Oil decided the last century; minerals for batteries and grids are deciding this one. In 2025 that is no longer a distant thesis-it is policy. Washington, Brussels and Beijing are writing trade, security and finance around metals like copper, lithium, nickel, graphite and rare earths. The question that matters for Pakistan is no longer whether […]
Climate Apartheid
The floods of 2022 that swallowed one-third of Pakistan laid bare a harsh reality. Now in 2025, another monsoon has turned catastrophe into déjà vu. Just this August, more than one million people have been evacuated from Punjab due to “exceptionally high” water levels in the Ravi, Sutlej, and Chenab rivers-a result of relentless rain […]
When Provinces Run Surpluses but Islamabad Bleeds (Part II)
International signalling has turned favourable, too. In mid-August 2025, Washington publicly flagged interest in partnering with Pakistan on critical minerals and hydrocarbons-explicitly referencing investment opportunities and Balochistan’s Reko Diq context. This dovetails with broader U.S. and allied efforts to diversify critical minerals supply chains. For Pakistan, that is an opening to mobilise capital and technology […]
When Provinces Run Surpluses but Islamabad Bleeds (Part I)
Pakistan’s 18th Constitutional Amendment, passed in 2010, transformed the country’s fiscal federalism by deleting most of the Concurrent List, devolving major spending functions to provinces, and recasting the federation-province power balance. Politically, it deepened provincial autonomy; economically, it hard-wired a new budget arithmetic that still shapes every federal budget, IMF review, and development plan today. […]
Sovereignty Beyond Flags
At the moment of its birth in August 1947, Pakistan inherited an economy that was fragile and unbalanced. It was overwhelmingly agrarian, with agriculture contributing more than half of GDP and providing nearly all export earnings. Per capita income was scarcely a few hundred dollars. Industrial capacity was minimal, financial institutions were rudimentary, and the […]
Tariffs, Textiles & Tensions
In the summer of 2025, as Donald Trump rewrote the rules of global trade once again, tariffs were no longer just economic tools – they became weapons in a war for geopolitical dominance, domestic optics, and industrial revival. His newly enacted tariff blitz, targeting dozens of nations with levies ranging from 10% to 50%, marked […]
The 250-Rupee Truth
The rupee is more than just a medium of exchange – it’s a mirror of the nation’s economic discipline, political credibility, and structural resilience. Yet, for too long, Pakistan’s exchange rate has danced between artifice and panic, managed behind closed doors and misunderstood in public debate. As of mid-2025, with the currency trading around Rs?283 […]
Where the Roads Lead to Nowhere
In recent weeks, an expansive corruption case has surfaced from the Kohistan region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with estimates of public loss exceeding Rs 40 billion. The scandal centers around allegedly fake and incomplete road projects, where funds were sanctioned, released, and reportedly siphoned off without physical execution on the ground. While the region’s rugged topography […]
Sugar-Coated Lies
The recurring sugar crises in Pakistan have become less of an economic aberration and more of a systemic betrayal. Every few years, the country finds itself grappling with surging prices, empty shelves, political blame games, and hollow promises of reform. What should be a staple commodity-readily available and affordable to every household-has been transformed into […]
Petrodollars & Power Deals
In the fiscal strain following Pakistan’s latest IMF Extended Fund Facility, the government turned to Gulf capital as a lifeline. During Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan’s visit in April 2024, Riyadh pledged $5 billion in sectoral investments, covering agriculture, mining, IT, and aviation-a signal of Gulf willingness to fill Islamabad’s financing void. Meanwhile, […]