KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) was bullish during trading on Tuesday as it surged to 45,149.54, soon after receiving the news that Saudi Arabia had deposited $2 billion with the central bank.
During the process, the stock market touched the highest level in 14 months as the investors regained their confidence after Pakistan struck a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on June 30.
By the time this report was being filed (12:30pm), the benchmark KSE-100 Index stood at 45,099.86 (1.15 per cent) against the previous closing of 44,585.12.
Earlier, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced that Pakistan had received a $2 billion from Saudi Arabia – a major development given that the IMF is pressing hard to fulfil the requirement of external financing to bridge the current financial year’s requirements.
Separately, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the government had aimed at fetching billions of dollars in investment from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries into the country’s food and agriculture sectors.
He said that the GCC countries imported food items and agriculture products to the tune of $40 billion annually.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the step would be taken under the supervision of Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), for which the ground has been prepared.
In the next four to five years, he said, there would be an investment of approximately $40 billion in addition to the creation of four million new jobs.
Read more: Pakistan receives $2bn deposit from Saudi Arabia: Ishaq Dar
