Business

Bitcoin dropped below $20,000 on Saturday to its lowest level in 18 months, extending its slide as investors pull back from riskier assets amid rising interest rates. The biggest cryptocurrency was down 7.1 per cent to $18,993 at 0906 GMT, having earlier touched $18,732, its lowest since December 2020. It is down about 59pc this year, while rival cryptocurrency Ethereum-backed …

KARACHI: Foodpanda Pakistan is shifting away from its grow-at-all-costs business model amid a worldwide slowdown in venture-capitalist (VC) funding for ecommerce startups. Speaking to Dawn in a recent interview, Foodpanda Pakistan CEO Muntaqa Peracha said the company with a dominant market share in the last-mile delivery segment is now actively seeking the “high-quality consumer” who isn’t “focused on arbitrage”. “We …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s oil and eatable import bill surged by 61.44 per cent to $28.14 billion in the July-April period compared to $17.43bn in the corresponding period last year owing to higher international prices and massive depreciation of the rupee. The country’s overall import bill increased by 44.51pc to $72.29bn in 10MFY22 against $50.02bn in the corresponding period last year. The …

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Finance Miftah Ismail on Thursday declined to clear pending dues of Rs80 billion of the fertiliser sector but assured that their issues would be resolved as the government has almost streamlined the petroleum industry. In a meeting with Fer­tiliser Manufacturers of Pakistan Advisory Council (FMPAC) along with Federal Minister of Industries Makh­doom Syed Murtaza Mehmood, the finance …

KARACHI: The business community on Thursday feared very tough days ahead for consumers, warning of a sharp increase in the prices of food items due to the unprecedented increase in diesel rates in the last 20 days. They said the real impact of the diesel price hike, which went from Rs144.15 per litre on May 16 to the current Rs263.31, …

The US dollar continued to extend gains on Friday as it crossed Rs208 during early morning trade in the interbank market — a trend analysts attribute to a delay in the deal with International Monetary Fund (IMF) and rapidly depleting foreign exchange reserves. According to the Forex Association of Pakistan (FAP), the greenback appreciated by 80 paisa from yesterday’s close …

The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 index was up more than 500 points on Friday afternoon, largely buoyed by expectations Pakistan’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) grey list. According to the PSX website, the index gained 520.84 points against the previous day’s close of 41,730.16 to reach 42,251 by 12pm. “Stocks closed bullish in the first …

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Wednesday allowed 42 paise per unit increase in average tariff of distribution companies (Discos) of Wapda under quarterly tariff adjustments (QTA) for January-March. The decision was taken at a public hearing presided over by Nepra chairman Tauseef H. Farooqui. The higher rate would be charged to consumers for three months and …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday signed two Debt Service Suspension Agreements (DSSAs) with Japan and Switzerland for suspension of $197.5 million loans, under the G-20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) framework allowed to the poor nations as relief to absorb Covid-19 shock. Of this total amount, $191.60m was owed to Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) during the period from January to …

LAHORE: The PML-N-led coalition government in Punjab has decided to continue its political rival PTI’s flagship universal health insurance programme or Insaf Sehat Card by allocating a hefty amount of over Rs127 billion in its first Annual Development Plan worth Rs685bn announced for 2022-23 on Wednesday. Before coming into power on April 16, the PML-N had been critical of the …