ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has expressed its dissatisfaction at the current state of Pakistan's tax collection, a team representing the body that arrived here in the city to discuss the country's ongoing financial crisis said late Monday. Earlier in the day, the delegation, which has already concluded the technical discussions with the Pakistani representatives, commenced its policy-level talks...
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday expressed solidarity with Turkey as the country grapples with a currency crisis that saw the lira plunge as much as 20% last week against the US dollar. The Turkish lira has nosedived after a political clash with the United States intensified and investors fretted about the Turkish government's lack of action to tackle the problems plaguing...
DUBAI: Iranian authorities have arrested 67 people in a drive against financial crime, the judiciary said on Sunday, as the country faces renewed US sanctions and a public outcry against profiteering and corruption. Special revolutionary courts were being set up to try suspects quickly after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Saturday for “swift and just” legal action to...
DUBAI/RIYADH/LONDON: Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has shown no interest so far in financing Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk’s proposed $72-billion deal to take the US electric car maker private, despite acquiring a minority stake in the company this year, two sources familiar with the matter said. The 47-year-old investor and engineer stunned financial markets on Tuesday when he...
WASHINGTON — The federal government racked up a $76.9 billion deficit in July, with increased government spending and tax cuts keeping the country on track to record its biggest annual deficit in six years. The Treasury Department reported Friday that in the first 10 months of this budget year, the deficit totaled $684 billion, up 20.8 percent from the same...
ISTANBUL/WASHINGTON - President Tayyip Erdogan told Turks on Friday to sell their gold and U.S. dollars to support the country’s currency which plunged after U.S. President Donald Trump escalated a feud with NATO ally Turkey by doubling tariffs on metals imports. The Turkish lira TRYTOM=D3 has long been falling on worries about Erdogan's influence over monetary policy and worsening relations with the...
SHANGHAI - China’s state media continued a barrage of criticism of the United States on Saturday as their tit-for-tat trade war escalated, while seeking to reassure readers the Chinese economy remains in strong shape. Commentaries in the People’s Daily, China’s top newspaper, likened the United States to a bull in a China shop running roughshod over the rules of global...
The embattled Turkish lira tumbled almost 20 percent to new record lows against the dollar on Friday as strains with the United States intensified, but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defiantly proclaimed Turkey would emerge victorious in an "economic war". Compounding the lira's agony, President Donald Trump said he had doubled steel and aluminium tariffs on Turkey, noting that relations between...
Russia warned Friday that if the US followed through with threats to impose further harsh economic sanctions it would be seen as a "declaration of economic war". The warning by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev came after Washington unveiled a raft of new sanctions against Russia over its alleged use of the Novichok nerve agent against a former double agent which...
NEW YORK: "Boring bonehead questions are not cool. Next?" Tesla chief Elon Musk complained in May, shortly before shutting down questions from Wall Street. The now-infamous conference call, in a nutshell, represents the unorthodox approach of Musk, whose brazen aspirations to remake the transportation universe and confrontational approach to opponents has aroused both passionate support and furious criticism. Recognized as...
ISLAMABAD: China is exploring building a spur from Pakistan’s territory once the multi-country TAPI natural gas pipeline project begins operating, a Pakistani official said, with the financial close of the project’s first phase expected next month. Originating at the giant Galkynysh gas field in Turkmenistan, the $9.6-billion TAPI (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India) pipeline involves the four countries’ own energy...
ANKARA: Turkey will continue to buy natural gas from Iran in line with its long-term supply contract, Turkey’s energy minister said on Wednesday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened that anyone trading with Iran will not do business with America. NATO member Turkey is dependent on imports for almost all of its energy needs and Iran is a...
KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange was bearish on Tuesday as KSE-100 Index closed today at 42760.13 points as compared to 42808.66 points on the last working day with a negative change of 48.53 points. The total turnover was 239,517,630 as compared to 153,814,580 on the last working day with Lotte Chemical having the highest turnover of 33,360,500. Total of 376...
Most major Asian markets rose on Tuesday following another positive Wall Street lead, with energy firms up with oil prices as the US prepares to reimpose sanctions on Iran. A healthy earnings season has provided support to global equities in recent weeks but gains have been limited by ongoing concerns about the simmering trade war between China and the US....
KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange was bullish on Monday as KSE-100 Index closed today at 42808.66 points as compared to 42505.05 points on the last working day with a positive change of 303.61 points. The total turnover was 153,814,580 as compared to 203,027,240 on the last working day with Trust Inv. Bank having the highest turnover of 11,077,000. The total...
Banking giant HSBC said on Monday that pre-tax profit rose 4.58 percent to $10.7 billion in the first six months of the year and voiced "cautious optimism" despite the China-US trade row. After wide-ranging cutbacks that saw 50,000 jobs axed in an overhaul announced in 2015, the bank said it was now hiring again as it seeks new growth areas....
BERLIN — Germany’s central bank is changing its terms and conditions to provide for deeper scrutiny of cash transfers, a move that comes as Iran seeks to repatriate cash held in a Hamburg-based bank and the U.S. presses allies to get tough on Tehran. Iran wants to bring home 300 million euros ($347 million) it has in the European-Iranian Trade...