Business

LAHORE: The third Islam­abad-Istanbul freight train is likely to proceed for Turkey on Sunday, as the second one carrying goods weighing 525 tonnes has arrived in Istanbul via Iran. The booking for goods transportation Pakistan by this service has also started in Turkey, Dawn has learnt. “The second train has arrived in Istanbul a few days ago after it started …

LAHORE: A Chinese company has asked the government to immediately resolve the issue related to adoption of one per cent fixed tax by the Government of Azad Jammu & Kashmir on the offshore procurement contract of the 1,124-megawatt Kohala Hydropower Project and imposition of 17 per cent sales tax on all imports as proposed in the Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2021. …

ISLAMABAD: The country’s oil refineries have warned the government of a looming shutdown of their operations in a couple of weeks due to high and yet rising stocks of furnace oil. Informed sources said the refineries have reported to the government that the oil industry was currently holding about 400,000 tonnes of furnace oil. In addition, 300,000-tonne stocks were lying …

KARACHI: Foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) declined by more than half a billion dollars within a week mainly on account of international debt servicing, data released by the central bank showed on Thursday. Reserves of the SBP dropped by $562 million to $17.03bn in the week ending on Jan 14. The central bank uses its …

LAHORE: Federal Minister for Planning, Development, Reforms and Special Initiatives Asad Umar has said that sustainable export-led growth was the only way to put the country in the right direction. Addressing members of the Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) at its head office in Faisalabad on Thursday, he said the government was making all-out efforts to increase the country’s exports. …

BEIJING: Chinese For­eign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian brushed away media reports that suggest the Chinese contractor has demobilised from the Dasu dam project site. At his regular briefing at International Press Centre (IPC) on Thursday, Mr Zhao said he was unaware of any preconditions put forward by the contractor for resuming work on the dam site. “I’m not aware of …

ISLAMABAD: While dismissing an appeal moved by the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) against a high court order, the Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the FBR to act fairly in dealing with taxpayers and to abide by the law governing it. If any benefit accrues to taxpayers under the law, the tax department must not withhold it so that the …

ISLAMABAD: The Pakis­tan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Wednesday relea­sed a rebased index of large-scale manufacturing (LSM) industries. However, the PBS did not announce whether the measurement of the LSM sector for November would be released on the new base or the old one. Normally, the PBS relea­sed LSM data before the middle of a month. According to the PBS, …

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has digitised the refinance process to facilitate banks for entertaining loan applications of exporters in more efficient and expeditious way resulting in quick disbursements. “In a major step towards ease of doing business, the process for obtaining refinance from the SBP by banks under the Export Finance Scheme (EFS) has been digitised for …

LAHORE: The supply and pricing crisis of urea continues despite the window for its application to wheat closing fast. Farmers blame continued smuggling and hoarding and the industry holds panic buying mainly responsible. There are reports from various areas of the province of long queues to purchase rationed and squeezed urea supplies by the district administration. In the open market, …