The State Bank of Pakistan has finally picked its winners of the five digital banking licenses from the 20 contenders that had tossed their hats in the ring over nine months ago. Or rather, it issued them no-objection certificates, and they will now have to undergo a long process. For those in the fintech and startup circles, this triggered mixed reactions. It was quite like a reality show wher
The year 2022 was difficult for oil-importing countries, including Pakistan, as commodity prices shot through the roof. The steep increase in the cost of refined products, such as diesel, placed a significant strain on their trade balances and left consumers feeling the pinch at the pump. With a volatile global market, government officials in Pakistan must take proactive measures to mitigate any p
Enough has been said, written and read about the problems in the country. The blueprints are elementary in developmental economics textbooks. It doesn’t require rocket science knowledge to uplift a debt-stricken country with a GDP per capita of $1,700 to a more respectable $3,000 per capita. While the economic solutions are plenty and multi-pronged but require political will and resolve. Hence,
As the government finally makes up its mind to come up with a mini-budget and address other concerns of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that are set to further stoke up inflation, the unfolding political uncertainties continue to pose challenges in materialising their reasonable outcomes towards macroeconomic recovery path. Based on the prevailing and anticipated events in the run-up to
The Shehbaz Sharif-led coalition seems to have learnt it the hard way. His government is reported to have finally requested the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to send over its mission to Islamabad — preferably by the end of this week — for discussions around all the ‘thorny’ issues that have held back progress on its ninth programme review for almost four months, delaying disbursement of the ne