Risk of restrictions looms large over troubled retail sector

Elevated inflation and the ongoing economic crisis in Pakistan appear to have badly hit consumers and businesses alike. After experiencing several economic...

Anatomy of a Black Market

There is a dearth of foreign currency liquidity in the country, as the central bank tries to maintain an official inter-bank rate...

Understanding the Black Forest cake

This week, Profit’s cover story chronicles not just the metrics that can be used to figure out what income group constitutes ‘middle-class’...

Fiscal Federalism

Let me start with a question. What does the first article  of the Constitution say? Is it about Islam, democracy or fundamental...

The fallacy of fixing prices

Our policymaking over the last few decades, if not more, has largely been devoid of any rational economic thought.  Economic problems are...

Permanent erosion of Purchasing Power

Since January 2019, Pakistan has had a cumulative inflation of 67.4% as measured by the Consumer Price Index. Prices of some items...

What the Fund! Reflections from DC

After narrowly scoring a visa right before the IMF and World Bank Group Annual Meetings 2022 were due to begin, I found...

Interest-free economy

Pakistan is no stranger to debt. It currently has a total debt of Rs 50 trillion, of which roughly Rs 33 trillion...

Sedative Electricity Reforms

The current electricity strategy pursued by the Government under the garb of reforms is not in the best interest of the sector....

Can Pakistan ever be on a path of sustainable economic growth?

Yes.  The path to sustainable economic growth exists.  Dozens of countries around the world have successfully improved living standards, and prosperity of...

With Raast, context is Key

Raast by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has received a lot of excitement and interest from the financial payments industry, particularly...

The futility of price caps

A few days back, a few dozen milkmen were jailed because they were selling milk at a price which was higher than...

Dollar Doom Loop and Pakistan

The era of cheap money is over. The global financial crisis of 2008 led to an explosive growth in money supply with...

Stocktaking of power sector challenges in NEPRA State of Industry Report

NEPRA released its State of Industry Report 2022 (SIR) on 30th September, 2022. This year's addition is particularly significant due to multiple...

The only constant is change

The old adage, “the only constant is change” is truer today than perhaps ever before. Businesses are grappling with inflation, economic instability,...