Confronting economic challenges-VI: the power of SME sector on October 4, 2018There is a wide range of interventions that the government can make to solve the problems of SME finance. I would make the most important suggestions. There appears a strong case of market failure in bank practices relating to the private sector credit, needing SBP’s active rather than passive measures. The SBP should require the […]
Confronting economic challenges-V: The power of SME sector on October 3, 2018The regulatory authorities generally lack capacity, resources, and, sadly, the integrity, to perform their important functions. The draconian powers vested in them encourage corrupt practices, leading to harassment and exploitation of businesses. The laws and policies are problematic in the first place. For example price control policies envisage same prices across an entire city while […]
Confronting economic challenges-IV: The power of SME sector on October 2, 2018In the previous two articles of this series it was argued that Pakistan’s decade-old phenomenon of youth bulge has transitioned from a great opportunity to a full blown threat due to neglect of the previous two governments. I suggested that a federal youth development authority be mandated to reach out at district and tehsil levels […]
Confronting economic challenges: YDP’s responsibilties-III on September 26, 2018To solve the problems of youth development highlighted in the previous article of this series, I suggest that a federal authority be raised and dedicated to conceptualise, formulate and implement a major youth development program (YDP). I suggest that this authority establish and oversee YDP’s by reaching out at the district and tehsil levels. The […]
Confronting economic challenges-II: youth development on September 25, 2018In the first article of this series, I argued that the new government should transition to reconciliatory politics and take market based approaches to overcome massive challenges of governance in all high priority spheres. It was suggested that to ensure the requisite coherence and continuity of policies for far reaching development — and thus for […]
Confronting economic challenges: setting the stage-I on September 15, 2018For the past few weeks, the new government seems to be struggling to figure out its priorities. Presently, the situation seems chaotic, though this is somewhat understandable. Pakistan’s accumulation of problems is such that few believe any government could bring the house in order any time soon. The problems range from extremism to corruption, to […]