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| November 17, 2008 | Monday | Ziqa'ad 18, 1429 |
Will policy rate hikes work?
 The key admission the SBP governor made at her November 12 press conference was that “economic outcomes during the first four months of FY09 have deviated substantially from our expectations”....
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Hassles in a lucrative business place
 FOREIGN investors are dismayed for a number of factors — law and order, crumbling utilities, inconsistent official policies and the rising cost of doing business — but a majority of them...
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Maintaining the market benchmark rate
 Interest rate hikes force economy to slow down, corporate profits to erode and fresh investments to stall....
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Ensuring a fair price to rice growers
 THE early optimism about rice production — hope for a per acre increase of 15 to 20 per cent — may not hold this year, especially for basmati, as the crop...
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Are our soils balanced?
WHILE we keep on talking about Pakistan being an agricultural country, we do not have the right focus on seeds and soils that are the main ingredients of productivity....
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Diamer-Bhasha dam: risks and controversies
 THE Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) has approved construction of the 272-metre-high Diamer-Bhasha Dam with a capacity to generate 4,500MW of electricity per day....
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Snags in sugarcane production
 SUGARCANE is widely grown in Sindh, Punjab and NWFP. It is an important source of income and employment for the farming community. Its share in total agricultural value added and GDP are 4.5...
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Competition related issues in intellectual property rights
 THE International Property (IP) is not a new concept in world trade. But the scope of IP has been extended over the last 125 years initially from technology to concepts like...
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Neglected small enterprises
Small enterprises play an important role in the economic and social development. But unfortunately the sector has remained generally neglected and its importance has not been recognised....
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Boosting arms export
 The federal government plans to boost arms export to $100 million in three years by developing manufacturing facility for guns and accessories used in hunting and sports, officials say....
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Holistic approach to growth
PAKISTAN has climbed 75 positions in a new international ranking. The Sustainable Human Development Index (SDHI) placed the country at 61st position against 136th place in the UN sponsored Human Development Index (HDI)....
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World economies
Gulf States...Oil-dependent Arab states will be hurt as the global economy slides into recession, but a huge windfall accumulated over the past few years from oil sales will help them...
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Shipping bubble burst
 The maritime business the world over, which caters to 95 per cent of international trade, has started to slow down after a boom during 2000-2008....
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Managing stabilization and growth
 Going by the conventional wisdom, monetary and fiscal stimulus is required to shore up a sagging economy. These can be in the form of tax and interest rate cuts and increased government spending....
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Expanding radio cab services
 RADIO taxis are quite common in many cities around the world, but in India visitors – especially passengers at airports – are frequently harassed and fleeced by unscrupulous elements and cabbies, who dominate the taxi trade....
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The mess Obama inherits
 America has just elected a president with leadership and vision. President Obama is expected to choose a first rate economic team: individuals such as Larry Summers and Tim Geithner may be his choices for the position of the Treasury Secretary....
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Cotton growers concern on falling prices
 IN line with the declining global commodity markets, cotton prices in Pakistan are also falling. The local cotton slumped to under Rs3,000 per maund (37.32kg) on Nov 13 from Rs3,300 a week back....
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Spendings to overcome recession
 BRITAIN seems to have decided to spend its way out of the tight economic corner that the country seems to have landed itself into because of the credit crunch, slowdown of the real economy and the looming recession....
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Moves to resolve the crisis
 Pakistan’s current set of economic leaders seem to be moving towards the adoption of the approach I have been advocating for several months. But they don’t seem to have fully accepted what I had put forward....
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Old scars and the IMF approach
 The International Monetary Fund came under fire at the G-20 finance ministers meeting in Brazil on November 9 for what France described its “imperialist” approach in offering loans to the crisis-hit developing countries....
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‘Floor’ shields shares from fallout of interest rate hike
 THE stock market last week was saved from fresh big shakeout as negative fallout of two per cent hike in the discount rate to 15 per cent from 13 per cent...
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Rupee makes sharp recovery against dollar
 Remittances by overseas Pakistanis increased to $2.35bn in July-October of 2008-09, showing an increase of 12.71 per cent over the same period of last year. Despite these remittances and $7.1bn...
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Bank deposits shrink
 The State Bank of Pakistan has tightened its monetary policy by raising the discount rate by 200bps to 15 per cent. The increase was necessitated to bring corrections in the macroeconomic imbalances of the economy, says the SBP....
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Traders hold back stocks to avert price fall
 AFTER having suffered sharp fall during the previous week, prices of most of the essential items remained stable but still at higher levels and needed further pruning....
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