News

Body formed to assess state-owned enterprises’ impact on budget

The government has constituted a four-member committee to determine the legal status of those state-owned entities (SOEs) which are not covered under the existing SOEs Act of 2023 but remain a major fiscal risk to the federal government for being their large size and impact. According to a notification issued on Monday, the committee led by the Additional Secretary of Corporate Finance comprise

Economist Atif Mian urges next government to outline priorities

Atif Mian, a prominent Pakistani-American economist and Princeton University professor, has urged the nation’s future leaders to brace themselves for a challenging economic journey and to outline priorities for recovery. Mian emphasised the country’s consistent global economic decline, highlighting last year’s contraction and alarming macroeconomic indicators such as inflation, stunted growth,

Remittances jump by 26pc in January

Workers’ remittances increased 26.2 per cent year on year in January but the overall inflows were down by 3pc in the first 7 months of 2023-24. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data on Monday showed that the country received $2.397 billion in remittances in January against $1.9bn in the same month of 2023. Month-on-month the inflows edged up by a meagre 0.6pc. However, the cumulative remitta

Political uncertainty worries business community no end

The lack of clarity following the Feb 8 general elections has businessmen shaking in their boots, with many expressing the fear that they would not be able to sustain more political instability and economic turbulence, while the incoming government may find it hard to restore some semblance of order, in the shadow of IMF conditions. “I do not think that any of the parties contending for power a

Stocks settle below 63,000 in election week

Stocks finished the tumultuous three-session election week on a negative note as the ‘unusual delay’ in announcing election results created uncertainty among investors about a smooth return to a stable political government as a result the benchmark KSE 100-share index came under renewed selling pressure settling the short week below 63,000. As Feb 5 was a closed holiday on account of Kashmir Da