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| April 14, 2008 | Monday | Rabi-us-Sani 7, 1429 |
The rice price boom
 THE benefits of the boom in the international commodity prices have started trickling down to peasants and farm labour located in dusty hutments in the countryside, many oceans away from bustling trading centres in the West....
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Huge challenges, puny response
 There seems a dangerous disconnect between the economic challenges confronting Pakistan and its response to it. The leadership’s inability to anticipate their gravity and the inadequacy of its response could prove disastrous....
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Initiatives for development in Sindh
 After getting a vote of confidence from Sindh Assembly, the Chief Minister-elect, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, unfolded last week an ambitious and a populist programme that includes the setting up of a Sindh Bank....
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Another wheat crisis in the making ?
 IT is surprising that in the manifestos of various political parties, not much attention has been paid to the problems and challenges faced by the agriculture sector....
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The food security muddle
 MANY have written on the food security issues, but few, if any, have gone to the fields to see for themselves as to what has really happened....
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Surging rice price, domestic consumers and exports
 RICE prices continue to rise with non-basmati varieties witnessing the highest increase. The situation makes the task of the new government extremely difficult in controlling food inflation....
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Gwadar port: ‘history-making milestones’
 “Gwadar Port finally making history by beginning its cargo handling from March 15, 2008,” says a newspaper report....
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Climate change and vulnerability of Sindh coast
 Our planet has experienced damaging climatic change in recent years. It is not that the human race is experiencing climatic wrath first time in history but the alarming side is its frequency, intensity and growing unpredictability....
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Inflation cripples reforms
 IT is one of the most dreaded words in the dictionary of a politician. ‘Inflation,’ or the ‘I’ word, has played havoc with the electoral plans of political parties in the...
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The long wait for bank loans
 THE small and medium enterprises (SME) sector of the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan has a demand of more than Rs5 billion credit, whereas the banks have just lend Rs300 million or...
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Focus on uplift
Few annual budgets of the developing countries have unusual and unpredictable features. All of them promise too much and deliver too little. They raise hopes among the poor and the deprived which often do not materialise....
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World commodities
Gold:The International Monetary Fund has proposed the sale of 403.3 tonnes of gold to bolster its sagging coffers as part of a critical financial overhaul. The sale, amounting
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Business competitiveness
 WHILE compliance with many of the requirements of the international financial institutions (IFIs) is sought rather willingly, there is a tendency to ignore the requirements for competitiveness in an international environment that the IFIs have been liberalising per force....
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Streamlining domestic commerce
 Economists have long been pleading for unleashing the potential of domestic commerce – which includes retail and wholesale trade, entertainment, construction, transport, storage, warehousing, communication, real estate, financial and personal services, etc – for sustainable economic growth....
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UK’s housing sector in turmoil
 A survey released last week by Halifax, UK’s leading mortgage lender showed a 2.5 per cent monthly fall in house prices.This is being seen as a signal that the impact of...
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Crumbling food security
 The World Food Programme (WFP) chief, Josette Sheeran highlighted last week the critical situation caused by decline in food stocks and surge in prices that has hit the world’s hungry....
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Incentives for ‘agriculture manufacturing’
 Confronted with slow growth in revenue generation and exports, not enough to manage fiscal and current account deficits, the newly elected government plans to focus on ‘agriculture manufacturing’ for which private sector will be provided fiscal stimulus....
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High prices on oil counter help stocks rebound
 A SNAP weekend rally pulled the market out of bearish mood as investors were back in the arena and made active covering purchases at the lower levels allowing the KSE 100-share index with a clipped loss....
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Rupee slides against greenback
 In the local currency market, the rupee is under pressure due to rising demand for dollars by the importers since the past few months....
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Investments by commercial banks decline
 In the auction held on April 9, the State Bank of Pakistan sold Rs37.68 billion, against bids worth Rs61.6 billion....
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Prices of gram, rice varieties increase
 PRICES of some essential commodities on the Karachi wholesale markets further increased under the lead of all varieties of IRRI and basmati as reports of short supply continued to inspire consumer demand....
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