On the opening day of make-or-break talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government on Tuesday increased liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) price by 30 per cent and finalised a minimum of Rs6 per unit average increase in electricity rates between now and August. This was on top of an earlier hike in petroleum rates by up to 16pc, a rise of one percentage point in the central bank
Shares at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) fell sharply on Monday, with the benchmark KSE-100 index dropping 579.26 points, or 1.43 per cent, to close at 39,871.27 points. It reached an intraday low of 606.14 points, or 1.52pc, around 3:26pm. Two analysts attributed the stock market’s fall to the blast at a mosque in Peshawar’s Police Lines area, in which 28 people died and more than 150 we
A SEVEN per cent drop in textile exports during the current fiscal year has brought about thousands of layoffs in the industry, putting daily wagers and contractual workers at risk of starvation. And this is “just the beginning”. The situation in the auto sector is equally grave, as more than “250,000 people have lost their jobs” due to a dip in the sale of automobiles. Mazhar Iqbal (not his
Foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) plunged to $3.678 billion on January 20 from $4.601bn due to external debt repayments. At this level, the reserves provide imports cover of three weeks against a standard minimum of three months. The SBP reported a new level of the forex reserves on January 26 and simultaneously removed the cap on the official exchange rate. Conseque
After plunging to a record low last week, the PKR depreciated by another Rs7.03, closing at Rs269.63 per dollar in the interbank market on Monday, according to data shared by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). This equates to a loss of 2.61 per cent from Friday’s close of Rs262.6. Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (Ecap) General Secretary Zafar Paracha attributed the rupee’s deprecia