December 19, 2006	Tuesday	Ziqa'ad 27, 1427

LAHORE, Dec 18: Global financier George Soros said on Monday his group may invest in the financial/capital market of Pakistan, but a decision in this regard had to be taken by professionals (running his business).

“I’ve got people investing in (this) region. (But) it is up to professionals running the fund to make the decision (about investing in a given country or economy). I don’t make those decisions,” the billionaire financier, who was once dubbed in East Asia as a “kind of Dracula” for his alleged role in the crash of their currencies in 1997 which sent Asia’s miracle economies reeling, answered in response to a question by this reporter. He was asked if he was looking at the possibility of making investment in Pakistan’s financial markets.

Mr Soros, who was in Pakistan during the last few days, told a select group of journalists here that the Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF) was nevertheless looking at the possibility of entering into the housing and mortgage financing in Pakistan with a view to helping develop low income housing and bridge the housing deficit.

“We have had preliminary discussions on mortgage financing with people from local financial sector today,” he said, adding SEDF was a “not-for-profit” organisation, but it operated on commercial basis because you cannot do it on a large enough scale if such a venture is donor-based.

“The profits earned through such investments are reinvested by SEDF,” he said in response to another question.

He said the mortgage finance market in Pakistan had great potential, but it still was in a rudimentary state of development. He advised the (Pakistan) government to take action for supporting housing finance by providing guarantees or subsidy (to low-income housing) as “this sector deserved promotion because of its potential to generate economic growth.”

Mr Soros announced that his charity, The Foundation Open Society Institute (OSI), planned to open a new representative office in Islamabad to support education, financial services for the under-served, development and healthcare in Pakistan. OSI, which began to invest in Pakistan after the devastating earthquake that killed thousands in Azad Kashmir and parts of the NWFP on Oct 8 last year and left almost the entire population of the affected area homeless, will also ramp up its activities for helping and supporting survivors of the disaster. OSI has already provided $1.5 million through local NGOs for humanitarian relief and reconstruction and helped to rebuild 30 schools in the quake-hit areas. OSI will support the Coalition for Quality Education (CQE) for providing quality education in the country.

The philanthropist Soros expressed his concern over the lack of preparedness for winter in the quake-hit areas, saying not enough had been done to protect the homeless survivors of the quake from the harshness of current winter. “People (I met) have drawn a dire picture of the situation (in the quake-hit areas). The conditions there are quite alarming. Something needs to be done before it becomes an emergency,” he warned. He said a workshop in Muzaffarabad would be a very good thing to organize to look at the situation more closely.