Author: Fozhan Baig

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team is currently in Pakistan for the highly anticipated first scheduled Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) staff review. This review is important, as it will determine whether Pakistan has been successful in bridging the $6.5 billion external financing gap agreed upon with the IMF. In July, the IMF approved a nine-month standby arrangement for Pakistan under which it provided it with a substantial amount of $3 billion. The first loan tranche of $1.2 billion has already been disbursed to Islamabad, showcasing the IMF’s confidence in Pakistan’s ability to meet its financial commitments. With this positive start, it is widely…

ISLAMABAD – SOME two weeks back, the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), a 23-member inter-governmental organisation, held its annual meeting in Colombo. Pakistan has been intentionally kept out of this forum despite having a 1,046-kilometre-long coastline along the Arabian Sea and being a major state of the Indian Ocean Region. For its part, Pakistan has also not made a serious attempt to get its foot in the door. Like the rest of South Asia that has been the most affected by the climate storm, Pakistan, which in particular has been in the throes of a serious existential threat (the Himalayas have…

Islamabad/London: Cash-strapped Pakistan reportedly earned USD 364 million in an arms deal with two private US companies last year to supply ammunition to Ukraine in its war with Russia, according to a media report. A British military cargo plane flew from Pakistan Air Force Base Nur Khan in Rawalpindi to the British military base in Cyprus, Akrotiri, and then to Romania a total of five times to supply arms to the war-torn country, the BBC Urdu reported on Monday. Islamabad has, however, consistently denied that it has provided any ammunition to Ukraine, a neighbouring country to Romania. Citing details of the…

Pakistan Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and underscored the “blind” trust that Pakistan places in China, referring to their bilateral partnership as one made “in heaven,” The Express Tribune reported. During the meeting on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum in China, Kakar emphasised that Pakistan’s commitment to the strategic partnership with China would remain steadfast, and they would not allow anything to undermine it. According to a Pakistan-based news daily, Kakar made it clear that Pakistan would not step back in its relations with China. The two leaders convened to discuss a range of…

With a new phase of violence erupting after Hamas launched surprise attack on Israel, the world has entered into a new phase of polarisation. Soon after the attack Israel declared war on Hamas and since then the violence is getting intense and thousands of lives have been lost. Israel’s offensive in Gaza has employed use of drones and artillery strike and Human Rights Watch has raised concerns over the use of white phosphorous which violates the international humanitarian law. Both Israel and Hamas are blaming each other for the violence happening, there are several hostages under Hamas right now and recently a short clip of Israeli…

The United States has accused Iran of “actively facilitating” rocket and drone attacks by Iranian-backed proxy groups on its forces in Iraq and Syria. John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, said on Monday the US would not allow threats to interests “go unchallenged” after an uptick in such attacks over the last week as tensions rise across the region amid the Israel-Hamas war. The US has thrown its weight behind Israel over the latter’s intense air campaign on the Gaza Strip, prompted by an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on October 7. The US has rejected calls for a ceasefire as…

Despite an understanding among Bangladesh, Nepal, and India, the state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) still cannot import electricity from the Himalayan nation. On August 28 this year, State Minister for Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said that the import of hydropower from Nepal was almost final. It seems unlikely that the power trade will happen before November. That means, Bangladesh will not get the opportunity to export its surplus electricity to Nepal during peak demand season in winter in the Himalayan nation. Electricity demand decreases during winter in Bangladesh while it increases in Nepal. According to official…

Afghanistan created another big upset at the Cricket World Cup as they thumped struggling Pakistan by eight wickets to win two games at the same edition of the tournament for the first time. After stunning England eight days ago, the ninth-ranked Afghans celebrated only their third-ever win at the World Cup on Monday, the other coming against Scotland in 2015 in their first appearance. An aggressive 130-run opening stand between Ibrahim Zadran (87) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (65) orchestrated Afghanistan’s 286-2 in 49 overs against out-of-sort Pakistan’s pace and spin bowling. Rahmat Shah and captain Hashmatullah Shahidi built on the solid first-wicket stand by sharing…

Apparel shipment worth $26.78 billion from Bangladesh might be affected due to extreme weather conditions like heat and floods by 2030, according to a study of Cornell University in the US. The study carried out by the university’s Global Labor Institute and Schroders finds extreme heat and flooding are threatening key apparel production hubs globally. Four countries vital for global fashion production are at the risk of losing $65 billion in export earnings and 1 million potential jobs by 2030, it said. In the case of Bangladesh, the impact will be $26.78 billion while Cambodia will lose $6.75 billion, Pakistan…

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities should learn from Saudi Arabia’s real estate development model to attract foreign investment in order to fulfil the country’s housing needs and boost its fragile economy, a top Pakistani estate developer said on Thursday, pointing to the South Asian nation’s $40 billion investment potential in the housing sector. Shafiq Akbar, chief executive officer of the Imarat Group, was one of the attendees at the Cityscape Global public-private partnership forum in Riyadh this week, where he presented different investment opportunities in Pakistan’s real estate sector to woo potential investors. Since 2016, Akbar’s group has launched 15 megaprojects in…