The coalition government led by the PML-N is in the process of finalising an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a fiscal adjustment of well over Rs 1.4 trillion in the upcoming budget. It would be looking at additional tax measures of no less than Rs300 billion besides expenditure cuts, primarily the development programme — the traditional victim. …

Unaddressed for long, numerous imbalances in many market economies, emerging or developed — aggravated by global geopolitics and the war in Ukraine — have turned into grave crises. But a high rate of current, unsubdued, persisting inflation has triggered politically the most sensitive ‘cost-of-living-crisis’ worldwide. In Pakistan, inflation has become a crucial political issue because of its possible fallout on …

The free fall of the rupee against the US Dollar and other major currencies has sent alarm bells ringing among the stakeholders of the agriculture sector, who rely on imported inputs like seeds, fertiliser, pesticides and machinery. They fear that an over 14 per cent drop in the value of the local currency since March 1 this year is set …

Within a month and a half, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) raised its key policy rate by 400 basis points — first by 250bps to 12.25 per cent on April 7th ahead of the scheduled policy review on May 23rd and again by 150bps to 13.75pc on the due date of policy review. The purpose was to contain galloping …

Continuing its recovery, the rupee on Monday appreciated by Rs1.2 against the US dollar in the interbank trade, a development which is largely being attributed to the change in market sentiments over the government’s expected deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after it complied with its condition to raise fuel prices. According to the Forex Association of Pakistan (FAP), …

Torrential rains in northeastern Brazil have left at least 79 people dead and dozens missing, civil defence officials said on Sunday, as rescuers capitalised on a lull in downpours to search for survivors. “As of 6pm (2100 GMT) this Sunday, the number of people killed as a result of the rains has reached 79,” the civil defence authority of Pernambuco …

UVALDE: US President Joe Biden laid flowers and prayed on Sunday at the makeshift shrine erected in Uvalde to the 19 children and two teachers murdered by a teen gunman after he stormed their elementary school. Biden, accompanied by his wife, Jill Biden, was in the small Texas town less than two weeks after making a similar trip to the …

KHARKIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday made his first trip to the country’s war-torn east since the launch of Moscow’s invasion, as Russian forces tightened their grip around key cities in the Donbas region. Zelensky’s office posted a video on Telegram of him wearing a bullet-proof vest and being shown destroyed buildings in Kharkiv and its surroundings, from where …

WASHINGTON: One person was killed and seven were injured in a shooting early Sunday at an outdoor festival in eastern Oklahoma, authorities said. The shooting — at a Memorial Day festival in Taft, Oklahoma, — alarmed America as it followed a mass shooting in the small Texas town of Uvalde last week. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) reported …

WASHINGTON: Key US lawmakers expressed guarded optimism on Sunday that the shocking school shooting in Texas might lead to at least small steps against gun violence. “There are more Repu­blicans interested in talking about finding a path forward this time than I have seen since Sandy Hook,” Dem­ocratic Senator Chris Mur­phy said on ABC, referring to the 2012 school shooting …