PaK News
LAHORE: As Pakistan marked one year of a ban on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), government officials hinted that the service is unlikely to be restored anytime soon. However, government departments continue to use the banned platform for official communications — ostensibly via virtual private networks (VPNs) — despite extolling curbs on the…
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump suggested on Wednesday that a trade deal was “possible” with China — a key target in the US leader’s tariffs policy. In 2020, the United States had already agreed to “a great trade deal with China” and a new deal was “possible”, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. Asked…
KARACHI: Despite a contraction in Large-Scale Manufacturing (LSM) during the first half of the current fiscal year, equity investors remained optimistic, helping the market extend gains for the third consecutive session on Thursday. The big industry production shrank 1.87 per cent year-on-year in July-December FY25. Topline Securities Ltd said the benchmark KSE 100 index showed…
Cricket finds a way to seep into every little story we tell — the ones not only in feature films but also in fleeting ads, on sports grounds and battlefields alike. My first memory of a cricket match was the 2007 World T20 final between India and Pakistan. I’m sure I’d watched cricket matches before…
KARACHI: Pakistan’s logistics industry faces annual losses of around $36 billion due to offline trade, potentially resulting in the loss of two to three million jobs. Experts emphasised these concerns at the Pakistan Logistics and Shipping Summit 2025, which was held on Thursday. According to a press release, industry leaders emphasised that real-time solutions, including…
KARACHI: The profit outflows slightly decreased in January but were still higher by 90 per cent in the first seven months of FY25, according to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data released on Thursday. Despite the country’s challenges on the external front amid falling foreign exchange reserves, the central bank kept allowing the repatriation of…
AS the new world order takes shape, with Trumpism at the forefront, many of us can only watch with bemused interest how, globally, priorities and interests are radically shifting. Diversity, equity and inclusion are dead in the water. Environmental and climate change considerations can unashamedly be relegated to the back row. Their inclusion in the…
ISLAMABAD: The Large-Scale Manufacturing (LSM) sector contracted 1.87 per cent year-on-year in the first half of 2024-25, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics data showed on Thursday. The big industry production has seen a negative trend since August 2024, except in October, due to domestic and global factors. The LSM grew positively from December 2023 to…
ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Thursday cautioned the business community that the country cannot afford another boom-and-bust cycle, stressing the need for continued structural reforms to ensure sustainable and equitable prosperity. Speaking at a conference on ‘Retail Reimagined: Innovate, Collaborate & Thrive’, organised by the Pakistan Retail Business Council (PRBC) in Islamabad, the minister…
ISLAMABAD: The Central Monitoring Unit (CMU) of the federal government has deplored disproportionate presence of non-professional and non-independent members in the boards of directors at state-owned entities (SOEs) and an absence of effective audit and monitoring mechanisms in these organisations. The CMU has suggested adoption of international financial and audit standards to address governance weaknesses…