AN improvement in productivity is at the heart of development. The future of countries where productivity levels are falling is certainly compromised.
CheersAccording to APO’s Productivity Databook 2019, productivity in Pakistan, a founding member, is lower than other countries. It grew at the annual rate of 1.4 per cent in Pakistan from 2000 to 2017 as opposed to 3.9pc in Bangladesh, 5.8pc in India and 8.5pc in China.
CheersARACHI: The auto sector continued to suffer as sales for December 2019 slumped 38% on a year-on-year basis following sluggish demand in the market coupled with high lending rates for automobile financing. Demand had remained subdued due to frequent hike in prices by automakers on account of high cost of production.
KARACHI: 2019 proved a tough year for the consumers in terms of rising living costs fuelled by record-high food inflation.
CheersWith no effective price checking mechanism at provincial and city government levels despite several meetings by Prime Minister Imran Khan on the price stability issue, the market stakeholders this year had set a highest benchmark for various commodities such as wheat flour, vegetables, chicken, pulses, red meat, CNG etc.
CheersIn the blind pursuit of hot money, Pakistan’s economic managers are foolhardily focused on generate dollar inflows by from abroad by selling short-term Treasury Bills (T-bills) and Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) at higher rates.
An accountability court on Wednesday extended the remand of two detained builders for 14 more days in connection with a probe into reports of fraud in the Fazaia Housing Scheme Karachi (FHSK).
CheersDuring the hearing today, the court was informed about how the land was acquired in the name of ‘shuhada (martyrs) and war heroes’, but hardly any units were allotted to the same. The investigation officer also highlighted how some Pakistan Air Force (PAF) officials had lured their own peers into purchasing housing units and made millions in the process.
CheersKARACHI: After enduring a Rs5 per kg hike on various flour varieties, consumers on Wednesday witnessed another price shock of Rs30 per kg/litre in ghee and cooking oil.
. The PTI ministers/supporters and other HNI porkis are making a killing by sending money through hawala abroad and bringing back in and getting interest at 10-11% . Similarrly anybody can borrow at 2% from abroad and invest in Pakistan for a 8% spread. 
CheersLAHORE: As the country is facing a serious flour crisis, Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on Friday took notice of a news item aired on the media regarding unilateral increase in flour price in some districts of the province.
Sheeda Talli has a rational explanation for it:Peregrine wrote:Country faces flour crisis: Wheat quota of 180 flour mills stopped in Punjab
CheersLAHORE: As the country is facing a serious flour crisis, Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on Friday took notice of a news item aired on the media regarding unilateral increase in flour price in some districts of the province.
“In December and November, people eat more bread than usual,”the minister said at a press conference.
CheersThe Pakistani hole keeps getting deeper no matter what.
The circular debt — or the power-sector arrears described as the cash shortfall within the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) that it cannot pay to power supply companies — was Rs100 billion heftier at the end of the first half of 2019-20 from six months ago.
CheersISLAMABAD: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) pumped a colossal $24 billion into the inter-bank market during interim periods of the last two International Monetary Fund (IMF) programmes to defend the exchange rate.
Vips wrote:Pakistan urges US to get it out of FATF grey list.
Pakistan has urged the US to support its bid to exit from the grey list of the FATF ahead of a key meeting of the international terror financing watchdog in Beijing in which it will scrutinise Islamabad's efforts to adopt stricter laws against terror financing and money laundering. (Sure sign that pakistan knows that it will not pass muster during the review of the steps it took to stop terror financing)
A Pakistani delegation arrived in Beijing on Sunday for the three-day faceto-face talks with the Financial Action Task Force Working Group that
would start on January 21. The briefing will go over whether Pakistan has complied with an earlier agenda presented to it by the Paris-based
financial task force, The News reported.
The Pakistani delegation is being led by Minister for Economic Affairs Division Hammad Azhar and comprises representatives of National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta), the foreign ministry, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), among others.
The FATF in October+ decided to keep Pakistan on its 'Grey' list for failure to curb funnelling of funds to terror groups LeT, JeM and others. If not removed off the list by April, Pakistan may move to a blacklist of countries that face severe economic sanctions, such as Iran.
Pakistan has submitted a 650-page review report to the FATF on January 8. The report was submitted in response to 150 questions raised by the FATF regarding new Pakistani policies on money laundering. The report outlined the steps taken by 1/20/2020 Pakistan urges US to get it out of FATF grey list - Pakistan between October 2019 to January 2020 to implement the group's recommendations.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi at a media briefing in Washington on Friday said that Pakistan hoped the US would back its efforts to get it off the list at the FATF's Beijing meeting, the Dawn newspaper reported. “This meeting is very important for us as it leads to a plenary meeting in Paris in April where the world body will decide whether Pakistan remains on the list or is taken off,” he said.
Qureshi concluded his three-day visit to the US on Friday after a series of meetings with key US lawmakers and officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien.
The foreign minister spent the week touring Iran, Saudi Arabia and the US on a diplomatic mission meant to defuse tensions between Washington and Tehran.
At his news briefing, Qureshi also urged the US to review its travel advisories for Pakistan and encourage investments in the country. US travel advisories still present Pakistan as a country Americans should avoid travelling because of terrorism threats.
Asked why the FATF's Beijing meeting was important, Qureshi said that decisions taken in China's capital would also impact the Force's Paris plenary, which would decide whether Pakistan stayed in or was taken off the grey list.
“We want our American friends to tell us what's their policy,” he said. “You share with us what measures you have taken or intend to.” (The sheer chutzpah) The minister acknowledged that removal from the FATF list could not happen overnight, but said that the US could enhance its engagements with Pakistan while waiting for the removal.
Qureshi noted that in his meetings with Prime Minister Imran Khan last year, US President Donald Trump had said that he wanted to see Pakistan off the FATF grey list. “So, we expect US officials to work for it now.” The foreign minister said Islamabad had taken several concrete steps to meet FATF demands and the time had come for the US to fulfil President Trump's pledge.
No wonder Pak Kernails and Gernails are welcome to settle in Western countries after retirement. They have serious money to throw around.Peregrine wrote:SBP poured $24b into inter-bank market between two IMF programmes - Shahbaz RanaCheersISLAMABAD: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) pumped a colossal $24 billion into the inter-bank market during interim periods of the last two International Monetary Fund (IMF) programmes to defend the exchange rate.
Pakistan to import 300,000 tonnes of wheat to meet flour crisesPeregrine wrote:Country faces flour crisis: Wheat quota of 180 flour mills stopped in Punjab
CheersLAHORE: As the country is facing a serious flour crisis, Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on Friday took notice of a news item aired on the media regarding unilateral increase in flour price in some districts of the province.
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan on Monday approved the import of 300,000 tonnes of wheat to relieve a shortage of flour supplies that has created a crisis for the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Prices of flour and bread shot up last week as the ingredient disappeared from shops and wholesale markets, while bread makers shut in protest at what they called government pressure to sell the staple at controlled prices.
"It is not possible for me to sell bread for eight rupees a piece if I buy flour bags at high prices," said Sheraz Khan, a shopkeeper in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, next to Islamabad, the capital.
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CheersMULTAN: Cotton production fell by 20.26 per cent to 8.303 million bales till Jan 15 this season against 10.456m bales in the same period last year, the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) said on Saturday.
CheersISLAMABAD:-In a scandalous deal, the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) have awarded a contract of Rs700 million for the up-gradation of In Flight Entertainment (IFE) in eight Boeing 777 aircraft to a local company which was registered only two months before the tender was floated.
Someone should explain that to this chachaVKumar wrote:Bhutto said we will eat grass but make a nuclear bomb. Now they don't even have grass to eat. Wheat is a grass.
CheersISLAMABAD: Pakistan saw a 156% surge in disbursement of foreign loans that increased to $5.5 billion in first half of the current fiscal year but non-project loans rose to 84% of the total receipts, which could compound Islamabad’s debt sustainability issues.
CheersISLAMABAD: In a blow to credibility of the ruling PTI, Pakistan’s ranking on global corruption perception index has slipped to five-year low of 120 out of 180 nations, highlighting further erosion of people’s confidence in the government which came into power with the slogan of accountability.
According to news reports, the price of wheat flour — which is a staple diet and used by the overwhelming majority — has reached Rs70 per kilogram. There has been an increase of Rs20 per kilogram in the price of wheat flour since August last year. The price of sugar, another essential commodity, as well as the prices of food items, like chicken and vegetables, and petroleum products have more than doubled over the last 15 months.
CheersEconomic crisis is like a time bomb and a major human security predicament for Pakistan. With a population of 220 million people, but blessed with enormous natural resources, Pakistan is experiencing the worst kind of situation as far as the purchasing power of an ordinary citizen is concerned. Punjab, called the bread basket of Pakistan, is unable to produce sufficient wheat and other agricultural products. The wheat crisis is compelling the government to import hundreds of thousands of tons of the staple diet from abroad.
