News

SBP reserves fall $367m

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) foreign exchange reserves dropped further by $367 million to $10.205 billion during the week ending on April 18 due to external debt repayments, announced the central bank on Thursday. The country’s overall forex holdings slipped to $15.436 billion, including $5.230bn held by commercial banks. Dollar bonds dive According to a Reuters report, Pakistan’s dol

Govt claims stability amid contraction in Large-Scale Manufacturing output

Presenting a mixed bag of economic stabilisation apparently at the cost of manufacturing stagnation, the government on Thursday hinted at further cuts in the interest rate amid rising inflation estimates. In its monthly review, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) also confirmed struggling tax revenues to meet budget targets, yet overwhelming growth in non-tax revenues, particularly earned through pea

Pakistan faces $2bn losses in climate disasters: ADB

Pakistan faces average annual losses of over $2 billion due to climate disasters, which exacerbate the already high poverty levels, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB). “As one of the region’s most climate-vulnerable countries, Pakistan suffers average losses from disaster events exceeding $2bn per year, with women and vulnerable groups disproportionately affected,” said the Manila-ba

PSX loses 1,204 points after IMF trims forecast

Renewed concerns about Pakistan’s economic outlook and rising geopolitical tensions caused a wave of panic selling by cautious investors, forcing the benchmark KSE 100 index to fall below the 118,000 barrier on Wednesday. Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said the PSX closed sharply lower after the IMF slashed the GDP growth forecast to 2.6pc for FY25 amid the Trump tariff blow. He add

US-China trade game

THE current US-China tariff tit-for-tat is a high-stakes game, not a war. While the phrase ‘trade war’ has long been used to describe the process of imposition of import tariffs on a country that, in turn, levies counter-tariffs, using the ‘war’ metaphor trivialises the devastation of real conflicts, which involve the loss of life, deep human trauma and the destruction of properties. Just th