May 5, 2021
ISLAMABAD: There are 31 families in Pakistan dominating Pakistan’s stock market, indicating the number of influential and wealthy families had gone up from 22 to 31 since the country’s independence. It was the crux of the highly important research paper by former Deputy Chairman Planning Commission and Vice-Chancellor PIDE Dr. Nadeem Ul Haq and Amin Hussain. The explosive research paper stated that Mahbubul Haq famously pointed to 22 families owning Pakistan. But, in 2018, when the data was collected, 31 families dominated the KSE. The paper stated: Pakistan’s stock market tends to make headlines, sometimes because of record highs that make it the ‘best performing market of the region’, and sometimes because of the crashes. However, the degree to which it contributes to capital formation in the country is not a topic of study, while the ensuing ownership and governance structure is hardly ever made a part of public discourse. One such study concluded that ar
Club of 31 families dominate PSX
Boards of KSE-100 companies include people close to these families
Paper findings challenge the deeply-held notion that the stock market is a reflection of strong economy and vibrant financial sector. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
Only 31 families dominate the Pakistan Stock Exchange and boards of directors for KSE-100 index companies are mostly filled with people close to these families, some of them are their employees, reveals a study by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE).
In 2018, when the data was collected, 31 families dominated the KSE-100, states the “Small club: distribution and networks in financial markets of Pakistan” - a study by vice chancellor of PIDE, Dr Nadeemul Haq and Amin Husain.
Opinion
May 4, 2021
Some of the more effusive opponents of the current regime are prone to exaggeration. A most amusing bit of hyperventilation is when some claim with great confidence that the current era is worse than the Gen Ziaul Haq dictatorship.
This is pure nonsense, but not because the protagonists of the current scenario are necessarily trying for things to be any better than the darkness of the 1980s. The comparison with the 1980s is nonsense because turning down the volume of the national discourse in Gen Zia’s era was just so much easier than it is today. In an era of a seemingly unlimited number of newspapers, television channels, social media feeds and angry, underserved citizens, the feeble attempts to ‘manage’ the national discourse only expose the limited imaginations of the protagonists of this unique time in Pakistan’s political history.
The writer is the Resident Representative UNDP Pakistan. He tweets @knutostby
Inequality makes headlines every day. Most of us now, are unfortunately getting used to the bold font condemning racial injustice, gender violence, and the rising costs of living. Inequality has even defined the Covid-19 pandemic; from who gets infected to who gets vaccinated first. Within this context, one can be forgiven for thinking that inequality is simply collateral for the world we live in: ‘This is how it has always been, and this is how it will always be’. However, inequality is not inevitable.
UNDP’s Pakistan National Human Development Report (NHDR) 2020 on Inequality, entitled “The Three Ps of Inequality: Power, People, and Policy”, attempts to highlight this idea. Authored by former finance minister Dr Hafiz Pasha, the report examines inequality of income and opportunity in Pakistan, and lays out a reform agenda that can put the country on the road to an equal society.