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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Indonesia are steadily shaping one of South and Southeast Asia’s most consequential, yet under-reported, economic relationships. What began as a tariff-centred arrangement has matured into a broader commercial partnership driven by commodity flows, rising business-to-business engagement, and an expanding agenda for investment cooperation. Recent figures underline this momentum. Bilateral trade reached $4.2 billion in 2024, and early 2025 numbers continue to climb. Between January and September 2025, trade volumes touched $2.92 billion, up from $2.69 billion during the same period of last year. This steady rise reflects…

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ISLAMABAD: A “generally” held opinion is that Pakistan’s economy has performed better in military-led governments and that democracy has held back our economic potential. The last such episode under General Musharraf (1999-2007) saw a high growth rate, better-managed fiscal policy and a high level of investment. Based on a rather superficial analysis of these facts, it is believed that sustained economic growth requires political stability, which is not possible under a democratic dispensation where politics trumps economics. About the military rule and economic growth, we now understand that Pakistan’s foreign…

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ISLAMABAD: Stand on II Chundrigar Road in Karachi, the financial heart of Pakistan, in December 2025, and the mood is almost jubilant. The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) has had a banner year, with the benchmark KSE-100 index surging nearly 40%, outperforming most regional markets. Yet, travel a few hundred kilometres north to the industrial hubs of Faisalabad or Gujranwala, and the silence is deafening. It is the silence of idle looms, shuttered factory gates, and industrial estates operating at ghosts of their former capacity. In late 2025, Pakistan presents a…

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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan continues to face serious challenges posed by illicit trade and unlawful activities in the tobacco sector. The unchecked movement, storage and use of non-duty-paid un-manufactured tobacco remain a major source of Federal Excise Duty evasion. According to an official statement issued on Saturday, the prime minister has issued categorical directions to curb illicit practices in the tobacco and cigarette sector and ensure strict enforcement of tax laws across the supply chain. In line with these instructions, the FBR implemented a multi-layered enforcement strategy, under which the RTO Peshawar…

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KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday made sizeable liquidity injections through both conventional and Shariah-compliant open market operations (OMOs), providing more than Rs10.48 trillion in short-term funds to indirectly meet the government’s needs. According to the central bank’s Domestic Markets and Monetary Management Department, the SBP accepted a total of Rs10.27 trillion in its conventional reverse repo (injection) operation. The central bank saw significant participation from market players across two tenors, which reflected persistent demand for short-term liquidity in the banking system. In the seven-day tenor, banks…

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