Tag: Economy

US voters credit Obama for economy upswing

WASHINGTON - US voters are seeing signs of a brighter economy and are crediting President Barack Obama for the upturn, but by a narrow margin want Congress to repeal his health care overhaul, a poll showed on Tuesday.
The Quinnipiac University poll showed that 54 percent of respondents said they believed the US economy is beginning to recover, with 43 percent disagreeing. Nonetheless, the survey showed a 53 to 40 percent majority disapproved of Obama's economic management.

Joint statement – Germany to assist Pakistan in economy, trade sectors

ISLAMABAD - Germany and Pakistan have agreed to enhance cooperation in economic, trade and investment fields and to initiate a strategic dialogue to boost bilateral ties, said a joint statement issued here by the foreign office on Monday.
These developments were result of Germany's Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle's visit to Pakistan on January 8th and 9th.
Westerwelle held meetings with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Prime Minister Yusuf

Economy in deep peril, while Lilliputians at war

ISLAMABAD - At a time when the national economy is heading towards a breakdown, political parties are engrossed in petty politicking instead of sitting together to contain the looming crisis.
The fiscal deficit is estimated to increase to a record 7.5 percent of the GDP, or Rs 1.2 trillion, by the end of the current fiscal year, compared to the budgetary estimate of 4 percent of GDP or Rs 685 billion.
The International Monetary Fund has given the country another nine months

Economy battered by multiple setbacks

LAHORE - Pakistan's economy remained under tremendous pressure in 2010, as the crippling energy shortage, liquidity crunch, multiplying bad loans, low growth rate, high budget deficit and massive summer floods took a toll on the macroeconomic health of the country.
The reformed General Sales Tax (GST) remained a hot and divisive issue throughout the year as political parties, instead of evaluating its advantages and disadvantages, politicised and polarised the debate. The GST

Brazil to be fifth largest economy by 2016: Lula

RIO DE JANEIRO - Outgoing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has claimed that Brazil would be the world's fifth biggest economy by 2016, as he laid the cornerstone of a new Fiat factory.
"Fiat was right to set up in north-eastern Brazil, and if it were up to me, whether I am president or not, other companies would set up in other states" in the region, Lula said Pernambuco state. "Brazil will be the fifth largest economy in the world before the Olympic Games" to be held in Rio

Impact of the IMF extension on the economy

KARACHI - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday approved a nine-month extension of Pakistan's $11 billion loan, which was scheduled to end this year.
The standby loan programme had two tranches remaining, but will now run through Sept. 30, 2011, with the two tranches broken up and spread out over that time.
Here are some questions and answers on the nine-month extension.
The government initially requested a nine-month extension to have time to finish

Brain drain a headache for economy: ICCI

ISLAMABAD - Human capital is integral to the economic progress of Pakistan but discouraging domestic factors are forcing young professionals to look further afield for better prospects and shift abroad, said Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) President Mahfooz Elahi.
He expressed concern that due to the dearth of job opportunities, negative environment and lack of support on the part of the government, knowledgeable and skilled professionals are looking to other

World economy can withstand $100 oil price: Kuwait

CAIRO - The global economy can withstand an oil price of $100 a barrel, Kuwait's oil minister said, as other exporters indicated global production was unlikely to rise in 2011 because the market was well supplied.
Analysts believe that oil producing countries are likely to raise output after crude rallied more than 30 percent from a low in May because they fear prices could once again damage economic growth in fuel importing countries. European benchmark ICE Brent crude for

Corruption inflicting huge losses on economy: Kasuri

LAHORE - Former Foreign Affairs minister minister Khursheed Mahmood Kasuri has said that the rampant corruption has inflicted bigger losses to the economy than the three wars the country fought with India.
He was addressing a cake-cutting ceremony held in connection with Quaid-e-Azam's 134th birth anniversary in Lahore on Saturday. Kasuri said Pakistan might have reached its destiny if the rulers followed in footsteps of the country's founder.
He also alleged that the PML-N

Financing the ‘green economy’

ADDIS ABABA: At the climate-change summit in Copenhagen last December, political leaders expressed a strong will to urgently combat global warming. As we approach the next climate-change summit in Canc

How strong is China’s economy?

LAHORE: China's economy has been transformed from Maoist basketcase to the second largest in the world in the course of a couple of decades. Analysts eagerly anticipate that it is only a matter of time before it assumes the position of number one and outstrips the faltering colossus that is the American economy.
It possesses, they point out, a massive capital base, hordes of proficient, cheap, automaton workers and an enormous trade surplus running into a tidy sum of $2.5

PML-N says GST will be disastrous for economy

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Secretary Information MNA Ahsan Iqbal has said that Reformed General Sales Tax (GST) will be a disaster for the national economy.
He told Pakistan Today on Friday that GST imposition would entail another wave of price hike and the PML-N would never allowed the enforcement of this tax. He said the government was trying to achieve a revenue boost by imposing a repressive tax but it was mistaken because such an objective could not be achieved in

China needs ‘sound’ world economy for forex reform

SEOUL: Chinese President Hu Jintao told US President Barack Obama Thursday that Beijing has an "unswerving" resolve to pursue currency reform, but needs a sound world economy to do it, an official said.
"President Hu also stressed that China's resolve to push forward foreign exchange reform is unswerving," foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said after Hu and Obama met just prior to the start of a G20 summit in South Korean capital, Seoul.
"The reform will need a very sound

Shahbaz ruined Punjab’s economy, says Elahi

LAHORE: Shahbaz Sharif has made Punjab penniless and is selling public assets at throwaway prices, claimed Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid 's (PML-Q) leader Pervaiz Elahi while addressing a district worker convention at Gujranwala on Sunday.
"During the PML-Q regime, we gave Rs 8 million to 18 union councils each in Gujranwala and spent Rs 16 billion in five years but Shahbaz did not bother to give even Rs 1600 for the progress of Gujranwala. Not a single cabinet minister in his

Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has voiced his opinion that agriculture is the backbone of our economy. Recent devastating floods have damaged our prized farmland but the government, he added, is committed to revive agriculture.
The government has decided to provide free seeds and fertilizers to the farmers holding 25 acres of land.
In addition, the provincial governments will aid the farmers to get better yield by providing them insecticides and educate