Karachi’s water woes
About 90pc of Karachi’s population uses water supplied by the sole public water service provider, the Karachi Water & Sewerage Board (KWSB). The KWSB is presently struggling to survive as…
Chaos under the heavens
The last few years have seen our nation being bestowed with several not-so-flattering epithets. Either we are ‘the most dangerous nation’ or ‘the most resilient nation’. We annually grace the…
The rupee under pressure
Pakistan and the IMF have reached a staff level agreement for a $5.3 billion bailout programme. Before this programme is presented to the executive board of the IMF for its…
Privatisation: the right way
For countries like Pakistan, the privatisation argument is mostly based on two elements. First, the fiscal argument that governments improve their financial positions by selling public business enterprises. Second, that…
The making of an Asian tiger
The remarkable economic success of the ‘Asian Tigers’ (South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong) has long fascinated the world, Asia in particular. The Asian Tigers resurfaced during the May…
Public sector revamp
To its credit, the government has moved relatively fast on two important fronts: one, putting in place a credible, long-term plan for the resolution of the energy crisis; and two,…
Wilful default
Human capital is one of the primary drivers of economic growth. Education, especially higher education that builds human capital, faces many hurdles in Pakistan. A major restriction to access to…
Changing fortunes
The world is changing or – to borrow the Kaptaan’s phrase – it has changed. In 1990, the US accounted for a quarter of the world’s GDP and China only…
The new IMF programme
The IMF mission has reached a staff-level agreement with the Pakistani authorities for a $5.3 billion bailout package. The duration of the programme is three years, and the resources will…
National security strategy
National security is divided into state security and societal security. The former is based on territorial security, the latter centred on identity. Globalisation has led to vanishing frontiers and, thus,…
