What does Digital Census 2023 show?
Pakistan has concluded its first-ever digital census, and its results have been notified and made available on the website of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). With an increase of…
A deep divide
In recent years much has been written about the deep political divisions that exist in the US. Suspected causes range from changing demographics to proliferation of social media and along…
Crushing Kashmir
Four years ago today, India arbitrarily revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under its constitution and transformed it into a union territory directly governed from Delhi in a…
Inflation: permanent or transitory?
The Fed has been much derided for its 2021 characterisation of the spike in inflation being ‘transitory’ – to the extent that Mohamed El-Erian asked ChatGPT to write a poem…
Reviving agricultural growth: Part – I
Agriculture forms the backbone of Pakistan’s economy as it provides livelihoods to almost two-thirds of the population, food, water, energy security to the country, and three-fourth of export earnings. The…
Becoming all-season partners
During my graduate studies at the Harvard Kennedy School, three Chinese officials were on year-long fellowship at the university’s research institutes. “What is your purpose here” I asked. The Chinese…
The exchange rate: a steady hum of discontent
No economic variable captures the popular imagination in Pakistan more than the exchange rate. After Pakistan moved from a fixed to a flexible market exchange rate in the summer of…
What’s in store in 2023?
Pakistanis have been overwhelmed by the challenges our country faced in 2022. The collapse of economic growth, the corrosion of trust in the country’s institutions, the calamitous climate change induced…
The future of our economy – Part I
The future of any economy is closely linked with its present and the past. Pakistan’s economic past has gone through different phases with impressive growth and poverty reduction in the…
Innovation for prosperity
Countries making rapid economic strides have their primary focus on innovation to create the ecosystem abilities so that they are able to manufacture and export high-tech goods. Unfortunately, Pakistan has…
