He was passionate about agriculture development, mitigation of rural-urban income inequality, absorption of new entrants to job market
Infrastructure: Pakistan’s unending energy crisis and high-end user costs have enormously damaged industrial growth and diversification,...
Provinces contribute only one per cent of GDP to national taxes
The end purpose of an industrial policy for Pakistan should be to achieve competitiveness through higher productivity which brings greater profits...
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...
The foreign exchange earnings from jute exports which originated from former East Pakistan were pre-empted for allocation to industrialists in what...
Recent developments in the Western countries have reopened the discourse on the need for an industrial policy. Pakistan, which has gone through...
Pakistan will have to develop a unified market linking the farms to retail outlets covering the full supply chain particularly in high-value...
Mechanization, technology and advisory services: one of the major constraints facing small holders is the lack of resources and knowledge about...
Import substitution and export promotion: agro-based exports fetch 75-80 per cent of total earnings but the direct exports of agricultural...
At present, the canal irrigation management system recovers only a quarter of its repair and maintenance costs. In the 1970s, the entire cost was...
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...
Agriculture forms the backbone of Pakistan’s economy as it provides livelihoods to almost two-thirds of the population, food, water, energy...
The rules of business have to be changed accordingly. It would be imperative that the chief executive officers of metropolitan corporations and...
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...
The fragmentation of development projects into small schemes catered to the narrow interests of the local communities without any sense of priority,...
This article is divided into three parts. The first part deals with ‘why local government?’ The second with experiences during the 2001-2009...
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...
The State Bank of Pakistan has recently granted five licences for Starting digital banks that would provide the whole range of banking services...
Pakistan faces two serious problems in education. Twenty million children are out of school and learning outcomes from existing schooling are quite...
A major departure has to be made in the deployment of civil servants. Instead of senior, qualified and courteous officers being assigned to...
The frequent takeovers by military regimes and the consequential screening of hundreds of civil servants led to the subservience of the civil...
An economy is driven by the contributions and interactions of state, society and markets. Before we take up the agenda for recalibrating governance...
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...
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...
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...
Very few people outside the economics profession realize that fiscal and current accounts are closely interlinked.A current account is an...
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...
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,...
The future of any economy is closely linked with its present and the past. Pakistan’s economic past has gone through different phases with...
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...
On top of the adverse global and national developments in a post-pandemic world, Sindh and Balochistan got severely hit by extraordinary torrential...
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...
Gulf States: Pakistan has enjoyed very friendly relations with the Gulf States. The first generation of Emirates rulers were very favourably...
China: there are several areas where the ongoing cooperation between Pakistan and China should be continued but at least three areas need to be...
The 2021 National Security Policy has made geo-economics its main pivot. It is therefore essential to look in a coherent and comprehensive manner...
The recent initiative taken by the Gilgit-Baltistan government to introduce STEM subjects right from the school level is highly commendable. This...
Community organizations have built bridges, irrigation channels and other small infrastructure projects at much lower costs as they participated in...
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...
Despite impressive achievements since 1991, India is facing several major challenges. A major problem is absorbing its youth in a productive labour...
India’s success factors may be many but three salient features need emphasis. First, Indian entrepreneurs are dynamic, vibrant and innovative....
The recent devastating floods which have displaced or affected 30 million people, destroyed or damaged a million houses, buildings, structures,...
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...
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...
Most of the discussion and discourse on public finances has remained focused on the federal government and FBR. The analysis of provincial finances...
Importers are keen to pad up their normal demand for Dollars to avert further losses arising from future depreciation.
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...
Sri Lanka has long been admired by development economists, international financial institutions, and public intellectuals for leading South Asia in...
Sixth, revamp the higher education system and research institutes where the criteria for allocating public funds would be based on promoting...
