Derivatives and shari’a
Are derivatives acceptable in Islamic finance? Of course the answer is yes, but one must appreciate the difference between Islamic derivatives and their conventional...
Policy issues as elections draw near
The new year brings fresh challenges for the government, especially since decision-making traditionally alters in Islamabad as elections draw near. Given the present situation,...
Dull and indifferent in the new year
The start of New Year has brought no immediate rewards. Dull and indifferent, that is mostly what generally describes Pakistan’s main bourse, the Karachi...
Banking business in recessions
Market routs like the ’08 recession leave deep imprints in collective investor/observer psychology. Even though the term ‘credit crunch’ is not used as often...
Market flooded with used cars
Some quarters believe that the import of used cars is the answer to providing affordable cars for local consumers. They also seem to suffer...
Reinventing economic policies
Real investment, the key driver for creating new employment, has fallen for the third consecutive year in FY 11
There has to be a greater...
A vista of opportunities
No economy in the world can be run without a system of thought rooted in the real lifetime authenticities of its existence
The year 2011...
Why won’t you privatise?
Since it has been well established that the mode de gouvernance relevant for the Pakistani political landscape is to avoid a horizontal alignment at...
The jingle bells of creativity
Living in a corporate world, one happens to hold up to the cliché that money can buy everything. As part of the deal,...
Brazilian coup
In a sudden shift of fate, the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) noted, that Brazil has now officially overtaken the UK as...
Providing more than marginal impetus
Let’s not be scathing, let’s not criticise for kicks; putting it simply, the SECP has got it right this time round. The recent amendments...
Islamic banking and social reforms
Islamic banking is not just about conducting financial transactions in compliance with shari'a. Rather, it is fast becoming part of a new Islamic financial...
Zardari, I love you
Being a third world country has its own disadvantages for the politicians that inhabit these lands. Unfortunately, as fate would have it they were...
IKnomics – walking the PTI talk
Imran Khan's 'tsunami' has hit the coast of Karachi and Pakistan's financial hub is buzzing with excitement. In a space of a couple of...
Wait and watch
The trend in volumes has been extremely sluggish day in, day out throughout the last week. And the KSE-100 benchmark has remained singularly one-dimensional...
The Chinese juggernaut
China has over the last several decades emerged as the worlds single most dynamic economy but this progress has been more marked ever since...
The European dilemma
When Giuseppe Mazzini was at the forefront of the Italian political scene in the mid-nineteenth century, he was vying to unite a previously disjointed...
