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…
Budget 2014-15: Reforming sales tax system – II
During 2003-2007, one tax official used different techniques to issue illegal refunds in several cases without any check by any agency. It was found that the accused official during his…
Budget 2014-15 – FBR: blame game continues
The Chairman of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) while attending a hearing before the Senate Standing Committee on Finance on May 13, 2014, in a shocking move and in utter…
The SBP autonomy
Wathra the acting governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) was confirmed the day before Ishaq Dar left the country on a two-country tour - the UK with the…
Antisocial media
“We use Facebook to schedule the protests, Twitter to coordinate, and YouTube to tell the world.” This was what an Egyptian said during the early, heady days of the Arab…
Democracy still in its infancy
The Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif's statement on Monday, a little over five months after he was appointed, that "Pakistan army upholds the sanctity of all institutions and…
Budget 2014-15: Essential tax reforms – I
"If we want lower taxes for growth, then spending must be curtailed so that governments won't need so much money. The next time you hear a politician promise another tax…
Promoting Islamic finance
The government recently formed a high-powered committee to examine the current state of Islamic finance and suggest measures for future development. The share of Islamic banks, introduced in Pakistan in…
Do not look a gift horse in the face!
Criticism against the government has not died down for the second week running with respect to the 1.5 billion dollars "gifted" by the Saudi government to the Pakistani government. Instead…
Coverage of Taliban
Recently, on the eve of Nauroze, the Persian new year, a day opposed by many religious extremists as ‘heresy’, four Afghan Taliban militants entered through metal detectors installed to protect…
