Category: Business

KARACHI: Banks have begun accepting almost all of the applications for loans from the private sector — even at lower rates — amid shrinking investment opportunities. The commercial banks, who usually favour investing in government securities, are reluctant to commit in long-term instruments amid volatile interest rate environment. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has […]

LAHORE: The provinces expect the first meeting of the ninth National Finance Commission (NFC), scheduled for Wednesday (today) in Islamabad, to discuss the financial position of the centre and the federating units — their income and expenditure trends — and set the agenda for negotiations on distribution of divisible tax pool funds among them for […]

ISLAMABAD: The prevailing unrest among domestic gas consumers due to excessive billing, mostly in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is creation of a combination of three critical policy decisions and improved gas supply, besides the usual higher winter consumption. As public anger goes up, Prime Minister Imran Khan has called an urgent meeting of the Cabinet […]

Inter-State Gas Systems (ISGS) and Gazprom on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to conduct a joint feasibility study regarding gas supplies from the Middle East to South Asian countries, according to a press releaseissued by the Russian energy giant. The MoU was inked by ISGS Managing Director Mubeen Saulat and Gazprom board member Vitaly […]

Minister of State for Revenue Hammad Azhar on Wednesday instructed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to focus on simplifying the tax collection system while acknowledging the need for new legislation in this regard, Radio Pakistanreported. The state minister’s directives came during a speech at the three-day International Conference on Taxation at the FBR’s Lahore office. […]

HAMBURG: Pakistan Agri­cultural Storage and Services Corp (Passco) has issued a tender to export 250,000 tonnes of wheat, European traders said on Monday. The federal government in November 2018 approved export of up to 500,000 tonnes of wheat, possibly with subsidies, to reduce hefty local supplies. The tender is expected to close on Feb 18. […]

KARACHI: Cotton prices remained steady though trading activity slowed down on Monday. According to market analysts, leading spinners seemed to focus on cotton imports and only small textile spinning units were buying to meet their near-term needs. Meanwhile, cotton production fell 7.23 per cent to 10.605 million bales up to Feb 1 as against 11.432m […]

KARACHI: Stocks exten­ded the gaining streak for third session on Monday as the KSE-100 index climbed 501.68 points (1.22 per cent) and closed at 41,614.39. Investors’ confidence continues to mount as worries over the pressure on the external front have started to subside with positive news flow of possibility of Chinese deposit of $2.5 billion […]

ISLAMABAD: The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) says the outlook for infrastructure construction in Pakistan is neutral but with high uncertainty. The downward pressure on the rupee as well as cost-push inflation will drive inflationary pressure and increase the cost of construction materials, although the increase may be limited as prices have increased significantly in […]

MOSCOW: Russia’s economy expanded 2.3 per cent last year, growing more quickly than the government and the IMF had predicted, according to state statistics published Monday. Russia’s growth rate accelerated from 1.6pc in 2017 and exceeded the economy ministry’s prediction of 1.8pc as well as the International Monetary Fund’s forecast of 1.7pc. The country’s economy […]