News

CORPORATE WINDOW: Bureaucrats on SOE boards

LET’S begin by discussing the conclusion: an Independent Non-Executive Director’s (INED) perspective is incomprehensible to a state structure bureaucrat who has been trained to avoid risk throughout their career, has kept ministries away from modern technologies, and treats their clients (the nation’s citizens) as children of a lesser God. To comprehend this, let’s take a brief look at the pres

Is the rupee poised to depreciate?

BUSINESSMEN and investors want to know how long the rupee may remain stable. Many fear that the local currency might lose its worth against the mighty US dollar in the coming weeks and months. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) doesn’t have enough foreign exchange reserves to cover even two months of import bills for goods. This means that the rupee will start losing ground whenever market-driven

The great tax exodus

TAX evasion significantly impedes human development in Pakistan, hindering the provision of essential public services, addressing socio-economic disparities, and ensuring a sustainable future. Despite efforts to strengthen the tax system, evasion persists, depriving the government of revenue and hindering investment in critical sectors of education, healthcare, infrastructure, and social welfare.

Echoes of the 2008 financial crisis

EVENTUALLY, the world is starting to feel the ripple effects of the US commercial real estate turmoil. The real estate market distress goes back to issues — such as reduced office demand and apartments that were overbought at their peak values — stemming from the Covid pandemic. The crisis is exacerbated by rising borrowing costs resulting from monetary tightening by the Fed to tame decades-hig

Stocks lose 1,133 points on instability fears

Bears took over the trading floor of the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Thursday after Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf nominated candidates for prime minister and Punjab chief minister as it also started contacts with different parties for the formation of coalition governments. Also, the Pakistan Peoples Party’s reluctance to join Shehbaz Sharif’s cabinet despite announcing support to elect him as prime