- Stocks diverge, oil retreats as China disappoints markets
- Trio wins economics Nobel for work on wealth inequality
- Ex-Stasi officer jailed over 1974 Berlin border killing
- Shanghai stocks gain after stimulus briefing as markets rally
- Shanghai stocks gain after stimulus briefing as Asian markets rally
- Nearly 90, but opera legend Kabaivanska is still calling tune
- With inflation down, ECB eyes faster tempo of rate cuts
- Is life possible on a Jupiter moon? NASA goes to investigate
- Ex-Stasi officer faces verdict over 1974 Berlin border killing
- Role of government, poverty research tipped for economics Nobel
- In milestone, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- In a first, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- Bangladeshi Hindus shrug off attack worries to celebrate festival
- Ubisoft fears assassin's hit over falling sales
- Vietnam, China hold talks on calming South China Sea tensions
- SpaceX will try to 'catch' giant Starship rocket shortly before landing
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgery: reports
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgey: reports
- 'Little Gregory' murder haunts France 40 years on
- Tariffs, tax cuts, energy: What is in Trump's economic plan?
- Amazon wants to be everything to everyone
- Jewish school in Canada hit by gunfire for second time
- With medical report Harris seeks to play health card against Trump
- China-EU EV tariff talks in Brussels end with 'major differences': Beijing
- Buried Nazi past haunts Athens on liberation anniversary
- Harris to release medical report confirming fitness for presidency: campaign
- Nobel prize a timely reminder, Hiroshima locals say
- China offers $325 bn in fiscal stimulus for ailing economy
- Small Quebec company dominates one part of NHL hockey: jerseys
- Boeing to cut 10% of workforce as it sees big Q3 loss
- Want to film in Paris? No sexism allowed
- US, European markets rise as investors weigh rates, earnings
- In Colombia, children trade plastic waste for school supplies
- JPMorgan Chase profits top estimates, bank sees 'resilient' US economy
- Little progress at key meet ahead of COP29 climate summit
- 'Party atmosphere': Skygazers treated to another aurora show
- Kyrgyzstan opens rare probe into glacier destruction
- European Mediterranean states discuss Middle East, migration
- Thunberg leads pro-Palestinian, climate protest in Milan
- Stock markets diverge before China weekend briefing
- EU questions shopping app Temu over illegal products risk
- Han Kang's books sell out in South Korea after Nobel win
- Shanghai markets sink ahead of briefing on mixed day for Asia
- Investors, analysts eye bigger China stimulus at Saturday briefing
- Musk unveils robotaxi, pledges it 'before 2027'
- At least 11 dead in Florida but Hurricane Milton not as bad as feared
- Asian markets mixed after Wall St drop, Shanghai dips before briefing
- Automaker Stellantis says CEO will retire in 2026
- Musk's promised robotaxi unveil delayed
- On US coast, wind power foes embrace 'Save the Whales' argument
Pakistan unveils $51 billion budget, with half to service debt
Pakistan's cash-strapped government unveiled a 14.5 trillion rupee (around $50.5 billion) budget Friday, with over half set aside to service 7.3 trillion rupees of debt.
Pakistan's economy has been stricken by a balance-of-payments crisis as it attempts to service crippling external debt, while months of political chaos have scared off potential foreign investment.
Inflation has rocketed, the rupee has plummeted and the country can no longer afford imports, causing a severe decline in industrial output.
About 950 billion rupees was earmarked for vote-winning development projects ahead of a general election later this year, while other populist measures include civil service pay rises of up to 35 percent, and a 17.5 percent increase for state pensions.
Presenting the budget to the National Assembly on Friday, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar insisted targets had been prudent.
"There are general elections in the country soon, but despite that the next fiscal-year budget is prepared as a responsible budget instead of an election budget," he said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif blamed his predecessor Imran Khan -- ousted by a vote of no-confidence in April last year -- for the morass.
"Our preceding government has battered the economy," he said.
- Poor being 'humiliated' -
Akhtar Khan Nawaz, a labourer at a fruit and vegetable market in the capital Islamabad, said "the poor were being humiliated".
"(The budget) will be of no use unless inflation is reduced, the poor will only get relief if inflation is eased," he told AFP.
Sharif said he was optimistic for an extension later this month on an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan facility crucial to keeping the economy afloat.
"The IMF chief has given his verbal commitment... there is no hindrance," he said.
The IMF has told Pakistan it needs to secure additional external financing, scrap a swathe of populist subsidies, and allow the rupee to float freely against the dollar before unlocking another tranche of the $6.5 billion facility.
Still, the latest budget sets aside 1.07 trillion rupees for subsidies.
"The government definitely has to take such popular decisions as it is the election year," said Nasir Iqbal, an economist at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE).
The country failed to meet any economic growth targets for the fiscal year 2022-23, according to a key government report released Thursday, with GDP growth a miserly 0.3 percent.
Dar said Friday the latest budget was based on GDP growth of 3.5 percent, although the World Bank projected a less-ambitious two percent growth in a report issued earlier this week.
It also had an annual inflation forecast of 21 percent, against a current year-on-year rate of 37.97 percent.
The economy has also been ravaged by record monsoon floods last year that left almost a third of the country underwater, laying waste to vast swathes of farmland and leaving tens of millions homeless.
But the political crisis remains the biggest risk factor in the months ahead.
Former premier Khan's hugely popular campaign to return to office spilled into street violence after his brief arrest last month, prompting a massive crackdown on his party including mass arrests and trials scheduled for military courts.
The army holds undue influence over Pakistan politics, having staged at least three successful coups leading to decades of martial law.
Attacks by militants have also risen since the Taliban took control in neighbouring Afghanistan, further undermining the prospect of foreign investment.
On Friday Dar earmarked 1.8 trillion rupees for defence spending -- up from last year's 1.5 trillion rupees.
Y.Ponomarenko--CPN