Business

NEW YORK: Brent crude oil slipped more than one per cent in a volatile session on Tuesday as persistent concerns about global economic growth outweighed supply curbs and prompted investors to take profits on the previous day’s gains. The focus in the wider financial market is firmly on the release on Wednesday of the minutes of the US Federal Reserve’s …

Various possibilities regarding how to bring the economy back on track are being discussed in financial, trade and industry circles, and it is becoming clearer that there may be no short-term remedy for our economic troubles. Instead, there appears to be a growing consensus that the suffering of the common people may continue for a historically much longer period even …

KARACHI: While continuously increasing the prices on the pretext of rupee devaluation and rising raw material prices, assemblers on Tuesday passed on the impact of one per cent hike in general sales tax to the consumers. Indus Motor Company (IMC) had already raised prices thrice in one month. In the fourth price jump, the company has announced new price of …

KARACHI: Problems of Hascol Petroleum Ltd, which has been in trouble since 2018 partly for making inaccurate entries in its financial accounts, seem to be mounting as its CEO landed behind bars on Tuesday. A statement by company chairman Sir Alan Duncan said a trial judge refused the confirmation of bail applications from a number of individuals, including CEO Aqeel …

What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous…” Voltaire’s words could not be more felicitous for the one telco that everyone is talking about. Telenor’s performance, low earnings, and the worrying effects of dollar-parity, all have, unfortunately, increased the burden on a brand name that once was highly efficacious. A reported impairment of $244 million in July …

The former governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Dr Ishrat Husain, sounded uncharacteristically upset one morning in November 2021. His mood was in contrast with the upbeat feel of the campus at the Institute of Business Management (IBA), where seasoned bankers in sharp suits and flowing beards had gathered to take part in a conference on Islamic banking, …

KARACHI: After witnessing a net divestment in December 2022, the foreign direct investment (FDI) more than doubled to $222 million in January compared to $110m inflows recorded in the same month last year. The State Bank of Pakistan’s latest data issued on Monday showed that FDI improved mainly on inflows from China and Japan. Due to persistent political and economic …

WASHINGTON: Pakistan joined 26 other nations on Monday in urging US lawmakers to expedite legislation for the renewal of the Generalised System of Preference (GSP) programme for developing countries. Instituted in 1971, with support from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, GSP is a tariff waiver programme on nearly 5,000 products from over 120 countries. Pakistan is a …

Financial leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) will meet on Feb 23 to discuss measures against Russia that will put pressure on it to end the Ukraine war, Japan’s Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Tuesday. Japan will chair the meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors from the G7 nations in the Indian city of Bengaluru. The …

ISLAMABAD: Despite clearly lacking quorum, the National Assembly after a lackluster debate on Monday passed the IMF-dictated Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2023, seeking to impose additional Rs170 billion taxes with minor amendments as Finance Minister Ishaq Dar held the mismanagement in the power sector and poor economic policies of the previous PTI regime mainly responsible for this economic burden on the …