Bitcoin reached a new record high on Sunday, rising above the $125,000 mark. The cryptocurrency reached $125,689, shooting above its previous August record of around $124,500. Bitcoin has enjoyed a strong upward momentum, with investors cautious about the United States’ government shutdown. Gains in US shares have also supported bitcoin’s rise, while investors have looked to safe haven as
Pakistan has recorded one of the “sharpest drops” in sovereign default risk globally and now ranks as the second-best performer in the world, according to Credit Default Swap (CDS)-implied data reported by Bloomberg, adviser to the finance minister Khurram Schehzad said on Sunday. A Credit Default Swap-implied probability estimates the likelihood that a borrower — such as a company or a country
Banks in Pakistan are generally not structured to serve widely dispersed small-ticket borrowers. Lending money to smallholder farmers and small enterprises scattered across the country is often considered too risky and costly; no wonder their access to formal banking credit remains constrained. However, digital technology is changing this even if its adoption by traditional commercial banks is
One can notice a shift in the national debate on how to manage rising unsustainable foreign debt as more analysts call for restricting foreign loans for “projects with high development impact’ and directing investment in areas of ‘comparative advantage’. This is necessary to build on the macroeconomic stability achieved thus far. A former senior International Monetary Fund (IMF) Pakistani offic
Profit-taking was observed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding over 1,200 points during the intra-day of trading on Monday. At 12:15pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 167,788.69, a decrease of 1,201.38 points or 0.71%. Selling was observed in key segments including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration compan