The amount of outstanding auto loans decreased for the third consecutive month at the end of September, data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) showed on Wednesday. The outstanding financing for vehicles stood at Rs397.4 billion at the end of last month, down roughly Rs2bn from August. The month-on-month decline becomes more pronounced by excluding the auto loans that banks extende
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said Pakistan needed billions of dollars for rebuilding climate-resilient infrastructure in the aftermath of floods which left over 33 million people without shelter and inundated southern parts of the country. “We are not asking for any kind of measure [such as] a rescheduling or a moratorium,” PM Sharif was quoted by the Financial Times. “We are asking fo
Large-scale manufacturing (LSM) swung to growth in August, posting an annual increase of 0.6 per cent and 3.9pc compared to July, official data showed on Wednesday, suggesting the economy has slightly revived. That was quite an improvement from July, when the LSM shrank 1.4pc year-on-year and 16pc month-on-month. Economists have already raised concerns about an economic slowdown caused by recor
The current account deficit shrank 72.5 per cent on a year-on-year basis to $316 million for September, which is the lowest monthly figure since April 2021. According to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday, the deficit for the first quarter of 2022-23 clocked in at $2.2 billion, down 37.4pc from a year ago. According to Arif Habib Ltd, the primary reason for the de
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday said he did not get any discouragement from Washington over possible cheaper oil imports from Russia and reassured the markets that Pakistan would meet all international obligations without default. Speaking on the sidelines of the All Pakistan Chartered Accountants Conference, Mr Dar, who just returned from the United States after a weeklong visit to at