AFTER a commendable long period of uninterrupted decline in poverty rates, Pakistan’s economy is now facing one of its worst crises. Poor policy choices, combined with a series of shocks — Covid 19, the 2022 catastrophic floods and adverse global conditions, caused growth to slow, poverty to increase, and brought the country to the brink of debt default. Moreover, human development outcomes remain
THE State Bank Governor’s Annual Report for FY2023 is “cautiously optimistic” about the economy. It projects headline price inflation to drop, the current account deficit to narrow, and GDP to expand during the ongoing fiscal year. However, the report warns, this outlook hinges on the absence of adverse shocks stemming from geopolitical tensions, unforeseen climate events and unfavourable movem
The rupee snapped its 13-session winning streak as it lost three paise against the US dollar to Rs281.89 in the interbank market on Tuesday. However, market experts said the meagre gain didn’t reflect a comeback of the bullish dollar which hit an all-time high of Rs307 against the local currency on Sept 5, 2023. “The depreciation is negligible and does not indicate that the dollar will keep
Bitcoin galloped past $45,000 on Tuesday, for the first time since April 2022, as the world’s biggest cryptocurrency started the new year with a bang, buoyed by optimism around the possible approval of exchange-traded spot bitcoin funds. Bitcoin touched a 21-month peak of $45,922, having gained 156 per cent last year in its strongest yearly performance since 2020. It was last up 3.1pc at $45,50
The first half of FY24 ended on a dismal note for the petroleum sector due to a 15 per cent drop in sales of petroleum products to 7.686 million tonnes from nine million tonnes in the same period last fiscal year. Petrol sales posted a drop of 7pc to 3.57m tonnes during the July-December period from 3.83m tonnes in the same period of FY23 despite a price drop to Rs267.34 from Rs331.38 per litre