Between water and survival
While I was in Buner helping small shopkeepers rebuild Pir Baba Bazaar after the floods, my phone wouldn’t stop ringing. Family and friends kept calling: ‘Punjab is drowning’, they said.…
The war we don’t talk about
Pakistan is quietly confronting a crisis that has taken root across its schools, homes, and streets. Drug abuse, once a problem whispered about in hushed tones, has now escalated into…
Tourism’s test of resilience
Resilience has become the defining test for Pakistan’s travel and tourism industry. Each monsoon season, as rivers swell and valleys brace for floods and landslides, the sector confronts the realities…
IMF programme review
The IMF Staff Mission is arriving shortly in Pakistan to undertake the second review of the on-going IMF Extended Fund Facility of USD 7 billion. Successful completion of this review…
What a relief worker sees
It was an ordinary August morning. The sky was overcast, but nothing unusual at least, not at first at exactly 9:40 am with light rain, the sky roared. First came…
Kafkaesque debt spiral
Pakistan’s debt story has become a grim chronicle of missed opportunities, persistent mismanagement and recurring crises that have steadily eroded the foundations of economic sovereignty. The fragile fiscal account is…
The new normal
The Flood Commission of Pakistan reports that the country has experienced 32 severe flood events starting in 1950, with the current event being the 33rd. Since 2010, it has been…
Learn from climate emergencies
Pakistan has once again become a victim of a climate-led disaster in the form of floods, hitting different parts of the country. According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)…
Monetary policy and economic ground realities
In its most recent monetary policy statement (MPS), released on September 16 by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the policy rate has been kept unchanged at 11 percent due to…
The cost of climate change
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced a fund for the flood victims, as he did during the 2022 floods, and has vowed to mobilise resources in coordination with provinces to support…
