The foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank during the week ended on Aug 18 fell by $125 million to $7.93 billion, the central bank said on Thursday. It’s the first time in five weeks that the SBP’s reserves have fallen below $8bn. During the week ended on July 14, its foregn exchange holdings jumped to $8.73bn on the back of inflows from the International Monetary Fund, Saudi Arabia and th
Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Thursday reconstituted three key committees of the federal cabinet including a downgrade of all important Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) with greater focus on Chinese investments. According to separate notifications issued by the Cabinet Secretariat, the CCoE would now be headed by Minister for Power & Petroleum Muhammad Ali instead of the prime ministe
Share prices moved within a narrow range on Wednesday before closing flat on mixed signals on the economic front. Topline Securities said the benchmark index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange floated within a band of 580 points throughout trading hours. Some support for share prices came on the back of media reports about the first formal contact between the caretaker government and the Interna
NEARLY a quarter century ago, Pakistan stood at a juncture from which, it seems, the country has not emerged. The years in between now seem, in hindsight, little more than a brief detour that has brought us back to the same place. In the year 2000, when the regime of Gen Musharraf began its term, Pakistan’s relationship with its creditors was in tatters. The economy was on its knees, foreign ex
FOR three long decades, the world appeared to be moving towards greater interconnectedness. Trade ties between countries increased and pointed towards improved political stability. If emerging powers needed the consumer markets of existing superpowers in order to survive, it suggested that neither could afford a protracted war. This status quo of an integrated world now appears to be dissolving be