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ISTANBUL: Turkey’s economy grew 3.0% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2024, bringing full-year growth to 3.2%, official data showed on Friday, exceeding forecasts despite the weight of high interest rates. The government, which had initially projected 3.5% growth for 2024, had trimmed its expectations to reflect ongoing adjustments in domestic demand and efforts to slow down annual inflation, which exceeded 75% in May and is now just over 40%. Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said balanced growth was achieved in 2024 with the contribution of 2.1 points from domestic demand and 1.1 points from net foreign demand. “More favourable financial…

KARACHI: Despite tall claims by the price regulator to deal with overcharging retailers with an iron fist, consumers faced the same challenging situation, like previous years, on the first day of Ramazan when they went to market to purchase food items for Iftar and Sehri. Even though rates of almost all food essentials have been fixed by the commissioner of Karachi, shopkeepers in the metropolis were selling all the items on exorbitant prices spoiling consumers’ appetite. Fruit vendors were charging Rs250-300 per dozen for bananas. The official rate was Rs148 a dozen. Melons and guavas (Larkana) were selling at Rs150-200…

Pakistan has pledged to become fully Shariah-compliant in its banking services by December 2027 under a Federal Shariat Court order. The court had given the government five years to adopt a Shariah-compliant mode of the financial system, both domestically and internationally, to convert the country into an “equitable, asset-based, risk-sharing and interest-free economy”. Given the challenges and the limited timeframe allowed by the court for conversion, the ambitious task appears to be quite daunting, even if not outrightly impossible to pull off. Although the banks have already submitted their conversion plans with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), providing timelines…

Poverty is like a chronic disease and a perpetual challenge for humanity. Since 2012, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has worked relentlessly towards this end under the leadership of its General Secretary Xi Jinping. These efforts have enabled one-fifth of the world’s population to successfully implement the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and achieve the poverty reduction target in 2021, almost a decade ahead of the cut-off point. How China pulled it off can be instructive for other countries, including Pakistan. To begin with, it couldn’t have been possible without the commitment of China’s leadership to this…

The surge in activity isn’t limited to roads, where unusually long traffic jams in Pakistan signal pre-Ramazan preparations. Shoppers crowd neighbourhood stores and departmental outlets while online platforms struggle to keep up with soaring orders. After all, Ramazan is the busiest month for markets, with household spending rising over 40 per cent above routine levels across all social classes. Ramazan’s impact extends beyond individuals and their personal lives. In Pakistan, as in other Muslim-majority countries, markets — and arguably the entire economy — undergo adjustments during the holy month. Changes in working hours, government policies tailored for Ramazan, and, most…

Pakistan’s obsession with real estate is a strange paradox: almost every single household has lost money in some sort of fraud, and yet, it continues to be the preferred avenue of investment for the majority. From middle-class professionals to business tycoons, pretty much everyone has parked their funds in plots or property in general. According to the national accounts, real estate activities have a gross domestic product of Rs2.32 trillion in constant prices, or roughly 5.8 per cent of the entire economy. However, these are just the official statistics and do not capture the activity taking place informally, where, unfortunately,…

Federal Minister for Planning Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal has reassured all provinces that they will receive their fair share of resources and that no province will be deprived of its rights by another. He was addressing a joint press conference with Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah after attending the ‘Uraan Pakistan’ workshop at the Chief Minister House Karachi on Feb 24. Apparently referring to Mr Shah’s concerns over water shortages in Sindh amidst reports of the Cholistan Canal’s approval, Mr Iqbal added that there was no water available in the system to support new canals. Undeterred,…

The global Islamic finance industry, valued at over $5 trillion, is expected to reach $7.5tr by 2028 and has established itself as a viable alternative to conventional finance. According to the latest London Stock Exchange Group report, there are over 1,980 financial institutions offering Islamic financial services, and 57 countries have at least one regulation or law to support Islamic finance. Sukuk, often dubbed the “crown jewel” of Islamic capital markets with a market value north of $900 billion, are Shariah-compliant alternatives to conventional bonds that do not represent a loan but often represent an ownership share in an asset…

The Indus Delta, one of the largest deltaic ecosystems in the world, is facing severe degradation due to seawater intrusion. The consequences of this phenomenon include the submersion of millions of acres of land, increased salinity in groundwater, and a scarcity of freshwater resources, severely impacting agriculture and drinking water availability in coastal areas of Pakistan. Seawater intrusion has resulted in the submersion of vast tracts of land in the Indus Delta region. According to a 2019 study by the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources, approximately 2.2 million acres of fertile land have been rendered unproductive due to…

• Nine-member Fund mission begins first biannual review of $7bn Extended Fund Facility• Govt hopes for successful completion of talks, release of $1.1bn tranche within three weeks• Insists revenue shortfall offset by higher primary budget surplus, better non-tax revenue receipts ISLAMABAD: As a nine-member mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) begins its first biannual review of Pakistan’s $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF), signed in September last year, the government remains optimistic about a successful conclusion to the talks, which would unlock a $1.1bn tranche over the following three weeks. The IMF delegation, led by Nathan Porter, will hold…