Justin Langer resigned as coach of Australia on Saturday, just weeks after leading the side to a 4-0 Ashes series win over England, with Cricket Australia (CA) saying he had declined a short-term extension to his contract. Langer’s departure came after he held contract discussions with Cricket Australia on Friday, with his current deal set to expire in June. Australia also won last year’s Twenty20 World Cup for the first time under Langer but there have been reports of player discontent over his coaching style. Langer was reported to have reacted angrily during a recent meeting with Cricket Australia over his contract and had been…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
ISLAMABAD: Inflation measured through Sensitive Price Index (SPI) recorded an increase of 1.35 per cent week-on-week for the combined income group in the period ended on Feb 3 following a surge in the prices of essential food and non-food items, data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed on Friday. Tomatoes witnessed a massive jump of 90.13pc over the preceding week followed by chicken 10.50pc, garlic 5.67pc, bananas 2.47pc, mustard oil 2.38pc and non-food items LPG 1.54pc and energy saver 1.06pc.On year-on-year basis, the SPI for the combined income group witnessed an increase 19.53pc as the prices of…
KARACHI: The rupee appreciated day-on-day by Rs1.04 or 0.60 per cent against the US dollar in the interbank market on Friday giving a positive signal about the stabilisation of the exchange rate. The market sources said the dollar was traded as low as Rs174.48. On Thursday, the rupee gained 89-paisa against the US dollar. The greenback has lost Rs3.76 since its highest price of Rs178.24 on Dec 29, 2021. The announcement of IMF loan revival and immediate disbursement of $1.053bn improved the market sentiments. A free-float exchange rate is one of the IMF conditions for the revival of the loan…
KARACHI: The much awaited International Monetary Fund (IMF) tranche of over $1 billion was received by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday. The latest tranche will help improve the country’s investment environment and increase foreign exchange reserves. “Following the successful completion of 6th review of IMF program the State Bank has received next tranche of 1.053 billion,” the central bank said in a tweet. Pakistan had approached the IMF in November 2018 to save the economy from $20bn current account deficit. Pakistan made desperate attempts to tap the IMF loan which is considered the main pipeline that clears…
ISLAMABAD: Terming the revival of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme ‘credit positive’ to help shore up foreign exchange reserves, the Moody’s Investor Service wondered if the government would sustain reform momentum after September 2022 as it enters the election mode. In a statement, the New York-based rating agency said the disbursement of $1bn by the IMF “will partially offset pressures on foreign exchange reserves, while facilitating further financing from other official sources”. The rating agency said sustained progress on reforms areas — revenue, energy and state-owned enterprise sector — will not only raise economic productivity and competitiveness but also…
ISLAMABAD: Amid higher policy and reduced secondary market coupon rates, the Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) on Friday slashed profit rates on all national savings schemes, but increased these on savings bank accounts and short-term savings certificates. The new rates would be applicable to deposits and investments made with effect from February 4. The State Bank of Pakistan had increased its discount rate by one per cent to 9.75pc on December 14, 2021, and kept it unchanged on January 24 this year. The returns on savings accounts and certificates are linked with the central bank’s policy rate and are…
ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Friday said that the Pakistan government expected the Afghan Taliban authorities to address its security concerns. “It is not a question of just raising again. We have been raising this matter consistently and we will continue to do that. We expect our concerns to be addressed,” Foreign Office spokesman Asim Iftikhar said at the weekly media briefing. He was responding to queries about the presence in Afghanistan of handlers of the attacks on Frontier Corps camps in Panjgur and Nushki. The ISPR had a day earlier said: “Intelligence agencies have intercepted communications between terrorists and their handlers…
LONDON: Nichola Khan — a social anthropologist and lecturer at Brighton University who has written extensively on Muhajir politics — on Friday gave testimony as an expert witness before the jury in the ‘hate speech’ trial of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) supremo Altaf Hussain. Dr Khan said the MQM did not just have political and charity wings but also a militant wing, which the party did not acknowledge. She added the party’s workers were “subjected to extrajudicial killings at the hands of Rangers, who violated human rights”, to establish peace in Karachi. She said Mr Hussain had spoken of “meeting…
MOSCOW: Russia said on Friday it would respond in kind if Germany moved to end a dispute over their respective media outlets, but would escalate the row if Berlin chose to do so. Russia said a day earlier it was shutting down the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle’s operations in Moscow and stripping its staff of their accreditation in response to Berlin banning broadcasts by Russia’s RT DE channel. Deutsche Welle’s staff handed back their accreditations and its Moscow team stopped work on Friday. But the broadcaster said its correspondents had not been asked to leave Russia yet. The dispute has further soured relations that are…
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka marked its independence day on Friday with an appeal to its diaspora to send money home to overcome the island’s worsening economic crisis and a pledge to protect foreign investments. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa urged millions of Sri Lankans abroad to invest their savings in their home country, which is facing its worst debt crisis since independence from Britain 74 years ago. “Expatriate Sri Lankans who provide foreign exchange to the country are a major resource to us,” Rajapaksa said. “I invite all expatriate Sri Lankans to invest in their homeland.” Colombo’s foreign exchange reserves, which stood at…
