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CORPORATE WINDOW: Pakistan’s fiscal policy odyssey

As Pakistan faces mounting economic challenges, the government’s ambitious proposal to raise Rs1.2 trillion to Rs1.3tr in the upcoming budget through new taxation measures signals a bold attempt to stabilise the nation’s fiscal health. However, the effectiveness of these measures is tempered by the inherent weaknesses in Pakistan’s tax system, which is fragmented and unfair and leaves entire se

Govt in a fix amid IMF diktat on tax policy

THE upcoming budget presents challenges for the fragile federal coalition government. The 10-day IMF mission visit concludes with a focus on increasing revenue collection and reform demands. Undoubtedly, reforms are important, but the lender’s primary focus is increasing revenue through existing and new tax initiatives in the upcoming budget. However, the IMF delegation left without a final dec

Finance: Economic challenges remain

Good things have started happening in Pakistan’s economy, but challenges remain and may even compound in the near future. The Pakistani economy contracted by 0.21 per cent in the last fiscal year. However, it began recovering in the first quarter of this year. The pace of recovery remained at 2.7pc in the first quarter, followed by 1.8pc and 2.1pc in the second and third quarters. The govern

Need to cut reliance on foreign AI solutions

Without developing local AI capabilities, Pakistan may become increasingly dependent on foreign AI solutions,” said ByeongJo Kong, Digital Technology Specialist (Data Analytics & Big Data) at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in response to an emailed query. This dependency not only incurs higher costs but could also place critical infrastructure and systems under the control of foreign entities

Telcos launch call, data packages for Haj pilgrims

Despite the availability of pre-activated Sims for Haj pilgrims, telecom firms have launched competitive one-month packages that would cost less than Saudi Arabian Sims. Under a new facility for pilgrims this year, every individual performing Haj under the government scheme will be provided with one Ufone Sim containing eight GB data and 200 calling minutes. While Ufone will provide Sims to