News

Govt urged to revive five-year development planning

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has advised Pakistan to revive its five-year development planning, get climate-sensitive public investment management plans working and publish criteria for project appraisals for transparency to attract global climate financing. The IMF’s guidance comes immediately after the two sides reached a staff-level agreement on the first review of a $3 billion bail

Oil climbs over 2pc

Brent and US crude futures climbed more than 2.5 per cent on Monday as further supply cuts in Opec+ production are expected to be anno­unced following a meeting of member countries early next week. Brent crude futures were up $2.19 to $82.80 a barrel by 12:15pm CST (1815 GMT). US West Texas Intermediate crude was up $2.13, or 2.81pc, at $78.02. The front-month December WTI contract expires late

Foreign investment dips 12pc in October

The poor health of foreign direct investment (FDI) could not improve in October but a meagre year-on-year growth of seven per cent was noted in the July-October period of FY24. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday issued the latest data on foreign inflows showing no encouraging signs for the country. The total foreign inves­tment dipped by over 12pc to $122.5 million in October against

Current account gap narrows to $74m

The current account deficit (CAD) narrowed year-on-year by 91 per cent in October but it widened on a month-on-month basis. The latest data issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday shows the deficit remained within the estimate of the bank. Last week, the SBP governor said that CAD would remain well below $100m in October and expected that it would be well-contained in 2023-24. T

Jazz invests over Rs20bn in CY23

Jazz has invested Rs20.6 billion mainly under its 4G-for-All initiative in the first nine months of the calendar year 2023, bringing the overall investment in Pakistan to $10.6bn. In a statement on Monday, Jazz said that despite 27 per cent year-on-year growth in overall revenues in the local currency, Jazz’s revenue declined by 3.5pc in dollar terms during the third quarter of 2023. This do