The United States has assured Pakistan that it would continue to support Islamabad’s efforts to strengthen its economy and deal with the consequences of last year’s devastating floods. State Department spokesperson Ned Price at a Monday afternoon news briefing also urged Pakistan to continue with the economic reforms it promised to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) while indicating that the
Saudi Arabia said it could increase its investments in Pakistan’s economy to $10 billion, the Saudi state news agency reported on Tuesday, as well as increase the ceiling on deposits into the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) by $2bn, to $5bn. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has directed a study to increase Saudi Arabian investments to $10bn from the previous $1bn announced in August, the news agen
With the finance minister taking a back seat in recent days, it does not exactly inspire confidence that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif himself has had to step forward and extend assurances to the IMF regarding Pakistan’s intent with regard to resuming the Extended Fund Facility. It is unclear whether Islamabad has finally realised the gravity of the crisis it is in, which is only going to get e
In the middle of a serious dollar shortage that’s forcing the government to withhold import payments for even food and industrial raw material, one startup is rolling out a US trading and investing product for Pakistani investors. Elphinstone Pakistan wants Pakistanis to remit dollars for investments in American stocks and treasury bills, even though the government is trying to minimise dollar
Higher import and transportation costs, crop availability, the demand and supply gap, hoarding, exchange rate issues, etc have led to massive price disparities in prices of essential food items in various cities of the country. According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the rate of 20kg flour bag in Karachi has reached a record Rs2,800-3,000 as compared to Rs1,295 in