Moving beyond the IMF
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif seems to have a dogged determination to get rid of external loans and the programmes of the International Monetary Fund. The prime minister doesn’t want the…
Country of ‘first boys’: health inequalities Part – II
In my previous article, ‘Country of ‘first boys’: education disparities’ (June 8), I explained how the existing inequalities in education are leaving millions of girls and boys behind, and how…
Super-rich may quit UK over Labour plans for inheritance taxes on trusts
Private banks and advisers to Britain’s super-rich say some clients may quit the country if Labour wins next month’s general election and pushes ahead with plans to abolish tax protections…
Deficits in our lives
There is this quotation from Einstein that I was surprised to discover: “The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax”. And for that matter, it is…
Local puzzles, foreign pieces
Here’s the latest twist in the saga of Pakistan’s economic spectacle: we’ve decided to bring in a foreign expert to whip up a “homegrown” economic development plan. Yes, you heard…
Tourism buoys southern Europe’s ‘Club Med’ nations
Derided as “Club Med” nations during the European debt crisis 15 years ago, the economies of Spain, Greece and Portugal are now outperforming their northern peers thanks to a rebound…
Budget: inflation must be top priority
Inflation is pushing an ever increasing number below the poverty line (currently estimated at 40 percent comparable to Sub-Sahara Africa) and the critical question that should, not likely to be,…
Sustainable wheat crop: strategies
The recent wheat crisis in Pakistan can be attributed to two primary factors. Firstly, the Punjab government abruptly withdrew from the market, leaving room for the private sector to exploit…
‘A normal country does not need IMF programme but…’
Professor Adnan Khan, Chief Economist at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) of the UK in a recent statement to the Pakistan media is reported to have stated that “A…
Square peg, round hole
Pakistan’s present economic and social machinery from IPPs to BISP lies littered with good intentions gone bad. Giles Firmin’s ‘The Real Christian’ has a line which fits us like a…
