Tue, 21-Oct-2025

Huawei Cloud announces Spark programme for SMEs in Middle East

Huawei

KARACHI: Huawei Cloud has announced the launch of ‘Spark’, a new startup ecosystem support programme, aiming at empowering the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to develop their cloud capabilities, a statement said. This initiative is the first step towards supporting Huawei Cloud partners in line with the recently launched Oasis Programme, where Huawei announced plans … Read more

More than half a billion pushed into extreme poverty due to health costs: UN

UN

UNITED NATIONS: The coronavirus pandemic is likely to halt two decades of global progress towards Universal Health Coverage, according to reports released on Sunday from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Bank, which reveal more than half a billion people are being pushed into extreme poverty because they have to pay for health … Read more

World Bank grants Somalia 150 mln USD for electricity recovery project

World Bank

MOGADISHU — The World Bank on Friday announced a 150 million U.S. dollar grant for an electricity recovery project to help light up Somalia. The lender said the electricity recovery project is set to increase access to cleaner, lower cost electricity for 1.1 million households, or approximately seven million people, of which 3.5 million are … Read more

Cambodia’s growth to reach 2.2% this year, 4.5% next: World Bank

PHNOM PENH: Cambodia’s economic growth is projected to reach 2.2 per cent in 2021, impeded by slow growth in services including tourism, and in construction and real estate, the World Bank said in a press release on Thursday. Other traditional growth drivers, especially the garment, travel goods, footwear, and bicycle manufacturing industries, as well as … Read more

GCC economies to witness an aggregate growth rate of 2.6% in 2021: World Bank

GCC economies

RIYADH: Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies are likely to achieve an aggregate growth rate of 2.6 per cent in 2021, Arab News quoted the World Bank Gulf Economic Update, as showing on Thursday. The report, titled “Seizing the Opportunity for a Sustainable Recovery”, attributed the rebound to stronger oil prices and the growth of non-oil … Read more

Pakistan’s remittances grow 26% in 2021: World Bank

Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Remittances in Pakistan grows 26 per cent in 2021, compared with the overall growth of 8 per cent in South Asia, according to the estimates from the World Bank’s Migration and Development Brief. “Pakistan had another year of record remittances with [the] growth at 26 per cent and levels reaching $33 billion in 2021,” … Read more

WB’s poverty reduction estimates result of govt’s policies: PM Imran Khan

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that as the World Bank estimates showed reduction in the incidence of poverty in Pakistan to 4.8 per cent in FY21 from 5.3 per cent in FY20, it was the result of government’s policies of productivity-led growth to create employment. According to the World Bank estimates based on … Read more

Pakistani ministers meet World Bank managing director

world bank

ISLAMABAD: A high-level Pakistani delegation comprising Minister for Economic Affairs Omar Ayub Khan, Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin, Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar and other senior officials held a meeting with Axel van Trotsenburg, managing director of the World Bank on the sidelines of the WBG/IMF annual meetings 2021, a statement received here … Read more

World Bank acknowledges Pakistan’s progress on structural reforms

World Bank

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank on Thursday acknowledged that a lot of progress has been made on the implementation of structural reforms in various sectors by Pakistan, stressing that there was a need to keep up the momentum to achieve the projected growth targets. According to a statement received here form the Embassy of Pakistan in … Read more

Finance minister heads Saudi team at annual IMF, World Bank meetings

Royal Court

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Finance Mohammed Al-Jadaan will head the Kingdom’s delegation at the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, which kicked off in Washington on Tuesday, Saudi Press Agency announced. The delegation includes the governor of the Saudi Central Bank, Fahad Al-Mubarak, and a number of specialists … Read more

Georgieva fights to keep IMF role, with decision expected ‘very soon’

IMF Pakistan

WASHINGTON: Embattled International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Kristalina Georgieva was fighting for her professional life on Saturday, as the institution’s Executive Board considers evidence she manipulated data in favour of China, while in a senior role at the World Bank. The board said after a meeting on Friday it will decide “very soon” whether she … Read more

Pandemic to cost Arab economies $200 billion by end of 2021: World Bank

World Bank

RIYADH: The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region’s economic losses will amount to almost $200 billion by the end of 2021 as a result of the pandemic, Arab News quoted the World Bank, as saying. The region’s GDP contracted by 3.8 per cent in 2020 and is forecast to grow by 2.8 per cent … Read more

Finance ministry rejects World Bank’s projection for Pakistan’s GDP growth

World Bank $19.8 million aid to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The government has rejected the World Bank’s projection about Pakistan’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate for the current and upcoming fiscal year, saying it was based on unrealistic assessment and that the GDP growth rate for the fiscal year 2021/22 would go up close to 5 per cent against the World Bank’s forecast … Read more

Pakistan to grow 3.4% in FY21: World Bank

The World Bank

KARACHI: The World Bank on Thursday projected Pakistan’s output growth at 3.4 per cent in the current fiscal year, which is revised upward from 1.4 per cent, considering enhanced economic activities. The World Bank said that the growth further strengthened to 4 per cent in FY23 with the implementation of key structural reforms, particularly those … Read more

World Bank official predicts 3.3% GDP growth for KSA in 2022

World Bank

RIYADH: With an improvement in the global oil demand, the World Bank has predicted Saudi Arabia’s average gross domestic product to reach 2.4 per cent in 2021 and 3.3 per cent the next year, Arab Newsreported. Issam Abousleiman, the World Bank’s director for GCC countries, told Arab News that rapid vaccine rollout around the world … Read more

Tania Mallick replaces Urooj Mumtaz as new head of women’s cricket

Tania Mallick replaces Urooj Mumtaz as new head of women's cricket

Former national badminton champion Tania Mallick has been appointed by the PCB as the head of women’s cricket. She will take charge from October 1. Tania has replaced Urooj Mumtaz, who took charge in May and looked over selection matters only. Tania has completed her Masters from LUMS University has represented Pakistan in the 1986 … Read more

Sri Linka seeks WB Covid’s loan

World Bank

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka will seek an emergency loan of $100 million from the World Bank (WB) for a coronavirus vaccination drive, officials said on Wednesday, as the country struggles with an acute currency crisis. The Covid-19 pandemic has claimed more than 12,000 lives and infected over half a million people in Sri Lanka, which is also … Read more

Pakistan’s exports to reach record levels by 2023: adviser

Abdul-Razak-Dawood

ISLAMABAD: The government would take exports to record levels by 2023 with the provision of a better business environment for the industrial sector in the country, a senior government official said. Addressing the launching ceremony of the 7th Reform Action Plan, organised by the Board of Investment (BoI), Adviser to the Prime Minister for Commerce … Read more

BoI to launch plan to improve Pakistan’s doing business ranking

ISLAMABAD: The Board of Investment (BoI) will launch the 7th Reform Action Plan that will further improve Pakistan’s doing business ranking. To further build on the pace and progress of Pakistan’s reform journey, the Board of Investment in collaboration with the World Bank Group is launching the 7th Reform Action Plan on Wednesday, August 25, … Read more

IMF’s largest SDR allocation in history takes effect

IMF

WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced on Monday that its new allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) equivalent to $650 billion, the largest in the IMF’s history, comes into effect, in an effort to help countries recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, Xinhua reported. “The allocation is a significant shot in the arm for the … Read more

WB grants $129.99 million for uplift of primary education in Sindh

education

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank has granted $129.99 million for the development of the primary education system under the “Sindh Early Learning Enhancement through Classroom Transformation Project” in the province, a statement said. Minister for Economic Affairs Omar Ayub Khan witnessed the signing ceremony of the financing agreement with the World Bank representative, in the Ministry … Read more

India intends to make its central bank’s digital currency model public

India

By the end of this year, the bank would be capable to come up with a central bank digital currency (CBDC) model, said the deputy governor of the central bank of India, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

At the press conference that was held at the post-Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), Deputy Governor T. Rabi Sankar told that by the end of this year the RBI may reveal a model of a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

He described, without providing additional facts:

It is necessary to make business decisions based on rapidly evolving technologies, and therefore it’s difficult to put a date, in the near future we would be able to come up with a model, maybe by the end of this year.

The deputy governor continued: “We are evaluating the issue of scope, technology, distribution and validation mechanism, etc.”

Last month, he publicized that the central bank was working on a “phased implementation strategy” for CBDC of India and also “examining use cases which could be implemented with little or no disruption to India’s banking or monetary systems.”

Over 90% of global GDP is represented by 81 countries that are considering introducing their own central bank digital currencies.

Bank of International Settlements (BIS), the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said CBDCs “have the potential to enhance the efficiency of cross-border payments, as long as countries work together.”

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World Bank preparing 5-year support plan for Pakistan

World Bank

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank Group is preparing its new five-year support programme for Pakistan, the Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for 2022/26 with special focus on structural reforms, health, education, promoting climate-friendly future, inclusive growth, and good governance. During a weeklong visit of the World Bank Vice President for South Asia Hartwig Schafer to Pakistan, which … Read more

Banks come under SBP radar; Over Rs525 million penalty imposed

State Bank

KARACHI: The central bank has imposed a monetary penalty of over Rs525 million on eight commercial banks for regulatory violations, including anti-money laundering (AML) and counter financing of terrorism (CFT). The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) issued details of the enforcement measures taken against the commercial banks by imposing monetary penalties during the quarter ended … Read more

Circular debt curtailed by Rs408 in FY21: minister

World Bank

ISLAMABAD: The circular debt has been curtailed by Rs408 billion in the outgoing fiscal year, a senior government official said on Wednesday. During a meeting with the World Bank delegation, led by its Vice President for South Asia Hartwig Schafer, which called on him, Federal Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar said that due to the … Read more

Pakistan appreciates World Bank support for promoting IT skills

World Bank

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan would welcome the knowledge of the World Bank team to promote the skills of the IT graduates in the country, a senior government official said, while welcoming the World Bank official and acknowledged the significant contribution of the bank in the socioeconomic development of the country since 50s. During a meeting with Hartwig … Read more

World Bank approves $100 million to help raise Sindh literacy rate

World Bank

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved $100 million in financing to support Pakistan’s efforts to increase literacy and student retention rates in Sindh, a statement issued by the bank said on Friday. The amount has been approved for the Sindh Early Learning Enhancement through Classroom Transformation (Select) project that is aimed at … Read more

Pakistan sees highest surge in remittances during Covid-19: WB

KARACHI: The Covid-19 pandemic badly affected the global economy and household earnings, but it proved a boon for Pakistan, as the country witnessed the highest surge in remittances among 45 developing nations, a World Bank report revealed. Overseas Pakistanis sent 17 per cent more back home, owing to the launch of tax incentives for the … Read more