Foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank fell by $170 million to $2.916 billion during the week ending on Feb 3, but the rupee gained despite this piece of bad news on Thursday. According to the State Bank, the decline in reserves was due to external debt repayments. Experts believe that the country’s reserves are enough for only 16 or 17 days of imports. The biggest threat is the di
Amid claims of adequate availability and the government warning of stern action against hoarders, the shortage of petrol persists across Punjab disrupting the routine life of the public at large. The situation is worst in remote areas where the pumps have had no supplies for the last over a month, Dawn has learnt. On the other hand, the Pakistan Petroleum Dealer Association (PPDA) has held a
While expressing their strong resentment toward the justification for pushing up prices to unprecedented levels of up to Rs303,500 per tonne, builders and developers have suspended the purchase of steel bars for seven days. Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD) Chairman Altaf Tai said no steel bars would be unloaded at the construction sites of the association’s members from Friday.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday that the government had received the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) related to the completion of the ninth review of a $7 billion loan programme. “We insisted that they (the Fund delegation) give us the MEFP before leaving so we could look at it over the weekend,” he said, adding that the
Stocks rose on Tuesday, thanks to the investors’ optimism about the potential finalisation of a policy-level agreement between the government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Progress on the resolution of the gas sector’s circular debt brought the exploration and production stocks into the spotlight, said Arif Habib Ltd. The government is considering settling the outstanding debt