May 2024
07May

Pakistan mulls pension reforms as government moves to curtail expenditure ahead of IMF talks

The Pakistan government said on Tuesday it was vital to reform the country’s pension system, including by raising the retirement age, to mitigate expenditure as Islamabad aims to save the system billions of dollars per year, with a committee formed to propose recommendations. The belt tightening moves come as Islamabad — which is facing a balance of payment crisis — is in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to secure a new long-term bailout deal. In the past, Pakistan...

May 7, 2024
News,
Read more...

February 2023
27Feb

Pakistan stops salaries, pensions as economic crisis worsens

The cash-strapped Pakistan government has reportedly instructed the Accountant General of Pakistan Revenues (AGPR) to halt the clearing of all bills, including salaries and pensions, of federal ministries and attached departments until further notice. According to The News, the move comes as the country is reeling under economic crisis, which is causing difficulties in operational cost-related releases. However, the exact the reason for the same is not known. The report cited, the salaries and pensions of defence-related institutions have been cleared...

February 27, 2023
News, ,
Read more...

August 2021
16Aug

Pakistan’s unsustainable public pension system

In the last ten years, while Pakistan’s tax revenues increased by 2.7 times, the pension bill from the federal government, which includes military pensions (36 percent of the total annual pension liabilities), increased by 5.2 times. The local toll is said to be even higher, with numbers estimated at 7.1 times. Since 2013, numbers of government retirees have increased by 25 percent; however, the pension expense has increased by 432 percent from Rs 55 billion to Rs 238 billion. This does not...

August 16, 2021
News, Slider, ,
Read more...

August 2020

25Aug

Pakistan. The politics of pension reform

Last week, Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed his resolve to address the pension issue. It is the first time the issue of pension has found a space on the national policy radar and caught the sitting PM’s attention. To address the pension problem, the PM must sort out its economics, politics and process. I have written extensively on the economics and process, but not as much on politics. Nonetheless, politics remains the thorniest part. Considering that any reform could...

August 25, 2020
News, Slider, ,
Read more...

July 2020

08Jul

Pakistan caps pensions and salaries on brink of Covid-19 financial collapse

Pakistan’s financial woes are going from bad to worse as the national fiscal deficit surges to over 7% of gross domestic product (GDP) and could breach 9-10% as state revenues dry up amid Covid-19 economic devastation. That’s raising questions among analysts and business executives of whether the country is headed towards a budgetary blowout-induced financial collapse. Approved by the National Assembly on June 29, Pakistan’s 2020-21 budget is notable for a 3.4 trillion rupees (US$20.7 billion) fiscal gap that...

July 8, 2020
News, Slider, , , ,
Read more...

December 2019

09Dec

Pakistan. PMYAP ‘Social Protection’ programme to provide social security, legal aid to youth

Prime Minister Youth Affairs Programme (PMYAP)has worked out its first comprehensive “Social Protection” programme aimed to provide social security and legal aid to the youth facing community issues and conflicts. A PMYAP official told APP, the programme would provide protection and security to the youth who were indulged in drug addiction and other wrong practices leaving their household in pathetic condition adding,“It would create awareness among the youngsters to prevent from social evils and wrong practices and would also...

December 9, 2019
News, Slider, , ,
Read more...

May 2019

17May

Pakistan at Seventy: A Handbook on Developments in Economics, Politics and Society

por Shahid Javed Burki, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, Asad Ejaz Butt This handbook examines Pakistan's 70-year history from a number of different perspectives. When Pakistan was born, it did not have a capital, a functioning government or a central bank. The country lacked a skilled workforce. While the state was in the process of being established, eight million Muslim refugees arrived from India, who had to be absorbed into a population of 24 million people. However, within 15 years,...

May 17, 2019
Books, System Sustainability, , ,
Read more...
02May

Pakistan. Pension payments to reachRs46 billion in next fiscal year

Employees Old-Age Benefits Institution would bring pension payments up around 31 percent year-over-year to Rs46 billion in the next fiscal year, its head said. Chairman EOBI Azhar Hameed said pension payments would reach Rs35 billion by the end of the current fiscal year. “The disbursement will increase to Rs46 billion during the next fiscal year,” he said, addressing members of Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (Kati). Hameed said the institution is planning to celebrate pension day to spread...

May 2, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...

April 2019

02Apr

Pakistan Introduces Crypto Regulation

The Pakistani government will now regulate local cryptocurrency firms under new legislation. Local news outlet The Express Tribune reported that the government of Pakistan will introduce Electronic Money Institutions (EMI) regulations based on the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The FATF is an intergovernmental organization based in France that creates policies for combating money laundering and other threats to the integrity of the global financial system. It has reportedly been working on international regulations for cryptocurrencies....

April 2, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...