The Ministry of Maritime Affairs has announced an ambitious plan to expand Gwadar Port’s operational capacity by introducing additional shipping lines and launching a ferry service connecting Pakistan with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The announcement was made during a high-level meeting chaired by Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Muhammad Junaid Anwar Chaudhry on Tuesday.
The online retail platform of Chinese tech giant Alibaba announced on Wednesday that it will issue $7 billion in subsidies for certain purchases, providing a much-needed boost for a country struggling with sluggish spending. Taobao, China’s e-commerce champion launched by Alibaba in 2003, said in a WeChat statement that the 50bn yuan ($6.97bn) would “directly subsidise consumers and merchants”
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Wednesday that its foreign exchange reserves rose to $14.51 billion by June 30. Last month, the central bank’s reserves increased by $167 million to $11.675bn during the week ending June 6, though it failed to reach its target of $14bn by the end of the 2024-25 fiscal year. A press release issued by the SBP today said its reserves rose by $5.12bn to r
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed the outgoing week on a bullish note, with the benchmark KSE-100 index surging 3.6 per cent week-on-week to settle at an all-time high of 124,379.06 points. The rally was driven by investor optimism following a ceasefire agreement between Iran and Israel, which eased geopolitical concerns and spurred aggressive pre-fiscal year-end buying. According to
Drawing comfort from the Iran-Israel ceasefire and adhering to the two-week schedule for the budget debate, the National Assembly last week passed a relatively improved version of the proposed federal budget for 2025-26. While its core remained largely unchanged, subtle in form and far from ideal, it was nonetheless a step forward. The Finance Bill, set to become law upon presidential assent, i