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Govt reduces petrol, diesel prices by Rs5

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The federal government on Friday reduced petrol and diesel prices by Rs5, according to a notification issued by the Petroleum Division. According to the notification, the revised prices will take effect from May 16. Following the decrease, the price of petrol stands at Rs409.78 per litre and that of HSD at Rs409.58. Petrol is mostly used in private transport, small vehicles, rickshaws and two-wheelers and has a direct bearing on the budget of the middle and lower-middle class. High-speed diesel is mainly used in the heavy transport sector and for large generators. The government has been revising petroleum prices every week on Friday night following the now-paused US-Israeli war on Iran , which began on February 28. The war also led to a global fuel crunch caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world’s supply of oil and gas used to pass in peacetime. Last week, the government approved a hike of Rs14.92 per litre i...
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Growth below target

PAKISTAN’S latest GDP figures offer a picture of modest recovery. A projected growth rate of 3.7pc for the current fiscal falls short of the government’s original 4pc target. This is slightly less than even the lower bound of the State Bank’s projected range of 3.75-4.75pc . But it is still an improvement over the previous year’s 3.18pc expansion. Thankfully, the SBP anticipates growth, albeit tepid, during much of next year in case energy prices stay elevated and the Gulf crisis lingers. That said, the numbers show that the economy continues its struggle to break out of the low-growth trap. Structural issues are constraining long-term, faster growth prospects without overheating the economy. In this context, even modest growth is welcome after four years of economic instability, external financing crises and inflationary shocks, and despite oil price hikes triggered by the Gulf conflict. The economy’s size has increased to over $452bn while per capita...
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Civil servants’ asset declarations to be made public in redacted form, says govt

ISLAMABAD: The government on Thursday said that IMF-mandated asset declarations of civil servants would be made publicly accessible in a redacted form to ensure both transparency and personal privacy. The declaration of government officials’ assets is required under IMF governance and corruption-related benchmarks. Establishment Division Secretary Nabeel Awan testified before the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue, which ordered full investigations into two major scams involving the disappearance of over 400 kilogrammes of silver and a major portion of 2,000 bags of skimmed milk from the custody of Pakistan Customs. The meeting of the senate panel, chaired by Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, took up the status of asset declarations by government servants, and Awan reported that the government had revised the Civil Servants Conduct Rules and was in the process of digitising the asset declaration system through the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) platform. He said, “Declarat...
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Liaqat posthumously awarded for foiling suicide attack

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(LEFT to right) President Asif Ali Zardari confers the Sitara-i-Shuja’at upon the mother of Liaqat Ali, a former railway employee who thwarted a suicide attack in Attock; the Hilal-i-Imtiaz upon playwright Asghar Nadeem Syed, and cricketer Shahid Afridi at an investiture ceremony held at Aiwan-i-Sadr.—X/@PresOfPakistan ISLAMABAD: Muhammad Liaqat, a railway employee who thwarted a suicide attack in Attock, was among several Pakistani nationals and foreigners who were conferred civil awards by President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday in recognition of their outstanding services in various fields. President Zardari posthumously awarded the Sitara-i-Shujaat to Liaquat for his extraordinary bravery and sacrifice, following the recommendations from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Punjab Governor Sardar Saleem Haider. The civil gallantry award was received by the deceased’s mother. Liaqat embraced martyrdom after courageously intercepting a suicide attacker nea...
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Major among five soldiers martyred during operation in Balochistan’s Barkhan: ISPR

A major-ranked officer was among five soldiers martyred during an area sanitisation operation in Balochistan’s Barkham district, said the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Wednesday. At least seven terrorists were also killed during the operation. According to a statement by the military’s media wing, the operation, carried out by the Pakistan Army and Frontier Corps Balochistan, took place in Barkham district’s Nosham area and targeted members of Fitna al Hindustan — a term used by the state to designate terrorist organisations in Balo­chistan. “During the operation, a group of terrorists was located and engaged by troops. During [the] fire exchange, seven terrorists of Indian-backed Fitna al Hindustan were sent to hell,” ISPR said, adding that weapons, ammunition and explosives were also recovered from the killed terrorists. “However, during intense fire exchange, five brave sons of soil, including a field officer, met the ultimate sacrifice and embraced shahadat (mart...
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'No indication' Andes strain of hantavirus has mutated: EU agency

The European Union’s health agency (ECDC) said on Wednesday there was nothing to suggest that the Andes strain of hantavirus had mutated following a deadly outbreak of the illness on a cruise ship. The deaths of three passengers from a rare hantavirus outbreak on a cruise from Argentina to Cape Verde sparked international alarm. Seven other passengers are confirmed to have the virus, including a French woman in a critical condition, while an eighth case is considered “probable”, according to an AFP tally. All of the passengers have been evacuated and are now in quarantine. “Preliminary investigations based on the whole genome sequencing that is available to us suggest that there are no indications that this virus is acting any differently from the known virus circulating in some regions of the world,” Andreas Hoefer, of the Stockholm-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, told journalists. “All sequences obtained to date are virtually identical, which means tha...
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Unyielding stances

GLOBAL suffering continues as uncertainty over the fate of the war in the Middle East refuses to dissipate. Market analysts and decision-makers have repeatedly warned that the economic damage already wrought — and worsening daily as vital shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz remain closed — could take months, in some cases years, to reverse. Every day that passes without clarity on how and when the war will end introduces fresh intensity to the uncertainty roiling global markets and adds to the economic turmoil the world must bear because of it. Iran may have been pummelled militarily but refuses to accept defeat. The consensus in foreign intelligence circles is that it may be able to endure for a lot longer before economic pressure forces it to reconsider its position. The US, for its part, seems to be losing the endgame, with its leadership’s obduracy drawing it deeper into a quagmire which is not easy to exit. ...
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