Citizen centric health reforms on May 24, 2018Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) recently conducted a citizen’s perception survey in all provinces of Pakistan to assess the state of health service provision. A national baseline (average of responses from all provinces) of key issues related to health service delivery was prepared. It included lack of availability of public health services at the union […]
Pakistan in the grips of fanaticism on May 10, 2018The recently launched Pakistan Human Development Report 2018 indicates that almost half the young people surveyed did not feel it was okay to have friendly relations with people from other religions. Many more felt that people of other religions should not be allowed to establish places of worship (a right guaranteed to them in our […]
Assessing the Federal Budget on May 3, 2018The PML-N government has made history by presenting its 6th federal budget in five-year tenure of the government. The good news is that federal budget 2018-19 tends to depart from decade-old practices, such as new formula for valuation of property and proposes to abolish FBR rates (in the federal territory) and Deputy Commissioner rates (in […]
Thinking trade on April 26, 2018“And the meeting concludes with the vote of sympathy for the commerce minister”, were the comments of the then commerce minister who had invited few of us for brainstorming on how to boost Pakistan’s export. It was long time ago, but the reason, I am quoting that incident here is to emphasise that Commerce Minister, […]
Shadows of the budget on April 19, 2018A budget is an estimate of revenue and expenditures, which means the federal budget is an estimate of the federal government’s revenues and expenditures. The revenue can be collected by the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR), as well as certain other agencies. The FBR can collect revenue, either through direct taxes or indirect taxes. There […]
PM eco reforms times on April 13, 2018Prime Minister of Pakistan has revealed his agenda of economic reforms. The salient features includes income tax relief, a simplified process of property valuation, and an amnesty scheme for undeclared domestic and foreign assets. The good news is that income tax slabs are made simple, income tax rates for individuals are reduced, and their tax […]
Adapting to Pakistan’s economic challenges on April 4, 2018Keeping aside the exogenous factors responsible for the improvement of Pakistan’s economic indicators, it is clear that Pakistan’s economy is much better off than it was in the 2012-13 period. Let us compare the economic indicators over this period. GDP growth improved from 3.68 percent in 2012-13 to 5.28 percent in 2016-17. Inflation has reduced […]
Political economy notes on March 29, 2018‘State of economy’ of Pakistan is under discussion, yet again for all the wrong reasons. One group of analysts sees nothing wrong with economy, while the other do not see any positive output from the economic measures taken by PML-N government during last 4 years. In my opinion, there is nothing like good or bad […]