Business

Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics will upgrade software for their 5G-enabled phones in India by December, the companies said on Wednesday, as Indian authorities press mobile phone manufacturers to adopt the high-speed network. Apple said it would push software upgrades to recent models, including the iPhone 14, 13, 12 and iPhone SE, which, industry sources say, do not yet support …

Twitter Inc is reviewing its policies around permanently banning users, possibly bringing its content moderation in line with Elon Musk’s vision for the social media platform, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. Twitter has been exploring if there are other content moderation tools that could replace a ban, its harshest penalty for violating rules, the newspaper said, citing multiple people familiar with the …

ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday further lowered its global economic growth forecast to below 2 per cent amid stubborn higher inflation with a warning that the worst was yet to come. In its World Economic Outlook (WEO) 2023 – Countering the Cost-of-Living Crisis, the global lender of last resort forecast Pakistan’s GDP growth rate at 3.5pc and inflation …

KARACHI: Remittances sent by overseas Pakistanis declined to $2.4 billion in September as the open and grey markets were offering much higher rates than interbank. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday said remittances decreased by 10.5 per cent month-on-month and 12.3pc year-on-year in September. The inflows in August were $2.72bn while they were $2.78bn in September 2021. The …

The dollar scaled fresh 24-year heights on the yen on Wednesday, breaching levels that prompted intervention by Japanese officials last month, as traders braced for United States inflation data and its implications for further Federal Reserve rate hikes. Sterling slipped to a new two-week trough after Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey reiterated that the central bank will end its …

The dollar hit multi-year highs on Tuesday against the risk-sensitive Aussie and Kiwi dollars and the yen hovered near the level that prompted intervention as worries about rising interest rates and geopolitical tensions unsettled investors. Strong US labour data and an expectation of inflation figures on Thursday to remain stubbornly high have all but dashed bets on anything but high interest rates …

ISLAMABAD: To secure greater breathing space in foreign loan repayments amid tight external account conditions, Pakistan is seeking rescheduling of bilateral debt, which now stands at around $27 billion. “Rescheduling of bilateral debt is fine,” said Finance Minister Ishaq Dar while ruling out rescheduling of international debt from wealthy western nations under Paris Club, multilaterals and international sovereign bonds. Talking …

Cascading global crises have left 54 countries — home to more than half of the world’s poorest people — in dire need of debt relief, the Unied Nations said on Tuesday. In a new report, the United Nations Development Programme warned that dozens of developing nations were facing a rapidly deepening debt crisis and that “the risks of inaction are dire.” …

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar left for a visit to the United States on Tuesday, the finance ministry said. During his visit, the minister will attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. He is also expected to hold direct talks with their officials. A day earlier, Dar reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to complete the IMF programme with …

Sri Lanka’s cabinet has approved a proposal to downgrade the island nation’s economic status to “low income country”, in order to get access to concessional funding from international organisations, the cabinet spokesman said on Tuesday. Sri Lanka’s economy is in a deep slump, shrinking at an annual 8.4 per cent in the June quarter in one of the steepest quarterly …