Budget 2013-14: More disappointments!
Why is Dar's budget 2013-14 such a massive disappointment for the general public? If one compares the PML (N) manifesto (whose release was reportedly delayed as the party chief Nawaz…
Paying it off
So we are told that the government plans to retire the circular debt and restore power supplies. Under the present circumstances, it is hard to imagine a better policy stimulus…
Time to go to the IMF
Whenever a country faces a serious balance of payment crisis, it goes to the IMF to seek balance of payments support. While providing resources, the IMF asks the government to…
Budget 2013-14
I was not disappointed by the budget 2013-14 - not because it contained any out-of-th-box thinking or indeed any reform measures that would have changed the economy's direction in the…
Doghouse intrigues
At a critical juncture, when the country has undergone a historic transfer of power, when structural economic weaknesses have swelled into the daily news flow, when the monster of militancy…
Limits to privatisation
From the statements of the PML-N leaders (likely to adore federal ministries) a clear hint is that privatising the public sector enterprises (PSEs) would be the focus of the new…
Fixing the economy
After a landmark election, and a comprehensive win for PML-N, there is yet another opportunity to `fix` Pakistan`s economy. How the challenges are perceived by the leadership of the PML-N…
Challenges and opportunities
Arrangements made for re-polling at 43 stations in NA-250 showed the ECP and the Army the difference such arrangements could have made to the May 11 election results whose authenticity…
Pathways to growth
On the whole, political parties have revealed little in their manifestos of what economic philosophy will govern their policies once in power — will it be the path of liberalisation,…
Mandviwalla vs Sheikh
Serious charges are surfacing against the newly appointed Finance Minister Saleem H. Mandviwalla and lately the three-year reign of Dr Hafeez Sheikh marked by unsustainable reliance on domestic borrowing, poorly…
