Category: Business

ISLAMABAD: Demand in the country for electricity, natural gas and petroleum products has dropped dramatically as a result of the coronavirus epidemic, creating serious operational and financial challenges in the supply chain. Senior government officials told Dawn that electricity consumption had plummeted by almost 30 per cent and authorities had been compelled to provide uninterrupted […]

ISLAMABAD: Approving a coronavirus relief package of Rs1,200 billion, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday took serious notice of suspension of goods transport in the country despite his earlier order for its restoration and tasked Rangers in Sindh with ensuring its implementation by taking appropriate measures for movement of trucks and opening of industries amid […]

KARACHI: Stocks staged a massive rally on Tuesday with the KSE-100 index recovering 1,208.24 points (4.31 per cent) from the heavy losses suffered earlier in March. The index closed at 29,231.63, after hitting intraday by 1,311 points. Recovery was underpinned by attractive stock valuations; higher investor participation; recent announcements of tax relief by the government […]

KARACHI: Bootleg hand sanitisers have flooded the retail market as demand skyrockets and imports are unable to keep pace. Meanwhile, critical drugs nee­ded for the fight against Covid-19 are running out. Pharmaceutical executives say the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) has been dysfunctional for over a month now because 10 key posts of directors […]

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Tuesday announced a revenue loss of over Rs200 billion for March owing to the coronavirus-led slowdown in economic activity while warning of further losses in the coming months in case businesses fail to resume operations. Provisional figures showed the FBR collected Rs325bn in March against the projected […]

Balochistan, particularly its five bordering districts, is heavily dependent on the trade with Iran. There has been a smooth flow of Iranian edibles into Balochistan through regular and irregular border points for years. One such point is in Panjgur, which is located in the Makran division. The irregular border point through which Iranian edibles are […]

President Donald Trump issued an order last week that seeks to force General Motors (GM) to produce ventilators for coronavirus patients under the Defense Production Act. Trump said negotiations with General Motors had been productive, but our fight against the virus is too urgent to allow the give-and-take of the contracting process to continue to […]

ISLAMABAD: The government has called a special meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Monday (today) to clear the relief package announced by Prime Minister Imran Khan last week to minimise the adverse impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the country’s poor people and economy. A senior government official told Dawn […]

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday ordered removing all hurdles in the way of transportation of goods and opening all national highways to ensure smooth and adequate supply of food items from farms/factories to markets amid “panic buying” due to deadly coronavirus scare. He reiterated his commitment to providing ration at the doorsteps of […]

Saudi Arabia plans to boost its oil exports to 10.6 million barrels per day from May because the country is burning less oil for power generation and there is also lower domestic consumption, a Saudi energy ministry official said on Monday. The world’s top oil exporter has already made plans to boost its crude supply […]