The question as to what are the significant factors in shaping the road to development is of fundamental and primal importance in the present circumstances when the government is focusing more on infrastructure rather than literacy and skills transfer. On social media, there is a clear-cut division between people’s perception about Rawalpindi/Islamabad Metro Bus Project versus Education. [1] [Error! ...

In line with its defined strategic order, China has now started working more closely with Pakistan in areas of new investments and partnerships. The process started way back in the 1990s; however, a joint declaration in this regard was the concrete outcome after a meeting between President Hu Jintao and President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in 2003 at Beijing (Fmprc, 2003). The declaration highlighted the ...

A prudent exchange rate policy and efficient exchange rate is essential for macroeconomic stability and economic growth. Impulsive exchange rate policies may compromise economic growth of a country through generating persistent balance of payments problems, currency crises and overall macroeconomic instability.

This paper highlights some important points regarding exchange rate and external competitiveness of Pakistan . Firstly, overvalued exchange rate of Pakistani Rupee [PKR] has affected adversely to already weaker external competitiveness of the country . Secondly, claims of failure of depreciation in boosting performance of tradable sector are based on mixing the partial adjustment of PKR towards its ...

Pakistan and India fall among the few countries in the world where water resources are under stress as a result of rising urbanization, luxurious consumption patterns, industrial development, and population growth. These factors are compounded by climate change impacts making the issue of water security integral for building resilience in the region. This policy brief addresses the issue of water ...

Pakistan is an arid to semi arid economy with low and variable rainfall. Water is a scarce resource and most of it is utilized in agriculture sector. The major water resource here is the sophisticated Indus Basin irrigation system, which irrigates more than 90 per cent of the country crops. Agriculture constitutes the largest part of Pakistan's economy, as majority of the population, directly or ...

According to the Global Climate Risk Index 2018 (Eckstein, Künzel and Schäfer, 2017), the country is also among the world’s most vulnerable to longterm climate change impacts. The rural areas’ high dependence on climate-sensitive livelihoods (such as agriculture, livestock, and forestry) means that they will be adversely affected by changes in the climate for which they will have to prepare. Many ...

Six years of BRI and CPEC have paved the way for future cooperation and prosperity among the regional countries. Many studies concluded that BRI and CPEC have immense potential for future. It will help meet the required resources, infrastructure and livelihood opportunities on the one hand, and on the other complement the efforts of the United Nations under the umbrella of SDGs. It has many overlapping ...

The Government of Pakistan has approved several export promotional schemes at the federal and provincial level. Besides, FBR has tax-related export-oriented schemes which incentivize exports. Traditionally, these schemes were limited to five zero-rated sectors, however realization has grown that a level playing field should be created where similar schemes should be available to potential and new ...

This policy paper proposes four strategic directions for Pakistan’s agenda for SMEs, which include i) designing and continuing targeted support policies and packages for SMEs throughout four phases of recovery from the COVID-19 ii) putting SMEs at the heart of economic and development policy, iii) establishing database and mapping of the SMEs, particularly the informal SMEs and iv) promoting ...