Adil Najam

According to a story in Dawn today (4 November, 2006) “Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is in such dire financial straits that it may be threatened with liquidation because of its monthly losses of more than Rs1 billion and its current liabilities which exceed its assets by more than Rs20 billion.” The report goes on to say:

The corporation’s chartered accounts Anjum Asim Shahid Rahman and Ford Rhodes Sidat Hyder & Co wrote in their note to the half-yearly report that the corporation has incurred a gross loss of Rs74 million and a net loss of Rs6.144 billion during the half year ended June 30, resulting in accumulated losses of Rs17.944 billion on the balance sheet date. According to the auditors, the corporation’s current liabilities on June 30 this year exceeded its current assets by Rs. 20.326 billion…

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Adil Najam

Want to guess where this is?

No, it is not Iraq. Yes, the blog is called ‘All Things Pakistan.’ Here is a hint: We have been talking about this place recently on ATP.

Adil Najam

Our educated chattering classes do not consider it sophisticated to talk about milk.

(Photo Credit for this powerful picture: Baba Dody)

They would much rather spend their time pontificating about global geopolitics, the power politics of our would-be-saviors (both those in power and those waiting to come back to power), the intricacies of conspiracy theories about ‘hidden hands’ and not-so-hidden motives, and trying to read the ‘real’ story ‘between lines’ even as they ignore the stark realities of the lines themselves. Of course, for others there is always the option to belch out slogans reeking of pious religosity or self-righteous modernity.

Ultimately, however, you need to think about the price of milk. Because milk is a necessity and slogans are merely a distraction.

I know enough economics to know that while improvements in macro-economic trends matters, they matters much less when the cost of living and making ends meet for the citizenry at large run contrary. We at ATP have been and remain quite concerned about everyday inflationary trends. As we have stressed before, there is something very wrong when the denomination of the highest value banknote (Rs. 5000) is greater than what is considered a decent monthly wage for a middle-class Pakistani! We have also written about just how much it really costs ordinary Pakistanis to get petrol. Now, it turns out that the cost of milk – a daily necessity – is on the rise and moving in the same direction as the cost of petrol.