The government’s fear of losing popularity before the elections seems to be keeping Pakistan from finalising a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that could stabilise the economy. Official and diplomatic sources told Dawn on Monday that both sides were still discussing the seven demands that the IMF wants Pakistan to accept before it resumes economic assistance to the country. T
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called a meeting of the federal cabinet on Tuesday in which some significant economic decisions are expected to be taken. Although the agenda of the meeting was not issued till the filing of this report, sources in the PM Office said some significant economic decisions would be taken to revive IMF programme, while Monday’s countrywide power outage will also be
The government has allowed the import of 2,200 luxury vehicles in the first six months of the current fiscal year while the country was crippled with strict foreign exchange control even for imports of essential consumer items and industrial goods. As a result of the strict foreign exchange control, the piling of containers containing different consumer and industrial products reaches almost 8,
Multinational companies operating in Pakistan haven’t been able to repatriate their dividends in recent quarters because of the curbs on dollar outflows. Speaking to Dawn on Monday, Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) Secretary General M. Abdul Aleem said the repatriation of profits in the form of dividends to the overseas headquarters of foreign companies has been on ho
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has withdrawn the requirement for prior approval of imports aiming to clear the backlog of containers stuck-up at the port carrying industrial raw materials and other essentials. The SBP on Monday announced that no prior approvals would be required for making imports under HS code Chapters 84, 85 and certain items under HS code Chapter 87). Besides, the banks we