Social assistance is everywhere conditional, and in Pakistan it is no different. Either it comes with behavioural strings attached — ‘do this and we’ll help you, don’t and we won’t’ — or it is targeted, with receipt conditional on being a specific type of person or facing a particular type of problem (think Benazir Income Support Programme [BISP]and the extreme poor). Those who defend this appr
Pakistan is working on launching a $250 million Green Impact Fund (GIF) to channel international commitments meant for climate change to finance green micro and small enterprises (MSMEs) in the country. The plan proposed by Karandaaz — a non-profit firm drawing funds from international donors — came under discussion at a meeting of the PM’s Committee on Social Impact Financing presided over by
India will be the global production hub for Suzuki Motor’s electric cars and it plans to export the vehicles back to Japan as well as other markets, such as Europe, despite a slowdown in sales of EVs, the carmaker’s chief said on Thursday. India is the biggest market by sales and revenue for Suzuki Motor, present there through its majority stake in market leader Maruti Suzuki. On Friday, Mar
The State Bank of Pakistan on Thursday confirmed the rollover of two deposits of $1 billion each for another year by the United Arab Emirates. The national bank said the deposits were maturing this month. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had announced last week that the UAE had agreed to roll over the payment of $2bn due by Pakistan this month. Securing external financing has previously been
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to constitute a panel of experts to identify frivolous cases and take practical steps to resolve all revenue-related cases as soon as possible. During a meeting to review various options to expedite legal cases, the premier issued this directive to FBR and Law Division officials. As many as 33,522 cases worth Rs4.7