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| June 23, 2008 | Monday | Jamadi-us-Sani 18, 1429 |
A shift in Punjab’s economic policy
 Punjab’s budget for the next financial year beginning from July 1 — the first by the PML(N)-PPP coalition in the province — indicates a shift in some key economic and fiscal policies pursued by the previous PML(Q) government since 2003....
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Private sector to run govt schools
 Sindh plans to put government schools and dispensaries under private sector management for improving quality of education and health services in the province....
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Subsidies: good or bad economics
 Today when subsidies worldwide shield consumers from record oil prices, the representative government in Islamabad has decided to gradually withdraw it. The government will also continue to levy the sales tax...
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DAP subsidy — more fears, less hope
 DOES the government have the political will and administrative set-up efficient enough to ensure that the Rs1,000 per bag subsidy on Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) fertiliser is passed on to farmers? The...
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Gulf states seeking food security
FACED with a deepening food insecurity, the governments and private investors in the Gulf are seeking investments in farmland overseas....
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Budget 2008-09 : doing more to boost agriculture
 THE budget speech by Finance Minister Syed Naveed Qamar recognises the importance of agriculture as the backbone of the economy....
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Chemical agriculture
 PAKISTAN has been swamped by inferiority complex of its policy makers, a majority of whom were never leaders but were followers. You might put the same question to me and I...
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Resurrecting community boards
 THE Local Government Ordinance, 2001, has introduced the concept of Public Community Partnership (PCP) for development at the grassroots but it has not yielded significant results over the last six years....
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No light at the end of the tunnel
 Electricity consumers all over the country are enduring long hours of load shedding---8 to 12 hours a day---as a result of power crisis that has crippled civic life as well trade and industry.....
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Amendments in labour welfare laws
As announced in the budget 2008--09, the government is carrying out amendments in labour welfare laws and the Minimum Wages for Unskilled Workers Ordinance, 1969 to be enforced from July 1, 2008....
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World commodities
Oil: Crude oil rose to a record high of almost $140 a barrel on June 16 in the London market, despite news that Saudi Arabia was ready to raise output...
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The sluggish agricultural growth
What was disappointing about the performance of the economy in 2007-08 was not so much of its modest or low performance, as much as the vast gap between the very high target set and the reality....
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Crop sowing delayed on fertiliser shortage
 EVEN as the south-west monsoon set in early this year, farmers across India are facing an acute shortage of fertilisers. While preparations for the Kharif season have begun, farmers in many...
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Privatisation of SME Bank and its fallout
 TWO related but apparently contradictory developments took place in early June 2008. There were reports of an Italian government offer of soft loan to SME Bank Ltd....
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Curbing unethical practices
 The issue of insider trading, a menace that plagued the stock markets, has finally received the attention of the policy makers. In the new federal budget, the coalition government has prohibited insider trading....
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NWFP budget with a pro-poor bias
 While focusing on food and security, the NWFP government has evolved a strategy to stimulate economic activities with a pro-poor bias. The Rs170.9 billion budget with a small surplus of...
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The ‘why’ and ‘how’ of inflation
 The rising trend in the rate of inflation in the UK has become so worrisome that Mervyn King, the Governor of Bank of England, was forced last week to write the...
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Mobilisation of national savings
THE PPP-led coalition government has given an all-time high target of Rs150 billion to the Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) for 2008-09 after it surpassed its Rs30 billion target by...
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Options in agriculture
 Given the paradigm shift in agricultural prices in recent months, what are the options available to Pakistan’s policy makers? They need to proceed simultaneously on two tracks....
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Arabs diversifying overseas investment
 GLOBALISATION has taken yet another twist with some Middle Eastern countries deciding to grow their crops in other countries. The new strategy owes its origin to the current food crisis which has also hit the oil-rich Arab monarchies and emirates.....
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Stocks slump on foreign selling by 1,286.28 points
 STOCKS last week ran into deeper recession as values of share fell like house of cards under the weight of foreign selling and the supposed market rescuers kept to the sidelines...
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Rupee weakens on dollar demand
 The rupee remained mostly fluctuated this week against the American and European single common currencies. Strong dollar demand from importers, amid tight supplies persisted in the local currency market on the opening day of the week....
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Notes issued and in circulation increase
 On June 18, the State Bank of Pakistan raised the cut off yield on treasury bills of all three maturities. The benchmark six month T-bills rate went up to 11.49...
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Prices of rice varieties continue to decline
 FRESH decline in prices of most varieties of rice highlighted the trading on the Karachi wholesale commodity markets last week under the lead of IRRI and fine basmati varieties....
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