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KARACHI, Pakistan, June 2 (Reuters) - Pakistan has passed a special order to allow barter trade with Afghanistan, Iran and Russia for certain goods, including petroleum and natural gas, the Ministry of Commerce said on Friday. The government order, called the Business-to-business (B2B) Barter Trade Mechanism 2023 and dated June 1, lists goods that can be bartered. Sajid Amin, deputy director of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, said Pakistan could gain particularly from oil and energy imports from Russia and Iran without adding to dollar demand. "While it may not solve currency smuggling, particularly at the Afghanistan border, it can discourage smuggling of goods from Iran, such as diesel, and Afghanistan which is hurting the economy," Amin added. In May, the Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association complained that up to 35% of the diesel sold in Pakistan had been smuggled from Iran.

Persons: Sajid Amin, Amin, Pakistan's, Musadik Malik, Malik, Ariba Shahid, Asif Shahzad, Simon Cameron, Moore, David Holmes Organizations: Ministry of Commerce, State, Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Reuters, Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association, Thomson Locations: KARACHI, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Russia

☆ Analysis: Pakistan in uncharted territory as army seeks to vanquish Imran Khan
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/2] Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan, gestures as he speaks to the members of the media at his residence in Lahore, Pakistan May 18, 2023. There has never been that kind of challenge to Pakistan's military, which has held sway over the country since independence in 1947 with a mixture of fear and respect. The 1971 fall of Dhaka in what was then East Pakistan and the birth of Bangladesh after defeat by arch-enemy India has been the lowest point for Pakistan's military since 1947. Khan was released by court order two days after his arrest, but his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party now faces the ire of the military. "The military's power comes from its ability to deploy force, not popularity - Pakistan's generals like being liked but they like being in control even more," he said.

Here are some key facts about Pakistan's military courts, according to lawyers Reuters spoke to:- Pakistan's Army Act of 1952 established military courts primarily to try members of the military or enemies of the state. - Civilians accused of offences such as waging war against the armed forces or law enforcement agencies, or attacking military installations or inciting mutiny, can be tried at military courts. - Military courts operate under a separate system from the civilian legal system and are run by military officers. The judges are also military personnel and cases are tried at military installations. - Military courts were most recently used to try Islamist militants waging an insurgency in Pakistan.

[1/3] Firefighters try to douse a bus that caught fire during clashes with the supporters of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad, Pakistan, May 12, 2023. The decision was taken at a meeting of the National Security Committee chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. It is an endorsement of the military, which said on Monday that the rioters and their handlers had been identified, and would be tried under army laws. "The meeting endorsed to bring the miscreants, the planners who incited for violence and their facilitators to dock by trying them under constitutional provisions of concerned laws, including Pakistan Army Act and Official Secrets Act," said a statement issued by Sharif's office. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), an independent civil rights group, said it strongly opposes the use of those two laws to try civilians.

☆ Pakistan's external financing requirements for IMF deal unchanged - IMF
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KARACHI, May 14 (Reuters) - Pakistan's external financing requirements have not been changed in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over bailout funds, the IMF Resident Representative in Pakistan said, denying local media reports that the Fund was seeking fresh financing. Pérez Ruiz said that external funding requirements had not changed throughout the discussions, under a review that would unlock $1.1 billion in financing for the cash-strapped South Asian nation as part of a $6.5 billion IMF package. On Thursday, the Fund reiterated that obtaining commitments on external financing from friendly countries would be essential before the IMF approves the release of bailout funds. IMF Resident Representative Pérez Ruiz said that Pakistani authorities committed to the IMF during last month's spring meetings that they would not introduce the cross-subsidy scheme in fiscal year 2023 or beyond. "The announced fuel cross-subsidy scheme raises new quasi-fiscal and balance of payments risks, and it is amenable to fraud," she said, in a separate text message to Reuters.

KARACHI, Pakistan, May 13 (Reuters) - Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Saturday gave authorities 72 hours to identify and arrest all those involved in violent acts after former Prime Minister Imran Khan's arrest this week sparked deadly unrest. Khan departed court premises late Friday night and headed towards his hometown Lahore amid high security, after a court granted him bail. Following Sharif's announcement, Punjab's government released pictures of unidentified protesters involved in an attack on a military official's residence on Wednesday. Khan, 70, is a cricket star-turned-politician who was ousted as prime minister in April 2022 in a parliamentary no-confidence vote and Pakistan's most popular leader according to opinion polls. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter were inaccessible in Pakistan on Saturday, Reuters journalists said, after access was briefly restored late on Friday.

He had remained inside for hours after being granted bail, saying he was not being allowed to leave by security officials. It's not the security agencies, it's one man – the army chief," he said, without naming him. He has since been a vocal critic of current army chief General Asim Munir. [1/7] Security officers escort Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan, as he appeared in Islamabad High Court, Islamabad, Pakistan May 12, 2023. "The Islamabad High Court has given a two-week bail and also ordered the (anti-graft body) not to arrest Imran Khan during this period," another of Khan's lawyers, Faisal Chaudhry, told Reuters.

☆ Pakistan arrests ex-PM Khan's party leaders as protests continue
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Pakistan's Former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi speaks with the media after the proceedings at the Supreme Court in Islamabad, Pakistan April 4, 2022. REUTERS/Akhtar SoomroISLAMABAD, May 11 (Reuters) - Pakistani authorities arrested a senior leader of former Prime Minister Imran Khan's party on Thursday as the government deployed the army to help end deadly unrest sparked by Khan's arrest three days ago. Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who served as foreign minister in Imran Khan's cabinet during his four year premiership, was arrested overnight, a statement on his Twitter profile said. Two other senior leader of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, Asad Umar and Fawad Chaudhry, were also arrested on Wednesday. Police have arrested more than 1,300 protesters in Khan's home province of Punjab for violence.

Violent clashes between supporters of Imran Khan and police broke out across the country after Pakistan's anti-corruption agency arrested the former prime minister on Tuesday. Pakistan's rupee has lost nearly 50% over the past 12 months. JPMorgan analyst Milo Gunasinghe said little relief from political uncertainty was in sight while the IMF programme remained stalled. "It is usually up to the country to present a credible plan of policies and financing that, in the face of political uncertainty, will credibly address the members’ balance of payment problems." The armed forces remain Pakistan's most powerful institution, having ruled directly for close to half the country's 75-year history through three coups.

Khan's colleagues in his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his indictment. Mobile data services were shut for a second day on Wednesday as street protests continued, with federal ministers accusing Khan's supporters of torching several buildings and vehicles. MORE THAN 1,000 ARRESTS[1/8] Supporters of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan throw stones towards police during a protest against Khan's arrest, in Peshawar, Pakistan, May 10, 2023. Khan, a cricket hero-turned-politician, was ousted as prime minister in April 2022 in a parliamentary no-confidence vote. In most of the cases, Khan faces being barred from holding public office if convicted.

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.

An IMF review of the budget presents a fresh hurdle before the lender approves the release of pending bailout funds, which are crucial for Pakistan to resolve an acute balance of payments crisis. Pakistan has struggled to strike a deal with the IMF to release funds critical to stabilise the struggling economy. On Thursday, Finance Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar reiterated that Pakistan has already taken all the agreed steps to unlock the funding. The $1.1 billion tranche is a part of a $6.5 billion bailout package the IMF approved in 2019, which is due to end in June, prior to the budget. The government has removed caps on the exchange rate, imposed taxes, raised energy tariffs, and scaled back subsidies in an attempt to unlock the IMF funding.

KARACHI, Pakistan, May 2 (Reuters) - Pakistan consumer prices, driven by food, rose a record 36.4% in the year to April, the highest inflation rate in South Asia and up from March's 35.4%, the statistics bureau said on Tuesday. Pakistan's rural areas recorded food inflation of 40.2%, the bureau told Reuters. Food inflation for both rural and urban areas reached 48.1%, the highest since FY16 when the bureau started recording the categories separately. "The higher reading was expected over the hyperinflation in the food segment," said Amreen Soorani, head of research at JS Capital, a Karachi based investment company. Persistently high inflation has resulted in major lifestyle and consumption changes, with a greater number of people seeking help.

ISLAMABAD, April 28 (Reuters) - Inflation-hit Pakistan on Friday approved a rise of up to 20% in retail prices of general medicines and 14% for essential ones, prompting immediate criticism from drug manufacturers who said the increases were too small. The government decision followed a months-long stand-off with importers and manufacturers, whose associations have been demanding an across-the-board 39% rise, warning that the industry could otherwise collapse. But the government had pushed back against the demands for higher medicine prices, fearing such a move would lose it support months before national general elections. The finance ministry said medicine prices could be reviewed again after three months if the Pakistani rupee appreciated, adding that "no increase under this category" would be granted in the next financial year. The Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Association (PPMA) criticised the increase, which it said was way lower than it had expected.

[1/5] People look at handbags on display outside shops in a market, ahead of Eid al-Fitr celebrations in Karachi, Pakistan April 19, 2023. REUTERS/Akhtar SoomroKARACHI, Pakistan, April 20 (Reuters) - Retail sales in Pakistan have witnessed a sharp drop compared to previous years in the run up to the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, retailers say, as shoppers feel the pinch of decades-high inflation. The lead up to Eid al-Fitr, expected to fall on Saturday in Pakistan to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan, traditionally sees the highest sales of the year. Asfandyar Farrukh, co-founder of CAP and managing director of Hub, a leather goods store, said that Eid shopping appears to have started sooner and peaked earlier, coinciding with salary pay days, and customers anticipating price increases. The sales drop adds to the slowing of Pakistan's $350 billion economy, which has struggled in recent months amidst tough stabilisation polices, including the central bank raising interest rates to a historic high of 21%.

[1/2] African elephant Noor Jahan, 17, who is unwell, rests on a sand pile, at a zoo in Karachi, Pakistan April 14, 2023. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro TPX IMAGES OF THE DAYKARACHI, Pakistan, April 14 (Reuters) - Noor Jehan, an elephant in Pakistan's Karachi Zoo, is critically ill after the 17-year-old fell in a pond on Thursday in a small enclosure. Right after the fall Four Paws, a global animal welfare organization, recommended lifting Noor Jehan with a crane, ropes and belts. The veterinarian from Egypt had then given Noor Jehan a strong chance of survival. Khalid Hashmi was removed as director of Karachi Zoo on April 8 over complaints of negligence.

KARACHI, Pakistan, April 13 (Reuters) - Pakistan's debt continues to be sustainable, International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Kristalina Georgieva said on Thursday, after the government reiterated it had completed all requirements to receive a critical bailout from the IMF. Pakistan's finance ministry on Thursday said IMF deputy managing director Antoinette Moniso Sayeh was confident of signing the staff level agreement very soon. Pakistan's government reiterated on Thursday it has completed all requirements to receive the critical bailout money from the fund following a meeting with Sayeh. "The finance minister also shared that all the international obligations have been addressed in time," the finance ministry said in a news release. On Wednesday, Pakistan's finance ministry release a statement following talks with the IMF's Middle East and Central Asia Director Jihad Azour.

☆ Exclusive: China plans $500 million subsea internet cable to rival US-backed project
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Joe Brock | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +10 min

China's three main carriers – China Telecommunications Corporation (China Telecom), China Mobile Limited and China United Network Communications Group Co Ltd(China Unicom) – are mapping out one of the world’s most advanced and far-reaching subsea cable networks, according to the four people, who have direct knowledge of the plan. They said HMN Tech, which is majority-owned by Shanghai-listed Hengtong Optic-Electric Co Ltd, would receive subsidies from the Chinese state to build the cable. China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, HMN Tech, and Hengtong did not respond to requests for comment. The consortium on the SeaMeWe-6 cable – which originally had included China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom and telecom carriers from several other nations – initially picked HMN Tech to build that cable. China Telecom and China Mobile pulled out of the project after SubCom won the contract last year and, along with China Unicom, began planning the EMA cable, the four people involved said.

☆ Exclusive: China plans $500 mln subsea internet cable to rival U.S.-backed project
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Joe Brock | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +10 min

China's three main carriers – China Telecommunications Corporation (China Telecom), China Mobile Limited and China United Network Communications Group Co Ltd(China Unicom) – are mapping out one of the world’s most advanced and far-reaching subsea cable networks, according to the four people, who have direct knowledge of the plan. They said HMN Tech, which is majority-owned by Shanghai-listed Hengtong Optic-Electric Co Ltd, would receive subsidies from the Chinese state to build the cable. China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, HMN Tech, Hengtong and China’s Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment. The consortium on the SeaMeWe-6 cable – which originally had included China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom and telecom carriers from several other nations – initially picked HMN Tech to build that cable. China Telecom and China Mobile pulled out of the project after SubCom won the contract last year and, along with China Unicom, began planning the EMA cable, the four people involved said.

I'll never get over his death as long as I live," his father, Umer Zada, told Reuters. Zada said the distribution of aid should have been better organised, with police supervision of the hungry and desperate seeking help. "There has been a 50% reduction in donations this year, while there has been a 50% increase in people seeking help." The group's ambulances took away the injured and the bodies of Saad and the others killed in the Karachi crush. Like everyone, Zada is struggling with inflation but he also has to contend with grief and questions that torment him.

KARACHI, Pakistan, April 4 (Reuters) - Pakistan's central bank raised its key interest rate by 100 basis points to a record 21% on Tuesday, as the cash-strapped country stepped up its fight against soaring consumer prices. Investors polled by Reuters had expected an even-bigger rate hike of 200 basis point from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), which is facing on consumer price inflation that hit a record annual level of just over 35% in March. Worldwide growth in consumer prices has compounded high inflation in Pakistan caused by a weakening currency, energy tariff increases and elevated food prices due to Ramadan. The SBP has hiked the key rate by cumulatively by 1025 bps since January 2022. In early March, the bank raised its key rate by 300 basis points to 20%, exceeding market expectations, likely to meet a key requirement of the IMF for release of bailout funds.

☆ Pakistan posts highest-ever annual inflation; stampedes for food kill 16
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( Asif Shahzad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Akhtar SoomroISLAMABAD, April 1 (Reuters) - Consumer price inflation in Pakistan jumped to a record 35.37% in March from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said on Saturday, as at least 16 people were killed in stampedes for food aid. The March inflation number eclipsed February's 31.5%, the bureau said, as food, beverage and transport prices surged up to 50% year-on-year. A spokesman at the statistics bureau said the inflation number was the highest ever year-on-year increase recorded by the bureau since monthly records began in the 1970s. Annual food inflation in March was at 47.1% and 50.2% for urban and rural areas respectively, the bureau said. Core inflation, which strips out food and energy, stood at 18.6% in urban areas and 23.1% in rural areas.

Eighteen out of 20 economists and market watchers surveyed said the central bank would hike rates, with 12 of them predicting a 200 bps increase. Two poll participants saw the benchmark raised by 100 bps, while four forecast a 150 bps hike. Worldwide growth in consumer prices has compounded high inflation in Pakistan caused by a weakening currency, energy tariff increases and elevated food prices due to Ramadan. The latest consumer price-based inflation clocked a 31.5% rise on year in February, the highest in nearly 50 years. The State Bank of Pakistan has raised rates by a total 10.25% since January 2022.

[1/3] People gather to receive sacks of free flour, at a distribution point in Peshawar, Pakistan March 30, 2023. REUTERS/Fayaz AzizLAHORE/PESHAWAR, Pakistan, March 30 (Reuters) - At least five people have been killed in recent weeks and more injured in Pakistan in stampedes at sites distributing free flour under a government-backed scheme to help families struggling with soaring costs of basic staples. The Pakistani government has launched the flour distribution programme to reach millions of families in need during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan that began last week. Another person was killed in a stampede at a distribution centre last week in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province according to records shared by the provincial food authority. "There were some unfortunate incidents of stampedes and looting," Khan Ghalib, an official at the provincial food department said.

KARACHI, Pakistan, March 30 (Reuters) - China is working on a request by Pakistan to roll over a $2-billion loan that matured last week, a top finance ministry official told Reuters. The rollover is critical for the South Asian nation, as its foreign exchange reserves have dipped to just four weeks worth of imports at a time when it is locked in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to secure bailout funds. The loan matured on March 23. The IMF funding is critical for Pakistan to unlock other external financing avenues, and the two have been negotiating since early February to resume $1.1 billion in funding held since November, part of a $6.5 billion bailout agreed in 2019. One of the lender's last remaining conditions for release of the tranche is securing an assurance on external financing to fund Pakistan's balance of payments.

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