The Pakistan Stock Exchange fell for the second consecutive day on Tuesday as the KSE-100 index shed more than 800 points owing to growing political and economic uncertainty. The market began its slide soon after opening at 40,164 points, with the benchmark KSE-100 index down 806 points by 12:30pm. Financial experts attributed the market’s erratic behaviour to recent developments taking place on the country’s political and economic fronts. According to experts, the index fell due to fear of the dissolution of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies and rising political confrontations which had damaged investor confidence.

The opposition parties, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), late Monday submitted no-trust motion against Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi, PA Speaker Sibtain Khan and Deputy Speaker Wasiq Qayyum Abbasi. The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) parties made their political move to stop the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan announced to dissolve the provincial assemblies on December 23.

Soon after the no-confidence motion was submitted, Governor Punjab Baligh ur Rehman directed Chief Minister (CM) Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi to seek a vote of confidence from Punjab Assembly on December 21. It emerged that the IMF has expressed ‘dissatisfaction’ over the policies of Ishaq Dar and presented more demands in front of Pakistan for the continuation of the current $7bn Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP