News

The IMF as saviour?

The irony of ironies. An institution which across the globe has been acknowledged as anti-people, elitist and responsible for increasing poverty, misery and destitution across dozens of countries, is now being seen as Pakistan’s only saviour, as it seems the rulers in this country have come round to restarting an agreement which has been in abeyance for almost a year. The ‘there-is-no-alternati

Govt raises Rs852bn at 17.9pc via T-bill auction

The government increased the cut-off yields to raise Rs852 billion through auctions of treasury bills on Wednesday against the target of Rs650bn. The State Bank reported that the three-month cut-off yield was increased by 94 basis points to 17.937 per cent. All the bids for six-month and 12-month tenors were rejected. The central bank received a total of Rs1,593bn bids suggesting that the ba

Data protection bill to strengthen IT sector: Qamar

Commerce Minister Naveed Qamar has said that the promotion of information technology and data sciences are key to future challenges and soon the National Assembly will pass the Data Protection Bill 2021, which will lead to the strengthening of the IT and digital economy in the country. Addressing the US-Pakistani Diaspora Conference on Accelerating Silicon Investments in Pakistan organised by U

SBP intervention limits rupee’s fall after cap lifted

The rupee dipped by 1.2 per cent to 243 against the dollar on Wednesday after foreign exchange companies lifted a price cap, which they said caused “artificial” distortions and created a black market, where the US currency was selling at higher rates. However, the rupee’s closing value was far higher compared to Rs252.5 in the early open-market trade on Wednesday after central bank’s interventi

Bike prices raised by up to Rs25,000

Pak Suzuki Motor Company Ltd (PSMCL) has increased motorcycle prices by Rs20,000-25,000 effective from Feb 1. The new rate for GD110 S, GS150, GSX125 and GR150 is Rs264,000, Rs286,000, Rs384,000 and Rs410,000. The company, however, did not disclose any reason for the price hike in its letter issued to authorised dealers. PSMCL had stopped the new booking of bikes from Jan 20 for the time bei