Former Federal Minister of Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs.
A representational image showing people at a busy market in Pakistan. — AFP/FileIn an analysis of the 7th NFC Award , published on these pages, I...
The reason is misaligned incentives. In eleven out of the last 13 years, our provincial governments have run a surplus
Politicians make promises before elections and try to implement at least some after coming to power. Has Imran Khan fulfilled promises made to the...
The senseless and completely avoidable tragedy in Murree is the result of simultaneous failures at many levels of government. Not only did the...
Loadshedding is back. In some places for two hours a day, in some places for four or more – but it is back. It took Nawaz Sharif and his PML-N...
We should note that over the last three years, the PTI has decreased the tax-to-GDP ratio from 12.6 percent to 9.9 percent, writes Miftah Ismail
In my column on Jan 1, I asked: “What has the PTI done for Pakistan during its time in power?” My thesis was that after the hype created by the...
Natural gas is environmentally friendly and the most efficient form of thermal energy. After coming to power, the PML-N and former prime minister...
It’s been a long two and a half years of this hybrid rule, halfway to a normal parliamentary tenure. It is time to ask: what has the PTI delivered...
The writer has served as federal minister for finance, revenue and economic affairs.The PTI government started with much fanfare after an election...
Making a budget for Pakistan is always tough but it has been particularly difficult this year. The economy is in doldrums, in part due to the...
The writer has served as federal minister for finance, revenue and economic affairs.The collapse of communism in Europe, leading to the former...
A few days back, the Sugar Inquiry Commission report was made public, as mandated by a law passed in 2017. Whether the commission was formed due to...
Modern calculations confirm that a solar eclipse occurred on January 27, 632 AD. Quoting from Sahih Bukhari “the sun eclipsed in the life-time of...
A few days ago, a PTI supporter on Twitter asked people to name a single world-class hospital built by the PML-N during its decade of government in...
The coronavirus pandemic is the gravest crisis Pakistan has faced. The virus is spreading exponentially worldwide, and once it infects the chances...
Our prime minister has for years repeated his corruption allegations ad nauseum against Mian Nawaz Sharif and PML-N leaders. And yet there are three...
When I presented the budget last year, the PTI created a lot of ruckus – hungama – during my speech. Three MNAs were especially more...
Every year, the government of Pakistan publishes a report called the Economic Survey of Pakistan which details how our economy has performed over...
This fiscal year, July 2018 to June 2019, is proving to be the worst for our economy in decades. A year that filled many young Pakistanis with hope...
I was in Barcelona on a business trip when I saw a street vendor selling a ball with a device. The device would pitch the ball about 60 feet in the...
On May 31, 2108, almost a year ago, when the PML-N government finished its term we left an economy that was growing at 5.8 percent and expected to...
It is now painfully obvious that PM Imran Khan is not suitable for governance. So, having borrowed half of Asif Zardari’s cabinet, Khan may now...
Whether in cotton or wheat, or many other agricultural products, the yield per acre in Pakistan is lower than both China and India. Our lower...
So perhaps PM Khan has been making these exaggerated promises because he never understood the complexity or difficulty of governance given his own...
China recently landed a probe on the far side of the moon. The moon both rotates on its axis and also revolves around Earth. Because it is very...
Think of a company that has a total debt of Rs25,000 and undergoes a management change. A little while later under the new management the company...
A couple of years ago, there were riots in some Muslim neighbourhoods of Sri Lanka. Mobs of Buddhist Sinhalese were upset that their Tamil Muslim...
If I had to choose between a corrupt leader and an incompetent one, I’d choose the incompetent one every time. Integrity is the basic quality a...
It was the best of deals, it was the worst of deals, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair .Pakistani politics is infested with a...
Last week was the Pakistani Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam’s 93rd birth anniversary and since I was reading about his work I decided to write a column...
The second group is those who say that the problems the PML-N left behind were so huge that it will take the PTI much longer to change things. Some...
The constitution of Pakistan, as amended over the years, is now a federalist document that prescribes devolution of such powers and responsibilities...
One of the first things you learn in management is that you can delegate authority but you cannot delegate responsibility. Indeed, the central...
When the PML-N won the 2013 elections, our country had debilitating power and gas shortages. PML-N leaders believed that the party won the elections...
Shortly after coming into power, Imran Khan’s government presented a ‘mini-budget’, which was essentially a bill that raised income tax rates,...
When the PML-N government came to power in 2013 it was felt by many that the automobile market in Pakistan left much to be desired. Many consumers...
Why is Japan richer than Pakistan? In fact, why is any country richer than another? There are multiple reasons, but education is probably the most...
Prime Minister Imran Khan recently said that making U-turns is a hallmark of great leaders. Since then his party leaders, in an effort both...
My point merely is that both sides have strong arguments but, whereas other countries have solved such problems, we haven’t been able to.
Even compared to other economies at a similar stage of development, Pakistan’s undocumented economy, as a fraction of our total economy, is unduly...
Three months after being installed in power, the PTI still hasn’t given up its proclivity for U-turns, baseless accusations, self-serving...
The anti-Muslim riots in the Indian state of Gujarat in 2002 claimed the lives of about 2000 Muslims. They have been called “organised political...
The newly-installed PTI government has constituted a task force on civil-service reforms. Over the years our governments have tried a number of...
With much fanfare – albeit with austerity too – Prime Minister Imran Khan announced his intention of building five million new homes in...
The PTI government has finally decided to disclose to the nation that it is going for a new IMF programme. It waited to disclose this until the eve...
The contracts for, and import of, liquefied natural gas by the previous PML-N government have been subject to much speculation. A lot of airtime...
The PTI government took two important economic steps last week. First, the Economic Committee of the Cabinet undertook the largest increase in gas...
The 7th National Finance Commission Award, approved in 2010, mandated that the federal government shall give 57.5 percent of its total tax intake...
