Between Dar and Atif, there is a field; I will meet you there

Treat your Ferrero Rochers the way you do your oil imports. Let them be imported indiscriminately and forget this categorisation of essential...

Of Councils and Chambers

Do various business lobby groups operating in Pakistan represent the rentier economy?

Interest Free Economy

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

Miftah, bol ke lab azaad hain tere 

It is embarrassing, really, for the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N). In their short stint in government, they have had two finance...

The deep end of the abyss

When you look deep into the abyss, the abyss looks back at you. Such is the nature of darkness. Similar analogies can...

It isn’t good news

If Pakistan is to progress, we must empower our women and make peace with who our neighbours are.

Bet on Pakistan. There will be rich returns

There is much that Pakistan has going for it. But faith in it will be repaid.

For inspiration for the future, we need only look at the past

What will Pakistan look like in 75 years? There is one version of events that, even if ambitious, can serve as an...

Avoiding Babylon

In the next decade, something monumental will happen. Somewhere either in a noisy Lahore suburb, a quiet village in interior Sindh, or...

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...