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| November 10, 2008 | Monday | Ziqa'ad 11, 1429 |
Time to cut interest rates
 Given that the current account deficit is now likely to continue to shrink for the next several months, the month-on-month core inflation rate has fallen every month since May 2008, the...
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Christmas exports
 While the volume of export orders for Christmas in Europe and the US remains largely unchanged this year, foreign buyers are complaining of a sizeable drop in their domestic sales and building up of imported stocks....
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Small enterprises struggle for survival
 The small and medium manufacturers are under a lot of stress. Galloping inflation, frequent power cuts, cash flow crunch, dwindling confidence in the economy and growing wage demands mean that the...
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Delay likely in sowing of wheat
 THE dream of wheat target may not come true this Rabi season. Three new but crucial factors, besides a host of old ones, have emerged to work as a damper on the ambitious target of 25 million tones of wheat production....
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Computerisation without land title
THERE has been a lot of talks recently about computerisation of the land record system and its benefits. Access to capital would increase as a computerised system would facilitate disbursement of loans to farmers who use land as collateral....
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Managing natural resource at the district level
 THE devolution plan has not been able to fully meet the aspirations of the people as envisaged, particularly in the provision of basic amenities to the masses, and the environment sector remains most neglected....
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Post-harvest processing for quality rice
 The level of efficiency of field management operations with timeframe of weather, pest and disease incidence at different crop stages and post-harvest processing have a bearing on the yield and quality...
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How to overcome the economic crisis
 SOON after its induction in March 2008, the elected government faced an abrupt increase in international oil and food prices. It resulted in a huge current account deficit and diminishing of...
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Financial crisis to increase poverty
 The cost of current financial crisis will be borne primarily by hundreds of millions people who had no share in the benefits of the previous economic expansion, says an International Labour Organisation study....
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Back to basics
 It was interesting to see the word “greed” appearing in the newspapers in the context of the recent financial crises....
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World commodities
OIL...Oil prices have fallen from record high of $147.24 in July. The slide followed weak US economic data that provided the latest indications of sharply reduced demand for....
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Interest rates reduced on housing loans
 THE Indian mortgage industry, which is less than three decades old, has managed to shield itself from the ravaging financial hurricane that has knocked off hundreds of billions of dollars of ‘toxic assets’ from established western financial institutions....
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Creating a new multilateralism
 World Bank President Robert Zoellick’s suggestion to create a new architecture of multilateralism to achieve a greater balance among the world’s leading economic powers comes at a time when the entire...
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Need to cut discount rate
 Once the second fastest growing economy after China, Pakistan appears to be on the verge of foreign debt default And the world’s best performing stock market has landed into its a serious crisis for lack of agile policies.....
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Deflationary trends on the horizon
 The rich world’s financial system is in a major and persistent turmoil. On the real economic side, all the advanced economies — representing over 60 per cent of global GDP —...
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Containing systemic risk
 It is now clear that, following the global trend, in 2008-09 Pakistan’s GDP growth could drop significantly, necessitating the containment of its consequences on employment and social stability, and the financial...
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Weakening industrial activity
 The 0.5 per cent plunge in the UK’s GDP in third quarter marked the start of the UK’s first recession in 17 years. And worse is expected to come....
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Policy focus in an uncertain environment
 Investors as well as economists dislike uncertainty. It makes it very hard to tell about the future. All investors must have some way of telling what will happen to the money...
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Continuity or change?
 CORPORATE Pakistan consumed by its own set of problems did not expect much from the US elections.They believed that institutions and not parties dictate the policies and election of Barack Obama might not affect the genesis of Pakistan-US economic relations....
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Off-the-floor selling assumes serious proportions
 THE share market last week remained in a terribly bad mood haunted partly by liquidity problems and partly by the absence of investors despite some positive developments on the international political...
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Rupee firm on dollar supplies
 Calm prevailed in the local currency market this week. Though demand for dollar existed in the market, its easy supply prevented sharp decline in the rupee value....
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SBP raises cut-off yield on 3-month T-bills
 On November 5, the State Bank of Pakistan raised the cut off yield on three month T-bills to 13.5313 per cent, against 12.5631 per cent in an auction on October 22....
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Prices of essentials fall on fear of liquidity crunch
 AFTER several weeks of sustained run-up, prices of most of the essential items on the Karachi wholesale market last week virtually crashed from the recent all-time highs on panic selling by...
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