Pak Affairs

  Global Value Chain Development Report 2019: Technological Innovation, Supply Chain Trade, and Workers in a Globalized World Brief Summary and Relevance to Pakistan Omer Hussan Bajwa Brief Summary The Global Value Chains Development Report 2019, a joint publication of World Trade Organization, Institute of Developing Economies and four other institutions, deeply and comprehensively analyses global value chains (GVCs) along …

Burgeoning Population of Pakistan A Ticking Time Bomb? Faridullah We are living in a century of population explosion where the time bomb of rising population is on ticking mode, and is approaching fast its threshold level.  Our sheer indifference towards the issue—itself an issue—has only made the situation worse. And, Pakistan still does not seem to have population control measures …

An Analysis of CE 2019 Result WTI Team Every year, after the result of Central Superior Services (CSS) examination is announced, there is a barrage of criticism against the system of examination and selection, based on some myths. This is unfair and counter-productive as well. It is unfair because criticism is not backed by any data and, therefore, the myths …

Promote Tourism to Project Soft Power Pakistan needs to cash in on the opportunity Mian Majid Ali Afzal Hard power was once considered one of the basic tools of foreign policy projection in the world.  However, with the rise of globalization and information revolution in post-Cold War era, the term “soft power” started gaining momentum. The term was popularized by …

Disaster Management Regime in Pakistan Aftab H. Wahla Disasters are inevitable. They are bound to strike in every country or region in the world. We cannot preemptively eliminate the ever-looming threats of devastations and destruction. What matters the most is the effectiveness of the disaster management system of the affected country. The way a state prepares for the disaster, responds …

Virtual Courts in Pakistan Prospects and challenges Zafrullah Saroya Advocate As they say ‘in every crisis, lies an opportunity’, the spread of coronavirus as well as the lockdown to curb it has offered us an opportunity to revamp our system in various sectors. However, the most important institution that can be revamped and reoriented is the judiciary. Since the lockdown …

Pakistan’s Tax policy Response to Covid-19 pandemic Bilal Hassan Pakistan is a middle income country with GDP per capita of USD 1,497 during 2018-19. Revenue mobilization is almost 50% of its potential with tax revenue-GDP ratio of 13.9% and non-tax revenue-GDP ratio of 2.4% during 2018/19. With limited resources like other developing countries, Pakistan will be facing serious challenges in …

Economic Survey of Pakistan 2019-20 No hits, many misses! On June 11, Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh launched Economic Survey of Pakistan 2019-20, according to which the country missed all major economic targets due to the coronavirus outbreak, which resulted in a negative 0.4 percent economic growth rate for the outgoing year. This …

Economic Crunch and Sinking SOEs M.H. Rehman Significance of economic stability for any country cannot be overemphasized, and in the presence of a constant drain on an economy, no matter how strong, economic stability will always remain a dream. Systemic fault lines in an economy—and that too formed and forged on political considerations—can tumble the whole economy if not addressed …

Constitutional Basis of Local Government in Pakistan Kamran Adil Introduction There is growing evidence to show the link between development and local government. Once again, the Covid crisis underlined the need for local government; it showed that non-traditional security threats had to be addressed by strengthening the governance and institutional structures. Almost whole of Pakistan witnessed orders of executive civilian …