Business

ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has briefed the non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) on improved regulatory requirements, recently imposed through Circular No. 15 to address the complaints of mis-selling, inflated charges and undue access to customers data. Senior management of all the licenced NBFCs engaged in digital lending participated in the online session on Saturday. Giving an …

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Industries and Production has devised a scheme to initially produce 100,000 e-bikes in 18 months to diversify fuel consumption as well as help reduce carbon emissions. The scheme was presented in the last cabinet meeting and the prime minister referred it to the Economic Coordination Committee for further deliberation and working on the financial model. The …

KARACHI: Higher import and transportation costs, crop availability, the demand and supply gap, hoarding, exchange rate issues, etc have led to massive price disparities in prices of essential food items in various cities of the country. According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the rate of 20kg flour bag in Karachi has reached a record Rs2,800-3,000 …

KARACHI: As Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have fallen to an alarming level — not even sufficient enough to cover three weeks’ worth of imports — the financial sector has asked Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to stop ‘managing’ the rupee-dollar parity, which is one of the key conditions set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for resuming stalled talks for the …

A delegation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will meet Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on the sidelines of the upcoming Geneva conference to “discuss outstanding issues”, the lender’s spokesperson said on Sunday. The International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan will be held in Geneva on January 9 (Monday). The event will be co-hosted by the Government of Pakistan and the …

KARACHI: After keeping production activities suspended from Jan 2-6, Pak Suzuki Motor Company Ltd (PSMCL) has extended plant shutdown from Jan 9-13 due to a continued shortage of imported parts and accessories. In a stock filing on Friday, the company said the motorcycle plant would remain operative, however. From August 2022 to date, PSMCL had kept its production activities closed …

ISLAMABAD: The Cabinet Committee on Legislative Cases (CCLC) on Friday approved the country’s first-ever safety standards for the auto sector including helmets for motorcycle riders. With the approval by CCLC the auto sector safety standards including electric vehicles (EVs) would be forwarded to the Federal Cabinet for ratification, eventually leading to their implementation. The auto companies claim to follow Japanese …

It started with a birthday and a husband’s unplanned get together. Syed Zeeshan Haider, co-Founder and Director of Its Truly Tasty (ITT) Foods, invited a few friends over to his house for his birthday. His wife, Sammer Sultan, fellow co-Founder and CEO of ITT (and co-Chairman Shan Foods) had planned steaks for dinner. Now that friends were about to come …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Shaukat Tarin has said that Finance Minister Ishaq Dar lacks an understanding of the economy and is unfit for the job. In a rejoinder issued to Mr Dar’s presser held on Jan 4 in response to the PTI’s white paper on the country’s economic situation, Mr Tarin said: “Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s press conference on Jan …

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday said he had expressed his government’s resolve to complete the terms of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) programme, in a conversation with the lender’s managing director yesterday. The telephone conversation comes as Pakistan’s economy is increasingly febrile, with foreign exchange reserves amounting to fewer than three weeks of imports. “In a phone call with Managing …