Page 15 - Economy

Pakistan's current economic model not working, says World Bank official

Pakistan's current economic model is not working, a top World Bank official has said, underlining that the cash-strapped nation must change policies that have plagued development and benefitted only a few. The remarks by World Bank Country Director Najy Benhassine came in a Policy Vision article, published in the latest UNDP publication. Pakistan's current economic model is not working since it has fallen behind its peers, significant progress in poverty reduction has now started to reverse, and the benefits of growth have accrued to a narrow elite, Benhassine said. There is a broad consensus that action is needed to change policies that have plagued development, benefitted only a few, and led to very volatile and low growth, the Dawn newspaper quoted Benhassine as saying. Pakistan is heavily exposed to climate change, with the potentially devastating impacts of climate shocks and natural disasters already apparent, he said in Development Advocate Pakistan, the UNDP's quarterly ...

Year ender 2023: Here's a look at top critical tech deals between India, US

Politically, the sharing is made easy by the fact that after plenty of years, both nations will have governments that will have their mandate in the same year at the same time

Centre releases additional Rs 73k crore tax devolution to states

Money released for financing social welfare measures and infrastructure development: Finance Ministry

Netherlands Tata Steel plant forces choice between public health or economy

Locals have voiced concerns about the factory's pollution for decades. However, it was only in September that the Dutch national public health agency first established a direct link

Sri Lanka's economy records positive growth for first time since crisis

Sri Lanka's bankrupt economy has recorded a positive growth for the first time since the economic crisis hit the island nation, according to official data. The year-on-year GDP growth rate for the third quarter has been reported as 1.6 per cent of positive growth rate, the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) said in a press release on Friday. Sri Lanka had recorded a minus 8 per cent growth when it declared bankruptcy in April 2022. The country's economy continued to be in the negative from the fourth quarter of 2021. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), which released the second tranche of its USD 2.9 billion bailout earlier this week, has said that Sri Lanka's overall growth for 2023 would remain negative. However, the country's economy in 2024 is expected to grow with a positive one plus growth, it said. Sri Lanka is currently going through a strict IMF based reform regime. President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is also the finance minister, insists on reforms despite stro

China's central bank injects $112 bn of cash to revive economic growth

The People's Bank of China offered commercial lenders 1.45 trillion yuan ($204 billion) via its medium-term lending facility - 800 billion yuan more than the expected maturity this month

LIVE: Delhi police produce four accused before court seeking 15-day custody

Catch all the latest updates LIVE from across the world

Business Standard wins two golds at afaqs! The Future of News Awards

Business Standard won in the categories of 'Best Business Programme' and 'Best Use of Infographics in a Business Story'

Sri Lanka to get access to $337 million from IMF to stabilise economy

The IMF Executive Board has completed the first review under the 48-month Extended Fund Facility with Sri Lanka, providing the cash-strapped country with access to about USD 337 million to restore macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability. Announcing this, Peter Breuer, Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka also said that the debt restructuring with China was concluded on a strictly confidential basis for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to conclude its first review of the USD 2.9 billion bailout. China holds 52 per cent of Sri Lanka's total debt. The Chinese agreement in principle was very good news in Sri Lanka's debt restructuring talks. We have seen a summary of the key financial terms of the agreement shared by authorities on a strictly confidential basis," Breuer told reporters on Tuesday. The IMF late Tuesday concluded the review and approved the release of the second tranche worth USD 337 million to the island nation, bringing the value of disbursements to USD 670 .

The tradeoffs of waste taxation

Policymakers have been grappling to understand the implicit micro-foundations along with behavioral idiosyncrasies of waste regulation and designing the appropriate fiscal instruments for the same

Indian goods worth $3.7 billion entering Oman to get boost by FTA: GTRI

Over 83.5 per cent of Indian goods worth USD 3.7 billion such as gasoline, iron and steel, electronics, and machinery will get a significant boost in Oman, once both sides reach a comprehensive free trade agreement, a report said on Tuesday. According to the - India-OMAN CEPA: Gateway to Middle Eastern Markets and Beyond - report, prepared by think tank Global trade Reproach Initiative (GTRI), these goods at present face a 5 per cent import duty in Oman. India and Oman are negotiating a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA), under which the two countries could significantly reduce or eliminate customs duties on the maximum number of goods agreed between them. With the new trade agreement, these products, including major export items like motor gasoline (exports worth USD 1.7 billion), iron and steel products (exports worth USD 235 million), electronics (USD 135 million), machinery (USD 125 million), aluminium oxide (USD 126 million), textiles (USD 110 million), alumina

Ficci expects economy to grow at 7.5-8% this fiscal, 8% in 2024-25

Industry expects the economy to grow at 7.5 to 8 per cent in the current fiscal and 8 per cent in 2024-25 on the back of strong growth momentum, positive sentiments and rising private investments, Anish Shah, newly-elected president of the Federation Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), said on Monday. There will, however, be geopolitical pressure points that may have a bearing on India's growth prospects, he added. "We have seen great growth numbers so far at 7.8 per cent, 7.6 per cent. I expect that to continue because we have got strong momentum. We are seeing multiple companies investing, adding capacities, something that Mahindra group has done as well. "We expect that growth momentum to continue at 7.5 per cent to 8 per cent in the current financial year and for next year, I would expect 8 per cent or higher," said Shah, who is also Group CEO and Managing Director of Mahindra and Mahindra, in an interview to PTI. Indian economy recorded a growth of 7.8 per cent i

India becoming middle income country within realms of possibility: NK Singh

Talking about the challenges that India needs to address, he stressed the need for ensuring the sanctity of contracts across governance

GDP growth reflection of transformative reforms of last 10 years: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said India's GDP growth of 7.7 per cent in the first six months of the current fiscal year is a reflection of the country's strengthening economy and the transformative reforms carried out in the last 10 years. Addressing the 'Infinity Forum 2.0' conference at the GIFT City here via video link, Modi said his government wants to turn the Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT) City into a global nerve centre of the new age global financial and technology services. "In the first six months of this financial year, India has achieved a GDP growth of 7.7 per cent...Today, the entire world has pinned its hopes on India, and this did not happen just on its own. This is a reflection of India's strengthening economy and also the transformative reforms carried out in the last 10 years," Modi said in his inaugural address. India is one of the fastest growing fintech markets in the world today and the GIFT International Financial Services Centre (IFSC)

Australian govt to announce its strategy for slowing immigration next week

"The new strategy we'll announce will bring immigration back to sustainable levels," he told reporters Saturday in Sydney

Forex reserves surpass $600-billion mark after nearly four months

India's foreign exchange reserves increased to USD 604 billion as on December 1, surpassing the USD 600 billion mark after a gap of about four months. The forex reserves were last above the USD 600 billion mark on August 11 this year. "India's foreign exchange reserves stood at USD 604 billion as on December 1, 2023. We remain confident of meeting our external financing requirements comfortably," Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das said, while unveiling the December bi-monthly monetary policy on Friday. The reserves were USD 597.935 billion in the preceding week ended November 24. In October 2021, the country's foreign exchange kitty had reached an all-time high of USD 642 billion. The reserves took a hit as the central bank deployed the reserves to defend the rupee amid pressures caused majorly by global developments since last year. The governor further said the Indian rupee has exhibited low volatility compared to emerging market economy (EME) peers in the calendar year 2023,

Russia becoming 'new global growth centre', says President Vladimir Putin

"The world has entered an era of radical changes and serious tests not only for specific companies and sectors, but also for whole countries and regions of the world," Putin said

Rs 24,000 cr investments at Bengal biz meet to be implemented over 2 yrs

The North Bengal business meet has elicited investments worth Rs 24,000 crore which would be implemented in a span of one to two years, an official of the West Bengal government said on Thursday. Chief secretary of the West Bengal government H K Dwivedi said that the investment proposals have been received from various sectors. Business organisations and trade bodies of eight districts in the northern part of West Bengal have participated in the business meet held here on Thursday, he said. Dwivedi said the state government has been very proactive in encouraging investors to make investments in West Bengal and has been extending support for the same. He said that after the present government came into power in the state, there have been notable industrial investments in North Bengal. Discussions on the overall development of the infrastructure of North Bengal also took place at the business meet, he added.

India's apple imports may rise after crop damage in Kashmir, Himachal

Country is the world's fifth largest producer of the fruit but rains and floods have hurt domestic yield this year

Softening demand drags India's November PMI to 12-month low of 56.9

Growth momentum weakens despite demand fuelling new business intakes and output