Pakistan’s stock exchange briefly halted trading Friday after its benchmark index plunged sharply following an announcement by the newly elected Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif that he was imposing a new, 10% tax on major industries.
Sharif, who appeared on the state-run Pakistan Television TV and almost all other stations in the country, warned that the economy was on the verge of bankruptcy. He said he was taking the measures to “save the country and avoid further taxes on the poor."
