The Shifting Landscape of Pakistan’s Formal Workforce (2014-2024): A Decade of Salary Income Dynamics and Socio-Economic Transformation

The Stagnant Middle in Pakistan’s Formal Salary Sector (2014–2024) Using employer-level administrative data from PRAL covering all corporations, state-owned enterprises, and government bodies, as well as partnership businesses and individuals that withhold income tax on salaries, this data story groups employees into five annual salary brackets: 0–600k PKR 600k–1.2M PKR 1.2M–2.4M PKR 2.4M–4.8M PKR 4.8M+ PKR The […]

The August 1st US Tariff Realignment: Winners, Losers, and Global Trade Uncertainty

The US imposed new tariff rates on its trading partners on July 31st as the White House published the ‘Further Modifying the Reciprocal Tariff Rates’. This data story brings about a marked change from the previous methodology which involved calculating tariffs based on the level of bilateral trade deficit with the US. The tariff rates […]

What If the Costs Become Untenable? Rethinking SBP’s Monetary Stance

  EAG Brief | Monetary Policy and Macroeconomic Management What If the Costs Become Untenable? Rethinking SBP’s Monetary Stance Muhammad Adil Mansoor, Economic Advisory Group 02-Aug-2025EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The State Bank of Pakistan has made its position clear. It will not cut policy rates unless Islamabad delivers tangible progress on structural reforms. This marks a deliberate […]

Decoding the National Tariff Policy 2025-2030: The Impact on Different Sources of Imports.

The purpose of the National Tariff Policy 2025-2030 was to not only reduce customs duties, eliminate regulatory duties and additional duties but also simplify the complex structure of the customs duties slabs by reducing their number. As different tariffs are imposed on different products at the national tariff lines, they not only affect the imports […]

Enforcing the tariff wall via trade-distorting import measures: Curtailing imports across the stages of production

The previous data stories in this series, “Enforcing the tariff wall via trade-distorting import measures: Comparison across measures” and Enforcing the tariff wall via trade-distorting import measures: Cross-country comparison between Pakistan and Vietnam , highlighted the complex web of trade policies imposed by policymakers in Pakistan to curtail imports and how Vietnamese policymakers encouraged better […]

Enforcing the tariff wall via trade-distorting import measures: Cross-country comparison between Pakistan and Vietnam

The previous data story, “Enforcing the tariff wall via trade-distorting import measures: Comparison across measures”, highlighted the complex web of trade policies imposed by policymakers in Pakistan to curtail imports due to various reasons such as rising trade deficits and incentives to promote import-substitution related policies. While the Pakistani policymakers restricted imports, Vietnamese policymakers encouraged […]

Enforcing the tariff wall via trade-distorting import measures: Comparison across measures

Continuing the discussion from the previous data story on import tariffs and custom duties as reported by Ahmed Jamal Pirzada, EAG Member, it is imperative to gauge the number of interventions involving import restricting measures adopted by the Pakistani policymakers to not only curtail imports into the country but also provide incentives to local industries […]