As the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) cut the interest rate to 20.5 per cent in April following a sharp deceleration in inflation, harsh taxation measures in the budget 2024-25, along with increasing global prices and a growing gap between supply and demand, have once again led to a rise in food prices, particularly for pulses. Commodity importer Faisal Anis Majeed said the federal government has
The $7 billion agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will provide much-needed relief to Pakistan. However, experts caution that this is not a cause for celebration. Murtaza Syed, a former acting governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, noted in a tweet that for this staff-level agreement (SLA) — Pakistan’s 25th with the global lender — to become official, the country requires fina
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday formed a committee to reactivate the Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project, directing the relevant officials to complete investigation into its recent closure and identify those responsible for the defects in its design. While chairing a meeting at PM House during which a preliminary investigation report was presented, the prime minister expressed annoyance o
Despite protests from the Ministry of Planning, the Ministry of Finance has decided to keep the lid on federal financing of development and recurrent expenditures through back-loaded releases of funds to meet the IMF’s primary surplus targets at any cost. According to fresh notifications from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives shall authorise
The stock market snapped its record-setting streak on Wednesday due to emerging economic concerns as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) attached a new condition for reaching a Staff-Level Agreement for a new loan. Consequently, the benchmark index fell below 80,000 due to aggressive profit-taking despite massive foreign buying. Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed