Will Baqir cut rates?
A gradual easing of monetary policy is essential for reinvigorating economic activities.
Mohiuddin Aazim
Youth loans: numbers aren’t impressive
Imparting professional education to young women and then financially empowering them via subsidised ...
Let’s buy SBP’s optimism with caution
The fiscal deficit may remain high as the government continues to borrow heavily to retire old debts
Why foreigners want our bonds
The government’s overreliance on international investment to accumulate forex reserves is unwise
Challenges on the remittances’ front
The concentration of expatriate Pakistanis in Saudi Arabia and the UAE makes our inflows too vulnerable
Inflation horse ignores monetary reins
High inflation is partly because of the excessive cash injection into the economy via government borrowing from ...
Is exchange rate stability sustainable?
SBP reserves can’t cover even two months of our significantly reduced merchandise imports.
AGRICULTURE: Organic farming needs attention
Exporters of organic food products currently get organic certification from abroad because no such authority exists
Banks’ fight against bad loans
Apart from the economic slowdown, a sharp rise in interest rates can also be blamed for the build-up in NPLs
Banking for development
Policymakers and ordinary people need to know exactly what banks have done so far to achieve the SDGs.
Banks need to unlearn a few things
Banks must increase their lending to agriculture, SMEs, commodity financing and consumer sectors. That’s where demand
AGRICULTURE: Love thy farmer
Block-chain technology should be used to record and update the status of crops. In China, the idea took off in late 2017
Inflation remains high, reading methods change
The CPI has now become more representative and inclusive.
Fiscal challenges all around
Foreign investors are likely to adopt a wait-and-see policy and reassess the risks associated with strategic investment
Banks’ romance with the government
Personal loans are growing noticeably as financial stress and high inflation have reduced people’s net income
Inflation may erode PTI’s political capital
The government has so far not been able to keep inflation in check even for people in the lowest income group.
Small and medium enterprises are in trouble
Lots of Chinese SMEs are expected to compete with their Pakistani counterparts.
Something is wrong with our food exports
Exporting larger volumes of rice, wheat and sugar stokes domestic inflation, sometimes making these items too expensive.
Is private-sector lending riskier now?
Bankers say people had to borrow to avoid defaults on their past loans taken at floating rates.
Tough times for people and businesses
Annualised inflation measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) soared to 12.7pc in June.