By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: The central bank may consider reducing interest rates next week as inflation slows, but worries about delayed foreign funding and global trade issues could lead to caution, a top brokerage firm said.
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World Bank cuts Pakistan’s growth forecast, urges structural reforms
ISLAMABAD: The World Bank has trimmed its growth forecast for Pakistan to 2.7 percent for fiscal year 2025, a slight dip from its previous estimate of 2.8 percent, signaling that without sweeping structural reforms to bolster private investment and export strength, the country’s economic and poverty woes will persist.
IMF cuts Pakistan growth outlook to 2.6pc amid US tariff blow
KARACHI: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut Pakistan’s growth forecast to 2.6 percent for the current fiscal year, down from 3 percent, as the US new tariffs, now at their highest levels in a century, on Pakistani goods threaten the country’s export-driven economy.
Pakistan seeks to boost US imports, remove barriers to escape Trump tariffs
KARACHI: Pakistan is seeking to increase its imports from the United States and eliminate non-tariff barriers in an effort to mitigate the impact of high tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.
Reforms, recovery in focus as Aurangzeb meets Georgieva, Banga at Spring Meetings
By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb met with the heads of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank on Monday, launching a critical series of high-level consultations in Washington aimed at bolstering the country’s fragile economic recovery.
Pakistan inflation nears zero in April, deflation looms
KARACHI: The inflation is set to bottom out in April 2025, potentially dipping into deflationary territory, as a sharp decline in food and electricity prices drives the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to unprecedented lows, a brokerage report said in Monday.
Finance Minister heads to Washington for IMF, World Bank meetings
By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb left for Washington on Saturday to attend the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Spring Meetings, aiming to secure further financial support and reassure investors as the country implements reforms under a $7 billion IMF bailout program.
FDI rises 14pc on Chinese flows; textile, tech exports gain
By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: Pakistan attracted $1.64 billion in foreign direct investment during the first nine months of its fiscal year through March, a 14 percent increase from the same period a year earlier, as Chinese inflows doubled and textile and technology exports surged.
Current account surges to record $1.2bn surplus in March as remittances offset trade gap
By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: The current account swung to a record monthly surplus of $1.2 billion in March 2025, its highest in at least 13 years, as worker remittances surged and lower oil prices eased import costs, bolstering efforts to stabilise the crisis-prone economy.
LSM shrinks 1.9pc in July-February
By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The large-scale manufacturing sector contracted by 1.9 percent year-on-year during the first eight months of the 2024-25 fiscal year (July-February), driven by steep declines in food, chemicals, and construction-linked industries, provisional data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed on Tuesday.