Aurelia Butler

Pakistan will present its annual budget on June 10, three days later than expected, two government sources said on Friday, as markets wait for details of plans seen as crucial to securing a new International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan. Pakistan’s fiscal year starts on July 1.”The growth prospects hinge upon political stability, exchange rate, macroeconomic stabilization under IMF’s programme and expected fall in global oil and commodity prices,” the ministry said in its annual plan review. Earlier in May, in its half-yearly report, Pakistan’s central bank said the economy was grappling with structural bottlenecks exacerbated by political uncertainty, despite some improvement in macroeconomic indicators. It predicted real GDP growth of 2%-3% for fiscal 2024.The Planning Ministry said the fiscal deficit would narrow on the back of fiscal consolidation measures, and that domestic average inflation was likely to moderate to 12% owing to falls in global inflation. Pakistani inflation is set to come in between 13.5% and 14.5% in May and to ease further to 12.5% to 13.5% by June, the finance ministry said on Wednesday in a monthly update.Pakistan has been beset by inflation above 20% since May 2022, registering a high of 38% in May 2023, as it navigated reforms as part of an International Monetary Fund bailout programme. However, inflation has slowed over the past few months. The planning ministry added that the Annual Plan Coordination Committee had approved an estimated 1.22 trillion rupees ($4.39 billion) for public sector development spending during the next fiscal year, lower than the 2.8 trillion rupees ($10 billion) requested by the ministries, due to fiscal constraints. ($1 = 278.1000 Pakistani rupees) More

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Ma met U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and deputy national security adviser Jon Finer on Thursday, a day after the U.S. accused Beijing’s leadership of supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine and said China could face further Western sanctions.”(We) urge the U.S. to stop smearing and exerting pressure on China, stop imposing abusive unilateral sanctions on Chinese enterprises, and play a constructive role in the resolution of the Ukraine crisis,” the Chinese foreign ministry quoted Ma as telling Campbell. Ma said China-U.S. relations were at a “critical stage” of stabilising from deterioration and called Taiwan issue “the most important, sensitive and explosive issue” between Beijing and Washington.”If the U.S. really wants peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, it should abide by the one-China principle and the Three Joint Communiques, and honour its commitment not to support ‘Taiwan independence’,” Ma added.State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel described Campbell’s meeting with Ma as part of intensive diplomacy to responsibly manage competition in the U.S.-China relationship, and said the U.S. expected more such senior-level engagement.Patel said the U.S., its G7 partners and other EU and NATO countries shared the view that China’s support for Russia in the Ukraine war “not only threatens Ukrainian security, it threatens European security.” He declined to provide details of any future sanctions when asked whether those might target Chinese leaders given Campbell’s comment.The Biden administration has stepped up warnings about China’s support for Russia and issued an executive order in December that threatened sanctions on financial institutions helping Russia skirt Western sanctions.Last month the U.S. imposed sanctions on 20 companies based in China and Hong Kong, following repeated warnings from Washington about China’s support for Russia’s military. More

The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index increased 0.3% last month, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis said on Friday, matching the unrevised gain in March.In the 12 months through April, the PCE price index rose 2.7% after advancing 2.7% in March. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast it would climb 0.3% on the month and 2.7% on a year-on-year basis. The PCE price index is one of the inflation measures tracked by the U.S. central bank for its 2% target. Monthly inflation readings of 0.2% over time are needed to bring inflation back to target.The Fed has kept its benchmark policy rate in the 5.25%-5.50% range for the past 10 months and was stung by three months of stronger-than-expected inflation and labor market readings from January to March after more encouraging readings in the fourth quarter of last year.Earlier this month, however, readings for monthly April job gains and the consumer price index, another closely-watched inflation gauge, appeared to provide some relief for the Fed. U.S. job growth was at the lowest level in six months and the CPI increased less than expected.The Fed has raised borrowing costs by 525 basis points since March 2022 in a bid to cool demand across the economy. Financial markets initially expected the first rate cut to come in March, which then got pushed back to June and now to September.Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, increased by 0.2%, down from a 0.7% rise in March. Revised gross domestic product data released on Thursday showed consumer spending moderating to a 2.0% pace in the first quarter from the brisk 3.3% pace in the October-December period. More

PARIS (Reuters) – Organisers of the annual Geneva Motor Show said on Friday they will no longer hold the event in Geneva, citing an uncertain market environment.They added in a statement that they were still planning to hold the Qatar edition of the show in November. More