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Tuesday April 16, 2024
Mehtab Haider.
Mehtab Haider.

  • May 16, 2022

    Digital highways

    Pakistan’s dwindling foreign currency reserves and runaway dollars have raised important questions about the basic structure of the ailing...

  • May 10, 2021

    Tough talks ahead

    Amid this critical juncture of our economic history, the newly appointed Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin has publicly committed to undertake all...

  • March 08, 2021

    What went wrong?

    Securing a vote of confidence in the National Assembly from 178 members, a sigh of relief would be too soon for Prime Minister Imran Khan who...

  • March 01, 2021

    Double trouble

    Political shocks from the poll fiasco in Daska, upcoming Senate elections and the recent events on IMF and FATF fronts are severe blows to the...

  • February 08, 2021

    Rock and a hard place

    The International Monetary Fund and the PTI-led government has yet to fix a timeline for its next round of talks under a $6 billion stalled bailout...

  • January 25, 2021

    Old prescription

    Pakistan’s current account balance turned negative in December 2020, when it witnessed a deficit of $662 million after achieving a surplus...

  • January 11, 2021

    Inching up

    Pakistan’s economy is on the path of recovery, at a slower pace though, despite a persistent second wave of COVID-19 pandemic. It might take...

  • December 28, 2020

    Extended indebtedness

    After facing a series of crises ranging from macroeconomic instability to adjustment pains and then lockdowns to combat the deadly COVID-19...

  • November 09, 2020

    A distant reality

    Pakistan’s agriculture sector has been facing several problems in the wake of achieving low efficiency and productivity, putting an increased...

  • October 12, 2020

    Fighting monopolies

    The incumbent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf led regime has assigned the Competition Commission of Pakistan the task of launching an offensive against...

  • October 05, 2020

    Wheat fiasco

    Despite deafening claims made by different tiers of the government in the country, the common citizen has been facing numerous difficulties in...

  • September 28, 2020

    Trapped in loop

    Pakistan’s stagnant exports are hovering in the range of $20 to $25 billion over the last one decade as it depicted an inability to generate...

  • September 21, 2020

    The tax fact-book

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf led government launched the sixth consecutive Tax Directory for Parliamentarians for Tax Year 2018 to demonstrate...

  • September 14, 2020

    Doing the limbo

    It has been a historic failure since independence that no regime has been able to boost trade activities of Pakistan, as it was never made part of...

  • September 07, 2020

    Policy trance

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf -led regime has yet not finalised the much-awaited Strategic Trade Policy Framework despite being in power for the...

  • August 24, 2020

    Getting old

    The pay and pension bill is going to haunt Pakistan’s economic managers in years to come, as it is becoming another monster just like circular...

  • August 17, 2020

    Back on track?

    Three important developments have taken place on the economic front. The first is related to moving towards signing an agreement with Independent...

  • July 20, 2020

    Trouble ahead

    Reviving the stalled International Monetary Fund programme might take a long time, because both Pakistan and the IMF staff have to agree upon a...

  • July 13, 2020

    Failing politics

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government is heading towards deferment of the International Monetary Fund sponsored programme of $6 billion under...

  • June 29, 2020

    Taxing life

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government has opted for a historic increase in prices of petroleum products in one go and that too just five days...

  • June 22, 2020

    Boom, bust, bailout, repeat

    Pakistan’s economic growth has plunged to its lowest among regional peers and its entire trajectory can easily be described as a rollercoaster...

  • June 08, 2020

    Relief or revival?

    The first and foremost challenge for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government’s economic managers is to present such a budget for next fiscal year...

  • June 01, 2020

    Covid budget

    The devastating COVID-19 pandemic has driven Pakistan’s government to table a “COVID Budget” before the Parliament on June 12, 2020 with the...

  • May 11, 2020

    Increasing the size of cake

    A heated debate on bringing changes into 18th constitutional amendments and much trumpeted 7th National Finance Commission Award, has flared up...

  • April 27, 2020

    Unpopular projections

    In the wake of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, the differences, between macroeconomic and fiscal projections made by Ministry of Finance and State...

  • April 20, 2020

    Managing debt relief

    The COVID-19 crisis has pushed Pakistan into a new danger zone, forcing the lender of last resort, known as international Monetary Fund , for...

  • April 13, 2020

    Bitter after-taste

    The sugar and wheat inquiry reports have exposed poor governance structure existing in our country. Political influence in the tenure of Pakistan...

  • April 06, 2020

    A grim situation

    The Planning Commission made initial assessment that the coronavirus pandemic has so far caused losses of Rs2.5 trillion for few sectors of the...

  • March 30, 2020

    Rising sea of debt

    Pakistan could get the much desired breathing fiscal space on its external debt front, if the multilateral creditors gave consideration to a...

  • March 23, 2020

    Economic consequences of COVID-19

    Lack of proper coordination is a hallmark of PTI-led regime. This fact could not have been manifested as evidently as it did in the wake of CONVID19...

  • March 16, 2020

    Preparing for the inevitable!

    The International Monetary Fund mission had warned Islamabad last month about the impact of cronovirus on Pakistan’s economy and in case it...

  • March 09, 2020

    A ship without a captain

    The government seems indifferent to the increasing fiscal woes of the country as they are least bothered with the growing criticism on widening gap...

  • March 02, 2020

    Targets, tariffs, & tranches

    The government has finally managed to strike a deal with the International Monetary Fund but the Fund extended one-month period against its...

  • February 24, 2020

    Before the watchdog bites

    The Financial Action Task Force’s decision to keep Pakistan in the grey list for the next four months till June 2020 demonstrates the fact that...

  • February 17, 2020

    The genie is out of the bottle

    To save the loan programme from complete derailment, the government will have to deliver on the promises, made to International Monetary Fund , of...

  • February 03, 2020

    Brace for the impact!

    In all likelihood, Pakistan’s economic front would be riddled with cracks after the completion of the second review of the International Monetary...

  • January 27, 2020

    Taming tariffs

    The unrestrained and distortionary high tariff regime as well as a skewed taxation structure is systematically suppressing our exports and...

  • January 20, 2020

    What went wrong?

    The government has so far failed to bring any improvement in the inflation-wretched lives of the masses despite making deafening claims that economy...

  • January 13, 2020

    The burn of hot money

    In the blind pursuit of hot money, Pakistan’s economic managers are foolhardily focused on generate dollar inflows by from abroad by selling...

  • January 06, 2020

    Mini-budget on cards

    Pakistan’s imports have declined to the tune of $6 billion so far, and with this new realities are emerging on the economic front of Pakistan. The...

  • December 23, 2019

    Dwarfed development

    Pakistan continues to persist among worst performing countries on account of Human Development Index as it fell in the ranks by another notch to...

  • December 09, 2019

    Lender of the lost resort

    The government is foolhardily pursuing the policy of drawing hot money into short-term treasury bills and bond market to jack up foreign currency...

  • December 02, 2019

    Rising revenue risks

    Pakistan’s fiscal miseries continue challenging policymakers and the latest is the billowing revenue collection shortfall, which if not made up...

  • November 25, 2019

    Why debt-financed tax reforms?

    Pakistan’s skewed and narrowed tax base largely continues to remain unable to meet the rising financing requirements of the country, swelling the...

  • November 18, 2019

    The stability spin

    Amid the government’s earsplitting ballyhoo that economy has been stabilised, Pakistanis are losing their minds over one of the highest-ever...

  • October 28, 2019

    Bartering for stability

    Amid heightening political temperature in the wake of Azadi March announced by JUI-F and a demand for Prime Minister Imran Khan’s resignation, the...

  • October 21, 2019

    Race against time

    Pakistan faces a daunting task to comply with Financial Action Task Force’s remaining 22 points on its action plan out of a total of 27 within...

  • October 14, 2019

    Between a watchdog and a shylock

    Despite deafening ballyhoo over a sizable narrowing of twin deficits in the first three months of the current fiscal year, Pakistan will have to...

  • October 07, 2019

    More wolves at the door

    With its neck in the tight noose of International Monetary Fund , Pakistan’s economy is left with few choices in the face of one of the most...