Challenges for Shehbaz Sharif
It is indeed extremely disconcerting that the challenges that face Shehbaz Sharif’s government today are only different in terms of intensity rather than substance from those that faced the PPP-led…
The politics of economics!
Continuity in economic policies is considered critical in providing a sustained conducive environment for private sector activity — a continuity that is naturally disrupted with a change of government. Imran…
Pakistan, IMF & SBP
The expected dividends of Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan’s maiden visit to the Gulf are still awaited. These are delayed because of some “procedural matters”. During his tour, he…
Good luck with the rupee
It’s one thing to admit that very crucial talks with the IMF (International Monetary Fund) have broken down for the time being, which implies that everything possible will still be…
Freedom’s choice for Afghans: Over the wall or through the desert
Amid a roar of engines and clouds of dust, Sattar Amiri clambers into a pickup truck with his wife and infant son in a remote Afghan frontier town, ready for…
Minimum wage: Can it even fulfil nutritional requirements of a family?
There’s a debate going on at the national level on minimum wage. Prime Minister Imran Khan has been seen requesting the corporate sector to increase the minimum wage of the…
SOEs: status quo
State-Owned Entities (SOEs) continue to be the recipients of large annual budgeted injections in Pakistan and administration after administration has pledged to either initiate restructuring measures with the objective of…
Other Women’s Days
IT was January 1979. The Shah of Iran, Reza Shah Pahlavi, had just left his country but Imam Khomeini had not yet arrived in Iran. It was a moment of…
First leverage then renegotiation
The Khan administration maintains that a change in government will not reverse the rise in price of any single item – be it in the category of administered prices (including…
Is Iran’s Rouhani a lame duck president?
Having staked everything on a now-crumbling nuclear deal, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has little to show for his five years in power and is seeing his support evaporate. The fifth…
