kuala lumpur - It has never been more lucrative to be a voter in Malaysia, where political rivals are showering the public with cash in a desperate electoral battle, stoking concerns over rising national debt.With May 5 elections expected to be Malaysia's closest ever, the long-ruling coalition has ...

Beijing  : China will control risk arising from local government debt, Premier Li Keqiang was quoted as saying on Wednesday, while assuring the public that the world’s No. 2 economy was in “good shape”.Li made his comment on debt in passing, but it came after Fitch Ratings ...

LAHORE - The Independent Power Producers (IPPs) of the country are in huge debt because of WAPDA’s default on its contractual obligations. Contrary to the Power Purchase Agreement, WAPDA has released meager or in some cases absolutely no payments to the gas-fired IPPs over past few months, ...

KARACHI - Stock market remained high amid thin trade led by selected blue chip stocks on strong valuations.The Karachi stock market benchmark KSE-100 share index marginally up by 9.74 points or 0.05 percent to end the day at 18,723.35 points compared to 18,713.61 points of a day earlier. In the ...

ISLAMABAD - With the start of hot summer, mounting circular debt might force some power plants to shut down their operation of electricity generation in upcoming days, worsening load-shedding crisis across the country. Reliable sources in water & power ministry disclosed that Pakistan Electric ...

LAHORE - Where prevalent gas curtailment advocates for higher oil consumption, notorious circular debt along with higher prices is keeping a check on overall oil sales in the country, industry experts said. Extrapolating for last few days of March, country’s oil sales stood at 14.1 million ...

ISLAMABAD - Businessmen in a meeting at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) showed serious concern over country’s sliding into a serious debt trap as country’s domestic debt and liabilities rose by Rs1.5 trillion, or 20 percent, to Rs8.7 trillion against Rs7.2 trillion ...

NEW YORK - Argentina on Friday offered two New York hedge funds to repay its debt to them with cash and new bonds on conditions similar to those used in a 2010 debt swap.The South American nation is facing a court order to pay out $1.3 billion (one billion euros) to bondholders on debt it defaulted ...

ISLAMABAD - Due to poor economic conditions transmission and distribution T&D losses in power sector, circular debt in the last five years increased to Rs 711 billion.According to USAID report for the Causes and Impacts of Power Sector Circular Debt in Pakistan in 2008 circular debt was ...

LAHORE - Debt servicing has become a major component of cement industry cost as even after three interest rates cuts in past one year the effective bank markup for this sector is still well above 12 percent. Industry representatives appealed the planners to provide some industry specific interest ...

NEW YORK  - The U.S. government is expected to bump up against its legal borrowing limit by March, and it would be hard to fault investors for feeling edgy.The last fight over the debt ceiling led to one of the most volatile weeks in stock market history, cost the United States its top credit ...

LAHORE - Debt servicing has now become a major component of cost for cement industry as even after three interest rates cuts in past six months the effective bank markup for the industry is still well above 12 per cent. The cement sector’s representatives have appealed the authorities to ...

KARACHI - Share market closed bullish across the board on positive statement by US State department on Iran Pipeline. At local equity benchmark Karachi Stock Eexchange 100-share index added 147.59 points or 1.14 percent on Friday to stop the day at 13,088.97 points as compared to 12,941.38 points ...

WASHINGTON  - US President Barack Obama said Friday the European Union had made “some progress” in resolving its eurozone sovereign debt crisis, but warned there was much more to do on the continent.“We agreed that there has been some progress in resolving the sovereign debt ...

BEIJING  - China’s Premier Wen Jiabao said Tuesday his country was ready to increase its participation in efforts to resolve Europe’s debt crisis, after holding talks with EU leaders in Beijing.Wen said China wanted to see Europe — its biggest trading partner — ...

ISLAMABAD - Chairing a meeting on Wednesday, Prime Minster Yousuf Raza Gilani took the cabinet and coalition partners into confidence on by-polls and the 20th Amendment Bill that will be tabled in the National Assembly during the current session.Sources close to the development told this scribe ...

ATHENS  - Greece and its private creditors said on Saturday they were piecing together the final elements of a debt swap and expected to have a deal ready next week, essential for sealing a new bailout and avoiding an uncontrolled default.After muddling through round after round of ...

ISLAMABAD - The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Friday has allowed the issuance of sovereign guarantee by the Ministry of Finance in terms of financing facility for the power sector to resolve the circular debt issue.The Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet, met ...

KARACHI - Pakistan’s total debt has reached Rs11.8 trillion, which is 60 per cent of the GDP. With Pakistan’s economy facing a truck load of challenges led by rising level of debt especially from domestic sources, the country needs measures which include tightening of the belt and ...

ISLAMABAD - Without taking new loan, the country's external debt has surged by more than Rs 300 billion during the last few months due to sharp rupee depreciation against US dollar, as Pakistani rupee is trading at historic low level of over 90 to the US dollar, it has been learnt."The country's ...

OUR STAFF REPORTER ISLAMABAD - Continuing downslide of rupee has put a very negative impact on the economic growth of the country, badly hitting all the important areas of economy apart from increasing countrys foreign debt servicing liabilities. Yassar Sakhi Butt, President Islamabad Chamber of ...

MUMBAI (AFP) - India warned on Sunday against protectionism as the world grapples with the sovereign debt crisis, portraying itself as a relative haven of stability in troubled economic times. Commerce minister Anand Sharma said India was an influential emerging economy and that the country will be ...

ISLAMABAD - Showing satisfaction over the current economic situation, Secretary Finance Dr Waqar Masood Khan Friday informed that the government has issued investment bonds worth Rs 391 billion to resolve the circular debt issue of food commodity and power sector. Talking to the media persons, ...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US lawmakers return to work next week after a month-long break, facing pitched battles over government spending, trade, and boosting the job-starved economy as the 2012 White House race heats up. Polarized politicians got bracingly bad news Friday as the US government reported ...

HONG KONG (AFP) - Japan led Asian governments in seeking to calm fears over the American debt downgrade on Saturday, saying Tokyo's trust in US Treasuries remained unchanged. Standard & Poor's has cut the US rating a notch from the top flight triple-A to AA+, saying its politicians were becoming ...

There are two ways of cutting a deficit: raising taxes or reducing spending. Raising taxes means taking money from the rich. Cutting spending means taking money from the poor. Not in all cases of course: some taxation is regressive; some State spending takes money from ordinary citizens and gives ...

LONDON (AFP) - The dollar slid against the euro and yen on Tuesday and hit an all-time low point against the safe-haven Swiss franc, under pressure from deadlock over the US debt limit, traders said. In early London deals, the single currency managed a brief rise above $1.45 before trading at ...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - President Barack Obama and top lawmakers held crisis talks Saturday to avert a disastrous US debt default, just 10 days away, that could send shockwaves through the fragile global economy. Obama called the emergency White House summit late Friday after talks on forging a ...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The top US senator, a key White House ally, warned President Barack Obama Friday not to drop possible tax hikes on the rich from negotiations on a deal to avert a disastrous early August debt default. Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, noting that Obama was in talks ...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Ratings agency Standard & Poors warned Thursday that the fight over the US debt ceiling could exacerbate the global tensions arising from Europes troubled economies. S&P also reiterated that it could downgrade the US debt rating if politicians cannot reach a deal to raise the ...