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Rightists to cobble together government in EU’s poorest country

Monday, 13 May 2013 14:20 Jennifer Andrew

Bulgaria's center-right GERB party was scrambling to form a government on Monday, determined to cobble together an alliance that could ease concerns over the future of the EU's poorest country.

Boiko Borisov's GERB, which won 31.4 percent of the vote in Sunday's election, according to partial results, will have first chance to form a government but will struggle to find partners, with its image tarnished by nationwide protests and allegations of illegal activity.

North Korea names new Minister for Armed Forces

Monday, 13 May 2013 14:16 Greg Matthews

North Korea has replaced the hardline general who headed its armed forces ministry, in a further reshuffling of the top brass by young leader Kim Jong-un.

General Jang Jong-nam was named "minister of the People's Armed Forces" by state news agency KCNA in a report, the third official to take the role since Kim Jong-un formally assumed power in North Korea just over a year ago.

FIA looks into large-scale forex scandal

Monday, 13 May 2013 12:57 Fatima Rizvi

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) launched an investigation into the country’s biggest foreign currency exchange scandal which reportedly caused huge losses to the national kitty, reported a national newspaper on Friday.

Per details, FIA is looking into alleged dubious deals between Western Union (WU), ZARCO Exchange Company Private Limited (ZECPL) and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on account of misappropriation in remittances, it was reported.

PML(N) looks forward to tackling challenges

Monday, 13 May 2013 11:52 Khawar Ghumman

Although the constitution provides a window of 21 days after the election date to summon the session of the new National Assembly, the PML-N which has emerged as the single largest party plans to get into action as soon as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) officially announces the results.

Senator Mushahidullah Khan, information secretary of the PML-N, told Dawn that his party wanted to form the government soon in order to take up the manifold problems the country was facing.

Economic priorities

Monday, 13 May 2013 11:19 Tehreem Husain

The onset of the financial crisis and consequent attempts to bail out financial institutions has renewed interest in the nature and extent of the role of government in maintaining monetary and fiscal stability. Government, a captive client of financial institutions, serves as the biggest guarantee for system-wide stability, but its excessive presence poses a burden on fiscal balances.

Pakistan has historically faced high budget deficits due to general fiscal indiscipline, widespread tax evasion due to failures of governance, and a large informal and undocumented economy that manages to breathe outside the tax net. With public expenditures growing fast, this has resulted in an inordinate reliance of the government on external sources and, more recently, on the domestic financial system as a quick and cheap source to finance its deficits. The sad and frightening part of it all is the indifference of our policymakers towards this issue. Recent debt numerics for the country present a particularly worrisome picture – one that should put our policymakers on their toes.

PML N to form next government

Monday, 13 May 2013 14:15 Zafar Ahmad

Nawaz Sharif, winner of the Pakistani elections, is holding talks to form a new government, with fixing the economy and tackling the armed insurgency likely to be his two biggest challenges.

Partial, unofficial results from Saturday's elections represented a comeback for Sharif, 63, who was deposed as prime minister in a 1999 military coup and spent years in jail and exile.

Sartaj Aziz, a senior PML-N official and former cabinet minister, said Sharif was in talks on Sunday with some independent MPs to get them on board and in discussions to work out "a few key portfolios" in the cabinet.

Six perish in Quetta’s suicide blast

Monday, 13 May 2013 12:34 Ghalib Sultan

QUETTA: The police chief of Balochistan narrowly escaped a suicide attack Sunday that killed at least six people and wounded 46 others, officials said.

Inspector General Mushtaq Sukhera had just entered his residence in Quetta when a suicide bomber in a vehicle laden with explosives blew themselves up outside.

Altaf’s controversial statements

Monday, 13 May 2013 11:32 Zafar Ahmad

Reacting to rigging allegations hurled at Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in the May 11 polls, Altaf Hussain on Sunday night ‘offered establishment’ to detach Karachi from rest of Pakistan if they do not like the public mandate of his party, DawnNews reported.

Speaking to party workers, he said the party’s mandate in Karachi should be accepted by all. “Despite of illegal and unconstitutional delimitation, Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf could see rigging in Karachi only,” said Hussain. “If polls were rigged in Karachi then where has tsunami disappeared in Punjab,” he questioned.

Rising up to the challenge

Monday, 13 May 2013 11:12 Khurram Baig

The fact that any new government that comes into power will face multiple challenges is quite obvious. It is no secret that the country faces multiple challenges on several fronts. Even if we don’t talk about the economy, there are issues like a depressing law and order situation, the less than adequate literacy rate and the equally dismal human rights situation.

The picture is not very encouraging on the economic front either. Foreign exchange reserves have been declining, there is a looming balance of payments crisis and tax collection as a percentage of GDP has failed to grow.