Boundaries between services and industry are changing fast, and about half of all services in modern industrialized economies are sold and bought while embedded in the form of goods. While the content and function of goods remain important, the designing, marketing, consultancy and advertising services claim a share of the value added to goods. Manufacturing, too, has important contribution from services, such as resource planning, warehousing, value chain analysis, …

  Pakistan’s carpet industry needs likely reforms Carpet has more than 2,500 years of ancient history as Iranians were amongst the first carpet weaver of the age-old civilizations and through centuries of creativity and initiative building upon the talents of the past, this industry has achieved a special degree of excellence since. Though this industry is more technologically advanced now as new trend and design demands had made it more …

  Molasses is an offshoot of the sugar refining industry. Its universal availability mostly depends on the production of sugar out of sugarcane and sugar beets. Sugarcane is vastly grown in tropical or sub-tropical regions like Asia, Central and South America, Africa and Australia. Sugar beets are cultivated mainly in the northern hemisphere and come from more temperate crops in Europe, North America, partly Northern Africa as well as Northern …

  Agriculture contributes nearly one-fourth to Pakistan’s GDP, two of its large-scale industries (textile and sugar) are agro based and nearly 60 percent of total exports comprise of textiles and clothing. This is despite the fact that production and productivity of the sector is very low as compared to the international standards. If right impetus are provided production of major crops can be doubled, which can boost GDP size, create …

  Pakistan is a land, which is having rugged terrain and mountains in the north, plains and fields in the South. Pakistan is considered an agricultural community, which keeps the country self-sufficient with its food requirement. Since there have hardly been any investments to promote recreational activities such as water parks, amusement parks, Safari’s, water sports, race tracks, gymnastics etc the only source of entertainment for the people is food. …

  Islamic finance during the past many decades has begun to progress in a great deal on the global front. Besides having the traditional Islamic finance markets in the Middle East, Western countries have also begun to see financial centers opening up. There is now more acceptance and recognition of this alternate financial system. The range and the scope of Islamic finance products over the years have also widened which …

  In countries like Pakistan, the governments facing shortage of revenue, indulge in borrowing to meet their developmental expenditures. While the conventional banks have been the key beneficiaries of such borrowing, Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) face serious liquidity management problems as these can’t invest in Riba-based instruments like Treasury Bills and Pakistan Investment Bonds. Issue of Sovereign Ijara Sukuk and corporate Sukuk on one hand offers an opportunity to invest …

  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 …

  Islamic finance based on principals of Shariah provides an alternate to conventional banking. Islamic banking industry size is estimated to be $400 billion with potential to grow at minimum 15 percent to 20 percent globally per year, much faster than conventional financial institutions. This has been the same trend over the last 5 years since 2008. Islamic Banking assets globally are estimated to be $270 billion. The sukuk market …

  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 …