China spent $240 billion bailing out 22 developing countries between 2008 and 2021, with the amount soaring in recent years as more have struggled to repay loans spent building “Belt & Road” infrastructure, according to a study published Tuesday. Almost 80 per cent of the rescue lending was made between 2016 and 2021, mainly to middle-income countries including Argentina, Mongolia and Pakistan,
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) wants external financing commitments fulfilled from friendly countries before it releases bailout funds, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday. The lender has been negotiating with Islamabad since early February to resume $1.1 billion in funding held since November, which is part of a $6.5 billion bailout agreed in 2019. The funding is very criti
Chinese national oil company CNOOC and France’s TotalEnergies have completed China’s first yuan-settled LNG trade through the Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange, the exchange said on Tuesday. Approximately 65,000 tonnes of LNG imported from the UAE changed hands in the trade, it said in a statement. TotalEnergies confirmed to Reuters that the transaction involved LNG imported from the
Minority shareholders of Ecopack Ltd — a listed company that makes plastic bottles for beverage firms — have sought the intervention of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) to protect the entity from hostile and allegedly illegal takeover by a group of seven investors. The seven acquirers “acted in concert” to accumulate over 50 per cent shareholding within a few months wit
The government has asked the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) to increase K-Electric’s consumer tariff by up to Rs6.02 per unit under two past quarterly adjustments and allow its recovery from consumers in three months — April to June — to ensure national uniform tariff. The government has already notified an equivalent increase in tariff for consumers of ex-Wapda Discos. Fo