While the creation of a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve” in the United States is proof of President Donald Trump’s support for the cryptocurrency sector, there are misgivings about the move, with some blaming the US government for not returning bitcoin to all victims identified as suffering from a hack. Trump signed an executive order earlier this month establishing the reserve that White House cryp
Given the prolonged sluggish or negative industrial growth and low tax-to-GDP ratio, policymakers and relevant institutions are taking a more concerted and integrated approach to promote small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and encourage them to enter the formal sector. The Small and Medium Enterprises Authority (Smeda) recently held a consultative session with various stakeholders from the text
The first biannual performance review of the ongoing International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) was concluded smoothly on a “positive note”, with no signs of any major hiccups during the discussions. The end of the mission statement issued by the Fund late on March 14 shows that the discussions were successful, as predicted by most analysts, in spite of delays i
Just recently, the prime minister constituted a 15-member committee tasked with formulating policy and administrative measures to revive cotton production in the country. Once a net exporter, Pakistan touched a production peak of 13.96 million bales in 2014-15. Since then, however, output has experienced a dramatic downturn, plummeting to just 5.5m bales in 2024-25 — 50 per cent below target and 3
Pakistan’s economy is sending contradictory signals. The stock market is doing well, but large-scale manufacturing is not. Inflation is at a record low, but the interest rate was not cut in the last monetary policy meeting. The current account is afloat, but driven by record-high remittances rather than exports. Most of these indicators do not reflect the ground reality, where about 40 per cent