News

WB warns of rising recession risk amid higher interest rates

The threat of a global recession is growing as central banks focus on bringing down soaring inflation rates, the World Bank warned on Thursday, calling on governments to help boost supply to ease the constraints behind rising prices. Inflation worldwide has been rising at the fastest pace seen in decades, due to supply constraints amid high demand as countries emerged from the pandemic. It has

Crisis-hit Sri Lankan economy shrinks 8.4pc

Bankrupt Sri Lanka’s economy shrank 8.4 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter, official data showed on Thursday, as the island nation’s unprecedented financial crisis reached its peak. Months of acute food, fuel and medicine shortages, extended blackouts and runaway inflation have plagued the country after it ran out of dollars to finance even the most essential imports. Sri Lanka has

Committee reviews prices of essential items

The National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC) reviewed the prices of essential commodities on Thursday and directed all stakeholders to ensure the distribution of essential commodities among the masses. In its meeting chaired by Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, the committee reviewed the progress of essential commodities after the floods. The meeting was attended by the chief economist, chief se

Sialkot leads Pakistani sellers on Alibaba.com

As many as 85 per cent of Pakistani sellers on Alibaba.com, one of the largest global platforms for business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce, are based out of a single city: Sialkot. Speaking at a sellers’ summit organised by the international B2B platform on Thursday, Alibaba.com Pakistan Business Growth Manager Muhammad Sadiq said there’ve been 3.2 million listings from Pakistani sellers so far.

Oil, food imports rise to $5bn in July-August

Pakistan’s oil and eatables imports grew 11.4 per cent in the first two months of the current fiscal year to $5.08 billion from $4.56bn a year ago, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said on Thursday. In contrast, textile and clothing exports could only rise by 4.2pc year-on-year to $3.05bn due to slow demand and high cost of local production because of expensive energy. The oil import