HOW should Pakistan choose between the US and China? So far, a choice has not been foisted upon us, but the time is coming when it will be. Before that time arrives, it is a good idea to devote some structured thinking to the matter and be prepared to act. Not too long ago, a piece of advice was offered by Hina Rabbani Khar, one-time minister of state for finance and foreign minister of the cou
Hungary and Pakistan agreed on Thursday to mutually lift the visa requirement for diplomatic passport-holders in each other’s countries as its foreign minister visited Islamabad. According to the Foreign Office (FO), Hungary’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó was on a one-day visit to Pakistan on the invitation of his counterpart Ishaq Dar. He is accompanied by a high-leve
The government will publish an advertisement next week to attract new bidders for the privatisation of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), the privatisation ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. The government’s failed first attempt to privatise PIA cost the national exchequer $4.3 million, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Privatisation was informed on February 26. Last mo
Pakistan’s oil import bill decreased 1.19 per cent to $11.94 billion in the first nine months of the current fiscal year against $12.08 billion over the corresponding months of last year. The imports gradually declined over the past few months before posting a negative growth, according to data compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. In stark contrast, the import of machinery grew 1
Pakistan recorded its highest-ever monthly current account surplus in March, with a surplus of $1.195 billion compared to $363 million in the same month last year, the State Bank data showed on Thursday. The March surplus accounted for the largest share of the $1.859bn total surplus posted during the July-March period of the ongoing fiscal year. The previous month also witnessed a historic i