THE fever is breaking. Rarely have I seen so many indicators of the economy reverse their momentum in tandem, and so fast. From the start of this week, Pakistani bonds in international markets have rebounded from default level pricing to normal pricing, inflation peaked, the foreign exchange reserves rose by $500 million, the trade deficit fell, the stock market registered the sharpest single-day
Pakistan’s Pak-Arab Refinery Ltd (Parco) has offered fuel oil for July loading in its latest tender, underlining an ongoing shift in market dynamics as the South Asian country turned to exporting instead of importing fuel oil this summer. The refinery is offering 50,000 tonnes of high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) with maximum 3.5 per cent sulphur content, for loading at Karachi port between July 15
Amid anticipated stability in the rupee-dollar parity after a staff-level agreement with the IMF, the country’s auto assemblers and a leading tetra milk producer on Wednesday shocked consumers with massive price hikes. Lucky Motor Corporation Ltd (LMCL) on Wednesday raised the price of Picanto Automatic Transmission by Rs200,000 to Rs3.825 million from Rs3.625m while keeping Picanto (manual) un
After staging an IMF-induced spectacular rally of 3.8 per cent overnight, the rupee lost steam and depreciated by Rs2.56 against the US dollar in the interbank market on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the first trading day after the long Eidul Azha holidays, the local currency appreciated by Rs10.55 against the greenback amid optimism that the government reached a staff-level agreement for $3 billion s
The Senate Standing Committee on Commerce was informed on Wednesday that Pakistani banks were hesitant about issuance of financial instruments for doing trade with Afghanistan, Iran, and Russia. Commerce Secretary Sauleh Farouqi while briefing the committee, headed by Zeeshan Khanzada, said that this reluctance on part of local banks had led to start of barter trade with these countries. Mr