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March 29, 2025
China’s growth amid headwinds
Internationally, there have been misleading theories propounded about so-called slowing of Chinese economy
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January 06, 2024
Sartaj Aziz: public service embodied
He was passionate about agriculture development, mitigation of rural-urban income inequality, absorption of new entrants to job market
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June 09, 2023
Towards industrial policy 2.0: Part - V
Infrastructure: Pakistan’s unending energy crisis and high-end user costs have enormously damaged industrial growth and diversification,...
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June 06, 2023
A look at provincial budgets
Provinces contribute only one per cent of GDP to national taxes
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June 02, 2023
Towards industrial policy 2.0: Part - IV
The end purpose of an industrial policy for Pakistan should be to achieve competitiveness through higher productivity which brings greater profits...
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May 26, 2023
Towards industrial policy 2.0: Part - III
Instead of choosing the winners and losers which was the case with the industrial policy 1.0, the thrust of the new policy that is still evolving is...
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May 19, 2023
Towards industrial policy 2.0 -Part - II
The foreign exchange earnings from jute exports which originated from former East Pakistan were pre-empted for allocation to industrialists in what...
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May 12, 2023
Towards industrial policy 2.0: Part - I
Recent developments in the Western countries have reopened the discourse on the need for an industrial policy. Pakistan, which has gone through...
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May 05, 2023
Reviving agricultural growth: Part - VI
Pakistan will have to develop a unified market linking the farms to retail outlets covering the full supply chain particularly in high-value...
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April 28, 2023
Reviving agricultural growth: Part - V
Mechanization, technology and advisory services: one of the major constraints facing small holders is the lack of resources and knowledge about...
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April 21, 2023
Reviving agricultural growth: Part - IV
Import substitution and export promotion: agro-based exports fetch 75-80 per cent of total earnings but the direct exports of agricultural...
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April 14, 2023
Reviving agricultural growth: Part - III
At present, the canal irrigation management system recovers only a quarter of its repair and maintenance costs. In the 1970s, the entire cost was...
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April 07, 2023
Reviving agricultural growth: Part - II
The question we have to address is: what can be done to boost the productivity of 88 per cent of the farms that own less than 12.5 acres of land and...
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March 31, 2023
Reviving agricultural growth: Part – I
Agriculture forms the backbone of Pakistan’s economy as it provides livelihoods to almost two-thirds of the population, food, water, energy...
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March 24, 2023
Governance for local government: Part - IV
The rules of business have to be changed accordingly. It would be imperative that the chief executive officers of metropolitan corporations and...
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March 17, 2023
Governance for local governments: Part - III
Proposed governance system for local governments: In light of the experience of the 2001 LGO, let us now examine what needs to be done to avoid the...
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March 10, 2023
Governance for local government: Part - II
The fragmentation of development projects into small schemes catered to the narrow interests of the local communities without any sense of priority,...
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March 03, 2023
Governance for local governments: Part - I
This article is divided into three parts. The first part deals with ‘why local government?’ The second with experiences during the 2001-2009...
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February 24, 2023
Policies for digital banking: Part - II
The journey in pursuit of the vision started in the early 2000s when the SBP decided to mandate banks to join one of either two ATM switches...
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February 17, 2023
Policies for digital banking: Part - I
The State Bank of Pakistan has recently granted five licences for Starting digital banks that would provide the whole range of banking services...
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February 10, 2023
Recalibrating governance: Part IV
Pakistan faces two serious problems in education. Twenty million children are out of school and learning outcomes from existing schooling are quite...
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February 03, 2023
Recalibrating governance - Part III
A major departure has to be made in the deployment of civil servants. Instead of senior, qualified and courteous officers being assigned to...
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January 27, 2023
Recalibrating governance - Part II
The frequent takeovers by military regimes and the consequential screening of hundreds of civil servants led to the subservience of the civil...
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January 20, 2023
Recalibrating governance: Part - I
An economy is driven by the contributions and interactions of state, society and markets. Before we take up the agenda for recalibrating governance...
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January 13, 2023
Fixing the taxation system - Part IV
Among many compelling reasons for further devolution to the third tier is that citizens in a local jurisdiction are found to pay more taxes as they...
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January 06, 2023
Fixing the taxation system - Part III
One of the pernicious side-effects of a large dose of the federal divisible tax pool injected into the provincial finances is that the provinces...
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December 30, 2022
Fixing the taxation system - Part II
Studies on sectoral incidence show that industry bears more than two-thirds of the tax, while the services sector bears about 21 per cent and...
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December 23, 2022
Fixing the taxation system - Part I
Very few people outside the economics profession realize that fiscal and current accounts are closely interlinked.A current account is an...
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December 09, 2022
The future of our economy - Part III
Coming to the third structural reform: investment rates have lingered around 15 per cent of GDP in the last decade thus constraining the rate of...
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December 02, 2022
The future of our economy - Part II
The short-term measures described in Part I will not have the desired effects unless the emphasis is shifted in our school system towards Science,...
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November 25, 2022
The future of our economy - Part I
The future of any economy is closely linked with its present and the past. Pakistan’s economic past has gone through different phases with...
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November 18, 2022
Sindh: floods and rural economy - Part III
What needs to be done? One of the main reasons for the flooding due to torrential rains this time around rather – than the river levels rising...
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November 11, 2022
(Part II) Sindh: floods and rural economy
On top of the adverse global and national developments in a post-pandemic world, Sindh and Balochistan got severely hit by extraordinary torrential...
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November 04, 2022
Sindh: floods and rural economy - Part I
Sindh has a population of around 50 million. There is an equal division – 52 per cent live in urban areas while 48 per cent in rural areas and...
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October 28, 2022
Resetting foreign economic relations : Part – III
Gulf States: Pakistan has enjoyed very friendly relations with the Gulf States. The first generation of Emirates rulers were very favourably...
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October 21, 2022
Resetting foreign economic relations : Part - II
China: there are several areas where the ongoing cooperation between Pakistan and China should be continued but at least three areas need to be...
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October 14, 2022
Resetting foreign economic relations : Part I
The 2021 National Security Policy has made geo-economics its main pivot. It is therefore essential to look in a coherent and comprehensive manner...
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October 07, 2022
Economic prospects of Gilgit-Baltistan : Part - III
The recent initiative taken by the Gilgit-Baltistan government to introduce STEM subjects right from the school level is highly commendable. This...
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September 30, 2022
Economic prospects of Gilgit-Baltistan : Part II
Community organizations have built bridges, irrigation channels and other small infrastructure projects at much lower costs as they participated in...
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September 23, 2022
Economic prospects of Gilgit-Baltistan : Part - I
This article is part of a series to raise general awareness about the economic conditions and potential of the provinces and territories that do not...
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September 16, 2022
India’s economy at 75 : Part - III
Despite impressive achievements since 1991, India is facing several major challenges. A major problem is absorbing its youth in a productive labour...
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September 09, 2022
India’s economy at 75 : Part - II
India’s success factors may be many but three salient features need emphasis. First, Indian entrepreneurs are dynamic, vibrant and innovative....
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September 02, 2022
Disaster and devolution
The recent devastating floods which have displaced or affected 30 million people, destroyed or damaged a million houses, buildings, structures,...
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August 26, 2022
India’s economy at 75: Part - I
India was considered by its colonial rulers as the brightest jewel in the British crown as it was relatively well-endowed in terms of natural and...
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August 19, 2022
Seventy-five years of Pakistan’s economy
A large majority of Pakistan’s population was born after the country got its independence. The median age today is 23 years and the youth have...
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August 12, 2022
Repairing provincial finance
Most of the discussion and discourse on public finances has remained focused on the federal government and FBR. The analysis of provincial finances...
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August 05, 2022
Political disruption, panic behind temporary liquidity crisis
Importers are keen to pad up their normal demand for Dollars to avert further losses arising from future depreciation.
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July 29, 2022
The Sri Lanka paradox [Part – II]
Sri Lanka recorded a rapid increase in public debt-to-GDP ratio to 119 per cent from 42 per cent over a few years. Access to the international...
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July 22, 2022
The Sri Lanka paradox [Part – I]
Sri Lanka has long been admired by development economists, international financial institutions, and public intellectuals for leading South Asia in...
