Beyond the thousands directly affected by the devastating floods, countless struggling Pakistanis, still waiting for promised relief from improved macroeconomic indicators, now fear the wider impact of the crisis on their already difficult lives. If flooding persists and recovery and reconstruction efforts remain slow, the fallout on food security, livelihoods, and household resilience could in
In mid-August in Washington, DC, the spotlight was on soybeans, a humble crop with a big impact on global food security. At Soy Connext 2025, organised by the US Soybean Export Council, more than 700 participants from 59 countries came together to discuss how soy can help feed a growing world. Trade teams from 34 countries, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and others, toured Ame
Agriculture has always been the backbone of Pakistan’s economy. In 1947, most of the land was concentrated in the hands of large landlords, while peasants were denied equal rights. The first major attempt at reform came in the 1960s under General Ayub Khan, who introduced a land reform programme aimed at redistributing land from big landlords to small farmers. However, these reforms largely fai
Though we have celebrated 78 years of independence, our economic independence falls short with every new International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. Under the National Tariff Policy 2025–30, Pakistan plans to gradually flatten its customs regime by normalising commercial imports of used vehicles, liberalising trade and reducing protection for industries that failed to scale. Under this new
With the current auto policy soon expiring in June 2026, it is unfortunate that targets fixed under it between 2007 and 2025 have remained largely unmet owing to multiple reasons, but primarily due to the lack of consistent implementation by the government of its own policies. As per a report prepared by the Pakistan Automotive Parts and Accessories Manufacturers Association (Paapam), the low d