Following the release of Pakistan Economic Survey for FY13 and the announcement of the Federal Budget for FY14, the contents of the third quarterly report of the SBP for FY13 released on 13th June, 2013 would appear to be outdated but central bank's analyses and comments on the state of economy are both interesting and profound. The report reiterates that key challenges to macroeconomic management emanate from the fiscal side and the external sector. For those who care to read and are worried about the economic drift the quarterly reports of SBP are sent to both houses of Parliament.

According to a Business Recorder exclusive any attempt by the government of Pakistan to adopt a confrontational stance with respect to the United States decision to continue drone strikes as a counter-terrorism tool, would have serious negative implications on our ability to access foreign assistance. There is no doubt that the Obama administration is firmly committed to the drone programme and President Obama himself took centre stage in defending it only a while ago whilst delivering a speech on counter-terrorism at the National Defence University in Washington DC.

Education in Pakistan has never received the funding that has been suggested by a host of international agencies including the United Nations that has recommended to developing countries to invest at least 2 percent of its Gross Domestic Product on education. The rationale behind this recommendation with specific reference to Pakistan is threefold. First, research shows that education discourages fundamentalism and it has been argued that an educated citizenry will stifle the Taliban recruitment drive; second education also reduces the cost on healthcare by nations as an educated citizenry is not only fully cognizant of the importance of preventive vaccination including polio immunisation but also through better hygiene water and airborne diseases are better avoided; and finally education would allow far more skilled labour than otherwise possible. Thus education cannot only be an engine to improve living standard of the people but also increase output of value-added products whose manufacture requires higher skill sets than available otherwise.