While announcing its monetary policy for next two months, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) decided last month to keep the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 10 percent. The analysts see no rationale to maintain the discount rate at 10 percent by the central bank as all fundamentals are in favor of a reduction in the interest rate. So far as inflation is concerned, the average Consumer Price Index …

  An educated middle class can play an important role in the development of Balochistan which is the largest but least developed province of the country. It still lacks a middle and urbanized class. Absence of middle class and urbanized leadership has provided rich grounds for growth and prevalence of tribalism and weak civil community promoted tribalism and feudalism. The government is not taking measures to encourage the growth of …

  Pakistan-China economic corridor has the potential to usher in a new era of economic progress and prosperity for both countries and benefiting the whole region as well. The project is expected to be ‘a game changer’ not only for Pakistan and China but also for the whole region. Last year, Pakistan and China signed a deal to build a $18 billion economic corridor linking Pakistan’s Gwadar Port on the …

  Balochistan makes up 70 percent of Pakistan’s total coastal line. Unfortunately, the province has been confined to merely on-shore water fishing due to lack of infrastructure facilities. The catch is spoiled as it is exposed to sun and impurities. In the absence of quality control regime, fresh and good quality fish find no access to national and international markets at large scales. Local fishermen are confronted with numerous problems. …

  Micro credit banking has emerged out to be an effective tool to combat wide spread poverty in the third world countries. Provision of credit to the people at grassroots level and small firms is an excellent strategy to boost economic activities and generating job opportunities especially in Balochistan a country’s largest province, with nearly 44 percent of its surface area and a thinly dispersed population of around 7.5 million. …

  Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah had a clear vision of Muslim nationalism in the subcontinent and he presented it in crystal-clear words in his presidential address on the occasion of Pakistan resolution in 1940, when he said: “We are a nation with our own distinctive culture and civilization, language and literature, art and architecture, value and proportion, legal laws and moral codes, customs and calendars, history and tradition, aptitudes and …

  Gujranwala and Sialkot are the major agricultural and industrial cities of northeastern Punjab and fast emerging cities of Pakistan for the development of economic growth. Gujranwala being having an important industrial base in north eastern Punjab contributing a major part in its export growth through its dry port handlings. The major exports through this port include rice, sugar, textiles, carpets, glass goods, medical equipment, leather products, metal utensils, agricultural …

  Pakistan has a poor record when it comes to women’s rights. Under the anti-women practices like wanni or budla-i-sulh, the women are traded like commodity and they are given in forced marriages against their will to settle personal, family or tribal disputes. These practices are widespread in rural areas of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh province where tribal and feudal system is still very strong even women are …

  The banking industry in Pakistan faces tough competition unleashed in the global arena. The banking sector still needs to take effective measures for improving and strengthening its competitive position vis-’-vis the foreign banks. The banking industry must be able to meet increasingly complex banking needs if it is to flourish. The country cannot catch up with its Asian neighbors India and China in terms of economic development without making …

  Gwadar port project has actually taken off in 2015 after eight years of its inauguration in 2007. It is the major development with reference to economic development of Balochistan that took place this year. Last month, Pakistan formally handed over the 2,281 acres free trade zone of Gwadar Port to China on a 43-year lease. After the formal handover of the free trade zone, all business affairs of the …