In a move to soothe the financial market amid growing fears of default, State Bank of Pakistan Governor Jameel Ahmed has said the debt repayment situation is completely under control and all the external payment obligations will be met in time. While advising analysts to correct their views about debt repayments, Mr Jameel expressed full confidence that Pakistan will not default. In a podcas
Pakistan has blocked some $225 million of airlines’ dues, becoming one of the top countries restricting the industry from repatriating funds, the global airline association IATA said on Wednesday. Pakistan already became a “blocked fund” country in April along with Sri Lanka. The two countries were being monitored and flagged in IATA’s “watch list countries” in 2021. The amount of airline fu
Stock prices ended their downward slide on Wednesday as their benchmark index stayed in the green throughout the trading session. Arif Habib Ltd said stock prices showed improvement following a clarification by the Ministry of Finance with regard to the ninth review of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. Following “false” messages about the “supposed economic emergency” on social m
IN recent columns, I have written about the control of elites over Pakistan’s polity, the ineffectiveness of our governments and our pursuing the wrong model of import substitution, which results in boom-and-bust cycles. Since our elite already control most of our resources, they aren’t interested in economic growth or increasing the size of the pie. Their preoccupation is with maintaining thei
Commodity importers and drug makers continue to face problems in opening letters of credit (LCs) for the import of raw materials and finished products because of a shortage of dollars in the interbank market. All Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association (PFVA) Chairman Mohammad Shehzad Sheikh told the Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday that 417 containers worth m