Month: March 2024

PM Shehbaz Sharif hands over ECC to finance minister

Admin
finance-minister

ISLAMABAD: Only a day after announcing formation of seven committees of the cabinet, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has decided to hand over the chairmanship of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) to Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, sources in the government told Dawn. The prime minister, however, will continue to head the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE), they said, adding the prime minister took the decision at a meeting on Saturday. Confirming the development, a senior member of the cabinet told Dawn that the prime minster had regretted he would be unable to chair the ECC meetings…

Read More

‘Longer IMF programme could lead to debt trap’

Admin
IMF-board

Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan warns against IMF dependency, calls for domestic reforms KARACHI: NUST Institute of Policy Studies (NIPS), Director General, Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan, has stated that Pakistan should seek the new International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan package of $3-4 billion for a maximum period of three years, as a longer and larger programme would be an economic disaster, potentially making Pakistan another Argentina, which is stuck in a debt trap. In a set of recommendations on the subject ‘Pakistan’s Economic Crisis: Challenges and The Way Forward’, Khan noted…

Read More

Reko Diq to be a game changer for region: PM

Admin
Reko-Diq

Reko Diq to be a game changer for region: PM March 25, 2024 ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Friday said that the Reko Diq project would prove to be a game changer for the development of Balochistan and the region.Talking to a delegation of Barrick Gold Company led by Chief Executive Officer Mark Bristow, the prime minister said: “This project will usher in a new era of development of the province and prosperity of people.” He said planning would be made regarding communication infrastructure, especially railway lines, to take full…

Read More

PSX stays bearish, loses 265 points

Admin
Stock-Exchange

ISLAMABAD   –   The 100-index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) con­tinued with bearish trend on Friday, losing 265.57 points, a negative change of 0.41 percent, closing at 65,151.83 points against 65,417.40 points the previ­ous trading day. A total of 208,408,686 shares valuing Rs.7.149 billion were traded during the day as compared to 389,654,899 shares valu­ing Rs. 11.307 billion the last day. Some 332 compa­nies transacted their shares in the stock market; 120 of them recorded gains and 185 sustained losses, where­as the share prices of 27 remained unchanged. The three…

Read More

SBP reserves cross $8bn mark, again

Admin
state-bank

KARACHI: Foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) increased by $105 million to reach $8 billion again. The SBP’s report on Thursday indicated that the reserves of both commercial banks and the SBP increased during the week ending March 15, showing the presence of excess dollar liquidity in the banking market, which also supports exchange rate stability. The demand for dollars is not high, reflecting the prevailing restrictions on imports. This situation also presents an opportunity for the SBP, which is a permanent buyer of dollars from…

Read More