In defence of BISP
With the recent steps taken by the government regarding the Benazir Income Support Programme, there are fears that the 120 billion rupees annual allocation is considered an avoidable drain of…
Budgeting democracy
Unlimited resources need a budget not. Conventional wisdom understands budgeting as a process for curtailing expenditure to match available limited resources. And for most rational persons, including artificial persons, available…
Budget widgets
Budget is a ritual that supersedes the mother of all laws, the Constitution. We have had budgets when we didn't have a Constitution, or abrogated or suspended. Even the man…
Budget destined for revision
The budget 2018-19's applicability due from 1 July 2018 is likely to be even shorter than the tenure of the few hours' old Finance Minister Miftah Ismail who presented the…
In defence of Hafeez Sheikh
Eight months after forming the government in the centre Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf (PTI), like the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), was compelled to hire the same technocrat, Dr Hafeez Sheikh, to lead…
In defence of Hafeez Sheikh
Eight months after forming the government in the centre Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf (PTI), like the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), was compelled to hire the same technocrat, Dr Hafeez Sheikh, to lead…
The budget 2019-20
An extremely harsh 2019-20 budget is the general expectation based on the 'prior' International Monetary Fund (IMF) condition to bring the primary deficit to 0.6 percent of Gross Domestic Product…
In defence of Hafeez Sheikh
Eight months after forming the government in the centre Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf (PTI), like the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), was compelled to hire the same technocrat, Dr Hafeez Sheikh, to lead…
Towards self-reliant defence capability
It is reassuring to hear Governor State Bank proclaim, every opportunity he gets, that things are getting better. He also wasted little time in pronouncing 'economic stability' soon as the…
Budget, IMF & subjugation – II
Noted economist, Arshad Zaman, in his brilliant piece, The roots of our budget crises, rightly pointed out: The root cause of the perennial crisis of public finance in Pakistan is…
