In Naya Pakistan, PTI-JI coalition presents Naya Budget: A lot of figure fudging and wrong calculations in KPK’s budget document. Higher education budget actually decreased this year. KP Elementary & Secondary Education Budget increased from 20.96 to 24.6. This is an increase of 17%, not 33% as

Pakistan Continues to Perpetuate Inequalities in Education – by A Z: Pakistan’s education has been woefully underfunded by the state for decades and the new budget does little to change that. Higher Education is very important but how building a pyramid top down makes sense? This is what our new

Budget illiteracy – by Aakar Patel: Related Articles: Budget coverage misses the mark: What on earth is ‘relief’? – By Farooq Tirmizi In a very good roundup of how budgets are reported in Pakistan, Aakar Patel has rounded up how people who do not understand

Budget deception: Real defense allocation is 850 billion not 495 billion -by Arshad Mahmood: Originally published in the ‘Daily AajKal’.

Renovation of religious and cultural heritage of minorities – Sindh Budget 2012: Related : 1000 year old Hindu temple in Pak in desperate need of upkeep Will Pakistan wake up to it? Apprehensions of Pakistani Hindus The Pakistan Peoples’ Party has been a sole voice for the minorities of Pakistan. We

Budget coverage misses the mark: What on earth is ‘relief’? – By Farooq Tirmizi:   Source: Express Tribune By Farooq Tirmizi Published: June 6, 2011 For the journalists who cried themselves hoarse that the federal government’s budget for fiscal year 2012 contained no ‘relief’ for the masses, I have a few questions: what

PML-N’s budget drama – They have succeeded in failing us: On June 3, 2011, the fourth budget of the current government was presented in the National Assembly by Finance Minister, Abdul Hafeez Shaikh. The main opposition party, Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz’s members raised slogans throughout the speech of

Stability or bankruptcy – by Dr Ashfaque H Khan: Published in The News: Pakistan entered a new fiscal year a week ago. Will 2010-11 be a year of stability or bankruptcy? That will depend entirely on the political leadership, in particular the federal and provincial governments. If they

Oppositional economics? by S. Akbar Zaidi:   Oppositional economics? By S. Akbar Zaidi Dawn, July 2, 2010 NOW that Nawaz Sharif and his party, the PML-N, have decided to play the role of a ‘genuine’ opposition to the incumbent government after having played the role

Suspicious Particulars of the Budget Scheme- by Farrukh Shah: SUSPICIOUS PARTICULARS OF THE BUDGET SCHEME PAGE 981 PC21031 (031) MISCELLANEOUS H58     Grant in aid in favour of Roshni Association Society for Welfare of Special Persons, Lahore.                                                                               1,000,000   H72     Grant in aid in favour of Roshni Association, Society

Business as usual (Part 2 of 2) – by Shahid Kardar: Published in The News. Read Part I here The estimate that the government will be able to a) raise Rs19.4 billion from privatisation, given the security situation within the country and the pro-active role played by the courts in

Business as usual – by Shahid Kardar: Published in The News: The budget for 2010/11 has been presented at a time that the economy is struggling and the government’s fiscal position is under severe stress. This PPP government had inherited a precarious situation, which was compounded

Budget Discussions – 2010-11: The budget debates varies from one pole to another with not many parliamentarians talking about ways and means they can effectively come up with plans to manage the fiscal problems. The opposition focuses on “Hukmaran apni ayyashi band Karen”

Reporting on Financial Matters – Capital Gains Tax in Federal Budget 2010-11: Capital Gains is defined as the gain in value you get after selling of an asset having bought it earlier. For example, I buy a plot of land for Rs 1 million in 2006. In 2010, I sell it

Reporting on the Economic Survey of Pakistan: The Economic Survey of Pakistan is available for download on the Ministry of Finance website. The executive summary of the Economic Survey is also available to read online via the Associated Press of Pakistan. Recently there have been a

2010-2011 budget in brief from the Ministry of Finance website: The PDF document is available to read here Some useful tables from the document:

Matter of Pay Raise for Punjab Government: I had written yesterday about the criticism of Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on the matter of pay raise of government employees and the impact it would have on expenditures of the Punjab Government. As the increase has been announced

Pakistan’s Global Political Economy – by Anas Muhammad: As the recession hit; the jobless rates soared to 10% and more, banks at the brink of failing, stock exchange plummeted, and economy was left paralyzed. All this happened in United States, which sparked a global recession, bringing down

Chaudhry Sahab, will your PML-N impose farm tax in Punjab?:   In his long speech on the Federal Budget, Chaudhry Nisar also demanded imposition of Agricultural Tax. Off course, he was playing to the galleries and MQM, who has been demanding the same from the government for many years.

Optimistic Features of Budget 2010-11 – by Riaz Ali Toori: The following article has been written for LUBP by Riaz Ali Toori, an analyst from Pakistan’s Tribal Areas. When a country steps forward, its people flourish, and this is accomplished with impartial and equitable distribution of wealth that helps

Chaudhry Sahab, I am confused! – by Ahmed Iqbalabadi: On one hand the opposition demands providing relief to the common man and as the government tries to do so, the Leader of the Opposition, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan roars why did you increase salaries to give relief! I

Budget 2010-2011 at a glance: Below are the few salient features of Budget 2010-2011 which I think are very important to keep the records straight. I have noticed in most newspapers that these facts are some how ‘willingly or unwillingly’ lost in the piles

VIEW: A budget speech with a difference —Imtiaz Alam: Source :Dailytimes VIEW: A budget speech with a difference —Imtiaz Alam Inflation cannot be brought down simply by fiscal measures, although they are very crucial. Without improving security environment, lowering of interest rates, overcoming the energy crisis, reducing the cost

Pakistan’s Federal Budget 2010-11 Analysis – Ahmed Iqbalabadi: Pakistan’s budget for year 2010-11 was presented in the National Assembly by Dr. Hafeez Shaikh on Saturday, 5th June 2010. The budget speeches have previously largely been irrelevant as the post budget analysis usually takes a front seat with

A promising economic outlook for Pakistan – by Anas Muhammad: As the government gets ready to present its third annual budget (2010-2011), reports and estimates for the next fiscal year is the talk of the day for economists and politicians in Pakistan. Besides all the buzz created by media commentary and

Budget 2010-2011 – A reminder for policy makers (Part I): Education Benazir Bhutto promised to allocate 4% of GDP to Education sector; which according to UN each  country must allocate .  According to education policy budget allocation can never be less than the previous year and government has shown

Strategy for the next budget – by Dr Ashfaque H Khan: The present government will be presenting its third budget on June 5, 2010. A budget is not only an account of revenue and expenditure of the government, but it also reflects the government’s policy stance to address the challenges

The PPP Government audits the defence budget; Nawaz Sharif proposes reconciliation with India: Defence budget details provided to parliament Monday, 24 Aug, 2009 Such comprehensive details about the budgets of the army, air force and navy have been provided for the first time to the parliament, said informed sources. – File photo