Page 101 - Pakistan

Pakistan hikes policy rate to 22% to secure IMF deal in a last-ditch effort

"The MPC views this action as necessary to keep real interest rate firmly in positive territory on a forward-looking basis," the central bank said in a statement

Srinagar-Jammu Indigo flight enters Pak airspace due to inclement weather

In a similar incident on June 11, an IndiGo Amritsar-Ahmedabad flight entered Pakistani airspace for around 30 minutes due to bad weather

PCB chairman election faces delay as two former members approach court

The process to elect the new Pakistan Cricket Board chairman might be delayed with two members of the former management committee approaching the Lahore High Court. The Lahore High Court will on Monday head two petitions filed by former PCB management committee members Shakil Sheikh and Gul Zada against the election process to bring in Zaka Ashraf as the chairman and the legality of the Board of Governors which will elect the new chief. The petitioners have requested the honourable judge to stay the elections of the chairman and suspend the BOG until it gives a verdict on their petitions. It is a tricky situation because the election commissioner and acting Chairman of the board has set June 27 as the date for holding election for new Chairman after the changes made to the Board of Governors, one source in the board said. Ironically, when Ashraf had become PCB chairman way back in 2012, he had faced similar legal challenges from his predecessor, Najam Sethi, and was even ordered to

Lightning strikes kill 10 as pre-monsoon rains lash Pak's Punjab province

Lightning strikes across Pakistan's eastern Punjab province killed at least 10 people, officials said Monday as heavy pre-monsoon rains lashed the region. The strikes on Sunday mainly took place in the Sialkot and Sheikhupura districts of Punjab. Lightning strikes are frequent across Pakistan, especially in Punjab's mountainous areas and plains. The Pakistan Meteorological Department said more rains were expected this week, bringing some respite from the ongoing heatwave. The National Disaster Management Authority warned the ongoing rains could trigger flash flooding. Every year, many areas of Pakistan struggle with the annual monsoons, drawing criticism for poor government planning. The season runs from July through September. Last summer, floods triggered by rains killed 1,739 people across Pakistan. The deluge displaced about 8 million people and caused USD 30 billion in losses.

Cash-strapped Pakistan Parliament approves Rs 14.48 trn budget for 2023-24

Pakistan's Parliament on Sunday approved the Rs 14.48 trillion budget for 2023-24 after new taxes were added to it as dictated by the IMF as a condition to release the remaining portion of an already agreed bailout package for the cash-strapped country. The budget aiming to achieve 3.5 per cent GDP growth was unveiled on June 9. It aimed to collect Rs 9,200 billion in taxes but the target was hiked by Rs 215 billion at the behest of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to make it Rs 9,415 billion. The government also agreed with the IMF's demand to cut its spending by Rs 85 billion. In his speech to sum up the debate on the budget, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that changes have been made in the budget after marathon three-day talks with the Washington-based global lender. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on the sidelines of the Global Financing Summit in Paris two days ago and urged to release the loan. The IMF chief is reported to h

Seven killed, 42 injured in bus collision in Pakistan's Sindh province

At least seven people were killed and 42 others injured in a collision between two passenger buses in the Sindh province of Pakistan on Sunday, officials said. Benazirabad Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIGP) Mohammad Younis Chandio said the accident took place on the Mehran Highway near Nawabshah around 4 am when two passenger buses en route from Karachi and Peshawar collided with each other. The injured are being treated at the People's University of Medical and Health Sciences, Dawn News quoted him as saying. According to the DIGP, the collision occurred because of the high speed of the vehicles. He added that the Mehran Highway was closed to traffic after the accident and vehicles were diverted towards the National Highway. Earlier this month, at least 13 people, including five women, were killed and 31 others injured when a bus veered off the Islamabad-Lahore Motorway and overturned near Kallar Kahar. Traffic accidents are common in Pakistan due to poor maintenance of r

Pakistan's parliament approves revised 2023-24 budget to clinch IMF deal

The IMF in mid-June expressed dissatisfaction with the country's initial budget, saying it was a missed opportunity to broaden the tax base in a more progressive way

Pak to raise Rs 215 bn through taxes to fulfil IMF loan conditions: FM Dar

Pakistan will raise Rs 215 billion through taxes to meet the stringent conditions set by the IMF, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Saturday, as the cash-strapped government tried to meet the conditions set by the IMF for a much-needed loan. Speaking at the closing of a three-day-long general discussion with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the budget for the financial year 2023-24 held in the National Assembly, Dar said that Pakistan is trying to fulfil all the formalities the global lender wants them to complete prior to availing the loan. As a result of the talks with IMF, for the fiscal year 2023-24, the final taxes of only Rs 215 billion (approximately USD 750,400,000) have been agreed, ensuring that it will not burden the poor and middle segments of the society, he said. The announcement was made by Dar two days after IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva urged Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to resolve policy differences at the global lender's staff lev

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IMF chief asks Pak PM to resolve policy differences before getting loan

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has urged Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to resolve policy differences at the global lender's staff level prior to getting a much-needed loan to stabilise the cash-strapped country's economy, according to a media report. Georgieva said this during her meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that took place on Thursday on the sidelines of the New Global Financial Pact summit in Paris, The Express Tribune reported on Thursday. "Prime Minister Sharif met IMF MD Kristalina Georgieva. During the meeting she emphasised and insisted that all the policy matters should be resolved at the IMF staff level," the report said. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) signed a deal in 2019 to provide USD 6 billion to Pakistan on the fulfilment of certain conditions. The plan was derailed several times and the full reimbursement is still pending due to insistence by the donor that Pakistan should complete all formalities. During the meeting, ..

Indo-US joint statement reduces Pak to promoter of terrorism: Imran Khan

Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan on Friday said that the joint statement issued by India and the US during the ongoing state visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to America has reduced the country to a "promoter of cross-border terrorism in India and nothing more". In their joint statement following one-on-one meetings and delegation-level talks on Thursday, Prime Minister Modi and US President Joe Biden called on Pakistan to punish perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai and Pathankot attacks. Later, Prime Minister Modi in his address to the Joint Meeting of the US Congress said there can be "no ifs or buts" in dealing with terrorism and sought action against state sponsors of terrorism, in a veiled attack on Pakistan. He said that more than two decades after 9/11 and more than a decade after 26/11 in Mumbai, radicalism and terrorism still remain a pressing danger for the whole world.

Pak FM Dar allegedly harasses journalist over question on elusive IMF deal

Pakistan's Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has found himself at the centre of a controversy for engaging in a heated exchange with a journalist, who accused the politician of slapping him over a question about the stalled IMF deal. The incident occurred on Thursday when Dar was leaving the parliament premises after addressing a National Assembly session when he was approached by journalist Shahid Qureshi, the Dawn newspaper reported. In a video that has gone viral on social media, the reporter can be seen asking Dar if he would be willing to talk and the minister responded he had just finished speaking. Qureshi then inquired about the progress of the stalled International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme and referred to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's recent meeting with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva. While Dar, 73, did not reply to the questions, the journalist persisted and questioned the government's failure to secure the USD 1.1 billion deal from the Washington-based globa

Pak collects DNA samples from 200 families of those missing after boat sank

Pakistan has collected DNA samples from more than 200 families following last week's sinking of an overcrowded smuggling vessel off Greece that left more than 500 migrants missing, including scores of Pakistanis, authorities said Thursday. The families had approached authorities, saying they suspect their loved ones were on the boat, spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch of the Foreign Ministry told a news conference in the capital of Islamabad. Pakistani police, meanwhile, arrested 10 more suspected traffickers, bringing the number of traffickers detained in the nationwide crackdown to 17, she said. Nearly three dozen other suspects have also been taken into custody in connection with the case. However, she said the government still cannot verify the number of Pakistanis among the dead or missing from the sinking. The crackdown followed orders from Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif for security forces to dismantle human smuggling networks in the country. The overcrowded fishing trawler ..

Letter raising objections over Holi celebration at Pak varsity withdrawn

Pakistan's higher education watchdog on Thursday withdrew a letter raising objections over the celebration of the Holi festival at a university here after a backlash on social media and intervention by the government. Shaista Sohail, the executive director of the Higher Education Commission (HEC), had issued a letter taking exception to the celebration of the festival by the students of Qaudi Azam University in Islamabad. However, the letter invited a barrage of attacks on social media with many people asking about the academic performance of the HEC and suggesting to improve it instead of correcting the morals of the people. Salman Sufi, the head of the Prime Minister's Strategic Reforms Unit, clarified that Education Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain had instructed the HEC to retract its controversial letter. According to a statement by Sohail, the HEC was highly respectful of all religions, faiths, and beliefs, and the associated festivals and celebrations observed in the country.

Bayer winds up business in Pak due to nation's weak economic condition

German pharmaceutical major Bayer on Thursday announced that it is winding up its business from Pakistan, giving another setback to the cash-strapped nation amidst its precarious economic situation, according to a media report. The decision by Bayer, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, came days after local employees of the multinational company held a protest demanding that the company pay them 60 to 100 months' salaries -- ostensibly at par with the company's termination policies elsewhere in the world, the Dawn News reported. "Bayer has decided to wind up its business from Pakistan," the report said. The management of the company said that the organisation's assets from its factory in Pakistan have been sold to a local company, which has assured existing employees of job security for at least two years. "Since these workers would continue to be employed, there was no call for severance packages to be handed out," the report said. Prior to Bayer, American .

Pakistan's ex-aviation minister arrested in relation to May 9 riots case

The authorities had been searching for Ghulam Sarwar Khan for more than a month in connection to the May 9 violence case, since his name has been suspected among others

Pakistan Finance Minister Dar meets US envoy; discusses stalled IMF loan

Pakistan Finance Minister Ishaq Dar met US Ambassador Donald Blome on Wednesday as the cash-strapped country scrambled to get a stalled loan from the IMF to push back the threat of a looming default. Islamabad had inked a deal with the Fund in 2019 to get a USD 6.5 billion package, but at least USD 2.4 billion has not been released as the Fund says Pakistan has been unable to meet important prerequisites. The programme is set to lapse on June 30, leaving Pakistan more vulnerable than ever to meet external payments. Dar informed the US envoy about the progress on talks with the Washington-based global lender while expressing his government's commitment to complete the programme, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Finance. Dar also informed the ambassador about his government's budgetary measures to reduce the fiscal gap to meet its national as well as international financial obligations, the statement said. He shared the economic policies and priorities of the ...

Ad-hoc workers in Pak to protest over non-payment of salaries: Report

Ad-hoc workers have decided to protest at Prime Minister's Secretariat over non-payment of salaries for the past 18 months, reported Pakistan vernacular media

Plan in the works to hand over Karachi port terminals to UAE for funds

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar chaired the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Inter-Governmental Commercial Transactions

Pak Army chief assures full support to Sharif's economic revival plan

COAS, General Asim Munir, has assured the Armys all-out support to complement the governments efforts to deal with the economic challenges facing the country, media reports said