Egypt eyes tough reforms in last-ditch bid to save economy
Egypt hopes a $12-billion financing deal with the IMF will usher in an economic turnaround but real progress hinges on a tough reform package avoided for decades to stave off…
The professor, the engineer and the accountant
Politics is rarely a career for the intellectually well endowed. In our case it could well be a liability. Prime Minister did well to choose 'degree over pedigree' for the…
The lost children
At a general glance, there is little in common between Karachi’s continuing woes and the situation in Tharparkar. The terrorised financial hub of the country and one of the world’s…
Political economy of doom
When casual fiscal tinkering becomes a substitute for the fundamentals of real economy and resource constraints are ignored to accommodate sustainability misplaced priorities and over-extended security agendas, you are destined…
A status-quo budget
The budget speech made by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in parliament and the finance bill are two separate things and should be analysed separately. While the former reflects the political…
A routine exercise
With the announcement of the budget for FY2016-17, it has again been established that our budget-makers, no matter under what regime, consciously or unconsciously follow failed economic models. Since 1962,…
After Saudi Arabia
To any worker anywhere, a pay cheque is everything. The earnings represent what possibilities can be availed of in the future, what debts can be discharged from the past. It…
Greece and the troika
The economy, the people, the heart and soul of Greece have been demolished by a lower order of bureaucratic seizure that plagues the world. It is scorched-earth economic warfare, ordinarily…
SBP on debt
The readers would recall that I wrote an extensive paper on Pakistan's debt situation, published in the current issue of a quarterly, 'blue-chip'. The highly abridged version of the paper…
Satire: I want to be a company
Investopedia defines a corporation, synonymous with a company in Pakistan, as: "A legal entity that is separate and distinct from its owners. Corporations enjoy most of the rights and responsibilities…
