Business

KARACHI: The coalition government has failed to provide any relief to the masses awaiting a price cut in all essential commodities after the strengthening of the rupee against the US dollar. All commodity prices have soared or stayed unchanged despite an almost 12 per cent jump in the rupee’s value, which has substantially brought down the landed cost of imported …

LAHORE: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered an inquiry into how a fixed sales tax imposed on traders doubled at the imposition stage and suspended the tax collection through electricity bills. Presiding over a meeting on the issue in Lahore on Saturday, the premier also ordered that a new mechanism be devised to collect the sales tax and directed the ministers …

ATHENS: Greece on Saturday concluded 12 years of European Union fiscal surveillance that was imposed in return for bailouts after a crushing debt crisis. In November 2009, Athens revealed a sharp rise in its public deficit that eventually led to a financial crisis across the eurozone and wreaked havoc on Greek finances for a decade. In exchange for bailout cash …

KARACHI: The stock market came under pressure on Friday as investors resorted to profit-taking. Arif Habib Ltd said market activity remained dull in the first few hours of trading owing to the absence of triggers. In the later part of the trading session, however, across-the-board profit-taking pushed down share prices and the index closed in the red zone. The refinery …

ISLAMABAD: If the grapevine within the telecom sector is to be believed, the upcoming cellular spectrum auction for the 2,100 megahertz (MHz) band is shaping up to be another ‘one-horse race’. The spectrum auction advisory committee, headed by Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, has resolved to auction off two 5 MHz bandwidth slots in the 2,100 MHz band for a 10-year …

KARACHI: The rupee rose 30 paise in the interbank market to Rs214.65 from Rs214.95 in the previous session. However, the dollar was up by Re1 to Rs219 in the open market, highlighting the stark gap in greenback prices between the two markets. Currency dealers said the current exchange rate is almost at the same level throughout this week, which is …

KARACHI: CarFirst, a startup that dealt in used vehicles, announced on Friday it was shutting down operations in Pakistan. In a post on its LinkedIn page, the automobile marketplace thanked its stakeholders and said a team would remain in place to handle the “closing of the entity”. CarFirst bought used cars and sold them onwards at a profit while promising …

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Commerce on Friday unveiled the National Priority Sectors Export Strategy (NPSES), with a focus on 10 priority sectors to achieve growth in exports. The strategy is part of the Strategic Trade Policy Framework 2020-25, approved in November last year and identified 18 priority sectors with guidelines to develop sector-specific policy measures to promote their exports. The NPSES focuses …

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, on Tuesday tweeted that he was buying English soccer club Manchester United Plc, without offering any details. However, shortly afterwards, in response to another tweet, Musk said it was a “long-running joke” on Twitter and he was not buying any sports teams. Musk has a history of being unconventional and posting irreverent tweets. Only …

KARACHI: The rising trend of remittances reversed in July when a decline of 7.8 per cent was recorded compared to the same month of the previous fiscal year, according to the data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday. The country received $2.523 billion in July FY23 compared to $2.736bn in July FY22, the SBP reported. The …