The forewarning of a meltdown as soon as the ‘unannounced’ peg on the dollar rate would be lifted materialised on Thursday when the USD value shot up by a record Rs24.54 in the interbank market. The government’s move to remove ‘the cap’ and to allow market factors to determine the exchange rate came at the back of the International Monetary Fund’s demand to revive the stalled loan programme.
A day after Pakistan removed the exchange rate cap giving way to over nine per cent depreciation of the rupee, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday announced fielding its staff mission to Pakistan on Jan 31 for talks on the 9th quarterly review of a funding programme pending for almost four months. “At the request of the (Pakistan) authorities, an in-person Fund mission is schedule
The unprecedented 10.6 per cent rupee devaluation in a single day on Thursday would not only trigger a new wave of price hikes but the expensive loans after the interest rate hike would hit industrial activities, warned trade and industry leaders on Thursday. They said a weak rupee would increase the landed cost of imported goods and industrial raw materials and would make the life of inflation
The United States on Thursday vowed to continue supporting Pakistan in overcoming its unprecedented economic crisis and post-flood challenges. The assurance from the US was given by its ambassador to Pakistan, Donald Blome, during his meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The Prime Minister Office in its official press release quoted the ambassador as saying: “The United States will co
A new United Nations report warns that the global economic growth is projected to slow down to only 1.9 per cent in 2023, sharply lower than the 3pc in 2022. However, the report says, the global growth is forecast to moderately pick up to 2.7pc in 2024. This will be one of the lowest growth rates in recent decades, apart from the 2007-8 financial crisis and the height of the Covid-19 pandemic,