Global | Pakistan

Global showbiz battle with AI heats up

Ratings agency S&P Global raised Pakistan’s sovereign credit rating to ‘B-’ from ‘CCC+’ and placed it on a ‘stable’ outlook on Thursday, saying the country’s finances and reserves had been stabilised by International Monetary Fund (IMF) support. “The stable outlook reflects our expectations that continued economic recovery and government efforts to enhance revenue will stabilise fiscal and debt metrics,” S&P said in a statement on the move. “We also expect that sustained official financing will support Pakistan in meeting its external obligations, and that the country will continue to roll over its commercial credit lines over the next 12 months.” Pakistan’s longer-dated international bonds rallied after the upgrade, with the 2051 maturity gaining 1.6 cents to be bid at 84.85 cents on the dollar, according to Tradeweb data. The 2031 and 2036 maturities also gained around 1 cent, while shorter-dated maturities posted smaller gains. Last week, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb urged the leading US rating agen...

Cocaine production, seizures and use all hit record highs in 2023, the UN drug agency said on Thursday, with the illicit drug’s market the world’s fastest-growing. Illegal production jumped to 3,708 tons, nearly 34 per cent more than in 2022, and more than four times higher than 10 years earlier, when it was at a low, the Vienna-based UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in its annual report. The current surge is mainly due to an increase in the size of the area under illicit coca bush cultivation in Colombia and updated yield data, it added. Global cocaine seizures, too, recorded a high of 2,275 tons, marking a 68pc rise in the four years to 2023. The number of cocaine users also grew to 25 million in 2023, up from 17 million ten years earlier. “Cocaine has become fashionable for the more affluent society,” UNODC chief researcher Angela Me said, noting a “vicious cycle” of increased use and production. While Colombia remains the key producer, cocaine traffickers are breaking into new markets across Asia...