Pakistani rupee sees downward slide amid uncertainty over IMF bailout 

A foreign currency dealer counts US dollar bills at a shop in Karachi, Pakistan, on February 25, 2022. (AFP/File)
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Updated 13 July 2022

Pakistani rupee sees downward slide amid uncertainty over IMF bailout 

  • Local currency closed at Rs210.1 against the greenback on Thursday, last Thursday it closed at Rs207.91
  • Burgeoning current account deficit and delay in IMF deal major reasons behind the rupee depreciation

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani rupee depreciated by Rs2.19 against the US dollar during interbank trading on Wednesday, with currency dealers and economists attributing the downward slide to fears over a delay in the revival of a stalled $6 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan program.

The local currency closed at Rs210.1 against the greenback on Thursday, according to the State Bank of Pakistan. Last Thursday, it had closed at Rs207.91.

The US dollar has consistently risen in the Pakistani currency market in the last two months due to political and economic uncertainty.

Pakistan last month said it had received economic and financial targets from the IMF that once agreed and ratified should pave the way for the lender to unlock a suspended $6 billion loan program.

Pakistan desperately needs the money to avert a balance of payment crisis that is being brought closer by the day as a result of the sharp rise in global oil and commodity prices. Central bank foreign currency reserves have fallen dangerously low, and the economy is reeling from a sharp depreciation in the Pakistani rupee and double-digit inflation.

“We have no update on the IMF loan program so far,” Birj Lal Dosani, director-general media at the Ministry of Finance, told Arab News on Wednesday. Finance minister Miftah Ismail did not respond to questions. Bloomberg reported an agreement with the IMF had been reached. 

Pakistan entered the IMF program in 2019 spread over three years and three months, but with less than half the amount disbursed, the IMF suspended the bailout earlier this year after the previous prime minister, Imran Khan, announced unfunded subsidies for the oil and power sectors. Khan’s government was ousted in April. The new government has since raised the prices of petroleum products at least four times to meet IMF conditions.

Economists and financial experts said the consistent devaluation of the rupee was attributed to numerous factors, but the burgeoning current account deficit and delay in the IMF deal were the major reasons behind the depreciation.

“This is obvious, the rupee is under significant pressure over delay in the IMF deal,” Samiullah Tariq, head of research at Pakistan Kuwait Investment Company (Private) Limited, told Arab News. 

Listing other reasons behind the rupee depreciation, he said export inflows were slow as factories remained closed during the Eid holidays, which ran from Friday to Tuesday, while import pressure was high on the first working day.

“Our foreign remittances usually remain high before Eid holidays and then start drying up during the month, so this could be another reason behind the rupee depreciation against the dollar,” he said.

Tariq said the dollar index had also risen 1.5 percent in the international market in recent days and this had also brought the Pakistani rupee under pressure. 

Currency dealers said an increasing import bill and uncertainty over the IMF loan program were major reasons behind a sharp rupee depreciation after the Eid holidays. The state bank has $9.8 billion in reserves, sufficient to cover the import bill of only five to six weeks.

“Our import bill has increased manifold in recent months with soaring prices of energy and food commodities in the international market while our forex reserves have been falling,” Malik Bostan, president of the Pakistan Forex Association, told Arab News.

“The rupee could appreciate up to two hundred against the greenback but only after the IMF $1 billion tranche was credited to the central bank,” he said.

Dr. Khaqan Hassan Najeeb, former adviser to the Ministry of Finance, said considering the jitteriness in the markets, it was important for Pakistan to reach a staff-level agreement with the IMF as soon as possible.

“Both the international bond market and forex market remain under pressure as Pakistan’s bonds yield has risen to uncomfortable level maturing in December 22 is now yielding 41 percent which was floated at 5.88 percent,” he told Arab News.

“A deal with the IMF would ensure that Pakistan’s foreign reserves are not only built by the money it receives from the international lender but also other sources, which could help remove pressure on the rupee.”


Dengue outbreak triggers alarm in southwestern Pakistan’s district Kech

Updated 11 sec ago

Dengue outbreak triggers alarm in southwestern Pakistan’s district Kech

  • District Kech reported 2,131 cases in April and May, while two people died from infection
  • While provincial government says it is taking anti-dengue measures, locals say otherwise

QUETTA: Health officials expressed alarm at the outbreak of dengue virus in southwestern Pakistan’s district Kech on Thursday, as official data showed the infection claimed two lives and infected over 2,000 people during the months of April and May.

Dengue is a mosquito-borne disease that is transmitted from humans to mosquitoes. In its most lethal form, the disease is known to be fatal. Patients who are infected with dengue suffer severe flu-like symptoms, including high fever, severe headache, muscle and joint pain, nausea, and vomiting that can last for a week.

Data by the Provincial Malaria Program showed district Kech reported 2,131 dengue cases in April and May. Two patients also died from the virus while undergoing treatment in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi.

“Due to the weather changes, we have been witnessing a dengue outbreak in Kech district because every year after the mid of May, the temperature increases up to 37 degrees in which dengue mosquitoes can’t survive,” Dr. Meer Yousaf, head of the Provincial Malaria Program, told Arab News.

“But for this season, the temperature has not increased.”

Balochistan health officials say only three districts in the province, namely Kech, Gwadar, and Lasbela, were declared high-risk places for the virus. However, he said only district Kech has reported a gradual surge in positive cases over the last six years.

Yousaf said despite intense insecticide fogging, the virus cannot be stopped from spreading until the masses don’t cooperate with the government to take preventive measures within their homes.

 Dr. Khalid Baloch, the medical superintendent at District Headquarter Hospital Kech, said authorities are conducting daily tests of over 200 people in the district out of which 30 plus people are testing positive.

“We have established a ten-bed isolation ward in the hospital but due to the burgeoning number of patients, many are now admitted in general wards,” Baloch told Arab News.

He said that out of over 5,000 dengue tests conducted in May 2023, a total of 1,016 patients tested positive for the infection. “We are now treating critical patients inside the dengue ward but still many patients are moving to Karachi for dengue treatment,” he added.

Kech government officials say they have been conducting anti-dengue measures such as spraying insecticides to kill mosquitoes. However, local residents deny these claims.

“The health authorities’ claims of anti-dengue spray in Turbat city and other areas of the district are totally false because the hospital is filled with dengue patients,” Yasir Aslam Baloch, a local journalist, told Arab News.

Yousaf said health authorities were running awareness campaigns against the disease. However, he said people were not taking preventive measures.

“Due to the shortage of clean water, the majority of people place their uncovered water buckets in their courtyards which is an active source for dengue mosquito breeding,” he said, expressing the fear that the coming monsoon season would cause a further spike in dengue cases in the district.


Prominent Pakistani rights activist Jibran Nasir ‘picked up’ at gunpoint, says wife

Updated 49 min 59 sec ago

Prominent Pakistani rights activist Jibran Nasir ‘picked up’ at gunpoint, says wife

  • Jibran Nasir has been increasingly critical of Pakistan’s powerful military on social media
  • Nasir was forcibly taken away at gunpoint by 15 men, says wife and actress Mansha Pasha

ISLAMABAD: Prominent Pakistani lawyer and rights activist Jibran Nasir was “picked up” by over a dozen unidentified persons in Karachi on Thursday night, his wife and actress Mansha Pasha said.

Nasir frequently criticizes Pakistan’s leading political parties, the religious right wing, and the country’s powerful military. He contested the 2013 and 2018 general elections as an independent candidate but managed to secure a few hundred votes each time.

Nasir has been increasingly critical of the Pakistani military on social media ever since it announced trying supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan under military laws for attacking its installations and torching government buildings on May 9.

“Approximately half an hour ago, my husband Jibran Nasir who is a very famous lawyer and who has done a lot for Pakistan— I don’t have to say it, you know it already— he has been picked up by some men,” Pasha said in a video message.

“We were on our way home after having dinner when a large white Vigo car intercepted our car, almost crashing into it, and around 15 men with pistols forcibly took my husband away,” she added.

“I would want you all to raise your voices and pray that my husband returns soon.”

Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party demanded Nasir’s release, saying that his abduction is against the country’s constitution.

“Law of the jungle must not prevail in Pakistan,” the PTI wrote on Twitter.

Feminist rights movement Aurat March also demanded Nasir’s release, condemning his alleged abduction.

“We strongly condemn his abduction (which is a clear violation of citizen rights) & urge the govt & LEAs to ensure his immediate + unconditional safe release,” it wrote on Twitter.

Rights groups have raised alarm over the crackdown against PTI leaders and supporters, which has resulted in several of Khan’s aides leaving the party and distancing themselves from him since May 9.

Meanwhile, the government has denied reports it is illegally abducting dissenters and has repeatedly said only those who partook in violence and vandalism on May 9 would be dealt with according to law.

The continuing political turmoil has exacerbated Pakistan’s economic crisis with inflation at record highs, with fears of default looming large as the South Asian country so far fails to revive a stalled $6.5 billion loan program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).


Indian fishermen released from Pakistani jail remember fellow inmates who died last month

Updated 01 June 2023

Indian fishermen released from Pakistani jail remember fellow inmates who died last month

  • Pakistan releases 200 Indian fishermen from Malir prison as goodwill gesture toward India 
  • Two Indian fishermen in Malir prison passed away last month due to health complications

KARACHI: Pakistani authorities released 200 Indian fishermen on Thursday, who expressed happiness at the thought of meeting their families again but were sad to leave behind fellow Indian prisoners who passed away in Malir prison. 

Indian and Pakistani fishermen are routinely detained by both maritime agencies on charges of illegally entering each other’s territorial waters. The nuclear-armed nations’ borders are not clearly defined in the Arabian Sea and many fishing boats lack the technology to steer clear of any intrusion.

Karachi’s Malir prison has been in the headlines since the past year after several detainees of Afghan and Indian origin passed away due to health complications. In May, two Indian fishermen Balo Jetha and Soma Deva passed away after their health deteriorated in prison. Jail authorities insist inmates are treated well and provided medical treatment whenever they fall ill. 

Parmar Sajjan, one of the Indian fishermen released on Thursday, expressed joy at being released but said he would miss his friend Deva, whose body is currently kept at a morgue in Karachi. 

“We used to live together [in jail], and if he were alive, he would have accompanied us [to India],” Sajjan told Arab News. “I am happy, and I believe he would have been happy too,” he added. Sajjan said his friend was provided health care in jail before he was taken to the hospital for treatment.

Indian fishermen depart from a railway station after Pakistan authorities released them, in Karachi on June 1, 2023, allegedly arrested for trespassing into its territorial waters. (AN photo)

Sajjan thanked Pakistani authorities for releasing him, adding that he was “extremely happy” that he would finally get to meet his family. 

Another Indian fisherman, Hussain Rahim, wished India would reciprocate the move and release Pakistani fishermen who were languishing in Indian prisons. “I want to express that just as we fishermen are being released here, I hope that the Pakistani fishermen imprisoned in India will also be freed as soon as possible,” Rahim told Arab News.

When asked about the facilities being provided to Indian fishermen in Malir jail, Rahim said they were “treated like brothers” there. 

Fatima Majeed, a Pakistani fisherwomen and activist, said she could feel the pain of the Indian inmates as her father was also imprisoned in India in 1988. 

“I can feel their pain from very close because I have experienced this time too, I have also passed through it,” Majeed told Arab News. “It’s a very painful time.” She said when fishermen are arrested, the women in their families have to seek work in the informal sector to feed their families. 

Indian fishermen show their identity card as they departs from a railway station in Karachi, Pakistan, on June 1, 2023, allegedly arrested for trespassing into its territorial waters. (AN photo)

Pakistan’s Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, in response to a question during a weekly briefing, said by releasing Indian prisoners, Pakistan had demonstrated its “consistent policy of not politicizing humanitarian matters.” She hoped India should also release Pakistani fishermen who were imprisoned in Indian jails. 

When asked whether a judicial commission existed to ensure the swift release of fishermen, Baloch responded in the affirmative. 

“The commission surely exists and the two sides have remained in contact on the mechanics of such visits which we hope will facilitate the civilians and fishermen who are held in prisons in Pakistan and India,” she said. 


Australia’s Steve Smith wary of Pakistani cricketers Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi ahead of Test tour

Updated 01 June 2023

Australia’s Steve Smith wary of Pakistani cricketers Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi ahead of Test tour

  • Pakistan will tour Australia for a three-match Test series in December 2023/January 2024
  • Steve Smith describes Babar Azam as a ‘dangerous’ batter who makes big scores at decent pace

ISLAMABAD: Former Australian captain Steve Smith said in a video uploaded by Cricket Australia on Thursday that the Aussies would be wary of “dangerous” Pakistani batter Babar Azam and fiery pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi, as the former world champions build the hype for Pakistan’s upcoming tour of the country in December 2023/January 2024. 

Pakistan will make a trip Down Under in December 2023 to take on Australia for the Benaud-Qadir Trophy between the two sides. The three Tests – part of the third World Test Championship cycle – will be played at Perth, Melbourne and Sydney in December and January.

The tour will kick off with the first Test at Peth on December 14 and will mark the first instance of Pakistan playing a Test at the venue. The two teams will face off in the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground from December 26-30 while the third and final match will be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground from January 3, 2024. 

Pakistan will have high hopes from its all-format skipper Azam and fiery left-handed fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi. In recent years, the two cricketers have become a mainstay in Pakistan’s national squad for all formats of the game. 

Azam is currently the only batter in the world who is ranked among the top five batters in all three formats of the game. He is the number one ranked batter in ODIs and is placed at number three in the international men’s T20I rankings while in Tests, he is placed at number five. Afridi is ranked at number five in the Test bowlers’ rankings while in ODIs, he is placed at number 10. 

“Babar Azam is a wonderful player,” Smith said. “The last few years he’s got better and better. He’s someone we have to look out for, he’s dangerous.”

 

 

Smith said Azam is a better who makes “big scores” and does so at a decent pace. 

The Australian batter said Afridi had considerably improved as well over the years, adding that the lanky bowler’s lethal pace with swing is an added advantage.

“The ability to swing it back is obviously a big key for him,” Smith said, adding that the team would be on the lookout for Afridi’s dangerous bowling as well. 

“They’re a great team to play against and their supporters are always there, cheering them on, which is great.”


Pakistani elephant Madhubala ‘still’ suffering from potentially fatal parasite infection, confirms vet

Updated 01 June 2023

Pakistani elephant Madhubala ‘still’ suffering from potentially fatal parasite infection, confirms vet

  • Madhubala is one of only three captive elephants in Pakistan after Noor Jehan passed away in April 
  • The African elephant can only be shifted to sanctuary once it tests negative for the infection, says vet 

KARACHI: Pakistani elephant Madhubala “still” has blood infection Trypanosomiasis, Egyptian veterinarian Dr. Amir Khalil said on Thursday, adding that the animal would be shifted to a new sanctuary once it tests negative for the infection. 

Madhubala, one of only three captive elephants alive in Pakistan, was brought to the South Asian country with three other elephants from Tanzania in 2009. One of her long-time companions, 17-year-old Noor Jehan, passed away in April after suffering from multiple ailments including the same Trypanosomiasis infection. Noor Jehan’s death prompted animal rights activists and organizations to raise alarm over Karachi Zoo’s poor living conditions. They demanded Madhubala be shifted to a “species-appropriate” sanctuary immediately to avert another potential tragedy. 

Khalil, an employee of the international animal rights welfare organization FOUR PAWS, said last week that the Trypanosomiasis infection can be fatal. However, he said Madhubala was luckier than Noor Jehan as she was provided medicine for the infection before it reached an advanced stage. He also said FOUR PAWS is supporting the Karachi city government’s efforts to build an animal sanctuary at the Safari Park and that Madhubala would be shifted to it once it is completed. 

“Madublaha has a blood parasite still and she will receive medicine two times within two weeks, then another blood test [needs] to be done,” Khalil told Arab News. “Transfer should be done only when she is negative,” he added. 

Khalil had told Arab News last week that work on the sanctuary at Karachi’s Safari Park has already begun, adding that a night enclosure for Madhubala is also being built according to international standards. He said depending upon Madhubala’s health and the speed of the work on her sanctuary, authorities hope to shift her to it by the end of June or the first week of July. 

The developments take place more than two years after Kaavan, dubbed as the “world’s loneliest elephant,” was released from a dilapidated zoo in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad. Animal rights activists had long campaigned against the plight of the 35-year-old elephant who had lived alone since the death of his mate in 2012. 

Kaavan was transferred to Cambodia in late 2020 in a blaze of publicity after his plight caught the attention of US superstar Cher, who helped raise funds for the jumbo relocation.