Uptrends 
KARACHI: Distressed growers in Sindh are grappling with a severe shortage of fertilisers, significantly impacting wheat sowing and vegetable cultivation. The scarcity, if not promptly addressed, could escalate into a looming threat to food security, warn dismayed farmers. Growers are urging authorities to take immediate action to ensure the uninterrupted availability of fertilisers in … Read more
KARACHI: Fulfilling another International Monetary Fund (IMF) condition, the caretaker government has finally operationalised the state-owned EXIM Bank, the export and import development finance institution (DFI), in line with global practices. This move assigns the bank the crucial task of growing and diversifying the country’s exports while creating import substitution opportunities. The establishment of … Read more
ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Federal Minister of Commerce and Industry, Gohar Ijaz, released trade figures of the first 20 days of this month. Through a statement issued on Tuesday, the minister celebrated what he claimed to be a 33.1 % year on year growth in the past 20 days of December. ”The Ministry of Commerce is … Read more
ISLAMABAD: The Intellectual Property Organization (IPO) and the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) forged an alliance on Tuesday by signing an agreement aimed at digitising and automating IPO-Pakistan. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Director General of IPO, Ms. Shazia Adnan, and Director General of PITB, Saima R. Shaikh here to foster automation … Read more
Life insurance isn’t just about protection; it’s a gateway to financial strategies that go beyond security. Enter the world of overfunding life insurance—a smart, often untapped approach transforming policies into wealth-building tools. Padding more than the minimum premium, fueling your policy’s growth like turbocharging an engine. But what exactly is overfunding? How does it … Read more
Catastrophic consequences of high energy costs have forced many mill owners to close down their businesses A worker operates a machine preparing fabric at the Kohinoor Textile Mills in Lahore on July 20, 2023. — AFP Tariff on natural gas raised by over 60% since August 2022. Gas tariff expected to increase further in … Read more
1701357345-0/COP28-(2)1701357345-0.jpeg "COP28: climate finance needs – Uptrends")
ISLAMABAD: COP28 climate talks have ended with so much discussion and debate and have some useful conclusions. But it all requires finance. Things do not work out by just words. I wish if the financial zeal to allocate and spend money had been as strong as the discussion has been. Unfortunately, this has not … Read more
After lagging for the last few years, the stock market outperformed other popular investment options and asset classes for local investors in 2023, such as the US dollar, gold, government securities, and real estate, according to a research note shared by Topline Securities on Saturday. Market emerged as the highest return provider, as the … Read more
“USD/PKR seems to be hovering around the 282 mark for another month or so,” says Tresmark report A currency dealer counts US dollars at a shop in Karachi. — AFP/File Rupee closes week at 282.53 per dollar, gains 0.24%. Zero CAD policy major reason behind rupee stability. Forex exchange reserves remain under pressure. KARACHI: The rupee is … Read more
KARACHI: Digital literacy is the ability to understand and use digital tools and technologies. This can be as basic as writing a report or article on Microsoft Word, but today we often take it to mean the ability to use and manipulate software and hardware to suit our needs. Essentially, this could be application … Read more