Business

HYDERABAD: Adeel Siddiqui, President of Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI), has urged the prime minister to focus on coal-based power generation for overcoming the never-ending energy crisis. In a statement issued on Saturday, he said more initiatives like Thar coal should be launched within a specific timeline to lessen reliance on LNG and oil-based generation to rid Pakistan …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit ballooned to an all-time high of $48.66 billion in the outgoing fiscal year from $30.96bn a year ago, indicating an increase of 57 per cent on the back of higher-than-expected imports, provisional official data showed on Saturday. The trade deficit reached such an alarming level despite a ban imposed on more than 800 items in May. The coalition …

LAHORE: The country has started importing coal from Afghanistan and supplying it to the coal-fired power plants in different cities, an official told Dawn on Saturday. “Coal from Afghanistan has started coming in a couple of days ago after the government directed the departments concerned, especially the Pakistan Railways, to make certain arrangements for a safe and rapid coal transport operation,” the …

KARACHI: Worried by the downward trajectory of the country’s economy, business leaders and captains of industry have warned that the rising costs of doing business could render Pakistan unable to compete with other countries in the region. They term rising interest rates, the uncertain situation of the US dollar, sky-rocketing fuel prices, higher gas and power tariffs, and — perhaps …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday expressed satisfaction over functioning of 720MW Karot Hydel Project and pledged to overcome the electricity generation crisis in the country by restoring all halted power projects. In a tweet, the prime minister said the Karot project was the first hydel project established under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). He expressed gratitude to the …

KARACHI: The government has put on hold the Mera Pakistan Mera Ghar (MPMG) and Prime Minister’s Kamyab Jawan Youth Entrepreneurship Schemes (PMKJ-YES), launched by former Prime Minister Imran Khan, and is reviewing the same. The MPMG low-cost housing scheme has been put on hold for two months while banks were advised by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to stop …

LAHORE: After increasing petrol and diesel prices, the government on Friday also raised the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) rates by Rs2 per kg for the current month, according to a notification issued by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority. The LPG Distributors Association said the price now jumped to Rs220 per kg from Rs218. The domestic LPG cylinder will now …

KARACHI: Despite highly attractive returns foreigners avoided investing in treasury bills (T-bills) and Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) instead they withdrew over $1 billion from these domestic bonds during 2021-22. Data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) showed that very high returns on T-bills and PIBs could not attract foreign investors as expected earlier. The inflows almost stopped during …

ISLAMABAD: The government on Friday said the energy prices will keep increasing for the next three to four months because of ‘landmines laid by Imran Khan’ and then start a downward trend in November–December this year. Speaking at separate news conferences here, energy ministers – Khurram Dastgir and Musadik Malik – on Friday said the previous government had tied their …

KARACHI: Stocks rallied on Thursday as the rupee continued extending its gains against the dollar while the cut-off yields on three- and six-month treasury bills fell by two and 15 basis points, respectively. Arif Habib Ltd said trading stayed mostly in the green territory as investors opted for value hunting after some clarity emerged in the Finance Act passed by …