Pakistani News for the Rest of Us

According to State Bank during the last one week the foreign reserves with a 0.40 million dollars increase have remained at 13.2 billion dollars. The foreign exchange reserves under custody of the bank with a 10 million dollar increase have remained at 10.23 billion dollars while there has been a 66-lac dollars decrease in the …

Workers’ remittances registered the highest ever increase in Pakistan’s history when a record amount of US$443.70 million was remitted in March 2005 compared to $329.67 million in March 2004, showing a jump of $114.03 million or 34.59 per cent. Pakistan received $3,050.51 million as workers’ remittances during the first nine months (July 2004 - March …

For the first time Pakistan’s foreign trade is expected to hit $33 billion mark in the current financial year. In comparison with financial year 2003-04 the foreign trade of the country in 2004-05 is likely to expand by 5.3 billion dollars. In 2003-04 the total foreign trade of Pakistan amounted to 27.91 billion dollars. Unprecedented …

The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Pakistan’s Telecom sector has surpassed $1 billion mark during the last eight months of current financial year to clinch the second coveted position after oil and gas sector in this respect. Presently, five mobile companies, four foreign and one state-run, are in operation in the country, while even this …

Overseas Pakistanis sent back home $1.946 billion in the first half of this fiscal year, up from $1.874 billion they had sent in a year-ago period, according to data released by State Bank of Pakistan. This suggests that remittances from expatriate Pakistanis may touch $4 billion during this fiscal year ending in June. But these …

A cabinet committee on Friday approved the designs of Rs20 and Rs5,000 denomination currency notes. The cabinet committee on design of currency notes met here with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in the chair. According to an official handout, the designs were presented to the committee by the chairman of the Printing Corporation of Pakistan. The …

At the end of November 2004, all local and foreign banks working in Pakistan had $3 billion fresh foreign currency deposits i.e. those generated afresh after the freezing of $11 billion deposits in May 1998 when the country had gone nuclear. Data released by the State Bank show that the stock of fresh foreign …

Pakistan received an amount of $1609.76 million as workers’ remittances during the first five months of the current fiscal year from July to November 2004, as against $1488.08 million received in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year, registering an increase of $121.68 million or 8.18 per cent. During last month, workers remitted …

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday decided to issue fresh bank notes of Rs 50 and Rs 100 denominations without staples but with proper banding.
Accordingly, all SBP Banking Services Corporation [BSC] offices/branches will issue fresh currency notes of Rs 50 and Rs 100 denominations in unstapled form with immediate effect. Commercial banks have …

The federal cabinet has decided to issue new Pakistani currency notes of Rs 20 and Rs 5,000. The cabinet, which met with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in the chair, also decided to redesign the Rs 50 and Rs 1,000 notes. The new notes will incorporate the latest security features to protect them from forgery and …

Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves rose by $22 million to $12.181 billion in the week ended Sept. 11 mainly because of an increase in inflows to commercial banks, the central bank said on Friday. During the week, reserves held by commercial banks rose to $2.176 billion from $2.158 billion a week earlier, the central bank …

Banks operating in Pakistan have announced a record net interest income as credit volume to private business continues to expand.
Banking industry analysts foresee this trend in net interest income (NII) to continue. But, banks’ overall investment in the stock market will be restrained resulting in reduced yields. This is because the central bank has restricted …

Workers’ remittances or the foreign exchange sent back home by Pakistanis living abroad rose by 16 per cent to $669 million in July-August 2004, from $577 million in July-August 2003, data released by the State Bank show.
Overall remittances rose as Pakistanis living in the US and the UAE sent much higher amounts of foreign exchange …

Foreign direct investment has doubled during the past three years, which is approaching $1 billion this year. Pakistan’s Minister for Privatization and Investment stated this during a meeting with the visiting US delegation led by US Under Secretary of State, who called on him here on Monday.
According to a press release issued here by the …