Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday said that Pakistan needed to embark on a “long and difficult journey” to prevent knocking on the doors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) again. “If we want to get rid of loans, we need to consider this IMF programme as the final one,” he said. In the wee hours of Saturday, the international lender announced that Pakistan and the Fund had reached a three-year $7 billion aid package deal, giving much-needed respite to the nation. The programme, which needs to be approved by the IMF’s Executive Board, should enable Pakistan to “cement macroeconomic stability and…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
KARACHI: Despite a surge in remittances and automobile sales, the stock market closed the week on a negative note due to uncertainty about the economic outlook amid growing political noise following the apex court’s landmark decision on reserve seats and new conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Surprisingly, the IMF announced on Saturday morning that it had reached a Staff-Level Agreement with Pakistan for a new 37-month $7 billion (SDR 5.3bn) Extended Fund Facility. Earlier, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb expressed hope on Thursday that an agreement with the Fund was likely this month, as the government had already met all the conditions for a new loan deal.…
KARACHI: As the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) cut the interest rate to 20.5 per cent in April following a sharp deceleration in inflation, harsh taxation measures in the budget 2024-25, along with increasing global prices and a growing gap between supply and demand, have once again led to a rise in food prices, particularly for pulses. Commodity importer Faisal Anis Majeed said the federal government has increased the federal excise duty (FED) on the import of pulses to 1.85pc from 1.25pc, followed by additional taxes on filers and non-filers. As a result, the pulses market is quite panicky about future prices.…
WASHINGTON: The $7 billion agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will provide much-needed relief to Pakistan. However, experts caution that this is not a cause for celebration. Murtaza Syed, a former acting governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, noted in a tweet that for this staff-level agreement (SLA) — Pakistan’s 25th with the global lender — to become official, the country requires financing assurances from its development and bilateral partners. “This is Fund-speak for securing secret debt relief from China. It is wrong, incomplete, and dangerous,” he warned. “It is wrong because Pakistan’s debt problem is not a Chinese debt…
A landslide triggered by heavy rains buried and killed at least 11 people who were travelling in a van in northern Vietnam, the country’s disaster management authority said on Saturday. Northern Vietnam has entered its rainy season, with heavy downpours and flooding making travel along mountain roads treacherous. The landslide hit the 16-seater van around 4:00 am local time (2100 GMT) as it drove through Bac Me district in Ha Giang province, state media said. Rescuers have recovered 11 bodies, including a boy, according to the disaster agency. Six others were found alive and taken to a nearby hospital, it…
An Israel airstrike killed at least 71 Palestinians in a designated humanitarian zone in Gaza on Saturday, the enclave’s health ministry said, in an attack that Israel said targeted Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif. It was unclear whether Deif was killed. “We are still checking and verifying the results of the strike,” an Israeli military official told reporters. The Islamist group Hamas said in a statement that Israeli claims it had targeted leaders of the group were false and aimed at justifying the attack, which was the deadliest Israeli attack in Gaza in weeks. Displaced people sheltering in the area…
Fathimath Shamnaz Ali Saleem, a former Maldives climate change minister detained last month on allegations she performed “black magic” on the country’s president was released Saturday, police said. Fathimath Shamnaz Ali Saleem was arrested along with her sister and another person last month in the capital Male and stood down from her post shortly afterwards. Local media reported she was accused of performing “black magic” on President Mohamed Muizzu to win favour from his new administration. Police had asked for an extension of her detention twice, but on Saturday they had no reason to hold her any longer — although…
Meta said on Friday it was lifting restrictions on US presidential candidate Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, ending measures put in place after his supporters violently stormed the US Capitol in 2021. It said that “former President Trump, as the nominee of the Republican Party, will no longer be subject to the heightened suspension penalties”. Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts were suspended indefinitely a day after his supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and it was determined he had praised people engaged in violence on social media. His accounts were reinstated in February 2023 but with a threat of penalties for future…
Iran’s president-elect Masoud Pezeshkian said he looks forward to improved relations with European nations, even though he accused them of reneging on commitments to mitigate the impact of US sanctions. Pezeshkian on July 6 won a runoff election against ultraconservative Saeed Jalili. The 69-year-old has called for “constructive relations” with Western countries to “get Iran out of its isolation”, and favours reviving the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and global powers. Washington unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018, reimposing sanctions and leading Iran to gradually reduce its commitment to its terms. The deal aimed to curb nuclear activity which Tehran maintains is for…
Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has called on the federal government to stop deporting undocumented Afghans, saying she was especially concerned about the “dark future” awaiting women and girls sent back. “It is deeply concerning that Pakistan is forcing Afghan refugees based in Pakistan back into Afghanistan, and I’m deeply concerned about the women and girls”, the activist, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, told AFP in an interview on Friday. Despite extending leave for Afghan refugees with permits to stay in Pakistan for another year, the federal government this week said it would remove illegal migrants. More than 600,000 Afghans…
