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Ali Khizar

Ali Khizar

Business Recorder

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Missteps and missed marks: macroeconomic stability is just a distant mirage

Despite ostensibly achieving some macroeconomic stability—as evidenced by falling inflation, a stable exchange rate, and an improved fiscal...

04.11.2024 40

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Banking on missteps: latest tax policy will distort financial system

One of the more short-sighted fiscal measures recently introduced is the higher tax on banking income from government securities. This tax is directly...

28.10.2024 30

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Squeezing lemons: the fallout of lazy reforms

The government is resorting to lazy reforms, putting pressure on the known and compliant while ignoring systemic inefficiencies. This is glaringly...

21.10.2024 70

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Victimising local IPP sponsors risks scaring future investment

The first round of IPP negotiations has concluded, resulting in the termination of five contracts through coercive measures—though labeled as...

14.10.2024 20

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Transforming maturity profile of domestic debt

Inflation is falling rapidly, nearing a four-year low, with FY25 (July 2024–June 2025) average inflation expected to fall within the SBP’s...

07.10.2024 30

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Beyond stabilisation: challenges and opportunities

The IMF board has finally approved a $7 billion package, with the first tranche already disbursed. Economic stabilization appears to be secured....

30.09.2024 70

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Economy has been nursed to some semblance of health

There is some semblance of macroeconomic stability in Pakistan as inflation decreases, interest rates fall, and the currency stabilizes, primarily due...

23.09.2024 50

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

IPPs: missing the forest for the trees

The 2024 Independent Power Producers (IPPs) negotiations are entering their second round. The authorities are employing game theory strategies, but...

16.09.2024 70

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Why monetary policy prudence is a virtue

The upcoming monetary policy announcement on September 12th comes at a time when headline inflation has dropped to single digits for the first time in...

09.09.2024 30

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

The IPP negotiation dilemma: govt required to step back?

Negotiations with Independent Power Producers (IPPs), particularly those involving local owners under the 1994 and 2002 power policies, have entered a...

02.09.2024 40

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

IMF programme delay adding to uncertainty

There is growing unease due to delays in the IMF board approval. The Staff-Level Agreement (SLA) was reached in mid-July, with earlier expectations...

26.08.2024 100

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Digital dilemma: building a firewall against growth

In today’s world, internet connectivity is as essential as electricity or running water. Remarkably, it remains one of the few services in Pakistan...

19.08.2024 80

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Task force on IPPs: another wild goose chase?

The formation of the Energy Task Force on Independent Power Producers (IPPs) appears to be a distraction from the real issues plaguing the energy...

12.08.2024 80

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Economy: durable solutions remain elusive

The FY25 budget presents challenges for everyone, with few economic actors benefiting. Despite compromises due to pressures from political...

05.08.2024 50

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Restore macroeconomic stability to revive private sector credit

Since the 2008 economic crisis, the private sector’s contribution to economic growth has been marginal, replaced in large part public sector...

29.07.2024 40

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Smoke and mirrors

Pakistan’s energy sector is in a peculiar mess. On paper, the electricity supply is sufficient at a lower energy cost compared to the past. However,...

22.07.2024 50

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Challenge of lower growth: IMF bailout insufficient

The IMF Staff-Level Agreement (SLA) for $7 billion programme is done. However, that does not ensure revival of the economic growth which is necessary...

15.07.2024 60

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Only some bold steps can help govt fix the economy

Last week, CFA Society Pakistan conducted a seminar in Karachi where two former Deputy Governors of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) were invited and they...

08.07.2024 70

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Budget tightens the screws on urban middle class

The FY25 budget has been passed, potentially securing next programme from the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and unlocking up to $7.5 billion in...

01.07.2024 20

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Stock market growth mirage

The stock market is booming, and the KSE 100 index has almost doubled in the past year. The market is at an all-time high, breaking records. This has...

24.06.2024 20

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

A budget that at once seems overambitious

Overambition is the call of the day. Concrete measures to support high taxation growth—something the country direly needs and the Budget FY2025...

13.06.2024 20

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Equitable taxation: a precondition for meaningful economic reform

Negotiations with the IMF on the next programme are ongoing, with budget formation being an integral part of the discussions. The government is...

10.06.2024 30

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

‘Strategic’ SOEs bereft of strategic merits

“There is no such thing as a strategic SOE.” This statement by Finance Minister Aurangzeb is spot on. However, bureaucracy influences the...

03.06.2024 50

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

The long and winding road to revitalising investment

Pakistan’s investment-to-GDP ratio is at its lowest in fifty years, despite promises of tens of billions in foreign investments and support from the...

27.05.2024 50

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Need for a balanced revenue-sharing framework

One of the key demands of the IMF is to increase the tax-to-GDP ratio to 13-14 percent by the end of the upcoming programme and to boost FBR tax...

20.05.2024 60

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Tax reforms: Aurangzeb has a difficult road ahead

Reportedly, the IMF expects FBR tax revenues to grow by over 30 percent in the upcoming fiscal year (FY25). However, achieving such growth is...

13.05.2024 70

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Inflation expectations: normalcy in sight?

The recent data points and trends suggest that inflation is likely to come down at a faster pace than expected. This is in stark contrast to last year...

06.05.2024 80

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Political stability critical to attaining sustainable external account stability

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has managed to maintain forex reserves despite facing substantial debt servicing payments. This indicates that the...

29.04.2024 40

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

It’s about time MPC revisited its policy stance

The monetary policy committee is meeting next Monday. In the last review, two out of ten members voted for a rate cut of 100 basis points (bps),...

22.04.2024 30

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

The quest for a rule-based economy

During Eid holidays a simple graph was viral which depicted the secular decline in Pakistan’s economic growth since the 1990s relative to India, on...

15.04.2024 100

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Exiting the economic quagmire: a call to action

Pakistan finds itself ensnared in a period of stagnant growth. If the World Bank’s projection of GDP growth for the next two years is correct, the...

08.04.2024 30

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Quarterly GDP: no light at the end of this tunnel

The latest GDP numbers are proving that the economy cannot be decoupled from politics. Ever since political impasse began in 2022, the GDP growth has...

01.04.2024 30

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

‘Q-Block’ needs to reinvent itself?

Pakistan’s economy has entered the stabilisation phase after going through an extremely turbulent period. However, it is too early to think about...

25.03.2024 20

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Re-aligning NFC: coalition govt faces a challenge from within

Reportedly, the IMF (International Monetary Fund) has requested resumption of dialogue on the National Finance Commission (NFC) award to address the...

18.03.2024 60

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Egypt: not a good model to emulate

Increasingly, the hope of economic recovery in Pakistan is becoming hinged on the government influenced investment by Middle Eastern countries; and...

11.03.2024 20

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Balancing policies for private sector growth

In the medium term, addressing Pakistan’s balance of payment problem requires a policy framework centered on facilitating private sector investment,...

04.03.2024 6

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

G-to-G privatisation: no cakewalk

One key sales pitch that the powers that be are making on taking the Pakistan’s economy from the perpetual balance of payment crisis is seeking...

26.02.2024 40

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Hike in gas tariffs: an analysis

As their parting gift, before they left, Caretakers have increased gas prices again to comply with the IMF (International Monetary Fund)....

19.02.2024 30

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Navigating through political turmoil, uncertainty

The public at large has spoken, as independents backed by Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have emerged as the largest political group in...

12.02.2024 20

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

PBS needs a makeover

Policymaking at all levels of government requires precise, timely and accurate statistics to achieve various targets such as growth rates, government...

05.02.2024 10

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Next govt faces an economic tightrope

As the general elections are just around the corner, the economic battleground takes center stage with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the...

29.01.2024 30

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

A low growth trap: assessing challenges

Over the past two years, the Pakistani economy has weathered a highly turbulent period. Inflation reached unprecedented levels, marking a historical...

15.01.2024 40

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Aviation: the rot deepens

PIA’s financial and operational demise is a known fact, and enough is being discussed in media on its privatization and other matters. However, not...

08.01.2024 10

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Economy: rent-seeking through revolving doors

In Pakistan, the risk reward mechanism on investment is lopsided, and that is one of the reasons for the low productivity and lack of ingenuity in...

01.01.2024 40

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Power sector: there’re solutions aplenty but...

The power sector woes are not resolving despite successive and massive increases in the consumer tariffs – especially for industrial, commercial,...

25.12.2023 40

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Fertilizer: a subsidy for dealers?

For a very long time, the government has been supplying gas at a subsidized rate to fertilizer companies (mainly to urea manufacturing plants where...

18.12.2023 10

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

PSX rally: don’t read too much into ‘tezi’

The stock market is booming. The KSE100 index posted a return of 60 percent this fiscal year to date, and the rally has surprised many. The PSX is...

11.12.2023 20

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

Discos: the tug-of-war is anything but respectable

The power sector circular debt is growing unabated despite successive increases in power tariffs and much-hyped theft reduction campaign by the power...

04.12.2023 40

Business Recorder

Ali Khizar

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