News

The echoes of Sisyphus’s struggle

In Greek mythology, Sisyphus faced an eternal chore: he had to push a large rock up a hill. However, whenever he neared the top, the sheer weight of the rock would overwhelm him, his arms would give way, and the boulder would roll back down the hill. As a result, Sisyphus had to start the laborious task all over again. Despite the endless nature of his punishment, one wonders if Sisyphus experi

Digital banks: force multipliers?

On January 13, 2023, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) issued five retail digital banks (RDB) No-Objection Certificates. The SBP communication advised that the successful applicants were Easypaisa Digital Bank (Alipay and Telenor), Hugo Bank (Getz, Atlas, and M&P), KT Bank (Kuda, Fatimah Fertiliser, and City School), Mashreq Bank, and Raqami Islamic Digital Bank (PKIC, Enertec, and Planet N). It al

CORPORATE WINDOW : The struggles of Pakistani Brits

The world is watching. Ignoring the standards of governance in social, political and economic spheres entails costly consequences. Pakistan desperately needs both goodwill and material support from people, nations and institutions to slowly and steadily rebuild trust, which is essential not just for progress but also for the country’s sustainability. It needs to be more mindful. “The tolerance

Empowering those left out

The Sindh government has taken some steps in the right direction to empower local government bodies (LBs), but the proposed measures fall short of the fiscal, administrative and legislative autonomy the civic bodies need to manage their functions efficiently and independently. Things will become clearer once the Provincial Finance Commission (PFC) announces its award within 180 days from the da

Microfinance’s downward spiral

Ever since venture capital (VC) started flowing into Pakistan, the local ecosystem has seen polarising debates on whether the companies being built are sustainable, given their generally questionable unit economics. From unbelievably high losses to calls for investigating lax corporate governance mechanisms, the space receives a high dose of flak, both fair and unfair, that may be disproportion