News

‘Fishing’ for exports

Pakistan’s fish and fish preparations exports have shown a growth of 26 per cent in quantity and 23pc in value during 5MFY23 as efforts by the exporters to find new markets with product diversification, rupee devaluation against the dollar and high value of some species are finally paying off. Industry sources say that exporters have made serious efforts to enhance exports without any support f

Short-sighted policies

Pakistan has not run out of gas overnight. At the turn of the 21st century, sufficient gas supplies and sources were available in Pakistan. As per a study by Hagler Bailey, there were limitations on the gas transmission system to lift gas from all the sources, but there was no gas shortage for any segment of the consumers. The said study, however, had a limited scope of finding a market for the

Why female financial inclusion matters

Pakistan’s financial inclusion numbers are the worst in the region for both males and females. According to the latest data, about 8 out of 10 women in Pakistan do not have access to a bank account. Given the relatively low rate of digital adoption, this means one of two things: women carry cards in the names of their male relatives, so all their expenses are open to scrutiny, or all their deal

Tracing the roots of the crisis

We, as a nation, produce much less than we consume. In the predominantly consumption-led economic growth, the domestic demand is met by imports that ballooned to $80 billion last fiscal year. And imports are not a component part of the Gross Domestic Product. Workers’ remittances finance domestic consumption and are not channelled into productive activities. The brain drain deprives us of the s

Finance: Ignoring fruitful avenue

Pakistan is facing a severe foreign exchange crisis. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has effectively stopped banks from retiring letters of credit or opening new ones if they don’t have enough foreign exchange of their own to do the same. The reason is the central bank’s forex reserves are too low to let banks and financial markets work normally. Only external debt repayments are being managed