I HATE to be the bearer of bad news all the time. But circumstances don’t permit otherwise. In the last monetary policy statement of July 31, the State Bank said “inflation is likely to remain on downward path over the next 12 months”. But it is difficult to see how this will happen. There are a couple of reasons to believe why inflation may have peaked. First is what they call the “base effect
Economic growth must be driven by private investment to be stable and sustainable. Little wonder Pakistan has never been able to institute sustained growth due to insufficient investments. In order to make up for lower investments, successive civil and military governments have pursued policies that encourage consumption, mostly imported consumption due to lower domestic productivity, through l
The nation is commemorating independence today. An informal limited survey indicated that the number of individuals questioning these celebrations has increased this year. In addition to the usual sceptics and some segments of impoverished population, millennials and Generation Z (aged 11 to 40) have joined those in doubt in big numbers. This negativity feels peculiar at this juncture. The econ
The Power Division on Tuesday confessed at a public hearing that it was pleading imposition of Rs1.52 per unit surcharge on consumers of K-Electric for tariff increase approved by Shehbaz Sharif-led federal cabinet with a major blunder and needed rectification. Waseem Mukhtar, the newly appointed chairman of the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) who pushed for power tariff in
The Pakistani rupee fell by Rs3.42 against the US dollar during interbank trade on Wednesday, extending its losses from the previous day. The local currency dropped 1.16 per cent in the interbank market to close at Rs294.93 against the greenback, according to the State Bank of Pakistan data. In the open market, the dollar was being traded for Rs303.50 around 12:24pm. Yesterday, the rupee