Pakistan

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded its 10-day visit to Pakistan on Saturday without reaching a formal agreement on the fiscal year 2026 budget, signaling unresolved differences between the two sides.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif is set to begin a four-nation diplomatic tour today, with scheduled visits to Turkiye, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Tajikistan.

ISLAMABAD: A World Bank stu­dy says the General Sales Tax (GST) has the largest marginal contribution to the national poverty increase, while GST payments account for over 7 per cent of households’ pretax expenditure, which leads to further impoverishment among poor and vulnerable households. The Effects of Taxes and Transfers on Inequality and Poverty in Pakis­tan says the GST has the largest ne­­g­ative impact on the poverty headco­unt; the Benazir Income Support Programme has the largest positive impact on inequality reduction. Estimations of the marginal contributions of individual fiscal instruments — or the additional impact that individual fiscal instruments have on poverty or inequality when all other fiscal instruments are included — demonstrate that GST has the largest marginal contribution to the national poverty increase. GST is allocated roughly in proportion to consumption expenditure and, therefore, is neither strongly regressive nor strongly progressive. The BISP cash transfer meanwhile de­­­m...

• Pakistan terms IWT suspension ‘dangerous escalation’ • Officials spar over India’s targeting of civilian areas UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has warned the United Nations that India’s unilateral decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) represents a dangerous escalation that violates international law and threatens the survival of more than 240 million people. Speaking at a UN meeting on protecting water in armed conflict on Friday evening, Pakistan urged the world community to act before such actions triggered a humanitarian catastrophe or destabilised the region. “This is a grave violation of international law, including human rights law, the treaty law and customary international law,” said Ambassador Usman Jadoon, Pakistan’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, at the Arria Formula meeting convened by Slovenia. “We strongly condemn India’s unlawful announcement to hold the Treaty in abeyance and call upon India to strictly abide by its legal obligations and refrain from stopping, diverting or r...

• 19 dead, over 90 injured in Punjab • Road, air travel disrupted; walls and roofs collapse, infrastructure damaged • Widespread outages reported from parts of country • Crops, power lines damaged in KP; 113 feeders trip across province ISLA­M­ABAD / LAHORE /PES­H­­­­­A­WAR: At least 19 people were killed and over 90 others injured as powerful windstorms and heavy rains battered several parts of the country on Saturday, paralysing road and air traffic, damaging infrastructure and triggering widespread power outages. Heavy rainfall accompanied by gusty winds and hail also struck Islamabad, leading to water accumulation in several low-lying areas and trees falling at multiple spots. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, strong winds and hailstorms caused extensive damage to crops and power lines but no fatalities were reported. Over 113 power feeders tripped across the province, with areas like Peshawar, Mardan, Khyber, Swabi, Swat and Abbottabad worst affected. Meanwhile, a private airline from Karachi to Lahore narrowly avo...

LAHORE: The formal packaged juice industry has urged the government to take immediate action in the upcoming federal budget, requesting a significant cut in the Federal Excise Duty (FED). The juice industry is calling for a substantial reduction in the Federal Excise Duty (FED), which was introduced in 2023 at a rate of 20 per cent, compounded by an existing 18pc General Sales Tax (GST). According to a spokesperson for the Fruit Juice Council, this combined burden is severely impacting the documented sector and leading to serious economic repercussions. The sector, which was expecting sales exceeding Rs72 billion in FY23, witnessed a 45pc plunge to Rs42bn. This has stalled industry growth and resulted in a considerable shortfall in the government’s revenue projections for the current fiscal year. The exorbitant tax burden, effectively pushing the tax component on a pack of juice to around 42pc of its price, has fundamentally impacted consumer affordability. This has inadvertently fuelled an alarming surge in ...

LAHORE: A sessions court on Saturday adjourned a Rs10 billion defamation suit of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif against incarcerated PTI founding chairman Imran Khan as the counsel for the defendant continued the cross-examination of the plaintiff. Additional District & Sessions Judge (AD&SJ) Yalmaz Ghani conducted the hearing on the suit, while PM Shehbaz and his counsel Mustafa Ramday joined via a video link. At the outset of the hearing, the prime minister congratulated all attendees on winning the battle against India. In response, the judge also said, “Congratulations to you as well.” Advocate Muhammad Hussain Chotia, the counsel for the PTI founder, said this was indeed a matter of joy and it was a victory for the whole nation. During cross-examination, the defendant’s counsel asked the plaintiff whether the alleged defamatory statement had been made in writing. The prime minister said the allegations had been repeatedly made on television. The lawyer then asked PM Shehbaz whether he himself ever made su...

ISLAMABAD: Access to the social media platform X was gradually restored in Pakistan on Saturday after a global outage, which affected services in several countries. Downdetector, which mon­itors internet outages in real time, showed a spike in users’ complaints after 5pm. The tally pea­ked with 372 complaints at 5:36pm, with more than 600 complaints in total reported by late evening. Users said they were unable to log in to their accounts and send tweets. However, the number of complaints reduced by 8pm, indicating the restoration of services. The Pakistan Telec­ommunications Authority (PTA) noted that social media platform X was facing a mass global outage, including in Pakistan, but stated that the country’s internet services “remain fully functional”. “PTA’s investigation into the matter has confirmed that there are no technical issues at Pakistan’s internet gateways.” “All other internet services across the country remain fully functional,” PTA said. X was blocked in Pakistan on Feb 17, 2024, after allega...

LAHORE: Federal Minister for Water Resources Muhammad Moeen Wattoo has warned India that holding the Indus Water Treaty (IWC) in abeyance unilaterally is “absolutely unlawful and an act of war”. He further said that the treaty still exists despite New Delhi holding it in abeyance “unilaterally and illegally”. “The words ‘holding in abeyance’ used by India doesn’t exist anywhere in the law. Therefore, the Indus Water Treaty exist as it is, as these words cannot abolish it,” Mr Wattoo said while speaking at a seminar on Saturday. “Holding the treaty in abeyance is absolutely illegal immoral. It is a violation of all international agreements,” the minister added. Ex-Indus water commissioner warns China and other upstream countries may block flow of water to India Talking about the background of the issue, the federal minister said the correspondence between the two countries were underway since 2024. India wrote a letter to Pakistan, seeking some modification in the treaty under the Article 12 (3) of the treaty....

Saad Bin Munawar has made history by becoming the first Pakistani to climb Mount Everest (8,848.

• Both sides to continue discussions on revenue, defence, development, tariff reforms • Next review likely in second half of 2025 • Mission thanks federal, provincial authorities for constructive engagement ISLAMABAD: In a significant development, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Pakistani authorities have reached a preliminary agreement on a comprehensive financial framework, paving the way for continued negotiations on the budget for fiscal year 2025-26. Officials in the finance ministry indicate that discussions are set to advance in the coming days, with the goal of finalising crucial fiscal policies, including the revenue collection target for FY26, development outlay, defence expenditure, and the highly debated tariff rationalisation plan for the industry. The areas where agreements remain pending include tax concessions for the salaried class, an increase in defence budget and policies related to real estate. The discussions will also focus on reducing expenditures, as well as continuing refor...

A powerful storm swept across multiple districts of Punjab, leaving a trail of destruction and claiming at least eight lives while injuring 45 others, according to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).

LAHORE: The country has unveiled its first Power Equipment Manu­fact­uring Dash­­board, a real-time digital tool to monitor local­­­i­­sation progress, assess vendor capacity and ide­­ntify strategic investment opportunities under the Power Sector Indig­enisation Plan (PSIP). The launch took place during the National Consu­ltative Workshop on the Power Sector Indig­eni­sation Roadmap, organised by the National Grid Company of Pakistan (NGC) — formerly known as the National Tran­smission and Despatch Company (NTDC) — in collaboration with the LUMS Energy Institute. Speaking via video link, Energy Minister Awais Leghari said the government was finalising a plan to supply 7,000-megawatt electricity to Pakistan’s export industry at the most competitive tariff in the region. “We are working on providing electricity at a marginal cost to boost exports,” the minister said. He added that power sector indigenisation was vital to shifting the country from an import-dependent to an export-led economy. The event brought ...

THE government of Bangladesh has cancelled a $21 million contract awarded to Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE), an Indian public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Defence, for the construction of an advanced ocean-going tug, The Hindu reported. According to the Indian publication, the cancellation closely follows India’s recent move to withdraw the transhipment facility previously extended to Bangladesh to export its cargo to third countries — a development that analysts interpret as signalling strain in bilateral relations. In a regulatory disclosure submitted to the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd and BSE Ltd under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Require­ments) Regulations, 2015, GRSE confirmed that the government of Bangladesh had cancelled the order, originally placed in July 2024. The cancellation adds to a series of geopolitical developments since the change in political leadership in Bangladesh following the fall of prime minis...

ISLAMABAD - An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by Mr Nathan Porter has concluded its staff vis­it to Is-lamabad which began on May 19, 2025, the Fund said in press release issued on Saturday.

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Sheh­baz Sharif on Sunday (today) will embark on a visit to Turkiye, Iran, Azerbaijan and Tajiki­stan from 25-30 May.

ISLAMABAD - A dinner was hosted by Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, NI (M), Chief of Army Staff, to honour the political leader­ship, steadfast commitment of the Armed Forces, and the in­domitable spirit of the people of Pakistan as demonstrated during Marka-e-Haq, Operation Bunyanum Marsoos.

LAHORE/JHELUM - The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said that at least eight people died and 45 others injured in accidents as storm wreaked havoc in parts of the province on Saturday.

ISLAMABAD - The federal government on Saturday decided to cancel passports of those Pakistanis returning to the country after being deported, besides registration of cases against them.

ISLAMABAD - The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) successfully recovered and disbursed over Rs88 billion in the first quarter of 2025 (January–March), comprising direct recoveries of Rs2.