Business

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 …

Elon Musk became Twitter Inc’s owner on Thursday, firing top executives and providing little clarity over how he will achieve the lofty ambitions he has outlined for the influential social media platform. “The bird is freed,” he tweeted after taking control.   The CEO of electric car maker Tesla Inc has said he wants to “defeat” spam bots on Twitter, …

Apple Inc on Thursday reported revenue and profit that topped Wall Street targets, one of the few bright spots in a tech sector battered by spending cutbacks due to inflation. The forecast for the holiday quarter was more grim. While not providing specific numbers, Apple said revenue growth would fall below eight per cent in the December quarter but did …

Oil prices fell on Friday after China, the world’s top crude oil importer, widened its Covid-19 curbs, but were poised for a weekly gain on supply concerns ahead of Europe’s pending cut-off of Russian imports. Brent crude futures eased 78 cents, or 0.8 per cent, to $96.18 a barrel at 0350 GMT, after rising 1.3pc in the previous session. US …

Stocks continued to fall for the third consecutive day on Friday, with analysts attributing the slump to the PTI’s long march and investors’ shifting positions. The benchmark KSE-100 index was down 369.29 points, or 0.89 per cent, to reach 41,233.57 points at 3:19pm. Aba Ali Habib Securities’ Salman Naqvi said the market had been under pressure for the last few sessions, the …