BR Research » Miscellaneous

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

Forex
World
Commodity

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

Gainers
Losers
Leaders

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

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