News

Uptick in SBP reserves after three months

After having maintained a declining trend in the last three months, the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) foreign exchange reserves witnessed a meagre increase of $258 million to $4.6 billion during the week that ended on Jan 13, but still at an alarming level not sufficient to cover even the country’s three weeks’ imports. However, the currency dealers said the SBP bought the dollars from the mar

Govt ready to meet all IMF demands to revive loan programme

Conveying its willingness to accept all the four major conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government on Thursday requested the lender to send its mission to Pakistan at the earliest, preferably next week, to conclude a long-awaited agreement to revive the loan programme. “We have completed our workings on all four areas on the basis of our interactions on the sidelines of

Shares at PSX reverse trend after yesterday’s hammering

Shares at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) recovered some of their losses from a day earlier on Wednesday as the benchmark index started gaining shortly before trading ended. The benchmark KSE-100 index rose 448.88 points, or 1.17 per cent, to close at 38,791.09 points. It reached an intraday high of 38,945.97 points, up 603.76 points, or 1.57pc, around 3:28pm. “The market was in the overso

Growth & inflation statistics

OUR inflation data compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) is one the best datasets in the country. Its coverage is wide and not only does it follow data quality standards but also maintains excellent dissemination standards. Look at the various indices compiled: NCPI, UCPI, RCPI, UCPI-NFNE, RCPI-NFNE, UCPI-Trim, RCPI-Trim, WPI and SPI. These are the consumer price indices for the c

Bloodbath at PSX

AFTER the extended rout at the Pakistan Stock Exchange over the past few sessions, there are few doubts about how the PDM government’s management of the economy is being viewed on the street. Since last Friday, the benchmark KSE-100 Index has shed around2,000 points (about 5pc) due to panic triggered by the PTI’s decision to dissolve the KP and Punjab assemblies, as well as speculation that the