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WASHINGTON: The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are launching a new initiative to help developing countries strengthen their tax systems, says an official announcement. Analysis associated with the two institutions suggests that many lower-income countries have the potential to increase their tax ratios by at least 2 to 4 per cent of their GDPs, without compromising fairness or growth. Raising additional revenues will allow developing countries to fill financing gaps and to promote development. Pakistan is top on the list of the countries that need to reform their tax systems. In a recent statement, the IMF mission chief in Pakistan urged the rulers to broaden the country’s tax base. The country’s tax-to-GDP rati...

August 14, 2015 at 3:07 pm | News Desk

THE implosion of the Greek economy, the rise of Syriza and the implicit blaming of Greece’s creditors for the country’s woes present important lessons that should be drawn upon. The danger is that many people, including in Pakistan, are preparing to draw the wrong set of lessons. Greece got itself into a mess by not taxing sufficiently its richest elites, and by overspending on a bloated, overpaid and underworked public sector. Poor choices by politicians for decades, fully supported by a complicit populace that was only too happy to condone the perpetual postponement of serious structural reform, have finally caught up. Despite the massive and heartrending current suffering of ordinary Greeks, the foregoing is the sorry story of the...

August 14, 2015 at 2:59 pm | News Desk

By Amar Guriro KARACHI, Pakistan, July 6 (News Lens Pakistan) -- From its start in the Himalayas, the Indus River flows almost 2,000 miles to the Arabian Sea, ensuring there is fertile land for farmers along the way and sustenance for Pakistan's wildlife. The river is in trouble, though. Its 17 major creeks, which in the past helped push seawater back, have almost dried up, allowing the Arabian Sea to flow upstream, poisoning the Indus River Delta with salt water and fouling farmland. Meanwhile, sea levels are rising, swamping entire villages along the river and threatening a way of life for thousands of families.  "There were many villages in our area, which are now completely submerged and the residents had moved somewhere el...

July 6, 2015 at 3:25 pm | News Desk

BEIJING (Reuters) - Nuclear-armed rivals Pakistan and India will start the process of joining a security bloc led by China and Russia at a summit in Russia later this week, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Monday, the first time the grouping has expanded since it was set up in 2001. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) groups China, Russia and the former Soviet republics of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, while India, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Mongolia are observers. "As the influence of the SCO's development has expanded, more and more countries in the region have brought up joining the SCO," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping told a news briefing."...India and Pakistan's admission to the SCO...

July 6, 2015 at 3:17 pm | News Desk

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece lurched into uncharted territory and an uncertain future in Europe's common currency Sunday after voters overwhelmingly rejected demands by international creditors for more austerity measures in exchange for a bailout of its bankrupt economy. Results showed about 61 percent voted "no," compared with 39 percent for "yes," with 100 percent of the vote counted. The referendum — Greece's first in more than four decades — came amid severe restrictions on financial transactions in the country, imposed last week to stem a bank run that accelerated after the vote was called. Thousands of jubilant government supporters celebrated in Syntagma Square in front of Parliament, waving Greek flags and chanting "No, ...

July 6, 2015 at 2:57 pm | News Desk

The makers of one of the most expensive weapons programs in history went on the defensive today, saying a recent report on the F-35 fighter jet’s failures in old-school dogfighting against a decades-old, much cheaper legacy fighter “does not tell the whole story.”The report in question, posted on the national security news website War Is Boring, was based on an internal five-page brief in which an F-35 test pilot wrote a scathing criticism of the next-generation jet’s abilities in a January dogfight with an F-16, one of the planes the F-35 is designed to replace. Essentially, the pilot reportedly wrote, the F-35 was no match for the F-16 in close-up, high maneuvering fighting -- whether the F-35 was trying to get the F-16 in its si...

July 2, 2015 at 3:49 pm | News Desk

NEW YORK (AP) — A young Swedish woman who sued her former Wall Street executive boss over lurid allegations of sexual conquest, betrayal and stalking was awarded $18 million by a federal jury Monday. Hanna Bouveng, 25, accused Benjamin Wey in an $850 million lawsuit of using his power as owner of New York Global Group to coerce her into four sexual encounters before firing her after discovering she had a boyfriend. The jury in federal court in Manhattan awarded her $2 million in compensatory damages plus $16 million in punitive damages on sexual harassment, retaliation and defamation claims. It rejected a claim of assault and battery. Bouveng, who was raised in Vetlanda, Sweden, testified that soon after Wey hired her at New York...

July 2, 2015 at 3:43 pm | News Desk

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Southeast Asian countries will establish a humanitarian fund to help boatloads of Rohingya Muslim and Bangladeshi immigrants who have recently landed in Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand, a Malaysian minister said Thursday. Singapore has pledged $200,000 to the fund, Malaysian Home Affairs Minister Zahid Hamidi told a news conference after chairing a special regional meeting on the refugee crisis. Since early May, more than 4,600 boat people from Myanmar and Bangladesh have come ashore in Southeast Asian waters, after human smugglers abandoned their boats amid a regional crackdown. Some are Bangladeshis who left their impoverished homeland in hope of finding jobs abroad. But many are Rohingya...

July 2, 2015 at 3:35 pm | News Desk

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Thursday a new U.S. military strategy was confrontational and would not help improve relations with Moscow, strained by the crisis in Ukraine.   The strategy, released by the Pentagon on Wednesday, said Russia had repeatedly demonstrated it does not respect the sovereignty of its neighbors and that it was willing to use force to achieve its goals. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed regret about the content of the document and said it indicated a "confrontational attitude, devoid of any objectivity towards our country". "Of course this will hardly contribute to attempts to steer bilateral relations in the direction of normalization," he told reporters during a conference call. R...

July 2, 2015 at 3:24 pm | News Desk

HAVANA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Cuba formally agreed on Wednesday to restore diplomatic relations on July 20, setting up a trip to Havana by John Kerry, who would become the first U.S. secretary of state to visit the country in 70 years. Sealed by an exchange of letters between U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro, the deal fulfills a pledge the former Cold War enemies made six months ago. It also attempts to end the recriminations that have predominated ever since Fidel Castro's rebels overthrew the U.S.-backed government of Fulgencio Batista on Jan. 1, 1959. The letters set a date of July 20 for the re-establishment of relations, and embassies could be opened at that time or later. Kerry...

July 2, 2015 at 3:17 pm | News Desk

KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has decided to conduct inquiry against such businesses and industrial units which have deposited less tax this year as compared to the previous year. Sources in Regional Tax Office told Customs Today that the department has finalized 112 industrial units and these lists are already sent to the field offices. Sources further revealed that these units deposited less sales tax and the federal excise duty during this fiscal year as compared to the previous year, despite increase in their sales. Sources said that their statements will be thoroughly scrutinized and all information and statements submitted by these units will be examined by auditors. Sources further said that if these units found i...

June 29, 2015 at 2:41 pm | News Desk

As part of a three-year loan programme, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has given nod to release around $506 million for Pakistan. In a statement issued in Washington, the IMF said the tranche was released after the board completed the seventh review of Pakistan's economic performance under Extended Fund Facility (EFF), an IMF lending facility to help members with balance of payments problems. With the release of the latest tranche, the total amount so far disbursed to Pakistan comes to about $4.05 billion dollars. This will take the country's foreign exchange reserves to $18.7 billion dollars, Radio Pakistan reported.  

June 28, 2015 at 9:38 pm | News Desk

Moments after the Supreme Court ruled Friday that same-sex marriage is legal nationwide, Rachel Evans and her girlfriend Kelly Gleischman jumped into an Uber and headed straight into the festive commotion outside the court building in Washington to be a part of history. They were brimming with joy as they were greeted by a crowd of smiling faces and a sea of rainbow-colored flags, celebrating the monumental victory for gay rights advocates. “It felt like our futures have opened up in a new way,” 29-year-old Evans said. The couple has been together for two-and-a-half years and plan to wed in 2016. With the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize marriage for same-sex couples, the two women are excited that their future marriage will...

June 28, 2015 at 9:32 pm | News Desk

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) investigation team probing the heatwave deaths in Karachi has cleared K-Electric of any liability, sources said on Sunday. Nepra in its report has said that the deaths have been caused by the intense weather and not load shedding. The regulatory authority went on to say that the victims were mostly those people who were exposed to the open sky and severe heat. The report further says that the power outages in the city have increased due to the rise in demand. The investigation team will present its initial report to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif tomorrow (Monday).

June 28, 2015 at 9:21 pm | News Desk

ISLAMABAD: A team from Britain's Scotland Yard (London Metropolitan Police) arrived in Islamabad on Saturday in relation to the investigation of the murder of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Dr Imran Farooq. Islamabad had requested that a team visit Pakistan and assist in an ongoing investigation into the murder case as under way in Pakistan. The team is also expected to be taken to meet suspects who are in custody of Pakistani authorities. The team is scheduled to start its investigation from Monday and will carry out its operations under high security. Earlier this week, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had said that the accused said to be linked to the murder of Dr Farooq would be brought to Islamabad where Britis...

June 28, 2015 at 1:59 pm | News Desk

Welcome to the June 2015 edition of Economic Affairs magazine. This edition, as you will note, comprises of more articles than usual, covering a wide variety of topics, domestic and global. This month, our cover story features the intricate operations devised by India's external intelligence agency, Research And Analysis Wing (RAW). Some well-documented proof points in the direction that RAW is quite actively involved in meddling in matters on Pakistani soil. This elaborate network set up by RAW involves structures which are present not only in Pakistan but also in Afghanistan, operating through multi-tiered organizations. The purpose is clear: create terror within Pakistan, a premise which is well-documented b...

June 28, 2015 at 1:07 pm | News Desk