Economy

By: Osama Rizvi A Blueprint for Much-needed Reforms With a $313bn economy (as per the latest 2018 figures released by the State Bank of Pakistan), Pakistan is a country that has undergone a panoply of changes during the recent years. The year 2016 was the annus mirabilis as the stock market yielded a mouth-watering return of 46 percent. Besides this, …

By: Sarfraz Saroya A Quick Guide In every country around the world, fiscal or budgetary constraints have seen the governments adopt supplementary and innovative approaches to infrastructure provisioning and funding, away from the traditional role of the government as the only infrastructure service-provider, to include the expertise and finance of the private sector. One such measure is Public-Private Partnership which …

By: Michael Spence Powerful implications of the Restructuring of the World A decade after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the world economy is back on shaky ground. In its latest World Economic Outlook, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that the world economy is at risk of another financial meltdown, following the failure of governments and regulators to push …

As concerns over Donald Trump’s import tariffs intensify and Britain renegotiates its trading relationship with Europe, the postwar consensus towards ever-closer economic cooperation between wealthy nations is being unpicked. Why is Trade Good? Economists argue about a lot of things, yet many would probably agree on the benefits of free trade, which generates wealth by allowing the free flow of …

On June 05, the federal minister for finance, Mr Ishaq Dar, presented the federal budget for the fiscal year 2015-16 with a total outlay of 4,451 billion. This size is 3.5% higher than that of budget estimates 2014-15. According to the official budget document, the resource availability has been estimated at Rs. 4.168 trillion against Rs.4,073.8 billion in the budget …

Although they say history is written by the victors, sometimes it’s just written by the elites. One such example can be found in the fall of Roman Empire. The demise of this once-mighty Empire is still the most powerful turning point in the world history. Though numerous causes can be attributed to the destruction of the Romans, one principal cause …

Fishing in the Troubled Waters The economy of Pakistan had been in turbulent waters since it remained grappling with one crisis after the other during the previous year. During this year Pakistan witnessed a lot more politics as well as the scourge of terrorism that left little room for reviving the crippling economy. In fact the year ended with a …

Islamic banking is defined as a banking system which is in consonance with the spirit, ethos and value system of Islam and governed by the principles laid down by Shariah. As per the ordainments of Shariah, Islamic banking cannot deal in transactions involving interest/riba (an increase stipulated or sought over the principal of a loan or debt).

Who are the winners and losers? During the course of past six months, the global oil prices have fallen sharply. From 2010 until mid-2014, world oil prices had been fairly stable, at around $110 a barrel. But since June 2014 these have almost halved. On January 13, 2015 the price of a barrel of Brent Crude crashed through the psychological …

A Russian Viewpoint The European Union and United States have been targeting Russia with economic sanctions. On 17 March 2014, the EU imposed the first travel bans and asset freezes against Russian and Ukrainian officials following Russia’s annexation of Crimea as there was “absence of de-escalatory steps by the Russian Federation”. Here is a write-up which elucidates the Russian viewpoint …