Islamabad, April 26 (IANS) For Islamabad, it would be wiser to “redirect its diplomatic initiatives toward internal stabilisation rather than focusing on mediating distant conflicts”, an opinion piece in the local media said.The neighbouring country has attempted to mediate between the US and Iran amid the West Asia conflict.In the middle of the war in the Middle East, Pakistan and China had announced a Five-Point Initiative for restoring peace and stability in the Gulf and the wider Middle East…
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Seoul, April 26 (IANS) South Korea’s potential growth rate is projected to fall to a record low in the fourth quarter of next year, continuing a decade-long downward trend, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).According to the latest OECD data, the country’s potential growth rate is projected to reach 1.52 percent in the October-December period of next year, a sharp decline from 1.92 percent last year and an estimated 1.71 percent this year. It is expecte…
Mumbai, April 24 (IANS) India’s foreign exchange reserves registered a $2.3 billion increase in the week ending April 17, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India on Friday.The country’s forex reserves rose to reach $703.30 billion, the central bank said.The uptick comes after a period of sustained pressure on the reserves, largely driven by external factors and currency market interventions.India’s reserves had previously touched an all-time high of $728.494 billion in the …
New Delhi, April 23 (IANS) The Reserve Bank of India purchased $7.41 billion in the foreign exchange market during February this year on a net basis, marking the second straight month of net dollar buys, data from the monthly bulletin released on Thursday showed.The value of the Indian rupee rose 1 per cent vis-a-vis the dollar in February to post its first monthly gain in 10 months following the announcement of a trade deal between India and the US.During the month, the RBI purchased $21.4 bill…
New Delhi, April 22 (IANS) Despite constituting nearly half of Pakistan’s population, only one in four working-age women participates in the labour force, compared to nearly four out of five men, according to an article in Karachi-headquartered The News International.Among those women who do work, most are concentrated in agriculture, while fewer than 15 per cent are in formal employment. In major industrial sectors, women account for just 3.6 per cent of employment, highlighting the extent to…
New Delhi, April 21 (IANS) Bangladesh has failed to get any breakthrough at the IMF-World Bank Spring meeting, held earlier this month, on the stalled IMF programme, and no assurance that the expected $3.2 billion in budget support from the World Bank, the ADB, the AIIB, and Japan can be mobilised within the government’s timeline, a local media report said.At a time when tensions in the Strait of Hormuz are already unsettling global energy and freight markets, this ambiguity could not have come …
New Delhi, April 21 (IANS) Pakistan has entered more than 20 programmes with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over 65 years since 1958, and yet continues to remain trapped in a recurring cycle of economic crises, bailouts and temporary stabilisation without achieving durable structural reform, a report has lamented.According to a report in The News International, latest concerns were reflected in the IMF’s End-of-Mission Statement of March 2026, which once again highlighted familiar prior…
Washington, April 20 (IANS) India’s growth outlook remains relatively strong, but a prolonged rise in global energy prices could pose risks to the economy, the International Monetary Fund said. “We have modestly increased our forecast by 0.1 percentage point,” Krishna Srinivasan, Director of the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department, said at a press briefing during the Spring Meetings.He said the upgrade reflects strong momentum entering 2026 and easing tariff pressures. “Momentum coming i…
New Delhi, April 20 (IANS) Pakistan could secure huge amounts of aid from the US by offering its territory as a base to oppose the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which began in December 1979, but it has not been able to get any money from during the Iran war in which it is playing the role of a peacemaker, laments an article in the Pakistani media.The Soviet-Afghan War began on December 24, 1979. Washington first offered Pakistan $400 million, but then President General Zia-ul-Haq dismissed it …
Islamabad, April 19 (IANS) Protests were held in more than 100 cities of Pakistan to demand fixing of the minimum support price of wheat at Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 4,000 per maund, abolishing corporate farming, withdrawal of eviction notices issued to tenant farmers, and abandoning the plan to purchase wheat through 11 private companies, local media reported. Protests were held on the call given by the Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee (PKRC) to mark the International Day of Peasant Struggles. P…