Business

Islamabad, Feb 3 (PTI) The International Monetary Fund has approved the completion of the sixth review of its stalled USD 6 billion programme for Pakistan, paving the way for an immediate disbursement of about USD 1 billion loan tranche for the cash-strapped country.

The IMF's Executive Board held a meeting in Washington DC on Wednesday to consider Pakistan's request for completion of the sixth review and release of a USD 1 billion tranche under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

02 Feb 2022; MEMO: The UAE will start carrying out its plan to invest $10 billion in Israel, sources revealed on Monday to Israeli economic publication the Globes, noting that the Abu Dhabi Growth Fund (ADG) will invest $200 million this year.

02 Feb 2022; MEMO: Palestinian residents of the occupied West Bank are suffering from the major price hikes and deduction of salaries as the Palestinian Authority (PA) might be unable to continue paying full salaries for several months ahead.

By the start of February, prices of most food commodities rose sharply, Palestinian trader, Mohammad Asfour, from the occupied West Bank, told Quds Press.

01 Feb 2022; MEMO: Turkiye (Turkey) is ready to undertake infrastructure projects, including rebuilding the Port of Beirut, the Turkish President said, Tuesday, at a news conference with the Lebanese Premier, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan received Najib Mikati in the Turkish capital of Ankara and held a joint news conference after a one-on-one talk and delegation-level discussions.

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Invoking a verse from the epic Mahabharata, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced steps to further simplify the tax system and promote voluntary compliance.

Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge also invoked the Mahabharata to hit out at Sitharaman and claimed that the budget was not meant for 'Eklavya', the prince of Nishadha, a confederation of jungle tribes.

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) As India prepares for its maiden human spaceflight, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday allocated Rs 13,700 crore to the Department of Space in the Union Budget.

The allocation was an increase of Rs 1,058 crore over the revised estimate of Rs 12,642 crore in the previous budget.

A giant share of the allocation - Rs 10,534 crore - has been made under the head of space technology that covers most of the centres of ISRO.

ISRO plans to launch India first unmanned space mission under Gaganyaan later this year.

01 Feb 2022; MEMO: Qatar has told the European Union the bloc would need to restrict the resale of gas outside the EU so major suppliers can provide gas in case of a Russia-Ukraine conflict and prevent a short-term crisis, Reuters reported a person briefed on the talks saying.

The Gulf Arab state says it is also necessary to resolve a long-running EU probe into Qatar's long-term gas contracts, for the EU to be less dependent on spot sales and more on long-term contracts to boost its energy security, the person added.

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) The defence budget was on Tuesday increased to Rs 5.25 lakh crore for 2022-23 from last year's allocation of Rs 4.78 lakh crore with a major push on ensuring self-reliance in manufacturing of military platforms.

In the Union Budget presented in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, a total of Rs 1,52,369 crore has been set aside for capital expenditure that includes purchasing new weapons, aircraft, warships and other military hardware.

Washington, Feb 1 (AP) President Joe Biden on Tuesday designated Qatar a major non-NATO ally, a largely symbolic honour but one that was meant to convey his administration's gratitude for the tiny Persian Gulf nation's assistance with evacuations from Afghanistan and in ending last year's Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

New Delhi, Jan 31 (PTI) Indian economy contracted by 6.6 per cent in 2020-21 as against the earlier estimate of 7.3 per cent decline, showing that the COVID-19 pandemic hit economy did not perform as badly as was initially worked out.

As per the provisional estimates released in May 2021, the GDP had contracted by 7.3 per cent during 2020-21 on account of the outbreak of COVID-19 and subsequent nationwide lockdown to contain the pandemic.