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☆ Pakistani fintech startup Trukkr raises $6.4 mln, gets lending licence
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Ariba Shahid | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KARACHI, Pakistan, March 7 (Reuters) - Trukkr, a fintech platform for Pakistan’s trucking industry, said on Tuesday it had raised $6.4 million in a funding round and also received a non-banking financial company (NBFC) licence. Trukkr offers Pakistan’s small- and medium-sized trucking companies a transport management system and supply chain solutions, and is unique in providing fintech to digitise the largely unbanked and undocumented industry. The seed funding round was led by U.S. based Accion Venture Lab and London based Sturgeon Capital. Haitou Global, Al Zayani Venture Capital and investor Peter Findley also participated in the round, Trukkr said in a statement. Adamjee told Reuters that Pakistan's $35 billion a year trucking industry is growing at 10% annually despite limited rail and water freight infrastructure.

☆ Suicide bombing in southwest Pakistan kills nine policemen
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

QUETTA, Pakistan, March 6 (Reuters) - A suicide bomber rammed a motorcycle into a police truck in southwestern Pakistan on Monday, killing nine policemen, a police spokesman said. Spokesman Mehmood Khan Notizai told Reuters the attack took place in Sibbi, a city some 160 km (100 miles) east of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province. Hospital officials said at least 7 policemen were wounded in the attack, the latest in a series targeting police personnel in Pakistan. Ethnic Baloch guerrillas have been fighting the government for decades, accusing it of exploiting Balochistan's rich gas and mineral resources. Reporting by Saleem Shahid in Quetta and Asif Shahzad in Islamaba, writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; editing by Miral FahmyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had said last week that the external financing assurance was not one of the IMF's conditions for clearance of the funding. Pakistan has completed almost all other measures needed except for the external financing requirement, officials say. Dar said last week that Pakistan will need $5 billion external financing to close its financing gap this fiscal year ending June 30, adding the IMF believed it should be $7 billion. Dar said hoped more external financing will be coming as Pakistan signs the IMF deal this week. Ruiz noted that the difference in foreign exchange rates between the open and informal markets has been very damaging for Pakistan, resulting in shortages of foreign exchange and consequently imported goods.

☆ Pakistan expects $1.3 bln financing from China's ICBC soon
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Asif Shahzad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ISLAMABAD, March 3 (Reuters) - Cash-strapped Pakistan will receive $1.3 billion in financing from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd in coming days to help shore up its foreign exchange reserves, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday. Dar said the total $2 billion is in effect Pakistan borrowing back the debt repayments it has paid to Beijing for previously agreed loans. He said Pakistan will need $5 billion external financing to close its financing gap this fiscal year, which ends in June. More external financing will be coming to Pakistan only after Islamabad signs a deal with International Monetary Fund (IMF), which the minister said should be done by next week. Reporting by Asif Shahzad and Ariba Shahid; editing by John Stonestreet and Louise HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Pakistan central bank may hike rates another 200 bps to unlock IMF funds
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Ariba Shahid | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KARACHI, PAKISTAN, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Pakistan’s central bank is widely expected to raise its key policy rate by 200 basis points in an off-cycle meeting on Thursday as it struggles to unlock critical funding from the IMF, a Reuters poll showed. All sixteen economists and market watchers surveyed said there would be a hike -- 14 of them predicted 200 basis points (bps), while two expected 250 bps. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has raised rates by 725 bps since January 2022. In its last policy meeting in January, the bank raised the key rate by 100 bps to 17%, citing inflationary pressure. He said the market had already incorporated a 200 bps hike in the last treasury bill auction where the government accepted bids with yields more than 200 bps higher than the policy rate.

BARCELONA, Feb 26 (Reuters) - A clash between Big Tech and European Union telecoms firms over who will underwrite network infrastructure is set to dominate discussion at the world's largest telecoms conference this week. More than 80,000 people, including tech executives, innovators, and regulators, are set to descend on this year's Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona. EU industry chief Thierry Breton on Thursday launched a 12-week consultation on its "fair share" proposals, under which Big Tech platforms would bear more of the costs of the systems which give them access to consumers. By contrast, Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE), Orange (ORAN.PA), Telefonica (TEF.MC) and Telecom Italia (TLIT.MI) have been actively lobbying for Big Tech to pay the fees. "This discussion around 'fair share', or what we sometimes call the 'investment gap', is going to be a threshold question," said John Giusti, GSMA's chief regulatory officer.

☆ Pakistan set to increase interest rates in off-cycle review, say investors
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Ariba Shahid | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Market participants in a recent treasury bill auction are expecting at least a 200 basis points increase in the central bank's policy rate, which stands at 17%. The expected increase is based on the rates the Pakistan government set in the auction to raise the funds. The cut off rates for the three-month, six-month, and 12-month tenors jumped 195 bps, 206 bps, and 184 bps higher than the previous auction. While the government expects a deal with IMF soon, media reports say that the agency expects the policy rate to be increased. “Pakistan has two core inflation readings i.e., Urban (15.4% for Jan-23) and Rural (19.4%) and no national core number is released.

☆ China lends Pakistan further $700 mln to shore up FX reserves
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Asif Shahzad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"This amount is expected to be received this week by State Bank of Pakistan which will shore up its forex reserves," Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Twitter. A finance ministry official said the loan was in addition to other facilities that China has already extended to Pakistan. China Development Bank did not respond to a faxed request for comment. Addressing his cabinet, he said the government was focusing on austerity as a top priority. China is already Pakistan's single largest creditor with its commercial banks holding about 30% of its external debt.

☆ Thousands of trucks stuck at Afghan-Pakistan border crossing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Jibran Ahmad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Men sit near a queue of trucks loaded with supplies to leave for Afghanistan, after Taliban authorities have closed the main border crossing in Torkham, Pakistan February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Shahid ShinwariPESHAWAR, Feb 21 (Reuters) - A key border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan remained closed for a third day, with thousands of goods vehicles stuck and businesses facing losses as officials from both sides try to broker a solution. "The closure of the border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been causing losses to traders of the two countries. He added some trucks had been diverted to another, smaller border crossing, but traders were worried about the security of truck drivers travelling to that region. Residents had reported heavy gunfire on Monday morning near the Torkham border crossing, but the Taliban official had denied any clashes and said the situation was under control.

☆ Pakistan current account deficit falls to $0.2 billion in Jan - cenbank
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Ariba Shahid | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KARACHI, Pakistan, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Pakistan’s current account deficit (CAD) dropped to $0.2 billion in January 2023, down 90% from last year as the rupee's depreciation slowed down imports, the central bank said on Monday. During the first seven months of the current fiscal year, the country’s current account deficit decreased by 67% to $3.8 billion, compared with a deficit of $11.6 billion during the same period last year. “This monthly deficit is lowest after 25 months, and lower than expectations,” said Mohammad Sohail, CEO of Topline Securities. The weaker currency has made imports more expensive, effectively slashing them. Reporting by Ariba Shahid in Karachi, Editing by Louise HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/5] Police officers stand in the aftermath of an attack on a police station in Karachi, Pakistan February 17, 2023. REUTERS/Akhtar SoomroKARACHI, Pakistan, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Islamists stormed a police station in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi on Friday, killing two people in a hail of gunfire and a series of loud explosions before they themselves were killed, officials said. Security forces retook the building after several hours and killed three militants, a government spokesman said. A huge explosion was heard inside the station after a series of blasts when it was first attacked. The Pakistani Taliban, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), took responsibility for the attack in a message sent by their spokesman to journalists.

☆ Pakistan, IMF agree on more talks, delaying bailout
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Ariba Shahid | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KARACHI, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund have agreed to continue talks on a deal, delaying the disbursement of $1.1 billion in funding critical to keeping the South Asian economy afloat. "Virtual discussions will continue in the coming days," IMF Pakistan Mission Chief Nathan Porter said in a statement, adding that considerable progress had been made. To release the funds, the IMF needs to reach a staff-level agreement with Pakistan, which then needs to be approved by the IMF's head office in Washington. The money is necessary to prevent Pakistan from defaulting on external payment obligations, and an IMF deal paves the way for other organisations and governments to provide funds, analysts say. In addition to the stalled tranche, $1.4 billion remain of the $6.5 billion bailout programme, which is due to end in June.

☆ Pakistan approves circular debt management plan, extra surcharge on electricity
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KARACHI, Pakistan, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Pakistan's Economic Co-ordination Committee on Friday approved a plan it is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund to slash its circular debt, a form of public debt that builds up in the power sector due to subsidies and unpaid bills. The committee, led by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, also approved an additional surcharge of Rs 1 per unit of electricity for FY 2023-24 to recover an estimated 76 billion Pakistani rupees ($282.81 million) in power sector liabilities. Pakistan and the IMF are to resume talks online next week they said on Friday, after ten days of face-to-face discussions in Islamabad on how to keep the country afloat ended without a deal. ($1 = 268.7300 Pakistani rupees)Reporting by Ariba Shahid, writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar editing by Philippa FletcherOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Pakistani PM approves IMF deal, Geo reports, without giving details
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Ariba Shahid | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Faisal MahmoodKARACHI, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has approved a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and all matters related to the bailout programme are settled, broadcaster Geo said on Thursday, citing sources. To release the funds, the IMF needed to reach a staff level agreement with Pakistan. Analysts say the money is necessary to prevent Pakistan from defaulting on external payment obligations, and an IMF deal also paves the way for other organisations and governments to provide funds. The IMF mission arrived in Pakistan late last week for talks aimed at releasing an overdue tranche of $1.1 billion from the bailout programme, leaving $1.4 billion remaining. The fiscal adjustments demanded by any deal, however, are likely to fuel record high inflation, which hit 27.5% year-on-year in January, analysts say.

☆ Pakistan navy to host 50 nations in maritime exercises from Feb 10
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Commander Pakistan Fleet Vice Admiral Ovais Ahmed Bilgrami, addresses a news briefing to host Pakistan Navy’s 8th Multinational Exercise AMAN-23 under the slogan of "Together for Peace", in Karachi, Pakistan, February 8, 2023. REUTERS/Akhtar SoomroKARACHI, PAKISTAN Feb 8 (Reuters) - Pakistan's navy said on Wednesday it will host 50 countries for regular maritime exercises that are held every two years involving ships, aircraft and special operation forces from Feb. 10-14. At a news briefing, Commander of the Pakistan Fleet, Vice Admiral Ovais Ahmed Bilgrami commented on the importance of the exercises in light of piracy, terrorism, narcotics and arms trafficking, and climate change. Reporting by Akhtar Soomro in Karachi, writing by Ariba Shahid in Karachi, editing by Andrew Heavens and Bernadette BaumOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Pakistani minister says fuel supplies adequate, warns against hoarding
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Ariba Shahid | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KARACHI, Pakistan, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Pakistan's government said on Wednesday it was not planning to hike fuel prices and warned oil companies against stockpiling petrol after some consumers complained they had been unable to purchase fuel at pumps. A member of Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC) in Pakistan told Reuters that only a few of the licensed companies are selling fuel while the others are not either due to financial issues or due to hoarding. Some consumers in Pakistan's most populous province of Punjab reported petrol stations were closed and others were limiting the amount people could buy. "I went to Sialkot where I found the majority of petrol stations closed. "Consumers think we're not giving them fuel and they blame us - but we aren't being supplied enough," he said.

☆ Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba-backed Daraz cuts workforce by 11%
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Ariba Shahid | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KARACHI, PAKISTAN, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Alibaba Group subsidiary, Daraz Group, an e-commerce platform, is reducing its workforce by 11% to prepare for the 'current market reality', the group's CEO Bjarke Mikkelsen said in a letter to employees shared on the company website. The group operates in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Daraz, Pakistan's largest e-commerce retail platform, was founded in 2012 in Pakistan and acquired by Chinese giant Alibaba (9988.HK) in 2018. Daraz said in 2021 that it had access to 500 million customers with a team of 10,000 employees. It has invested $100 million in Pakistan and Bangladesh over the last two years.

☆ Alibaba-backed Pakistani e-commerce platform Daraz cuts workforce by 11%
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Ariba Shahid | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KARACHI, PAKISTAN, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Alibaba-owned e-commerce platform Daraz Group is reducing its workforce by 11% to prepare for the 'current market reality', Chief Executive Officer Bjarke Mikkelsen said. The group operates in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Daraz, Pakistan's largest e-commerce retail platform, was founded in 2012 in Pakistan and acquired by Chinese giant Alibaba (9988.HK) in 2018. Ehsan Saya, managing director of Daraz Pakistan, told Reuters that Pakistan is its biggest market and said that Pakistan has the most number of employees employed across Daraz markets. Saya confirmed to Reuters that the 11% employee cut across the group will also mean an 11% cut in Pakistan.

☆ Factbox: Facts about Pakistan's late former President Pervez Musharraf
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 5 (Reuters) - Here are some facts about the life and career of Pakistan's former President Pervez Musharraf, who died on Sunday:*Born in Delhi, India, on August 11, 1943, in his family's ancestral home, Nehar Wali Haveli. *Musharraf joined Pakistan's Military Academy in 1961. He was chosen by then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the brother of Pakistan's current prime minister, as the army chief in 1998. *In 2002, Musharraf was appointed president, a title he held in addition to army chief, after winning more than 90% of the vote in a controversial national referendum. *In 2007, Musharraf stepped down from his post as army chief, but said he would remain president for another five-year term.

☆ Pakistan's forex reserves with central bank drop to $3.09 bln
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ISLAMABAD, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank decreased by 16.1% to $3.09 billion in the week ending Jan. 27, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday, which analysts said covers less than three weeks of imports. The country is locked in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to release much-needed money under a stalled bailout programme. The central bank said in a statement that the drop in reserves was due to external debt repayments. Reserves held by commercial banks stood at $5.65 billion, taking total liquid reserves in the country to $8.74 billion, SBP added. The central bank recently removed a cap on exchange rates and the government raised fuel prices by 16%.

[1/2] People wait for their turn to get fuel at a petrol station in Peshawar, Pakistan January 30, 2023. If we don't have LCs (letters of credit) open right now, we might see shortages in the next fortnight," a senior official at one of the oil companies told Reuters. Oil traders, however, are shunning countries such as Pakistan and Sri Lanka due to an acute shortfall of foreign exchange. State-owned refiner Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and Pakistan LNG Ltd have left a flurry of fuel tenders unawarded in the last couple of months. Pakistan bought only 223,000 tonnes of gasoline in December versus 608,000 tonnes in the same period a year earlier, data from Kpler showed.

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.

ISLAMABAD, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Pakistan's energy ministry said on Tuesday it had restored its national power grid nearly 24 hours after a breakdown triggered the worst outage in months, highlighting the frailty of the aid-dependant nation's infrastructure. All 1,112 grid stations were back online, a senior government official told Reuters, adding that electricity would be fully restored across the country once power generation units were back up. The outage, which began on Monday morning during the peak winter season, is the second major grid failure to hit the nation of 220 million people since October, though there are partial blackouts almost daily. Residents in major cities said they now had electricity, but some areas of the country were still without power. China has invested in its power sector as part of a $60 billion infrastructure scheme that feeds into Beijing's "Belt and Road" initiative.

☆ Thousands of mobile phone towers go offline in Pakistan after power outage - source
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KARACHI, Pakistan, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Thousands of mobile phone towers have gone offline across Pakistan due to a nationwide power cut on Monday, an industry source told Reuters, raising the spectre of a telecommunications blackout in parts of the country of 220 million people. The disruption has begun hitting the country's approximately 40,000 telecommunication towers. Separately, the country's telecommunication regulator, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), warned of outages. "Due to country wide power outage, users may face service disruptions," PTA said in a statement. A spokesperson for PTA did not respond to a question on how many of Pakistan's telecommunication towers were offline.

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