Pakistani currency, equity markets post losses amid dollar shortage, political turmoil 

A view of electronic trading board on October 27, 2022. (AN Photo by Khurshid Ahmed)
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Updated 29 October 2022
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Pakistani currency, equity markets post losses amid dollar shortage, political turmoil 

  • Analysts expect continuation of bearish spell next week amid Imran Khan’s march to Islamabad 
  • Experts expect local currency to strengthen after inflows of $4 billion from multilateral donors 

KARACHI: Pakistan’s currency and stock markets on Friday closed the week on a bearish note, dealers and analysts said, amid a shortage of US dollars and the announcement of an anti-government march to Islamabad by former prime minister Imran Khan. 

Pakistan’s national currency lost its value by 0.44 percent as the greenback closed the weekend session at Rs222.47 in the interbank market, though the rupee has gained its value by 2.6 percent in the month of October, following the arrival of Ishaq Dar as the country’s new finance minister. 

Analysts say the currency is under pressure due to growing demand for dollar and a persistent shortage in the market, despite $1.5 billion inflows from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). 

“The rupee is under pressure owing to the shortage of dollar,” Tahir Abbas, head of research at Karachi-based Arif Habib Limited brokerage firm, told Arab News on Saturday. 

“It is not that Darnomics has lost its charm but the shortage of greenback in the market that is exerting pressure on rupee.” 

Dubbed Darnomics, Dar’s approach kept the rupee stable between Rs98 and Rs105 against the US dollar during his last stint in office from 2013-2017, but he was widely criticized for deliberately undervaluing the rupee by pumping dollars in the market. 
The currency market has seen little stability since Dar’s arrival in late September, following the resignation of his predecessor, Miftah Ismail. 




An equity trader is looking at computer screens on October 27, 2022 during active session in the trading hall of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). (AN Photo by Khurshid Ahmed)

Abbas recalled the country is expected to receive over $4 billion from multilateral and bilateral donors by December this year, which would boost forex reserves and the exchange rate. 
“Pakistan is expecting $2 billion from the World Bank, around $1 billion through UN aid, while the 9th review of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program is due next month that would also clear the way for around $1 billion,” he said. 
Pakistani experts expect the visit of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to China will also bear fruit in terms of more inflows and rescheduling of current loans. 
“All these developments are expected to boost the currency to around Rs215 in the interbank market in the coming months,” Abbas explained. 
Pakistan’s equity market also reacted on Friday to the weakening currency and the increasing political uncertainty after the start of the long march by Khan and his supporters. 
The benchmark KSE-100 index lost 462.53 points to close at 41,140 points at the end of the weekend trading session. 
“Stocks fell sharply lower on political uncertainty on PTI’s call for long march,” Ahsan Mehanti, a senior equity analyst, told Arab News. 
“The slump in rupee, global equity rout and weak earnings outlook played a catalyst role in bearish close.” 
Khan kicked off his march to the capital from Lahore, the capital of the northeastern Punjab province, to press the government for snap elections. 
The former premier maintains his ouster, through a parliamentary no-trust vote in April, was part of a conspiracy orchestrated by the United States. Washington and Khan’s rivals deny the allegation. 
The march has the potential to spark violence, which would plunge the impoverished country, already reeling from an economic crisis and unprecedented floods, further into turmoil. 
As the marchers are expected to reach Islamabad in the first week of November, Pakistani stock analysts expect jittery trading sessions at the market. 


Pakistan’s Punjab province shuts public spaces in smog-hit cities Access to parks, zoos, playgrounds, historic monuments, museums and recreational areas will be banned until Nov. 17 Punjab residents have been trapped in thick smog for over a week ever sin

Updated 14 sec ago
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Pakistan’s Punjab province shuts public spaces in smog-hit cities Access to parks, zoos, playgrounds, historic monuments, museums and recreational areas will be banned until Nov. 17 Punjab residents have been trapped in thick smog for over a week ever sin

  • Access to parks, zoos, playgrounds, historic monuments, museums and recreational areas will be banned until Nov. 17
  • Punjab residents have been trapped in thick smog for over a week ever since the air quality index spiked above 1,000

LAHORE: Pakistan’s most populated province of Punjab ordered public spaces closed in smog-hit main cities, authorities said Friday, as the country battles record air pollution.

Access to parks, zoos, playgrounds, historic monuments, museums and recreational areas will be banned until November 17 due to poor air quality, according to a local government directive seen by AFP.

The concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in Lahore’s air was more than 20 times higher than the level deemed acceptable by the World Health Organization (WHO). In Multan, it was up to 48 times higher on Friday.

Punjab residents have been trapped in thick smog for over a week ever since the air quality index (AQI), which measures a range of pollutants, spiked above 1,000 — well above the level of 300 considered ‘dangerous’ — according to data from IQAir.

Schools in some of Punjab’s major cities were ordered shut on Tuesday until November 17.

The province extended that order on Wednesday to several more cities enveloped by smog, a mix of fog and pollutants caused by low-grade diesel fumes, smoke from seasonal agricultural burning and winter cooling.

The decision follows restrictions imposed last month on four “hot spots” in Lahore that banned tuk-tuks with polluting two-stroke engines, along with restaurants that operate barbecues without filters.

Seasonal crop burn-off by farmers on the outskirts of Lahore also contributes to toxic air, which the WHO says can cause strokes, heart disease, lung cancer and respiratory diseases.

Excess pollution shortens the life expectancy of Lahore residents by an average of 7.5 years, according to the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute.

According to UNICEF, nearly 600 million children in South Asia are exposed to high levels of air pollution, which is also linked to half of childhood pneumonia deaths.


Pakistan can serve as bridge between China and US, says Islamabad’s envoy to Washington

Updated 19 min 12 sec ago
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Pakistan can serve as bridge between China and US, says Islamabad’s envoy to Washington

  • Relations between the US and China have been strained over the past several years as both world powers seek to increase their global influence
  • The complex US-China rivalry impacts Pakistan as it navigates its strategic partnerships with both while grappling with a prolonged economic crisis

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan can help bridge differences between the United States (US) and China, Islamabad’s envoy to Washington said on Thursday, amid the South Asian country’s efforts to strike a balance in its ties with the two world powers.
Relations between the US and China have been strained over the past several years as both world powers seek to increase their global influence in several domains. The two nations have often had disagreements over trade, Taiwan, the South China Sea and China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Pakistan maintains a delicate balance in its relations with China and the US. While aligned with the US for military cooperation and counter-terrorism efforts, Islamabad has strengthened economic ties with Beijing through initiatives like the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
In a talk delivered at the University of California, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Washington Rizwan Saeed Sheikh underscored the strength of Pakistan-US relations and highlighted the role of the Pakistani-American community in fostering mutual growth, the state-run Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported.
“Pakistan has the potential to serve as a bridge between China and the United States,” Sheikh was quoted as saying at the event.
The statement came hours after the Pakistani Foreign Office said its relations with key longtime ally China would remain “unaffected” by Donald Trump winning the US presidential election
“Pakistan’s relations with China are all-weather,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said during a weekly press briefing when asked if Trump’s victory will affect the country’s China policy.
“They are strategic and a source of stability in our foreign policy.”
Baloch said Islamabad does not even need to consider the possibility that its relationship with China will be affected by any domestic development in another country.
The complex US-China rivalry impacts Pakistan as it navigates its strategic partnerships with both world powers while grappling with a prolonged economic crisis.
“Our relations with the United States are decades old, and we look forward to further strengthen and broaden Pakistan-US relationship in all fields,” Baloch said.
“As the Deputy Prime Minister said in a tweet yesterday, we look forward to fruitful and mutually beneficial cooperation between Pakistan and the United States.”
Pakistan and the US cultivated strong defense ties during the Cold War days yet their relationship was also tested by divergent priorities on various issues.
In recent years, Washington and Islamabad’s ties deteriorated as the former suspected the latter of supporting the Taliban in their 2021 takeover of Kabul, allegations which Islamabad rejected. Tensions rose further in 2022 when former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan accused the Biden administration of orchestrating his ouster via a parliamentary vote, a charge the US denied.
Pakistan, under PM Shehbaz Sharif’s two separate stints as prime minister in 2022 and 2024, has actively sought to improve its relations with the US.


Pakistan parliamentary panel passes bill proposing three-year jail term for preaching Zionism

Updated 29 min 37 sec ago
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Pakistan parliamentary panel passes bill proposing three-year jail term for preaching Zionism

  • Draft law proposes imprisonment and fines for individuals involved in preaching and displaying symbols of Zionism
  • Pakistan does not recognize nor have diplomatic relations with Israel and calls for an independent Palestinian state

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Senate Standing Committee on Interior has this week approved a bill proposing a three-year jail term and fines for individuals involved in propagating Zionism or displaying the movement’s symbols.
Zionism emerged in the late 19th century as an ethnic and religious movement but later converted into a political movement for the establishment of the Jewish state of Israel through the colonization of land outside Europe, which is Palestine. 
Pakistan does not recognize nor have diplomatic relations with Israel and calls for an independent Palestinian state based on “internationally agreed parameters” and the pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
The anti-Zionism bill approved by the Senate committee on Thursday was introduced in the upper house of parliament by Senator Dr. Afnan Ullah Khan, a lawmaker from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party. He has tabled the bill as a private member, which means its approval does not signify government policy. This bill will become law only if it is passed by both houses of parliament, Senate and National Assembly, with majority vote.
“Whoever knowingly or intentionally is engaged in the preaching of Zionism to incite and provoke hatred in society shall be punished with three years imprisonment, or with forty thousand rupees ($145) fine or with both,” says the draft law.
“Whoever knowingly or intentionally display symbol of Zionism to spread hatred and cause a disturbance in public peace shall be punished with two years imprisonment, or with thirty thousand rupees ($108) fine, or with both.”
Being a Muslim state, the bill says, Pakistan “should never allow display of symbols depicting Zionism for spreading unrest in Pakistan.”


Three-year-old girl sues Punjab government as smog crisis worsens in Lahore

Updated 08 November 2024
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Three-year-old girl sues Punjab government as smog crisis worsens in Lahore

  • Record air pollution has triggered hundreds of hospitalizations, school closures, stay-at-home orders in Lahore
  • On Friday, Lahore, home to 13 million people, had the worst air quality of any city in the world, according to IQAir

ISLAMABAD: A three-year-old girl in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore has sued the government of the Punjab province as record-high air pollution levels have triggered hundreds of hospitalizations, school closures and stay-at-home orders in the city, which has been enveloped in a thick, toxic smog since last month.
On Friday, Lahore, home to 13 million people, had the worst air quality of any city in the world, according to IQAir, a Swiss air quality monitoring company.
Research shows children exposed to high levels of smog may suffer from reduced lung capacity, pneumonia, bronchitis and other lung infections and more asthma attacks and worse symptoms than adults. 
“Under Article 9-A of the Constitution, the government is obligated to provide citizens with a clean and healthy environment,” said the petition filed by three-year-old Amal Sekhera, who appeared in court with her mother Mehek Zafar on Thursday. 
Sekhera said she was seeking justice for herself, her friends and the future generations as children and the elderly were the most badly hit by air pollution and smog. She also criticized the Punjab government for failing to protect fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution of Pakistan.
The Lahore High Court issued notices in response to the petition to the Punjab government, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the City Traffic Police. The hearing has been adjourned till Nov. 12, with the court instructing the government to ensure the presence of the provincial secretary of the Environment Protection Department and the director general of the EPA in court at the next hearing. 
Authorities earlier this week shut down schools in Lahore and said 50 percent of government employees in the city were told to work from home until next week. On Wednesday schools in 18 surrounding districts were also shut. Marriyum Aurangzeb, a senior minister in the Punjab province, has urged residents to voluntarily wear face masks and avoid unnecessary travel, and said that “otherwise, the government will be forced into a complete lockdown.” 
Authorities in the city have already banned barbecuing food without filters, as well as the use of motorized rickshaws, and wedding halls must close by 10pm. The government has also said it was looking into methods to induce artificial rainfall to combat the pollution, which has been sending patients to hospitals and private clinics complaining of coughs and burning eyes.
“Tens of thousands of patients suffering from respiratory diseases were treated at hospitals and clinics in a week,” Salman Kazmi, vice president of the Pakistan Medical Association, told media on Thursday.


Pakistan’s Muhammad Asif wins IBSF World Snooker Championship in Qatar

Updated 08 November 2024
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Pakistan’s Muhammad Asif wins IBSF World Snooker Championship in Qatar

  • Asif defeated Iran’s Ali Ghareghozlou 5-3 to clinch the title for 3rd time
  • PM Shehbaz Sharif promises to set up world-class facilities for sportsmen

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has congratulated Pakistani cueist Muhammad Asif for winning the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) World Snooker Championship in Qatar for the third time, Pakistani state-run media reported on Thursday.
Asif defeated Iran’s Ali Ghareghozlou 5-3 to clinch the title in a thrilling final on Nov. 6. He outclassed Ali 5-3: 70-25, 7-87(84), 82(56)-8, 106(106)-08, 82-12, 43-91(58), 0-118 and 93(80)-4.
“Asif made the entire nation proud by winning the international championship for the third time,” PM Sharif was quoted as saying by the Radio Pakistan broadcaster. “The talented youth of Pakistan are highlighting the country’s name in the fields of sports.”
The IBSF, founded in 1971, is the governing body for billiards and snooker worldwide. It represents 85 member countries and is recognized by the World Confederation of Billiard Sports and the International Olympic Committee.
Asif, 42, first won the IBSF World Snooker Championship in 2012 and went on to win it again in 2019. His victory ties him with India’s Pankaj Advani who has also won the World Snooker Championship thrice.
The Pakistan prime minister said Asif’s family and coach also deserved recognition, adding that providing quality facilities to Pakistani players was top priority of his government.
“The government is making all possible efforts to provide international standard facilities to the players,” he added.