Foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) hit a new nine-year low of $3.678 billion during the week ended on Jan 20. The SBP on Thursday said that its forex holdings decreased by $923m during the week due to external debt repayments. The government has practically surrendered to the IMF conditions for the revival of the loan programme amid fast-dwindling SBP reserves are
Bulls extended their gains on Wednesday as a wave of optimism swept up the trading floor on positive news triggers. Arif Habib Ltd said the index of representative shares opened at a higher level as bulls pushed up the benchmark to an intraday high of 889.97 points. Investors took stock of the recent developments on the economic front that have paved the way for the revival of a loan program
Asia’s richest man Gautam Adani saw his net worth drop $6 billion on Wednesday after a US investment firm accused him of “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud”. Adani, 60, is the world’s third-richest person, with an estimated fortune of around $120bn and interests ranging from Australian coal mines to India’s busiest ports. But the magnate was the biggest loser on Forbes’ real-tim
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
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