Category: News & Announcement

Pakistan’s central bank unexpectedly cut its policy rate for a third time in a month in an attempt to revive economic growth that has stalled because of a lockdown to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. State Bank of Pakistan cut its key target rate by 200 basis points to 9% in an unscheduled meeting, according to a statement from the central bank. That’s the lowest since November, 2018. It also forecast economic growth will contract 1.5% for the year ending June, compared with a previous estimate of a…

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DUBAI/RIYADH/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Finance officials from the Group of 20 major economies agreed on Wednesday to suspend debt service payments for the world’s poorest countries through the end of the year, a move quickly matched by a group of hundreds of private creditors. The actions to freeze both principal repayments and interest payments will free up more than $20 billion for the countries to spend on improving their health systems and fighting the coronavirus pandemic, Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan told reporters after a virtual meeting of G20 finance officials.…

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Staff were putting the finishing touches to the field hospital on Wednesday. At full capacity, hundreds of doctors and nurses would work at the site in central Dubai. It is understood there would be a staggered roll out of available beds from Thursday, rising to precisely 3,030 if needed. It may well turn out that the field hospitals are not needed, in which case we can all breathe a sigh of relief Dr Nicholas Wyon, Burjeel Medical City The centre is one of two field hospitals to boost the city’s…

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KARACHI: The World Health Organisation (WHO) is supervising a research about fast-track development of Covid-19 treatment in Pakistan which would help ascertain the effectiveness of anti-Malaria drugs while treating the coronavirus patients, officials and industry sources said on Wednesday. The development emerged after Getz Pharma — Pakistan’s only WHO-approved manufacturing facility — joined hands with the University of Health Sciences in Lahore to support research projects that could include clinical trials of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug shown to be effective against the coronavirus, pushing the US Food and Drug Administration…

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LONDON: Since April 9, the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has not taken any passengers — stranded in Britain because of the coronavirus pandemic — back to Pakistan. The April 9 flight had flown members of a federal minister from London to Islamabad. The national airline has no information whether or when there will be any flight to repatriate nearly 400 stranded Pakistanis back home in the near future, sources within the airline say. Sources in PIA have also confirmed that special arrangements were made for the April 9 flight because…

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