Official Blog Of Press Information Department

Courtesy:- MALIK MUHAMMAD ASHRAF The finance minister has beaten the speculators at their own game   Depreciation in the value of the currency of a country against dollar or any other international currency with which they are linked or in which they pay for their imports and meet international obligations, is always a cause of worry for the governments due to its negative impact on broad spectrum of the population. In the same way, the appreciation in the value of a currency symbolises strength of an economy and generates positive economic activity in the country benefiting the masses due to its trickle down effect. Although fixing and maintaining the value of a currency is not the part of the economic strategies of the governments and it is mostly determined by the market forces, yet no government could afford to neglect the phenomenon. The slide in the value of a currency also becomes a political issue and the detractors of the government invariably use it to cavil at...

Courtesy:- MALIK MUHAMMAD ASHRAF Staying the course Terrorism is the ultimate escalation of political violence with characteristics of ethnic, economic violence and religious extremism. Sometimes the lines between terrorism and political violence become so blurred that it becomes difficult to distinguish between them. Terrorists are an intangible and faceless entity striving to terrify the society, create anarchy and cause complete collapse of the state apparatus. They have a welter of convoluted motivations as individuals and as groups.

Courtesy:- S RAHMAN Rebuilding a tattered economy is an uphill task and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's economic team led by Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar must be commended for achieving this uphill task belying the claims of political detractors that dollar would reach the Rs 127 mark with no likelihood of the buck coming down below Rs 105.  The steadfastness and sagacity remained the predominant features of Nawaz government's finance team ever since its coming into power following the last general election. It was also promised in the election manifesto by PML(N) leadership that it would leave no stone unturned for the revival of economy. Now that destination doesn't seem to be far away. 

Courtesy:-  Malik Muhammad Ashraf It is estimated that State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) are collectively incurring an annual loss of between Rs.400-500 billion; more than 25% of the total revenue receipts of the government in a fiscal year. Keeping them afloat, therefore constitutes a huge drain on our precious national resources which could have been invested in vitally needed projects of socio-economic development. The government, presently, is running 126 such entities including big money guzzlers like Pakistan Steel Mills PSM), PIA, PSO and Railways among others. Pakistan Steel Mills alone suffered losses to the tune of Rs.200 billion during the last five years and the government had to give four bail-out packages amounting to Rs.40 billion to keep it on the ventilator. There are no two opinions about the fact that these entities owe the current state of affairs to inefficient management, corruption, political interference by successive regimes and recruitment of excessive per...

Courtesy:-  Professor Ahsan Iqbal Pakistan’s road to development has proven to be a turbulent one. While the changing nature of the global political economy has been a key factor in determining the scope of economic planning in other countries, in Pakistan shifts between the military and democratically-elected governments played a major role. One effect of this instability is that the role of the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform has oscillated between extremes of being the birthplace of leading development ideas like Human Development and being reduced to a rubber stamp organization as a post-office of PC-1s under other governments.