Economic policy imperatives
Given the precarious balance of payments and budgetary situation and high rate of inflation and low rate of economic growth, the PML-N government had some clear choices to make regarding…
Energy crisis
The power sector is one of two sectors whose appallingly dismal performance remains of serious concern to international donor agencies (the other being Federal Board of Revenue). The World Bank…
IMF review: does it support Dar’s claims?
This is the second of a two-part series discussing the IMF third staff report as well as the Letter of Intent submitted by the government with respect to commitments made…
Promise of more keeps investors hooked on Asia’s frothy markets
Calling the top in financial markets is never easy. Asian stock and bond markets may appear frothy at their near-record levels after a multi-year rally, but global investors are still…
Privatisation: good, bad or suspect – II
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has ideologically supported privatization not only with the objective of reducing the annual drain due to large bail out packages to inefficiently run state-owned entities (SOEs)…
An EU agenda: keeping British in, Russians out, Germans down
The first secretary-general of Nato, Lord Ismay, once said the Western defence alliance was created "to keep the Americans in, the Russians out and the Germans down". The task facing…
Eurozone growth stalls, France lags, deflation threatens
Europe's fragile recovery is stalling, a batch of economic data showed this week, with analysts warning that France, with the eurozone's second-biggest economy, could be slipping into another downturn. Even…
PTI’s white paper
If you haven’t read the PTI’s white paper on the government’s first year in power, here’s a quick brief. It begins with a quote, rather strangely chosen, by a Frenchman…
Visiting the IMF approach
The transition from a standby arrangement to an EFF by the IMF in the beginning of FY14 for Pakistan has been puzzling because the structural contents of the economic programme…
The past’s dark shadows
Much has been written about the country’s longest serving ruler, General Ziaul Haq, whose death anniversary passed almost unnoticed a couple of weeks ago. But the comment that has appeared…
