Business

ISLAMABAD: While restoring the powers of the intelligence and investigation directorate of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has held that the directorate can take cognisance of and has legal jurisdiction to issue notices under Section 175(1) of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 for the enforcement of any provision of the ordinance. A division bench of …

Oil prices eased on Wednesday after industry data showed United States crude stockpiles rose more than expected, but losses were capped by supply worries. Brent crude futures for December fell 72 cents, or 0.8 per cent, to $92.80 a barrel by 0330 GMT, after settling 26 cents higher in the previous session. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for …

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Tuesday approved Rs4.70 per unit reduction in fuel cost adjustment (FCA) for electricity used by K-Electric consumers in September. Once the approval is formally notified in a couple of days, the KE would be required to refund about Rs7.78 billion to consumers through adjustment in November’s bill. The decision was reached …

Shares at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) extended losses during early trade on Wednesday, with analysts attributing the downward trend to worries of political instability following the announcement of the PTI’s long march scheduled to begin on Friday. The benchmark KSE-100 index lost 632.39 points, or 1.5 per cent, to reach 41,557.64 points at 11:17am. Head of Research at Intermarket …

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s energy minister on Tuesday blasted the release of emergency oil stocks as an attempt to “manipulate markets”, the latest apparent salvo in a spat with Washington over oil production. “People are depleting their emergency stocks, had depleted it, used it as a mechanism to manipulate markets while its profound purpose was to mitigate shortage of supply,” Prince …

KARACHI: Kot Addu Power Company Ltd (Kapco) said on Monday it has submitted a tariff petition to the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) for a reference generation tariff. The independent power producer (IPP) made the announcement as its original power purchase agreement (PPA) of 1996 completed its term on Oct 24. As a result, the operator of a multi-fuel–powered …

ISLAMABAD: The Nat­ional Electric Power Regu­latory Authority (Nepra) on Monday allowed Rs12.68 per unit increase in power rates for K-Electric under quarterly tariff adjustment (QTA) for the period — April to June FY2021-22, with a net additional revenue of about Rs56bn to the Karachi-based private utility. The decision is unlikely to affect consumers in Karachi because of uniform tariff policy …

ISLAMABAD: Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Monday signed an agreement with Pakistan to provide a $1.5 billion loan for budgetary support and help flood-related rehabilitation and reconstruction activities. The loan agreement was signed by ADB’s Country Director Yong Ye and Secretary of Economic Affairs Division (EAD) Kazim Niaz. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, EAD Minister Ayaz Sadiq …

ISLAMABAD: Though Pakistan will have to seek another loan from International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help recover from the recent catastrophic floods in the country, a report of Oxfam released on Monday recommends the country to avail the ‘Loss and Damage Finance Facility’ proposed by G77 plus China at the Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26). If the Loss …

The Pakistani rupee (PKR) gained over Re1 against the US dollar during morning trade in the interbank market on Tuesday. According to rates issued by the Forex Association of Pakistan, the local currency was changing hands at Rs219.30 per dollar at 1pm, an appreciation of Rs1.11 or 0.5 per cent over yesterday’s close of Rs220.41. Analysts attributed this change to …