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☆ Dasu dam: Chinese workers killed in suicide bomb blast as Pakistan grapples with attacks on Beijing’s interests
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-27 | by ( Sophia Saifi | Nectar Gan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered condolences for the death of the Chinese nationals during a visit Tuesday to the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad, where he met with Beijing’s ambassador. The blast Tuesday follows two militant attacks in recent days in southwest Pakistan, where China is investing billions in infrastructure projects. Half a year later, a separatist group attacked a luxury hotel in Gwadar, often used by Chinese nationals working at the port. In August last year, BLA militants opened fire on a Pakistani military convoy in Gwadar as it was escorting a delegation of Chinese nationals to a construction project. Two militants were killed and no harm was caused to any military personnel or civilians, according to the Pakistani military.

Persons: Muhammad Ali Gandapur, Xi, Tuesday’s, Shehbaz Sharif, Ishaq Dar, ”, “ Organizations: Islamabad CNN —, Beijing . Senior, Taliban, Foreign Ministry, Embassy, Beijing’s, Baloch Liberation, Pakistan Economic, Pakistan Stock Exchange Locations: Islamabad, Pakistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, China, Afghanistan, restive, Balochistan, Gwadar, Beijing, Xinjiang, Karachi

KARACHI, Pakistan, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Pakistani ecommerce logistics startup Rider, backed by YCombinator, is looking into acquiring BlueEx (UNIV.PSX) the only listed Express Courier Logistics Company in Pakistan, it told Reuters on Thursday. "We are carving out and acquiring the e-commerce logistics business which currently operates under the brand name BlueEx. This is not an acquisition of Universal Network System Limited as a whole," said Salman Allana, founder and CEO of Rider. If the transaction goes through, this will be the first acquisition of a listed company by a startup, and the first major acquisition of a company listed on Pakistan's Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) board at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PAKS.PSX). While Rider has not disclosed the transaction value, it claims the acquisition will make Rider the third largest player in the ecommerce logistics space.

Persons: Salman Allana, Rider, Allana, Ariba Shahid, Michael Perry Organizations: Express Courier Logistics Company, Reuters, Venture, Universal Network System, Pakistan Stock Exchange, GEM, YCombinator, Global Founders Capital, Flexport, i2i Ventures, Fatima, Ventures, Soma, Rebel Fund, Thomson Locations: KARACHI, Pakistan, Karachi

[1/3] Stock brokers monitor new on television screen at a booth, during a trading session at the Pakistan Stock Exchange, in Karachi, Pakistan July 3, 2023. REUTERS/Akhtar SoomroKARACHI, July 3 (Reuters) - Pakistan's benchmark share index scored its biggest single-day jump in 15 years on Monday, gaining 5.9% on the first trading session after the country secured a last-gasp funding deal from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The KSE 100 index (.KSE) closed up 2,442.06 points at 43,894.7, marking its biggest percentage gain since June 24, 2008, when it rose 8.6%, as per Refinitiv data. "Today's gain in the benchmark KSE 100 Index will likely to be highest in the history of Pakistan Stock exchange," it said. Several automakers including Pakistan Suzuki Motor Co (PKSU.PSX) had announced prolonged plant closures in 2023, citing import restrictions.

Persons: Akhtar Soomro, Shehbaz Sharif, Muhammad Iqbal Jawaid, Arif Habib, HCAR, Asif Shahzad, Swati Bhat, Lincoln, David Holmes Organizations: Pakistan Stock Exchange, REUTERS, International Monetary Fund, IMF, Topline Securities, Pakistan Stock, Pakistan, U.S ., Pakistan Suzuki Motor, Honda, Pakistan Suzuki, Indus, Toyota, Auto, Arif, Arif Habib Ltd, Thomson Locations: Karachi, Pakistan, Akhtar Soomro KARACHI

☆ Pakistan central bank raises main interest rate by 100 bps to 22%
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Karachi, PAKISTAN, June 26 (Reuters) - Pakistan's central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by 100 basis points to 22% at an emergency meeting on Monday, a day after the country revised its budget for the fiscal year from July 1 in a bid to rescue an IMF programme that expires in days. The central bank has now raised its main rate by 12.25 percentage points since April 2022, mainly to curb soaring inflation. "The MPC views this action as necessary to keep real interest rate firmly in positive territory on a forward-looking basis," the central bank said in a statement. On June 12 the central bank had left its key rate unchanged. The KSE100 index on the Pakistan Stock Exchange closed up 3.42% on expectations of a deal begin reached with the IMF.

Persons: Fahad Rauf, Ismail Iqbal, Shivam Patel, Sanjeev Miglani, Hugh Lawson Organizations: IMF, Analysts, International Monetary Fund, MPC, Ismail, Ismail Iqbal Securities, Pakistan Stock Exchange, Thomson Locations: Karachi, PAKISTAN, New Delhi, Shahid

KARACHI, June 14 (Reuters) - Shell Pakistan (SHEL.PSX) said on Wednesday that its parent company, Shell (SHEL.L) unit Shell Petroleum Company, would be exiting Pakistan with the sale of its 77% shareholding in the in the local business. The move came after Shell Pakistan (SPL) suffered losses in 2022 due to exchange rates, the devaluation of the Pakistani rupee, and overdue receivables, and as the country faces a financial crisis and economic slowdown. "To support its intention to high-grade and simplify its portfolio, Shell Petroleum Company Ltd... has initiated a sales process to sell its 77.42% shareholding in Shell Pakistan Ltd," a spokesperson for Shell Pakistan said in an email to Reuters. That includes "all of SPL’s Downstream businesses and SPL’s 26% ownership of Pak-Arab Pipeline Company Ltd (PAPCO)," the spokesperson added. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl/File PhotoIt said in the notice that Shell Petroleum Company had notified its board of directors of its intention to sell the holding in a meeting on June 14.

Persons: Morteza, Shell, Wael Sawan, Ariba Shahid, Sakshi Dayal, Gibran Peshimam, David Evans, Jan Harvey, Kirsten Donovan Organizations: Shell Pakistan, Shell, Shell Petroleum Company, Shell Petroleum Company Ltd, Shell Pakistan Ltd, Reuters, Arab Pipeline Company, Pakistan Stock Exchange, REUTERS, Thomson Locations: KARACHI, Pakistan, Nowshera, Pakistan's, Khyber, Pakhtunkhwa Province, Bukom, Jurong, Singapore

KARACHI, Pakistan, May 9 (Reuters) - Petroleum dealers have flagged a surge in the smuggling of Iranian fuel to Pakistan, saying that up to 35% of diesel sold in the South Asian country has arrived illegally from Iran, the Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) told Reuters on Tuesday. “Private dealers have been able to make decent profits by selling Iranian diesel rupees 35 ($0.1235)/litre cheaper than local dealers,” it added. The PPDA said that Iranian fuel smuggled into Pakistan was further hurting the industry, already reeling from low sales. “In the past smuggled fuel was restricted to just Balochistan, but it has now spread all over,” Khan said. Due to Iranian fuel being significantly cheaper than domestic fuel, refineries are having trouble with stock uptake.

☆ Pakistan's Honda Atlas shuts production to end-March on import difficulties
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Ariba Shahid | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KARACHI, Pakistan, March 8 (Reuters) - Honda Atlas Cars Pakistan Ltd has announced the longest plant shutdown to date in the current economic crisis amongst the country's automakers, which are struggling to obtain raw materials due to import difficulties. The company, a unit of Japanese car giant Honda Motor Co Ltd (7267.T), said its plant would shut from March 9, 2023, to March 31, 2023. Other listed-automakers, such as Indus Motor Company Limited (INDU) and Pak Suzuki Motor Company (PSMC), have also been forced to halt production during the past three quarters due to Pakistan's economic difficulties, which have seen central bank foreign exchange reserves drop to a level barely able to cover four weeks of imports. “Pakistan has limited dollars and until reserves improve to at least two months’ worth of import cover, import restrictions would likely continue.”Other manufacturing halts in the sector have been between two and 16 days. Reporting by Ariba Shahid in Karachi; Editing by Sharon SingletonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The currency's official value closed at 255.4 rupees against the dollar versus 230.9 on Wednesday, the central bank said. Facing an increasingly acute balance of payments crisis, Pakistan is desperate to secure external financing, with less than three weeks worth of import cover in its foreign exchange reserves. Aside from wanting the government to reduce its budget deficit, the IMF is pushing for it to move to a market-determined exchange rate regime. The foreign exchange companies said on Wednesday that they had removed the cap for the sake of the country, because it was causing "artificial" distortions for the economy. Aside from moving towards a market-determined exchange rate, Islamabad has also announced it will take fiscal measures recommended by the IMF.

The Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP) said late on Tuesday it was lifting the cap on the currency in the interest of the country. Before the cap on the rupee was removed, markets eyed three different rates to assess its value -- the state bank's official rate, the one assessed by the foreign exchange companies and the black market rate. He said the removal of the cap would curb the black market. "The black market rate is still sticky in the range of 260-270. The decision of exchange companies has not had any impact as such," said Fahad Rauf, Head of Research at Ismail Iqbal Securities.

☆ Pakistan, IMF begin talks on $7 bln loan review
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Asif Shahzad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"The IMF understands that the floods have changed the macroeconomic assumptions on which the programme was designed," the ministry told Reuters. Pakistan reserves stood at $7.8 billion as of Nov. 18, barely enough to cover imports for a month. ARY News reported on Monday that the IMF had asked Pakistan to reduce expenses before talks on the ninth review. The ninth review has been pending since September. The IMF told Reuters last week that finalisation of a recovery plan from the floods was essential to support discussions, along with continued financial support from multilateral and bilateral partners.

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