The State Bank kept the interest rate unchanged at a record 22 per cent on Tuesday for the fourth consecutive meeting, hoping to see a significant decline in inflation in the second half of the fiscal year. Most independent economists and analysts expected the central bank to hold the rate steady due to a surge in the November inflation. The bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) said that a
The government raised Rs2.15 trillion through the auction of market treasury bills but kept the cut-off yields almost unchanged on Wednesday. What is more significant in the auction was the investors’ rush for the 12-month papers as they were willing to park Rs3.269tr in it. The State Bank in its monetary policy announced on Tuesday said that the inflation would come down in the second half of
The Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) — a one-window facility of the federal government — on Wednesday announced the $2 billion financial closing of the country’s largest Thar coal-fired power project, currently operational at Thar, by Shanghai Electric Corporation, China. In a statement, the PPIB said the financial close agreement was signed by PPIB Managing Director Shah Jahan Mir
Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar said on Wednesday that public-sector dominance in the insurance sector should be reduced by privatising State Life Insurance Corporation. Addressing the International InsureImpact Conference 2023 organised by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), she said competition should be enhanced in insurance by offering a “level playing field” to p
The global ratings agency Fitch on Wednesday maintained Pakistan’s long-term foreign currency issuer default rating at ‘CCC’ and noted that it expects general elections to take place as scheduled and produce a coalition government “along the lines of Shehbaz Sharif’s government”. The unchanged credit rating is based on the last month’s IMF staff-level agreement on the first review of Pakistan’s