Federal Minister of Interior, Commerce and Industries Dr Gohar Ejaz has announced that Pakistan’s exports remained highly positive in January 2024 as shipments to overseas markets increased 26.9% to $2.786 billion as compared to $2.195 billion in January 2023. Imports, however, decreased 4.5% to $4.665 billion in January against $4.884 billion in the corresponding month of last year. Consequent
Leading industrialists have presented proposals to bolster the national economy to the upcoming government. Their recommendations include introducing a customised low-cost financing scheme, evolving an urban and consistent industrial policy, revamping crumbling road infrastructure, and implementing a one-window operation, among other initiatives. Speaking to the Express Tribune about expectatio
The government and commercial banks have agreed on a Rs268 billion debt restructuring plan for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). This move, while shifting the burden of PIA’s inefficiency onto taxpayers, removes an irritant in its privatisation. The Ministry of Finance, abandoning its previous stance of not incorporating PIA debt into public debt, now commits to making principal and interest
Pakistan’s inflation rate slightly moderated to 28.3% in January 2024 but prices in all groups of commodities showed a double-digit rise, an outcome of frequent increases in energy prices to meet conditions of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) loan programme and supply disruptions. The 28.3% inflation was in line with the projection of the Ministry of Finance, which a day earlier signific
Inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), surged by 28.3 per cent year-on-year in January, according to data released from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Thursday. This is the last monthly CPI data before the general elections due on Feb 8 and comes as the country undertakes reforms linked to a $3 billion Standby Arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).