News

Beggars cannot be choosers

On the insistence of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the federal government and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) did something last week that will deepen the ongoing political and administrative chaos, cripple the economy and multiply the miseries of 230 million Pakistanis. But they had to. Beggars cannot be choosers. The federal government slapped a permanent debt servicing surcharge on

PKR jumps 54 paise in interbank in anticipation of IMF agreement

The rupee continued to recover in the interbank market on Monday, closing at Rs277.92 per dollar, data shared by the State Bank of Pakistan showed. This equates to an appreciation of 54 paise, or 0.19 per cent, from Friday’s close of Rs278.46 a dollar. Tresmark’s Head of Strategy Komal Mansoor said the rupee appreciated on market expectations that a staff-level agreement (SLA) would be signe

Pakistan has to give assurances on financing balance of payments deficit: IMF

Pakistan will be required to give an assurance that its balance of payments deficit is fully financed for the remaining period of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, the lender’s resident representative said. The external financing is one of the last in a string of prior actions the lender wants Islamabad to complete before it clears funding stalled since late last year, Esther Pere

JS Group stopped from acquiring BankIslami

The Sindh High Court on Monday restrained the JS Group from acquiring majority shares of BankIslami till next hearing. A single-judge bench headed by Justice Mohammad Shafi Siddiqui also issued notices to JS Bank, Jahangir Siddiqui & Company Ltd, State Bank of Pakistan, BankIslami and other defendants for a date to be fixed in two weeks. The AKD Investment Management Ltd along with three ind

GNL halts production on parts shortages

Ghandhara Nissan Ltd (GNL), the assembler of Dongfeng and JAC vehicles, on Monday announced production suspension from March 6-10 due to a shortage of parts. In a stock filing, the company also informed that from March 13 it would start production activities on an alternative weekly basis until further notice. The company said its vendors continued to face major hurdles in the import of raw