Days before Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to Beijing, Pakistan has prepared a new proposal to seek $15.4 billion in Chinese energy debt restructuring aimed at lowering energy prices for end consumers. The proposal involves spreading debt repayments over a longer period. This would, on one hand, reduce the outflow of foreign currency by about $550 million to $750 million per annum and, o
Textile and clothing exports experienced slower growth for the second month in April, reversing the previous month’s double-digit increase. Exports inched up 0.37 per cent to $1.24 billion in April, compared to $1.23 billion in the same month last year, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Thursday. This indicates stagnant orders from international buyers.
The foreign exchange reserves of both State Bank and commercial banks shot up during the week ending on May 10, the central bank reported on Thursday. Reserves held by commercial banks showed a bigger jump than those with the State Bank, going up by $152 million to $5.491 billion, while the SBP’s reserves rose by $15m to $9.135bn. During the current month, the central bank received $1.1bn fr
While the government plans to tinker with the fast-growing solar net metering policy, participants of the National SDGs Conference 2024 on Thursday advised the government to include subsidised solarisation, family planning, environment and universal health in the development policy to achieve Sustainable Development Goals under global commitments. The one-day conference, organised by the Minist
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Thursday the government under its economic reforms agenda offers attractive incentives for investment and asked the Chinese entrepreneurs to take advantage of the friendly policies and set up labour intensive industry in Pakistan. “The labour cost is very competitive and much less as compared to the current labour cost in China. Agric