News

Bulk exports push sugar prices up

Pakistan exported a significant quantity of sugar during the February-April period of this fiscal year which pushed up domestic retail prices of the sweetener. In comparison to the same period last year, where there were no foreign sales, the country successfully exported a substantial quantity of 212,896 tonnes of sugar in FY23, according to data compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

Proposal to revive cargo train with Iran, Turkiye

Welcoming the inauguration of the Pak-Iran border market, Pakistan Business Forum (PBF) leader Ejaz Tanveer has suggested re-launching a cargo train between Pakistan, Iran and Turkiye to reap the maximum benefit of formal trade between the three countries. “A successful experience has already been done in the near past and should be initiated on a permanent basis which can lead to increased tra

Stocks tumble 404 points on falling rupee

A bearish trend prevailed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday with equities trading on the lower side throughout the trading session. Topline Securities said the dollar traded at over Rs300 in both open and kerb markets while continuous uncertainty on the International Monetary Fund loan programme as well as growing noise on the political front were the likely reasons for negative sentimen

The fault in our policymakers

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 sent inflationary shockwaves to nearly all oil-importing countries, including the US. The US responded by adopting a tight monetary policy regime manifesting in several rounds of interest rate hikes that weakened a basket of currencies against the dollar. With weaker local currencies and a rising oil import bill, emerging markets faced a double j

Pakistan needs exports, not loans

Textile exports for April clocked in at $1.24 billion, a staggering $500 million less than the previous year’s exports for April and a colossal $1bn per month short of the capability due to enhanced capacity. It is disheartening to see that over the same period, competing countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Vietnam posted impressive growth ranging from 10-30 per cent in textile exports