Month: November 2020

The World’s Worst Public Transport System Attempts to Modernize

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Muhammad Ali Jinnah Road has always had its share of traffic, but lately the main thoroughfare that connects central Karachi to its major port is in a state of near constant gridlock. An elevated street eats up two of the road’s three lanes, but it’s empty — part of an incomplete project to create express lanes for public buses that was supposed to finish three years ago.It’s one of many towering structures scattered throughout the Pakistani city that were part of the latest plans to bring a modern transportation to Karachi, one of the…

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Man who correctly predicted US election winners since 1984 predicts Trump’s defeat

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Historian and American University professor Allan Lichtman, who has correctly guessed every United States presidential race winner since 1984, including Donald Trump’s surprise victory in 2016, has predicted that Trump will not get another term. Lichtman measures the chances of the winner based on his “13 keys to the White House” scale. The keys factor in the strength of the economy, incumbency, contests, policy changes, scandals, social unrest and even the charisma of the incumbents and challengers. As per the scale, if six or more of these statements are true,…

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CPI inflation clocked in at 8.9% in October

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CPI inflation has been recorded at 8.9 percent for October 2020, against 9.04 percent in September. Although general inflation reduced yet, food inflation is still in double-digit and has increased. Last year, in October 2019, the CPI was at 11.04 percent, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Monday reported. Average inflation of July-October 2020 was recorded at 8.86pc compared to 10.32pc in corresponding period of last year. In FY20, the average inflation was recorded at 10.74pc, with peak reading in January of 14.56 percent year-on-year. The latest CPI bulletin…

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Govt approves subsidy for farmers

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ISLAMABAD: The government on Thursday approved a fertiliser subsidy of Rs5.4 billion for farmers, two days after a ruckus in the federal cabinet over increasing inflation and the lack of a coordinated response to tackle it. The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet approved a subsidy of Rs1,000 per 50kg bag of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) fertiliser, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Finance. The Rs5.4 billion subsidy has been worked out on the basis of 30% outreach to the farmers and the federal government will bear…

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Pakistan to seek China loan rollover

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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has decided to seek rollover of a $3 billion Chinese trade finance facility that it has actually used to repay maturing debt and is not in a financial position to return the money when the facility expires after six months. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has fully tapped the $3 billion or 20 billion Chinese yuan in the additional trade finance facility available under the China-Pakistan currency swap arrangement, showed financial accounts of the SBP for fiscal year 2019-20. Sources said Pakistan largely utilised the Chinese trade…

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