Business

ISLAMABAD: The Overall Consumer Confidence Index of Pakistanis in the fourth quarter of the current year has gone up by three points compared to the same period last year. The survey, conducted by market research company Ipsos, shows that an upward trend can be seen in Pakistanis’ optimism about the country’s direction. Moreover, male members of the society, the middle-aged …

KARACHI: The government on Monday while renaming and introducing some changes to the Kamyab Jawan Programme — launched during the PTI government in 2019 — added a couple of new features to the initiative aimed at facilitating the youth to set up or expand their businesses. Categories of ‘agriculture’ and ‘microloans’ have been added to the ‘Prime Minister’s Kamyab Jawan …

Oil prices rose for a second day on Tuesday as a key pipeline supplying the United States, the world’s biggest crude consumer, remained shut and on expectations loosening Covid restrictions in China, the second-biggest user globally, will boost demand. Brent crude futures rose 64 cents, or 0.8 per cent, to $78.63 per barrel by 0202 GMT, while US West Texas …

Disgraced cryptocurrency tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested Monday in the Bahamas at the request of the United States, according to US officials seeking to charge him after the spectacular collapse of his FTX platform. The arrest comes on the eve of Bankman-Fried’s scheduled appearance at a US Congress hearing in which he was to testify under oath about the crypto exchange’s overnight …

While there is a lot of public discourse on the need for change or transformation, policymakers have remained trapped in firefighting for a long time. So the question arises: how and when will change come about and how will the huge challenges be overcome? However, according to fast-changing ground realities, it is becoming apparent that society will act as a …

A recent UN report shows that global emissions, instead of reducing by 45 per cent by 2030, are set to increase by close to 11pc. The Sharm el-Sheikh Climate Change Conference (COP 27) brought together more than 45,000 participants to take action toward achieving climate goals agreed upon under the Paris Agreement and the Convention. A report by 55 vulnerable countries estimated …

Technically, Pakistan has not defaulted on its debt because it hasn’t missed — or even delayed — any payment to its creditors. Yet it certainly has fallen into ‘arrears’. For example, last week, the global International Air Transport Association complained that Pakistan was second among the top five markets that have restricted or stopped foreign airlines from repatriating their ticket sales revenues …

The overall business confidence in Pakistan fell to minus four per cent, according to a survey of the Overseas Investors Chambers of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) conducted during September-October 2022. The business confidence score was low — 17pc — in the previous survey of March-April as well, but it was still positive. The OICCI says the decline in business confidence …

ISLAMABAD: After the Supreme Court endorsed a settlement deal worth over $6.5 billion last week, the government on Sunday approved a payment of more than $900 million to the Chilean firm Antofagasta over six years to exit the Reko Diq project. The committee also green-lighted about $1.91bn shareholder financing by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to take the gold and copper mining project forward. …

ISLAMABAD: For the cybersecurity of individual borrowers, the regulator has made it mandatory for digital nano lending companies to get their mobile apps certification from the Pakistan Telecommuni­cation Authority (PTA). Through draft regulations for Non-Banking Financial Companies, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan has also prohibited these companies from using coercive and unacceptable collection practices for recoveries. The draft …