Miscellaneous - BR Research - Business Recorder

Miscellaneous

Foreign grants: taken for granted?

The term “development partners” has been in vogue for quite some time in the donor circles of Islamabad. It’s a euphemis

Updated 05 Dec, 2019 11:29am

Miscellaneous

Stewardship through refuge-in-a-bag

Central to the criticism of genetically modified crops is the fear that weeds and pests may develop resistance against b

Updated 05 Dec, 2019 08:19am

Miscellaneous

All roads lead to tariffs, none to growth

No dull day in international politics where U.S. President Donald Trump is involved. The President lives in a steady sta

Published 05 Dec, 2019 05:44am

Miscellaneous

Peaking food inflation

The headline inflation stood at 12.7 percent in Nov-19, in line with the expectations. On monthly basis, the toll is up

Published 05 Dec, 2019 05:32am

Miscellaneous

Bt. Cotton: global experience

The standard complain of Pakistan's textile industry is that cotton production is witnessing a freefall, led by a secula

Published 04 Dec, 2019 07:38am

Miscellaneous

The clock is ticking for FBR

What should have been announced through a formal detailed data release by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) came in fac

Published 04 Dec, 2019 07:28am

Miscellaneous

Macro obsessions

Despite the increasingly powerful reign of chicken in Pakistan, the country is unable to competitively export chicken to

Updated 03 Dec, 2019 11:10am

Miscellaneous

Rise of multilateral financing

Amid improving macroeconomic stability and fiscal prudence, another green shoot is the healthy inflows from official, mu

Updated 03 Dec, 2019 11:24am

Miscellaneous

How not to write FBR’s revenue yearbook?

The FBR released its FY19 revenue yearbook a few days ago. As is the case each year, the revenue yearbook is a motely mi

Updated 02 Dec, 2019 11:22am

Miscellaneous

Need for higher development spending

With the fiscal and current account deficits under control, probably earlier than some observers had thought, there is a

Updated 02 Dec, 2019 11:36am

Miscellaneous

Support prices: where is the change?

In the past week alone, the economic wizards of federal government have twice sat together to deliberate commodity suppo

Updated 02 Dec, 2019 11:39am

Miscellaneous

Price control in Riyasat-e-Madina

Milton Friedman is quoted to have said that "if the federal government were put in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five

Updated 23 Oct, 2019 12:59pm

Miscellaneous

The future of work

Businesses in Pakistan may be put into three kind of boxes: the aging legacy types, corporates or family-owned SMEs, th

Updated 23 Oct, 2019 01:01pm

Miscellaneous

Exports: High volumes alone won’t cut it

The current account deficit for September 2019 at $259 million would have sounded extremely outlandish a year ago. But i

Updated 23 Oct, 2019 01:06pm

Miscellaneous

Pakistan needs PPP

Governments in Pakistan, including provincial ones, do not have money to spend on development. Private sector is cash ri

Updated 23 Oct, 2019 01:43pm

Miscellaneous

Rising onion prices bring tears

Back in January, while commenting on the rabi crop projections for FY19, SBP’s State of the Economy report had noted tha

Updated 23 Oct, 2019 01:10pm

Miscellaneous

On cellphone imports

It’s probably a false alarm. As per central bank data, mobile phone imports came in at roughly $74 million for July 2019

Updated 20 Sep, 2019 05:57am

Miscellaneous

Much ado about 5G

The quest to bring 5G to Pakistan is off to a controversial start. Last month, Zong marketed itself as “the first and on

Updated 19 Sep, 2019 06:01am

Miscellaneous

Inflation holds the key

Central banks are like ocean liners they take time to change directions. Something on those lines was the SBP Governor i

Updated 18 Sep, 2019 06:41am

Miscellaneous

Textbooks economics and support prices

It has been repeatedly highlighted that support price mechanism create distortions in commodity markets by de-coupling p

Updated 18 Sep, 2019 08:53am

Miscellaneous

Is there room for movement on support price?

Support prices are a tricky business. Ostensibly set to improve farm economics, support price mechanism is often upwards

Updated 17 Sep, 2019 06:50am

Miscellaneous

Remittances on seasonal slump

As expected, the home remittances in August 2019 witnessed a dip. The decline of 17 percent month-on-month was seen as a

Updated 17 Sep, 2019 06:37am

Miscellaneous

Good vibes from DC

If the world is looking to wait out Trump, perhaps it should pay attention to the Democratic presidential race. This goe

Updated 16 Sep, 2019 07:01am

Miscellaneous

D-Day for Sugar in December

For several years now, commentators and experts alike have insisted that Pakistan produces white sugar in surplus, often

Updated 16 Sep, 2019 07:01am

Miscellaneous

Monetary policy: status quo for now likely

The monetary policy is to be announced on Monday- two months after the previous policy, and a day before a high level IM

Updated 13 Sep, 2019 06:20am

Miscellaneous

FATF: grace period?

The clock is ticking. Pakistan has now presented its last stand before FATF’s regional body. The finance ministry sounds

Updated 13 Sep, 2019 06:20am

Miscellaneous

Going under: prognosis negative

Limited liability companies, by definition, enjoy the freedom of declaring bankruptcy if and when fundamentals of busine

Updated 13 Sep, 2019 06:55am

Miscellaneous

Readying for hot money

The recipe sought to jack up reserves in coming quarters is to attract foreign portfolio investment in government de

Updated 12 Sep, 2019 08:11am

Miscellaneous

On chambers’ solutions for economic problems

Last week, the All Pakistan Chambers Convention (APCC) released their White Paper on challenges and the way forward for

Updated 12 Sep, 2019 05:51am

Miscellaneous

Save the deal

The abrupt suspension of Afghan peace talks has surprised many. Folks are wondering whether the “deal in principle” can

Updated 12 Sep, 2019 05:52am

Miscellaneous

Tourism – still a long way to go

Be it the local or international tourists, solo travelers, families, backpackers, or travel bloggers – Pakistan has not

Updated 12 Sep, 2019 05:53am

Miscellaneous

Does it nudge you?

Macro problems are symptoms of numerous micro frictions which are termed as transaction costs and regulatory hurdles. Wh

Updated 06 Sep, 2019 06:02am

Miscellaneous

Rebased CPI treats energy the right way!

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has earned applause. The long awaited rebased CPI is here and the initial impres

Updated 06 Sep, 2019 05:35am

Miscellaneous

A bird in hand

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Especially when the avian is a golden goose that is unwilling to yield. The

Updated 06 Sep, 2019 05:46am

Miscellaneous

Looming debt crisis of non-diversified mills

Monetary tightening has never been a friend to industries in private sector. But it appears that the latest round of dou

Updated 06 Sep, 2019 05:36am

Miscellaneous

New CPI – new realities

The wait is over. The rebased CPI came with a good news of almost one percentage point reduction in CPI for August, as

Updated 05 Sep, 2019 07:47am

Miscellaneous

Pakistan’s basmati challenge

During the last decade, Pakistan’s premium rice has lost ground in the international market much like a shoreline to an

Updated 05 Sep, 2019 06:24am

Miscellaneous

Is unemployment really Pakistan’s big issue?

In recent news, Peshawar Electric Supply Company informed the Senate that 750,000 applicants applied for just 3,200

Updated 05 Sep, 2019 06:42am

Miscellaneous

Can Pakistan attract debt market flows?

Foreign flows to Pakistan’s government debt market – Treasury Bills to be specific – have resumed after a hiatus of abou

Updated 04 Sep, 2019 05:10am

Miscellaneous

Changing sugarcane crushing cycle

Appeals for timely start of sugarcane crushing have become the clarion call of grower associations for the past several

Updated 04 Sep, 2019 06:46am

Miscellaneous

Eyes on fiscal now

There are talks of interest rates cut in the second half of this fiscal (some even are eying for doves to dominate in No

Updated 04 Sep, 2019 06:44am

Miscellaneous

FBR’s 2MFY20 report card

This is probably the first time ever, when monthly tax collection data is scrutinised and debated within and outside eco

Updated 03 Sep, 2019 05:22am

Miscellaneous

Punjab urban property tax

Cities develop and sustain based on financing and its service delivery. Within urban taxation domain, tax on immovable p

Updated 03 Sep, 2019 06:01am

Miscellaneous

First promise to the IMF broken

Two months into the IMF programme and the first promise to the IMF goes for a walk. This has largely gone unnoticed in t

Updated 03 Sep, 2019 07:24am

Miscellaneous

HASCOL’s miserable 1HCY19

Imports-led businesses have had a bad start to 2019 (or a bad end to FY19 in cases where they follow the fiscal year). E

Updated 03 Sep, 2019 05:20am

Miscellaneous

Is PTI able to manage its shop?

In October 2018 PM Imran Khan said he “was surprised” over the absence of macroeconomic experts and other subject matter

Updated 02 Sep, 2019 05:50am

Miscellaneous

All eyes on Shabbar

Shabbar Zaidi, the FBR Chairman, is the man to anchor the second year of a five-year match. The first was not good for t

Updated 02 Sep, 2019 05:17am

Miscellaneous

Regional cooperation

Commonwealth, OIC, SCO, ECO, and SAARC. The list of alphabet soup of intergovernmental organizations that Pakistan is an

Updated 02 Sep, 2019 06:10am

Miscellaneous

EPQL in good shape

2018 and 2019 have seen a spike in currency deprecation, which has been one key factor in determining the profitability

Updated 30 Aug, 2019 06:12am

Miscellaneous

Karachi, Karachi!

It used to be called the City of Lights. Anyone living in Karachi over the last few decades might as well des

Updated 29 Aug, 2019 05:09am

Miscellaneous

Frictions in real estate

There are micro frictions that are hindering major economic sectors to attain their true potential. Real estate is a maj

Updated 29 Aug, 2019 04:54am

Miscellaneous

Capital structure of listed sugar mills

The policy rate is at an eight-year high of 13.25 percent, and prominent economists are declaring it ‘default’ seaso

Updated 28 Aug, 2019 10:04am

Miscellaneous

Privatisation: how green are the green signals

According to media reports, the Privatisation Commission has identified ten public sector entities (PSEs) for privat

Updated 28 Aug, 2019 07:23am

Miscellaneous

EFUG bogged down by costs

General Insurance Limited (PSX: EFUG) has recently announced its financial performance for the first six months of 2019

Updated 28 Aug, 2019 06:56am

Miscellaneous

Clipped wings of Pakistan’s aviation

The Competition Commission of Pakistan’s (CCP) recent report on the market and regulatory assessment of the country’s ai

Updated 27 Aug, 2019 07:15am

Miscellaneous

Loyalty won’t save the day

Gone are the days when sticking to one product or name was the thought process of consumers. With changing preferences,

Updated 27 Aug, 2019 07:00am

Miscellaneous

Sindh sugarcane crop in three maps

Is there a method to the madness of sugarcane landscape in Sindh? Despite its disproportionate share in newspaper headli

Published 26 Aug, 2019 06:44am

Miscellaneous

Rice bowls of Sindh and Punjab

The illustrations of district-wise yields in Sindh and Punjab look like a patchwork. Only one district in each region ha

Published 23 Aug, 2019 06:35am

Miscellaneous

Sindh’s yield masks Pakistan cotton potential

What is an anomaly? In 2012, Pakistan’s cotton recorded its highest-ever yield at 815 kg per hectare. According to Annua

Published 22 Aug, 2019 06:45am

Miscellaneous

CPEC Authority

PM Khan’s decision to set up CPEC Authority for quick and judicious completion of CPEC projects is a tacit acceptance th

Published 21 Aug, 2019 06:12am

Miscellaneous

Micro silver linings in macro abyss

The macro numbers are getting worse as the tightening measures are not reaping results – the impact is likely to come wi

Published 21 Aug, 2019 06:09am

Miscellaneous

Kharif crops: who’s the thirstiest of all?

Bore a well in any part of Sindh, and eight out of ten times the aquifer will spurt out saline water unusable for irriga

Published 21 Aug, 2019 06:04am

Miscellaneous

Sindh’s water volatility

During 1980-2000, the rural landscape of Punjab saw a revolution that led to over 25 percent increase in area under cult

Published 19 Aug, 2019 06:14am

Miscellaneous

Chasing English

Next to 5 million children out of primary school in Pakistan— a number large enough itself to sound off some alarming be

Published 19 Aug, 2019 06:04am

Miscellaneous

Reversing trends: cane-substitution in South Sindh

Unlike most of northern Indus basin where shortage of water in the canal system can be easily substituted by groundwater

Published 16 Aug, 2019 06:28am

Miscellaneous

Will sacked doctors in Saudi dent remittance flows?

In latest dent to Pakistan’s image and possibly to remittance inflows, Saudi Arabia has asked Pakistani doctors and othe

Published 16 Aug, 2019 06:02am

Miscellaneous

Changing landscape of Sindh’s sugarcane

Between 2006-16, 10 sugar mills came online in Sindh. During this period, sugarcane crushing by mills in the province in

Published 09 Aug, 2019 07:05am

Miscellaneous

Punjab Spatial Strategy

Cities are engine of growth; and to attain the potential of resources, proper planning is at the core, and to plan, the

Published 09 Aug, 2019 07:05am

Miscellaneous

Sindh’s governance at greater risk

A few weeks ago, the Supreme Court’s judge Justice Gulzar Ahmed said Sindh is the most corrupt province in Pakistan, sin

Published 08 Aug, 2019 08:06am

Miscellaneous

Too soon to cheer for tax filer growth

According to media reports the number of tax filers for FY18 is 2.34 million – the highest figure ever. But that number

Published 07 Aug, 2019 06:52am

Miscellaneous

Falling economic transactions

The fall in economic activities, including basic transactions, is yet to touch rock bottom. There are two reasons to sup

Published 07 Aug, 2019 06:48am

Miscellaneous

CPI – will the PBS get it right (ever)?

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) seems to have no response on being pointed out at the faulty calculations of gas

Updated 07 Aug, 2019 07:21am

Miscellaneous

What is the wheat consumption?

Pakistan’s wheat demand, in the words of Winston Churchill, “is a riddle wrapped in a mystery”. But equally difficult is

Updated 07 Aug, 2019 12:41pm

Miscellaneous

Clean Karachi – and then?

Pakistanis are charitable people. Once again, and not for the last time, they have now been lured to ‘donate’ for a nobl

Published 06 Aug, 2019 05:36am

Miscellaneous

CPI – correction time for PBS, again!

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) is the most important data collection and dissemination authority in Pakistan. I

Published 05 Aug, 2019 07:15am

Miscellaneous

FBR’s July 2019 report card

FBR has missed its tax collection target for July 2019 by Rs14 billion. So went the headlines last week. Is that a huge

Published 05 Aug, 2019 06:48am

Miscellaneous

Inflation in double digits

The last time monthly double digits CPI was in Nov 13 (10.9%) – 5 months into the PMLN tenure. In July 19, the headline

Published 05 Aug, 2019 06:38am

Miscellaneous

Of wheat flour consumption

In ‘Is Pakistan wheat insecure?’ , it was established that per capita wheat availability in the country stands at an av

Updated 05 Aug, 2019 07:14am

Miscellaneous

Resetting the economy

Are we subject to decimating the aggregate demand to reset the economy? The pricing adjustments are taking place more th

Published 02 Aug, 2019 06:40am

Miscellaneous

Is corruption Pakistan’s biggest problem?

PM Khan’s container-like speeches and the ensuing actions by NAB against politicians and politically connected persons h

Published 02 Aug, 2019 06:40am

Miscellaneous

Indo-Pak: what next?

Under PM Khan, Pakistan’s eagerness to restore normal relations with India is out in the open. But so far the overtures

Updated 01 Aug, 2019 07:09am

Miscellaneous

Corruption: thinking beyond NAB & politicians

NAB has done this and NAB has done that. So goes the headlines these days. Or that a politically connected person has be

Published 01 Aug, 2019 06:10am

Miscellaneous

Sucrose ratio driving mill utilization

In ‘ Set the cane market free’ , published in this space on July 29, 2019, it was surmised that installation of addition

Published 31 Jul, 2019 06:26am

Miscellaneous

CPI rebasing : eagerly awaited

The IMF expects FY20 average inflation at 13 percent and period end at 11.8 percent, while the market is expecting lower

Published 30 Jul, 2019 08:20am

Miscellaneous

Friends and foes

When the Khan government started its term a year ago, a number of foreign policy challenges confronted Pakistan. Erstwhi

Published 30 Jul, 2019 08:16am

Miscellaneous

Set the cane market free*!

Some images become etched in memory. One such memory for many Pakistanis growing up in the cable TV era may be an image

Updated 30 Jul, 2019 10:15am

Miscellaneous

Regulating tea prices

Recently there has been some noise over tea importers and suppliers planning to increase tea prices from next month espe

Updated 30 Jul, 2019 09:58am

Miscellaneous

Sugar export: winners & losers

Sugar subsidy is a funny thing. Last year, when Sindh government announced a cumulative subsidy of Rs 20 per kg on expor

Updated 26 Jul, 2019 08:52am

Miscellaneous

In pursuit of exports

Resolution of Pakistan’s perennial macroeconomic woes depends on growing exports and sustaining them on a high level. Al

Published 26 Jul, 2019 07:10am

Miscellaneous

On the basis of tax distribution

That Pakistan should give lesser importance to population when it comes to the basis of distribution of taxes among the

Published 26 Jul, 2019 06:57am

Miscellaneous

Fertiliser off-take flattens, spending soars

Farmer spent the highest ever on fertilizers in FY19. The total urea and DAP combined application in FY19 was down by 2

Published 26 Jul, 2019 06:27am

Miscellaneous

Pakistan’s economy: 50 years ago

Who knew a trip to library could be a depressing affair? Yesterday morning, BR Research stumbled upon a dusty old copy o

Published 25 Jul, 2019 06:46am

Miscellaneous

Khan’s diplomatic coup

It was a high-risk, low-return scenario. But from Pakistan’s perspective, PM Khan’s White House visit could not have gon

Published 24 Jul, 2019 07:10am

Miscellaneous

The rusty cogs of policymaking process

Pakistan’s Fisheries Exporters Association is unhappy with the “sudden implementation of fisheries policy without consul

Published 24 Jul, 2019 07:07am

Miscellaneous

Using food security paradigm to forecast wheat demand

In a series of columns published in this space, several key conclusions about Pakistan’s current food security paradigm

Published 24 Jul, 2019 06:55am

Miscellaneous

Imports and the bogeyman

Boo! Parents (often cruelly) use the bogeyman to scare their errant children and condition better behaviour and obedienc

Published 23 Jul, 2019 06:46am

Miscellaneous

Khan at Capital One: a lost opportunity

That PM Khan managed to attract such a big audience in Washington deserves commendation. It has probably left his rivals

Updated 23 Jul, 2019 06:56am

Miscellaneous

Is Pakistan wheat-insecure?

Consider following three facts. First, as per annual crop statistics, Pakistan is among world’s top 25 regions with annu

Published 23 Jul, 2019 06:22am

Miscellaneous

Export silver linings

Many hopes were pinned on exports to help improve Pakistan’s trade deficit, especially in view of massive currency depre

Published 22 Jul, 2019 06:43am

Miscellaneous

Mad about Cad?

Kudos to the government for chopping the current account deficit (Cad) significantly in FY19! At $13.6 billion, Cad came

Published 22 Jul, 2019 06:35am

Miscellaneous

Cereals for our future

Outside of developed world and Middle East, Pakistan has one of the highest per capita consumption of wheat in the world

Published 22 Jul, 2019 06:28am

Miscellaneous

Correct diagnosis; incorrect prescription

“Malnutrition costs Pakistan three percent ($7.6 billion) in GDP”, SBP quotes UN-FAO, in its quarterly report on the Sta

Published 18 Jul, 2019 06:36am

Miscellaneous

WPI heating up

While the CPI inflation gets noticed more for obvious reasons, the oft-ignored Wholesale Price Index (WPI) is foretellin

Published 18 Jul, 2019 06:24am

Miscellaneous

Tanking think-tanks

Congratulations! The federal government has reportedly approved project to establish a China-Pakistan Economic Corridor

Published 18 Jul, 2019 06:08am

Miscellaneous

Mantras are nice, but common sense is nicer

At a press talk two weeks ago, the federal minister for Ministry of National Food Security & Research - flanked by t

Published 17 Jul, 2019 07:33am

Miscellaneous

The future of Make in Pakistan

The Make in Pakistan thesis has been sold well. And following the currency depreciation along with changes in import tar

Published 17 Jul, 2019 07:10am

Miscellaneous

Reko Diq: time to negotiate

If Reko Diq indeed stands on the remains of a volcano, then it is perhaps apt that the controversial mining project in t

Published 16 Jul, 2019 07:40am

Miscellaneous

Of strikes and lockdowns

According to a latest poll by Gallup Pakistan, public opinion on the opposition’s plans to protest against the governmen

Published 16 Jul, 2019 07:16am

Miscellaneous

Explaining falling farming growth

The sectoral share of agriculture sector in GDP has consistently been falling since independence. From over half of GDP

Published 16 Jul, 2019 07:00am

Miscellaneous

Reviewing climate change

Pakistan stands fairly low on the carbon footprint scale relative to its peers in the region. However, as the monsoon ar

Published 16 Jul, 2019 06:46am

Miscellaneous

Will the exports rise? (ever?)

If you are one for reading the “bigger picture”, Pakistan seems to be doing just fine in terms of trade balance. It is n

Published 15 Jul, 2019 06:41am

Miscellaneous

Anatomy of cotton belt

Pakistan’s largest cash crop is grown in over half of the districts of the country, from Awaran in hinterlands of Baloch

Published 15 Jul, 2019 06:38am

Miscellaneous

Lure of the long-shot

A few days ago, the Washington Post ran a feature cleverly titled “Random Man Runs for President” quite literally descri

Published 15 Jul, 2019 06:35am

Miscellaneous

Fruits of fiscal Consolidation

Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Reading the perennial multilateral lender’s latest country report on Pakistan,

Published 15 Jul, 2019 06:32am

Miscellaneous

SOEs & IMF’s conditionalities

When Leonard Cohen sang Everybody Knows, he probably didn’t have Pakistan’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in mind. But

Published 11 Jul, 2019 06:13am

Miscellaneous

PBC’s ‘Make in Pakistan’ report card

It’s difficult to say whether or not Pakistan Business Council (PBC) has given a clean chit to PTI government. PBC’s len

Published 10 Jul, 2019 06:14am

Miscellaneous

Cropping patterns in Punjab

It is difficult to separate noise from hard facts without data, except the tradition refuses to take root in Pakistan. J

Published 10 Jul, 2019 06:07am

Miscellaneous

Economic assistance: China leads, US recedes

The recently-released yearbook on economic assistance serves yet another reminder that it is China – not the US – whose

Published 10 Jul, 2019 06:03am

Miscellaneous

Reform needs strat.comm. managers

It’s the season of strikes. Traders in Karachi; APTMA; Faisalabad textile mill owners; Karachi transporters; and a few o

Published 09 Jul, 2019 06:14am

Miscellaneous

Can Khan court Donald?

Is the US-Pakistan bilateral finally getting a break? Maybe yes, maybe not – just as Donald Trump likes to say. The prem

Published 09 Jul, 2019 05:29am

Miscellaneous

The usual suspects

Kudos to the Planning Commission for standing up for development! Well, for standing up somewhat, as far as numbers are

Published 08 Jul, 2019 06:34am

Miscellaneous

Zamindar’s fixation with cane

Averages are the most brilliant invention in statistics, yet they can be used to manipulate facts in the most devious wa

Updated 05 Jul, 2019 11:53am

Miscellaneous

Tyranny of optimism

Politicians, when in power, share a unique trait with tech entrepreneurs. It’s the trait of optimism on the basis of whi

Published 05 Jul, 2019 06:09am

Miscellaneous

Roti, kapra, (and then maybe) makaan

As far as political promises go, surely Imran Khan’s Naya Pakistan Housing Plan is neither original nor entirely fancifu

Updated 04 Jul, 2019 06:42am

Miscellaneous

Bring land reforms to counter radicalism

Southern Punjab’s socio-economic makeup piqued public interest earlier this year, when news of counter-terrorism operati

Published 04 Jul, 2019 06:06am

Miscellaneous

SOEs – clueless again

Yesterday’s piece on state-owned enterprises (SOEs) ended on the note that the fixing of SOEs doesn’t appear on the hori

Published 04 Jul, 2019 06:04am

Miscellaneous

The ‘white’ elephants and the rope

There is simply no analogy between the actual elephant and the rope mindset, and the state owned enterprises (SOEs) in P

Published 04 Jul, 2019 06:02am

Miscellaneous

CPI: time to welcome double digits

Expect the PTI to boast of inflation figures, first year in office. The CPI clocked in at 7.3 percent year-on-year for F

Published 03 Jul, 2019 06:24am

Miscellaneous

Sick enterprises

The finance ministry’s latest report on the federal footprint on economy courtesy the state-owned enterprises (SOE) has

Published 03 Jul, 2019 06:19am

Miscellaneous

An ode to shadows

Politics’ love affair with the shadows is a longstanding tradition. In the past, these behind-the-scene operatives have

Updated 03 Jul, 2019 06:31am

Miscellaneous

Attn businesses: society is your biggest consumer

In late 2016, the British Council (Pakistan) partnered with Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) to launch a

Published 02 Jul, 2019 06:25am

Miscellaneous

Dazed and confused

Readers know this column has an interest in following the US presidential campaigns, for what happens in DC still has an

Published 02 Jul, 2019 06:20am

Miscellaneous

End of OTC?

As Pakistan struggles to meet FATF requirements, there is speculation that the branchless banking sector may be affected

Published 01 Jul, 2019 06:41am

Miscellaneous

Asset declaration: ambiguities, lacunae, solutions

The deadline of the ongoing asset declaration scheme is nearly upon us. With three days left, a few ambiguities and lacu

Published 28 Jun, 2019 05:55am

Miscellaneous

Naya Pakistan Housing: out of reach, out of touch?

Every promise that this government has made has been overly ambitious. Even a little venerable in its sheer ambition, th

Updated 28 Jun, 2019 01:44pm

Miscellaneous

Crop-based exports: adapt or die?

Pakistan’s status as a low-value commodity exporter is at best a misnomer. Over the past decade, consolidated share of c

Published 28 Jun, 2019 05:44am

Miscellaneous

Agri-exports: let’s not lose perspective!

What will take for Pakistani exports to pick up steam? Certainly not currency devaluation. Prima facie, that’s the verdi

Published 27 Jun, 2019 07:11am

Miscellaneous

Farming our future

Who will be the farmer of the future? The globally renowned agricultural and food expert Prof. Louise Fresco raised this

Updated 01 Jul, 2019 09:17am

Miscellaneous

Exports constant, but quality improves

Exports did not vote for change it appears. Eleven months into FY19, and they continue to be stubborn, refusing to move

Published 26 Jun, 2019 05:49am

Miscellaneous

Whither cotton emergency?

For months, PTI’s economy team hinted at revolutionary steps for cotton revival on national forums including ECC and fed

Published 26 Jun, 2019 05:46am

Miscellaneous

Want entrepreneurship? Change mindset!

Thanks to hyper changes in technology, it is one of the first times in human history when we don’t know what jobs will l

Published 26 Jun, 2019 05:41am

Miscellaneous

Gold gets going

The global geo-political atmosphere is heating up. Just a few days back, a US surveillance drone was downed near the Ira

Published 26 Jun, 2019 05:31am

Miscellaneous

How should employees Tweet?

Morality is an acquired taste. Little else can be said about it with certainty. Earlier this month, a bank employee twee

Published 25 Jun, 2019 05:43am

Miscellaneous

The fog of FATF

On an issue that may potentially leave Pakistani citizens and businesses poorer in years to come, the federal government

Published 25 Jun, 2019 05:41am

Miscellaneous

Contrasting provincial development budgets

All four provincial budgets are in. Now it’s time to examine how they fare against each other on development. It’s a que

Published 24 Jun, 2019 06:02am

Miscellaneous

Tuition time in the parliament

The Leader of the Opposition in the Lower House proposed a Charter of Economy (CoE) to the government. In the next breat

Published 21 Jun, 2019 05:38am

Miscellaneous

Budget FY20 for real estate sector

Among other taxation measures, Budget FY20 proposals for the property sector have been aimed at expanding the tax base a

Published 21 Jun, 2019 05:32am

Miscellaneous

KP: high on development

After Fata’s merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), an already under-developed province’s development needs have increased

Published 20 Jun, 2019 06:59am

Miscellaneous

Hafeez fights back!

At a post-budget conference organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan last Saturday, Dr Abdul Hafe

Published 19 Jun, 2019 06:31am

Miscellaneous

Sindh struggles for development

For development, the budget is tight across the federating units. Just as Punjab, the province of Sindh has is also faci

Published 19 Jun, 2019 06:26am

Miscellaneous

Imports pay a surprise visit

Having hit a 30-month low of $4.1 billion, imports are back with a bang. Imports for May 2019 have been recorded at a li

Published 19 Jun, 2019 06:21am

Miscellaneous

Beyond Econ 101

Professor Baqer delivered an Econ 101 lecture to journalists is his maiden moot where he explained the role of exchange

Published 18 Jun, 2019 06:40am

Miscellaneous

Punjab: Development has to wait

As opposed to the spending spree of PML-N in its later years ruling Punjab, the PTI government has been holding its fire

Published 18 Jun, 2019 06:31am

Miscellaneous

Falling livestock GDP

Last week BR Research flagged how livestock sector, which has 60 percent share in agriculture GDP has been growing at a

Published 17 Jun, 2019 06:44am

Miscellaneous

Corporate sector in Budget 2019-20

Budget FY20 is almost a 180-degree flip to what Budget FY19 looked like. Where FY19 Budget was marked largely by broad-b

Published 14 Jun, 2019 06:30am

Miscellaneous

Budget FY20: discouraging packaged meat

The central theme of proposed federal budget for FY20 is documentation; and that’s not merely lip service. Actual change

Published 14 Jun, 2019 06:30am

Miscellaneous

The revenge of agri-free market?

“Rice leads cotton in major kharif crops”, reads the headlines from 2009, when acreage under white gold trailed paddy by

Published 14 Jun, 2019 06:22am

Miscellaneous

GMO: separating fiction from fact

“GMO is no silver bullet”, agreed representatives of CropLife Pakistan’s Seed Committee, in an interview with Business R

Published 14 Jun, 2019 06:06am

Miscellaneous

A much realistic budget

The overall budget direction is right. There is a sense of paradigm shift with focus on enhancing direct taxation, penal

Published 13 Jun, 2019 06:37am

Miscellaneous

Has Islamabad really ignored health & education?

‘Federal budget ignores education and health’, wrote the Islamabad-based Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (C

Published 13 Jun, 2019 06:35am

Miscellaneous

Budget: paying to and for the unseen

The opposition has often blamed the PTI for using the backdoor to come to power, blaming an “unseen” or “third” force. T

Published 13 Jun, 2019 06:10am

Miscellaneous

Does Shabbar have a magic spell?

Until yesterday afternoon, magic and shamanism had no role to play in public finances. After the announcement of Pakista

Updated 13 Jun, 2020 01:42pm

Miscellaneous

Development: it's not enough

Never mind the tall official figures as far as next development budget is concerned. After accounting for federal and pr

Published 12 Jun, 2019 06:06am

Miscellaneous

Explainer: salary income tax

Miftah Ismail would surely have a wry smile on his face. What should actually be looked as a relief to salaried class un

Published 12 Jun, 2019 05:59am

Miscellaneous

Housing under duress

The ambitious pet project of PM Imran Khan, Naya Pakistan Housing Program (NPHP), seems diametrically opposed to the bud

Published 12 Jun, 2019 05:47am

Miscellaneous

Facts, fiction & poor press engagement

If the purpose of a press conference is to share relevant and material information with the press and answer their quest

Published 11 Jun, 2019 05:39am

Miscellaneous

The trillion rupee concessions

Two mini-budgets, industrialists and corporate bigwigs running the government affairs – exemptions and concessions were

Updated 11 Jun, 2019 05:47am

Miscellaneous

Combating climate change

If there is one sector where the current government has shown more fervour than its counterparts, it’s the focus on envi

Published 11 Jun, 2019 05:18am

Miscellaneous

CPI: All eyes on budget and energy pricing

The CPI clocked in at 9.1 percent in May, slightly lower than market expectations. The 11 month average stood at 7.2 per

Published 10 Jun, 2019 07:45am

Miscellaneous

Academics are “tweeple” too!

The phrase “I know that I know nothing” is attributed to Socrates, who when presented with the compliment of being the w

Published 10 Jun, 2019 07:37am

Miscellaneous

PSDP blues

PSDP blues As expected, “development” is the major fiscal casualty in the “austerity” budget. Reportedly, the federal go

Published 10 Jun, 2019 07:31am

Miscellaneous

Discrepancy in regional sucrose yield & recovery

A baffling level of discrepancy exists in yield and recovery levels within and between various sugarcane growing and mil

Published 03 Jun, 2019 07:22am

Miscellaneous

Some breathers

Some pressure on the exchange rate and interest rate pricing is eased, a week before the budget. Crude oil coming down i

Published 03 Jun, 2019 07:22am

Miscellaneous

GMO redux

After a two-month hiatus, reports on GMO seed technology have once again begun to do rounds in print media. Last week, a

Published 03 Jun, 2019 07:05am

Miscellaneous

Improving tourism marketing

The PTI is betting big on tourism and has identified zones in each province for development of facilities and infrastruc

Published 30 May, 2019 05:03am

Miscellaneous

Dairy trade-offs: price vs. milk quality

In a recent interview with BR Research, Sulaiman Monnoo, Senior Vice Chairman of Pakistan Dairy Association demanded tha

Published 29 May, 2019 04:55am

Miscellaneous

The climate-migration nexus

An oft ignored side of climate change is its impact on local migration. The regular environmental degradation facilitate

Published 29 May, 2019 04:44am

Miscellaneous

Urban forests: changing cities

Sometimes all it takes to solve complex problems is simple solutions. The same can be said of tackling the rising pollut

Published 29 May, 2019 04:33am

Miscellaneous

Fixing Gwadar’s governance

Soon after three gunmen attacked Gwadar PC earlier this month, some sections of foreign press started raising question m

Published 28 May, 2019 06:08am

Miscellaneous

Uncle Biden and Pakistan

Elections in India are over and Pakistanis aren’t exactly thrilled with the outcome. Onto the next election of interest.

Updated 28 May, 2019 09:39am

Miscellaneous

The taxation challenge

This is the third week after finalization of IMF programme. The first week was depressing as the as the PTI economic tea

Published 27 May, 2019 05:38am

Miscellaneous

Orange is the new black

India’s saffron revolution is nearing completion. The orange hues of BJP have managed to avoid a hung parliament, relega

Published 27 May, 2019 05:19am

Miscellaneous

Board of Investment: the missing discourse

Haroon Shariff’s decision to resign from the Board of Investment (BoI) is not good news; nor is the news of Younus Dagha

Published 24 May, 2019 06:35am

Miscellaneous

313 Grains of salt: Pak-China FTA

The Pakistan-China FTA has had its fair share of criticism. The business community has complained that many of the count

Updated 24 May, 2019 07:01am

Miscellaneous

Sizing Pakistan’s ethanol market

Numbers always manage to tell a story, even if those with a proprietary right may wish to withhold them. Pakistan’s etha

Updated 24 May, 2019 07:12am

Miscellaneous

Think import substitution

After three months of under $1 billion monthly deficit (Jan-Mar monthly CAD avg: $674 mn), the current account deficit s

Published 23 May, 2019 06:16am

Miscellaneous

Bahawalpur province: start with lands reforms!

The legendary South Punjab province! It’s a tale from Neverland – loosely based on the mythical oppression of people fro

Published 23 May, 2019 06:09am

Miscellaneous

Huawei: gloves are off

There may be a method to this madness. But Donald J. Trump is taking Richard Nixon’s Madman Theory to a whole new level,

Published 23 May, 2019 05:55am

Miscellaneous

Getting inflation right

An opposition that was supposed to be hiding in the slumbers or just fighting court cases for their respective leaders u

Published 22 May, 2019 03:44am

Miscellaneous

Demystifying food exports inertia

PBS monthly trade numbers are out, and exports don’t seem to have bought into the rupee devaluation bonhomie. While 10MF

Updated 22 May, 2019 10:04am

Miscellaneous

Exports – zero sum game

April was tipped as the starting point of export revival by a few circles. April came and went. The exports refused to h

Published 21 May, 2019 07:34am

Miscellaneous

Costly detours

The country’s airspace closure has entered a third month amid the ongoing hostility between Pakistan and India post Pulw

Updated 20 May, 2019 06:45am

Miscellaneous

A Teflon prime minister?

Nothing wastes political capital like an economic downturn. It’s not just in the West where consultants warn political i

Updated 20 May, 2019 06:33am

Miscellaneous

Tale of two amnesties

Embarrassments aside, the Assets Declaration Ordinance 2019, commonly referred to as Amnesty Scheme , is one of the bett

Published 17 May, 2019 05:10am

Miscellaneous

Reinventing office space

In an age of disruption, almost all conventional sectors have undergone a complete transformation in business model. Rid

Published 17 May, 2019 04:53am

Miscellaneous

Wheat prices: is it time to panic?

News in the media suggests that the double whammy delivered by oil prices coupled with devastating rain fall in Punjab d

Published 15 May, 2019 06:32am

Miscellaneous

Too big to break?

A social media giant finds itself under the spotlight again. Critics have previously charged that fake news, fake person

Published 15 May, 2019 06:17am

Miscellaneous

When the sky falls

A year after unilaterally pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, the Trump administration has Iran right where it wanted

Published 10 May, 2019 04:43am

Miscellaneous

People are never happy

Criticism on everything seems to be the favorite time pass; not just coming from opposition benches, but intellectuals o

Published 09 May, 2019 03:49am

Miscellaneous

From Shabbar’s lens

Shabbar Zaidi is no stranger to tax policy and administration affairs in Pakistan. The official notification of his appo

Published 08 May, 2019 06:55am

Miscellaneous

Egypt, Pakistan and the IMF

The central bank governor coming right from the IMF - managing Egypt, is fueling skepticism that the Fund has brought hi

Published 07 May, 2019 05:36am

Miscellaneous

PSDP’s April surprise

Contrary to suspicions of a slowdown in development spending, the federal government’s development ledger seems is still

Published 07 May, 2019 05:24am

Miscellaneous

Press freedom!

The World Press Freedom Day was celebrated last week (May 3). This year’s theme of Unesco’s annual conference marking th

Published 06 May, 2019 06:31am

Miscellaneous

Inflation challenges ahead

The headline inflation came down from 9.4 percent in Mar19 to 8.8 percent in Apr19; the decline was expected as the high

Published 03 May, 2019 06:42am

Miscellaneous

Thanos: the last laugh

Tickets for ‘Avengers: Endgame’ are reportedly in black trade in Karachi these days. As superhero movies go, the plot re

Updated 03 May, 2019 06:46am

Miscellaneous

Free the statistics (division)

Andrew Marshall, arguably the most respected Pentagon strategist, died a few weeks ago. One of his many feats was to fla

Published 02 May, 2019 06:46am

Miscellaneous

SYS has a good start

It’s been a good start to the year for a prominent local software house. As per a company notice sent to the stock excha

Published 30 Apr, 2019 05:22am

Miscellaneous

IMF programme: Could be very tough

The IMF team is in Islamabad to finalize the conditions for the upcoming programme. Apart from an agreement on having a

Published 29 Apr, 2019 06:50am

Miscellaneous

Top-up to lose

A judicial ruling on money matters is bound to draw mixed response, depending on how favourable the precedent is to one’

Published 29 Apr, 2019 06:49am

Miscellaneous

Agri-Plotistan

Populist notions peddled by the media often insinuate that most of Pakistan’s rural economy is landless, with land owner

Published 24 Apr, 2019 06:15am

Miscellaneous

Pakistan’s finmin curse

Asad Umar’s removal from the Q-Block is a story bigger than Asad himself; it is also bigger than the PTI and its real or

Published 24 Apr, 2019 05:55am

Miscellaneous

Selling a purge

Communist regimes in the middle-half of the twentieth century were notorious for what Western historians would later lab

Published 23 Apr, 2019 06:00am

Miscellaneous

Groundwater law: bring it in 21st century

Pakistan’s water sector legislative landscape suffers from the disease of extremes: there are either too many competing

Published 23 Apr, 2019 05:56am

Miscellaneous

Exports — betting on quantity

Exports at $17 billion in 9MFY19 – are virtually at the same level where they were in 9MFY18. For a few, it may be worri

Published 23 Apr, 2019 05:52am

Miscellaneous

Exploring NFC to boost exports

It’s not funny when a former minister expresses his helplessness, his “wounds”, over the weaknesses of institutional, or

Published 22 Apr, 2019 06:35am

Miscellaneous

Ehsaas: the good, the bad, the strange

If there is one feeling, screaming out from the government’s Ehsaas document, it is this: PM Khan’s heart may be in the

Published 22 Apr, 2019 06:33am

Miscellaneous

Hindsight is always 20-20

“Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call on the Lord to send thunder and rain, so that you will know and see what

Published 22 Apr, 2019 06:24am

Miscellaneous

Going, going, gone!

With weather around, good cloud cover, and a fast and bouncy pitch – it will always be tough batting first. Tougher, if

Published 19 Apr, 2019 06:20am

Miscellaneous

The FM sent packing

The Finance Minister Asad Umar has quit. Is it a good decision? That will depend on who replaces him. There is little

Published 19 Apr, 2019 06:19am

Miscellaneous

Fauji earnings: sunshine in a downpour

In 1HFY19, cement production and dispatches for Fauji Cement (PSX: FCCL) were down while clinker production and revenues

Published 19 Apr, 2019 06:17am

Miscellaneous

Dolmen City REIT in 9MFY19

Drawing close to its four years in operations, Dolmen City REIT (PSX: DCR) announced its financial performance for 9MFY1

Published 19 Apr, 2019 06:01am

Miscellaneous

Gold succumbs to bears

The global economy seems to have steadied ship and the jitters have given way to optimism by market participants. This s

Published 18 Apr, 2019 06:20am

Miscellaneous

Tax reforms: PTI’s plan of action

What’s PTI’s plan of action for tax reforms, and will it really work? These are some of the most asked questions by busi

Published 17 Apr, 2019 07:00am

Miscellaneous

A crowded bench

Political observers in Pakistan are concerned about the outcome of elections in India and consequences of a potential NA

Published 17 Apr, 2019 06:37am

Miscellaneous

Reading PTI’s economic roadmap

A roadmap that does not mention the distance between two points, or, as is in today’s digital world, does not tell you t

Published 16 Apr, 2019 06:55am

Miscellaneous

Trends in agricultural employment

Finally! Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has released its annual compendium (for FY18) on trends in labour market, a

Published 16 Apr, 2019 06:48am

Miscellaneous

Startups: long-term bet

The PTI gave an ambitious plan of creating 10 million jobs in the next five years. However, the economic slowdown has gi

Published 15 Apr, 2019 06:41am

Miscellaneous

(Not) dealing with zombies

If Pakistan’s social and economic problems were to be given the face of a relatable movie character, it would probably b

Published 12 Apr, 2019 07:03am

Miscellaneous

Exports refuse to rise

Imports continue the journey south – hitting a 30-month low of $4.1 billion in March 2019, registering a 21 percent year

Published 12 Apr, 2019 06:33am

Miscellaneous

CPI rebasing: no more simple averages please!

The much awaited rebasing and reassigning of weights for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has reportedly been approved by

Published 11 Apr, 2019 06:32am

Miscellaneous

Agri-nomics needs stakeholders not consumers

Official estimates put the contribution of agriculture sector at no more than one-fifth of Pakistan’s GDP. Yet, commenta

Published 11 Apr, 2019 06:27am

Miscellaneous

“Ehsas” for the poor

After the launch if Insaaf heath cards, the government has recently taken another step in the human capital domain. Unde

Published 11 Apr, 2019 06:10am

Miscellaneous

Tax amnesty 2019: no place to hide?

Never mind PTI’s U-turn on tax amnesties; much has been written about it in this space. (See Tax amnesty: putting the c

Updated 10 Apr, 2019 06:58am

Miscellaneous

Processed milk – embrace not divorce

Pakistan’s economic potential is hidden in agriculture and its value addition. Within it, the dairy sector has significa

Published 10 Apr, 2019 05:53am

Miscellaneous

Polls apart

Observers of Indo-Pak bilateral are eagerly awaiting the make-up of next government in New Delhi. Two days from now, Ind

Published 09 Apr, 2019 04:50am

Miscellaneous

Correcting inflation computation

Inflation expectations are being mismanaged. There are not much demand side inflationary pressures. Inflation is low wor

Published 08 Apr, 2019 07:22am

Miscellaneous

Khan’s dream team

When Imran Khan was rallying for general elections 2018, he promised he has a dream team of 200 people who can fix Pakis

Published 08 Apr, 2019 07:17am

Miscellaneous

Children and air pollution

Look no further than South Asia for a region that will have its children’s’ life shortened the most due to air pollution

Published 08 Apr, 2019 07:13am

Miscellaneous

Rice: time to adopt SRI

Pakistan’s rice is a highly export centric commodity, with an average 60 percent of total domestic production going towa

Published 05 Apr, 2019 06:39am

Miscellaneous

PTV’s losses: the devil is in the details

The good old PTV was under fire this week when the Senate was recently informed that the state-owned national television

Published 04 Apr, 2019 06:42am

Miscellaneous

Unlocking the farming land potential

It is said that real estate development in urban areas has converted the cities into “Plot-istan”, as property has becom

Published 04 Apr, 2019 06:35am

Miscellaneous

Eating words, learning lessons

“We will double the FBR tax from Rs4000 billion to Rs8000 billion in one year.” “Tax amnesty schemes penalise the honest

Updated 04 Apr, 2019 07:38am

Miscellaneous

Inflation high but don’t panic

March 2019 recorded highest CPI since Dec 2013, but that does not mean that inflation will hit double digit in April. Ma

Published 03 Apr, 2019 06:45am

Miscellaneous

PSDP: foreign aid dries up

The Rs675 billion federal Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) is under the weather. As per Planning Commission (P

Published 03 Apr, 2019 06:36am

Miscellaneous

SYS had a blockbuster year

So the bourse was saving the best for last. At the tail-end of the result season for CY18, a prominent local software ho

Published 02 Apr, 2019 06:53am

Miscellaneous

Time to talk population

In an interview published yesterday, Dr Mehtab Karim, one of Pakistan’s handful of demographers said something rather al

Published 02 Apr, 2019 06:40am

Miscellaneous

Demystifying GM food crop

“Man fears what he does not understand”. Yeats immortal words are an apt description of commonly held attitude towards g

Published 01 Apr, 2019 05:15am

Miscellaneous

Make in Pakistan and job creation dilemma

Domestic businesses create jobs, imports don’t. This is the go-to argument of businesses across the board (not just big

Published 01 Apr, 2019 05:04am

Miscellaneous

Reading PTI’s economic management

When the PTI came into power last year, both the business community and the citizens at large could be categorised in tw

Published 29 Mar, 2019 06:01am

Miscellaneous

No free water please!

Good news first. There is only one. There are serious talks going on in Punjab to bring legislation in the form of a com

Updated 29 Mar, 2019 07:04am

Miscellaneous

Tax filers: zero return filers driving growth

It’s difficult to glean a lot of meaningful information from unsorted data dumps that the FBR does every year in the nam

Published 28 Mar, 2019 06:58am

Miscellaneous

What’s going on in Punjab’s fertile crescent?

Shrinking area under cotton cultivation has everyone worried, except like all things Pakistani, the concern seems to be

Published 28 Mar, 2019 06:33am

Miscellaneous

CPEC and manpower

lot has been said about CPEC’s ability in generating new employment avenues in the country. No doubt; as China Pakistan

Published 27 Mar, 2019 05:32am

Miscellaneous

Another term for Trump?

Too much smoke, yet no fire. After nearly two years of frenzy surrounding investigations by Special Counsel Robert Muell

Published 27 Mar, 2019 05:28am

Miscellaneous

Mediocrity Inc.

As if news on the fiscal front wasn’t dismal enough in FY19, the country is set for an all-around disappointing farming

Published 27 Mar, 2019 05:21am

Miscellaneous

Loan from China – welcome change

Yesterday was a dull day at stock market - shares traded were at multi month low, the only good news come in after hours

Published 26 Mar, 2019 06:43am

Miscellaneous

Export prices take a dent

Pakistan’s exports at $15 billion, growing at 1.86 percent year-on-year in 8MFY19 must be a worry. Only that the massive

Published 26 Mar, 2019 06:30am

Miscellaneous

Uber: all about the IPO?

If Uber wed Careem, who is going to look after the dependents? Dependents, in this case, being ride users and drivers. B

Published 26 Mar, 2019 06:15am

Miscellaneous

Promoting regional tourism

After visa-on-arrival (VOA) granted to 5 countries, the government has launched e-visa facility for 175 countries in a b

Published 26 Mar, 2019 06:02am

Miscellaneous

Women in the workplace: it is not CSR!

Interloop Limited, the sock maker to giants like Nike, Puma and Adidas, and the latest to enter the stock market with a

Published 25 Mar, 2019 06:23am

Miscellaneous

A good year – but what’s next?

It is often said that there are no bad ideas in brainstorming. And if the idea comes from the man-in-charge, even if lud

Published 22 Mar, 2019 06:26am

Miscellaneous

Human capital 2.0

Back in 2017, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook told the world why Apple makes its iPhones in China, his raved review widely negating

Published 22 Mar, 2019 06:17am

Miscellaneous

Is the future colonised?

Now that the heading has got your attention, let’s begin by saying that this note has got nothing to do with the archety

Published 21 Mar, 2019 06:32am

Miscellaneous

Embracing the global value chain

Two third global of trade is in engineering goods while less than ten percent in textiles. It is the other way round in

Published 20 Mar, 2019 05:46am

Miscellaneous

Two big think questions about productivity

Interloop’s hottest IPO has become the talk of the town. Anyone who knows even a tiny bit about stocks wants to take a b

Published 19 Mar, 2019 06:25am

Miscellaneous

Economic direction: unclear and slow

The market is not clear on the direction of the government’s economic team. It is tough to make business decisions in su

Published 19 Mar, 2019 06:12am

Miscellaneous

Rent seekers in farmers’ disguise

As sowing period for kharif crops draw closer, lobbying for institution of support price for cotton seems to be gaining

Published 19 Mar, 2019 06:02am

Miscellaneous

Livestock lives matter!

Dairy and packaged meat industries have been getting some attention of late. Earlier this month, Commerce Minister Razak

Published 18 Mar, 2019 05:40am

Miscellaneous

Nothing wrong with a new tax agency

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s announcement to create a new tax collecting agency if need be, and the ensuing commentary (

Published 15 Mar, 2019 06:33am

Miscellaneous

Sarmaye-e-Pakistan: in no hurry

Sarmaya-e-Pakistan’s (SLP) first board meeting had Ehsan Malik unanimously elected as its chairman. The idea of a holdin

Published 15 Mar, 2019 06:32am

Miscellaneous

Rice: the dark horse

The more any sector operates in the documented sector, the more public scrutiny it attracts. Or at least that’s the less

Published 15 Mar, 2019 06:22am

Miscellaneous

A tale of self harm

Political observers had warned of buyer’s remorse soon after the shocking Brexit vote in June 2016. (Read BR Research co

Published 14 Mar, 2019 05:22am

Miscellaneous

Trade deficit down

Imports in February 2019 touched a 29-month low at $4.1 billion - down 12 percent year-on-year, and 7 percent month-on-m

Published 14 Mar, 2019 04:53am

Miscellaneous

Two Punjabs

As debate on increasing area under sugarcane cultivation rages, BR Research analysed micro-level district wise figures f

Updated 14 Mar, 2019 05:32am

Miscellaneous

Gold in 2019

When it comes to the price performance of the precious metal, 2018 was a roller coaster ride; prices moved from the high

Published 13 Mar, 2019 06:01am

Miscellaneous

New FBR — yes please!

Last week, at the closing ceremony of All Pakistan Chamber President Conference, PM Imran Khan assured the business comm

Published 12 Mar, 2019 05:21am

Miscellaneous

Where is the wave?

The six-week long Indian general elections start April 11. Skeptics darkly paint Pulwama and its aftermath as a godsend

Published 12 Mar, 2019 05:08am

Miscellaneous

Lessons from Jodia Bazar

The first lesson in most elementary business law or accounting classes is that the principles of “offer and acceptance”

Published 12 Mar, 2019 04:59am

Miscellaneous

Laws of absurdity: crop zoning

As the shift in area under cultivation from cotton to other cash crops with better returns per hectare continues to grow

Published 11 Mar, 2019 07:02am

Miscellaneous

PMPK: mixed signals?

PMI global should pay heed – 2018 was a breakthrough year for its Pakistani subsidiary, which recently announced a facto

Published 11 Mar, 2019 06:41am

Miscellaneous

Opening up real estate

The amended finance bill presented on Jan 23, 2019 has finally been passed after six weeks of deliberation. The bill was

Published 08 Mar, 2019 05:45am

Miscellaneous

Support price: More lessons from sugarcane

In yesterday’s column on MNFS&R’s proposal to introduce indicative pricing mechanism for cotton, it was noted that t

Updated 08 Mar, 2019 06:21am

Miscellaneous

Punjab growth ambitions

Punjab, if it were a country, would be the 12th most populous in the world - larger than Germany and Turkey. But in term

Published 07 Mar, 2019 05:30am

Miscellaneous

Tax amnesty: putting the cart before the horse

‘Tax amnesty scheme is for looters’; ‘it is an economic bloodshed’; it’s a ‘slap on tax payers’ face’; ‘it’s a joke’. Th

Published 07 Mar, 2019 05:26am

Miscellaneous

Cotton indicative price: exercise caution!

In public policy, unlike religion, there are no marks for trying. A policy is as good as the outcome it achieves, becaus

Published 07 Mar, 2019 05:22am

Miscellaneous

Opening up trade

Pakistan needs to do regional trade agreements and FTAs with the western world and other global markets. That is one ste

Published 06 Mar, 2019 06:32am

Miscellaneous

Mutual fund platform

Anyone buying, selling or converting an open mutual fund from an asset management company (AMC) in Pakistan knows just h

Published 06 Mar, 2019 06:30am

Miscellaneous

FATF: get smart

There is no way around complying with FATF directives. After the latest plenary held in Paris last month, the pressure i

Published 06 Mar, 2019 06:17am

Miscellaneous

Pak-India hostilities: some introspection

Hostility between India and Pakistan is a high stakes gamble with lose-lose payoffs regardless of whoever wins a full-sc

Published 05 Mar, 2019 06:48am

Telecommunication

Beware of cyberspace

With the Indo-Pak bilateral getting physical lately, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that Pakistan’s cyber defenses

Published 05 Mar, 2019 06:37am

Miscellaneous

FBR’s tax directory: the story of association of persons

The story of tax collected from associations of persons (AoPs) is little different from the story of tax collected from

Updated 14 Mar, 2019 10:36am

Miscellaneous

FBR FY17 directory: ‘zero’ sum game

The Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) recently released tax directory, it’s fifth since it began, shows that the filer-no

Updated 14 Mar, 2019 10:34am

Miscellaneous

Tomato-flation, not stagflation

Don't panic to see CPI at 8.2 percent in Feb19 - last time 8 percent plus inflation was recorded in Jun14. The market wa

Updated 04 Mar, 2019 06:19am

Miscellaneous

Cost of war

War can be a profitable business – if it is happening in a country you are doing business with. Otherwise, it is a waste

Published 04 Mar, 2019 05:30am

Miscellaneous

Lose the win-lose mentality

For past two days, all eyeballs have been set on the constant breaking news cycle, given fears of conflict on the easter

Published 01 Mar, 2019 06:58am

Miscellaneous

PBC’s take on garment sector

The Pakistan Business Council (PBC) recently released its report on Pakistan’s garment sector which is part of PBC’s “Ma

Published 01 Mar, 2019 06:11am

Miscellaneous

1HFY19: PSDP feels the cut

Amid the need for fiscal adjustment, the current government’s development spending has stalled but its current expenditu

Published 01 Mar, 2019 06:07am

Miscellaneous

Wanted: trade liberalization

PM Imran wants to eradicate poverty from Pakistan; and there is no sustainable way to do so without economically uplifti

Published 28 Feb, 2019 05:46am

Miscellaneous

Curious case of sugar mill registrations

Navigating facts in the post-truth world is becoming increasingly challenging; and more so in areas where data can be ta

Published 28 Feb, 2019 05:41am

Miscellaneous

Regional trade: harnessing self-interest

That Pakistan, and her south Asian neighbours, will benefit immensely from regional trade has almost become like a maxim

Published 28 Feb, 2019 05:39am

Miscellaneous

Lacklustre Rabi season

The urea off-take continues to be lackluster, with January numbers showing a 5 percent year-on-year increase. The Rabi s

Published 28 Feb, 2019 05:36am

Miscellaneous

Incentivizing provinces

Having been caught in the vicious boom-bust cycle, Pakistan’s economic managers have long been focusing on matters that

Published 27 Feb, 2019 07:06am

Miscellaneous

Bring in specialists

Have a heart problem, consult a cardiologist. Don’t go the generally physician. The analogy can be drawn for Pakistan ec

Published 27 Feb, 2019 07:02am

Miscellaneous

A billion dollar introspection

Days into the Pulwama Attack and India withdrawing the Most Favored Nation (MFN) status from Pakistan whilst slapping 20

Published 27 Feb, 2019 06:57am

Miscellaneous

Driving with brakes on!

Cheers for the $21 billion investment promise from Saudi Arabia! If luck would have it, this flow of capital will add to

Published 20 Feb, 2019 06:19am

Miscellaneous

Trade numbers: textile silver linings

Pakistan’s trade deficit is down 10 percent year-on-year. That is as good as it gets on this front. Imports are down by

Published 20 Feb, 2019 06:10am

Miscellaneous

‘You can’t always get what you want’

In a moment of light heartedness, the finance minister was recently heard commenting that he draws inspiration by listen

Published 20 Feb, 2019 06:04am

Miscellaneous

Boosting Sindh economy!

How can Sindh grow its economy, create jobs and increase the flow of taxes to its kitty? That was one of the subjects of

Published 18 Feb, 2019 06:16am

Miscellaneous

Cotton vision redux?

Back in the heady days of mid 2000s when GDP growth rate surged close to eight percent, Pakistan set itself a “Cotton Vi

Published 18 Feb, 2019 06:13am

Miscellaneous

HTL 1HFY19

Growth in profitability for Hi-Tech Lubricant Limited (PSX: HTL) took a breather in FY18, as the firm’s earnings slipped

Published 14 Feb, 2019 05:04am

Miscellaneous

Oil relying on China-US trade talks

Oil prices are back to being highly volatile again – after a brief period of relative stability. The latest production n

Published 13 Feb, 2019 04:02am

Miscellaneous

A ruling to remember

Residents of the twin cities won’t forget the horrors of the TLP’s occupation of the Faizabad interchange back in Novemb

Published 12 Feb, 2019 07:39am

Miscellaneous

Trading through peace

Over the last five years Pakistan’s exports to Afghanistan have gone down from $2 billion to $1.3 billion in FY18, as pe

Updated 12 Feb, 2019 08:00am

Miscellaneous

SEZ need special attention

Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have some role to play in recent industrialization and economic development of Far Eastern

Published 11 Feb, 2019 07:10am

Miscellaneous

NFC: toying with tax rearrangements

At the first round of NFC negotiations last week, Sindh’s Chief Minister reportedly reiterated Sindh’s earlier position

Published 11 Feb, 2019 07:05am

Miscellaneous

Trends in kharif yields

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different outcome. Yet that is exactly what the snapsh

Published 11 Feb, 2019 06:59am

Miscellaneous

Kharif freezes cotton out

What do floods and droughts have in common? Both muck up agricultural output equally. Estimates on Pakistan’s kharif sea

Published 08 Feb, 2019 06:27am

Miscellaneous

Hold on: The IMF can wait

The burning question discussed in the last EAC meeting was the IMF. The case of Egypt was showcased by the Finance Minst

Published 07 Feb, 2019 06:59am

Miscellaneous

PSDP: on track

Contrary to austere expectations, it appears that the development budget will stay the course this fiscal, albeit in its

Published 07 Feb, 2019 06:55am

Miscellaneous

NFC negotiations: round one

The National Finance Commission (NFC) is meeting today. Sources in the Q-Block say Mr. Asad Umar and his team were strug

Published 06 Feb, 2019 06:20am

Miscellaneous

Battling for blue skies

Amid the many emergencies being declared in the country, this one has to be a serious one. Health is no joke, and pollut

Published 04 Feb, 2019 05:41am

Miscellaneous

PIDE: economics without a sense of purpose

Pushing the frontiers of research by challenging accepted truths is a noble cause. But should it be done at the cost of

Published 04 Feb, 2019 05:35am

Miscellaneous

LSM down – seen down

The triple hit combo of high base-effect (in some sectors), monetary tightening, and reduced development spending by the

Published 31 Jan, 2019 06:13am

Miscellaneous

Correcting the picture

Pakistan’s exports to Afghanistan have fallen by 30 percent YoY in the first half of the current fiscal year, as per SBP

Published 31 Jan, 2019 06:05am

Miscellaneous

Laying groundwork for bioethanol (I)

Pakistan’s agri-oriented export economy is often criticised for low inefficiency and resource hungriness per dollar earn

Published 30 Jan, 2019 05:53am

Miscellaneous

The vocational challenge

A largely ignored way to address the needs of rising youth bulge and youth unemployment in the country is through TVET.

Published 30 Jan, 2019 05:50am

Miscellaneous

Policymaking: Innovation calling

It is policymaking season in Pakistan. The MoF is working on macroeconomic stability framework which is to create conduc

Published 29 Jan, 2019 06:21am

Miscellaneous

300

KSE-100 bulls have survived their battle against the bears so far. Inflows from Saudi Arabia, and the UAE have provided

Published 29 Jan, 2019 06:21am

Miscellaneous

Tourism needs a plan

Kudos to the government for opening up Pakistan’s visa regime! News reports indicate that nationals of 50 countries will

Published 29 Jan, 2019 06:05am

Miscellaneous

Sugar millers outsmart the government

The annual statistics from Pakistan Sugar Mills Association for 2017-18 are out and make for a frank commentary. While t

Updated 28 Jan, 2019 07:18am

Miscellaneous

Rice exports to China: pipedream or reality?

Rice occupies a prominent position in Pakistan's export market. While the cereal has found a market in far flung destina

Updated 28 Jan, 2019 07:14am

Miscellaneous

Wanted: growth strategy

The political debate over what exactly it was that the finance minister presented in the National Assembly two days ago

Published 25 Jan, 2019 06:43am

Miscellaneous

NFC award: delivering on social outcomes

A fortnight after President Arif Alvi reconstituted the National Finance Commission (NFC) for the purpose of negotiating

Updated 25 Jan, 2019 07:02am

Miscellaneous

Friends again?

The US-Pak bilateral may be turning the corner. Much of 2018 was marked by Twitter warfare. But 2019 started on a good n

Published 24 Jan, 2019 07:12am

Miscellaneous

The war of the deal

President Donald Trump has long asserted that he is the master of negotiation. In his 30- year old memoir, “Trump: The A

Published 24 Jan, 2019 06:52am

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Asad’s sentiment booster

Criticism takes the better out of Asad Umar. He sounded confident in his speech and clear on the offerings. It was by no

Published 24 Jan, 2019 06:26am

Miscellaneous

Punjab speed 2.0

First time in the history of Pakistan, a province plans to come up with an in-house growth strategy. The dividend of bet

Published 23 Jan, 2019 06:50am

Miscellaneous

Exports that cost billions

How much is a dollar worth? The response may vary depending upon who is answering. An importer for example, may price in

Updated 22 Jan, 2019 07:58am

Miscellaneous

Trade deficit: some respite

The first half of FY19 is over with some respite on the external trade front, as per latest data from the Pakistan Burea

Updated 22 Jan, 2019 08:31am

Miscellaneous

Gulf in Gwadar

Friends from the Gulf suddenly want a piece of Gwadar. Saudi Arabia is reportedly planning to invest $10 billion in an o

Published 18 Jan, 2019 05:47am

Miscellaneous

Is corruption Pakistan’s biggest problem?

For many bureaucrats, politicians and businesses, a cloud of fear hangs over Pakistan. The ongoing crackdown against cor

Published 17 Jan, 2019 06:46am

Miscellaneous

Governing Indus in silos

Is the period of hyperactive public interest in water shortage going to come to an end today? Cynics point to news repor

Published 17 Jan, 2019 06:44am

Miscellaneous

Plugging the perennial oil seed deficit

With ghee a staple of Pakistani diet, its main ingredient palm oil is a staple of the import bill. While the country nei

Published 17 Jan, 2019 06:34am

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Import compression and taxation

The one big challenge faced by the finance ministry is how to keep tax revenues pace intact while reducing the imports.

Published 16 Jan, 2019 06:01am

Miscellaneous

Priority areas of reforms

Anyone mandated to reform Pakistan and put her on the path of growth and development faces a great social choice problem

Published 16 Jan, 2019 06:00am

Miscellaneous

Encore for Modi sarkar?

Watchers of Indian politics seem to agree that Narendra Modi’s political capital is on a steady decline. The next Lok Sa

Published 16 Jan, 2019 05:52am

Miscellaneous

The less the merrier

Consider these two charts. The first shows population growth and the other income per capita over the past six decad

Published 16 Jan, 2019 05:50am

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Fungi, toxins, and basmati exports

Continuing on the thread of basmati exports, presence of chemicals and toxins can be a boon. As long as they are present

Published 15 Jan, 2019 06:40am

Miscellaneous

FATF: do more?

Call it an Indo-US stranglehold on Pakistan or a failure to put own house in order, it doesn’t change the fact that a mu

Published 14 Jan, 2019 06:23am

Miscellaneous

Imported cotton: remove duties

Cotton is the lifeline of Pakistan’s textile industry. Following the end of the Multi-Fiber Agreement FA quota which ush

Published 11 Jan, 2019 06:39am

Miscellaneous

GI law and basmati

Basmati rice is considered inherently superior due to its aroma and long grain characteristics. Native only to the sub-c

Published 11 Jan, 2019 06:31am

Miscellaneous

Living with others

If human resources are the real wealth of a country, then that lost art of living with others is the real essence of pro

Published 10 Jan, 2019 06:26am

Miscellaneous

Intentions aplenty – capacity missing

The economic team seems to lacks implementable ideas and more importantly, the capacity to maximize benefits accruing fr

Published 10 Jan, 2019 06:22am

Miscellaneous

GDP growth: grounded

Albeit required, demand compression measures – e.g. PSDP cut, interest rate hike, and currency adjustment – are taking t

Published 09 Jan, 2019 05:56am

Miscellaneous

Crude palm oil – make hay

Lower global Crude Palm Oil (CPO) prices have yielded a short term advantage to local edible oil refineries. To better u

Published 09 Jan, 2019 05:46am

Miscellaneous

Imran delivering; others found wanting

Imran delivering; others found wanting The PTI government performance so far is better at managing external economic an

Published 08 Jan, 2019 06:59am

Miscellaneous

PSDP goes steady

Those looking for austerity measures should look no further than the development spend. Stubbornly high current expendit

Published 08 Jan, 2019 06:55am

Miscellaneous

Understanding global palm oil prices

Palm oil is a staple of Pakistan’s import bill but its price remains at the mercy of several different trends. To unders

Updated 08 Jan, 2019 07:52am

Miscellaneous

Everybody knows!

The British Council’s recent report on ‘The university research system in Pakistan’ presents a disappointing state of kn

Published 07 Jan, 2019 06:35am

Miscellaneous

Construction (in) activity

The fact that construction activity would not be keeping up with the expectations set forth only a couple of months befo

Published 07 Jan, 2019 06:17am

Miscellaneous

Transparency wanting in INGO policy

For past seven years, the INGO and developmental assistance sector has become a casualty of state’s frustration over the

Published 07 Jan, 2019 06:16am

Miscellaneous

Smog, pollution and breakdowns

Power breakdowns are back in the northern parts of the country for the past two days. Most of Punjab and Islamabad are e

Published 04 Jan, 2019 06:39am

Miscellaneous

Petroleum sales in 2018

The petroleum product sales by the oil marketing segment, which are also widely referred to as oil sales, lost their vig

Published 04 Jan, 2019 06:30am

Miscellaneous

Wanted: sunflower cultivation

Sunflower acreage has declined steadily over the last decade and has become stagnant in recent years. The main reason fo

Published 04 Jan, 2019 06:27am

Miscellaneous

Tobaccos: the year ahead

The year 2018 was a turnaround year for the two major tobacco multinationals operating in the formal fold. That’s the ye

Published 04 Jan, 2019 06:26am

Miscellaneous

Dealing with taxation ills

The biggest economic problem in Pakistan is persistently high fiscal deficit and within it the narrow tax base and low t

Published 03 Jan, 2019 06:50am

Miscellaneous

The second ship-breaking yard

The establishment of a ship breaking yard at Gwadar has been approved by the government. Balochistan already has one of

Published 03 Jan, 2019 06:32am

Miscellaneous

Inflation waiting for electricity shock

Consumer inflation measured by CPI for December 2018 clocked in at 6.17 percent. This is lower than market expectations

Published 03 Jan, 2019 06:26am

Miscellaneous

Can trade diplomacy really deliver?

Pakistani governments have been trying to boost exports for a long time. Various ‘export packages’ have been experimente

Published 02 Jan, 2019 05:19am

Miscellaneous

EU’s palm oil ban in Pakistan’s favour

In December 2015, Denmark, France, UK, Germany, Netherlands, and Norway signed the Amsterdam Declaration declaring thems

Published 02 Jan, 2019 05:09am

Miscellaneous

Envoys conference: trade mission reforms

Yesterday’s piece on envoy conference concluded by flagging that no formal mechanism of coordination currently exists be

Published 01 Jan, 2019 06:59am

Miscellaneous

Learning the ropes

The year 2018 started with concerns for Pakistan’s political stability. After much ado, the New Year dawns with an eerie

Published 01 Jan, 2019 06:49am

Miscellaneous

Envoys conference: a lost opportunity?

Islamabad held a two-day envoys’ conference late last week. The agenda was to deliberate ways and means to grow foreign

Published 31 Dec, 2018 06:15am

Miscellaneous

Taxes: third time may not be a charm

With yet another mini budget expected next month amid steeply falling short of revenue collection target - and before th

Published 31 Dec, 2018 06:13am

Miscellaneous

Muscle or machine

After experiencing nearly 30 percent growth in sales in FY18, the tractor industry is now invariably prepared for a slow

Updated 28 Dec, 2018 10:48am

Miscellaneous

Wooing Chinese private sector

The PTI is in an unenviable position. Of the many things the ruling party has to do to fix the country’s external imbala

Published 27 Dec, 2018 06:40am

Miscellaneous

Gender balancing

If global rankings are taken as a gauge, gender inequality can’t get worse than where the latest World Economic Forum’s

Published 27 Dec, 2018 06:33am

Miscellaneous

CPEC: 8th JCC

The 8th Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) meeting was held late last week, but sentiments among business and policy comm

Published 26 Dec, 2018 06:41am

Miscellaneous

Moving towards soda tax

It has been over three weeks since the federal government announced its intent to impose a ‘sin tax’ on cigarettes and b

Published 26 Dec, 2018 06:36am

Miscellaneous

US pullout: more uncertainty

The US President started 2018 with a biting tweet lashing out at Pakistan and is ending the year with a fine New-year pr

Published 26 Dec, 2018 06:35am

Miscellaneous

Oilseed cultivation – a win on all sides

China plans to remove import and export tariffs on a range of goods at the start of January next year. For most part, Pa

Published 26 Dec, 2018 06:29am

Miscellaneous

5MFY19 – Exports round up

Exports and imports both have stagnated at around 1 percent growth YoY. Though the cooling down of imports has decreased

Published 24 Dec, 2018 05:39am

Miscellaneous

The Afghan question

Peace in Afghanistan remains hostage to an on-again, off-again dialogue among more than half a dozen stakeholders. Almos

Published 20 Dec, 2018 05:50am

Miscellaneous

Balochistan issues: accept and address

Every time Balochistan expresses concerns over zero or weak progress on the development of CPEC’s western corridor, ther

Published 19 Dec, 2018 06:31am

Miscellaneous

A boost for REITs?

The real estate sector has come under the government’s scrutiny, which is trying to formalise the sector with ongoing mo

Published 19 Dec, 2018 06:25am

Miscellaneous

PBC & Pakistan

For those who are still unsure, the battle of Islamabad has been won by big corporates. That was the single biggest take

Published 18 Dec, 2018 06:20am

Miscellaneous

The non-NFC agenda!

A host of recent media reports say that Balochistan is deeply concerned about its share of CPEC projects. Given the clou

Published 13 Dec, 2018 06:25am

Miscellaneous

Trade data: no reason to rejoice

Imports in November 2018 stood at $4.6 billion – fifth consecutive month for imports under $5 billion. That is about the

Published 13 Dec, 2018 06:16am

Miscellaneous

Economics of sports

Given the current economic crisis at hand, some out-of-the-box theories have been presented to address the situation. Fr

Published 13 Dec, 2018 06:13am

Miscellaneous

Fighting climate risks

Coal power generation is one ‘dirty’ business in this age of rising environmental concerns, and Pakistan is going to get

Published 13 Dec, 2018 06:10am

Miscellaneous

Pakistan-Iran trade discrepancies

Trade with Iran is at record low levels. Import data from SBP indicates Pakistan imported just $59,000 worth of goods fr

Published 12 Dec, 2018 06:31am

Miscellaneous

Lessons in cinema and groundwater

Sinkholes make for good drama in post-apocalyptic movies. And humanity’s fascination with sudden rupture of ground that

Published 11 Dec, 2018 05:34am

Miscellaneous

Dark night

What are the origins of societal change? In a world of over 7 billion people, a billion theories abound. It is, however,

Published 10 Dec, 2018 05:40am

Miscellaneous

Any love for environment?

A key factor oft ignored these days while discussing smog is Pakistan’s increasing reliance on coal-powered generation.

Published 10 Dec, 2018 05:36am

Miscellaneous

Sugar year roundup

Sugarcane crushing season is upon us; and if interim financials of millers are any guide, the coming year does not look

Published 07 Dec, 2018 06:01am

Miscellaneous

Maize in a post-sugarcane Pakistan

Sugarcane harvest season is upon us. That time of the year when most newspaper readers idly lament growers’ and millers’

Published 07 Dec, 2018 05:57am

Miscellaneous

Palm oil and ghee

The key ingredient in making vegetable ghee is palm oil. Palm oil is also the preferred choice in the confectionary, bak

Published 07 Dec, 2018 05:54am

Miscellaneous

Failed governance mindset

Pharmaceutical, dairy, beef, stock market, housing industry, cabs, logistics, sugar, and so many other industries have s

Published 05 Dec, 2018 05:47am

Miscellaneous

Chicken and eggs go dearer

The CPI for November clocked in at 6.5 percent. Quite expectedly too, as the last month’s gas price revision of 85 perce

Updated 05 Dec, 2018 07:06am

Miscellaneous

Kartarpur religious tourism potential

While the visa-free Kartarpur corridor for Sikhs has stirred up some controversy, it is on the whole hailed as a positiv

Published 05 Dec, 2018 05:43am

Miscellaneous

Facilitating imported cotton

Despite being the fourth largest cotton producing country in the world, Pakistan’s cotton crop has continued to show dis

Published 05 Dec, 2018 05:42am

Miscellaneous

A win for both sides

Pakistan and India relations have always blown more hot than cold. While regional prosperity has often been linked to hi

Published 04 Dec, 2018 05:09am

Miscellaneous

Averting ‘Airpocalyse’

Crispy clear blue skies are a hallmark of winters; unfortunately, some major urban centres in Pakistan particularly Laho

Published 04 Dec, 2018 04:59am

Miscellaneous

Life-support to SOEs

That a majority of state-owned-enterprises (SOEs) have been on life-support, or clutches in the best-case scenario, is n

Updated 03 Dec, 2018 06:38am

Miscellaneous

Furnace oil: Embrace it, don’t destroy it

The furnace oil uplifting issue is finally getting attention from the ECC, as news reports suggest CCoE ordered immediat

Published 30 Nov, 2018 06:04am

Miscellaneous

Karachi Circular Railway and (un)housing

The Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) is going to be revived. Back in the 80s, KCR was a choice mode of transportation for

Published 30 Nov, 2018 05:56am

Miscellaneous

100 days for course correction

Seen by many as a sign of commitment to good governance, the self-imposed 100-day deadline offered up by the PTI-led gov

Published 30 Nov, 2018 05:54am

Miscellaneous

Managing SOEs

Pakistan has about 197 state-owned enterprises (SOEs), reporting to 18 ministries and two divisions, according to the la

Published 29 Nov, 2018 05:36am

Miscellaneous

The spaces between us

Space is a scarce resource, and Pakistani cities have learned that the hard way, now grappling with ill-designed densifi

Published 29 Nov, 2018 05:23am

Miscellaneous

Thailand – the next FTA

Past governments have gone on a trade agreement signing frenzy resulting in numerous FTAs and PTAs, not to mention dorma

Published 29 Nov, 2018 05:21am

Miscellaneous

Ushering a corn(y) revolution

Corn (maize) has long been the stepchild amongst Pakistan’s preferred choice of cereals. Despite highest yield per hecta

Published 28 Nov, 2018 04:45am

Miscellaneous

Media swings

The media crunch is real but a bit hyped by the media houses themselves. Ever since, the deregulation of the (electronic

Published 27 Nov, 2018 05:48am

Miscellaneous

SOEs: elephants on the table

That it takes two years after the end of financial years to compile basic financial and operational metrics of state-own

Updated 27 Nov, 2018 06:09am

Miscellaneous

Slowdown in PSDP

“Development” spending has remained a fiscal orphan for long. Facing fiscal and external adjustments, the newly-minted P

Published 27 Nov, 2018 05:45am

Miscellaneous

Looking westward for water (2)

In the first part of this column, need for a treaty over shared river waters between Pakistan and Afghanistan was stress

Published 27 Nov, 2018 05:42am

Miscellaneous

The odyssey of Naya-Karachi

Karachi thrives in a kind of controlled chaos which separates it from most cities in the world, though some parallels ca

Updated 26 Nov, 2018 06:54am

Miscellaneous

Pakistan-IMF: Be right back!

The IMF mission left Pakistan on a neutral note. The negotiations were not conclusive, but they did not fail either. The

Published 23 Nov, 2018 06:09am

Miscellaneous

Don’t poke the bear

The US President is still smarting from the Republicans’ losses in the recent midterms. The Democrats’ taking back contr

Published 23 Nov, 2018 06:07am

Miscellaneous

PSE reforms: how about a U-turn?

If Finance Minister Asad Umar would have his way, Pakistan would soon stand shoulder to shoulder with Malaysia, Qatar an

Updated 23 Nov, 2018 08:31am

Miscellaneous

Looking westwards for water

Discourse in Pakistan’s mainstream media is dominated by Lahore-Karachi urban intelligentsia. One casualty of this bias

Published 20 Nov, 2018 06:11am

Miscellaneous

Can Pakistan still catch the boat to Qatar?

Qatar looks confident roughly a year and a half after the sudden economic and diplomatic blockade imposed on the tiny St

Published 20 Nov, 2018 06:05am

Miscellaneous

The poverty tap

After announcing the ambitious housing plan, PM Khan now plans to introduce a mega poverty alleviation program, and for

Published 19 Nov, 2018 08:17am

Miscellaneous

FBR sunset

Yesterday’s piece ended with reports that PM Imran Khan is very unhappy with the FBR’s performance, where sources from P

Published 16 Nov, 2018 06:58am

Miscellaneous

CPI rationalized — now methodology’s turn

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), in a rare move, adjusted the monthly consumer price inflation for October 2018.

Published 16 Nov, 2018 06:44am

Miscellaneous

Doing business: bridging province gap

Pakistan’s ease of doing business ranking took a turn a for the better by jumping up 11 places and the country is now ra

Published 16 Nov, 2018 06:41am

Miscellaneous

Reforming FBR: don’t wing it

Everyone is going gaga over the in-principle cabinet decision to separate tax policy from tax administration at the Fede

Published 15 Nov, 2018 06:47am

Miscellaneous

Leveraging purchasing power

A monopsony is a simple economic theory that dictates that a large buyer controls a big chunk of the market and thus has

Published 15 Nov, 2018 06:42am

Miscellaneous

Achieving $1 billion potential

The challenges in increasing Pakistan’s exports to China by $1 billion this year were discussed earlier in this space. W

Published 14 Nov, 2018 06:36am

Miscellaneous

Thinking beyond the FBR

First time in a long time, a democratic elected government is seemingly seriously thinking about the separation of tax e

Published 13 Nov, 2018 06:17am

Miscellaneous

Of exports to China

Post PM’s trip to China, China has agreed to increase its imports from Pakistan this year. While reports differ whether

Published 13 Nov, 2018 06:13am

Miscellaneous

In search of real investments

“Nothing sells like a real (investment) transaction,” the new BOI chief told BR Research in an interview last week (to b

Published 13 Nov, 2018 06:11am

Miscellaneous

Not far from the madding crowd

Karachi will become the third most populous city in the world by 2030 as predicted by a latest Euromonitor report, growi

Published 12 Nov, 2018 06:56am

Miscellaneous

Leveraging inefficiencies in water consumption

Water security has thankfully, taken center stage in our public and academic discourse. Yet, like all things Pakistani,

Published 09 Nov, 2018 06:06am

Miscellaneous

Behind the scenes of CPI blooper

The recent CPI blooper leading to a much-more-than-expected inflation number for October 2018 has caught the attention

Published 09 Nov, 2018 06:01am

Miscellaneous

Textile, gas and comedy of errors

The government is making a mockery of itself in an effort to subsidize energy needs for textile exporting sector in Punj

Updated 08 Nov, 2018 06:52am

Miscellaneous

Retail fuels losing steam

Driving the growth momentum in petroleum product sales, the retail fuels volumes are plateauing now. There is a visible

Updated 08 Nov, 2018 06:51am

Miscellaneous

No blue wave in America

The Democrats pitched the November 6 mid-term elections a referendum on the idea of Trump. Unsurprisingly, Trump’s fear-

Published 08 Nov, 2018 06:26am

Miscellaneous

The face of the state

Amid all the talk of anti-corruption, and dismissal-no-dismissal of top bureaucrats as well as actual purges, inquires a

Published 07 Nov, 2018 06:41am

Miscellaneous

PTI team: first China trip

The PTI team first China trip is in continuity of firm long term bilateral relationship. There is no ambiguity that join

Published 07 Nov, 2018 06:41am

Miscellaneous

Disrupting the insurance landscape

Just like fintech start-ups are disrupting the traditional brick and mortar business models, insurance too is becoming a

Published 07 Nov, 2018 06:36am

Miscellaneous

High inflation; low common sense

Pakistan is not exactly known for sophisticated data availability. The recently released monthly inflation numbers for O

Published 06 Nov, 2018 06:24am

Miscellaneous

Wanted: rule of law

A pall of gloom descends on this land every now and then. No, this isn't about the winter smog or summer haze. Rather, t

Published 06 Nov, 2018 06:23am

Miscellaneous

Not so tough?

While Iran has had a history of facing sanctions, the latest round courtesy Trump has been hyped up to be harshest of th

Updated 06 Nov, 2018 12:14pm

Miscellaneous

Inflation: The PBS owes a correction

The CPI unexpectedly and mysteriously clocked in at 7 percent in October 2018. The consensus estimate was 5.6 percent. I

Published 05 Nov, 2018 07:40am

Miscellaneous

Doing Business: chasing a moving target

Every year, the World Bank makes corrections in the data that feeds it’s doing business rankings, some more noticeable t

Updated 05 Nov, 2018 08:02am

Miscellaneous

Smitten by smog

Spooky and dreary October 31st - smog in Lahore is scarier than Halloween. Calling it another season in Punjab won’t be

Published 05 Nov, 2018 07:36am

Miscellaneous

Water symposium: take it to parliament

“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored”, said Aldous Huxley. That seemed to be the motivation of the two-

Published 02 Nov, 2018 07:17am

Miscellaneous

Doing business: a long road ahead

Pakistan improved 11 ranks in Word Bank’s Doing Business indicators in 2018. Congratulations! India’s rank moved 23 spac

Updated 02 Nov, 2018 08:10am

Miscellaneous

Rethinking tube-well subsidy

Pakistan has a power sector circular debt problem. It also has an imminent water crisis looming on the horizon. The two

Published 02 Nov, 2018 07:15am

Miscellaneous

Balochistan overlooked water potential

Recall from grade school years the map of Pakistan. Through hazy memory of geography lessons one can visualize the rough

Published 02 Nov, 2018 07:13am

Miscellaneous

Corporate environment governance

Environmental disasters are not new to Pakistan. The Clifton beach in Karachi still reminds beach goers of the Tasman Sp

Updated 31 Oct, 2018 09:02am

Miscellaneous

Trade numbers round up

The first quarter of the fiscal year continues its promising trend of slowed imports and rising exports, resulting in tr

Updated 31 Oct, 2018 06:43am

Miscellaneous

NFC: roller coaster ride ahead

In recent news the federal cabinet decided that FATA will get three percent share under the National Finance Commission

Published 30 Oct, 2018 05:59am

Miscellaneous

Global politics of palm oil

Prior to 2002, Pakistan was importing palm oil from Malaysia alone. Over the years, Indonesia’s share of palm oil has cr

Published 30 Oct, 2018 05:57am

Miscellaneous

Karachi, Karachi

What should be Karachi’s economic vision statement? That is the question the Islamabad-based think tank Prime Institute

Published 26 Oct, 2018 06:20am

Miscellaneous

On Saudi’s rescue and beyond

Something Imran is good at - apart from cricket, is in raising money. He demonstrated it as a social worker, and now he

Published 25 Oct, 2018 06:34am

Currency	Rate
USD PKR Interbank Selling / Nov 22	277.85
USD PKR Interbank Buying / Nov 22	277.65
USD to Japanese Yen / Nov 23	154.78
USD to Swiss Franc / Nov 23	0.89
Pound Sterling to USD / Nov 23	1.25
Euro to USD / Nov 23	1.04

Stock	Volume
S&P 500 / Nov 22	5,969.34
India Sensex / Nov 22	79,117.11
Tokyo Nikkei / Nov 22	38,283.85
Nasdaq / Nov 22	18,003.65
Hang Seng / Nov 22	19,229.97
FTSE 100 / Nov 22	8,262.08
Dow Jones / Nov 22	44,296.51
Germany DAX 30 / Nov 22	19,322.59

Item	Value
Karachi Cotton PKR/37.32 KG / Nov 22	17,785
Gold 10 Grams PKR / Nov 22	240,483
Crude Oil USD/Barrel / Nov 23	71.24
Gold Spot USD/Ounce / Nov 23	2,716.19
Cotton US¢/pound / Nov 23	70.77
Petrol/Litre / Nov 24	248.38

Stock	Price
786 Invest Ltd / Nov 24 786 Investments Limited(786)	6.82 ▼ 0.00 (0.00%)
AL-Abbas Sugar / Nov 24 Al-Abbas Sugar Mills Limited(AABS)	593.76 ▼ 0.00 (0.00%)
Agro Allianz / Nov 24 Agro Allianz Limited(AAL)	16 ▼ 0.00 (0.00%)
AL-Abid Silk / Nov 24 Al-Abid Silk Mills Limited(AASM)	3.49 ▼ 0.00 (0.00%)
Ali Asghar / Nov 24 Ali Asghar Textile Mills Limited(AATM)	70.89 ▼ 0.00 (0.00%)
Allied Bank / Nov 24 Allied Bank Limited(ABL)	120.21 ▼ 0.00 (0.00%)
Abbott Lab. / Nov 24 Abbott Laboratories (Pakistan) Limited(ABOT)	1,023.10 ▼ 0.00 (0.00%)
Abson Ind. / Nov 24 Abson Industries Limited(ABSON)	2.50 ▼ 0.00 (0.00%)
Alfalah ETF. / Nov 24 Alfalah Consumer Index ETF.(ACIETF)	12.55 ▼ 0.00 (0.00%)

Stock	Price
786 Invest Ltd / Nov 24 786 Investments Limited(786)	6.82 ▲ 0.00 (0.00%)
AL-Abbas Sugar / Nov 24 Al-Abbas Sugar Mills Limited(AABS)	593.76 ▲ 0.00 (0.00%)
Agro Allianz / Nov 24 Agro Allianz Limited(AAL)	16 ▲ 0.00 (0.00%)
AL-Abid Silk / Nov 24 Al-Abid Silk Mills Limited(AASM)	3.49 ▲ 0.00 (0.00%)
Ali Asghar / Nov 24 Ali Asghar Textile Mills Limited(AATM)	70.89 ▲ 0.00 (0.00%)
Allied Bank / Nov 24 Allied Bank Limited(ABL)	120.21 ▲ 0.00 (0.00%)
Abbott Lab. / Nov 24 Abbott Laboratories (Pakistan) Limited(ABOT)	1,023.10 ▲ 0.00 (0.00%)
Abson Ind. / Nov 24 Abson Industries Limited(ABSON)	2.50 ▲ 0.00 (0.00%)
Alfalah ETF. / Nov 24 Alfalah Consumer Index ETF.(ACIETF)	12.55 ▲ 0.00 (0.00%)

Stock	Volume
WorldCall Telecom / Nov 24 Worldcall Telecom Limited(WTL)	177,135,830 ▲ 0.00
K-Electric Ltd. / Nov 24 K-Electric Limited(KEL)	124,131,268 ▲ 0.00
Hascol Petrol / Nov 24 Hascol Petroleum Limited(HASCOL)	105,013,176 ▲ 0.00
Fauji Foods Ltd / Nov 24 Fauji Foods Limited(FFL)	77,697,371 ▲ 0.00
Treet Battery / Nov 24 Treet Battery Limited(TBL)	43,783,366 ▲ 0.00
B.O.Punjab / Nov 24 The Bank of Punjab(BOP)	36,573,763 ▲ 0.00
Sui South Gas / Nov 24 Sui Southern Gas Company Limited(SSGC)	32,719,678 ▲ 0.00
PIA Holding Co.Ltd / Nov 24 PIA Holding Company Limited(PIAHCLA)	27,969,689 ▲ 0.00
Cnergyico PK / Nov 24 Cnergyico PK Limited(CNERGY)	25,874,820 ▲ 0.00