The Fault in our Firms
Do audit practices add to the vows of a Chartered Accountancy Trainee?
Sovereign Debt Vulnerability
The last twelve years saw US$ based benchmark interest rate close to near zero as monetary expansion reduced the cost of capital...
The folly of relief
Nothing reflects the crisis of economic policymaking in Pakistan than the repeated pronouncements of providing “relief” to the masses by successive prime...
The remarkable life and tragic death of Airlift
Airlift’s highs were dizzying and its lows were tragic. But what are the lessons we can learn from it?
Lessons from the fall of Airlift
AIrlift’s fall was inevitable. Once the darling of the Pakistani startup ecosystem, its downfall was a mixture of unfortunate circumstances and its...
In defence of our startups
Much has been said about the rise of the startup ecosystem in Pakistan. From enthusiastic cheerleading to words of caution and cynicism,...
Have we peaked yet?
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) recently hiked interest rates by another 125 basis points, bringing the benchmark policy rate to a...
The evolving middle-east geopolitical chessboard
U.S. President Joe Biden this week travels to the Middle East where he will meet leaders of Israel and nine Arab States,...
Cooling the economy
For more than a year now, we have been hearing the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) tell us about how well the...
Hot N Cold (The SBP’s Version)
The SBP has been moody lately. They’ve been changing their mind constantly, releasing confusing monetary policy statements, and have failed to communicate...
Winter is coming for the startups
“Winter is coming. We know what’s coming with it.” This line from the television show Game of Thrones, which is based on...
Exhausting the taxed
Pakistan has had a consistently low tax-GDP ratio for decades, staying below peer countries and barely touching 12 percent in a boom...
Last mile to the IMF
Matters have advanced rapidly with the IMF since the government took the difficult decisions on the fuel price adjustments and the budget,...
Paper cut
Commodity prices don’t increase in isolation, they mostly move in tandem. Just like the butterfly effect wherein a butterfly fluttering its wings...
A Freu-Darian slip of the tongue?
An Ishaq Dar shaped shadow hangs over Miftah Ismail and all of us