Pakistan is a country where population is predominantly Muslim and the share if Islamic finance should have increased enormously by this time. The decision of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to let the two systems in parallel was good but the overall response of all the stakeholders, particularly the government has been lackluster. Bulk of the government borrowing from the local market has remained Riba-based, mainly through Treasury Bills …

  It may be said that elected governments bother to introduce special schemes ensuring better job opportunities for educated youth and undertaking Benazir Income Support Program and the latest being Prime Minister Youth Business Loan scheme. However, all these may cater a few favorites or a limited segment of the society. The prime responsibility of the government is to create enabling environment that can usher new investment, creation of productive …

  Even a cursory look at the development of Singapore shows that the country has grown mainly by ‘living within available means’ or avoiding deficit financing. The country has also become hub of industrial and commercial activities because of very low taxes being collected from corporate entities and individuals. The added advantage is confidence in government policies, while Pakistan continues to suffer from budget deficit, trade deficit and on top …

  Even a cursory look at the budget proposals suggest that the entire focus of the government is on revenue mobilization rather than enhancing size of GDP and accelerating growth rate. Though, the incumbent government aims to achieve a double digit growth the necessary impetus are missing, the most obvious being the proposed allocation for the public sector development program (PSDP). Historically, the successive governments in Pakistan have been making …

  Fully cognizant of opportunities and threats facing Pakistan, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has developed a ‘Roadmap’ for insurance companies to enable them to play their due role. Many of the sector experts have a myopic view that the primary mandate of insurance companies is ‘risk mitigation’ only. They often tend to overlook the fact that insurance companies also play a key role in capital formation. Anyone …

  If one looks at the composition of annual budget, one point is very clear that revenue collection is barely enough to meet the current expenditure. Often, amounts are borrowed to meet the shortfall and almost the entire developmental expenditures are financed through aid, grants and softer loans acquired from multilateral financial institutions. The budget for next financial year is not likely to be very different from the previous budgets. …

  Recently released data by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) about deposits, investments and advances of commercial banks for the month of April’14 can be termed a little disappointing when compared with March’14. Deposits remained pegged at Rs7.6 trillion, advances were recorded at Rs4.1 trillion at month investments slid by 1%MoM to Rs4.5 trillion, mainly because of commencement of trading of government securities at Karachi Stock Exchange and failure of …

  Natural gas accounts for 50 percent of Pakistan’s total energy mix. The present shortage of 2,000mmscfd has led to the closing down of small and large scale industries and businesses across the country. The LNG Policy was issued in 2006 but so far no project relating to LNG has been materialized. This is the final attempt by the government to bring LNG to Pakistan. At present, Asia accounts for …

  If one looks at the composition of annual budget, one point is very clear that revenue collection is barely enough to meet the current expenditure. Often, amounts are borrowed to meet the shortfall and almost the entire developmental expenditures are financed through aid, grants and softer loans acquired from multilateral financial institutions. The budget for next financial year is not likely to be very different from the previous budgets. …

  Many of the policy planners have the consensus is that the time has come for public-private partnership. It is on record that many of the state owned enterprises (SoEs) have been working very efficiently. It is also known that in some of the businesses, private sector is rather shy to invest because of: 1) huge capital outlay, 2) long gestation period, 3) lower return during the early years and …