The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the week ending 29 September 2022 year on year was estimated at 29.8 percent, a considerable decline from the week ending 15 September rise of 40.58 percent. The Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) output decreased by 1.4 percent however the data is applicable to July, prior to the realization of the extent of the flood damage, and hence the figures for August and September are expected to be worse especially…
Posts published in “ECONOMY”
Senator Ishaq Dar has been sworn in as the new finance minister of the coalition government headed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Although the new finance minister will run essentially the same economic policy for the same political leadership, this change of guard is widely being seen as a pivot to easier money, lower inflation, and higher growth. This view is justified based on the objective condition of Pakistan’s economy as well as the external…
After back-to-back meetings between the senior leadership of PML-N, it has been decided that Ishaq Dar will once again assume the role of Finance Minister. On his way out, praise has been directed toward Miftah Ismail for taking charge at a time when the country’s economy was on a downward spiral. Many of the decisions taken in the last few months have proven to be unpopular, but that does not change the fact that they…
Report in The Frontier Post,27 Sept 2022RAWALPINDI: After a self-exile of nearly five years and several speculations, senior PML-N leader and ‘finance wizard’ Ishaq Dar returned to Pakistan on Monday night. The former minister landed at the Nur Khan Airbase in Chaklala, Rawalpindi. He accompanied Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on his trip back to the country from London. Talking to reporters at the airbase, Dar said that PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and the premier had…
By Muhammad Saleh Zaafir in The News, Sept 27, 2022ISLAMABAD: Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar of the PMLN will become Leader of the House in Senate today (Tuesday) besides Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Affairs. He will take oath of the membership afternoon in the day and immediate upon taking oath he will assume leadership of the House by occupying the chair specified for the House leader. The prime minister is constitutionally leader of the…
by Khaleeq Kiani in Dawn, September 27th, 2022ISLAMABAD: Ending five years of self-exile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz stalwart Ishaq Dar returned to Pakistan on Monday alongside Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to take over charge of the finance portfolio, which he has previously held on three occasions. He replaces the embattled Miftah Ismail, who announced his decision to step down after meeting with PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif in London. Mr Ismail is expected to formally hand…
By Mehtab Haider in The News, Sept 27, 2022ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has firmed up Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) in the wake of severe floods and estimated damage to the extent of $28 billion and an upsurge in poverty by 5 percent, indicating that nine to 12 million people might fall below the poverty line. On unemployment front, official estimates reveal that 1.8 to two million jobs have been lost in this flood. The government has…
by Atika Rehman in Dawn, September 26th, 2022LONDON: After two days of back-to-back meetings of the PML-N senior leadership, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will return to Pakistan on Monday (today), accompanied by Ishaq Dar who is set to take charge as finance minister. On Sunday, senior party leaders met Miftah Ismail, who handed in his resignation. A statement released after the meeting confirmed that Nawaz Sharif and PM Shehbaz had nominated Mr Dar as the…
By Fakhar Durrani in The News, Sept 26, 2022ISLAMABAD: The government’s error of judgment to pay the import bills unnecessarily on the advice of a coalition partner has depleted the foreign currency reserves. The move caused a massive rupee devaluation in September despite approval of the IMF loan, claims a source in the ruling PML-N. Sources close to Miftah Ismail, however, believe that the import bill payments were not the reasons for rupee devaluation. Credit…
WITH Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah confirming the return of Ishaq Dar next week to ‘facilitate’ the PM in economic affairs, we may soon have our third finance minister for this year and the sixth since the current National Assembly took oath. Following opportune developments on the legal front, there had already been much speculation that the former finance minister, PML-N stalwart and Nawaz Sharif confidant would soon be returning to the country to snatch back…
This Friday, PM Shehbaz Sharif appealed to the Paris Club—a group of wealthy nations—for the rescheduling of $10 million worth of debt so that the government could focus on rehabilitating the 33 million people displaced due to the floods. The effect of this was an immediate loss of confidence and fears of debt default, driving US dollar bonds like Eurobond and Sukuk towards higher yields and lower prices. This worrying state of affairs is bound…