Unite Pakistan

P akistan’s central bank on Saturday kept its key discount rate unchanged at 15 per cent amid warnings of a significant economic slowdown and demands from businessmen for interest rate cuts.” We are going to have lower industrial growth than most years but services and agriculture will grow near to normal levels to give us GDP growth rate of about 3.7 per cent” said Salim Raza Pakistan’s central bank governor in his first monetary policy statement since taking charge about a month ago.  Businesses however demanded interest rate cuts to make bank borrowing more affordable in a period marked by the effects of an economic slowdown.  The latest estimates on Pakistan’s industrial performance showed car sales fell by about 48 per cent in the second half of 2008 compared to the same period a year ago. ”Interest rates have to be reduced in order to tackle this situation. The business sector is suffering very badly” said Tahir Malik vice president of the Lah...

D emocrat warns that $1.5 billion could backfire if it's seen as bribe. Supporters see few options to persuade Islamabad to fight militants. A senior Democratic senator raised questions Wednesday about theObama administration's plans to prod the Pakistan government to take more aggressive action against extremists by increasing foreign aid to Islamabad. Sen. Carl Levin (D Mich.) chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said he thought the Pakistan strategy would be effective only if Pakistanis have decided to forcefully confront religious extremists. "We've got ambivalent evidence as to whether or not they're committed to that goal " he said The plan — first proposed by Vice President Joe Biden when he headed the Foreign Relations Committee and now being pushed by Sen. John Kerry (D Mass.) the new committee chairman — would offer $1.5 billion in non military assistance to Pakistan over five years. The plan has been endorsed by...

P akistan's top economic policy maker said the International Monetary Fund which gave the Asian nation a $7.6 billion bailout loan in November had agreed there is scope to lower interest rates.  ``We were able to convince the IMF that as inflation is coming down we are looking at reducing interest rates in the next few weeks and months and they have agreed with us '' Shaukat Tarin finance adviser to Pakistan's prime minister told a news conference in Islamabad today. Tarin met with IMF officials in Dubai last week. Lower borrowing costs may help revive South Asia's second largest economy which is challenged by renewed tension between the Pakistan Peoples Party led coalition government and the biggest opposition party. In November the central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by two percentage points to 15 percent the highest in more than a decade as part of conditions for the IMF loan. ``Room has been provided for some sort o...

P akistan plans to raise $500 million in the next 12 months through bonds aimed at Middle East investors as a debt sale in other overseas markets would be too expensive central bank Governor Syed Salim Raza said. “The credit default swap rate for Pakistan is still high so to go to cold nosed commercial markets wouldn’t suit us ” Raza 63 who worked for Citigroup Inc. for 36 years in the Middle East Africa and Europe said in an interview. “But there are a number of countries in the region who understand Pakistan’s politics very well.” Raza who took over as governor on Jan. 2 is seeking to revive Pakistan’s faltering economy as political tensions distract the government from tackling slowing growth and worsening security. President Asif Ali Zardari’s hold on power was weakened yesterday when he relented to pressure from opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and reinstated judges fired under military rule in 2007. “The state of global financial markets will decide w...

KARACHI: The volume of foreign investment witnessed a slight improvement in the first half of this fiscal year, but experts think if the political chaos continues the FDI inflows would not sustain in the remaining months of 2012-13. The Sate Bank reported on Tuesday that the foreign direct investment improved by six per cent during the first six months of the fiscal compared to the same period of last year. The hike was fed by sudden increase of investment from Hong Kong. According to State Bank, the total FDI during the first half of the current fiscal rose to $562 million from $531 million in the same period last year. The business community said the country’s political uncertainty may dissuade foreign investors as a peaceful working environment is a precondition for investment. Analysts have been indicating another crisis in their reports for prospective investors, besides the energy shortfall that hurt trade and industry that was generally depressed failing t...