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  • Saudi Arabia may extend economic package to $8 billion after Pakistan PM visit — experts


Saudi Arabia may extend economic package to $8 billion after Pakistan PM visit — experts

A Pakistani currency dealer counts US dollars at a currency exchange shop in Karachi, Pakistan, on August 1, 2018. (AFP/File)
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Updated 01 May 2022
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Saudi Arabia may extend economic package to $8 billion after Pakistan PM visit — experts

  • Riyadh, Islamabad resolved to deepen investment cooperation, stimulate partnerships and integrate private sectors
  • Experts hope recent visit of PM Shehbaz Sharif would expedite progress on various investment projects in Pakistan
Updated 01 May 2022
KHURSHID AHMED   

KARACHI: Pakistan’s business community on Sunday welcomed Islamabad and Saudi Arabia's resolve to enhance bilateral economic cooperation, with experts saying Riyadh could extend its economic support package for Pakistan to $8 billion after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to the kingdom. 

Riyadh and Islamabad agreed to further deepen investment cooperation during the three-day maiden visit of PM Sharif to the kingdom this week. 

The two sides agreed to deepen the investment cooperation between the two countries, stimulate partnerships and enable investment integration opportunities between the private sector of the two countries, according to a joint statement issued at the end of the visit.   

They agreed to join efforts to develop the investment environment in the two countries and support a number of investment sectors of common interest. The two sides stressed the importance of strengthening and developing cooperation in the industrial and mining sectors to serve their strategic interests in accordance with the vision of the leaderships of the two countries. 

Pakistani analysts believe Saudi Arabia could extend the economic support package to as much as $8 billion after the recent visit.   

“Though technical details are awaited but I think the kingdom would give the additional $3 billion as cash deposit and extend the existing $1.2 billion oil facility to $2.4 billion,” Samiullah Tariq, research director at the Pakistan-Kuwait Investment Company, told Arab News.   

“As far as investment is concern, I think there were many projects at various stages and after this visit we expect further progress on these projects.” 

The kingdom had offered a package of $4.2 billion, including $3 billion deposits and $1.2 billion oil facility, for a year to the government of former prime minister Imran Khan, and had linked it with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program.  

Saudi cash deposits will strengthen the position of Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves, which have declined by $328 million to $10.56 billion during the week ending on April 23 due to external debt and other payments, according to the official data. 

Pakistani industrialists say they welcome every initiative that opens avenues for business growth among the two brotherly countries. 

“We welcome the decision of the kingdom to increase investment in Pakistan. We want to see business flourishing,” Muhammad Suleman Chawla, senior vice-president of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), told Arab News on Sunday.   

“This investment and economic cooperation will ease off pressure for dollar needs. Major investment opportunities for Saudi Arabia are in the petrochemical sector of Pakistan and the oil refinery is a huge project that needs to be pushed forward.” 

The $10 billion oil refinery project was agreed between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan during the 2019 visit of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the South Asian country. 

Industrialists hope the project would be materialized after the visit of PM Sharif and the country would benefit from the Saudi expertise in the petrochemical sector.   

During the visit, both sides expressed their intention to hold meetings of investment forums in order to introduce opportunities to the business sectors of both sides, urge them to establish partnerships in various investment fields, and work jointly to meet challenges faced by the investors through the Saudi-Pakistan Business Council meetings. 

“At present, the most active trade body in the FPCCI is the Pak-Saudi Business Council. A number of Saudi delegations have visited Pakistan to explore investment opportunities,” Chawla said. “We are also planning to lead a delegation to Saudi Arabia in August and the bilateral trade is expected to substantially increase.”  

Pakistani business leaders believe Saudi investment in Pakistan would bring long-term benefits to Pakistan.  

“The Saudi investment I would say will be a big help for Pakistan and its impacts would be long-lasting as it will create employment for Pakistanis,” Zubair Motiwala, chairman of Businessmen Group (BMG) at the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), told Arab News.  

“Secondly, when the dollar will come into the country for investment it is very good for the country and there is no second opinion about it,” Motiwala said. “The promises must be translated into reality. I am also ready to invest in Saudi Arabia, provided the laws are made flexible.”  

During meetings between the Saudi-Pakistani leadership, the kingdom affirmed its continuous support to Pakistan and its economy, including discussions to augment $3 billion deposits with the Pakistani central bank through term extension or otherwise, exploring options to further enhance the financing of petroleum products, and supporting the economic structural reforms for the benefit of Pakistan and its people.  

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have also stressed the importance of cooperation between the two countries with regard to the opportunities through the economic transformation programs under the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 and benefitting from distinguished Pakistani expertise and capabilities in a number of sectors in order to mutually benefit the two economies.

Pakistan commends UAE leadership for ‘swift’ response to record-breaking rains

Updated 24 April 2024
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Pakistan commends UAE leadership for ‘swift’ response to record-breaking rains

  • Pakistan’s foreign minister telephones UAE counterpart, expresses sympathy over devastation caused by torrential rains
  • Heavy rains lashed UAE last week, turning streets into rivers and hobbling Dubai airport, world’s busiest for global passengers
Updated 24 April 2024
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday commended the United Arab Emirates (UAE) leadership for its swift and efficient response to the devastation caused by record-breaking rains in the desert country. 

Heavy rains lashed the desert country last week, turning streets into rivers and hobbling Dubai airport, the world’s busiest for international passengers.

The rainfall was the UAE’s heaviest since records began 75 years ago, dumping two years’ worth of rain on the desert country. 

“Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar held telephone conversation with Foreign Minister His Highness Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed of United Arab Emirates to express deepest sympathy on the devastation caused by recent torrential rains,” Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said. 

“He commended the leadership of the UAE for the swift, efficient and timely administrative response to this natural calamity,” it added. 

The foreign ministry said both representatives also exchanged views on matters of bilateral and global importance. 

Pakistan’s PM Sharif last Friday telephoned UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, urging both countries to collaborate to tackle the impacts of climate change. 

Sharif had lauded the UAE president for his “outstanding leadership qualities” and strong commitment to ensure the welfare of the Emirati people. 

Pakistan has been prone to natural disasters and consistently ranks among one of the most adversely affected countries due to the effects of climate change. Torrential rains have killed more than 90 people in the South Asian country this month, according to authorities.

Topics: United Arab Emirates

Malala Yousafzai faces backlash for Clinton musical co-credit

Updated 24 April 2024
AFP
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Malala Yousafzai faces backlash for Clinton musical co-credit

  • Malala Yousafzai co-produced “Suffs” musical with Hillary Clinton, which depicts American women’s struggle for right to vote
  • Yousafzai has been condemned by some for partnering with Clinton, an ardent supporter of Israel’s war on Palestine
Updated 24 April 2024
AFP

LAHORE: Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai faced a backlash in her native Pakistan on Wednesday, after the premier of a Broadway musical she co-produced with former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The musical, titled “Suffs” and playing in New York since last week, depicts the American women’s suffrage campaign for the right to vote in the 20th century.

However Yousafzai, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, has been condemned by some for partnering with Clinton, an outspoken supporter of Israel’s war against Hamas.

Pakistan has seen many fiercely emotional pro-Palestinian protests since the war in Gaza began last October.

“Her theater collaboration with Hillary Clinton — who stands for America’s unequivocal support for genocide of Palestinians — is a huge blow to her credibility as a human rights activist,” popular Pakistani columnist Mehr Tarar wrote on social media platform X.

“I consider it utterly tragic.”

Whilst Clinton has backed a military campaign to remove Hamas and rejected demands for a ceasefire, she has also explicitly called for protections for Palestinian civilians.

Yousafzai has publically condemned the civilian casualties and called for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The New York Times reported the 26-year-old wore a red-and-black pin to the “Suffs” premier last Thursday, signifying her support for a ceasefire.

But author and academic Nida Kirmani said on X that Yousafzai’s decision to partner with Clinton was “maddening and heartbreaking at the same time. What an utter disappointment.”

Israel’s military offensive has killed at least 34,262 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

The war began with an unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of around 1,170 people, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Clinton served as America’s top diplomat during former president Barack Obama’s administration, which oversaw a campaign of drone strikes targeting Taliban militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan’s borderlands.

Yousafzai earned her Nobel Peace Prize after being shot in the head by the Pakistani Taliban as she pushed for girl’s education as a teenager in 2012.

However the drone war killed and maimed scores of civilians in Yousafzai’s home region, spurring more online criticism of the youngest Nobel Laureate, who earned the prize at 17.

Yousafzai is often viewed with suspicion in Pakistan, where critics accuse her of pushing a Western feminist and liberal political agenda on the conservative country.

Topics: Malala Yousafzai

Pakistan’s foreign minister calls for early resumption of PIA flights to Europe

Updated 24 April 2024
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Pakistan’s foreign minister calls for early resumption of PIA flights to Europe

  • Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar meets EU ambassador to discuss bilateral ties, trade and matters of mutual interest
  • PIA flights to Europe and the UK have been suspended since 2020 following Pakistan’s infamous pilot license scandal
Updated 24 April 2024
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday stressed the resumption of direct flights from the country’s national airline to Europe, the foreign ministry said, in his meeting with EU Ambassador Riina Kionka during which both sides discussed bilateral relations, trade and matters of mutual interest. 

PIA flights to Europe and the UK have been suspended since 2020 after the EU’s Aviation Safety Agency revoked the national carrier’s authorization to fly to the bloc following a pilot license scandal that rocked the country. The issue resulted in the grounding of 262 of Pakistan’s 860 pilots, including 141 of PIA’s 434.

Kionka and Dar discussed Pakistan-EU bilateral ties and important issues of mutual interest during their meeting, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said. Dar told Kionka Pakistan views the EU as a “valued partner” and an important factor of stability during the current volatile times. 

“FM emphasized the significance of direct flights between Pakistan and European countries in view of large diasporas,” MoFA said. “In this regard, he stressed on the need for an early resumption of PIA flights to Europe.”

Both sides also expressed satisfaction over the “significant progress” of Pakistan-EU institutional mechanisms and resolved to maintain the upward trajectory of their relations by increasing their high-level interactions.

“FM vowed to further strengthen the existing strategic partnership in all areas, inter alia, trade, migration, climate change,” MoFA said. 

“The EU side assured their full cooperation to Pakistan in achieving the objectives of economic diplomacy.”

The EU is Pakistan’s second most important trading partner, accounting for over 14 percent of the country’s total trade and absorbing 28 percent of Pakistan’s total exports. Pakistani exports to the EU are dominated by textiles and clothing.

Pakistan’s GSP+ status is a special trade arrangement offered by the EU to developing economies in return for their commitment to implement 27 international conventions on human rights, environmental protection and governance. 

Topics: PIA Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)

Pakistan, Egypt among countries who pay most in surcharges to IMF— report 

Updated 24 April 2024
Reuters
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Pakistan, Egypt among countries who pay most in surcharges to IMF— report 

  • Indebted member countries paid about $6.4 billion in surcharges between 2020-2023, says report by US think tanks 
  • Surcharges do not hasten repayment, instead punish countries already struggling with liquidity constraints, critics say
Updated 24 April 2024
Reuters

Countries, mostly middle and lower-income, have been burdened by surcharges on top of interest payments on their borrowings from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), widening global inequities, according to a report by US think tanks. 

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

Indebted member countries paid about $6.4 billion in surcharges between 2020-2023, the report from Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center and Columbia University’s Initiative for Policy Dialogue released on Tuesday showed.
And the number of countries paying these surcharges has more than doubled in the last four years.
The IMF is expected to charge an estimated $9.8 billion in surcharges in the next five years, according to an earlier report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
Critics of the policy argue that surcharges do not hasten repayment and instead punish countries already struggling with liquidity constraints, increase the risk of debt distress and divert scarce resources that could be used to boost the struggling economies.
BY THE NUMBERS
Countries such as Ukraine, Egypt, Argentina, Barbados and Pakistan pay the most in surcharges, the report showed, accounting for 90 percent of the IMF’s surcharge revenues.
These surcharges, levied on top of the fund’s increasingly steeper basic rate, are IMF’s single largest source of revenue, accounting for 50 percent of total revenue in 2023.
KEY QUOTES
“IMF surcharges are inherently pro-cyclical as they increase debt service payments when a borrowing country is most need of emergency financing,” Global Development Policy Center’s director Kevin Gallagher said.
“Increasing surcharges and global shocks are compounding the economic pressure on vulnerable countries.”
CONTEXT
Data published by the Institute of International Finance earlier this year showed global debt levels hit a record of $313 trillion in 2023, while the debt-to-GDP ratio — a reading indicating a country’s ability to pay back debts — across emerging economies also scaled fresh peaks.
IMF shareholders agreed last week on the importance of addressing challenges faced by low-income countries, Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Friday.

Topics: International Monetary Fund

ICC names Pakistan’s Sana Mir as Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier ambassador

Updated 24 April 2024
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ICC names Pakistan’s Sana Mir as Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier ambassador

  • Sana Mir led Pakistan in 137 of 226 international matches she played during her career
  • Mir says will guide teams and players on how to deal with pressure in the tournament
Updated 24 April 2024
Shahjahan Khurram

ISLAMABAD: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday named Pakistan’s former iconic cricketer Sana Mir as its ambassador for the upcoming Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier tournament. 

Former skipper Mir, considered widely as Pakistan’s best woman cricketer to date, will keep a keen eye on the tournament which would see 10 women’s teams battle it out for two spots at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024. 

The first four matches of the tournament will take place tomorrow, Thursday, which is scheduled to go on till May 7. 

The 10 teams have been divided into two groups of five, with the top two from each group entering the semifinals. The winning semifinalists confirm a trip to Bangladesh for the T20 World Cup later this year.

“ICC named Sana Mir, who represented Pakistan in 226 international games, 137 of them as skipper, as the ambassador of the Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier on Wednesday, 24 April,” the cricket regulatory body said in a post on its website. 

Mir told ICC the tournament would provide an excellent opportunity for fans to witness exciting cricket. 

“The women’s game has become more and more competitive in recent years,” Mir said. “And the 10 nations involved in the Qualifier possess a number of quality players.”

Mir featured in several ICC tournaments during her impressive career. Her most memorable one was in the 2008 ICC Women’s Qualifying Series for the Women’s Cricket World Cup where Pakistan went all the way to the finals. 

Sana won the joint Player of the Series award for the tournament. The Pakistani icon said she aims to share her expertise and experience with the international players as ambassador. 

“My aim is to talk to the various teams and players during the Qualifier and help guide them on how to deal with the pressure of these events and what it takes to succeed,” Mir explained. 

“Pakistan had a great record in these events, and I in particular have fond memories of the 2008 edition of the 50 over World Cup qualifier event that I played.”

Mir said that while Sri Lanka and Ireland were favorites to qualify for the World Cup, others had a chance to cause major upsets too. 

“Teams like Scotland, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, Uganda, and Zimbabwe surely have the potential to cause major upsets,” she said. “And make their way through to the semis and eventually to the final as well.”

Topics: Sana Mir ICC

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