Business

KARACHI: The bulls tightened their grip in the outgoing short week as they staged a surprise rally on the eve of Eidul Fitr, tossing the benchmark KSE 100 index to a new peak. It was the fourth record-breaking session at the end of Ramazan, a new trend for the PSX, which usually sees low volume and lacklustre activities in the holy month. …

LONDON: Britain’s economy grew for the second straight month in February, official data showed on Friday, boosting recovery hopes after it fell into recession in the second half of 2023. Gross domestic product ticked 0.1 per cent higher in February following an upwardly revised 0.3pc expansion in January, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement. Growth for …

NEW DELHI: Tech billionaire Elon Musk said on Wednesday he planned to meet Indian Prime Minis­ter Narendra Modi, following suggestions the Tesla boss will soon announce major investment plans in the country. He made the announcement on his social media platform X, without giving a date for his visit. “Looking forward to meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India,” he …

WASHINGTON / ISLAM­ABAD: With the government set to enter into a fresh loan agreement with the Inter­national Monetary Fund (IMF), Minister for Finance Mohammad Aurangzeb on Friday called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and briefed him about his upcoming visit to the United States. The finance minister discussed with the prime minister his scheduled meetings with the IMF, World Bank …

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has developed a framework to onboard the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) beneficiaries for receiving social welfare payments into their accounts to be opened in all banks and microfinance banks. The SBP said the framework has been developed in consultation with the BISP and banks. Under the framework, about 9.3 million BISP beneficiaries …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s exports to five central Asian countries (CACs) witnessed a growth of 21.17 per cent during the first eight months of the current fiscal year over the corresponding period last year. Despite the existing prospects, the country’s exports to the region have yet to attain their full potential. Similarly, imports from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and other countries to Pakistan have …

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Thursday said Pakistan’s economic outlook was uncertain, with high risks on the downside, as political uncertainty would remain a key risk to the sustainability of stabilisation and reform efforts. In its April 2024 ‘Asian Development Outlook’, the Manila-based lending agency said potential supply chain disruptions from the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East …

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Thursday said that Pakistan is in discussions with the Fund on a potential follow-up programme to the previous nine-month $3 billion stand-by arrangement (SBA), adding that important issues remained to be solved. Georgieva told an event at the Atlantic Council think tank, that Pakistan was successfully completing its existing programme with …

The United States has topped long-time leader China as Taiwan’s main export market for four consecutive months due to a surge in demand for microchip products and AI technology, Taipei’s finance ministry said on Friday. Self-ruled Taiwan is a microchip-manufacturing powerhouse, churning out the world’s most advanced silicon wafers necessary to power everything from e-vehicles and satellites to fighter jets …

OUAGADOUGOU: In the suburbs of Burkina Faso’s capital Ouag­adougou, lucrative strawberry farming is supplanting traditional crops like cabbage and lettuce and has become a top export to neighbouring countries. Prized as “red gold” in the Sahel, strawberry crops brought in some two billion CFA francs ($3.3 million) from 2019 to 2020, according to agricultural support programme PAPEA. In their January …