Lifting Import Ban.

The government's decision to slowly move towards relaxing the import restrictions it put into place to try and control the current account deficit is the right thing to do, considering that growing the economy after steadying the ship was the stated aim of the current cabinet. However, whether the cut down in imports had a major effect on the import balance is still questionable.

Our reliance on fuel and food imports entails that the current account balance can only be righted if we increase exports, or increase the value of the Pak Rupee. The only other factor which helps us is international prices-of oil products, food or even the US dollar-if one of these fall, Pakistan's import balance sees some welcome relief. While the Rupee has continued its downward slide due to the ongoing political conflict, international fuel prices provided some modicum of relief in this past month.

The next step in the equation looks to be providing industries with a stable and regular energy supply for them to be able to produce commodities for export. The government has also...