Business

‘Apartmentarianism’ is the philosophy of real estate investors that is bolstered by the fact that 73 per cent of the apartment owners in Pakistan are not apartment dwellers. Around 75pc of apartment residents live in rental flats because of their low buying power. However, in reality, apartment living is not yet in vogue. The real asset is a high return …

The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s benchmark KSE-100 index plunged over 800 points on Monday, with the slump being attributed to the central bank’s surprise move to hike the policy rate by 100 basis points on Friday evening. The index saw a sharp slump right after the opening bell, dropping more than 600 points to 42,282.48 in the first 30 minutes of trading. It …

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has sought Rs47.42 billion from the government in order to make preparations for next year’s general election. However, the Ministry of Finance is apparently in a difficult position to earmark a major supplementary grant at least during the current quarter of the fiscal year in view of engagements with the International Monetary Fund …

KARACHI: Former central bank governor Syed Salim Raza has said Pakistan should avoid going for a “piecemeal restructuring” of its dollar-denominated debt. Speaking at a recent seminar on national economic challenges, the former chief of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said that asking one of the many creditors to restructure the debt was “unfair” and tantamount to subsidising the …

KARACHI: The interest rate hike will cost heavily to the government as it will have to re-price the Rs5 trillion maturity of treasury bills and Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) in the next three months. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has increased its policy rate by 100 basis points to 16 per cent to tame inflation but the other aspects of higher …

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday directed all relevant departments for early completion of the remaining steps to ensure the revival of the multi-billion-dollar Reko Diq project before the Dec 15 deadline. The apex committee on the Reko Diq project chaired by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar reviewed the progress on the implementation of agreed steps so far for the …

ISLAMABAD: Confusion continued to prevail over the central bank’s alleged decision to withhold certain payments to foreign service providers and thus put the citizens at risk of losing access to certain paid apps and services come next month. While the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has dismissed as “baseless and misleading” reports that it had withheld payments to Google, the …

KARACHI: The Sindh government has demanded that the federal government enact a new gas allocation policy to meet the actual needs of the province in the energy sector, it emerged on Saturday. In a letter to Petroleum Minister Musadik Malik, Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh asked him to resolve the issue of shortage of electricity and gas in the …

KARACHI: Already struggling for their survival amid multiple economic challenges mainly massive rupee-dollar fluctuation and severe energy shortages, the trade and industry leaders on Friday rejected the State Bank of Pakistan’s move to raise its policy rate by 100 basis points saying it would play havoc with the cost of doing business besides hitting exports hard. Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce …

KARACHI: Lacklustre activity marked the trading session on the Pakistan Stock Exchange as investors preferred to stay on the sidelines ahead of the announcement of the monetary policy announcement on Friday, said Topline Securities. Trading began on the positive note as the army chief’s appointment a day ago proved the much-needed clarity on the political ground, said Arif Habib Ltd. …