
-
Brazil binman finds newborn baby on garbage route
-
US senator smashes record with marathon anti-Trump speech
-
Trump advisor Waltz faces new pressure over Gmail usage
-
Niger junta frees ministers of overthrown government
-
Trump set to unleash 'Liberation Day' tariffs
-
Boeing chief to acknowledge 'serious missteps' at US Senate hearing
-
Real Madrid hold Real Sociedad in eight-goal thriller to reach Copa del Rey final
-
Nuno salutes 'special' Elanga after stunning strike fires Forest
-
PSG survive scare against Dunkerque to reach French Cup final
-
Sundowns edge Esperance as crowd violence mars quarter-final
-
Nottingham Forest beat Man Utd, Saka scores on Arsenal return
-
Elanga wonder-goal sinks Man Utd as Forest eye Champions League berth
-
Stock markets mostly advance ahead of Trump tariffs deadline
-
US movie theaters urge 45-day 'baseline' before films hit streaming
-
Saka scores on return as Arsenal beat Fulham
-
Third-division Bielefeld shock holders Leverkusen in German Cup
-
Ball-blasting 'Torpedo bats' making waves across MLB opening weekend
-
Newsmax shares surge more than 2,000% in days after IPO
-
Thousands of Hungarians protest against Pride ban law
-
GM leads first quarter US auto sales as tariffs loom
-
Tesla sales tumble in Europe in the first quarter
-
No 'eye for an eye' approach to US tariffs: Mexico
-
NFL club owners back dynamic kickoffs, delay tush push vote
-
Trump 'perfecting' new tariffs as nervous world braces
-
Trump nominee says to press UK on Israel arms
-
French court says Le Pen appeal ruling could come before presidential vote
-
The battle to control assets behind Bosnia crisis
-
Prabhsimran powers Punjab to IPL win over Lucknow
-
Mass layoffs targeting 10,000 jobs hit US health agencies
-
Tiger's April Foolishness: plan to play Masters just a joke
-
Myanmar quake toll passes 2,700, nation halts to honour victims
-
Turkish fans, artists urge Muse to cancel Istanbul gig
-
US seeks death penalty for accused killer of insurance CEO
-
UK govt moves to block sentencing guidelines for minority defendants
-
Trump puts world on edge as 'Liberation Day' tariffs loom
-
Swedish journalist jailed in Turkey kept 'isolated': employer
-
Stock markets advance ahead of Trump tariffs deadline
-
Gulf between Everton and Liverpool has never been bigger, says Moyes
-
Finland to withdraw from anti-personnel mine ban treaty
-
UK vows £20 million to boost drone and 'flying taxi' services
-
Ford's US auto sales dip in first quarter as tariffs loom
-
Digging for box office gold, 'A Minecraft Movie' hits cinemas
-
Southampton boss Juric desperate to avoid Premier League 'worst team' tag
-
Thailand rescue dogs double as emotional support
-
Five takeaways from Marine Le Pen verdict
-
Stock markets split ahead of Trump tariffs deadline
-
Turkish fans, artists urge Muse to cancel Istanbul gig over protest dispute
-
Former captain Edwards named new England women's cricket coach
-
Haaland ruled out for up to seven weeks: Man City boss Guardiola
-
UK Supreme Court opens car loans hearing as banks risk huge bill

Pakistan's economic woes put PM Khan's future in doubt
Housewife Maira Tayyab has considered begging for money to feed her family in inflation-hit Pakistan, while shop owner Mohammad Hanif finds his thoughts turning to crime.
They're too proud and honest to act on the impulse, but their woes are shared by millions of Pakistanis whose disgruntlement threatens Prime Minister Imran Khan's chances of re-election next year.
"We cannot beg as we are white-collar people," Tayyab, 40, told AFP in Karachi, a bustling port city that is Pakistan's financial capital.
But, she said: "We don't know how we make ends meet."
Inflation hit about 10 percent last year, according to the World Bank. The cooking oil price is up 130 percent since Khan took power and the cost of fuel has risen 45 percent to 145 rupees ($0.82) a litre in a year.
Tayyab's sentiments are echoed by Kursheed Sharif, a 50-year-old mother of five, who unleashes a slew of curses as she describes her family's woes.
"Only death seems an alternative to survival under this government," she told AFP, close to tears, outside her unplastered rental shack.
Khan promised to sweep away decades of entrenched corruption and cronyism when his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party swept to power in 2018.
But his failure to deliver is already being felt at the polls, and last month the PTI was soundly thrashed in provincial elections in its Khyber Pakhtunkhwa stronghold.
"The government boasts about its economic feats, but in reality it has lost its ground and credibility," said Tauseef Ahmed Khan, a rights activist and political commentator.
- Inherited a mess -
Khan had campaigned on a platform of creating an Islamic welfare state, with efficient taxation on businesses and individuals funding social projects to benefit the poor.
Analysts admit he inherited a mess -- and the Covid-19 pandemic has not helped -- but his policies have done little to change the state of affairs.
"Nothing is stable," said Rashid Alam, who works for an international bank in Karachi.
"Increased unemployment, increased inflation... this is the political and economic reality in Pakistan."
The numbers bear him out.
Although the economy is forecast to grow four percent in 2022, for the past three years it has remained largely stagnant.
The rupee has also taken a pounding, losing 12 percent to the dollar since July -- not helped by a $5 billion trade deficit, and despite forex remittances from a vast diaspora growing nearly 10 percent to $12.9 billion.
Khan argued this week that Pakistan's problems -- specifically inflation -- were not unique, saying it remains "one of the cheapest countries" in the world.
There are some pluses.
The manufacturing and service sectors are rebounding as lockdowns ease, the World Bank has said, and better rains this year will boost agriculture.
But the biggest problem facing the economy is servicing nearly $127 billion in debt.
Khan successfully negotiated a $6 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan package in 2019, but only a third was paid before the tap turned off after the government failed to implement promised reforms -- including slashing subsidies on a range of essentials.
Pakistan has had to accept painful conditions, such as increasing petrol and electricity prices.
Ahead of an IMF meeting later this month to decide whether to release another tranche, the government has pushed through a mini-budget -- with new or increased taxes on a range of imports, exports and services -- that has drawn the ire of millions.
"Can you imagine oil and sugar prices reaching this level?" housewife Sharif lamented.
- Criminal thoughts -
On the brink of defaulting, Islamabad has recently tapped $3 billion each from China and Saudi Arabia, and $2 billion from the United Arab Emirates.
"All the loans it has been taking now, from whatever sources, are to pay past loans," said Qaiser Bengali, an independent economist.
"Essentially the economy is bankrupt. Pakistan cannot pay its loans."
Still, nobody seems prepared to pay for services they want.
Tax evasion is almost a national sport -- fewer than two million people paid in 2020, from a working population 25 times that -- and receipts account for less than 10 percent of gross domestic product, the lowest in the region.
That sort of chicanery prompts Muhammad Hanif, who runs a small car-battery repair shop, to think of new ways to support his family.
"(Criminal) thoughts occupy me as to how I must meet ends," he said.
"But I fear Allah, so I shrug off those thoughts."
L.Harper--AMWN