Our growth diagnostics
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Leo Tolstoy’s novel Anna Karenina opens with this line. This dictum holds true not only for…
The silent bystanders
The curious rumblings being witnessed on the eve of yet-to-be announced elections in Pakistan can be perceived as a game between entrenched political insiders, mainly consisting of the two major…
Politicians` influence
The brutal gang-rape and torture of `Nirbhaya`, a 23-yearold physiotherapy student in New Delhi on Dec 16 led to spontaneous countrywide demonstrations of a kind never seen before. The young…
Pakistan outlook 2013 – I
Internal factors are surely influenced by combination of political and domestic challenges that have led to a low GDP growth now hovering around 3 percent, with bank lending to private sector…
Poor man’s justice
Two hundred and fifty-nine people died in the Baldia garment factory fire tragedy in Karachi on Sept 11, 2012. Before this, the highest number of people killed in a factory…
Do we need better regulated hedge funds?
As a special investment vehicle designed for large institutions and rich investors, hedge funds are notorious for their ruthless trading strategies aiming to reap high returns, usually these returns come…
Discouraging FDI
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is vital for the health of any economy. For Pakistan's developing economy, considered by foreign investors as a high risk one, FDI is critical due to…
2008 versus 2013
In my article, ‘The worst is still to come’, published on January 1, I had written that “under the most likely business-as-usual scenario, Pakistan’s economic downturn is likely to gain…
PSEs: a reform agenda
Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways are Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) just like our national flag carrier - the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). Apparently, the ownership structure of PIA and these…
The need of the hour
The disclosures about the latest negotiations between IMF and the ministry of finance suggested that, given the steady decline in Pakistan's exchange reserves, Pakistan had sought fresh credit facilities under…
