Category: Business

MULTAN: Cotton production fell by 20.3 per cent to 8.6 million bales till March 1 this season against 10.7m bales in the same period last year, the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) said on Tuesday. In its fortnightly report, the PCGA noted that the production of cotton bales went down by 2.2m in the current […]

ISLAMABAD: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Reza Baqir on Tuesday briefed the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the recent increase in price of essential commodities. He said the rise was temporary as it was a result of disruption in the supply chain and devolution of rupee. Pointing to the growth in the large-scale manufacturing, […]

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) — a defunct holding company of the Power Division — has reported total payables by sector power companies at Rs1.882 trillion as of Jan 31. In a report submitted to a Special Committee of the Senate, Pepco reported total receivables of the power sector at Rs1.178tr. That would […]

WASHINGTON: The US Federal Reserve announced an emergency rate cut on Tuesday, responding to the growing economic risk posed by the coronavirus epidemic and giving President Donald Trump the stimulus he has called for. In a unanimous decision, the Fed’s policy-setting committee slashed its key interest rate by a half point to a range of […]

LAHORE: The government decision to increase the state’s already large footprints in the country’s heavily controlled wheat market through its enhanced purchases of 8.25 million tonnes of staple grain from growers this year will significantly increase its subsidy burden. The targeted procurement is over 30 per cent of the total projected wheat harvest of 27m […]

ISLAMABAD: Facing a revenue shortfall of over Rs480 billion in the first eight months of the current financial year, the government has increased by up to 106 per cent the rate of petroleum levy on various oil products to raise an additional revenue of Rs10bn per month, or at least Rs40bn by June 30. Documents […]

ISLAMABAD: The Natio­nal Electric Power Regula­tory Authority (Nepra) has asked the prime minister to declare a national power emergency and take drastic steps for scaling down about Rs1.93 trillion circular debt which, according to the regulator, is significantly higher than reported by the power division. In a recent presentation to the prime minister, the regulator […]

With the viral outbreak spreading to more countries, the price of oil has dropped precipitously as global demand weakens even further. That has sent shares tumbling for oil giants like Exxon and Chevron while smaller producers with idling rigs continue to slash jobs. Hundreds of new cases of the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease […]

Pakistan’s consumer price inflation (CPI) slowed to 12.4 per cent in February from the same month a year earlier, Pakistan Statistics Bureau said on Monday. The bureau had recorded the CPI inflation at 14.56pc in January, the highest in a decade. State Bank of Pakistan in late January had kept rates unchanged at 13.25pc, citing […]

Stocks rebounded on Monday with the KSE-100 index recouping 1312.68 points (3.34 per cent) on the first trading day of the week as Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) figures showed the inflation easing in February. At the close of the day, the index settled in the green at 39,296.30. The lowest level the index reached […]