News

Shares at PSX climb 800 points after IMF announcement

Bulls bounced back on the trading floor on Tuesday as shares at the Pakistan Stock Exchange climbed more than 800 points after a day of volatility. The benchmark KSE-100 index climbed 808.28 points, or 0.71 per cent, to stand at 114,872.18 from the previous close of 114,063.90. Awais Ashraf, director of research at AKD Securities, said, attributed the bull run to the announcement of the Inte

Minerals and national wealth

IT was in 1776, the year of the American Declaration of Independence, that celebrated economist Adam Smith’s magnum opus Wealth of Nations was published. While almost everyone in the economics fraternity — and a considerable number outside of it — is aware of the work, not many bother to delve into what he wrote or to contemplate what he said. (It is amusing to see folks, who have never read a

Agriculture: Crop sector — from boom to bust

In late March 2025, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics released the country’s economic growth figures for the second quarter (October-December) of FY25. The data painted a worrying picture: the agriculture sector grew by just 1.1 per cent. The first quarter was even worse, barely registering a growth rate of 0.74pc (revised figure). That is a massive fall from FY24, when agriculture posted a robust

Rescuing Pakistan’s economy

Once a rising economic power in South Asia, Pakistan now finds itself at the bottom of the regional ladder. Fifty years ago, the average Pakistani had a higher income than his South Asian peers. Today, he earns about half as much. What went wrong, and what must be done to turn things around? The roots of Pakistan’s economic troubles go back decades. A booming population and poor economic manage

Textile exports bear the brunt of transport disruptions

Textile exporters have expressed grave concern over the ongoing transportation disruptions that have severely hindered the movement of nearly 30,000 containers, causing significant delays in shipments to international markets. The blockade of the National Highway at the Sindh-Punjab border for the past 10 days due to protests over the canals issue has suspended all vehicular movement between th