Tax reformsa year on on September 3, 2019The first year under the PTI led government has earned us a record 8.9% fiscal deficit. Yes, this fiscal deficit is the highest since 1979 as per Pakistan’s economic surveys and bells are ringing. But the government was conscious of this, we would hope, since the focus was on expenditure control whilst revenues were in […]
Political partisanship and higher education on February 8, 2019A decade ago, I attended a graduation ceremony at a well-known University in Pakistan where the provincial education minister at the time was invited as chief guest. In his key note speech, he spent the entire time praising the great sacrifices and achievements of his party and leader, while he lambasted the curse of military […]
Making sense of the PM Health Insurance Programme on February 18, 2017When the PM Health Insurance Scheme was approved back in June 2014, it was suggested through official sources that the programme was to cover 100 million of Pakistan’s deprived population. With the national health insurance programme recently launched and inaugurated by the premier, information emerging from reported sources tells us of the scope and coverage […]