News

Dollar, rupee and Gresham’s law

IN 1558, when Elizabeth I ascended the throne of England, a plethora of challenging circumstances confronted her. Not least was the low demand for English coinage (there was no paper-based money back then). English residents appeared to be fonder of other European currencies. Put another way, demand for English money was low. But even more puzzling was the observation that the non-English Europ

Cryptocurrencies at crossroads after annus horribilis

To borrow from Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, 2022 is not a year on which the cryptocurrency world shall look back with undiluted pleasure. Crashes, contagion, and collapses came in such quick succession that investors were, towards the end of the year, asking serious existential questions. After all, the largest cryptocurrency, bitcoin, has not kept its head above water for more than a week at

Tobacco demand grows to record 86m kilos

The demand for tobacco has been set at a record 85.8 million kilograms for the next year, significantly higher than the current year’s 53.575m kg, leaf managers and growers told Dawn on Wednesday. The high requirements, announced by the buyers through the Pakistan Tobacco Board (PTB), have sent officials of multinational and national tobacco companies scurrying around the fields to secure agree

Trading in Rs8bn Bank of Punjab TFC begins on 23rd

Trading in the privately placed Rs8 billion bond of the Bank of Punjab Ltd (BoP) will commence on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday, Dec 23. Locally known as a term finance certificate (TFC), the debt instrument will contribute towards the bank’s Additional Tier 1 Capital for the capital adequacy ratio (CAR). This category of capital consists of instruments that aren’t equity but can

China willing to provide ‘all kinds of assistance’, envoy assures Dar

China assured Pakistan on Wednesday that it is ready to help Islamabad in every possible way following its request for about $8.75 billion in an additional financial package, including the rollover of debt, bank deposits and currency swaps. Chinese Ambassador in Islamabad Nong Rong called on Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday and “assured continuous support of the Chinese government to Pak