Business

ISLAMABAD: The government has notified an all-inclusive fixed and subsidised electricity rate of Rs19.99 per unit for five export sectors for nine months beginning Oct 1 to facilitate exporters to compete with regional peers. All distribution companies including K-Electric “are advised to provide electricity at the rate of Rs19.99/kWh all-inclusive to the five export-oriented industries — textiles, leather, carpet, surgical …

KARACHI: Foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) remained unchanged during the week ended on Oct 14, the central bank announced on Thursday. The SBP reserves were $7.597 billion while the holdings of the commercial banks were $5.653bn during the week. The total reserves of the country were almost unchanged at $13.251bn. The interbank market witnessed a …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s expo­rts of non-textile products posted a paltry growth of 0.77 per cent year-on-year to $2.59 billion in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, data compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed on Thursday. The stagnation in export proceeds of the non-textile sector was noted since the start of the current fiscal year as demand …

ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) stressed the need to cultivate a sustainable and resilient culture of compliance with anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regulations within the non-bank financial sector. Speaking at a training programme arranged by the Mutual Funds Association of Pakistan (Mufap), a trade body of asset management companies, SECP Commissioner …

KARACHI: In an opaquely worded notification issued on the Pakistan Stock Exchange, K-Electric Ltd said on Thursday “changes have been consummated” involving IGCF General Partner Ltd (IGCF GP), a fund manager, and the Infrastructure and Growth Capital Fund L.P. (Fund), which owns the fund’s assets. Analysts interpreted the dense text of the regulatory filing as an acknowledgement of the transfer …

KARACHI: The amount of outstanding auto loans decreased for the third consecutive month at the end of September, data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) showed on Wednesday. The outstanding financing for vehicles stood at Rs397.4 billion at the end of last month, down roughly Rs2bn from August. The month-on-month decline becomes more pronounced by excluding the auto …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister She­h­baz Sharif has said Pakistan needed billions of dollars for reb­uilding climate-resilient infrastru­cture in the aftermath of floods which left over 33 million people without shelter and inundated southern parts of the country. “We are not asking for any kind of measure [such as] a rescheduling or a moratorium,” PM Sharif was quoted by the Financial Times. “We …

ISLAMABAD: Large-scale manufacturing (LSM) swung to growth in August, posting an annual increase of 0.6 per cent and 3.9pc compared to July, official data showed on Wednesday, suggesting the economy has slightly revived. That was quite an improvement from July, when the LSM shrank 1.4pc year-on-year and 16pc month-on-month. Economists have already raised concerns about an economic slowdown caused by …

KARACHI: The current account deficit shrank 72.5 per cent on a year-on-year basis to $316 million for September, which is the lowest monthly figure since April 2021. According to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday, the deficit for the first quarter of 2022-23 clocked in at $2.2 billion, down 37.4pc from a year ago. According …

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minis­ter Ishaq Dar on Wednesday said he did not get any discouragement from Washington over possible cheaper oil imports from Russia and reassured the markets that Pakistan would meet all international obligations without default. Speaking on the sidelines of the All Pakistan Chartered Accountants Conference, Mr Dar, who just returned from the United States after a weeklong visit …