KARACHI: Remittances from overseas Pakistani workers jumped 48 per cent in July compared to the same month a year ago, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data showed on Friday. Inflows in July 2024 reached $2.995 billion, up from $2.029bn in July last year. Analysts say that the surge in remittances is a positive sign for the government amid ongoing political and economic uncertainties. However, despite the year-on-year growth, there was a decline in remittance inflows on a month-on-month basis. The central bank reported that inflows in July were down by $153 million, or 5pc, compared to June 2024, when remittances totalled $3.158bn. Currency dealers have expressed…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
ISLAMABAD: Short-term inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), continued year-on-year downward trajectory, slowing to 17.96 per cent during the week ending Aug 8, official data showed on Friday. On a week-on-week basis, SPI saw an increase of 0.30pc mainly due to increase in the prices of items like onions and pulses. However, the prices of wheat flour, tomatoes, sugar and chilli powder recorded a slight decrease. The weekly inflation hit a record 48.35pc year-on-year in early May 2023, but then decelerated as low as 24.4pc in late August 2023 before surging past 40pc in mid-November. The last reading above 40pc…
ISLAMABAD: With initial support from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the National Institute for Agriculture and Biology (Niab) has made significant strides in developing and planting salt-tolerant crops and implementing soil management techniques to combat salinisation. Niab has now started sharing its expertise with other countries affected by soil salinisation, by offering training to their scientists, according to information released by IAEA. Pakistan has lost 5.7 million hectares of arable land due to soil salinisation. This figure is growing by 40,000 hectares each year, Niab estimates. Most crops are unable to grow in soil with high salt levels, turning fields…
KARACHI: Continuing from the overnight optimism driven by strong corporate results, equity investors were busy cherry-picking, propelling the KSE 100 index above the 78,000 level on Friday. Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said the bull run was led by cement, banking and oil scrips amid a solid corporate earnings outlook. He said the rebound in global equities, easing US recession fears, rising SBP foreign exchange reserves, falling Karachi interbank offered rates and imminent IMF board approval for the new Extended Fund Facility were the key factors which fuelled investor sentiments. Topline Securities Ltd said Mari Petroleum, United Bank, MCB Bank, Systems Ltd and…
KARACHI: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has assured the provincial government that the federal government is working closely with Chinese authorities to get included the much-awaited Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) in the CPEC-priority project after Sindh chief minister told him that traffic issues in the metropolis would resolve after the KCR is started. In their one-on-one meeting at CM House on Friday, the prime minister and Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah agreed to speed up work to restart the 44-km KCR project. According to a press statement issued here from CM House, PM Sharif told the chief minister that the…
WASHINGTON: A highlight of Donald Trump’s first news conference in months was his striking tale of a brush with death onboard a helicopter alongside former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown. The only problem? There is no record of any such emergency and the veteran Californian politician says he has never been in a helicopter with Trump. The Republican ex-president was so caught up in the drama of his story at Thursday’s media event that he appeared to have confused the mayor with former California governor Jerry Brown, who once shared an uneventful helicopter ride with Trump. The Republican presidential nominee…
DHAKA: A Bangladeshi student leader who was instrumental in overthrowing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and is now part of an interim government said she must face trial when she returns home as planned for the killings during her term, including during recent protests, which led her to resign and flee on Monday. About 300 people, many of them university and college students, were killed in the demonstrations that began in July with students demonstrating against quotas in government jobs before spiralling into violent protests to oust Hasina, who had ruled Bangladesh for 20 of the last 30 years. Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy has said she will…
ISLAMABAD: With Ambassador Amna Baloch set to assume the role of foreign secretary, she will face a perfect storm of geopolitical tensions and bureaucratic headaches. Her appointment was approved by PM Shehbaz Sharif earlier this week, following a single-name submission. She was the second senior-most on the seniority list of Foreign Service Officers after Amb Zahoor Ahmed, currently posted as envoy in Spain. She will succeed incumbent Syrus Sajjad Qazi upon his retirement on Sept 10. In an interesting move, the government has chosen retired Lt Gen Mohammad Amir, who hung up his boots almost a year ago, as the…
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan would support all efforts to prevent war escalating in the Middle East, the Foreign Office said on Friday, as a fresh round of Israeli attacks on Lebanon once again heightened fears of a wider conflict in the restive region. The Middle East is bracing for a possible new wave of attacks by Iran and its allies following the recent assassination of senior Hamas and Hezbollah figures in Beirut and Tehran. “We also believe that a war in the Middle East must be avoided, and Pakistan will therefore support all efforts to prevent a war in the Middle East,”…
WASHINGTON: The Biden administration has decided to lift a ban on US sales of “offensive” weapons to Saudi Arabia, three sources familiar with the matter said on Friday, reversing a three-year-old policy to pressure Riyadh to wind down the Yemen war. The administration briefed Congress this week on its decision to lift the ban, a congressional aide said. A source said sales could resume as early as next week. “The Saudis have met their end of the deal, and we are prepared to meet ours, returning these cases regular order through appropriate congressional notification and consultation,” a senior Biden administration official said.…
