Asian Development Bank delegation visits IBA Karachi

March 26, 2024: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) delegation visited Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER), IBA Karachi to discuss Pakistan’s current macroeconomic outlook and potential avenues for future collaborations.

The discussion focused on multiple topics, including Pakistan’s dependence on fuel imports, inefficient subsidies in agriculture and energy, political instability versus stability, digital economy and non-conventional businesses, low productivity and low growth trap, human capital crises, devolution of resources to local government level and its implications for growth, supply chain issue in food industry, and IMF’s conditions for Pakistan and its implications.

The IBA team led by Dr. Lubna Naz, Director, CBER included Dr. Muhammad Nasir, Associate Professor and Chairperson, Economics Department; Dr. Heman Das Lohano, Professor and Program Director BS (Economics and Eco. & Math); Dr. Aadil Nakhoda, Assistant Professor; Dr. Faiz Ur Rehman, Associate Professor and Program Director (MS and PhD Economics); and Dr. Adam Abdullah, Assistant Professor, who also participated in the discussion.

The ADB Team comprised Asad Aleem, Deputy Country Director; Shaista Hussain, Principal Results Management Specialist; Nasruminallah Mian, Senior Programs Officer; Munir Abbasi, Programs Analyst; and Ahmad Mujtaba, Sr. Operations Assistant.

The ADB and CBER agreed to foster partnerships in policy research and capacity building and promote discourse on socio-economic issues.