Business

ISLAMABAD: A day after jacking up the prices of petrol and diesel, the caretaker government on Friday increased the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by 19.4pc, pushing up the cost of a domestic cylinder by Rs460 for the current month. Pakistan Railways followed suit, raising passenger fares by 5pc. This was the second increase in a month. In a …

ISLAMABAD: Consumer prices continued to surge unabated in August, with the second month of the current fiscal year witnessing inflation at an elevated level of 27.4 per cent, mainly due to soaring energy prices that show no signs of relenting. However, it recorded a marginal deceleration from 28.3pc in July, attributed to a slight decline in perishable food prices. On …

KARACHI: Some respite came for investors on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday as the benchmark index recovered after five consecutive negative sessions following the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) dismissal of interest rate hike speculations. The SBP dispelled rumours about holding an emergency meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee, saying that such reports were “completely baseless.” “The reports …

KARACHI: Rejecting the price hike in petroleum prices, business leaders on Friday said the country needs an out-of-the-box solution to stabilise the economy instead of ruthlessly counterproductive decisions aimed at ruining the industries and consumers. Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh said the government has no clue about the socioeconomic repercussions of the …

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has highlighted policy implementation, higher sovereign guarantees and poor performance of state-owned entities (SOEs) as potential risks and uncertainties that could impact the country’s fiscal outlook while record inflation rates posed heightened risks to the country’s external stability. In its latest Fiscal Risk Statement (FRS) 2023-24, the ministry has noted that federal government exposure to SOEs, …

KARACHI: Bears tightened their grip on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday as the benchmark index plummeted by around 1,250 points, or 2.7 per cent, driven by concerns about the country’s faltering economy, rumours of an impending interest rate hike, and the persistent depreciation of the rupee. It was the year’s second-biggest overnight decline in the benchmark KSE-100 index …

KARACHI: The rupee’s free fall and the dollar’s seemingly unstoppable rise have made the former almost irrelevant to the economy as queues for purchasing the greenback are growing by the day. According to currency dealers, the finance minister’s statement that the situation was worse than she had realised, sent waves of shocks in the exchange rate market. Malik Bostan, President of the …

KARACHI: Hoarding, smuggling and rupee depreciation continued to bring more misery for the consumers in the shape of further increases in sugar, pulses and ghee/cooking oil prices. Wholesale sugar rates rose to Rs172 per kg from Rs164-165 two days back. Some retailers had pushed up the rates to Rs185. While some online retailers were seen charging Rs99 for 500 grams, Rs905 for five-kg …

KARACHI: Caretaker Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar on Thursday said that the government was committed to resolving structural issues faced by the economy. Speaking at the roundtable conference on “Journey to an Insured Pakistan”, organised by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Dr Akhtar highlighted the importance of reducing the fiscal deficit, strengthening forex reserves, and fulfilling the …

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday dispelled rumours about holding an emergency meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), saying that such reports were “completely baseless”. “The reports making rounds in media about holding of an emergency meeting of the MPC of SBP are completely baseless,” the central bank said on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).   …