KARACHI: The rupee recovered 31 paisas against the dollar on Friday, as the parliament approved the Finance (Supplementary) Bill, 2021, which contained measures to restrict imports, dealers said. The rupee ended at Rs176.06 against the dollar from the previous day’s closing of Rs176.38 in the interbank foreign exchange market. The dealers said the import restrictions … Read more
Opposition Leader in the National Assembly (NA), Shehbaz Sharif, and Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) Chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, said the ‘Mehngai march’ (march against inflation) to Islamabad on March 23 has become inevitable. While speaking to the media after meeting the PDM chief, who also heads Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F), in Islamabad on Wednesday, the opposition … Read more
ISLAMABAD: The opposition in the National Assembly (NA) on Wednesday rebuked the government over striking a flimsy deal with International Monetary Fund (IMF) and alleged that the economic policies are in a ‘state of confusion’ which is tantamount to the ‘death of economy’. The opposition benches strongly criticised the government for doing controversial legislation regarding … Read more
KARACHI: The Pakistan rupee recorded a slight gain on Tuesday on improved dollar supply in the market, dealers said. The local currency gained 5 paisas to end at Rs176.63 against the last day’s closing of Rs176.68 in the interbank foreign exchange market. The dealers said the local rupee maintained its level, as the banks received … Read more
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin on Monday said that the reforms measures being taken by the incumbent government would help bring the whole retail sector worth Rs20 trillion into the tax net. “The total sale of retail sector in the country is Rs20 trillion, and Rs16 trillion of it is not in … Read more
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top commerce official is pushing the government to bet big on the export industry by maintaining tens of millions of dollars of policy support even as the South Asian nation looks to tighten its fiscal belt in a mid-year budget this month, Arab News reported. The country’s all-important textile industry is at the centre of … Read more
WASHINGTON: Emerging economies should gird for possible rough times as the US Federal Reserve prepares to raise interest rates and world economic growth slows because of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, the IMF warned on Monday. The International Monetary Fund, which is scheduled to release updated economic forecasts on January 25, said that for now global … Read more
KARACHI: The Pakistan’s equity market gained 1.68 per cent during the week ended January 7, 2022, amid rising global commodity prices and likely release of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) tranche, dealers said. The market outlook is guided by expected improvement on the external front through available financing from multilateral sources with the International Monetary … Read more
TUNIS: Debt-ridden Tunisia unveiled a 2022 budget on Tuesday that will see it borrow almost $7 billion more, as it seeks to stimulate an economy battered by the coronavirus pandemic. The 2022 finance law boosts spending by over 3 per cent on a year-on-year basis to 57.3 billion dinars ($19.8 billion, 17.6 billion euros), Finance Minister … Read more
BEIRUT: Lebanon is mired in an economic crisis branded by the World Bank as one of the worst in modern times, but officials are yet to strike an international bailout deal. The financial meltdown began in 2019, and Lebanon defaulted on its debt last year. Politicians have failed to enact significant reforms to rescue the Mediterranean … Read more
KARACHI: The Pakistan bourse opened on a bullish note as the KSE-100 index witnessed an increase of 56.59 points, or 0.13 per cent, in the first hour of trading on Wednesday. The Pakistan stocks managed to close in a green territory as the global crude oil prices rose amid limited impact of Omicron virus on … Read more
Afghanistan’s Finance Ministry under the new Taliban government has prepared a draft national budget that, for the first time in two decades, is funded without foreign aid, a spokesman said. It comes as the country is mired in economic crisis and faces a looming humanitarian catastrophe the United Nations has called an “avalanche of hunger”. … Read more
Imagine you go to pay for your morning coffee and your stored-value card returns an error message, or the wallet in the payments app on your phone isn’t opening because the company providing the payment service has gone bankrupt. Worse, what if you live in a rural area and the e-money service provided through your … Read more
Targeting 53,000 points by December 2022, Arsalan Soomro at KASB Securities project earnings growth of 12 per cent and a dividend yield of 6 per cent. Moreover, the index has the potential to re-rate once issues relating to the cash-starved energy chain are appeased. After considerable signs of economic overheating, the government and the central … Read more
WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund said Thursday it will extend its flexible access to emergency funding for an additional 18 months to help nations severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The IMF’s executive board agreed on Monday to “temporary increases to the cumulative access limits under its emergency financing instruments” through June 2023, the Washington-based crisis … Read more
Pakistan is successfully implementing all the conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to get the stalled $6 billion funding programme. The South Asian country is facing financial challenges but, at the same time, the economic situation seems fragile, pointing towards the severity of immediate measures to control mushrooming inflation. Indeed, all the successive … Read more
BUENOS AIRES: Argentina’s government suffered an embarrassing defeat on Friday, as its 2022 budget was rejected by the parliament, with Economy Minister Martin Guzman insisting this would ‘affect’ its debt renegotiations with the International Monetary Fund. Guzman said the defeat “weakens us as a nation-state within Argentina and before the world. And that hurts us.” The … Read more
HERAT: The value of Afghanistan’s currency is tumbling, exacerbating an already severe economic crisis and deepening poverty in a country where more than half the population already doesn’t have enough to eat, AP reported. The afghani lost more than 11 per cent of its value against the US dollar in the space of a day earlier this … Read more
BUENOS AIRES: An illusion of prosperity, a headlong rush into debt and years of austerity collided 20 years ago to provoke one of the biggest crises in Argentina’s history. The subsequent social unrest left scars that can still be felt today. The scenes were dramatic: people pounding on bank shutters, looting shops and falling under a … Read more
WASHINGTON: Amid ongoing talks on a new aid programme, the IMF is examining data from Lebanon’s government on the scope of financial sector losses, estimated at about $69 billion, a fund spokesman said on Thursday. “I’d say there’s been considerable progress in identifying financial sector losses,” IMF spokesman Gerry Rice told reporters in reference to the … Read more
BRASÍLIA: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday it will close its Brazilian office, a day after receiving harsh criticism from Economy Minister Paulo Guedes over its forecasts for Latin America’s biggest economy. The IMF said it would close its office in Brasilia when the current country representative’s mandate expires on June 30, 2022. The … Read more
Global debt went up by the highest one-year jump in 2020 since World War II to reach a record $226 trillion, Arab News quoted the International Monetary Fund, as saying in a blog posting. This came as countries grappled with the pandemic and a significant recession. The IMF indicated that the surge in debt was justified to … Read more
KARACHI: If the macroeconomic situation in Pakistan stabilises after the resumption of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, there will be more initial public offerings in 2022. “Though, there are a few IPOs [initial public offerings] in [the] pipeline, as companies plan to expand their capacities, the outlook on IPOs will depend on the overall … Read more
KARACHI: The Pakistan equity market is poised for a strong year-end performance, owing to the ease-off in the global commodities, improving Pakistan’s macro outlook, International Monetary Fund (IMF)-related uncertainty largely behind and completion of the MSCI-related re-balancing, dealers said. The stocks posted marginal gains during the week ended December 10, 2021, amid depreciating rupee, rising … Read more
RABAT: Morocco’s economy has rebounded with GDP in 2021 projected to grow 6.3 per cent on the back of a rapid response to the coronavirus pandemic, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday. “Thanks to a very successful vaccination campaign and the prompt response of the authorities, the health crisis has been placed under control … Read more
RIYADH: Bahrain’s parliament on Wednesday approved plans to increase value-added tax to 10 per cent from the current 5 per cent, according to Reuters. The Cabinet referred last September a draft law to the parliament, to decide on increasing VAT starting Jan. 1, 2022. The legislators discussed earlier this year the options of reducing wages or social … Read more
KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) plans to replace the fixed sales tax regime with the normal regime on import of mobile phones, which will generate sizeable revenue for the government and encourage the sale of locally-manufactured mobile phones, sources said on Wednesday. To apply the normal sales tax regime at 17 per cent, … Read more
WASHINGTON: China has an important part to play in the global economy, as it recovers from the Covid-19, but its growth is slowing, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said on Monday. The head of the Washington-based crisis lender held a virtual meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and discussed topics ranging from inflation to the recovery … Read more
