THE IMF decision to send its mission to Pakistan next week to discuss the resumption of its stalled bailout package should clear uncertainty and mitigate the risk of a sovereign default that appeared imminent with foreign exchange reserves lately dropping to just $3.6bn. That the Fund is sending its officials to conclude the discussions on the pending review of the programme after three months
If one was to pick the worst economic decisions in the history of economic decisions made by Pakistani policymakers, the Dar peg would easily be among the worst, given the disastrous economic consequences that it entails. The consequences, which are already beginning to manifest, will significantly erode the purchasing power of all segments of the population — except the rent-seeking class, whi
The Monetary Policy Committee met last week and decided to increase the policy rate by 100 basis points. Market activity began to respond to this development and the dollar began its rally against the rupee. The dollar had vacillated in the Rs217 to Rs222 range since Ishaq Dar became the Finance Minister. While that range had been broken through a couple of weeks ago, the intraday change on the
Pakistanis woke up on Sunday to a record single-day hike in the petrol price — which also now stands at an all-time high of around Rs250 a litre — after the government moved to address a run on filling stations fuelled by shortage fears, especially in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, the government had little success in smoothing out a fragile supply chain that has been on edge for weeks
The government would soon be delisting two mega LNG-based power plants of about 1,230MW each — Balloki and Haveli Bahadur Shah — from the privatisation agenda for their expedited sale on a government-to-government (G2G) basis. The government has been in talks with friendly governments in the Middle East, including Qatar, for the sale of at least two out of four LNG-based power plants, the most