Upward mobility
THE main title is misleading: Dear Mr Jinnah. It implies a familiarity between the book’s author Salman Faruqui and the Quaid. In fact, Faruqui was only eight years old in…
One earth, one breath
When smog rolls across the Subcontinent, it makes no distinction between Lahore and Delhi, friend or foe. This toxic haze defies borders and geopolitical tensions, drifting freely from one city…
We need sensible policies
In March 2001, as federal minister of science and technology, I approached then-president Musharraf with three proposals. The first was to extend the continental shelf of Pakistan from its limits…
FDI and its drivers: a perspective
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is all about country perception and country perception is all about political and economic stability of the country. While economic instability could be condoned in expectations…
Privatisation for economic recovery
A COMMON refrain of donors is that Pakistan needs to raise its tax-to-GDP ratio substantially to achieve macroeconomic stability on a sustainable basis. It has earlier been argued in these…
Property is power
PAKISTAN’S economic situation is unquestionably dire. The yawning trade and current account deficits, galloping inflation and default prospects have generated significant comment. It is noteworthy, though, that the working masses,…
Hooked on hopium
Though commonly used by stock traders to describe the tendency to keep holding a stock as it plummets in value, the word ‘hopium’, a portmanteau of hope and opium, nicely…
PML-N’s volte face
It is great to see the pragmatism shown by Mr Ishaq Dar earlier this month in the matter of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Taking out – or trying to take out…
Pakistan’s best option
The global economy has gone through multiple stages of development – from laissez-faire to neoliberalism, passing through the socialist concept of central planning that leads towards a closed economy. The…
The privatization dilemma
When you hear senior government officials declaring repeatedly that ‘business is not the business of the state’ you can tell they are not just wrestling with the problem: what do…
