How many people around you have ever willingly bought an insurance policy? It can’t be a lot, at least if you exclude the Sehat card that the citizens of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab are entitled to. That’s because Pakistan has one of the worst insurance penetration rates among regional or economic peers — at just 0.91 per cent (life and general insurance combined). It’s sort of ironic because
Oil fell on Monday as concern over the economic impact of the US Federal Reserve potentially raising interest rates and weaker Chinese manufacturing data outweighed support from new Opec+ supply cuts taking effect this month. The Fed, which meets on May 2-3, is expected to increase interest rates by another 25 basis points. The US dollar rose against a basket of currencies on Monday, making oil
The World Bank on Monday unveiled a new methodology and improved safeguards for assessing the business climate in up to 180 countries after embarrassing revelations of data irregularities and favouritism toward China forced it to cancel its flagship rankings two years ago. The bank scrapped its “Doing Business” rankings in September 2021, citing internal audits and an independent probe that fou
The United Arab Emirates’ ADNOC Gas announced on Monday a $1 billion deal to provide liquefied natural gas to France’s TotalEnergies as Europe scrambles to find alternatives to Russian energy sources. The liquefied natural gas provided under the three-year supply deal “will be delivered to various export markets around the world”, a company statement said. The agreement is valued at between
Though closed since June 2015, Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) is reported to have earned after-tax-profit of about Rs7.45 billion in 2021-22 even though its accumulated losses of Rs206bn went beyond its current assets worth Rs195.5bn. In the qualified opinion of on financial statements, the independent auditors — Crowe Hussain Chaudhry & Co — said the PSM fully disclosed its dispute with Sui Southe