The Consul General of Sri Lanka H.E G.L Gnanatheva visited FPCCI to meet Dr. Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, Senior Vice President, FPCCI to discuss bilateral trade, investment and potential of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Pakistan and Sri-Lanka.

Dr. Baig expressed his concern that in spite of Free Trade Agreement between both countries for the last 13 years, the trade between two countries is only $ 373 million out of which exports from Pakistan to Sri Lanka are $270 million and imports from Sri Lanka to Pakistan are $ 103, whereas in 2011 the trade volume was $ 512 million with exports of $ 442 million and imports was $ 70 million which shows a decline in trade volume between the two countries.

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has won the global award as the best Central Bank in promoting Islamic finance for the year 2018. The coveted award is conferred by Islamic Finance News (IFN), an arm of REDmoney Group, Malaysia. IFN Best Banks Poll is regarded as one of the most prestigious accolades in the Islamic finance industry.

Hundreds of dock workers Thursday marched on streets of Saddar to mark their 108th day of continuous protest for their rights. Holding red flags and protest banners, they rallied from Regal Chowk towards Karachi Press Club.

This protest was arranged by Workers Union of Port Qasim CBA which was joined and led by home based women workers and senior trade union leaders including Karamat Ali from PILER, Habibuddin Junaidi, Liaquat Ali Sahi, Nasir Mansoor, Manzoor Razi, Secretary General of CBA union Hussain Badshah and others at the starting point of rally.

The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at US$13,597.0 million on 04January2019.The break-up of the foreign reserves position is as under: –

Foreign reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan : US$ 7,048.7 million

Net foreign reserves held by commercial banks : US$ 6,548.3 million

Total liquid foreign reserves             : US$ 13,597.0 million

During the week ending 04 January2019, SBP’s reserves decreased by US$239 million to US$7,048.7 million, due to external debt servicing and other official payments.

Success in scaling-up is not only good for the businesses themselves, but also delivers many benefits for the wider economy, including the people who they employ as well as the community in which they operate. At a multi-stakeholder conference organised in Lahore by ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), business leaders and regulators discussed the role of governance measures to address Pakistan’s financing gap, alongside the need to formulate policy to help SMEs to scale-up.

State Bank of Pakistan categorically denies a news item published in a leading English language newspaper relating to the bank accounts of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

SBP neither maintains the database of banks’ individual accountholders nor possesses any related information / record thereof.

President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), President All Karachi Industrial Alliance (AKIA), Senior Vice Chairman of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI and former provincial minister, Mian Zahid Hussain on Wednesday said that Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers held in 1976 approved the common aspirations of the Islamic countries to promote and enhance commercial and industrial cooperation by setting up an institution that would assemble the business organizations of the Islamic countries.

A meeting of Korangi Association of Trade & Industry (KATI) and officials of K-Electric held at KATI, headquarters here, to discuss complains and issues pertaining electric supply and maintenance. President KATI Danish Khan, Senior Vice President Faraz-ur-Rehman, Chairman & CEO KITE Zubair Chhaya, Chairman K-Electric Standing Committee Najmul Arfeen, S.M Yahya, Ehteshamuddin, Sheikh Fazle Jalil represented the association while from K-Electric, Director External Affairs Asmer Naim, Director Strategy Ahsan Anis, General Manager, IBC KIMZ Mr.

Philip Morris (Pakistan) Limited (PMPKL), an affiliate of Philip Morris International (PMI), today announced that it has successfully obtained the Equal Salary certification from Equal-Salary Foundation, an independent, non-profit organization. As PMI transforms to become a smoke-free technology leader in this rapidly-changing 21st century, it recognizes that diverse teams and an inclusive culture are needed to drive innovation and be successful.

This year’s much anticipated online travel series, ‘Eva Travels Pakistan with Jazz’, has streamed five episodes already amidst much fanfare. The idea behind Jazz’s inception of the travel series was to make foreigners understand the culture, customs and traditions of Pakistan by exploring and highlighting various hidden parts of Sindh and Balochistan that many outsiders, as well as Pakistanis, are unaware of.