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Khurram HusainDawn |
AFTER many years of extreme uncertainty and political instability, it now seems like things are finally starting to move. Two developments this week...
WORDS only matter when they are spoken at the right time. And for too many years now, the World Bank has been saying the right thing but at the wrong...
IT has not even been a month since the new government was sworn in and important cracks in its otherwise powerful edifice are already beginning to...
Rolling back the NFC, againIT is getting boring now. Every so often the idea is floated that the government should roll back the provincial...
WE have a new finance chief, and people are excited that it is a new face and one that inspires some confidence. Since 2008, we have had three names...
IN the days and weeks following the elections, the view held by Pakistan’s creditors seems to be clearing up. All the notes released on Pakistan...
UNLESS things have gone horribly wrong, Pakistan should be getting a new prime minister very soon after the National Assembly session today. The new...
THERE is no denying that a powerful wave of popular support is surging behind Imran Khan today. There is no sense, and no sanity, in denying this. All...
THE first thing that incoming prime minister Shehbaz Sharif has to realise is that no matter what happens, no matter how much pressure comes his way...
IF you are going to vote today, take out a couple of minutes to read this first. There is no candidate endorsement here. We all want the same thing,...
OF all the comebacks he has mounted since his first ouster from power more than 30 years ago, the latest one has been the most improbable. The odds...
PEOPLE often ask which political party has the best track record of managing the economy and producing the best results. It is a tricky question to...
THE absence of a decision-making centre in Pakistan’s economic management is now being felt acutely. A string of news emerging in the past week or...
MUCH has been said about “reimagining Pakistan” but it is important to understand that task comes the day after. For now, the focus needs to be on...
ONE by one, those with a memory, and those who played a critical role navigating this country through the many crises it has passed through, are...
THE country is flying into a new year on the back of a weakly mandated government, a promise to hold elections, and mounting uncertainty from within...
A GOOD example of how Pakistan is hunkering down further and further in the face of increasing scarcities is provided by natural gas. Pakistan has...
IN case you are thinking of jumping into the stock market given the sustained gains it has seen since July, be sure to ask yourself a few simple...
ONE question keeps coming up in all conversations about the shape of a post-election set-up. Will Ishaq Dar be the finance minister? Here is my...
IT is a bad idea to try and delay the elections. It would be even worse if the attempt to do so were to actually succeed. The first victim would of...
THE state, the economy and the people pull the resource envelope of the country in different directions. This is especially the case when periods of...
THE inevitable is happening. Having raised everyone’s hopes of some sort of massive dollar inflow under the so-called Special Investment...
WHAT China wants from Pakistan is the same as what China wants from every other country, which is to endlessly run a trade surplus in their favour....
THIS could be a case study in how not to do things. Common sense tells us that when problems are left to fester for long, they can grow in scale and...
IT is one of the big mysteries of Pakistan’s politics. How has Nawaz Sharif managed to endure as a political force at the top levels of Pakistan’s...
IT is now next to impossible to have any forward-looking conversation about the outlook for Pakistan’s economy without taking into consideration the...
THE plan seems to be unravelling. That bailout, whether $25 billion or some other figure, that we were told is ‘there for the taking’ is now in...
IF you have ever had the pleasure to speak at length with members of Pakistan’s top elites, or one of those who volunteer to be mouthpieces for the...
ONE piece of feedback I often hear from readers is that my articles are ‘too depressing’. Here is some advice for those who feel this way: pop a...
A SERIOUS conundrum has arisen for the economy. It cannot afford to grow, and at the same time, it cannot lie in the doldrums for very long either....
THE spiral of inflation and devaluation the country is caught up in did not begin a few months ago. It began in 2021. The rupee had fluctuated in a...
THE last time an army chief met the business community in the midst of a sharply deteriorating economy, we saw a string of policy gimmicks emerge as...