Is IMF’s cure worse than the disease?
Conditionality has failed the Global South, it may be time to reclaim sovereignty, embrace growth…
Is IMF’s cure worse than the disease?
Conditionality has failed the Global South, it may be time to reclaim sovereignty, embrace growth BRUSSELS: The International Monetary Fund (IMF), being the lender of last resort for countries in balance-of-payments crisis or in danger of default, almost always ties its bailouts to excessive austerity measures. Its loans are tied, to use IMF jargon, to…
UK’s Starmer could set out exit timetable on Monday as Burnham waits in the wings
Greater Manchester mayor’s parliamentary election victory boosts hopes of reversing Labour’s declining support British Prime Minister Keir Starmer gives a media statement at Downing Street in London, Britain, April 30, 2026. REUTERS Prime Minister Keir Starmer could on Monday set out a timetable for his departure and usher in an orderly transfer of power to…
PM forms body to review telecom bill
Questions over motives grew stronger, particularly because of the govt’s push to have it approved by both houses ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has constituted a committee to review the Telecommunication Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill. The committee will be headed by Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazir Tarar, while the members include Senator Sherry Rehman,…
Incentives alone won’t fix Pakistan’s exports
KARACHI: The current fiscal year has been marked by significant strain on the external account, driven in large part by the US-Iran conflict and its spillovers into capital flows and sovereign spreads. With peace now expected to return to the region, policymakers’ attention should turn to the domestic constraints that continue to hold exports back….
US and Iran conclude high-level talks in Switzerland, mediators say
The White House has no immediate comment when asked if high-level talks have wrapped for now US Vice President JD Vance speaks next to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani prior to a quadrilateral meeting between the United States, Iran, Pakistan and Qatar at the Burgenstock…
Balochistan approves Rs1.189tr budget
QUETTA: The Balochistan Assembly on Sunday approved the provincial budget for the financial year 202627, amounting to Rs1,189 billion, after passing all 118 demands for grants and recording no cut motions from the opposition. The budget was passed during the closing sitting of the assembly, which met 40 minutes behind schedule under the chairmanship of…
a key for rapid development
Activation of China route as energy corridor can prove to be windfall for Pakistan, complemented by 923-hectare free t ISLAMABAD: The idea of developing a modern port at Gwadar goes back to 1954, when a survey by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) convinced Pakistan of its strategic importance. However, it took us 54 years…
India holds re-exam under tight security following leak
More than 200,000 officials, including police, deployed; Telegram messaging app restricted NEW DELHI: India’s 2.2 million aspiring medical students sit a re-examination under tight security on Sunday, after the last test was scrapped following a paper leak that triggered widespread outrage. The failure of the hugely competitive exam, along with a separate marking fiasco in…
R-4 forum focuses on regional security concerns
ISLAMABAD: Foreign ministers of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Egypt gathered in Cairo on Sunday for the fourth consultative meeting of the R-4 grouping, at a moment when Iran and the United States opened a fresh round of talks in Switzerland aimed at consolidating the recently signed Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The meeting was…
Vance praisesPakistan leadership’s ‘historic diplomacy’
Shehbaz hopes Switzerland talks will mark the beginning of a sustained diplomatic process BURGENSTOCK, SWITZERLAND: US Vice President JD Vance on Sunday described the Iran-US engagement in Switzerland as a “historic” diplomatic opening, while crediting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan’s Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir for their decisive leadership in bringing the negotiations to…
