After 18 years of deliberations and nineteen rounds of negotiations, Pakistan recently signed a preferential trade agreement with Turkey. Both sides have expressed optimism that with increased market access, bilateral trade will rise to $5 billion in the medium term from the current trade volume of fewer than one billion dollars. However, with the low ambition of the agreement, much will likely
The worsening economic crisis has triggered human and political crises, eroded social cohesion and posed a risk to our national security. The outlook for the future at the moment appears to be bleak. In October, inflation — mainly driven by food, transport and energy prices — measured by the Consumer Price Index rose by 26.56 per cent year-on-year against last month’s 23.56pc and 9.2pc in the s
It is like a settlement at gunpoint — an unusual requirement from the apex court to pre-sanctify precisely a commercial deal between a sovereign under distress and a top global mining firm with overwhelming powers of international jurisdictions. Subject to the clearance by the country’s top court, the provincial assemblies will pass special resolutions, and the parliament, through a joint sitti
Stocks opened in the red on Friday, with the benchmark KSE-100 index falling immediately after trading began. The KSE-100 index lost 229.61 points, or 0.55 per cent, to reach 41,861.10 points at 9:30am. Head of Equities at Intermarket Securities, Raza Jafri, said the market opened on a weak note as expected after the assassination attempt on former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan.
Soneri Bank Ltd is going to exercise the call option with respect to a Rs3 billion bond it issued in July 2015. The commercial lender told bondholders on Wednesday it’s going to use its right as a debt issuer to “call” or buy back its listed bond — called a term finance certificate (TFC) in local parlance — of Rs3bn prior to maturity. The bond was issued as an instrument of redeemable capit