ISLAMABAD: In the wake of the resurgence of the grey market, the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) has urged the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to enhance the flow of foreign exchange through official channels and secure remittances from overseas Pakistanis. The top civil-military forum, created to promote investment, has also asked FBR to devise a milestone-based action plan for the digitalisation and restructuring of revenue machinery to reach a tax-to-GDP ratio of 18 per cent in five years by 2029 from the current stagnating rate of 8.5pc. Official records seen by Dawn suggest that the SIFC has…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
NEW DELHI: Political turmoil in Bangladesh is likely to slow planned financial reforms and has already added to weakness in the banking sector, S&P Global Ratings said on Wednesday. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina quit and fled to India last week after student-led protests against her spiralled into some of the worst violence since Bangladesh’s 1971 independence from Pakistan, killing 300 people and injuring thousands. An interim government, led by Nobel prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus, has been appointed to plug a power vacuum and hold elections, but the protests have widened to target officials appointed during Hasina’s term, including the central bank chief and four deputy…
BEIRUT / CAIRO: Washington on Wednesday sent an envoy to Lebanon to try and cool down tensions stemming from Iran and Hezbollah’s stated intentions to strike Israel in retaliation for the assassination of two key figures in the Middle East. All hopes for a de-escalation in the restive region hinge on the negotiation of a ceasefire deal in Gaza, which was ironically derailed by the killing of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month. Hamas dimmed hopes for a truce by saying it would not take part in a fresh round of talks, sparking concern that it would provide Iran the impetus…
WELLINGTON: Pineapple sweets dished out by a New Zealand charity have tested positive for potentially lethal amounts of methamphetamine, police said on Wednesday, sparking an urgent race to remove them from the streets. A child, a teenager and a charity worker have already been taken to hospital after they tasted the candies. Although none are seriously ill, police have launched a criminal investigation and are now trying to track down up to 400 other people who may have received the sweets. “We need to round these up as quickly as we can,” said Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin, adding that 16…
SAUDI crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman has said he fears being assassinated over his support for normalising Saudi-Israeli ties, a move seen as being a clever diplomatic ploy to get a deal Riyadh is comfortable with, US publication Politico reported on Wednesday. The Saudi royal is said to have mentioned his concerns to members of US Congress, invoking Anwar Sadat — the Egyptian leader who was slain following a peace deal with Israel in the 1980s. According to Politico, he has also discussed the threats he faces, explaining why any such deal must include a true path to a Palestinian state — especially now that…
DOHA: Qatar will host Gaza ceasefire talks on Thursday, sources close to the negotiations said, seeking a so-far elusive agreement that the United States hopes would stop Iranian retaliation against Israel and avert a wider conflict. US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have invited Israel and Hamas for negotiations aimed at ending fighting that the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip says has claimed nearly 40,000 lives in the Palestinian territory. Hamas said it would not take part in a new round of Gaza ceasefire talks, but an official briefed on the talks said mediators expected to consult with the Palestinian group afterwards. The…
JERUSALEM: Israel has approved a new settlement on a Unesco World Heritage Site near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, its far-right finance minister said on Wednesday. Bezalel Smotrich, who also heads civil affairs at the defence ministry, said his office had “completed its work and published a plan for the new Nahal Heletz settlement in Gush Etzion”, a bloc of settlements south of Jerusalem. All of Israel’s settlements in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, are considered illegal under international law, regardless of whether they have Israeli planning permission. “No anti-Israeli and anti-Zionist decision will stop the development of settlements,” Smotrich,…
DHAKA: Blindfolded, handcuffed and bundled out of his secret prison for the first time in eight years, Bangladeshi barrister Ahmad Bin Quasem held his breath and listened for the sound of a cocked pistol. Instead, he was tossed from a car and into a muddy ditch on Dhaka’s outskirts — alive, at liberty, and with no knowledge of the national upheaval that had prompted his abrupt release. “That’s the first time I got fresh air in eight years,” Quasem, 40, said. “I thought they were going to kill me.” Sheikh Hasina, the premier responsible for Quasem’s abduction and disappearance, had fled…
Chinese retail sales rebounded in July while industrial production growth slowed, official data showed on Thursday, highlighting an uneven recovery in the world’s second-largest economy. More than a year and a half after the lifting of stringent Covid-19 measures, the much-anticipated post-pandemic recovery has been brief and less robust than expected, while a property crisis and high unemployment have weighed on investor confidence. Chinese leaders have called for “eliminating risks” in the economy following a key political meeting in July and introduced 20 measures earlier this month aimed at boosting consumption. Still, industrial production growth weakened in July, with the month’s…
A mob wielding bamboo rods and plastic pipes beat several suspected supporters of Sheikh Hasina on Thursday, vowing to quash a rumoured rally for the ousted Bangladesh premier outside her childhood home. Hasina, 76, fled by helicopter last week to neighbouring India, where she remains, as student-led protests flooded Dhaka’s streets in a dramatic end to her iron-fisted 15-year rule. Thursday is the anniversary of the 1975 assassination of her father, independence hero Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, during a military coup — a date her government had declared a national holiday. Previous years saw huge rallies around Bangladesh to mark the occasion, but the students…
