Business

KARACHI: Does the founder and group CEO of Daraz, largest player in Pakistan’s ecommerce market of $1.5 billion, think the country is a difficult market to operate in? “Absolutely. I’d say so,” said Bjarke Mikkelsen, who heads the Alibaba-owned ecommerce platform operating in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. In an interview with Dawn during his one-day visit for the inauguration of …

ISLAMABAD: The high-powered Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA) met on Thursday to set production targets for Rabi crops for the 2022-23 season and fixed a wheat production target at 28.4 million tonnes, to be grown on an area of 9.3m hectares. The wheat production target for Punjab has been fixed at 21m tonnes, while Sindh’s target has been fixed at …

KARACHI: The central bank’s foreign exchange reserves dropped $303 million to a three-year low of $7.597 billion in the week ending Oct 7, it said on Thursday, while the rupee also edged lower for a second day. The reserves fell due to external debt repayments, including repayments of a commercial loan and interest payments and Eurobonds, the State Bank of …

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) approved on Friday a reduction of Rs4.89 per unit for K-Electric (KE) consumers on account of fuel cost adjustment (FCA) for electricity consumed in August. Meanwhile, the power regulator raised the price by Rs0.19 per unit for the consumers of ex-Wapda Distribution Companies (Discos), also on account of FCA for the month of …

Google on Wednesday said it has allowed Donald Trump’s Truth Social app in its Play Store for Android devices — after receiving assurances the app would meet the platform’s standards for moderating harmful content. The app — which Trump launched after being barred from Twitter over the 2021 Capitol riot — had been kept out of Google’s store over its lack of …

KARACHI: The US dollar on Wednesday showed some resistance and managed to make a slight gain against the rupee breaking its 13-day rally triggered after the announcement of appointing Ishaq Dar as the new finance minister. The local currency appreciated by almost Rs22, or 10.1 per cent, against the greenback in the last 13 sessions. Currency dealers said that the …

KARACHI: Auto sales, including those reported by companies that aren’t members of the Pakistan Automotive Manufac­turers Association, declined in September by seven per cent on a month-on-month basis to about 13,000 units. According to data compiled by Topline Securities, auto sales dropped 51pc on an annual basis amid escalating prices, expensive auto financing and low purchasing power of consumers. The …

Oil prices struggled to find their footing in Asian trade on Thursday after easing in the previous session on the back of a weakening global demand outlook. Brent crude futures dropped seven cents, or 0.1 per cent, to $92.38 a barrel by 0310 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude was down 21 cents at $87.06 a barrel, or 0.2pc. Both …

Saudi Arabia rejected as “not based on facts” criticism of an Opec+ decision last week to cut its oil production target despite United States objections and said Washington’s request to delay the cut by a month would have had negative economic consequences. The Opec+ decision was adopted through consensus, took into account the balance of supply and demand and was aimed at …

Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics will upgrade software for their 5G-enabled phones in India by December, the companies said on Wednesday, as Indian authorities press mobile phone manufacturers to adopt the high-speed network. Apple said it would push software upgrades to recent models, including the iPhone 14, 13, 12 and iPhone SE, which, industry sources say, do not yet support …