Loud Thinking

Archive for July, 2013

Abu Dhabi pledges $50bn

(Hope Pakistani rulers are not sleeping over the opportunity of our friends investing in Pakistan before they exhaust all their funds elsewhere). We must inform the world that Pakistan is the ONLY country in the world where foreign investors can take back 100 % profit and capital whenever they wish so. Pakistan is also the only country in the world where there is Zero income tax on Independent Power Plants (IPP’s).

JAAGO RULERS JAAGO before its too late.

A news reported on 4 July, 2013 by the daily “The News”.

NEW DELHI: Abu Dhabi has promised to invest $50 billion in India’s cash-hungry infrastructure at a time when growth in Asia’s third-largest economy has sharply slowed, a newspaper reported Wednesday.
The pledge by Abu Dhabi was the key factor in pushing New Delhi to approve a bilateral deal to increase flights between the two countries, an Indian official told the Indian Express.
“A commitment to invest $50 billion in the infrastructure sector of the country by Abu Dhabi was a key reason for us to agree to the increase,” a senior government official, who declined to be named, said.
News of the investment comes just months after the International Monetary Fund criticised India for not improving its creaky infrastructure during the period it experienced growth rates close to double figures.
The IMF said in February that India would likely see slower growth than expected in 2012/13 at 5.4 percent and pay the price for failing to ensure investment in infrastructure kept pace with economic growth in the previous decade.
The plan to increase flights between the UAE and India is linked to a controversial proposal by the Abu Dhabi-based Etihad airline to purchase a 24 percent stake in India’s Jet Airways for 20.5 billion rupees ($342 million).
That deal, the largest foreign investment proposal in India’s aviation sector, faces regulatory hurdles, with many ministries raising objections over the bilateral increase in flights as well as over control of Jet after the sale.

“We can throw stones, complain about them, stumble on them, climb over them, or build with them.”

Why Egypt’s President Morsi was being toppled?

Do you want to know the unpardonable crime of Morsi?
Egyptian military sources say Morsi’s call last month for foreign intervention in Syria was a turning point.

Morsi’s Brotherhood went further, backing calls for holy war, rhetoric that alarmed a military that had spent decades hunting down radical militants.

Got it?

Why Egypt’s President Morsi is being toppled?

Do you want to know the unpardonable crime of Morsi?

Egyptian military sources say Morsi’s call last month for foreign intervention in Syria was a turning point.

Morsi’s Brotherhood went further, backing calls for holy war, rhetoric that alarmed a military that had spent decades hunting down radical militants.

Got it?

Is there anybody to Save Pakistanis from the slavery of the IMF?

AAY TAER E LAHUUTI USS RIZQ SAY MAUT ACHI
JIS RIZQ SAY AATI HU PARVAZ MEIN KOOTAHI

PAKISTAN SUCCUMBS TO IMF DEMANDS WHEREAS IPP’s ARE ENJOYING INCOME TAX EXEMPTIONS AND LAST YEAR ALONE GOVERNMENT WAIVED OFF RS.50 billion INCOME TAX OF IPP’s.

IS THIS A POOR MAN’S GOVERNMENT?

ISLAMABAD: In a bid to avoid potential financial default, Pakistan has conceded to a major demand of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by agreeing to withdraw tax exemptions to the wealthy.
Sources revealed on Tuesday that the concession has paved the way for a new bailout programme worth around $5.3 billion.

A formal announcement is expected within the next 24 hours, sources added.

The review and withdrawal of tax exemptions enjoyed by the country’s wealthy and influential lobbies will be a ‘structural benchmark’ or condition of the new IMF programme, confirmed a senior official of the finance ministry to The Express Tribune.

The tax exemptions have been granted through Statutory Regulatory Orders (SROs), and no new legislation will be requir­ed to take them back, sources said. However, the amount the government will raise by withdrawing the SROs was not immediately clear.

In the budget for the fiscal year 2013-14, the government has already levied Rs207 billion in new taxes aimed at achieving a tax target of Rs2.475 trillion.

But this was declared insufficient by the IMF.

The move, though much-needed, is contrary to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s assertion that the government will not levy more taxes, “programme or no programme”. However, as a face-saving measure, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government will sell it as part of ‘homegrown reforms’ by insisting that it will not be a revenue measure, sources said.
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will also soon start working on the SROs that will be withdrawn.

Levying more taxes either by withdrawing the SROs or through new legislation was one of the most contentious pre-conditions out of the five the IMF has set for Pakistan to obtain a fresh monetary package.

“We have converged on all issues and the deal will be closed very soon,” said Rana Asad Amin, a spokesman for the finance ministry.

Pakistan is in dire need of an IMF package to repay the loan it obtained in 2008. The reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan are not sufficient to meet international obligations.

According to the Economic Survey of Pakistan 2012-13, in the last fiscal year alone, the country provided Rs239.5 billion worth of tax breaks, mainly to influential people.

The FBR gave Rs82.3 billion worth of income tax exemptions. The sales tax exemptions stood at Rs37.5 billion which were mainly given to sugar and tractor industries. The customs duties exemptions grew to Rs119.7 billion.
But not all the exemptions can be withdrawn as many are given under international treaties, particularly on account of customs duties that are waived off or reduced under preferential and free trade agreements.

The independent power producers are enjoying income tax exemption and the country waived off Rs50 billion in the last one year alone, according to the government report.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 3rd, 2013.

Use Social Media in Your Next Presentation

Social media has changed how presentations work. Your audience can have conversations while you’re talking and project your words far beyond the room. It’s your job to participate in these discussions and gain people’s trust. Here’s how:
Provide a channel. Create a Twitter hashtag for your presentation and invite audience members to use it to chat about your message. Encourage social-media discussion before, during, and after your presentation; display your hashtag on an introductory slide.
Ask for their input. Try presenting a partially developed idea and asking people to help you refine it through social channels. Engaging them in this way focuses their activity on contributing to your presentation, not criticizing it.

Adapted from the HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations.

“You may think that taking a detour in life is a waste of time
and energy, but you can also see the detour as a means of
learning more about who you are and where you are heading in
your life. Being off the beaten path may be disorienting and
confusing at times, yet it challenges your creative spirit to discover new and different ways to get back home, into your heart; for your heart is your real home.”

— Andreas Moritz

Determination is firmness of purpose.

“If you’re trying to achieve, there will be road blocks. I’ve had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”

Michael Jordan (born 1963);
retired professional basketball player, businessman

My Twitter message on latest American drone attack on Pakistan:

US gift to Pak PM before his visit to China. US drone attack kills 17 in North Waziristan http://dawn.com/news/1022310