Pakistan’s international bonds continue to trade at a distressed level despite forceful statements by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar about the unlikelihood of a sovereign default. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, the interest rate on the dollar debt issued by Pakistan is hovering between 30 and 40 percentage points above the US treasury bond of comparable duration. For context, the gap w
WFP, FAO report notes $77.5bn to be repaid over next three years • Political instability, lack of IMF deal to hit ability to import food ISLAMABAD: Acute food insecurity in Pakistan is likely to further exacerbate in coming months if the economic and political crisis further worsens, compounding the effects of the 2022 floods, warns a new United Nations report published on Monday. The repor
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) remains in touch with Pakistan’s authorities in order to pave the way for a board meeting before a financing programme expires at the end of June, the IMF mission chief for Pakistan said. Ordinarily, a board meeting on a review of the programme would require a prior staff-level agreement, which in Pakistan’s case would unlock $1.1 billion in financing for t
PAKISTAN’S economy faces a severe multidimensional crisis amid a gloomy and uncertain outlook. A recent State Bank report on the state of the economy during the first half of the present fiscal year admits that macroeconomic fundamentals are deteriorating, but it understates the severity of the painful crisis the country and its people have been contending with for the last one year — just as F
Tycoons, aware of challenges and Prime Minister Shehbaz’s government’s weakness, are not hopeful. The volatile market is desperate for positive signals. The people, however, expected relief in an election-year budget. To avoid higher levies on their income/profit, bankers, brokers and barons are lobbying hard, approaching heavyweights in the power corridors. The currency dealers, commodity trad