Business

LAHORE: Though Punjab is mobilising all its resources to ensure on-time wheat sowing, the pace is still slow and the farmers count two main reasons — weather, which is still too hot to facilitate germination, and price uncertainty. “In the last 24 hours, for the first time night-time chill has set in that could help germinate wheat seed,” explains grower …

ISLAMABAD: A new World Bank report says Pakistan’s agricultural marketing is wasteful due to a number of constraints such as poor infrastructure, high market margins, poor post-harvest management and non-implementation of grades and standards. There is a need to modernise and upgrade fresh produce marketing systems by removing these constraints, adopting market-oriented practices and improving business skills among all stakeholders, …

KARACHI: The pace of increase in the quarterly earnings recorded by big companies listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) has slowed down by three-quarters of the five-year average. Profits of the companies that are representative of the corporate sector increased by four per cent year-on-year in July-September to Rs262 billion, according to data compiled by Topline Securities. The bottom-line …

KARACHI: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar once again reiterated that the US dollar will be brought below Rs200 and assured stakeholders of the country’s “solvent state,” fully capable of fulfilling local and international debt commitments. Mr Dar held two meetings on Saturday with the CEOs of commercial banks and heads of major exchange companies. Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on …

ISLAMABAD: The weekly inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), posted a record increase of 4.13 per cent for the combined income group on a week-on-week basis for the period ending Oct 27 mainly due to the highest-ever energy and food prices, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday. After rebasing, the SPI …

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordina­tion Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Friday allowed the import of 800,000 tonnes of wheat and 300,000 tonnes of urea fertiliser and suspended the import policy to allow timber and wood imports. The meeting presided over by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar also approved funds to create specialised anti-riot unit in Frontier Constabulary of 2,000 personnel. The decision …

KARACHI: Profitability of Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd (PSO) dropped 90 per cent year-on-year in July-September to Rs1.2 billion, a stock notice showed on Friday. The company’s revenue was Rs862bn in the quarter under review, up 88pc from a year ago. According to Arif Habib Ltd, the jump in sales was due to higher prices of petroleum products. However, the …

ISLAMABAD: Putting the flood damage and loss estimates at over $30 billion (around Rs6.5 trillion), leading international agencies have warned of a substantial increase in poverty levels, widening fiscal and external account deficits amid political and economic instability. Based on these estimates, Pakistan called for relaxing the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) conditions and demanded “climate justice” to invest in rehabilitation …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister She­h­­baz Sharif on Friday said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdu­laziz Al-Saud would soon be visiting Pakistan during which he would anno­unce a $10 billion investment for est­a­blishing an oil refinery in the country. While criticising the last Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government for not availing an opportunity given by the Saudi government for launch of …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is diverting away from its earlier commitments for ‘digital Pakistan’ and there is an urgent need to connect more people for a resilient digital society, GSMA Asia Pacific head Julian Gorman said on Thursday. GSMA, an association of global mobile network operators, had been expressing concern over policy shifts by the government regarding the telecom sector, leading to …