Site icon CSS Times

Daily Top-10 Current Affairs MCQs / News (August 20, 2022) for CSS, PMS

Shahzad F. Malik
Daily Top-10 Current Affairs MCQs / News (August 20, 2022) for CSS, PMS
WELCOME TO CSS TIMES DAY BY  DAY CURRENT AFFAIRS, YOUR BEST SOURCE FOR UP-TO-DATE AND DAILY TOP CURRENT AFFAIRS 2022 FOR PREPARATION OF CSS, PMS, BANKING, NTS, RAILWAYS AND ALL COMPETITIVE EXAMS.  “DAY TO DAY CURRENT AFFAIRS” BASICALLY IS TOP 10 NEWS SUMMARY ON CURRENT HAPPENINGS OF NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL IMPORTANCE FOR ALL EXAMINATIONS

August 20, 2022: National / International Current Affairs

1. Weekly inflation races to all-time high of 42.3pc

• Inflation measured by the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) rose sharply in the week that ended on Aug 18, climbing to a record 42.3 per cent year-on-year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics data showed on August 19, 2022.
• Before this, the highest ever year-on-year increase in the SPI was 38.63pc, recorded for the week ending on Aug 5.
• The latest data shows that the SPI rose by 3.35pc over last week, mainly because of higher food prices. The highest week-on-week increase in inflation was recorded at 3.68pc for the week that ended on July 28.
• Soaring vegetable prices due to damage to standing crops and a massive hike in power rates have also contributed to higher prices

2. Jameel Ahmad appointed SBP governor for five years

• The federal government has appointed Jameel Ahmad, a deputy governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), as the bank`s governor for a five-year term, the finance ministry said on August 19, 2022.
• He has been appointed `with the approval of the president of Pakistan, upon the recommendation of the federal government, with immediate effect`, the ministry`s notification said.
• The central bank had been with-out a full-time governor since May and one of Mr Ahmad`s first tasks will be to chair a monetary policy meeting to consider its policy rate

3. Pakistan again urges US to unfreeze Afghan assets

• Pakistan on August 19, 2022 urged the United States again to unfreeze Afghan assets and conditionally allow the Taliban regime to use those funds for dealing with the economic and humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged country.
• Foreign Office spokesman Asim Iftikhar, at a weekly media conference, said the Afghan assets held in the US should be released urgently and `in a manner that would make it easier for the interim authorities to utilise this money.
• He was responding to a question relating to reports that the process for the unfreezing of the funds could face delays because of renewed concerns in the US, after Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri`s killing in Kabul late last month, that the money could be diverted to terrorist groups

4. Rs37.2bn cash assistance for flood-hit people launched

• Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on August 19, 2022 launched Rs37.2 billion flood relief cash programme to disburse Rs50,000 cash assistance in two installments among 1.5 million affected families each in the country, particularly in Balochistan where hundreds died and infrastructure was damaged the most by floods amid heavy monsoon rains.
• Fund are being given through the Benazir Income Support Programme in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Authority and other allied departments.
• The disbursement of cash would be completed within three days as assured by the NDMA chairman to help rain-hit people afford their food and other immediate needs, said Prime Minister Sharif at the launch of the flood relief cash programme

5. Punjabi becomes Canada`s second-most spoken language

• Punjabi has ranked second after Mandarin among the non-official languages, spoken predominately at home, by the largest number of people in Canada, new census data released by Statistics Canada has revealed.
• The 2021 census, released on August 18, found that 4.6 million Canadians speak predominantly a language other than official English or French languages at home, among them Urdu has become the fifth top language in the ranking of 12 spoken languages in Canada.
• The number of people whose mother tongue is Mandarin or Punjabi, the two most spoken languages nationwide, has grown significantly, with the former increasing from roughly 610,000 in 2016 to 730,000 in 2021 and the latter increasing from 543,000 to 763,000. The Punjabis counted in the census have come mainly from India, speaking gormukhii Punjabi

Click on below NEXT button
to read next 6-10 Current Affairs

6. Azad Kashmir offers jobs to 100 children of migrants from IHK

• Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas on August 19, 2022 announced that his government would provide public sector jobs to as many as 100 educated children from the families of post-1989 migrants from India-held Kashmir (IHK) in addition to their 6pc quota in this regard.
• He also declared that the government would spare Rs30 million to advance interest free loans to refugees for small businesses and another Rs15 million for the education and weddings of their children.
• He was speaking at a large ceremany in Ambore refugee camp, some 5km on the outskirts of Muzaf farabad, after handing over the copy of a recently issued notification, envisaging an increase of Rs1.500 in the monthly subsistence allowance of post-1989 migrants, to camp leader Chaudhry Ferozuddin

7. Govt okays major changes to LNG policy

• Ahead of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif`s visit to Doha next week, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on August 19, 2022 approved major changes to the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Policy to remove restrictions on upcoming private sector LNG terminals to provide their part capacity to the government.
• The meeting of the ECC, presided over by Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, also formally approved the li ting of an import ban on all the 33 categories of goods covering more than 860 products and tariff lines.
• Earlier on July 28, the ECC had approved the lifting of the ban on all but three categories-finished units of cars, cell phones, and home appliances. However, PM Sharif did not agree with the move, and hence the cabinet did not endorse the ECC decision

8. US unveils $775m arms package for Ukraine

• The US Defence Department announced on August 19, 2022 a $775 million package of defence equipment and ammunition for Ukraine, including various types of missiles, artillery and mine-clearing systems.
• The package includes more precision-guided missiles for the Himars systems that have permitted Ukrainian forces to strike Russian command centres and munitions depots far behind the front lines, and more anti-armour weapons, including TOW missiles and Javelin systems.
• It also includes Scan Eagle surveillance drones, high-speed anti radiation (HARM) missiles that hone in on ground-based radar systems, and 105mm howitzers, along with 36,000 artillery rounds for them

9. Putin allows IAEA inspectors to visit plant via Ukraine

• Russian President Vladimir Putin has allowed a team of independent inspectors to travel to the Moscow-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant via Ukraine, the French presidency said on August 19, 2022.
• The apparent resolution of a dispute over whether inspectors travel to the plant via Ukraine or Russia came as a senior US defence official claimed Ukraine`s forces had brought the Russian advance to a halt.
• According to French President Emmanuel Macron`s office, Putin had `reconsidered the demand` that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) travel through Russia to the site, after the Russian leader himself warned fighting there could bring about a `catastrophe`

10. Foreign engagement will be in line with Sharia: Taliban

• The Taliban will deal with the international community in line with Sharia, the supreme leader of the group said, according to a copy of his speech shared by the information ministry on August 19, 2022.
• Yet to be formally recognised as a government by any foreign capital, the group is struggling with a severe economic crisis due to strict enforcement of international sanctions and the cutting off of development aid.
• Many governments, including Washington, have put pressure on the Taliban to ease its restrictions on women and to open schools for high school aged girls.

Check our daily updated ‘s Complete Day by Day Current Affairs Notes

June 2021:

May 2021:

April 2021:

March 2021:

February 2022:

January 2022:

Exit mobile version