The foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) dropped sharply by $2.7 billion in a week, falling to a three-year low and indicating that the $14bn target for FY25 will not be achieved. The SBP reported on Thursday that during the week ending June 20, its reserves decreased by $2.657bn to $9.064bn due to external debt repayments by the government, primarily for commercial bor
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has called for urgent global measures to address growing risks of money laundering (ML), terror financing (TF), and proliferation financing (PF) linked to virtual assets (VAs) and virtual asset service providers (VASPs). This call comes as Pakistan continues its accelerated push towards regulating digital currencies. While the country has conducted risk as
As banners condemning the proposed Finance Bill 2025-26 appeared across Karachi, businessmen voiced strong opposition to both the federal government’s tax proposals and the Sindh government’s planned minimum wage hike, warning of serious consequences for the industrial and export sectors. The Sindh government has proposed raising the minimum monthly wage to Rs42,000 from the existing Rs37,000 —
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) extended its rally on Wednesday, mirroring global market trends and buoyed by easing geopolitical tensions and a sharp uptick in consumer confidence. Ali Najib, Deputy Head of Trading at Arif Habib Ltd, said the market remained largely range-bound after Tuesday’s historic second-highest single-day gain. The KSE-100 index moved between an intraday high of 123,2
NO country has achieved prosperity by relying solely on its domestic markets. The spectacular success of China, despite having a large market of 1.4 billion people, is primarily attributed to its integration into the world economy. In merely three decades, China has become the top exporting nation. Notably, our neighbours India and Bangladesh have also progressed since 1990 by actively particip