LAHORE: The inclusion of educated women into Pakistan’s labour force can prove to be a major catalyst for improving the overall economic productivity in the country. Pakistan can equally harness the potential of its gender divide because half of the 110 million population in the country’s largest province – Punjab – is female and one-third of them fall in the 15-29 years’ age bracket. Timely investment in females at a younger age can turn them into an asset for the country, which can realise...

LAHORE: Cash-strapped Pakistan Railways has managed to secure a relief package of Rs6 billion from the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), which is expected to provide some breathing space to the company in the current crisis. The amount, approved on Monday, would be given to the Ministry of Railways in three equal installments of Rs2 billion per month. “Funds will be spent largely on paying salaries to staff and pensions to retired employees,” stated a spokesperson for Pakistan...

LAHORE: Coronavirus (COVID-19) is likely to have an adverse impact on Pakistan’s economy like the way the epidemic has taken its toll on the global markets and the economy. The virus, since its outbreak in mid-December 2019, has caused turmoil in the world’s second-largest economy, China, with a trickle-down effect on nearly all big economies including those of the European Union, United States, Japan and South Korea. Until now, the virus has reached 29 countries, affecting their economies,...

LAHORE: The slowdown in Pakistan’s economy over the last two years has created a negative perception amongst different businesses, especially in Punjab’s provincial capital region. Lahore, the country’s second largest city, has managed to become a hub of diversified businesses on the back of investments worth billions of rupees from previous governments in urban and industrial infrastructures. Nevertheless, the current economic scenario has sparked a wave of uncertainty across different...

LAHORE: The textile industry of Pakistan had high hopes for the announcement of a handful of beneficial and favourable policies by the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan, which has now been in power for nearly one and a half year. Earlier in the final years of previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government, Imran Khan – then an opposition leader – had expressed solidarity with the textile sector, apparently a political step to win over voters in the upcoming general elections...