Business

KARACHI: The business community on Friday slammed the government’s move of increasing the petrol and diesel prices by a whopping Rs60 a litre in less than a week and the sudden Rs7.9 per unit hike in electricity base tariff will not only push up the cost of production but will also jolt the cost of doing business and ease of …

ISLAMABAD: Inflation measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) increased by two per cent from the previous week, the highest increase in 64 weeks, due to increases in energy and food prices, according to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data released on Friday. The year-on-year increase in SPI was 20.04pc during the week under review. Since February 25, 2021, this …

KARACHI: The US dollar bounced back on Friday with an appreciation of 33 paise in the interbank market snapping the rupee’s five-day winning streak. The rupee started gaining against the US dollar on May 27 and kept appreciating during the last five sessions. The dollar was sold as low as Rs197.59 on June 2. However, the market felt a change …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday imposed a 10 per cent regulatory duty on the import of petroleum products from China after a massive 673pc surge in duty-free imports to Rs250 billion this year with a revenue loss of Rs25bn under the garb of the China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA). A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the …

KARACHI: The stock market continued its selling momentum on Thursday from the preceding session on the back of rising yields on government papers, said Arif Habib Ltd. The yield on the three-month treasury bills went up by 75 basis points to 15.25 per cent in the latest auction. This has led to investors’ concerns about a hike in the benchmark …

KARACHI: Volumetric sales of petroleum products totalled 2.17 million tonnes in May, down two per cent from a month ago, according to data released by the Oil Companies Advisory Council on Thursday. The month-on-month drop was mainly led by a 7pc decline in diesel sales, which clocked in at 0.85m tonnes in May. “We attribute this to Eid holidays during …

KARACHI: We are not Sri Lanka neither we are close to it, in fact, the six per cent GDP growth for the last two years is amazing shocks for the entire world, Acting Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Dr Murtaza Syed said in a podcast on Thursday. “There is no doubt that the economy is facing challenges and the …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s merchandise trade deficit widened by an alarming 57.85 per cent year-on-year to an all-time high at $43.33 billion during the first 11 months of 2021-22 through May on the back of higher-than-expected imports, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics data showed on Thursday. The 11-month deficit has already crossed the full year’s highest trade deficit of $37bn in 2018 when …

Continuing its selling momentum from the previous day, the stock market registered a decline of over 925 points on Friday, a day after the government raised fuel prices. By 4:11pm, the KSE-100 index shed 925.80 points against the previous day’s close of 42,237.91 to fall to 41,312.11 — down 2.19 per cent. The benchmark index closed at 41,339.11 points, down by 898.8 …

ISLAMABAD: Inflation escalates to a 28-month high of 13.8 per cent in May from previous month’s 13.4pc on the back of a steady increase in food and energy prices amid the weakening rupee, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday. The inflation — measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) — has been on the …