The former governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Dr Ishrat Husain, sounded uncharacteristically upset one morning in November 2021. His mood was in contrast with the upbeat feel of the campus at the Institute of Business Management (IBA), where seasoned bankers in sharp suits and flowing beards had gathered to take part in a conference on Islamic banking, a rather mundane affair the promot
Pakistan joined 26 other nations on Monday in urging US lawmakers to expedite legislation for the renewal of the Generalised System of Preference (GSP) programme for developing countries. Instituted in 1971, with support from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, GSP is a tariff waiver programme on nearly 5,000 products from over 120 countries. Pakistan is a member of the 2
Financial leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) will meet on Feb 23 to discuss measures against Russia that will put pressure on it to end the Ukraine war, Japan’s Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Tuesday. Japan will chair the meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors from the G7 nations in the Indian city of Bengaluru. The meeting will come almost a year since Russia invaded
Despite clearly lacking quorum, the National Assembly after a lackluster debate on Monday passed the IMF-dictated Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2023, seeking to impose additional Rs170 billion taxes with minor amendments as Finance Minister Ishaq Dar held the mismanagement in the power sector and poor economic policies of the previous PTI regime mainly responsible for this economic burden on the ma
Brent crude oil slipped more than one per cent in a volatile session on Tuesday as persistent concerns about global economic growth outweighed supply curbs and prompted investors to take profits on the previous day’s gains. The focus in the wider financial market is firmly on the release on Wednesday of the minutes of the US Federal Reserve’s latest meeting, after recent data raised the risk of