News

Labour income falls amid rising inequality: ILO

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has warned that the share of labour income, which represents the proportion of total income earned by workers in an economy, has experienced a decline over the past two decades by 1.6 percentage points. New estimates indicate that the labour income share continued to decrease since 2019, declining to 52.3pc in 2022 and remaining at that level in 2023

Trade gap with Middle East widens 36pc

Pakis­t­an trade imbalance with the Middle East widened 35.5 per cent to $1.081 billion in the first month of 2024-25 from $797.78 million over the same month last year ow­ing to a rise in petroleum imports from the region. The trade gap narrowed significantly in FY24. Still, according to data compiled by the State Bank of Paki­stan, the rising trade deficit with the region will concern policym

Aurangzeb highlights opportunities to foreign investors

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb asked foreign investors on Wednesday to explore fixed-income investment opportunities in the economy. During a meeting with a delegation of international investors, led by JP Morgan Pakistan CEO Amin Mohammad Khowaja, the minister highlighted the significant strides Pakistan has made in improving its macroeconomic indicators — including a 14 per cent rise in

European bank keen on funding projects

The European Investment Bank (EIB) on Wednesday expressed keen interest in financing the upgrade of the National Highway (N-5 from Karachi to Torkham and a major water project in Karachi) and committed £50 million ($55.5m) for the rehabilitation of a hydropower project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. As a visiting delegation of the EIB, led by Edvardas Bumsteinas, head of Division for Asia & the Pacific

Economic uncertainty weighs on stocks

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) dropped over 200 points owing to profit-taking in selected shares on Monday amid economic uncertainty and worries over the outcome of regulatory oversight of stock trading. In the morning, the KSE-100 index opened on a positive note, reaching its intra-day high of 79,014.68 points. However, the early gains proved short-lived as the market quickly reversed course du