Pakistan’s petroleum minister signaled that consumers will see relief at the pump as early as this week, as tumbling crude prices in the wake of a US-Iran ceasefire framework give Islamabad room to unwind some of the sharpest fuel-price increases in the country’s recent history.
Economy
Pakistan posts $459 million current-account surplus in May as remittances hit record
KARACHI: Pakistan’s current account swung to a surplus of $459 million in May, driven by a record surge in remittances from overseas workers that more than compensated for a persistent goods trade deficit, the State Bank of Pakistan said on Wednesday.
Pakistan’s development spending misses targets amid Iran crisis cuts
ISLAMABAD: The government and its vast network of implementing agencies spent barely half of the country’s original development budget in the first 11 months of the current fiscal year, a performance that was worse than the prior year even as Islamabad labored to stay within targets set by the International Monetary Fund and confronted a fresh round of emergency spending reallocation triggered by the US-Israeli attack on Iran, Dawn newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Bhutto-Zardari threatens to boycott budget debate as PPP accuses government of reneging on promises
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has refused to deliver his speech in the National Assembly’s ongoing budget debate, declaring that he will remain silent on the floor of the house until the government honours commitments made to his party — in what amounts to the sharpest public signal yet that the coalition propping up Shehbaz Sharif’s government is under serious strain.
Textile exports inch higher as garment gains offset cotton cloth slump
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s textile exports edged up nearly 2% in the first eleven months of the current fiscal year, a measured advance that obscures sharply divergent performance across the sector’s main product lines, official data released Tuesday showed.
Opposition tears into budget as Senate debate descends into political warfare
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s upper house descended into a sustained exchange of political recrimination on Tuesday as senators from across the opposition tore into the government’s budget for 2026-27, with PTI’s parliamentary leader in the Senate accusing the ruling coalition of presiding over five consecutive years of broken promises, institutional failure and economic mismanagement.
Fitch backs Pakistan’s IMF commitment, warns revenue targets are a record long shot
KARACHI: Pakistan’s Rs18.77 trillion federal budget for the fiscal year beginning in July won a qualified endorsement from Fitch Ratings on Tuesday, with the agency crediting Islamabad’s sustained commitment to fiscal discipline under its $7 billion International Monetary Fund program while warning that the country’s most ambitious revenue targets yet remain vulnerable to the same structural weaknesses that have long plagued its tax administration.
Pakistan sees budget upside from US-Iran deal but warns supply chains need time to heal
KARACHI: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said the country’s economic outlook has improved following the US-Iran framework agreement, but cautioned that budget projections would not be revised until the full scope of supply-chain damage from the conflict becomes clear.
Pakistan sees economic upside from US-Iran peace deal, but energy recovery will take time
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s finance minister said the US-Iran peace agreement announced on Monday will deliver meaningful economic benefits in the coming fiscal year, even as experts cautioned that disruptions to global energy markets caused by months of conflict will take considerably longer to unwind.
SBP keeps policy rate steady as US-Iran conflict fades but price pressures persist
KARACHI: Pakistan’s central bank held its benchmark interest rate steady at 11.5% on Monday, resisting pressure from industry to ease monetary conditions even as the Gulf conflict that drove its last rate increase shows signs of waning.