Governance, economic policy, and national politics coverage.
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How the federal budget is built, and what's actually in it, year to year.
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb held a virtual kick-off meeting with IMF mission chief Iva Petrova on September 30 to formally open the policy-level round of Pakistan's fourth EFF and third RSF reviews, with roughly $1.2 billion in combined financing on the table if the talks succeed.
BBP Economy Desk · September 30, 2026 · 4 min
Shehbaz Sharif opened a trading session at the London Stock Exchange on September 29 and met executives from JPMorgan, Barclays, Citi, BlackRock and Rothschild & Co, pitching Pakistan as a destination for foreign capital weeks after its $3 billion Eurobond drew almost $6 billion in orders.
BBP Economy Desk · September 29, 2026 · 4 min
PTI has settled on Peshawar-to-Swabi as its October 4 route, with plans to camp for several days around founder Imran Khan's October 5 birthday. But KP leader Shaukat Yousafzai is publicly urging a further postponement, warning the government could use an Afghanistan-linked pretext to impose emergency rule.
BBP Politics Desk · September 29, 2026 · 3 min
As the IMF mission opened fourth EFF and third RSF review talks on September 29, Islamabad confirmed that roughly 10,000 federal civil servants must digitally file asset declarations by October 30, with selected details made public by December 31 — but not the full picture.
BBP Economy Desk · September 29, 2026 · 4 min
The Chinese automaker's local assembly plant in Sindh — a flagship of CPEC's push into electric-vehicle manufacturing — has slipped to a second-half 2026 launch, while Hub Power's equity stake in the venture posted a Rs 33 million loss last quarter after four straight profitable ones.
BBP Economy Desk · September 29, 2026 · 4 min
The Pakistan Stock Exchange's KSE-100 index closed at 170,425.62 on September 28, down 339.60 points, after Brent crude climbed above $106 a barrel on the news that Trump had rejected Iran's proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — a reminder of how directly the war overseas now moves Pakistani markets.
BBP Economy Desk · September 28, 2026 · 4 min