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| May 14, 2007 | Monday | Rabi-us-Sani 26, 1428 |
Economy: a reality check
SEVENTY FOUR per cent of Pakistan’s population survives on a daily income of less than Rs120 (or $2) a day according to the recently released World Bank’s World Development Indicators....
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Stubborn inflation
Inflation, in nine months of this fiscal year, rose at an average rate of eight per cent against the full year target of 6.5 per cent....
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Major structural imbalances
Pakistan’s economic growth continues to be celebrated among official circles, despite increasing concerns about its sustainability. The marked rise in the stock market...
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Badly neglected and mismanaged social sector
SOCIAL sector has remained the most neglected sector. Riddled with bad governance, the country has been ignoring this sector. Carrying a history of wrong choices and inappropriate priorities...
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World economies
South Asia: The Asian Development Outlook 2007 released by the Asian Development Bank lately reveals that economic growth in Southeast Asia is projected to slow a little to 5.6 per cent in 2007...
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Grappling with debts and fiscal deficits
LAST year, on the eve of provincial budget 2007, Balochistan’s loans with the State Bank stood at Rs15 billion after payment of interest of over Rs262.7...
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Breathing space for MMA government
Financial year 2006-07 has provided some breathing space for the MMA government because of the higher than budgeted fiscal transfers by the centre....
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Facilitation and security of trade
Pakistan Customs works for two main objectives- trade facilitation and revenue collection. But it gives precedence to trade facilitation because it leads to greater revenue collection....
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Booming trade, air traffic between India and the USA
WHEN the Airbus A380, dubbed the ‘green giant,’ flew into Delhi – and later Mumbai – last week, it attracted thousands of curious onlookers in both the cities, most of who were struck by its sheer size....
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Social relief fund for the poor
The Sindh government is setting up a Rs70 billion Pension Fund, Rs50 billion General Provident Fund and a Rs40 billion Social Relief Fund to finance income-generating projects for the poor....
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More consumption, less exports
PAKISTAN’S external trade deficit within the first 10 months of the financial year has soared to over $11 billion, which is 16.8 per cent higher than it was in the same period last year....
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Districts outperform provincial government
The Punjab government has revised upwards its estimated annual provincial development programme (ADP) by 2.61 per cent or Rs2.3 billion to Rs90.3 billion in spite of the fact that during July-March 2007 it has managed to utilise merely 45.93...
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Strategy for reducing poverty
Does the federal budgetary exercise conducted every year with great fanfare mean anything for the country’s poor?...
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Exchange and interest rates outlook
As anticipated earlier, the rupee crossed the 60.60 a dollar barrier in the inter-bank market during the week ending on May 12. The rupee rose to a new high of 60.51...
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Taxing the bourses
There are four major taxes that have a relatively direct and strong impact on the stock market....
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The flip side of the economy
President Musharraf kicked off the budget season by announcing earlier this month that the revenue collection target for the next year should be Rs1 trillion and that the aim for next 10 years is to cross the mark of Rs4 trillion....
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Robust corporates keep investors in the arena
THE Karachi Stock Exchange 100-share index last week confidently stood well above the recently broken psychological barrier of 12,000 points despite some massive jolts in between as positive news on the corporate front did not allow investors to leave the arena....
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Investments of scheduled banks increase by Rs47 billion
On May 9, the State Bank of Pakistan raised Rs19.51 billion through the auction of 3, 6 and 12 month T-bills. The SBP had set a target of Rs15 billion....
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Rupee moves both ways, firm against dollar
The rupee displayed a firm trend against the dollar and euro in the local currency market this week. It moved both ways and traded in a narrow range throughout the week on comfortable dollar supply position in the market....
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Prices of all varieties of rice shoot up
A fresh price flare-up on the rice sector featured the last week’s trading on the Karachi wholesale commodity markets where other essential items also rose in sympathy....
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