Pakistan's biggest tractor unit to shut down

Amid alarming economic crisis Pakistan’s biggest agricultural machinery manufacturer has decided close its factory from Friday, January 6  till further notice, citing reduced demand and cash flow problems.  Millat Tractors Limited had earlier announced that it would observe Fridays as non-production days (NPDs) from Dec 16. A number of auto part vendors have suspended operations in recent months, citing reduced demand and import curbs among other issues. According to Dawn report, some textile companies, including Nishat Chunian Limited, Crescent Fibres Ltd and Suraj Textile Mills, have also partially suspended production recently due to demand destruction and market conditions.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Miftah Ismail has claimed that his successor Ishaq Dar ran campaigns against him for more than six months as he could not tolerate someone else from the party as the finance minister. The former finance minister said that Dar went on TV and claimed that he would bring the dollar rate to Rs160. Miftah added that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was satisfied with his performance and did not want to replace him. He said that during his tenure the International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal was restored, while default risk was also minimised.