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Number of investment deals to be signed with GCC countries this month — Pakistan foreign minister

Flags of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries fly in the streets before the 40th GCC summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on 9 December 2019. (REUTRES/File)
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Updated 21 September 2023
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Number of investment deals to be signed with GCC countries this month — Pakistan foreign minister

  • Jalil Abbas Jillani says GCC country reps expected to visit Pakistan this month to sign agreements 
  • Pakistan set up SIFC in June to attract foreign investment in energy, agriculture, mining, IT, defense
Updated 21 September 2023
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jillani said on Thursday Pakistan would sign a “number of MOUs and agreements” with representatives of GCC countries who were set to visit Pakistan this month.

In June, Pakistan set up a Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) — a civil-military hybrid forum — to attract foreign funding, particularly from GCC nations, in agriculture, mining, information technology, defense production and energy as the South Asian country deals with a balance of payments crisis and requires billions of dollars in foreign exchange to finance its trade deficit and repay its international debts in the current financial year.

Earlier this month, caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said Saudi Arabia and the UAE would invest up to $25 billion each in Pakistan over the next five years in the mining, agriculture and IT sectors.

“We are expecting representatives of GCC countries to visit Pakistan within this month, from Saudi Arabia, from UAE, from other countries and a number of MOUs and agreements are likely to be signed with GCC countries,” Jillani said in an interview to TRT, without divulging details of the deals. 

“It’s certainly going to be a great partnership between Pakistan and GCC countries.”




Pakistan's Foreign Minister, Jalil Abbas Jilani, during an interview with Turkish news organization, TRT world, in New York, USA on September 21, 2023. (Photo courtesy: @PakistanUN_NY/X)

He said Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and other GCC nations were “great partners of Pakistan.”

“There are several layers of this cooperation, economic, people to people contacts, defense, we have very strong political cooperation with members of the GCC countries,” the foreign minister said.

He said the SIFC would focus on five major areas, namely agriculture, IT, mines, minerals and energy.

“As a matter of fact, we have already received expressions of interest from GCC countries about investment in energy and mines and minerals,” Jillani added.

Pakistan is embarking on a tricky path to economic recovery under a caretaker government after a $3 billion loan program, approved by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in July, averted a sovereign debt default.

Last month Barrick Gold Corp. said it was open to bringing in Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund as one of its partners in Pakistan’s Reko Diq gold and copper mine.
Barrick considers the Reko Diq mine one of the world’s largest underdeveloped copper-gold areas and it owns a 50 percent stake, with the remaining 50 percent owned by the governments of Pakistan and the province of Balochistan.

Pakistan’s untapped mineral deposits are conservatively valued at about $6 trillion, Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said earlier this month.

Topics: GCC countries Pakistan UNGA 78 Pakistan GCC Ties Pakistan Saudi Ties

IMF says Pakistan can cut power tariff by one rupee per unit to benefit ‘all consumers’

Updated 5 sec ago
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IMF says Pakistan can cut power tariff by one rupee per unit to benefit ‘all consumers’

  • IMF’s resident Pakistan representative, Mahir Binici, confirms power tariff reduction to Arab News
  • Binici said authorities can use revenues from captive power plants to cut prices by Rs1 per kilowatt
Updated 5 sec ago
Ismail Dilawar

KARACHI: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has allowed Pakistan to slash power tariffs by one rupee per kilowatt to provide relief to inflation-hit consumers, the IMF’s resident representative in Pakistan confirmed to Arab News on Friday. 

Pakistan can bring down the prices of electricity by using revenue from a Rs791 per unit grid levy the government recently imposed on the usage of gas by captive power plants for in-house power generation, Mahir Binici, the IMF’s resident representative, said. Captive power plants, also known as autoproducers or embedded generation, are electricity generation facilities owned and operated by an industrial or commercial entity solely for their own energy consumption, providing a localized power source.

“The price reduction would benefit all consumers,” Binici said.

Analysts see a modest impact of the one rupee relief over the promised Rs8 per unit cut.

“The benefit is modest, around Rs 200 per month, for the average domestic consumer,” said Muhammad Waqas Ghani, head of research at JS Global Capital Ltd. from Karachi. 

Financing the cut through a levy on captive power plants would naturally provide a short-term relief, he said. 

“For the government to provide any meaningful relief, it would have to work to address the underlying structural issues in Pakistan’s energy sector,” Ghani said.

The confirmation of the power tariff reduction comes days after IMF staff reached a deal with Pakistan for a new $1.3 billion arrangement and also agreed on the first review of the ongoing 37-month bailout program, the IMF said on Tuesday. Pending board approval, Pakistan can unlock the $1.3 billion under a new climate resilience loan program spanning 28 months. It will also free $1 billion for the South Asian nation under its ongoing $7 billion bailout program, which would bring those disbursements to $2 billion.

The IMF’s board of governors will meet in May and approve its next tranche for Pakistan, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said in a statement on Thursday.

The IMF’s nod for a reduction in Pakistan’s power tariffs is just one component of a larger package Sharif will be announcing after Eid, Zafar Yab Khan, a spokesperson at Pakistan’s power division, told Arab News.

“This should not be misunderstood as the only relief that is being considered by the government,” Khan said.

Under a special relief package, Sharif was expected to announce a reduction in the prices of electricity by as much as Rs8 per unit to provide some relief to Pakistanis who have had to face inflated energy and food prices in the last two years. Pakistan’s inflation peaked at 38% in May 2023 before gradually easing to 1.5% in February this year, the lowest in nearly a decade. The government expects it to remain within 1–3% in the coming months.

The debt-ridden country had to make its electricity costly by withdrawing fuel subsidies and increasing energy prices in compliance with conditions set by the IMF under a $3 billion loan that averted a sovereign debt default in 2023 but fueled record-high inflation and triggered protests in many parts of the country. 
 

Topics: IMF Pakistan Electricity Tariff

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Pakistan restores train services from Quetta after deadly hijacking

Updated 42 min 48 sec ago
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Pakistan restores train services from Quetta after deadly hijacking

  • 31 soldiers, staff and civilians killed as BLA separatists hijacked Jaffar Express train in Balochistan earlier this month
  • BLA is largest and strongest of several ethnic Baloch groups fighting for decades to win independence for Balochistan
Updated 42 min 48 sec ago
Saadullah Akhtar

QUETTA: Train operations from the Quetta Railway Station were restored on Friday, over two weeks after they were suspended following a deadly hijacking by militants in which 31 soldiers, staff and civilians were killed in the southwestern Balochistan province.

The separatist Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the Mar. 11 attack on the Quetta-Peshawar Jaffar Express, during which they blew up train tracks and held passengers hostage in a day-long standoff with security services in a remote mountain pass.

MP Jamal Shah Kakar and Divisional Superintendent Pakistan Railways Imran Hayat inaugurated the train service in a televised ceremony. The train departed with 400 passengers from Quetta for Peshawar in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province under strict security measures. 

The Jaffar Express had started services yesterday, Thursday.

“Although we don’t have enough strength of Railway Police Forces, many stations require fencing and other security equipment,” Railways Minister Hanif Abbasi told reporters earlier this week, admitting that railways facilities in the province faced security challenges. 

“We are recruiting 500 soldiers in the Pakistan Railway Police and 70 percent of the recruitment would be for Balochistan,” the minister added. “We have planned new security strategies with the frontier corps and other law enforcing agencies.” 

He also announced a special Eid train from Quetta Railway station with fool-proof security for passengers. 

“We are very much optimistic about better security to the railway’s passengers in Balochistan,” Abbasi said.

“We have repaired all damaged carriages of the attacked Jaffar Express, and new rack of carriages would be included in the train operations from Balochistan.” 

The BLA is the largest and strongest of several ethnic Baloch insurgent groups which have been fighting for decades to win independence for the mineral-rich province, home to major China-led projects including a port and gold and copper mines.

Topics: Jaffar Express Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) Quetta Railways

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Pakistani charities report modest recovery in Ramadan despite easing inflation

Updated 28 March 2025
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Pakistani charities report modest recovery in Ramadan despite easing inflation

  • Alamgir Welfare Trust expects up to 10 percent increase in donations as it aims to expand services
  • Pakistan’s largest charity Edhi Foundation says donations have only marginally improved
Updated 28 March 2025
Ismail Dilawar

KARACHI: Two main charities in Pakistan’s largest city of Karachi have reported a modest recovery in the collection of donations this Ramadan despite easing inflation, top officials at the organizations said this week, as the annual inflation rate slowed to 1.5 percent in February, the lowest in nearly a decade. 

Major welfare organizations such as the Edhi Foundation, Pakistan’s largest charity known for its extensive network of ambulances and shelters, and the Alamgir Welfare Trust (AWT), another main social welfare body, said they expected either stable or slightly higher contributions this year compared to the last two years when high inflation rates had curtailed donations. 

Pakistan’s inflation peaked at 38 percent in May 2023 before gradually easing, with the government expecting it to remain within 1–3 percent in the coming months.

Every year, Edhi and AWT collectively gather and spend as much as Rs4 billion ($14.4 million) on initiatives like sheltering orphans, burying unclaimed dead bodies and providing free food, health and education facilities to thousands of vulnerable families across Pakistan.

“This year we will hopefully see 10 percent extra donations toward our annual budget of Rs3 billion,” Chohdry Nisar Ahmed, the chairman of AWT, told Arab News.

Headquartered in the Bahadurabad neighborhood of Karachi, the organization operates on a daily budget of around Rs10 million ($36,000). 

Ahmed said inflation had adversely affected the charity’s work in recent years, though the situation was now beginning to improve.

“Earlier, the effect of inflation was significant. Now that impact has reduced a bit,” he said “But as the gold price has increased now, so people are bound to pay more Zakat. We did experience a little up and down in donations but not much.”

Zakat is a mandatory form of almsgiving in Islam, calculated as a percentage of one’s wealth, including gold holdings. This means the higher the price of gold, the greater the amount eligible individuals are required to pay.

The AWT chief said he wanted to expand his network of services by constructing a 14-story building in Karachi, the commercial capital of Pakistan. To start the construction work on acquired land, he said, AWT needed at least Rs1.5 billion ($5.4 million). The organization also wants to enroll at least 50,000 children in schools in addition to the 40,000 it is already educating.

The chairman of the Edhi Foundation, which runs the world’s largest volunteer ambulance service, also reported a modest hike in donations this year.

“Charity in the first twenty days of Ramadan is almost the same as compared to last year,” Faisal Edhi told Arab News. “The increase [this year] is very little, not much. We cannot call it a substantial increase.”

Edhi Foundation is preparing to expand its 2,000-vehicle ambulance fleet amid growing demand for emergency response services across Pakistan. It already runs a shelter home that houses 5,000 homeless people, including women and children.

“Our annual budget ranges from Rs3-4 billion that we cover from donations,” Edhi said, adding that a part of the donations came from the Pakistani community living in Britain and the United States, but most came from Pakistani donors belonging to the middle or working classes.

“Seeing the inflation, it seems like the [total] charity will be same as last year and our last year was not very promising either,” Edhi said. “The group that gives us charity, they belong to middle and lower-middle classes or the working class and the working class has been affected the most [by inflation] at the moment.”

Topics: charities Ramadan 2025 donations Inflation

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Court frees Pakistani journalist charged under controversial cybercrime law

Updated 47 min 57 sec ago
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Court frees Pakistani journalist charged under controversial cybercrime law

  • Waheed Murad, who works for Urdu News, was taken from home by masked men Wednesday morning, his family said
  • Criminalization of online disinformation has spread fear in Pakistan, with journalists among those worried about new law
Updated 47 min 57 sec ago
NAIMAT KHAN

KARACHI: A judicial magistrate had approved bail and freed Pakistani journalist Waheed Murad, charged earlier this week under a controversial cybercrime law, his lawyer said on Friday.

Murad, who works with the international digital media outlet Urdu News, was taken from his home by masked men early Wednesday morning, according to his family, provoking an outcry from the local media community and international journalists’ rights bodies. 

A new cybercrime law, PECA, under which Murad has been charged, carries a prison term of up to three years and unleashed journalist protests when it was approved in January.

“Judicial Magistrate has approved the bail of journalist Waheed Murad and ordered his release,” Murad’s lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir told Arab News.

Pakistani journalist Waheed Murad greets his lawyer outside court in Islamabad, Pakistan, on March 28, 2025. (AN Photo)

The journalist was subsequently freed, with pictures widely shared on social media showing him leaving the lock-up.

The charge sheet against Murad by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) accuses him of sharing “misleading” information on social media, causing “hatred” against government functionaries.

“Accused Muhammad Waheed s/o Bara Khan is found sharing highly intimidating content/post on social media/Facebook and X Corp. on Wednesday, 12-03-2025 at 07:33 p.m. and 10:21 pm, in which the alleged profile has knowingly disseminated/propagated, fake, false, misleading and misinterpreted information leading to hatred against the government functionaries by stating therein that,” a copy of the complaint seen by Arab News said. 

The complaint said a case against the journalist has been registered under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA).

Murad’s arrest came just days after the disappearance of the brothers of exiled journalist Ahmad Noorani following the publishing of a controversial report about Pakistani army chief General Asim Munir on Noorani’s website.

On March 20, the Federal Investigation Agency also arrested Karachi-based journalist Farhan Mallick, founder of the digital media platform Raftar, on allegations of airing “anti-state” content on his YouTube channel.

International rights organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists, have expressed increasing concern over the deteriorating climate for press freedom. Rights defenders say the pattern reflects a shrinking space for democratic discourse in Pakistan, where journalists critical of state policies or security agencies are frequently subjected to intimidation tactics.

The criminalization of online disinformation has in particular spread fear in Pakistan, with journalists among those worried about the potentially wide reach of laws like PECA.

Pakistan is ranked 152 out of 180 countries in a press freedom index compiled by Reporters Without Borders.

Islamabad has long been criticized by watchdogs for restricting Internet access, including temporary bans on YouTube and TikTok, while X has been officially blocked since February last year. 

Topics: waheed murad PECA law Pakistan Media journalism Federal Investigation Agency

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Pakistan stocks increase 4 percent month-on-month on IMF staff level deal — analysts 

Updated 28 March 2025
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Pakistan stocks increase 4 percent month-on-month on IMF staff level deal — analysts 

  • IMF this week reached deal for new $1.3 billion arrangement, first review of ongoing bailout program
  • Pakistan can unlock $1.3 billion under new climate resilience loan program spanning 28 months
Updated 28 March 2025
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani stocks increased by 4 percent on a month-on-month basis on the back of a successful staff level agreement with the International Monetary Fund, among other factors, top brokerage house Topline Securities said in a monthly market review on Friday.

On Tuesday, IMF staff reached a deal with Pakistan for a new $1.3 billion arrangement and also agreed on the first review of the ongoing 37-month bailout program. Pending board approval, Pakistan can unlock the $1.3 billion under a new climate resilience loan program spanning 28 months. The IMF will also free $1 billion for the South Asian nation under its $7 billion bailout program, which would bring those disbursements to $2 billion.

The program, secured mid-year in 2024, has played a key role in stabilizing Pakistan’s economy and the government has said the country is on course for a long-term recovery.

“KSE 100 Index increased by 4 percent on MoM basis, this gain can be attributed to staff level agreement with IMF, circular debt resolution plan where news flow suggest that significant progress has been made and noise that government is working on plan to reduce the electricity prices,” Topline Securities said in its review. 

Plugging unresolved debt across the power sector is a top priority under the ongoing IMF bailout, which has helped Pakistan dig its way out of an economic crisis.

Pakistan’s government, the largest shareholder or owner of most power companies, faces a challenge in resolving debt due to fiscal constraints. To address this, Islamabad has raised energy prices, as recommended by the IMF, but still needs to settle the accumulated debt.

The government plans to reduce “circular debt” — public liabilities that build up in the power sector due to subsidies and unpaid bills — this year by eliminating government-guaranteed debt and moving to a revenue-based system.

This approach is expected to lower financing costs, enabling the government to pay off interest and service debt obligations, the power ministry said earlier this month. 

Other major developments during this month have been the inflation rate for February coming in at 1.5 percent, the lowest reading in nearly a decade. The monetary policy committee also kept the policy rate unchanged at 12 percent, while the remittance figure for the month of February 2025 clocked in at S$3.1 billion, up 39 percent YoY and 4 percent MoM.

Pakistan’s inflation is likely to remain steady in March, in the 1 percent to 1.5 percent range, the country’s finance ministry said in its monthly economic outlook, after slowing to its lowest level in almost a decade the previous month. 

Inflation in Pakistan has been declining for several months after it soared to around 40 percent in May 2023.

Pakistan says its $350 billion economy has stabilized under the $7 billion IMF bailout that had helped it stave off a default threat.

“While economic growth remains moderate, inflation has declined to its lowest level since 2015, financial conditions have improved, sovereign spreads have narrowed significantly, and external balances are stronger,” the IMF said about Pakistan. 

Topics: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Pakistan Stock Exchange Pakistan economy Pakistan IMF Talks

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