Business
Pakistan’s exports to China up 48.7pc in first five months of 2026
Pakistan’s exports to China in January-May period of 2026 crossed $1.55 billion, up 48.7 percent on year-on-year basis against $1.04 billion in the same period of 2025, statistics from China’s General Administration of Customs (GACC) showed.
The increase, which is an extra $507 million in just five months, is one of the best bilateral trade performances in recent years.
Copper goods were still the biggest contributor, valued at $675 million, or 43.7 percent of the overall export value, up from $393 million a year earlier, up 71.7 percent, according to GACC data.
March 2026 was the best month with exports at $361.6 million, up 84.3 percent from $196.2 million in March 2025, owing to faster copper shipments and the start of the rice export season. April and May continued with good momentum at $331 million and $286 million respectively, with May 2026 still well above the best month of 2025.
Zhejiang Province remained China’s top destination for Pakistani exports, receiving $480.7 million, up 40 percent year-on-year, as it is the country’s main copper processing base. Beijing recorded the largest provincial gain, increasing from $101 million to $232 million as state purchasing agencies bought more Pakistani rice and sesame seeds.
Another new and important corridor was the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, where imports tripled to $53 million as trade on the Gwadar-Xinjiang CPEC network by land route grows.
Official sources have cited the China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA) as a major structural driver, with $2.16 billion of Pakistan’s full-year 2024-25 exports routed under FTA concessions.
Negotiations for the third phase of the China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA) on around 700 more tariff lines are underway which are expected to significantly extend Pakistan’s access in cereals, halal meat, processed textiles and mineral products’ categories where Pakistan has enormous untapped potential.
Business
Through HRMIS, the federal government digitizes 75% of civil servants’ service records.
– The federal government has digitized around 75 percent of service records of federal civil servants belonging to four occupational groups as part of a broader reform aimed at modernizing human resource management and reducing reliance on paper-based records.
Official documents presented to the Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat, and available with Wealth Pakistan, show that the Establishment Division has made significant progress through the implementation of the Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS) – a centralised digital platform for managing service records of officers belonging to the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), Police Service of Pakistan (PSP), Office Management Group (OMG), and Secretariat Group (SG).
According to the briefing, approximately 75 percent of service record data has already been entered into HRMIS, while the remaining records are being prioritized for digitization.
The Establishment Division is also carrying out a comprehensive verification and correction exercise to ensure the authenticity, completeness and accuracy of the data.
The digital platform contains officers’ personal profiles, postings, promotions, seniority, qualifications, training history, leave records, Performance Evaluation Reports (PERs) and other service-related information.
Officers have been provided access to review their records and submit correction requests, which are verified before system incorporation.
The Establishment Division informed the committee that there are no delays in the digitisation process due to manual record handling and that the current focus is on completing the remaining data entry and validation before the system becomes the government’s authoritative source for personnel management.
Once fully operational, HRMIS will serve as the single digital repository for service records, supporting promotions, transfers, training and other human resource functions.
The initiative is expected to improve efficiency, transparency, data integrity and evidence-based decision-making across the federal government.
Business
Pakistani, Bangladeshi firms sign vehicle export contract to increase bilateral trade
Pakistani car maker MG JW Automobile inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Bangladeshi conglomerate RANCON Group this week to export Pakistani cars to Bangladesh as both nations look to boost business-to-business (B2B) connections.
RANCON is a large corporate organization in Bangladesh and they are working in several sectors like vehicles, real estate and electronics. Under the deal, MG JW Automobile will sell 100 vehicles to Bangladesh during the current year while total shipments are expected to exceed 5,800 vehicles during the next four years, the Pakistan High Commission in Bangladesh announced on Friday.
“The deal is expected to benefit Bangladesh by increasing the availability of vehicles in the Bangladesh market, healthy competition and the consumers will get more choices at competitive prices,” the High Commission stated.
“The agreement will also lead to closer economic cooperation between Pakistan and Bangladesh and promote more business-to-business cooperation,” said the high commission.
Haroon Akhtar Khan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Industries and Production, praised the deal. He said he was confident such collaborations will improve trade and economic relations between the two countries and provide avenues for cooperation between the corporate sectors of the two countries.
Business
PSX makes huge gains to start the week on a positive note.
Pakistan’s stock market started the new trading week on a positive note as the benchmark KSE-100 Index jumped over 2,700 points in early trade on Monday after US President Donald Trump announced that he had begun talks with Iran.
The bull run took the KSE-100 Index to 178,985 points, signifying restored investor confidence and broad-based buying in the market.
The rally came after the index finished at 176,094 points at the end of the previous trading session.
Market watchers said the high gains were fueled by a better mood among global investors after the announcement of US-Iran talks helped to quell fears over regional tensions and increase optimism in financial markets.
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