The Prime Minister of Pakistan chaired a meeting of National Coordination Committee on Housing, Construction and Development (NCCHCD) in Islamabad today. Governor State Bank, Dr. Reza Baqir, presented key features of an online complaint resolution mechanism developed by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to resolve complaints of potential customers under Government’s Markup Subsidy Scheme for affordable housing.

Careem has partnered with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), to raise awareness on gender sensitization, traffic rules and civic sense through a series of animated videos. The videos will be used for engagement of youth on social issues and being incorporated in the onboarding process for training Careem’s Captains at the time of registration.

The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at US$ 20,120.3 million on 15-January-2021. The break-up of the foreign reserves position is as under: –

• Foreign reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan: US$ 13,013.8 million
• Net foreign reserves held by commercial banks     : US$ 7,106.5 million
• Total liquid foreign reserves             : US$ 20,120.3 million

During the week ended 15-January-2021, SBP reserves decreased by US$ 386 million to US$ 13,013.8 million, due to external debt repayments.

Meezan Bank, Pakistan’s first and largest Islamic bank and The Islamia University of Bahawalpur (IUB) have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to abridge the industry-academia gap marking a milestone for both the organizations in initiating a collaboration for planning, research engagement and knowledge exchange activities.

It was another tremendous milestone accomplished as Ilma University’s scholarly article got published in the world-recognized journal. Department of Business Administration is applauded for its efforts in producing contribution from its high calibre scholar Arshian Sharif. The article titled, Dynamic and casualty interrelationships from municipal solid waste recycling to economic growth, carbon emissions and energy efficiency using a novel bootstrapping autoregressive distributed lag which targeted the SDG # 13 – Climate Action was recently included as top research in ELSEVIER journal.

After clocking in an upwards of 250% growth in 2020, Bagallery is all set to continue the momentum in 2021. An event that comes once every 6 months, Bagallery is kicking off the year in January with their FLAT 40% & ABOVE sale starting 23rd January.

Avanza Solutions – one of the leading Fintech organizations across the globe, has entered into a strategic partnership with Hysab Kytab –a Fintech that offers a suite of financial management solutions. The collaboration will help in providing individual-level personalized financial management products and services to the digital banking customers.

According to Spectrum Securities Limited, the Central Bank is likely to maintain Policy Rate in upcoming Monetary Policy State Bank of Pakistan, scheduled to announce its next 2-month monetary policy on Jan’22, 2021.

In the current economic scenario, experts foresee the status quo in the policy rate is the plausible option for the Central Bank, as the economy still needs an accommodative policy to accelerate recovery.

According to Spectrum Securities Limited, the Central Bank is likely to maintain Policy Rate in upcoming Monetary Policy State Bank of Pakistan, scheduled to announce its next 2-month monetary policy on Jan ’22, 2021.

In the current economic scenario, experts foresee the policy rate’s status quo is the plausible option for the Central Bank, as the economy still needs an accommodative policy to accelerate recovery.

Brandverse, Pakistan’s largest & fastest automated production studio for e-commerce content creation has partnered with a newly launched fashion e-commerce marketplace, Jomo, to help them take their products online through the provision of e-commerce photography services.

Brandverse, with its cutting-edge technology, state of the art facility and unmatchable speed has provided Jomo with high quality product content and immersive video presentation for thousands of lifestyle products ranging from shoes, clothes and accessories, all delivered within a month, as a part of their debut launch effort.

· Market dipped further by 358pts during the session courtesy of redemption at mutual funds which prompted selling in Banks, E&P, Power, Cement and O&GMCs. Investors preferred switching to Food, Chemical and Power sectors as safe haven. E&P stocks went contrary to the trend of international crude oil prices, which went up overnight.

Sixty-one per cent of global respondents to a survey amongst accountancy and finance professionals say that they work in an environment free from harassment and discrimination, ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) reveals in a new report Leading Inclusion.

The results for the 466 respondents in Pakistan show 52 per cent believe this to be the case, with 37 per cent saying ‘partially’ and nine per cent saying ‘no’.

K-Electric’s flagship 900 MW power plant, BQPS-III is progressing on fast track and the Gas Turbine, Generator and Heat Recovery Boiler for the first unit of 450 MW have arrived at the power utility’s Bin Qasim Power Complex. Steam Turbine and Transformers for the first unit are on the way to the site.

Agha Dialysis Centre (ADC) has provided specialized free dialysis treatment to more than 50,000 patients suffering from renal disease at its facilities in Karachi since its establishment in July 2015.The ADC is run by Agha Welfare Trust (AWT) and provides safest, most effective specialized treatment to people suffering from end-stage renal disease free of cost.

‘The Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) and its member companies are the torch bearers for empowering women at the workplace. The corporate sector across Pakistan can replicate the ‘OICCI Women’ initiative to foster economic growth of the country’, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Pakistan, Mr.