Recently, the State Bank of Pakistan announced a 100 basis points hike in the policy rate to 16 per cent, against the market expectations of the status quo. It was done in response to the inflationary pressures, which have been proven to be stronger and more persistent than expected. For too long, we have relied solely on monetary policy to control demand and inflation to cool down the heated e
Pakistan repaid a $1 billion international bond, the central bank spokesman said on Friday, amidst growing uncertainty about the country’s ability to meet external financing obligations. The country’s economy has been beset by multiple crises, including the fallout of devastating floods that killed 1,700 people, low foreign exchange reserves and decades-high inflation. “The payment (was) mad
Pakistan Yarn Merchants Association (PYMA) on Saturday warned the government that the imposition of a five per cent regulatory duty (RD) on the import of polyester filament yarn would devastate 800,000 power looms and render millions of people jobless. The association held a protest at the Karachi Press Club and rejected the Economic Coordination Committee’s (ECC) decision of levying RD the p
The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has warned that the country’s health delivery system is already in shambles and a shortage of medicines due to the non-opening of letters of credit (LCs) for the import of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) or raw materials will take the situation from bad to worse. Through a press release on Saturday, the doctors’ representative body was expressing
Overall vegetable exports swelled by 90 per cent in quantity and 57pc in value during the first four months of the current fiscal year thanks to brisk potato shipments that have offset the declining trend in onion exports due to huge crop destruction in Sindh and Balochistan. The total vegetable exports stood at 378,826 tonnes during July-October fetching $107 million compared to 199,119 tonnes