PREDICTING the direction or magnitude of change in the movement of equity securities is a fool’s errand. John Maynard Keynes once said that “the markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent”, and the same has been proven correct time and again. We cannot predict the direction or the magnitude, but we certainly can work with whatever information is available. The equity ma
More multinational companies have divested their assets or temporarily halted their operations in Pakistan continuing a trend that began in calendar 2022. Over the past 30 months, numerous firms have chosen to relocate their activities outside of Pakistan or reduce operations due to significant political and economic challenges. Multinational corporations (MNCs) naturally experience fluctuat
Despite having little in common, even our political parties could agree on one thing: Pakistan’s economic situation was dire in 2023. The year saw Pakistan go through a long and rocky road to finding some semblance of economic stability — if it can even be called that — while weathering political and social turmoil. Pakistanis also experienced a double whammy this year: the one-two punches of the
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has exceeded its December target by Rs7 billion due to the timely clearance of liquefied natural gas shipments as well as impressive domestic sales tax collection aided by historic inflation. The revenue collection in December stood at Rs982bn against a projected target of Rs975bn. The revenue collection increased by 34pc when compared with Rs732bn over the co
The rupee-dollar exchange rate is expected to come under pressure due to higher debt repayments in the first quarter of calendar year 2024, said bankers and analysts. “With the completion of the nine-month $3bn Stand-By Arrangement with the IMF in March 2024, the dollar may reverse its downward trajectory due to higher debt servicing and likely fall in foreign exchange reserves amid slow inflow