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Pakistan, Saudi Arabia to strengthen cooperation in mining & minerals

Pakistan and Saudia Arabia agreed on strengthening bilateral cooperation in the mining and minerals sector, with an emphasis on exploring joint investment opportunities and enhancing collaboration across the entire mineral value chain. Federal Minister for Petroleum Ali Pervaiz Malik is currently in Riyadh leading Pakistani delegation at the Future Minerals Forum (FMF) 2026, hosted by the Minis

Pakistan, UAE to launch pre-immigration clearance for passengers

Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have agreed to introduce a pre-immigration clearance system that will allow Pakistani passengers to complete immigration formalities before departure, enabling them to bypass lengthy queues on arrival at UAE airports. The development came during a meeting between Director General Customs and Port Security Ahmed bin Lahij Al Falasi of UAE and Federal M

PSX falls for second day on profit-taking

Stocks closed lower on Friday as late-session profit-taking erased early gains, pushing the benchmark KSE-100 index down by around 1,130 points to 184,410. Market participants initially maintained a positive stance during morning trade; however, selling pressure intensified in the latter half as investors chose to lock in gains ahead of the weekend, resulting in another negative close for CY26.

Pakistan to exit IMF programme this year

Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan, Chairman of the Prime Minister's Youth Programme (PMYP), announced that Pakistan will exit the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme by June next year. Addressing a diaspora gathering in London on Saturday, he said Pakistan was steadily moving towards economic self-reliance and would no longer require IMF support by mid-2026. He added that the country's recent

Inflation targeting-lite: strategic transition or operational stopgap?

In August 2009, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) officially changed its monetary policy framework from targeting monetary aggregates to an interest rate-based monetary policy framework, known as the inflation-targeting-lite regime, by introducing the interest rate corridor (IRC). Within international systems, the adoption of IRC would be a transitional move for implementing a flexible or full-f