News

Remittances fall over 12pc in September

Remittances sent by overseas Pakistanis declined to $2.4 billion in September as the open and grey markets were offering much higher rates than interbank. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday said remittances decreased by 10.5 per cent month-on-month and 12.3pc year-on-year in September. The inflows in August were $2.72bn while they were $2.78bn in September 2021. The central bank sai

Stocks rise on monetary policy

The Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday witnessed the revival of investor interest on optimism that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) would maintain status quo in its monetary policy announcement. The market kicked off trading on a positive note and soon the benchmark KSE100 index touched intra-day high of 42,441.29 points. Investor optimism was also fuelled by a statement from Finance Minister Is

IMF likely to relax terms

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has expressed hope that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will consider the economic hardships being faced by Pakistan in the wake of floods and soften its conditions, as the country is expected to receive $4 billion from multilateral creditors over the next couple of months. Besides, Pakistan has made foreign debt repayment of $4.6 billion so far in the cur

SBP keeps policy rate at 15%

In line with market expectations, Pakistan’s central bank has left its key policy rate unchanged at 15% for the next seven weeks to support economic growth and contain inflation. “Based on currently available information, GDP (gross domestic product/economic) growth could fall to around 2% in the current fiscal year 2022-23 compared to the previous forecast of 3-4% before the floods,” said the Sta

PIA shares not up for sale: Rafique

Federal Minister for Aviation and Railways, Khwaja Saad Rafique has said that the government does not intend to sell or offer any stakes of the national flag-carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), to anyone. He further stated that the rumours of selling one of PIA’s prime properties in New York, the Roosevelt Hotel are also not true. Instead, the government is looking to reopen the hot