Economic policy needs a hard reset
The present currency crisis in Pakistan is unprecedented. PKR has depreciated against USD from 180 to 305 since March 2022, and now it is a creating a self-feeding bubble. People…
Legitimacy crisis
On this 76th independence anniversary of Pakistan, the heart is sorely charged, the spirit wilting and the mind under the overwhelming shadow of the uncertainty the future holds. Anwaarul Haq…
Boys from our neighbourhood
There is no bigger fear than the fear of being led by your contemporaries. Perhaps this feeling is peculiar to your upbringing in Pakistan. Perhaps this is something personal. In…
Living in the worst of times
Pakistan’s eighth caretaker Prime Minister Anwarul Haq Kakar has taken the reins of the country at a time when it faces economic, social and political disharmony of the worst kind.…
BBZ’s ‘dissenting’ note
Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has been compelled by circumstances to send a message to the International Monetary Fund just when the mighty and omnipotent lender is about to decide the fate of…
For those who care
There could not have been a more inauspicious start to a government – and, that, too, just a caretaker one. Coming in amid loud protests by those who accused him…
To many it sounds like PDM wants to have its cake and eat it
The plot thickens. With SBP’s (State Bank of Pakistan’s) forex reserves expected to fall below $5 billion in a couple of weeks, the time to negotiate with the IMF (International…
Have circumstances boxed PML-N in?
Economic conditions will remain tight for the next year. With shaving off energy subsidies, pain will be felt by households and small and medium businesses alike. Last week’s increase in…
Govt still clueless
There is total confusion and indecisiveness. When the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) was formed the government, it had full weight of establishment behind it. A However, concurrently, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz…
The changing of the guard at MoF
The criteria used in selecting finance ministers have developed a distinctly partisan flavour in Pakistan. All three major national political parties that have formed a government at the centre during…
