Pakistan's Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb held bilateral meetings with US Treasury Deputy Secretary Francis Brooke and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank President Zou Jiayi on the sidelines of the WB-IMF Spring Meetings in Washington, DC, running April 13, 18. The engagements signal Islamabad's active effort to consolidate external financial support as it navigates a critical phase of macroeconomic stabilisation. Aurangzeb briefed Treasury officials on Pakistan's stabilisation progress, planned re-entry into international capital markets, and external debt management strategy, while pitching investment opportunities in the minerals and energy sectors. He also updated the US side on digital and virtual asset regulation and underscored the importance of continued American backing for Pakistan's IMF programme. In the AIIB meeting, Aurangzeb noted the bank's existing Pakistan portfolio of approximately $1.7 billion, with a further $1 billion in the pipeline, and flagged regional tensions affecting Pakistan's energy supply chain. Both sides acknowledged that Pakistan's disbursement rate with AIIB trails its performance with the World Bank and ADB, a gap Islamabad is now pressing to close by aligning AIIB engagement with its infrastructure priorities.
Iranian armed forces attacked a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, briefly halting traffic through the waterway. The strike threatens a fragile US-Iran arrangement and could push shipping insurance costs and oil prices higher.
The US has struck Iran, with President Trump citing an Iranian attack on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz as justification. The action raises immediate risks for global oil flows through one of the world's most critical shipping chokepoints.
The US struck ten Iranian targets on the second consecutive day of military action, putting a fragile ceasefire under serious pressure. The escalation raises immediate risks for Gulf shipping, global oil supply, and regional stability.
Venezuela's twin earthquakes, magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, have killed at least 164 people and injured 971, interim president Delcy Rodriguez confirmed Thursday. The quakes are the country's strongest since 1900, collapsing buildings across Caracas and prompting a state of emergency, with the death toll expected to rise as
