Asia

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan in the top ten countries in having largest debt and being eligible for Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI). According to International Debt Statistics in 2022, released by the World Bank on Monday, there was a wide divergence in the rate at which external debt accumulated in individual DSSI-eligible countries, including the group’s largest borrowers. The combined external debt stock of the 10 largest DSSI-eligible borrowers (Angola, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mongolia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Zambia) was $509 billion at end-2020, 12 percent higher than the comparable figure at end-2019 and equivalent to 59 percent of the external debt obligations of all DSSI-eligible countries combined. They also accounted for 65 percent of the end-20...

Islamabad, Pakistan: The US dollar opened at Rs 173.96 in the interbank market and appreciated 34 paisas in early trade, touching the highest ever mark at Rs 174.30, ARY News reported citing forex dealers. The Pakistani rupee is sliding against the US dollar continue despite Pakistan’s government claims to ease the pressure on the exchange rate. Reza Baqir, State Bank of Pakistan’s Governor, had earlier created quite a stir on social media after he defended the rupee depreciation saying it benefited overseas Pakistanis and claimed that inflation in the country was artificial and would be controlled. According to the State Bank of Pakistan, the US dollar on Friday closed at 173.96 against the Pakistani rupee, registering appreciation of Rs 0.49 or 0.28 per cent over Thursday’s clo...

Paris, France: Turkye is in the grey list of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for not able to check the terror funding.   "Turkey had a mutual evaluation, assessment in late 2019. The report outlined a large number of serious issues regarding Turkey's effort to prevent and combat money laundering and terrorist financing. Since then, Turkey has made some progress across all areas of concern, however, serious issues remain," said FATF president Dr Marcus Pleyer. "This includes issues concerning supervision, in particular high-risk sectors such as banks, precious stone dealers, and real estate agents," said Pleyer. Three countries were added to the grey list: Jordan, Mali and Turkey. He also took notice of Turkey's clampdown on non-profit organisations (NPOs). "The FATF...

Washington, US: “The Executive Board remains committed to a thorough, objective, and timely review. While the Board has made significant progress in its assessment, it agreed at today’s meeting to request more clarifying details with a view to very soon concluding its consideration of the matter,” the IMF said on Friday. The World Bank started a probe against allegations that its staff had altered an index that measures the ease of doing business. Following the initial investigation, it was found that bank officials pushed the team developing the index to manipulate it in several cases, most notably to improve China’s ranking. Last month, Georgieva said that the authors of the report made “wrong conclusions” and emphasized that she had not engaged in any corruption at her former ...

The european parliaments resolution states that “investment and trade conditionality by itself is not enough to counter Chinese assertiveness.” It also called for a bilateral investment agreement to be negotiated between the EU and Taiwan, including essential cooperation on critical supplies such as semiconductors. In addition, the resolution mentioned the practice of coercive labour in Tibet and Xinjiang and asked Beijing to come clean on these counts. According to some experts, EU-China ties have deteriorated to the lowest point since 1989, the year of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, after which some European countries had imposed an arms embargo and other restrictions on China. Since then, however, there has been growing engagement between the two sides as both expanded trade and eco...

Dubai, UAE: Piyush Goyal in the press meet on Saturday said the authorities of UAE trust in the seamless and clean method of Investing in India. He also added that they believe in the political leadership of India.   The minister, who earlier in the day co-chaired a meeting of UAE-India High-Level Joint Task Force, said investors in UAE had conveyed that they do not have to worry about extraneous considerations while doing business in India. "I am gratified to see the confidence that the UAE government and investors have in the political leadership in India, the confidence they have in PM Modi's approach to problem-solving, approach to promoting country and approach to systemic resolution and policy-driven resolution of issues that come up in a very transparent and honest manne...

Dubai, UAE: Companies for UAE are interested in investing in India and appreciated the clean methods for the same. Piyush Goyal mentioned that he was very impressed by the practical approach of the companies. Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Saturday that he was very satisfied "with the practical approach" of the UAE authorities and businesspersons and that the logistics companies are extremely keen to invest in India. Addressing a press briefing in Dubai, he said the UAE authorities have confidence in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision-making abilities."I feel very satisfied with the practical approach of the UAE authorities and the businesspersons. The logistics companies are extremely keen to invest in India. The authorities here have confidence in ...

Islamabad, Pakistan: Hike in gas price in Pakistan by Prime Minister Imran Khan was objected by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif on Saturday. He also mentioned that Pakistan’s inflation is highest in the world. Demanding to withdraw a proposed hike in gas prices, the Opposition leader said that rising gas prices are "unjustified" and "another foolish act" by the government, Geo News reported. Terming the last financial budget as "the International Monetary Fund (IMF) budget", Sharif wrote on Twitter: "The government is only fulfiling the conditions set by the IMF." He said that the government lied to the nation about a "tax-free budget"."People cannot bear more inflation; this oppression after oppression must be stopped," Geo News quoted Sharif as sayi...

PARIS: Paris club has extended the debt deadline of Pakistan because of the worsening COVID-19conditios in the country. The country has until December to make the payment, the club said in a statement, without releasing a figure. Islamabad “is committed to devote the resources freed by this initiative to increase spending in order to mitigate the health, economic and social impact of the Covid-19 crisis,” the statement said. The country’s debt amounts to some 90 per cent of its gross domestic product, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Karachi, Pakistan: “The ordinance contains budgetary measures and these cannot be taken without due consultation with stakeholders,” he added, reported Dawn. Maggo further lamented sweeping powers to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) by enabling it to disconnect mobile phone, electricity and gas connections of the non-filers of income tax returns. The new ordinance also empowers the National Accountability Bureau to open income tax cases as old as 20 years by accessing tax records through the National Database and Registration Authority. “It was FPCCI’s proposal to disconnect the connections of commercial and industrial non-filers. However, this ordinance does not take due and fair procedure of separation of executive and adjudication into account. The ordinance vaguely m...