Business

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Miftah Ismail on Saturday directed authorities concerned to expedite the process for edible oil imports from Malaysia and Indonesia to ensure a smooth supply of the commodity. A meeting of the committee on edible oil, chaired by Mr Miftah, was briefed by Secretary Industries and Production that sufficient stocks of the commodity were available and with the …

ISLAMABAD: Inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), increased by 2.67 per cent from the previous week due to increases in energy and food prices, showed data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Saturday. The increase in the weekly inflation is the highest in 144 weeks or three years amid an increase in petrol and diesel …

ISLAMABAD: The provinces are set to receive 17 per cent more share from the federal divisible pool in the next financial year as the government has estimated to transfer Rs4.099 trillion to the four federating units as compared to Rs3.511tr last year. As usual, Punjab will get over 50pc of the share from the divisible pool, leaving behind the same …

KARACHI: The proposed budget for 2022-23 isn’t half as bad as the stock market players expected. The “dreaded forecasts” based on the chronic fear of the International Monetary Fund–imposed harsh pre-conditions proved wrong by and large on Friday. “My initial impression is that the budget is neutral for the stock market. The mix of measures introduced isn’t entirely positive or …

ISLAMABAD: The new budget has imposed several duties and taxes on the telecom sector, which is likely to restrict several development projects related to the growth of telephony, internet services, and mobile set manufacturing in the country. The federal budget, which was unveiled here on Friday, raised the regulatory duty (RD) on optical fibre cable imports from 10 per cent …

KARACHI: Pakistan received a record over $28 billion in remittances during the first 11 months of the outgoing fiscal year, showing an increase of 6.3 per cent over the same period last year. However, the inflow in May was much lower than in April while it was even less than the remittances sent in May 2021. The overseas Pakistanis remitted …

ISLAMABAD: With the likely resumption of the IMF programme, the government expects the economic outlook for the fiscal year 2022-23 to result in orderly rebalancing between imperatives of economic growth, according to the Annual Plan 2022-23 document released on Friday. Keeping in view external and local uncertain economic environment, GDP growth will slightly taper off and is envisaged at five per …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit widened 57.85 per cent in 11 months of FY22 to $43.33 billion year-on-year on account of a broad-based surge in global commodity prices, Covid-19 vaccine imports, and demand-side pressures, all contributed to the rising imports. The imports surged mainly by an increase in energy prices as well as imports of food items to bridge the shortages …

ISLAMABAD: The country’s agriculture sector recorded a remarkable growth of 4.4 per cent during the outgoing fiscal year, surpassing the target of 3.5pc and last year’s growth of 3.48pc, while during July-March 2021-22, large-scale manufacturing (LSM) also recorded a staggering growth of 10.4pc against 4.24pc in the corresponding period last year, according to the Pakistan Economic Survey released on Thursday. …

ISLAMABAD: Total public debt stood at Rs44,366 billion at the end of March 2022, having ballooned by Rs4,500bn over the first nine months of the outgoing fiscal year, according to the Pakistan Economic Survey 2021-22, released on Thursday. Of the net Rs4,500bn increase, financing of the federal primary deficit accounted for Rs1,047bn; interest payments consumed Rs2,118bn; currency depreciation accounted for …