Category: Business

PAKISTAN relies heavily on foreign funds because the country’s savings are not enough for investment in economic progress. Savings and investment data for 2019-20 will become with the release of the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) annual report for the fiscal year. But heavy foreign funding obtained during the year proves that the country’s domestic […]

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank (WB) on Monday announced appo­inted Najy Benhassine as new country director for Pakistan. Mr. Najy Benhassine is the World Bank’s new country director for Pakistan effective Aug 1, said WB press statement. He succeeds Illango Patchamuthu, who completed his term on July 31. Benhassine most recently served as regional director for […]

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank has approved two projects for Pakistan worth $400 million — one for supporting measures being taken to reduce food insecurity caused by locust swarms and the other for actions required to restore educational activities in schools which have been closed because of the Covid-19 outbreak. The financing of $200m for the […]

NEW YORK: Microsoft confirmed Sunday it is in talks with Chinese company ByteDance to acquire the US arm of its popular video app TikTok and has discussed with President Donald Trump his concerns about security and censorship surrounding such an acquisition. In a statement, Microsoft said Microsoft and ByteDance have provided notice of their intent […]

RAWALPINDI: Though the Punjab government on Monday lifted the smart lockdown in markets and bazaars, traders refused to open their shops saying they would start business activities from Tuesday (today). The government enforced the lockdown on July 27 till August 5 and closed all markets to avoid the spread of coronavirus during Eidul Azha. The […]

ISLAMABAD: Repeatedly asking the Sindh government to release wheat from the official stock with a view to stabilising wheat flour price in the market to benefit the common man in the province, Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhr Imam said on Monday that the provincial government’s continuous refusal was creating problems for […]

ISLAMABAD: Almost all the agricultural micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Sindh and Balochistan have been severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic and need urgent government help for their survival of their enterprises, according to a Covid-19 survey carried out by the International Trade Centre (ITC). The Geneva-based ITC, a joint agency of UN […]

GENEVA: The beleague­red World Trade Organi­sation said its members failed to agree on Friday on appointing one of the four deputy directors-general as an inte­rim chief — underlining the deadlock in the institution. Already engulfed in multiple crises, the WTO could be left with nobody at the helm if the global trade body fails to […]

LONDON: World stock markets were little changed on Friday after almost unremitting bad news of rapidly-shrinking economic activity, highlighting the “devastating impact” coronavirus has had on the global economy, analysts said. A tweet from US Pres­ident Donald Trump suggesting delaying Nove­mber’s elections also jolted investors, helping send the euro soaring to a two-year peak at […]

DESPITE all the efforts, the overall crude prognosis continues to stay gloomy. The industry is taking big hits, with no respite in sight. Forty publicly traded US oil producers wrote down a collective $48 billion worth of the value of their assets in first quarter of 2020, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported last […]