News

Auto slump

PAKISTAN’S car industry is in deep trouble. The last fiscal was one of the worst years the industry has ever seen. Its sales decreased in FY23 by almost 56pc to 126,879 units from a year ago. The plunge in car sales is driven mainly by three reasons. First, the demand for auto loans, historically a major driver of car sales in the country, is declining significantly because of the State Bank’s

SBP keeps policy rate steady at 22pc

KARACHI: Amid expectations of further deceleration in average inflation to 20-22 per cent with an economic growth projection of 2-3pc for FY24, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has left its policy rate unchanged at 22pc for next two months. SBP Governor Jameel Ahmed announced the decision at a press conference on Monday. Most of the analysts were expect

Microfinance’s downward spiral

Ever since venture capital (VC) started flowing into Pakistan, the local ecosystem has seen polarising debates on whether the companies being built are sustainable, given their generally questionable unit economics. From unbelievably high losses to calls for investigating lax corporate governance mechanisms, the space receives a high dose of flak, both fair and unfair, that may be disproportion

SBP keeps interest rate unchanged at 22pc

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday maintained the status quo and decided to keep the key policy rate unchanged at 22 per cent. The announcement was made by SBP Governor Jameel Ahmed after a meeting of the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). The State Bank said that the moderate growth outlook for the current fiscal year, addressing short-term external sector vulnerabilities in th

CPEC moves into second phase with ‘simple’ celebration

China and Pakistan decided to accelerate the second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, hailing the progress on development initiatives in the decade since the project’s launch in 2013. In a special ceremony held to commemorate 10 years of CPEC on Monday, six new documents were signed for joint cooperation. The celebrations, however, were kept simple out of respect for the victims of