Business

In FY23, the private sector’s net borrowings from commercial banks stood at Rs211 billion — just 5.5 per cent of the government’s net borrowings that totalled Rs3.84 trillion. During four weeks of FY24 (July 1-July 28, 2003), the private sector did not borrow anything from banks on a net basis; it rather retired about Rs173bn bank credit. On the contrary, …

Over the last few years, Pakistan has been under the increasing threat of food insecurity. Several international organisations anticipate that the situation is likely to intensify in the near future, as perceived food shortage in the country and lack of affordability have coincided with the worldwide economic slowdown, rising global food prices, record high inflation in the country, and reduction …

KARACHI: The Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) has said that it would again process Russian crude “when available at favourable commercial terms”, denying the impression that it has suspended the use of Russian crude oil because of processing issues. In a release on Sunday, the refinery insisted that Russian crude was successfully processed and the “spot deal was technically and commercially …

ISLAMABAD: The Inter­national Finance Corporation (IFC), a commercial arm of the World Bank, has alerted the Pakistan authorities about a series of key challenges that could hamper the successful outsourcing of the country’s three major international airports. The IFC is the transaction adviser on outsourcing of Pakis­tan’s three international airports — Islam­abad, Lahore and Karachi — and has been studying …

KARACHI: The Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) has reportedly raised concerns about its capacity to process more quantities of Russian crude oil, a setback for the previous government’s attempts to increase reliance on cheaper Russian crude to cut domestic fuel prices. Analysts say the processing of Russian crude oil — available at a discount after it was banned from European markets …

LAHORE: The country’s hydel generation peaked above 8,000 megawatts after the 969MW Neelum-Jhelum Hyd­ropower Project resumed operations a couple of days ago. The power stations owned and operated by the Water and Power Deve­lop­ment Authority (Wapda) contributed 8,158MW to the national grid during peak hours last night. “Effective operation and maintenance of Wapda hydel power stations and better hydrological conditions …

KARACHI: The natio­nal bourse experienced a mixed trend during the outgoing week amid a host of positive and negative triggers. Arif Habib Ltd said the resolution of the gas sector’s circular debt through a dividend plough-back scheme along with the approval of a refinery policy kept the positive sentiments alive. Moreover, there was also an upward revision in Pakistan’s weight …

KARACHI: The US dollar hit 302 against the rupee in the open market on Saturday, going beyond the boundaries marked by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to keep the difference in open and interbank exchange rates in the range of 1 per cent to 1.5 per cent. “The US dollar rates kept fluctuating during the day and reached as high as Rs302,” …

MUMBAI: India’s rice export ban has the world market bracing for similar actions by rival suppliers to avoid potential domestic shortages as sellers try to fill the 10 million tonne gap left by New Delhi, stoking concerns over already high global food inflation. India’s latest restrictions are almost identical to those it imposed in 2007 and 2008, analysts say, which …

ISLAMABAD: The Secu­rities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has introduced maximum term limits for the chief executive officers and independent directors to serve in the capital market infrastructure institutions (CMIIs). The CMIIs include PSX, NCCPL, CDC and PMEX, and the tenure limits of the CEO of these entities is maximum of three terms with the third term to be …