LAHORE: While welcoming the expected arrival of Australia’s full-strength squad to Pakistan after almost a quarter of a century and smooth organisation of the ongoing HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) matches, former Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Khalid Mahmood on Saturday said the PCB should also give attention to grassroots cricket which he reckoned was almost non-existent currently. “After a rather stormy phase late last year that saw the New Zealand team leave Pakistan rather abruptly citing security concerns, the PCB appears to have gained full control of events under the chairmanship of Ramiz Raja. Not only England is in [the] firing range…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
LAHORE: Sarfraz Ahmed needed to lead from the front to end the seesaw match in Quetta Gladiators’ favour. And the captain did it in style, striking back-to-back fours off Hasan Ali to complete the job in the final over. Having remained under constant criticism largely due to his peculiarly animated way of leading his team for quite some time, right-handed Sarfraz on Saturday showed glimpses of his belligerence as he smashed an invaluable half-century to lead Quetta to a richly-earned five-wicket victory over Islamabad United under lights here at the Gaddafi Stadium. Chasing a mountain-like 200 against a decent bowling…
Quetta Gladiators veteran Shahid Afridi on Sunday withdrew from the remainder of the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2022 citing a back injury that has deteriorated to an “intolerable” level. In a video message posted on his YouTube channel, the man nicknamed Boom Boom said he had been carrying his lower-back injury for more than 15 years, adding it was now causing unbearable pain to his entire body. “I cannot bear it anymore,” Afridi said. The star-allrounder thanked Gladiators owner Nadeem Omar for his all-out support to him. “I want to apologise to fans for not being to play the…
KARACHI: Stock trading commenced on a positive note in the outgoing week. But the market corrected midweek as oil prices crossed $90 per barrel for the first time since 2014, according to Arif Habib Ltd. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved the disbursement of $1 billion while the Economic Coordination Committee approved the textile policy after incorporating certain changes. Furthermore, the fiscal deficit contracted 2.1 per cent to Rs1.37 trillion for the first half of 2021-22. As a result, the benchmark index closed at 46,079 points after gaining 170 points or 0.4pc on a week-on-week basis. Sector-wise, positive contributions came…
ISLAMABAD: Electricity consumers will see an additional cost of Rs3 per unit in their February bills, as the country’s power regulator said generation plants used expensive fuel in December. The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has notified the decision on fuel charge adjustment (FCA) for December for all electricity distribution companies. The increase in power rates drew sharp criticism from opposition parties, which described it as proof of government’s mismanagement and feared that it would fuel inflation. According to Nepra’s notification, the increase of Rs3.0968 per kilowatt hour (or unit) will be applicable to consumers of all power distribution…
KARACHI: The federal government is launching an ambitious Rs1.4 trillion financial assistance programme next week, hoping for quarterly disbursement of Rs40 billion interest-free loans across the country to help people set up their businesses, increase productivity in the agriculture sector and build homes with an additional facility of training for skill development, a key cabinet member said on Saturday. Calling it “something huge and extraordinary”, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin said the programme had already been introduced in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan at an initial level and was part of the government’s “bottom-up” approach to increase revenue at the grassroots level…
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan exhibits one of the lowest trade-to-GDP ratios in the world showing at just 30 per cent. However, it is not all doom and gloom and the country has a lot of room for improvement, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB). One viable strategy that Pakistan can adopt to boost its growth is to further open its economy to trade. At just 30pc, Pakistan exhibits one of the lowest trade-to-GDP ratios in the world, even when taking its size into account, the ADB says in its report titled ‘Pakistan’s Economy and Trade in the Age of Global Value Chains’. This…
KARACHI: The government has decided to revise downward the markup rates for housing subsidy scheme with the aim to give the sector another chance to emerge as a leader in economic growth. A latest circular issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Saturday said that in view of the feedback received from various stakeholders, the government has decided to revise pricing (markup rates and subsidy payment period) under Tier-I housing scheme which is used to finance housing units in the Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority (NAPHDA) projects. The government has provided a number of incentives and took…
Hundreds of Hindu nationalist protesters marched in the Indian state of Gujarat on Saturday, prompting the closure of stores owned by several multinational companies caught up in a furore over social media posts supporting occupied Kashmir. The messages were posted last week by the Pakistani branches of firms including Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors and fast food chains Domino’s Pizza, Yum Brand Inc’s Pizza Hut and KFC, which also operate in India. They were issued by the companies on February 5 to coincide with Pakistan’s Kashmir Solidarity Day, held annually to commemorate the sacrifices of Kashmiris struggling for self-determination, and caused anger among social media users…
Demonstrators in Afghanistan’s capital on Saturday condemned US President Joe Biden’s order freeing up $3.5 billion in Afghan assets held in the US for families of America’s 9/11 victims — saying the money belongs to Afghans. Protesters who gathered outside Kabul’s grand Eid Gah mosque asked America for financial compensation for the tens of thousands of Afghans killed during the last 20 years of war in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s central bank, known as Da Afghanistan Bank or DAB, also opposed the move, calling it “an injustice to the people of Afghanistan” and demanding that the decision be withdrawn. “DAB considers the latest…
