Appraisal of the ‘mini-budget’
The article written by me in Business Recorder on Monday 21st of January 2019 had speculated that the primary motive for presentation of the Mini-Budget was to control the burgeoning budget deficit…
Fall in revenues
The unprecedented has happened. National revenues, tax plus non-tax, of the Federal and provincial governments combined have actually fallen. They stand at Rs 2335 billion in the first six months…
The PTI’s economic strategy
Let us compile a list of common ‘irritants’ and ‘disincentives’ in our economy. Costly raw material and stuck sales tax refund are the major irritants for exporters. Reporting fatigue is…
We, not IMF, should be blamed!
The IMF Mission is finally here and negotiations are under way. It is expected that the Miss-ion would be here until 20 November, or take a few days here and…
Federal Budget 2018-19 (Revised): An appraisal
The revised Federal Budget for 2018-19 has raised a number of concerns ranging from the failure of the Government to use this occasion to share its vision for the economy,…
Runaway budget deficit
The information on Fiscal Operations by the Federal and Provincial Governments for the first nine months of 2017-18 has been released recently by the Ministry of Finance (MoF). The bottom…
The other side of picture: An open letter to the IMF
The three-year programme under the IMF's Extended Fund Facility (EFF) has now come to an end. Pakistan has received $6.1 billion loan from the IMF under this programme. During the…
The SBP report
The quarterly State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) report - July to September - on the economy reveals disturbing trends in key macroeconomic indicators though it remained largely optimistic about the…
Response to MoF
This reply to the Ministry of Finance (MoF) is in continuation of the dialogue with the ministry, through Business Recorder, which started with the publication of our open letter to…
Budgetary outcome in 2015-16
The information on fiscal operations by the federal and provincial governments in 2015-16 has been released recently by the Ministry of Finance (MoF). The budgetary outcome is mixed. On the…
