Business

KARACHI: Already hard-pressed amid surging prices of almost all essentials, the government on Wednesday added fuel to consumers’ misery by increasing the General Sales Tax (GST) to 18 per cent from 17pc along with federal excise duty. However, the manufacturers have yet to give any respite in prices despite over Rs11 recovery in the rupee’s value, which makes the import …

Oil prices rose on Thursday as hopes of a robust fuel demand recovery in top oil consumer China offset losses arising from strength in the greenback and a large build in US crude inventory. Brent crude futures rose 42 cents, or 0.5 per cent, to $85.80 per barrel by 0352 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained …

KARACHI: Jazz Ltd CEO Aamir Ibrahim said on Wednesday the rollout of 5G, which is the fifth-generation technology standard for broadband cellular networks, should be put on hold. Speaking at a business conference organised by Nutshell Group, the CEO of the largest telecom firm with a market share of over 38 per cent said the stakeholders should strive to do …

WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD: The Fitch Ratings agency on Tuesday downgraded Pakistan’s long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating (IDR) to ‘CCC-’, from ‘CCC+’ due to worsening liquidity, political volatility and decline of foreign-exchange reserves to critically low levels. A CCC minus rating denotes a very high level of default risk. One of the three major global rating agencies, Fitch said it did not typically …

A crucial tax amendment bill to fulfil the conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to revive a stalled loan programme that the country needs to stave off default was presented in both houses of parliament on Wednesday. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar introduced the Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2023 first in the National Assembly and then in the Senate. Both the …

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Teleco­mmunication Authority (PTA) has laun­ched a centralised platform to counter cyber attacks on telecom infrastructure. The National Telecom Security Operations Center (NTSOC) has been launched with an aim to improve the security of telecom infrastructure and build a “secure and resilient cyberspace for Pakistan,” according to a statement released by the PTA. The NTSOC will be the …

Inflation in Pakistan could average 33 per cent in the first half of 2023 before trending lower, and a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) alone is unlikely to put the economy back on track, a senior economist with Moody’s Analytics told Reuters. “Our view is that an IMF bailout alone isn’t going to be enough to get the economy …

KARACHI: The latest increase in gas prices seems to have pitched the industrialists of Punjab against those of Sindh. Newspaper ads by the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association-North demand that the government do away with different gas rates for the export-oriented industrial units of Punjab and Sindh by adopting a uniform price of $7 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu). …

KARACHI: The latest increase in gas prices seems to have pitched the industrialists of Punjab against those of Sindh. Newspaper ads by the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association-North demand that the government do away with different gas rates for the export-oriented industrial units of Punjab and Sindh by adopting a uniform price of $7 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu). …

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet on Monday increased natural gas prices in the range of 16 per cent to 112.32pc with retrospective effect from Jan 1 for six months in a bid to raise an additional Rs310 billion from the majority of domestic and all other categories of consumers to secure early disbursement of $1.2 billion …