Banks need to unlearn a few things
Banks must increase their lending to agriculture, SMEs, commodity financing and consumer sectors. That’s where demand
Mohiuddin Aazim
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.
A foggy dawn of fiscal discipline
The government has agreed to gradually reduce its stock of borrowings from the SBP in its negotiations with the IMF.
Agriculture initiative needs joint ownership
Pakistan will have to keep input prices from rising too fast in order to make the five-year agricultural emergency.
Fiscal challenges loom large
Achieving substantial growth in export earnings seems too difficult as subsidies on imports meant for export-oriented ..
Will the roller-coaster ride for rupee continue in 2019-20?
Had the IMF not insisted on letting the rupee slide, the SBP could have acted with less haste
Shift in exchange, interest rate policy unlikely
Pakistan is not going to free float the rupee, leaving exchange rates completely to demand and supply.
Pendulum swings towards commercial borrowing
If the govt is not going to borrow from SBP in next fiscal year, will it be borrowing excessively from commercial banks?
No compromise on fiscal discipline
FY20 is going to be tough, perhaps tougher than FY19 in terms of resource gaps in the government’s finance books.
AGRICULTURE: Saving dollars in food imports
It’s time for the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) to at least split the category of “all other items” into finished
Grit required in foreign exchange management
Pakistan’s ability to meet external-sector obligations without falling into a debt trap will be tested harshly
Rupee, interest rates and the economy
Some analysts assert that ruthless monetary tightening can choke economic growth as high interest rates increase ...