As El Nino bites, Indonesians struggle with record-high rice prices
It was still pitch-black outside when Indonesian housewife Sutinah made her way to a local police station early one morning last month, hoping to avoid queues and take advantage of…
Getting prices right in Pakistan: Shock therapy, ‘dual-track’ price system, and input-output model
Lack of allocative and productive expenditure efficiency has led to under-utilization of revenue and aid, which in turn has not significantly contributed to lack of sustained, high economic growth, which…
Pakistan, and international global financial order
In the recently released report ‘Regional Economic Outlook: Middle East and Central Asia’ by International Monetary Fund (IMF), one of its comments on Pakistan’s economy was ‘For… Pakistan, policy interest…
Prices and inflation
It is quite clear that overall the monetary policy tool of raising policy rate to rein in inflation has not had any breakthrough for any significant period of time. In…
Oil prices and efficient buying
The government has increased petroleum prices by Rs30 per litre. The increase is uniform against all products. There was much talk about some subsidy mechanism for the poor (motorcycles and…
Analysing petrol prices
The government recently reduced petrol prices by Rs3.05, bringing the new petrol price to Rs227.19 per litre, and increased diesel prices by Rs8.95 – the new price is Rs244.95 per…
The fallacy of fixing prices
Our policymaking over the last few decades, if not more, has largely been devoid of any rational economic thought. Economic problems are solved not by thinking them through, but through…
Lower oil prices defy robust forecasts for global demand
Oil prices have tumbled by around a quarter in the past three months, largely due to fears of a prolonged slump in global energy demand. But no major forecaster is…
Prices of POL products
New petroleum prices have been announced; there is no big increase in prices of Petrol and HSD. However, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement requires a Rs 10 increase in…
The rising oil prices
In Pakistan, petroleum prices were raised yet again to Rs248.74 per litre for petrol and Rs 276.54 for diesel. This is the fourth time petroleum prices have been raised in…
