March,31(EA Report) -- Finance Minister Ishaq Dar confirmed of a $2 billion loan from China by saying that has been rolled over and is "no longer pending", denying reports that talks were still in progress.“I want to confirm that the $2 billion deposit from China, which was due on 23 March, is no longer pending,” said Dar, while answering a query raised by Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) Senator Raza Rabbani pertaining to China's loan rollover at the Parliament.“Moreover, the documentation (of this loan) for 2023-24 is also completed" he said, adding that it is "no longer in the pipeline."Earlier, Reuters had reported that China is still working on a request by Pakistan to roll over the loan that matured last week, citing a top finan...
April 1, 2023 at 8:53 am | Economic Affairs
March,31(EA Report)-- Ministry of Finance (MoF) has warned that inflation is expected to remain high, and may even increase further due to “market frictions caused by relative demand and supply gap of essential items, exchange rate depreciation and recent upward adjustment of administered prices of petrol and diesel.”In its ‘Monthly Economic Update & Outlook’, the ministry said that due to the lagged effect of floods, production losses especially of major agriculture crops has not yet been fully recovered.“Consequently, the shortage of essential items has emerged and persisted. Inflation may further jack up as a result of second round effect”.The development comes as Pakistan remains engulfed in one of its worst economic cr...
April 1, 2023 at 8:52 am | Economic Affairs
March,30(Agencies) Asian currencies took a dip on Thursday with advancing dollar, where investors shifting their attention back towards the US and global monetary policy tightening campaigns as the crisis in the global financial sector eases.The Thai baht led regional peers lower, down 0.4% after two days of straight gains, following a fifth consecutive 25 basis points (bps) hikes on Wednesday.The currency is on track for a monthly gain of over 2.5% in March. We view lesser pressure for the central bank to intervene further via monetary policy to combat inflation rate. In addition, the gradual shift in the US Federal Reserve’s funds rate trajectory would reduce external pressure on the Baht as well as Bank Of Thailand monetary path,“ s...
March 30, 2023 at 1:34 pm | Economic Affairs
March,30(Agencies)--Asia’s stock markets held recent gains on Thursday amid receded banking crisis as investors weighed whether a break-up of Chinese conglomerate Alibaba signals Beijing’s regulatory storm aimed at tech companies might finally be clearing.MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2%. Like the S&P 500 it’s recovered from March lows hit as fallout from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank reverberated around global markets. Global stocks are on course for a 4.9% quarterly gain.Japan’s Nikkei, which is heading for a 6% quarterly gain, slipped 0.8% on Thursday. US and European stock futures were broadly steady.Calmer markets mean investors can now afford to focus more on economics, with German, Span...
March 30, 2023 at 1:34 pm | Economic Affairs
March,28(Agencies)-- British grocery inflation rose again in March to a record 17.5%, industry data showed on Tuesday, against 10.4% of February figures.Inflicting yet more pain on consumers battling a cost-of-living crisis, market researcher Kantar said prices were rising fastest in markets such as eggs, milk and cheese.It said UK households now face an additional 837 pounds ($1,028) on their annual shopping bills if they do not change their behaviour to cut costs. “It’s more bad news for the British public, who are experiencing the ninth month of double-digit grocery price inflation,” said Fraser McKevitt, Kantar’s head of retail and consumer insight.The Kantar data for March provides the most up to date snapshot of UK grocery in...
March 28, 2023 at 10:41 pm | Economic Affairs
March,28(Agencies)-Asian currencies firmed on Tuesday as confidence in the global banking system was boosted by a deal covering Silicon Valley Bank’s deposits and loans.With risk-on sentiment gaining traction, the Malaysian ringgit gained the most among regional peers, appreciating 0.6%, while the Indonesian rupiah touched its highest level since early February, rising 0.5%.US authorities backed a deal for First Citizens BancShares to buy Silicon Valley Bank’s assets, soothing wider worries about the sector sparked by the largest bank collapse since the 2008 financial crisis.“Some semblance of relative calm has descended upon markets with the absence of fresh headline banking scares,” said Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and str...
March 28, 2023 at 10:40 pm | Economic Affairs
March,27(EA Report)-- Volatility reiged Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) at first opening day where benchmark KSE-100 ended the first trading session of the week flat, while the volume and value of shares traded improved from the last close.The benchmark index opened the session in the green, reaching an intraday high at 40,066.33. But later profit-taking was witnessed which pushed the index toward an intraday low of 39,840.72.At close, the benchmark index settled at 40,000.37, an increase of 58.32 points or 0.15%.A report from Topline Securities stated that the uncertainty pertaining to the resumption of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme played on investors’ minds.“During trading hours, mostly i...
March 27, 2023 at 10:13 pm | Economic Affairs
March,27(EA Report)--DG Khan Cement Company Limited (DGKC) has successfully installed a 7MW on-grid solar power plant at its site in Khairpur, the company's notification Monday says.The company said the on-grid power plant has successfully started power generation.“It will decrease our power cost mix, reduce carbon foot prints and curtail reliance on expensive fossil fuels,” the cement maker said.DGKC is one of the largest cement manufacturers in Pakistan with a production capacity of 22,400 tons per day (6.72 million tons/annum). It has four cement plants, two in Dera Ghazi Khan, one in Khairpur district Chakwal and one at Hub Lasbela district (Balochistan).Last year in June, DGKC had signed an agreement and established Letter of Cred...
March 27, 2023 at 10:12 pm | Economic Affairs
March,27(Agencies)--The United States will likely enter a recession this year and face high inflation well into 2024, a majority of economists predicted in their response to a semiannual survey.More than two-thirds of respondents to the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) Policy Survey also see inflation remaining above four percent at the end of this year.The survey summarized the responses of 217 NABE members, and was conducted between March 2 and March 10, the organization said in a statement.The US Federal Reserve has raised rates 4.75 percentage points in a bid to tackle rising inflation, which reached its highest level in decades last year.Price rises slowed slightly to an annual level of 6.0 percent in February, which...
March 27, 2023 at 10:11 pm | Economic Affairs
March,27(EA Desk)--The chairman of Saudi National Bank, which was the main shareholder of troubled lender Credit Suisse before its buyout this month, has resigned, a statement said on Monday.The Saudi bank’s board of directors “accepted the resignation” of Ammar AlKhudairy “due to personal reasons”, said the statement published on the Saudi stock exchange.Credit Suisse’s shares plummeted on March 15 after AlKhudairy said the Saudi bank would not raise its stake from 9.8 percent due to regulatory constraints.The following day, Credit Suisse rallied on the stock market after grabbing a $54 billion central bank lifeline in a bid to restore investor confidence.But fears about the health of the broader financial sector led to its ta...
March 27, 2023 at 10:10 pm | Economic Affairs
March,27(Agencies)--The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision,charged with worldwide oversight, said Thursday that it would “learn lessons” from the US bank failures and the emergency buyout of Credit Suisse that have roiled financial markets.The near-implosion of Credit Suisse last week, leading to its sale to fellow Swiss giant UBS, came after the collapse of two tech-lending banks in the United States triggered fears of international fallout.The Basel committee, established in 1974, said after a meeting that it would “take stock of the regulatory and supervisory implications stemming from recent events, with a view to learn lessons”.“Banks and supervisors must therefore be vigilant to the evolving outlook to ensure that the g...
March 27, 2023 at 12:54 pm | Economic Affairs
March,27(Agencies)--Oil prices stabilised in Asian trade on Monday as investors sought cues from broader financial markets, while comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin over the weekend ratcheted up geopolitical tensions in Europe.Brent crude futures held unchanged at $74.99 a barrel at 0357 GMT after hitting a session high of $75.64. US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $69.29 a barrel, up 3 cents, after rising to $69.92 earlier in the session.Brent rose 2.8% last week, while WTI rebounded 3.8% as jitters in the banking sector eased. Oil markets are closely watching the sentiment in financial market, while oil fundamentals remain sidelined, said Vandana Hari, founder of oil market analysis provider Vanda Insights.“Expect most p...
March 27, 2023 at 12:49 pm | Economic Affairs
March,27(Agencies)--US dollar stays firm on Monday, Yen hovered near its seven-week peak as investors assessed moves made by authorities and regulators to rein in worries over the global banking system.Risk-wary investors sent the yen was last at 130.70 on Monday to a seven-week high of 129.65 per dollar on Friday. The dollar index, which measures the currency against six rivals, was up 0.078% at 103.060, having gained 0.5% on Friday amid banking jitters, with shares of Deutsche Bank sliding nearly 9%.Markets are pricing in an 87% chance of the Fed’s standing pat on interest rates in its next meeting in May and anticipate a rate cut as early as July, according to CME FedWatch tool.Global banking stocks have been battered through the mont...
March 27, 2023 at 12:22 pm | Economic Affairs
March,25(Agencies)---Moody’s has downgraded the long-term deposit ratings of mBank and changed the outlook to negative from “under review” citing risks stemming from the legacy of Swiss franc loans at Polish lenders, the agency said.Moody’s has downgraded the long-term issuer ratings of the bank’s mortgage unit mBank Hipoteczny and changed the outlook to negative from “under review”.The agency confirmed Bank Millennium’s long- and short-term deposits ratings and changed the outlook on its long-term deposit ratings to negative from “under review”.An adviser to the European Union’s top court last month sided with Polish borrowers with Swiss franc-denominated mortgages. Poland’s regulator has warned the matter could co...
March 27, 2023 at 8:16 am | Economic Affairs
March,23(Agencies)-- Asian markets skidded Thursday, tracking losses on Wall Street after the US Federal Reserve hiked interest rates again and dealt a blow to hopes it could cut them later in the year to soothe worries over the banking sector.Recent turmoil caused by the collapse of two US lenders and the takeover of Credit Suisse had fanned speculation central banks would pause their inflation-fighting monetary tightening campaign.But on Wednesday, officials announced a ninth straight increase in the cost of borrowing as they put their emphasis on containing prices, though the 25-basis-point rise was half of what was expected at the start of the month.Fed boss Jerome Powell also told journalists that “rate cuts are not in our base case...
March 24, 2023 at 11:09 am | Economic Affairs
March,23(Agencies)-- US dollar stayed under pressure near seven-week low Thursday as US bond yields fell sharply after the Federal Reserve sounded close to calling time on interest rate hikes.The Fed raised its benchmark funds rate by 25 basis points, as expected, but dropped language about “ongoing increases” being needed in favour of “some additional” rises, as it waits and watches how wobbling confidence in banks affects the economy.Futures imply only an even chance of one more hike. That’s a contrast to Europe where markets see another 50 bp or so to go, and the gap sent the euro surging.The dollar pared some of its losses when US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen set off another round of bank stock selling and jitters over sta...
March 24, 2023 at 11:09 am | Economic Affairs
Pakistan Rupee Exchange Rate