SBP enables microfinance customers to invest in government securities on March 17, 2022The following actions have been taken by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in order to broaden public access to government securities investment and to increase the variety of sources of funding for this specialized market: 1. Microfinance Banks (MFBs) have been permitted to offer Investor Portfolio of Securities (IPS) Accounts to their customers. 2. […]
Union Microfinance inaugurates its first branch in Karachi on February 25, 2022Union Microfinance, a new entrant in the microfinance industry, launched its first branch on 24th February in Karachi. Union Microfinance was established with the mission to tap the unbanked population and bring them into the ambit of financial inclusion. As financial access translates into prosperity and reducing poverty, Union Microfinance has taken up the challenge […]
Weekly Review: stocks rise in range-bound trading on January 31, 2022Many promising and depressing news pushed the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) into a rangebound trading week, with the KSE-100 index experiencing both bullish and bearish pressures. The monetary policy meeting and the Senate’s passage of the SBP Amendment Bill delighted market players, but Covid-19 infections and the impending review of Pakistan’s case by the IMF […]
Rupee fails to hold ground against US dollar for fifth week on December 27, 2021Pakistan rupee depreciated against the US dollar for the fifth straight week, down by 9 paisas (-0.05 percent) last week. Though the rupee’s depreciation continues unabated on a weekly basis, it has slowed in terms of value for the fourth week in a low, as in the preceding three weeks, the rupee devalued by o.19 […]
SBP changes date of monetary policy announcement to Nov 19 on November 17, 2021According to a brief statement released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will convene on November 26, 2021, rather than the previously scheduled November 26, 2021. On Friday, November 19, 2021, “the MPC will now convene in SBP Karachi,” stated the SBP. As a result of unexpected events, the […]
Remembering Asma Jahangir on February 16, 2018About a month ago my friend Myra, who is married to Asma Jahangir’s son, Jillani, called to ask if I would like to join Asma Aunty for dinner. The invitation it appeared had been occasioned by my support for a tweet of her’s which had been trolled viciously and which I had defended as strongly […]
The Long Road to Freedom on May 16, 2016August 26, 2011, an ordinary day. I was driving to work on the same road in Lahore that I took every day and my mind was busy with the mundane. A car blocked the road, but I didn’t give it much thought. Five masked men pulled me out with a gun to my head, and […]