LONDON: British retail sales slid in December, as consumers shunned the high street due to concerns over the Omicron coronavirus variant, official data showed on Friday. Total sales volumes dropped 3.7 per cent last month compared to November, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement. Sales had risen by one per cent in … Read more
PARIS: Countries are neglecting the massive impact of the ‘throwaway’ economy on planet-warming emissions, according to research published on Wednesday that calculated more than half a trillion tonnes of virgin materials have been consumed since the 2015 Paris climate deal. From clothing to food, planes to buildings, research by the organisation Circle Economy estimates that … Read more
KUNMING: Foreign trade in southwest China’s Yunnan Province registered a 16.8-per cent year-on-year growth in 2021, reaching 314.4 billion yuan (about $49.4 billion), Kunming Customs said on Wednesday. The province’s exports rose 16.3 per cent year-on-year to 176.7 billion yuan in 2021, while imports gained 17.3 per cent to about 137.7 billion yuan. Trade between … Read more
BEIJING: China’s economy posted stable growth in 2021 despite challenges including sporadic epidemic resurgences and a complicated external environment, official data showed on Monday. The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 8.1 per cent year on year to 114.37 trillion yuan (about $18 trillion) last year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said. The pace … Read more
KARACHI: Since the start of FY21, Pakistan’s economy has started recovering, but the boom in the international commodity prices after the opening up of global economies, amid ample liquidity, brought the country’s external account under pressure. “The economy is now on the path of stabilisation due to painful yet necessary policy measures undertaken by the … Read more
WASHINGTON: US inflation is “too high” and the Federal Reserve will make the issue a priority, Lael Brainard, the nominee to take the number-two position at the central bank, said Wednesday. The Fed’s “most important task” is to focus on “getting inflation back down to two per cent while sustaining a recovery that includes everyone,” Brainard … Read more
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) urged the government to focus on diversification of exportable products and markets in order to boost the volume of exports, which would ensure achieving better economic growth of the country and address many economic woes. ICCI president Muhammad Shakeel Munir said that Pakistan was mostly relying … Read more
ISLAMABAD: A meeting of the federal cabinet, with a 17-point agenda including the briefing on the Murree tragedy, is being presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan at the Prime Minister Office in the capital. According to Bol News, the cabinet is also reviewing the political and economic situation in the country. It will also … Read more
ANKARA: Turkey’s consumer prices have soared by the highest rate since 2002, further undermining President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s unorthodox battle for his developing country’s “economic independence”. Analysts attribute the jump of the official reading to 36.1 per cent last month to the surging cost of imports, which range from energy to many of the raw … Read more
Karachi – Italy has been playing a pivotal role in Pakistan’s socio-economic development. Both the countries established diplomatic relations in 1948 and since then there have been frequent cordial bilateral contacts between Pakistan and Italy at the governmental and non-governmental levels. The economic ties between both countries reached at their peak in 2021. “Economic, trade … Read more
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Senate chairman Sadiq Sanjrani has said that his country has a lot to learn from Chinese expertise to promote industrialisation for economic development. Sanjrani made the remarks at the launching ceremony of the “All-Pakistan Chinese Enterprises’ Association Sustainable Development Report 2021.” He said that China has not only emerged as an economic power … Read more
WASHINGTON: Holiday events have been scrapped in droves, thousands of flights canceled, cruises are now off limits: the Omicron variant has wreaked havoc in the United States, and the New Year could see more issues exacerbating the worker shortage and price increases. “We are starting to see some initial signs that Omicron is having an impact … Read more
MADRID: Spain’s fragmented parliament gave final approval on Tuesday to the biggest budget in the country’s history, with billions of euros from EU’s huge Covid-19 recovery fund. Passage of the 2022 spending plan boosts the chances that Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s minority government will survive until the end of its mandate in late 2023. Lawmakers … Read more
The sea of Bulgarian buses parked outside a market in Turkey’s historic city of Edirne betrays the scale of the currency crisis impeding President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s path to a third decade of rule. The mosque-filled city on Turkey’s western edge was an early capital of the Ottoman Empire when it was expanding across the … Read more
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday signed loans and grant agreements amounting to $1.54 billion to improve energy, transport, irrigation, and urban sectors. ADB country director Yong Ye and Economic Affairs Division secretary Mian Asad Hayaud Din signed the agreements. The projects were approved by the ADB board of … Read more
BEIRUT: Lebanon needs $12 billion to $15 billion from its partners to kick-start its economic recovery and shores up fast-diminishing foreign currency reserves, Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh said on Tuesday. Lebanon is grappling with an unprecedented economic crisis branded by the World Bank as one of the planet’s worst in modern times. More than … Read more
DUBAI: The Dubai World Trade Centre will become a crypto zone and regulator for cryptocurrencies and other virtual assets, Reuters quoted the Dubai Media Office, as saying, part of efforts to attract new business as regional economic competition heats up. The move by the DWTC to create a specialized zone for virtual assets, including digital … Read more
ISTANBUL: Turkey’s troubled lira nosedived on Monday after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan justify not to raise the interest rates to stabilise the currency. Erdogan has pushed the central bank to sharply lower borrowing costs, despite the annual rate of inflation soaring to more than 20 per cent. Economists believe the policy could see consumer price increases … 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
JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has launched the plan and main features of the Jeddah Central Project, previously known as New Jeddah Downtown, with total investments of 75 billion riyal ($19.99 billion), SPA reported on Friday. “The ambitious 75 billion Saudi riyal project will develop 5.7 million square metres of land overlooking the Red … Read more
LONDON: The Bank of England (BoE) will likely hold interest rates at their record lows on Thursday, as policymakers balance decade-high inflation against the economic fallout of the Covid-19 Omicron variant. The BoE’s monetary policy committee will announce its latest decision at 1200 GMT, in a whirlwind 24 hours that includes interest rate calls from both … Read more
KARACHI: Bayer Pakistan and Tayaba Organisation have distributed 2,000 H2O water wheels in rural Sindh and Punjab communities, which face acute water shortages, as well as water transportation challenges, a statement said. Under this project, 1,000 water wheels were distributed in Sindh (Umerkot and Tharparkar) and 1,000 in Punjab (Hasilpur) and will directly benefit 14,000 … Read more
NEW YORK: The New York City lawmakers are poised to decide on Wednesday whether to prohibit most new buildings from using natural gas, a move that would make the nation’s most populous city a showcase for a climate change fighting policy that has been both embraced and blocked around the country, AP reported. The measure is expected … 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
BEIJING: Chinese consumer spending grew at a slower-than-expected pace in November, data released on Wednesday showed, with analysts warning that an uptick in coronavirus cases was dampening sentiment and adding to questions over a rebound in the world’s second-largest economy. China’s economy bounced back quickly from the pandemic after authorities contained Covid-19 with strict border controls … Read more
ISLAMABAD: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin has expressed keen interest in deepening bilateral relations with Iraq, particularly enhancing cooperation in oil and gas sectors, besides boosting the quantum of trade between the two counties. The adviser was talking to Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq to Pakistan, Hamid Abbas … Read more
PARIS: The Omicron coronavirus variant will slow the recovery in the global demand for oil but the market will be “more comfortable” in 2022, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday. The oil market “appears to stand on a better footing than it has for some time,” the IEA wrote in its latest monthly … Read more
Fitch Ratings has downgraded the outlooks of more than 20 Turkish banks just weeks after Ankara appointed a new finance minister, Arab News reported. Nureddin Nebati was appointed treasury and finance minister on December 2 by President Erdogan and has taken the reigns of an ailing economy marred by a tanking currency. Fitch said on Friday: “The … Read more
