Headline inflation accelerated for the second consecutive month in December, rising to 29.7 per cent year-on-year from 29.2pc in the previous month, primarily due to soaring prices of essential kitchen items and electricity rates. In December, power rates saw a 15.76pc increase, LPG rose by 2.62pc, and the 520pc spike in gas prices in November further contributed to inflation. Vegetables such a
The stock market witnessed a meltdown at the beginning of the outgoing week amid profit-taking by investors because of a substantial reduction in leveraged positions. Arif Habib Ltd said the bearish momentum proved short-lived as the market rebounded the following day by 1,693 points, marking the third-highest day-on-day increase in its history. Foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of
PREDICTING the direction or magnitude of change in the movement of equity securities is a fool’s errand. John Maynard Keynes once said that “the markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent”, and the same has been proven correct time and again. We cannot predict the direction or the magnitude, but we certainly can work with whatever information is available. The equity ma
More multinational companies have divested their assets or temporarily halted their operations in Pakistan continuing a trend that began in calendar 2022. Over the past 30 months, numerous firms have chosen to relocate their activities outside of Pakistan or reduce operations due to significant political and economic challenges. Multinational corporations (MNCs) naturally experience fluctuat
Despite having little in common, even our political parties could agree on one thing: Pakistan’s economic situation was dire in 2023. The year saw Pakistan go through a long and rocky road to finding some semblance of economic stability — if it can even be called that — while weathering political and social turmoil. Pakistanis also experienced a double whammy this year: the one-two punches of the