KARACHI: The lack of laws allowing for inflow of foreign investment capital, and appropriate venture capital friendly legislation and processes, pose considerable barriers to local and international investors alike, a report by invest2innovate stated. According to Pakistan Startup Ecosystem Report 2021 by invest2innovate, much more needs to be done to improve the regulatory environment, especially … Read more
KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in order to promote agriculture finance and food security, has announced measures to boost financing in the agriculture sector, a statement said on Friday. The measures were announced at the first meeting of the Task Force on Electronic Warehouse Receipt Financing (EWRF) held under the chairmanship of SBP … Read more
KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has enhanced the financing limit for storage of agricultural produce to 10 years from the previous seven years. The SBP, on Friday issued a circular stating that with a view to further promote investment in the storage of agricultural produce and to enhance infrastructure for Electronic Warehouse Receipt … Read more
KARACHI: The liquid foreign exchange reserves of the country slipped $206 million to $22.669 billion by the week ended March 4, 2022, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday. The country’s foreign exchange reserves stood at $22.875 billion a week ago, i.e., February 25, 2022. The official forex reserves of the central bank … Read more
KARACHI: The total central government domestic debt witnessed a growth of 11.83 per cent to Rs27.41 trillion in January, compared with Rs24.51 trillion in the same month last year. According to the statistics released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the long-term debt of the central government’s domestic debt showed a jump of 11.88 … Read more
KARACHI: The Pakistan equity market moved both ways on Wednesday managing to close in a green territory as the global oil prices came below the level of $125/barrel followed by the unchanged Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) announcement. “However, the ongoing geopolitical tensions coupled with the uncertainty in local politics amid submission of no-trust motion against … Read more
KARACHI: To celebrate the journey of women’s financial inclusion in Pakistan, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), in collaboration with Bank Alfalah, Standard Chartered Bank and the United Bank Limited, hosted an event titled “Asaan Digital Account: Breaking Barriers”, on March 7, 2022, a statement said. SBP Governor Dr Reza Baqir was the chief guest. … Read more
Habib Bank’s earnings up 13% The Habib Bank Limited (HBL) announced the earnings for 2021 at Rs35 billion, depicting a surge of 13 per cent. The jump in the earnings on a yearly basis is primarily due to reduced provisioning charges, as last year saw elevated expenses, as part of building general coverage along with … Read more
From the vantage of the equity market, we expect the recent political events, both on international and domestic front, to take a toll on investors’ sentiments where the KSE-100 Index has already corrected 2.1 per cent in the last 10 days. Pakistan’s macro fundamentals are still fragile though return to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) … Read more
KARACHI: Transactions made through mobile phone banking recorded a surge of 138 per cent to Rs2.16 trillion during the first quarter (July-September) of the current fiscal year, according to the payment system review issued by the State Bank of Pakistan. The transactions worth Rs908 billion were made during the same quarter of the last fiscal … Read more
KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) hosted a discussion on digital banks with the objective to share information on SBP’s licensing and regulatory framework for digital banks, a statement said on Saturday. The webinar was aimed at sharing the broad contours of SBP’s initiative and the experiences of other international players. The discussion began … Read more
KARACHI: The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (Unisame) has advised the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector to use the banking channel for all inwards and outwards overseas remittances, a statement said. The Unisame urges the SMEs not to indulge in transactions outside the banking channels despite getting better rates from money exchangers. Unisame … Read more
KARACHI: To accelerate digitalisation of retail payments, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has issued standards for Quick Response (QR) code-based payments in Pakistan, a statement said on Wednesday. These standards are to be met for issuing QR codes and accepting the payments through the same. This initiative is a part of the SBP’s drive … Read more
KARACHI: The rupee lost 21 paisas against the dollar on Wednesday, as international oil prices spiked at $113/barrel, dealers said. The exchange rate ended at Rs177.62 against the greenback, compared with the previous day’s closing of Rs177.41. The international oil prices recorded a massive jump; following Russian supply concerns after war with Ukraine. The benchmark … Read more
KARACHI: The profit before tax of Standard Chartered Bank Pakistan Limited (SCBPL) recorded a growth of 5 per cent to Rs24.8 billion in 2021, compared with Rs23.6 billion in 2020. Performance was driven by strong balance sheet growth, continued productivity improvements and risk discipline. The bank’s revenue was lower by Rs3.5 billion primarily due to … Read more
KARACHI: The rupee fell 23 paisas against the dollar on Thursday, amid fears of further rise in the international oil prices after Russia attacked Ukraine, dealers said. The exchange rate ended at Rs176.39 against the greenback from the previous day’s closing of Rs176.16 in the interbank foreign exchange market. The dealers said the forex market … Read more
KARACHI: The rupee recovered 7 paisas against the dollar on Wednesday as the international oil prices recorded a decline. The exchange rate ended at Rs176.16 to the dollar, as compared with Rs176.23 the previous day in the interbank foreign exchange market. The dealers said that the declining trend in the global crude oil prices helped … Read more
KARACHI: The rupee depreciated 48 paisas against the dollar on Tuesday as the international oil prices rallied near $100 per barrel. The exchange rate ended at Rs176.23 to the dollar, as compared with Rs175.75 the previous day in the interbank foreign exchange market. The dealers said that the rising oil prices in the international markets … Read more
KARACHI: The rupee recovered 11 paisas against the dollar on Monday owing to an ease in the global oil prices. The exchange rate ended at Rs175.75 to the dollar from last Friday’s closing of Rs175.86 in the interbank foreign exchange market. The dealers said that the reports of possible diplomatic talks on Russia-Ukraine tensions had … Read more
Bank Alfalah to expand earnings Bank Alfalah Limited’s balance-sheet is geared up to expand earnings in rising interest rate scenario, while higher concentration towards zero-cost deposits will restrict the cost of funds at manageable levels. Moreover, the net interest margins (NIMs) expansion is likely to continue in CY22 due to higher portion of shorter duration … Read more
KARACHI: The rupee is expected to remain unstable next week, owing to the uncertainty in the international oil prices and a surge in the domestic demand for imported goods, analysts said. The local currency remained dependent on the movement of international oil prices during the outgoing week. It lost 39 paisas against the dollar during … Read more
KARACHI: The deposits of the banking system have dropped over Rs1 trillion in January 2022 after declining from a record high of around Rs21 trillion in December 2021, according to the data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). The total deposits of the banking system fell to Rs19.95 trillion by the end of … Read more
KARACHI: The dollar rebounded against the rupee by 47 paisas on Friday owing to weekly demand and high oil prices. The exchange rate ended at Rs175.86 to the dollar from the previous day’s closing of Rs175.39 in the interbank foreign exchange market. The rupee made gains during the past two trading sessions owing to ease … Read more
KARACHI: Pakistan’s liquid foreign exchange reserves slipped $231 million to $23.49 billion by the week ended February 11, 2022, official statistics revealed. The foreign exchange reserves of the country stood at $23.721 billion by the week ended February 4, 2022, according to the statistics released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). The official foreign … Read more
KARACHI: The rupee gained 28 paisas against the dollar on Thursday as the international oil prices continued to decline. The exchange rate ended at Rs175.39 to the dollar from the previous day’s closing of Rs175.67 in the interbank foreign exchange market. The dealers said that the global oil prices witnessed a continuous decline due to … Read more
KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday enhanced the scope of the Export Finance Scheme (EFS) to facilitate exporters and encourage timely inflow of foreign exchange, a statement said. The central bank enhanced the scope of EFS of both conventional as well as Sharia based, allowing the exporters to obtain financing against their … Read more
KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has enhanced the indicative credit limits for agriculture financing by banks to farmers to align the amount of financing with agriculture input requirements, a statement said on Wednesday. The enhanced indicative credit limits for production and development loans of farm and non-farm sector will directly benefit agriculture borrowers, … Read more
KARACHI: Pakistan’s economy is again at crossroads mainly due to its inconsistent economic policies and weak implementation of structural reforms. This is evident from the Budget FY22, by way of which the fiscal policy became expansionary and several key EFF commitments were reversed to spur growth; which also included low petroleum development levy (PDL) and … Read more
