Page 133 - Pakistan

Pak's foreign loan disbursements slow down from July to Dec 2022: Report

Pakistan received only USD 5.6 billion in foreign loans during the first half of current fiscal year, equal to about one-fourth of the annual budget estimate, due to the cash-starved country's failure to take timely decisions about reviving the IMF loan programme, according to media report on Saturday. Data compiled by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed that foreign loan disbursements from July to December 2022 stood at a mere USD 5.6 billion, the Express Tribune newspaper reported, adding that the disbursements were not enough to finance the maturing foreign debt, making a severe dent in the foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank. The key reason for the low disbursements was the government's failure to ensure the timely completion of the ninth review of the IMF programme. As a consequence, the receipt of USD 5.6 billion was equal to only one-fourth of the annual budget estimate of USD 22.8 billion. The IMF on Thursday announced that it would send its mission to ...

Ahead of crucial talks, IMF spots Rs 2 trn breach in Pak's budget estimates

Ahead of its crucial talks with the cash-strapped Pakistan government, the IMF has found an over Rs 2,000 billion breach in budgetary estimates for 2022-23 in its initial assessment that might result in escalating the budget deficit and primary deficit targets with a massive margin. Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) officials are scheduled to kick-start parleys from Tuesday for accomplishing the ninth review under the Extended Fund Facility during which the fiscal slippages and reconciliation of figures will be the major topic of discussion. The review would lead to the release of the next tranche of funds to Pakistan which has been pending since September. The government had envisaged a budget deficit target of 4.9 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and a primary deficit to keep it at positive 0.2 per cent of the GDP on the eve of the budget announcement for 2022-23. According to sources quoted by The News, the IMF is currently asking Pakistani authoriti

Pakistan facing net wheat deficit of 2.37 mn metric tons, says food min

Pakistan National Assembly member and Minister for National Food Security and Research Tariq Bashir Cheema said that Pakistan at present is facing a net wheat deficit of 2.37 million metric tons

Cash-strapped Pakistan's prosperity, economy 'Allah ke zimme': FM

Facing an acute balance of payments crisis, Pakistan is desperate to secure much-needed external financing

Pakistan's power crisis lingers, paralyses economic activities

The crisis forced the government earlier this month to order shopping malls and markets to close by 8.30 p.m. for energy conservation purposes

Indus Water Treaty: India sends notice to Pak, seeks changes in pact

The notice sent on January 25 through respective commissioners for Indus waters, is set to open up the process for making changes to the treaty

Indus Water Treaty: The what and why of a decades-old conflict

The treaty contains a preamble, 12 articles and eight detailed annexures

Cash-strapped Pakistan's currency plunges to Rs 262.6 against US dollar

Cash-strapped Pakistan's currency depreciated to its lowest against the US dollar on Friday in the interbank and open market and closed at Rs 262.6. At one stage the currency depreciated to Rs 265 in the open market and Rs 266 in the interbank before making a slight recovery by the end of the day. According to the State Bank of Pakistan, when the market opened on Friday the currency fell by Rs 7.17 or 2.73 per cent from Thursday's close. The Pakistani rupee's value has devalued by Rs 34 since Thursday in the interbank, the largest depreciation in both absolute and percentage terms since the new exchange rate system was introduced in 1999. The Pakistani rupee has depreciated sharply after the government removed an unofficial cap on the USD-PKR exchange rate to revive the stalled International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme. The government decision came on Thursday after the exchange companies announced the removal of a self-imposed rate cap in the open market. The country need

State Bank of Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves fall by $923 mn

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said its foreign exchange reserves had decreased by $923 million last week

India issues notice to Pakistan seeking modification to Indus Waters Treaty

India has issued a notice to Pakistan for modification of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) of September 1960 following Islamabad's "intransigence" on its implementation, government sources said on Friday. The notice was sent on January 25 through respective commissioners for Indus waters, they said. The sources said India has always been a steadfast supporter and a responsible partner in implementing the IWT in letter and spirit. "However, Pakistan's actions have adversely impinged on the provisions of IWT and their implementation, and forced India to issue an appropriate notice for modification of the pact," said a source. India and Pakistan signed the treaty in 1960 after nine years of negotiations, with the World Bank being a signatory of the pact. The treaty sets out a mechanism for cooperation and information exchange between the two countries regarding use of waters of a number of rivers. In 2015, Pakistan requested for appointment of a neutral expert to examine its technical

IMF delegation to visit Pakistan next week for talks on review: Official

The Pakistani rupee has dived to a historic low against the United States dollar after an exchange cap was lifted as the cash-strapped country seeks the help from IMF

Pakistani rupee tumbles to all-time low against USD amid IMF condition

Following the rupee's devaluation in the open and interbank markets, the benchmark index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) rallied and gained by more than 1,000 points, as per media reports

IMF team to visit Pakistan by January end for talks on 9th review: official

As Pakistan restored market-based exchange rate, the IMF on Thursday announced that its delegation will visit the cash-strapped country next week to pave the way for the release of the next tranche of its assistance package. Pakistan entered a USD 6 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme during Imran Khan's government in 2019, which was increased to USD 7 billion last year. The programme's ninth review is currently pending with talks being held between IMF officials and the government for the release of USD 1.18 billion. According to official sources, the IMF team would be in Islamabad from January 31 to February 9 to hold talks with the officials over the implementation of its conditions attached with the assistance package. The ninth review was pending due to reluctance of the government to increase rates of electricity and gas and take other measures which would bring a new wave of inflation in the country in the election year. However, as the IMF refused to budge o

A chink in the Indo-Pak ice

Peace overtures call for cautious pragmatism

Pak urges US to ask IMF to not go harsh on Islamabad on reviving programme

Cash-strapped Pakistan has urged the US to use diplomatic influence to convince the IMF to show a lenient attitude towards Islamabad, amid tough conditions conveyed by the global lender to revive its fund programme, a media report said on Thursday. The request was made by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in his meeting on Wednesday with the visiting Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US Department of the Treasury for Asia Robert Kaproth at the Finance Division, The News International reported. Quoting sources, the newspaper reported that Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) continued exchanging data this week but the Washington-based global lender has not shown any lenient attitude or relaxed its tough conditions so far. One of the bones of contention is persistent differences over the approach to dealing with the exchange rate as the IMF considers it completely unacceptable for maintaining an artificially stable exchange rate. Though Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had public

No backchannel talks being held between Pakistan and India, says Khar

Pakistan said on Thursday that no backchannel talks were being held between Islamabad and New Delhi. "At this moment, there is no such thing under way," Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar told the Senate - the upper house of parliament. She added that backchannel diplomacy was desirable when it was result-oriented. Separately, Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch at the weekly media briefing reiterated Khar's remarks about no secret diplomatic engagements with India. "There is no backchannel diplomacy between India and Pakistan," Baloch said. Speaking in the Senate, Khar went on to say that Pakistan had always taken initiatives to promote peace in the region but right now, the cross-border hostility [from India] is of a unique type. She said that Pakistan was asked at international forums sometimes to normalise its ties with India, but the world should look at the messages New Delhi was sending to Islamabad. "The messages that we are getting are a

Pak economic crisis: 10% cut in govt employees' salary under consideration

Pakistan is considering different proposals, including slashing the salaries of government employees by 10 per cent across the board, according to a media report on Wednesday, amidst the looming economic crisis in the cash-strapped country. Pakistan is grappling with one of the country's worst economic crises in recent years amid dwindling foreign exchange reserves. The National Austerity Committee (NAC) constituted by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is considering different measures, including cutting down the salaries of government employees by 10 per cent across the board, Geo News reported. The NAC is also considering cutting down expenditures of ministries/divisions by 15 per cent, reducing the number of federal ministers, ministers of state, and advisers from 78 to 30 only while the remaining should work on a pro bono basis, the report said. The recommendations would be finalised on Wednesday and the committee will send the report to prime minister Shehbaz. The government is

16 including children die of gas leakage incidents in Pakistan's Quetta

At least 16 people, including children, have died due to gas leakage incidents in the past one week in Quetta city of Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province. On Wednesday, four children of a family died inside a mud-walled house after the gas leakage triggered an explosion in the Killi Badezai area in Quetta, police said. Two women were also injured in the incident. The children were sleeping when the gas filled the room and caused an explosion, leading to the collapse of the walls of the house, police said. In a separate incident, a police sub-inspector died after his room was filled with gas in another area of Quetta. A senior police officer confirmed that several cases had been reported on a daily basis since last week, leaving more than a dozen dead and dozens unconscious due to gas leakages in their homes. He added that the leakages occurred due to widespread gas load-shedding and low pressure. According to reports, the problem of gas load shedding and leakages has be

Pak yet to decide on India's invitation to Bilawal to attend SCO meet

Pakistan is yet to decide on India's invitation to Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Goa, foreign ministry sources said on Wednesday. All SCO members are expected to attend the meeting of foreign ministers in May to be hosted by India which has taken over the rotating presidency of the SCO in 2022-2023. Sources in the foreign ministry confirmed that the invitation has been received but no decision has been taken if the foreign minister would travel to India. Responding to a text message sent by PTI to Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch asking if her office would issue a statement on the matter, she simply responded: "No." Launched in Shanghai in June 2001, the SCO has eight full members, including its six founding members, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan joined as full members in 2017. It is for the first time that India has been given the .

6 million people in Pakistan facing acute food insecurity: World Bank

A new report from the World Bank has revealed that an alarming six million people in Pakistan are currently experiencing acute food insecurity as a result of the devastating floods