News

Shehbaz constitutes austerity monitoring committee

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday formally constituted a committee to monitor the implementation of ‘ambitious’ austerity measures announced a few days ago. A notification regarding the constitution of the committee was issued at the directive of the prime minister. The seven-member committee included Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Education Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain, IT and Telecommu

Stocks add 218 points to overnight gains

Stocks exte­n­ded their overnight gains on Wednesday as the benc­hmark index of representative shares traded on the higher side throughout the session. Arif Habib Ltd said the upswing was because of the expected signing of a staff-level agreement bet­w­een the government and the International Mon­etary Fund (IMF) for the ninth tranche of the $7 billion Extended Fund Facility. Volumes increas

Disparity in society

IN her remarks to a German broadcaster on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference last week, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva set out the agenda for good fiscal governance in Pakistan. “What we are asking for are steps that Pakistan needs to take to be able to function as a country and not to get into a dangerous place where its debt needs to be restructured,” she said. Her ad

Pakistan, Uzbekistan agree to boost trade

The 8th Pakistan-Uzbekistan Joint Ministerial Commission started in Tashkent to explore ways to enhance the economic, trade and commercial relations between the two countries and speed up the implementation of the already agreed agreements. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar co-chaired the meeting. On the sidelines of the ministerial, Mr Dar also called on Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and

Transmission constraints leave Thar plants underutilised

Notwithstanding the full-page ads to mark the successive commissioning of 2,400-megawatt coal power plants in Thar, the state-backed sole electricity buyer is unable to despatch more than 75 per cent of the aggregate capacity. Only 1,800MW of the 2,400MW Thar power plants can be evacuated at any given time owing to transmission constraints. Delays in the construction of the second transmission