News

Amid dollar woes, startup touts investment avenues in US

In the middle of a serious dollar shortage that’s forcing the government to withhold import payments for even food and industrial raw material, one startup is rolling out a US trading and investing product for Pakistani investors. Elphinstone Pakistan wants Pakistanis to remit dollars for investments in American stocks and treasury bills, even though the government is trying to minimise dollar

Pakistanis in a fix over deepening food price disparities

Higher import and transportation costs, crop availability, the demand and supply gap, hoarding, exchange rate issues, etc have led to massive price disparities in prices of essential food items in various cities of the country. According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the rate of 20kg flour bag in Karachi has reached a record Rs2,800-3,000 as compared to Rs1,295 in

Pressure mounts on Dar to stop ‘managing’ exchange rate

As Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have fallen to an alarming level — not even sufficient enough to cover three weeks’ worth of imports — the financial sector has asked Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to stop ‘managing’ the rupee-dollar parity, which is one of the key conditions set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for resuming stalled talks for the release of a $1.12 billion tranche. P

IMF delegation to meet Dar on sidelines of Geneva conference: spokesperson

A delegation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will meet Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on the sidelines of the upcoming Geneva conference to “discuss outstanding issues”, the lender’s spokesperson said on Sunday. The International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan will be held in Geneva on January 9 (Monday). The event will be co-hosted by the Government of Pakistan and the United Na

Time for a charter of citizen rights

In the public discourse about how to put the economy on the path of inclusive and sustainable economic development, analysts have usually focused on the need for charters of economy, democracy and governance. But what is forgotten, to quote a distinguished development economist, is that the historical record demonstrates that economic and political rights make a remarkably successful problem-solvi