Born of the parents that soon divorced after his birth, the bespectacled master central banker Alan Greenspan carries the baggage of a chequered reputation in the backdrop of 2008 crisis. When talking about him, people take to the two sides of the argument — some calling him “an antiregulatory zealot”, some respecting him as the “growth-oriented president of the Fed.” But almost all of them put at least “some …

  The massive Chinese investment to the tune of $42 billion is the first instance when a single country like China has practically shown its commitment to Pakistan economy, however, it would equally benefit to China on the back of strategic location of Pakistan in generation like Gwadar Port in particular, which will provide a short cut to transitional goods to and from China as no other country could offer …

  Creation of WTO and arriving at the agreement to give all countries equal opportunities ushered a new era in international trade. Simultaneously, different trade groups emerged to ensure collective wellbeing, NAFTA was the first to emerge, that was followed by European Union (EU) and the story continued. From Pakistan’s perspective it is member of ECO and SAARC but both these blocs have remained muted. RCD was broadened and given …

  Presenting a greater investment opportunity to the foreign investors due to its gifted and natural wherewithal, the province Balochistan, is having all the potential sectors to open the road of economic prosperity for Pakistan. One of the ardent areas for investment in the province is Gwadar Port city which include fish processing, crabs processing, cold storage, ice factories, sea-water reverse osmosis desalination plants, shrimp farming, boat building and naval …

  Pakistan’s Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector has witnessed tremendous growth during the last 15 years or so. Banking sector, though for the wrong reasons, has managed to keep pace with the ICT sector’s fast-paced growth. The abolition of fractional reserve system in 1971 and the post-crisis ‘Quantitative Easing’ have generated a spate of US dollars. These dollars, traveling on the vehicle of foreign trade, have infused the entire global …

  A strong trend in the growth and profitability of banking sector is judged by the stability in the monetary policy, increasing spreads, decrease in nonperforming loans (NPLs) and the selling of stakes by the government in banks to public. The experts see a good trend in banking performance in Pakistan. The country’s banking sector has four categories including large banks with total assets in excess of Rs500 billion; medium …

  While the credit penetration stands at 1/5th of the gross domestic product of the country, the future of the banking sector does not seem to be a very positive one based on raw numbers. With the economy of Pakistan already being burdened by the numerous protests against the existing government and the recurring floods, while an in-depth look into data pertaining to the banking sector, however, reveals a different …

  After the un-ceremonial demise of DFIs and Investment banks, commercial banks have been undertaking many activities, which are not part of their prime mandate. They also undertake medium and long term financing that is not the role of commercial banks. However, to make it look more prudent some of the commercial banks have established fully-owned subsidiaries to undertake ‘other business’ that include insurance, asset management, leasing and Modarabas. This …

  There is something sure sinister about the corporate charity. ‘Give away a few millions out of the billions earned unscrupulously’ is the common refrain. Why do the corporations and the corporate bosses value charity so dearly? It’s a question deeply rooted in psychology than economics. Some may say that charities are tax deductible and therefore offer a way to the giver to attract public attention for a small price. …

  The PML-N government is very actively perusing LNG import and also terming it the right solution to overcome Pakistan’s looming energy crisis. However, some of the quarters attribute this to be nothing more than ‘rental power scam’. They insist that it is ‘selecting a lesser evil’ and question the prudence of policy planners. They even go to the extent of saying that the power energy policies of ruling junta …