“Given my interactions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the dialogue decisiveness of the current government, I feel very hopeful that there will be a successor programme from the Fund,” said the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Country Director for Pakistan Yong Ye in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of ADB’s 57th Annual Meeting in Tbilisi this week. Tacitly indicating that support from ADB would only be possible with a clean chit from the Fund, Mr Ye expressed cautious optimism for the economy. Highlighting the uncertainties from last year, Mr Ye termed the IMF agreement announced in June as…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
PRIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif has termed Pakistan’s recent diplomatic deliberations with Saudi Arabia “great progress”, Geo News reported. In an interview with Arab news channel Al Arabiya English, the premier said, “We have identified areas of mutual cooperation, both at the government-to-government and business-to-business levels and that have been clearly identified. We now have a clear-cut way forward.” The PM highlighted that both countries would work on mutual cooperation and investments in the field of mines and minerals as well as renewable energy, among other fields. The interview comes days after a Saudi investors’ delegation visited Pakistan. The premier spoke about his maiden visit to the…
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s exports to European countries declined 6.27 per cent in the first nine months of the current fiscal year. Exports to the European Union states have begun to dip in the current fiscal year despite a GSP+ status that allows most Pakistani goods a duty-free entrance into European markets. In October 2023, the European Parliament unanimously voted to extend the GSP+ status for another four years until 2027 for developing countries, including Pakistan, to enjoy duty-free or minimum duty on exports to Europe. In absolute terms, Pakistan’s exports to the EU dipped to $6.105bn in 9MFY24 from $6.27bn in…
KARACHI: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has endorsed the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) decision to keep the interest rate unchanged despite a sharp deceleration in inflation. The IMF-Pakistan SBA (2nd and Final Review) Country Report made it clear that the Fund was willing to see no change in the interest rate despite demand from the stakeholders in the wake of falling inflation, which has widened the gap between the 22 per cent interest rate and expected 13 to 15pc estimated CPI in May. “The IMF staff endorsed the SBP’s Monetary Policy Committee decision to maintain the policy rate,” said…
PARIS: The hypercolour image of a dark hill and lava flow is pretty enough — but its high-tech artificial intelligence origins make it special. It is the product of the brainwaves of one member of French art collective Obvious, collected in an MRI machine at the Brain Institute of the Pitie Salpetriere hospital in Paris. “I was thinking very hard about a volcano,” said Pierre Fautrel, one of the trio. He admits the resulting work was not exactly what he had in mind, “but it has kept the basic elements: a flaming mountain with flowing lava and a landscape on…
LONDON: Two environmental activists in their eighties have been charged with criminal damage after glueing themselves to a glass case containing the historic Magna Carta document at the British Library in central London, police said on Saturday. Anglican priest Sue Parfitt, 82, and retired teacher Judy Bruce, 85, held up a sign saying “The government is breaking the law” after attaching themselves to the display case on Friday, according to Just Stop Oil. London’s Metropolitan police said two women had been charged with criminal damage and released on bail. The British Library said the damage to the glass case had been…
TBILISI: Thousands of protesters marched through central Tbilisi on Saturday at a rally against a controversial “foreign influence” bill backed by the Georgian government and likened to Russian laws silencing dissent. Massive rallies have gripped the Black Sea Caucasus country for almost a month after the ruling Georgian Dream party reintroduced the bill. Demonstrators converged on Tbilisi’s central Europe Square on Saturday evening, a journalist saw, in the latest of a series of anti-government protests against the draft legislation. Under pouring rain, protesters chanted “Georgia!” and waved red-and-white Georgian flags and blue EU flags on the large square. “We are…
UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram asserted on Saturday that the adoption of a resolution advocating Palestine’s full membership in the United Nations by a large majority would ramp up political pressure on the United States to reassess its position within the Security Council. The UN General Assembly adopted the resolution on Friday with 143 votes. The United States and eight other countries voted against the resolution, while 25 abstained. Three of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — China, France, and Russia — voted for the resolution. Britain abstained. Among US allies, Australia, New Zealand,…
NEW DELHI: A top opponent of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged his compatriots to resist “dictatorship” on Saturday, after the country’s top court provisionally released him from jail to campaign in national elections. Arvind Kejriwal, chief minister of the capital Delhi and a key leader in an opposition alliance formed to compete against Modi in the polls, was granted bail on Friday after weeks in custody. He is among several leaders of the bloc under criminal investigation, with his party describing his arrest as a “political conspiracy” orchestrated by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to sideline its opponents…
RAFAH: The United States has issued a stunning criticism of Israel’s use of American weapons in the Gaza attack, after Israeli forces intensified operations around the southern city of Rafah, where more than a million displaced people are sheltering. Israel’s main international ally said in a report released on Friday that it was “reasonable to assess” that Israel has used weapons in ways inconsistent with international humanitarian law during the seven-month crisis. But the long-awaited State Department report said it could not reach “conclusive findings” and stopped short of blocking weapons shipments. Relations between the two allies slumped earlier in…
