Many in Pakistan informally refer to Pakistan’s soiree with the IMF as an IMF programme
After inflicting intolerable pain on citizenry, governments abandon symptomatic treatment halfway into life of a programme as conditions get tougher...
Representational image. — APP/FileDear friends, in the year 2029, as we reflect on the past five years, it is highly satisfying to note how much...
Pakistan is not a finished product, by any stretch of imagination. We Pakistanis must make hard and fundamental decisions about who we are and what...
The Stand-by Arrangement with the International Monetary Fund has pulled the country back from the brink of default. The SBA gives Pakistan some...
The Australian government initiated an independent Review of the Reserve Bank of Australia , on July 20, 2022. The Review panel handed its report to...
Representational image. — CanvaThe budget we present to the people of Pakistan June 9 must be an honest conversation. It must convey that our...
The economic challenges Pakistan faces are both acute and deep as we prepare the budget for fiscal year 24. The economy faces stagflation with...
Pakistanis are living in an era of shocking price hikes, staggering inequality, volatile markets and oligarchic politics. The country faces...
Certain policy areas are less well understood. Austerity is one of them. Austerity comes from the Latin word ‘austerus’, meaning harshness....
The need for being absolutely accurate in our strategy for solving the immediate economic fragility has never been greater. Pakistan is teetering on...
It is hard to envisage a worthwhile developmental effort without a country developing its own strategies, executing them, taking wrong turns and...
The last few months have seen a disorderly movement in key markets. High fluctuations of the rupee against all major currencies, abnormal increase...
The Charter of Economy is perceived as a minimum agenda to be agreed to by political parties, despite different ideologies. The thought process is...
Independence Day should be a day of reflection — a conscious endeavour helping us unpack the past and spawn new ideas for the future. For...
The Setting: The idea of writing this piece is to debate the possibilities of strengthening Pakistan’s budgeting process. This debate helps us...
It is time for a brisk, upright and orthodox approach to some of Pakistan’s immediate but huge challenges. Low reserves of the State Bank of...
Pakistan has been in a number of balance of payments crises since its independence. However, the current balance of payments challenge is different...
Overcoming the current external solvency challenge is reminiscent of how things were in 2018 in Pakistan. The need to tap friendly countries to...
Government is a very demanding business, much more difficult than commentators and critics recognize. It’s a multifaceted process that requires...
The writer is former adviser,Ministry of Finance.We live in uncertain times. The last two years have been tumultuous for citizens globally. A...
In several billion years of human history, the last few centuries have been dramatic in terms of technological development. The divide between...
Globally, the spectre of inflation is back after a relatively benign period. The debate on how best to manage inflationary pressures remains...
Each one of us is born with certain endowments which form our life’s ‘portfolio of assets’. Like a smart financial manager who works to...
Governments all over the world routinely make the following announcements to prepare citizens for difficult days: “We are taking tough decisions;...
Second chances are rare. Pakistan has had innumerable chances of participating in loan programmes supported by the International Monetary Fund . But...
Evidence shows that New Year’s resolutions generally don’t produce the intended results for a majority of people. Studies show that most people...
The contention is that Pakistan has 5.2 million small and medium enterprises . A statistic based not on any recent census, but an extrapolation...
It is fashionable to blame a toxic ‘system’ for most of Pakistan’s ills, including our failings of economy, governance, law and justice as...
The uniqueness and intensity of emotions that grandparents display universally towards grandchildren defy any expression in words. And those of us...
It is true that fire-fighting the urgent instead of overcoming the fundamental issues gnawing at the economy takes centre stage in the economic...
We were beginning to enjoy a welcome party-like atmosphere, created by slight economic recovery and promising improvement in some high-frequency...
The recovery from the economic shock of Covid-19 appears to be faster and stronger than what most had expected some eighteen months ago. The pace of...
The difference between artificial intelligence and human intelligence lies in the diversity of information and data that the two can absorb to make...
We are a universe within a universe, a microcosm in the deep recesses of a macrocosm, and an eternal soul in a body of mortal flesh; there is much...
When asked who a true Muslim is, Prophet Muhammad replied, “One who avoids harming other Muslims with his tongue and hand ”. To understand...
Life is an odd mix of tranquillity and turbulence; harmony and discord; smooth flow and friction; and triumphs and failures. Even more so in the...
As Pakistanis, our fates are bound together. Those of us who aspire to drive public policy have a shared responsibility to carry everyone...
Reform is a never-ending task. There is no starting point, and no finish line. It is just a continuous process of being better.After years of...
Pakistan’s asset – its youth bulge – can translate into economic gains through development of skills and an environment consistent with the...
Domestic Resource Mobilisation is the cornerstone of taming debt growth, providing governments with adequate funds for development and delivering...
The pickup in the Pakistan economy is largely a result of fiscal incentives at the back of high deficits, debt deferral of approximately $3.6...
Pakistan’s Budget 2022 has to be a convincing story for the nation that beyond the clouds the sun is shining. It has to be a story that unveils,...
Budgets are a mix of politics and economics. Though the blend is largely determined by where a government is in the election cycle, a nice balance...
Budgets intuitively have to be about ideas. Ideas shaping expectations of economic agents and giving them real hope about a better future. Ideas...
To create more jobs and tax rupees, Pakistan needs a new approach for reindustrialization. Whereas the bulk of the debate focuses on large-scale...
We need to reconcile with a key fact: in some areas of the economic domain, the big ideas quiver is pretty mature. In these areas, policymakers have...
A real challenge for Pakistan’s economy today is one of dynamism – the capacity to generate new ideas, products, business models and production...
Reform is a never-ending exercise. There is no starting point and there is no finishing line. It is a continuous process of changing for the better....
Pakistan’s power sector faces its gravest challenge ever – financial instability of a quantum that threatens the country’s already...
