Business

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar clarified on Wednesday that the government would not take over foreign exchange held by commercial banks, saying that his earlier statement on the country’s reserves had been twisted by certain sections. His remarks come days after he said in an interview that Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves stand at $10 billion, a much higher figure than the central bank’s …

ISLAMABAD: Questioning a demand by the Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (PIAC) for an annual financial support of $40 million for continuing its flight operations, the federal government informed the Supreme Court on Tuesday that it had provided the national flag carrier Rs114 billion since 2018. Through its counsel Raja Salman Akram, PIA had sought the $40m financial support, as well …

Microsoft Corp is in talks to invest $10 billion into OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT, which will value the San Francisco-based firm at $29bn, Semafor reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. The funding includes other venture firms and deal documents were sent to prospective investors in recent weeks, with the aim to close the round by the end of 2022, …

Shares at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) recovered on Tuesday, with analysts attributing the bounce-back to the pledges of over $10 billion made at a donors’ conference hosted jointly by the government of Pakistan and the United Nations in Geneva yesterday as well as Saudi Arabia’s decision to study increasing investment in Pakistan. The benchmark KSE-100 index rose 296.74 points, or 0.73 per cent, …

ISLAMABAD: The export of services grew nearly six per cent in the first five months of 2022-23 on a year-on-year basis mainly on the back of IT sales. The country achieved this growth at a time when the exports of commodities have been in decline for many months, according to the latest data compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics …

GENEVA: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday ask­ed the International Monet­ary Fund (IMF) for a pause in its demands for economic reforms before releasing more financial aid, as the country tries to reb­uild after catastrophic floods. The call came as the country received over $10 billion in pledges at a donors’ conference, hosted jointly by the government of Pakistan and …

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has directed the Saudi Development Fund (SDF) to study increasing the deposit amount in the State of Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to $5 billion, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Tuesday. “His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, has directed to study augmenting the Kingdom of …

Historically, Pakistan has been a major player in the global dairy market. Its important role is reflected in the sector growth of 3.26 per cent in 2020-21, accounting for about 61.89pc of agriculture value additions and 14.06pc of the country’s GDP. As such, it is an important source of foreign exchange earnings, as well as a source of income for …

Food inflation that was already high before the 2022 monsoon floods in Pakistan further accelerated after the floods, particularly in rural areas. In rural areas food inflation rate crossed 30 per cent in August amidst super floods and remained above that level for the next four months, peaking at 37.9pc in December 2022. In urban areas, people witnessed food inflation …

In the public discourse about how to put the economy on the path of inclusive and sustainable economic development, analysts have usually focused on the need for charters of economy, democracy and governance. But what is forgotten, to quote a distinguished development economist, is that the historical record demonstrates that economic and political rights make a remarkably successful problem-solving system. …