form below