The IMF and Pakistan
At the time of writing this article staff level agreement between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Pakistan authorities had not been reached. The IMF mission expected to wind up…
Rupee in the driving seat?
The monetary policy statement for Sep 2019 showed that the State Bank of Pakistan was maintaining the status-quo. The policy rate for the next two months is unchanged at 13.25…
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…
Water not oil
It’s Mother Earth’s battle cry inspired by the world’s dire climate crisis that has been sung by many for years yet still hasn’t yet resolutely been taken up by the…
Pakistan and energy prices
Oil prices have not been raised in Pakistan this month but gas tariff has. We have earlier discussed in this space why electricity costs are high in Pakistan. This creates…
Bio-fuels and our exports
Pakistan’s current account deficit has created many problems for the economy. The country’s major imports are from the oil sector. There is a misplaced notion that nothing can be done…
In search of petrol for the poor
In the context of evolving inflationary tendencies and increasing petroleum prices, Prime Minister Imran Khan has been looking for a way out for reducing the difficulties of the poor created…
Outlook for inflation
Inflation has been at a historic low during the last three years. The annual rate of increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has averaged only 3.7% from 2015-16 to…
What would have been a better policy option?
Asad Umar, the federal finance minister, presented a supplementary budget requiring a simple majority in the national assembly for its passage, though it contains few revenue measures that would raise…
Crisis of energy
For the last two or more months, serious problems have emerged in the country’s energy sector and led to the managing directors of two gas companies being taken to task.…
