Business

KARACHI: The stock market turned in another depressed performance on Friday amid renewed US concerns over polls irregularities as a result the KSE 100-share index extended overnight losses on persisting selling pressure. Ashan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said the market maintained a bearish outlook on investor concerns over the Special Investment Facilitation Council’s decision for tough economic measures for …

ISLAMABAD: Short-term inflation decelerated year-on-year to 29.06 per cent in the week ending March 21 after staying elevated above 30 per cent for the last 18 weeks, official data showed on Friday. The weekly inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), eased mainly due to a declining trend in the prices of tomatoes, onions and potatoes. In the preceding …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday sought a comprehensive strategy to increase the country’s information technology exports on a priority basis. He was chairing a meeting on the progress of the information technology sector. Prominent information technology experts attended the meeting and gave their proposals. The PM said information technology had a prominent role in the economy. The capacity …

KARACHI: Auto financing continued its downward trajectory for the 20th consecutive month, dropping to Rs242.9 billion in February 2024 from Rs246bn at the end of January. Car loans were at Rs325.8bn in February 2023. According to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data, the total decrease over the last 20 months amounted to Rs125bn, from Rs368bn at the end of June …

KARACHI: The total funding raised by Pakistani startups in 2023 was $75.8 million, experiencing a sharp decline of 77 per cent compared to the preceding year, according to a Pakistan Tech and VC landscape report by Data Darbar and Indus Valley Capital. Similarly, the number of deals also decreased by 41.8pc to 39pc, the lowest since 2019. Consequently, the average ticket size …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan authorities could materialise about $6.68 billion in foreign economic assistance (FEA) in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, almost 38pc of the annual budget target. The borrowing avenues remained limited in the wake of poor credit rating and adverse conditions in the global financial markets despite the support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the …

KARACHI: Foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) increased by $105 million to reach $8 billion again. The SBP’s report on Thursday indicated that the reserves of both commercial banks and the SBP increased during the week ending March 15, showing the presence of excess dollar liquidity in the banking market, which also supports exchange rate stability. …

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Friday that the matter of an Extended Fund Facility (EFF) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be discussed in Washington next month as the country looks to alleviate a full-scale economic crisis. The standby $3 billion arrangement with the global lender expires on April 11, and the two sides reached a staff-level agreement regarding the …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s key diplomatic allies have begun discussions with the new government’s economic team to foster bilateral and multilateral economic and financial cooperation. European Union Ambassador to Pakistan Dr Riina Kionka, US and China’s envoys Donald Blome and Jiang Zaidong met Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb in the last four days. The three envoys met the finance minister at a time …

ISLAMABAD: Announ­c­ing the staff-level agreement on the successful completion of the existing short-term facility, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday confirmed Pakistan was seeking a 24th medium-term bailout package for a permanent push towards longstanding structural reforms. In its end-of-mission statement, the IMF said that subject to the approval of its executive board, the staff-level agreement would enable Pakistan to access …