Business

ISLAMABAD: Poverty is estimated to have increased in Pakistan during the previous fiscal year due to record high food and energy prices, weak labour markets and flood-related damages, a World Bank report said. The Macro Poverty Outlook prepared for the recently concluded annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF in Marrakesh, Morocco, pointed out that protracted and elevated food and energy …

RAWALPINDI: Pak­istan International Air­lines (PIA) operated 52 flights on Thursday, though its two international flights — one from Islamabad to Jeddah and the other from Lahore to Kuala Lumpur — were delayed. PIA claimed that its flight operation, disturbed due to a halt in fuel supply, has been normalised as it has scheduled 48 flights for Friday. Of the 48 flights, …

SadaPay, a Pakistani Fintech company, announced that their SadaBiz freelancers will now be able to receive payments via Apple Pay. Earlier this year, Sadapay had launched a business account — SadaBiz —tailored for freelancers which aimed to provide an avenue for global payments with no hidden fees. The announcement came as part of SadaPay’s first ever SadaSummit held last Friday …

NEW YORK: Oil prices climbed about 2 per cent to a two-week high on Wednesday on a bigger-than-expected US storage draw and hitting session highs after Iran called for an oil embargo on Israel. Brent futures rose $1.92, or 2.1pc, to $91.82 a barrel by 1:24 p.m. EDT (1724 GMT). US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $2.09, or 2.4pc, …

ISLAMABAD: Textile and clothing exports fell for third month in a row due to growing production costs and liquidity crunch, according to statistics issued by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday. The export value of textile and clothing exports shrank 9.95 per cent in the first quarter (July-September) FY24 to $4.12 billion from $4.58bn in the corresponding period last …

After depreciating against the greenback on Wednesday, the rupee returned to extending gains against the dollar on the interbank market by Rs1.48. For most of September, the rupee saw gains upwards of 6pc, which followed an administrative crackdown on the informal currency market, eventually becoming the best-performing currency for that month. The gains saw a reversal by October 17. Analysts attributed …

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 Index traded in the green throughout Thursday, making gains of 933.68, or 1.89 per cent, to close at 50,365.15, a milestone reached after six years. Financial consultancy firm Tresmark said the last time the index had been trade volume above 50,000 points was in May 2017, when it closed at 50,592 points.     The …

NEW YORK: Oil prices edged higher on Tuesday ahead of a trip by US President Joe Biden to the Middle East that is likely to involve balancing support for Israel with trying to prevent any regional escalation of its war with Hamas. Following a drop of more than a dollar on Monday, Brent futures rose $0.74 to $90.39 a barrel …

ISLAMABAD: In order to meet energy requirement of the country, Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Tuesday invited China to invest in solar parks to help reduce Pakistan’s energy import bill and support the country’s fight against climate change. “Investments in solar parks would benefit two-fold. On one hand, they will support Pakistan’s endeavours for climate action and also …

ISLAMABAD: The Senate’s Standing Committee on Power expressed serious concerns on Wednesday regarding the alleged use of derogatory tone by the board of directors (BoD) of the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) in a report. The committee, chaired by Senator Saifullah Abro, also expressed shock when it was told that the record of a contract of another government-owned entity …