August 2020

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...

July 2020

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...

December 2019

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...

May 2019

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,...

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...

April 2019

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....