Tag: Pakistan

  • Pakistan’s IMF bailout programme revival delayed: blame game between Pakistani authorities and IMF

    Pakistan’s IMF bailout programme revival delayed: blame game between Pakistani authorities and IMF

    Pakistani authorities and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are blaming each other for the delay in reviving the IMF bailout programme. The IMF approved a $6.5 billion bailout package for Pakistan in 2019, of which $1.1 billion is still outstanding.

    However, issues related to fiscal policy adjustments have delayed the release of the funds since November. The delay has raised concerns as Pakistan has less than a month’s worth of foreign exchange reserves and needs the IMF package to avert defaulting on external payment obligations.

    With the expiry of the existing IMF programme on June 30, 2023, Pakistan’s options for reviving the IMF programme are shrinking with every passing day.

    While Pakistani authorities argue that the IMF is playing politics, IMF sources say they are still waiting for confirmation on the remaining $2 billion from the World Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, as well as seeking commercial loans from banks.

    According to Geo, Dr Khaqan Najeeb, former adviser Ministry of Finance, has called for short-term measures, such as funding from friendly countries, the revival of the IMF programme, clarity on programme completion dates, and work on the budget for 2023-24 to be undertaken to avoid Pakistan being near the brink of default.

  • ‘Kabhi petrol bomb phainknay waalon se mazaakraat nahin hotay: Javed Latif calls PTI ‘terrorist’

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Javed Latif, has expressed disapproval of the ongoing talks between the government and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), saying that dialogue should never be held with a “terrorist wing” and the “ones who throw petrol bombs”.

    Addressing a press conference, Latif, who is considered close to PML-N head Nawaz Sharif, went on to say that dialogue could never be held with a person who “is spreading anarchy in the country, especially at a time when Pakistan’s economy is stabilising and the country is progressing without IMF’s aid”.

    He urged “individuals in institutions” to take responsibility for “producing” a person like Imran Khan, Chairman of PTI, and for the consequences of their actions. He also claimed that some people are trying to reinstate the PTI chairman as Prime Minister.

    The PML-N leader said that the elections won’t be held without the participation of his party supremo Nawaz Sharif.

    The third and final round of talks will be held tomorrow. As of yet, no census is in sight.

  • Washington doc leak says Pakistan doesn’t want to appease West anymore

    Washington doc leak says Pakistan doesn’t want to appease West anymore

    Several documents regarding the declining support of key allied countries to the United States (US) have been leaked, a report published by Washington Post has stated.

    According to one of the leaked documents, Hina Rabbani Khar, Pakistan’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, argued in March that her country can “no longer try to maintain a middle ground between China and the United States.”

    In an internal memo she titled “Pakistan’s Difficult Choices,” Khar cautioned that Islamabad should avoid giving the appearance of appeasing the West. She said that in order to preserve Pakistan’s partnership with the United States, the country will be sacrificing the full benefits of a “real strategic” partnership with China.

    According to another leaked document, Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif’s aide ask him to remain neutral in the Ukraine conflict because it could jeopardise the country’s ties with Russia.

    India, likewise, appeared to avoid taking sides between Washington and Moscow during a conversation on February 22 between Indian national security adviser Ajit Kumar Doval and his Russian counterpart, Nikolay Patrushev, another of the leaked documents indicates.

    The leaked documents have surfaced when the US is no longer the unchallenged sole superpower in the world, as its former allies make strategic ties with China and Russia while the Middle East goes through its own course correction as former rivals reconcile with deals brokered by China.

  • Petrol price unchanged, diesel price slashed by Rs5 per litre

    Petrol price unchanged, diesel price slashed by Rs5 per litre

    The federal government has announced a reduction in the price of diesel by Rs5 per litre, effective immediately, while maintaining the price of petrol for the next two weeks.

    Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that the prices are revised to provide “maximum relief” to the public, following the directives of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. In addition to the decrease in diesel prices, there will be a reduction of Rs10 per litre in the prices of Kerosene oil and Light Diesel Oil (LDO).

    The new prices have been set at Rs282 per litre for petrol, Rs288 per litre for high-speed diesel, Rs176.07 per litre for kerosene oil, and Rs164.68 per litre for light diesel oil. Diesel is widely used in the transport and agriculture sectors, so the price reduction could have a positive impact on inflation and provide some relief to farmers, particularly as the crop-harvesting season is underway.

    However, consumers are already facing high prices, which are especially burdensome for the low-income group who use motorbikes and small cars.

    In its previous fortnightly announcement, the federal government increased the price of petrol by Rs10 and the price of kerosene oil by Rs5.78, citing the increase in petroleum prices in the international market and exchange rate variations as the reason for the increase.

  • Pakistan free of monkeypox?

    Pakistan free of monkeypox?

    On Sunday, Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel announced that the country had been declared free of monkeypox as the only verified patient who was suffering from the disease had fully recovered.

    A statement released by Ministry of National Health Services spokesperson Sajid Shah on Sunday confirmed that there had been only one reported case of mpox in the country, and that the patient was being treated at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims). Patel mentioned that the patient was given top-notch medical care and had successfully recuperated.

    “The patient has been discharged after testing negative [for the virus]. There are no cases of mpox in Pakistan. Kudos to the hospital staff for taking the best measures,” he said.

    He further said that the government was taking all essential precautions to ensure the safety of the public and that the country’s institutions were prepared to handle any type of epidemic or illness. Patel also shared that out of the 22 suspected mpox cases and all of the samples sent for testing came back negative.
    The Ministry of National Health Services Regulations and Coordination confirmed the first case of monkeypox in the country on April 25.

    The infected person was deported from Saudi Arabia and arrived in Pakistan on April 17 with symptoms of the viral disease. The patient has recovered now.

  • Fawad or Marriyum: Whose idea was PTV Flix anyway?

    Federal Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb on Sunday announced the launch of the online platform PTV Flix, which will allow users to access thousands of movies, television shows and documentaries online. In a tweet, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) politician revealed that the was an initiative quite close to her heart, as countless iconic shows like ‘Dhoop Kinaray’, ‘Tanhaiyaan’ and ‘Ainak Wala Jin’ can now be easily accessed online.

    Aurangzeb also thanked the team at PTV and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, who had helped in making this idea in to a reality:

    “I would like to thank and congratulate the team at PTV and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for all their hard work which has made this idea a reality. I would also like to thank our entertainment legends Bushra Ansari Sba, Javed Sheikh Sb and Khalid Abbas Dar Sb for joining me at the launch event.”

    However, many tweeps began tagging Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and former Information Minister, Fawad Chaudhry, crediting him for the initiative. Chaudhry later put up a tweet revealing that this was a project he had began during his tenure.

    To which Aurangzeb had a cheeky response, but really who was the person to kickstart PTV Flix?

    If we look back, it was Chaudhry who during his tenure as the Minister of Science and Technology, had announced in 2020 in a tweet that his team was working on setting up Pakistan’s version of Netflix, and had already asked regulatory authorities to draft a guideline about the content.

  • Saudi Arabia and Iran to reopen embassies soon

    Saudi Arabia and Iran to reopen embassies soon

    Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian announced on Friday that Saudi Arabia and his country will soon reopen their embassies in each other’s capitals, Reuters has reported. The minister didn’t provide exact dates for the reopening of the embassies, which have been closed since 2016, during a news conference held in Beirut, Lebanon.

    “During the last phone call between the foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia on Eid al-Fitr, we agreed to work in the coming days on the reopening of the Iranian and Saudi embassies in Tehran and Riyadh,” Amirabdollahian said, according to an official Arabic translation.

    China mediated a deal last month that led to the restoration of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which had deteriorated since 2015.

    The conflict in Yemen began when the Houthi movement, aligned with Iran, overthrew the Saudi-backed government and took control of Sanaa, causing tension between the two countries. This tension has contributed to conflicts in other areas of the region, such as the Syrian civil war.

  • Inflation worsens in Pakistan, affecting purchasing power of millions

    Inflation worsens in Pakistan, affecting purchasing power of millions

    The citizens of Pakistan, a poor country with a population of 220 million, have been struggling with record-high inflation due to the government’s inability to control prices. According to the weekly bulletin released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the weekly inflation increased by 46.82 per cent year-on-year and 0.15 per cent week-on-week, ending on April 27.

    The rise in the sensitive price indicator (SPI) was attributed to the increase in the prices of potatoes, chicken, wheat flour, gur, bread, and rice irri-6/9. On the other hand, there was a decrease in the prices of tomatoes, bananas, onions, sugar, LPG, pulse masoor, and mustard oil during the same period. The SPI for the week under review was recorded at 252.20 points, up from 251.83 points the previous week and 171.78 points recorded during the week ended on April 28, 2022.

    Fahad Rauf, head of research at Ismail Iqbal Securities, attributed the moderate increase in SPI mainly to the rise in the prices of potatoes and mutton. The price trend of perishable food items during the Eid week has been mixed, with the prices of some items going up and some going down. Ismail Iqbal Securities predicted that the CPI for April 2023 would come around 38 per cent, up from 35.4 per cent in March 2023, due to house rent revisions and higher wheat prices.

    The absence of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme and persistent inflationary pressures may result in another rate hike, as per Ismail Iqbal Securities. An interest rate hike could further discourage businesses, which have already postponed their expansion plans and hiring. Import restrictions have also added to the woes of industries and businesses that have faced frequent shutdowns, resulting in uncertain or no wages for millions of workers.

    The SPI is compiled by PBS by collecting prices of 51 essential items from 50 markets in 17 cities of the country. During the week, prices of 21 items increased by 41 per cent, while prices of seven items decreased by 13.73 per cent, and prices of 23 items remained unchanged, accounting for 45.10 per cent of the total. Various weightages are assigned to different commodities in the SPI basket, with milk, electricity, wheat flour, sugar, firewood, long cloth, and vegetable ghee having the highest weights for the lowest quintile. The price of milk and wheat flour increased, while the price of sugar decreased. The prices of electricity, firewood, long cloth, and vegetable ghee remained unchanged. However, the prices of all these commodities increased on a yearly basis.

  • More than 50 per cent of candidates failed in Urdu CSS exam in last three years

    In a surprising statistic, in the three last years at least 54.53 per cent of candidates, who appeared for the Central Superior Services (CSS) Examination failed Pakistan’s national language Urdu subject.

    In 2019, 30 per cent of candidates failed in Urdu, while in 2020 and 2021, the rate of failure shot up to 59 per cent and 73 per cent.

    Regarding the success rate in English, 35,000 out of 49,500 candidates failed in the subject in 2019 with a rate of failure of 73 per cent, which got better in 2020 when only 39 per cent got failed. However, in 2021, 92 per cent failed the subject.

    The details of the candidates were presented in the National Assembly (NA) on Friday.

  • ISPR says Bajwa’s statement that Pak isn’t ready to fight India is taken ‘out of context’

    The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) has clarified that former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Qamar Javed Bajwa’s statement about Pakistan army not being fully compatible to fight against India has been taken out of context.

    “To this end, views of the former army chief on the future threats to Pakistan, which he shared with media persons in an off-the-record interactive session, have been quoted out of context,” ISPR said.

    It added that the army “always took and will continue to take pride in our operational preparedness and utmost combat worthiness.”

    Earlier, Senior Journalist Hamid Mir said that Bajwa had told journalists in 2021 that the Pakistan Army is not capable of getting into combat against the rival country.

    He claimed that immediately after the ceasefire, Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi had to visit Pakistan in 2021 but the then-Foreign Minister (FM) Shah Mahmood Qureshi and former PM Imran Khan weren’t aware of it.

    When Khan demanded that details regarding Modi’s visit should be given to Foreign Office (FO) “Bajwa came to the FO with his entire convoy and gave a lecture”.

    “This was the same lecture that he gave in front of us once too that army tanks are not capable of running and there is no diesel for troop movement,” the journalist said.

    The journalist’s claims were picked up by Indian media and reported by major news outlets.