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NayaPay raises $13m in seed round

Local fintech platform NayaPay has raised $13 million in one of the largest seed rounds in South Asia, a press release said on Wednesday. NayaPay recently secured the first E-Money Institution (EMI) licence from the central bank. It aims to make financial services simpler and accessible with its two-sided platform for the underbanked. Zayn Capital, global fund manager MSA Novo and early-stag

Pak-Hungary investment treaty underway

Pakistan is in the process of signing a bilateral investment treaty with Hungary and the first round of negotiations were held in Islamabad, Minister of State and Chairman Board of Investment (BoI) Muhammad Azfar Ahsan said on Wednesday. Speaking at the foundation of AcquaHatch International Private Limited, a Pak-Hungarian joint venture (JV), the BoI chief said ties between the two countries w

Shaukat Tarin wants export strategy for surplus potato

As the country is all-set to harvest a record potato crop, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin on Wednesday directed the Ministry of National Food Security and Research to come up with a strategy to export the surplus to ensure farmers get a fair price for their produce. Chairing the National Price Monitoring Comm­ittee (NPMC) meeting, Mr Tarin also directed setting up of a production forecasting un

"Underprivileged’ employees of federal govt to get disparity allowance

Federal government employees from BPS 1 to 19 grades will now get a disparity allowance from March 1, except those who are already getting extra allowances. In this regard, the government on Wednesday notified 15 per cent Disparity Reduction Allowance (DRA) on the running basic pay to the “underprivileged employees” up to grade 19. The government announced the DRA earlier this month a day ah

Govt secures $47.55bn foreign loans in 43 months

Struggling with current account challenges and foreign exchange reserves, the PTI government borrowed more than $12 billion from abroad in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (7MFY22), almost 81 per cent higher than foreign loans it secured in comparable period last year. The monthly report of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MEA) on foreign inflows showed that the government cro