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PM Shehbaz vows to present Pakistan’s position on global financial firms’ restructuring at Paris summit

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday said he planned to present Pakistan’s stance on the urgent need to restructure international financial institutions to address the challenges facing humanity. He made the remarks as he was departing for France to attend the New Global Financing Pact Summit in Paris. In a tweet, the premier emphasised that the summit provided a “unique opportunity” f

Foreign direct investment dips 21pc

After a drop in both remittances and exports, foreign direct investment (FDI) fell 21 per cent in the 11 months through May, though inflows in May rose on both month-on-month and year-on-year bases. The State Bank’s data issued on Tuesday noted an FDI inflow of $149.6 million in May compared to $121.6m in April 2023 and $141.2m in May 2022. Due to prolonged political and economic uncertainti

680 points lost on IMF-driven panic selling

Stock prices tumbled on Monday on negative macroeconomic triggers as the representative index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange dropped below the psychological level of 41,000 points. Topline Securities said the “bloodbath” was caused by selling headwinds after a gap of almost eight weeks. It attributed the selling spree to the calendar of the International Monetary Fund’s Executive Board, which

Finance: Alarm bells ringing

The present government had informed the nation last year that it would borrow Rs843 billion from banks during FY23 ending this month. But between July 1, 2022, and June 2, 2023 (28 days before the close of the year), the federal government has already borrowed Rs3.176 trillion from banks. This not only crowded out the private sector and contributed to tanking of the economic growth from 6.1 per

When illegal routes rule

Remittances sent home by overseas Pakistani workers and diaspora have the potential to increase to up to $50 billion if the money transfers through the illegal Hawala/Hundi operations are plugged. The money transfer market operators estimate the illicit global remittance trade size to be up to 80 per cent of the legitimate transactions of $700bn. “It means the actual global remittance market