The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) established in 2001, a regional grouping of eight countries comprised of Belarus, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, has emerged as a significant player in the world map. With a vast geographical area spanning Eurasia and a diverse range of economies, the SCO offers immense potential for expanding t
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb departed from Islamabad for Washington on Sunday to attend the annual meetings of IMF and the World Bank Group, the Pakistan Embassy announced. Mr Aurangzeb was initially expected to arrive in the US capital on Sunday, but he delayed his trip by a day to attend a session of Senate. The house proceeding included a vote on a constitutional amendment bill, whi
The punishing post-Covid wave of sovereign defaults has finally crested, with the likes of Ghana, Sri Lanka and Zambia concluding years of painful debt reworks. But the International Monetary Fund and others worry that a dangerous liquidity shortfall could take its place in many emerging economies — setting back development, stunting climate change mitigation and fuelling distrust in government
Foreign direct investment (FDI) surged by over 48 per cent in the first quarter of FY25, reflecting improvement in investor confidence However, the inflows were dominated by China as it accounted for 52pc of the total FDI the country received in the July-September quarter. The State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) data issued on Monday showed the country received $771 million in FDI during July-Sep
The Asian Development Bank says the livability of cities in Pakistan is decreasing, and urban centres in the country are becoming increasingly inefficient, scoring low on multiple competitiveness indexes, with congestion, unattractiveness and pollution. In an urban development analysis incorporated in the “Pakistan National Urban Assessment Report”, launched on Monday, the ADB pointed out that