Pakistan will draw $5.6 billion in financing, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, an amount that includes inflows from Saudi Arabia and the UAE that have been deposited in the country’s central bank. Inflows from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are not part of this financing. The funding “includes $3.7 billion of commitments from bilateral partners including Saudi Arabia and the …

In today’s worldwide society, the media industry is crucial for shaping public opinion and disseminating information. But when a country like Pakistan faces a foreign exchange shortage, media businesses face significant difficulties. This opinion piece will look at these issues and potential solutions for Pakistani media companies that operate with limited access to foreign currency. For Pakistani media enterprises to …

BEIJING: Chinese stocks closed higher on Thursday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 1.26 percent to 3,236.48 points. The Shenzhen Component Index closed 1.61 percent higher at 11,095.44 points. The combined turnover of stocks covered by the two indices stood at 920.8 billion yuan (about 128.73 billion U.S. dollars), up from 911.9 billion yuan on the previous trading day. …

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced on Wednesday that Pakistan had received $1 billion from the United Arab Emirates, saying that the funds would boost the declining foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank. “We received the confirmation some time ago that our brother country, our friend, the UAE has deposited $1bn to the State Bank’s account. The Federal Reserves …

Back-to-school spending is expected to fall for the first time in nine years as shoppers across all income levels pull back on non-essential purchases and prioritize necessities amid sticky inflation, according to a Deloitte report on Wednesday. Consumers are expected to spend 10% less this year, with average spend per child falling to $597, while the overall back-to-school market is …

The United States welcomed a nine-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) agreement between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), saying that it will continue to stand by Islamabad during difficult times. US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller was asked about reports claiming that the US played a key role in helping Pakistan to secure $3-billion package with the IMF. “What I …

Saudi Arabia has deposited $2 billion in the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) account, announced Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday. This development comes on the heels of the recently secured $3 billion stand-by arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), marking yet another sigh of relief for Pakistan’s financial stability. The announcement was made during a televised address, where …

Promising advancements have taken place in Pakistan’s efforts to establish an oil refinery as an agreement between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is on track to be signed during the first week of August. The signing of this crucial agreement is anticipated to take place during the upcoming World Mineral Conference. Pakistan is set to host a two-day international mineral conference …

The International Monetary Fund has approved Pakistan’s external financing plan. For the release of its bailout package, the IMF had asked Pakistan to provide it the external financing plan. Then the Ministry of Finance sent the $8 billion financing plan from the friendly countries to the IMF as per its requirement. The meeting of the IMF Executive Board will be …

Global rating agency Fitch on Monday upgraded Pakistan’s long-term foreign currency issuer default rating (IDR) to ‘CCC’ from ‘CCC-’, citing the country’s improved external liquidity and funding conditions following the staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a nine-month Stand-by Arrangement (SBA) in June. Pakistan had secured the badly-needed $3bn short-term financial package from the IMF last month, …

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has identified a mega-scandal of clearing imported goods without the required documents. The goods, worth $80 million (over Rs220 billion), were cleared by forgery and deception. FBR has formed a three-member team to probe into the scam. The team will get to the bottom of how the goods were cleared without the required documents …

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has said the government needs to take appropriate policy measures to improve productivity, export competitiveness and debt sustainability to revive economic activities. According to the Financial Stability Review (FSR) for CY22, issued by SBP, in the latest wave of Systemic Risk Survey (SRS), market participants have identified political uncertainty as one of the …

Among these products, the price of milk, wheat flour, sugar, long cloth has increased; Vegetable ghee fell, while electricity and firewood prices remained unchanged. The price of a 20 kg wheat flour bag now stands at Rs 2,746.36, up from Rs 2,639.51 per bag in the week before Eid. PBS did not release data for the week ending June 29, …

GUIYANG: Southwest China’s Guizhou Province has seen a robust expansion in the new-energy sector amid efforts to ramp up energy production and storage and promote green development, an industry report showed. In the first quarter of this year, the industrial output of Guizhou’s new-energy battery and material sector was about 20.38 billion yuan (about 2.83 billion U.S. dollars), according to …

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was “in the process” of meeting representatives of major political parties in Pakistan, including the opposition PTI, to “seek assurances of their support for key objectives and policies” under the new $3 billion Standby Agreement, the lender’s resident representative for Pakistan confirmed on Friday. “IMF staff are in the process of meeting with representatives of …

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on Friday approved $46 million in financing for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Citizen Centered Service Delivery Project. The funding will support both supply and demand side interventions to improve health service delivery in the province, as well as the operations of citizen-centric administrative facilitation centers in the Newly Merged Districts, read a statement by …

SHANGHAI: More than 280 Fortune 500 enterprises and companies taking the lead in their industries have signed up for the sixth China International Import Expo (CIIE) slated to be held in Shanghai from Nov. 5 to 10 this year, the CIIE Bureau said Friday. This year’s edition has already signed with businesses to help prepare their booths of over 330,000 …

The Power Division is said to have paid Rs 300 billion to private sector and public sector power plants till June 30, 2023 aimed at bringing down the stock of circular debt from Rs 2.646 trillion as of May 31, 2023 to Rs 2.370 trillion as of June 30, 2023, well-informed sources told Business Recorder. Finance Ministry, sources said, has …

SBP chief said that the central bank’s held foreign exchange reserves have increased by over $500 million. “We expect foreign currency inflows would increase in the coming weeks. This would enhance our capacity of debt payment, which would have a positive impact on the market as well.”

BEIJING: Chinese authorities have pledged to elevate the reliability of products, a major quality metric, in key manufacturing sectors to enhance national strength in manufacturing, according to a guideline made public on Monday. The country aims to set up over 100 exemplary models of improved reliability by 2025 and see more products excel by global standards by 2030, said the …

Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) has been provisionally awarded two new exploration blocks in Sindh and Punjab, the company stated on Monday. The E&P company, involved in the exploration and development of oil and gas resources, informed the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) of this development through a notice. “OGDCL participated in the competitive bidding round for exploration blocks …

GUANGZHOU: China’s 20 millionth new energy vehicle (NEV) rolled off the production line on Monday in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, creating a remarkable milestone for the country’s NEV sector. The car was produced by GAC Aion New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd. With this record, the NEV sector has entered a new stage of large-scale, globalized and high-quality development, and …

Pakistan achieved a significant breakthrough by signing a new nine-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) worth $3 billion (SDR 2.25 billion) on Friday. The development is being seen by many as a major positive for Islamabad that ran from pillar to post to meet conditions of the Washington-based lender only to see an incessant delay …

Pakistan is likely to avert default this year, stated Bloomberg Economics in a report on Friday, as the country managed to secure a last-minute International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout. “A last minute bailout from the IMF should help Pakistan avoid default this year,” Ankur Shukla, who covers South Asia at Bloomberg, stated on Friday. Shukla was of the view that …

After a harrowing year of skirting the edges of a catastrophic default, some good news has finally arrived as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced it has reached an agreement with the Pakistani authorities on a nine month stand-by arrangement of $3 billion. Not only that, the announcement also gives a date by when the IMF’s executive board approval is …

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reached a staff-level pact with Pakistan on a $3 billion stand-by arrangement, the lender said, a decision long awaited by Pakistan, which is teetering on the brink of default. The deal subject to approval by the IMF board in July comes after an eight-month delay and offers some respite to Pakistan, which is battling …

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Friday that the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) with Pakistan will help strengthen the country’s foreign exchange reserves and enable it to achieve economic stability. The premier thanked IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and her team for their “cooperation and collaboration, especially during the course of the last week”. His remarks come …

The wait is finally over for Pakistan, literally on the day the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) was scheduled to expire. Early morning on Friday, it was announced that Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reached a staff-level agreement on a fresh nine-month, $3 billion stand-by arrangement (SBA) with an Executive Board meeting expected by mid-July. The news comes as …

The Petroleum Development Levy (PDL) is expected to increase by Rs 5 from July 1, 2023, amid hopes of renewing a broader agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). the news Report With the chances of completing the ninth review under the $6.5 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program expiring tomorrow (Friday) diminishing, Pakistan and the IMF will have to …

South Africa-based DNI Group has invested $1 million in Pakistani startup Neem as part of a strategic partnership, with the aim of “fostering innovation and growth in the embedded finance space” and “transforming the financial landscape in Pakistan”. The funds will be used to further develop Neem’s Banking-as-a-Service technology and platform and acquire talent across key areas including product, partnerships, …

HOHHOT: Erenhot Port in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has logged over 1,500 China-Europe freight trains so far this year, the local railway authorities said on Monday. Since the port launched its China-Europe freight train service in 2013, it has handled a total of 12,592 China-Europe freight trains to date. The Erenhot Port is the largest land port between …

China-Europe freight train services saw solid growth from January to May this year, with the transport capacity and efficiency continuously rising. The number of China-Europe freight train services increased by 16 percent year on year to 7,126 trips in the first five months of the year, according to the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. Some 774,000 20-foot equivalent units …

In a final attempt to secure a stalled rescue package with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced on Saturday that the federal government has implemented several changes to its fiscal year 2023-2024 budget. These changes have been introduced in hopes of reaching an agreement with the IMF and addressing the concerns that have hindered progress thus …

According to a statement issued by the multinational pharmaceutical company, the company said it is analyzing which of its manufacturing activities may no longer be of strategic focus going forward. Bayer intends to stay put and continue operations in Pakistan despite the shift. The corporation disclosed that it plans to transfer certain assets, including its pharmaceutical and consumer health production …

Despite the suspension of trade, Pakistan’s imports from India increased last month by 12 percent on an annual basis. It is worth mentioning here that Pakistan’s imports from India have increased for the second time during the current financial year. The volume of Pakistan’s imports reached $23010,000 in May last whereas in May 2022, the volume of imports from India …

Indus Motor Company (IMC), the assembler of Toyota vehicles in Pakistan, has once again decided to shut production citing raw material and component shortages. This time production will be suspended from June 26 to June 27. The automaker shared the development in a notice to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday. The automaker said that the company and its …

Pakistan’s dollar bonds registered significant improvement as sentiment for distressed debt boosted after Zambia clinched a deal with bilateral creditors, reported Bloomberg on Friday. “Pakistan’s 8.25% 2024 bond was indicated climbing half a cent to about 50 cents on the dollar,” reported Bloomberg, adding that “Sri Lankan’s 7.55% 2030 bond is indicated trading at 38.7 cents on the dollar, the …

TIANJIN: North China’s Tianjin port saw its foreign trade surge by 8.4 percent year on year to 812.1 billion yuan (about 113.1 billion U.S. dollars) in the first five months of the year, according to Tianjin Customs. From January to May, trade volume with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations totaled 127.08 billion yuan, up 26.4 percent year on year, …

AD Ports Group, a UAE government-owned maritime and logistics provider, on Thursday announced the signing of a 50-year concession agreement with Karachi Port Trust (KPT) to operate the Karachi Gateway Terminal Limited (KGTL). Under the terms of the agreement, a Joint Venture (JV) will be formed between AD Ports Group and Kaheel Terminals. AD Ports will be the majority shareholder, …

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar expressed his frustration and anger in response to a journalist’s question about the success of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The incident occurred when the finance minister was coming out of the National Assembly (NA) after attending the budget session. The atmosphere became tense as the journalist questioned the reasons behind the repeated failures …