Tag: International Monetary Fund

Business

IMF raises India’s GDP growth forecast marginally to 6.3 pc for FY24

October 10, 2023

New Delhi: International Monetary Fund (IMF) Tuesday raised India's GDP projection marginally by 0.2 per cent to 6.3 per cent ...

International

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva tells cash-strapped Pakistan to ‘tax the rich, protect the poor’

September 21, 2023

New York/Islamabad: International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has urged Pakistan to collect more taxes from the wealthy and ...

National

Congratulate you for doing it in a budget less than that of ‘Interstellar’: IMF chief to Narendra Modi on Chandrayaan-3 success

September 10, 2023

New Delhi: Several world leaders at the G20 Summit here congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the success of Chandrayaan-3, ...

Ukraine, International Monetary Fund agree on $15.6 billion loan package

Uncategorized

Countries need to pursue growth-oriented structural reforms for faster economic recovery: IMF MD Georgieva

September 10, 2023

New Delhi: IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva Sunday said global recovery is slow and uneven and underscored the need to ...

Pakistan PM picks Lt Gen Asim Munir as new army chief

International

Pakistan Army chief shares economic revival plan with business community

September 5, 2023

Islamabad: In the wake of a worsening and gloomy economic situation in Pakistan, the cash-strapped nation's military establishment has decided ...

Pakistan Senator Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar picked as caretaker PM

International

Pak expecting estimated $ 60-70 billion foreign investment in the next 3-5 years: Interim PM Kakar

September 1, 2023

Islamabad: Claiming that “there was a huge appetite for investment in Pakistan,” Interim Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar Friday said an ...

International

Europe’s inflation held steady in August as European Central Bank keeps an open mind on rates

August 31, 2023

Frankfurt: Annual inflation held steady in Europe in August as food prices raced ahead of falling fuel costs, but there ...

Home News

BRICS expansion message to all global institutions to adapt to changing times: PM Narendra Modi

August 24, 2023

New Delhi: With the BRICS deciding to admit six countries as its full members, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday said ...

Smuggling of US dollars to Afghanistan hurting Pakistan's economy Karachi: The Pakistani currency is under pressure owing to the ongoing political unrest in the country and the smuggling of US dollars to Afghanistan, media reports said on Tuesday. "Pakistan is currently dealing with problems on several fronts, the political crisis being the first and biggest one. The dollar crisis is also connected with it," Malik Bostan, the Chairman of the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP), said at a news conference, The News reported. About $2 billion goes to Afghanistan from Pakistan in the form of official and unofficial trade, misuse of Afghan transit trade, smuggling and through the borders, claimed Bostan, adding that these factors are burdening Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves. Currently, Pakistan's economy is suffering irreparable harm because of the Afghan transit trade, which has grown significantly. A significant portion of the dollars travelling from Pakistan to Afghanistan passes through the Afghan transit trade, and both Afghan and Pakistani traders are involved in this anti-national activity, he added, The News reported. To lower the import bill, the government imposed high duties on many luxury goods. "Our traders and importers thought that why should they pay a 200 per cent duty to the Pakistani government," Bostan said, adding that they operate a global network, accepting payments through hundi/hawala in Dubai, London, Europe, America, Saudi Arabia, and everywhere else. "They bring their items here in the name of Afghan transit, travelling from our port to Afghanistan and then returning to Pakistan in small trucks. Numerous importers from Pakistan who participate in this atrocious practice not only fail to pay import duties, which costs the national exchequer billions of rupees, but also prevent dollars from entering the country," he said. When the Afghan Taliban established a transition government in August 2021, the Pakistani rupee was trading at 155, the country's foreign exchange reserves were $22 billion, and its import bill was $4.5 billion. According to Bostan, today the rupee has fallen to almost 225 in the interbank market and 235 per dollar in the free market, The News reported. He claimed that every month, about $3 billion in remittances were sent to Pakistan. The remittance flows have now decreased to $2 billion. "Where does this monthly $1 billion go? Because we are paying remittances at 225 rupees for every dollar, this $1 billion per month has become the sight of Afghan transit. The hawala/hundi operators are giving those 270 for every dollar," Bostan said. IANS Pakistan, Afghanistan, economy

International

Pakistan Rupee continues free fall, depreciates 1.16 per cent against US dollar in interbank & open market

August 16, 2023

Karachi: The Pakistani currency depreciated by 1.16 per cent against the US dollar in both interbank and open markets, continuing ...

International

Import of vital medicines from India allowed: Pakistan’s drug regulatory authority

August 11, 2023

Islamabad: Cash-strapped Pakistan's drugs regulatory watchdog has said that hospitals and common citizens can import vital medicines, including anti-cancer drugs ...