Category: Business

The US electric industry may ask essential staff to live on site at power plants and control centres to keep operations running if the coronavirus outbreak worsens, and has been stockpiling beds, blankets, and food for them, according to industry trade groups and electric cooperatives. The contingency plans, if enacted, would mark an unprecedented step […]

ISLAMABAD: The executive board of the World Bank is scheduled to approve on Thursday $200 million for an emergency project in Pakistan to respond to the coronavirus outbreak and strengthen national systems for public health preparedness. The project will address critical country-level needs to prevent, detect and respond to the threat posed by coronavirus, and […]

Handling banknotes doesn’t pose a particular risk of contracting coronavirus, the head of Germany’s Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases said. “Transmission through banknotes has no particular significance,” RKI head Lothar Wieler told Reuters, adding that droplets from infected individuals were the main infection risk. His remarks appeared to contradict those of World Health Organisation […]

KARACHI: People in the metropolis continued to face a serious shortage of various varieties of flour, especially the branded ones, as shopkeepers were either refusing them on the pretext of not having the commodity or demanding the prices of their own, it emerged on Sunday. Wheat flour has emerged as one of the most sought-after […]

ISLAMABAD: The government is set to relax qualification criteria for beneficiaries of income support programme and relief in energy prices to both domestic consumers and big business as part of its rescue-cum-economic stimulus package. A senior government official said the multi-pronged package would be applicable across the country without discrimination to help industries and businesses […]

ISLAMABAD: Ahead of wheat harvesting season, Ministry of National Food Security and Research on Thursday proposed restrictions on intra-district movement of wheat crop and ban on private sector from procuring the crop until public sector targets are achieved. The meeting, chaired by Minister for National Food Security and Research Makhdoom Khusro Bakh­tyar reached a consensus […]

ISLAMABAD: While stock exchange continues to bleed, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) on Thursday notified amendments in the base minimum capital (BMC) requirements, anticipating that it would support the market players. The downfall in the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued on Thursday with a decline of 286 points in the KSE-100 index […]

LONDON: Credit rating agency Moody’s is carrying out a global review of its corporate ratings in light of the coronavirus and oil price slump, with a first mass wave of downgrades or downgrade warnings likely in the coming days. The firm has already begun the process in a number of the hardest-hit sectors such as […]

ISLAMABAD: Projecting at least $10 billion losses to the national economy because of coronavirus pandemic, the government is considering an “economic emergency bailout package” within a week to address the likely short-to-medium term liquidity crunch to various sectors of the economy. A series of meetings involving various federal ministries and divisions, provincial and regional governments […]

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has estimated a revenue loss of over Rs300 billion during the April-June quarter of the current fiscal owing to a slowdown in economic activities because of a coronavirus threat. At a time when the government is struggling to contain the spread of the virus, top FBR officials are […]