The Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) has expressed serious concerns over the country’s deteriorating financial affairs, which have resulted in less than 4 per cent of the over Rs38.67 trillion budget being available for socio-economic services. Besides, around 93pc of supplementary grants, worth over Rs8tr, are not approved by the parliament and remain unspent, representing a loss of public resou
Equity investors remained in the bullish mind of the frame on Thursday, indulging in cherry-picking, as slashing of yields on treasury bills (T-bills) and falling Kibor aided the benchmark index to extend its overnight rally. Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said stocks maintained a bullish tone after the government slashed returns on various tenors of T-bills by up to 148bps, boosting e
Several banks are offering new financing to businesses at rates below the Karachi Inter-Bank Offered Rate (KIBOR), as the benchmark six-month KIBORrepresenting the interest rate at which banks lend to each otherdropped by 63 basis points, reaching a 19-month low of 17.94% on Thursday. Speaking to The Express Tribune, Saad Hanif, Head of Research at Ismail Iqbal Securities, explained that the
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will change the designs of all currency notes before the start of next year, and also introduce at least one plastic note as an experiment, central bank Governor Jameel Ahmad said on Wednesday. Briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Finance, the SBP chief said that the new-design notes will be introduced in December this year after approval from the federal c
As Pakistan begins seeking commercial loans from Middle Eastern banks to bridge a $2 billion external financing gap, the government informed a Senate panel on Thursday that the cost of borrowing from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has exceeded 5%, making it an expensive option. On Thursday, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb reached out to Dubai Islamic Bank, requesting a commercial loa