Business

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi gave his ceremonial assent to the controversial Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2021 — generally known as the mini-budget — on Saturday, converting it into an act of the parliament and thus fulfilling one of the key conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The finance bill was among those 16 pieces of legislation that the PTI-led …

KARACHI: Despite the passage of a mini-budget on Friday, trading on the Pakistan Stock Exchange remained dull because of investors’ risk aversion growing out of the increasing number of Covid-19 cases, said Arif Habib Ltd. Analysts at JS Global said investors should look for opportunities to buy technology, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration stocks on dips. The benchmark index closed …

KARACHI: The cost of labour in Pakistan is two times less than that in China, which makes the former an attractive destination for Chinese capital, according to Khalid Man­soor, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Delivering a presentation at the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday, Mr Mansoor said China is witnessing a scarcity …

ISLAMABAD: Amid reports of the misuse of China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA), the government on Friday ordered all oil marketing companies (OMCs) to provide evidence-based data on the import of petrol from China. Under the CPFTA renegotiated in 2019, the government had issued statutory regulatory orders on Dec 31, 2019 that abolished tariff on import of petrol. As such, there …

KARACHI: With $2.5 billion of inflows in December 2021, monthly remittances from overseas workers stayed above the $2bn mark for the seventh straight month, according to the data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday. Remittances in December increased 2.5 per cent on a month-on-month basis while the rise was 3.4pc in annual terms. Cumulatively, remittances grew …

UNITED NATIONS: As Pakistan assumed the chair of the Group of 77 on Friday, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi urged the international community to help developing countries recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. “Developing countries cannot recover if their budgets are further constrained by austerity packages, imposed increases in energy prices, and weakening of their currencies. No country …

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) and the Special Communication Organisation (SCO) on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore opportunities for the growth of telecom services across the country with a special focus on Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan. The MoU will facilitate multi-level cooperation between the leading telecom players to foster resource efficiency …

ISLAMABAD: A total of 168 reform proposals have been taken up with the federal and provincial departments to eliminate regulatory bottlenecks for facilitation of businesses — particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs) — and over 100 reforms have been implemented while others are in various stages of implementation, the Board of Investment (BoI) said on Thursday. To date, three rounds …

ISLAMABAD: The prices of key petroleum products are estimated to jump by up to Rs6.30 per litre on Jan 15 for the next fortnight, mainly because of higher international oil prices. Informed sources said the prices of petrol (motor gasoline) and high-speed diesel (HSD) had been worked out to go up by about Rs5.30 and Rs5.80 per litre, respectively, based …

KARACHI: China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) tsar Khalid Mansoor said on Thursday Chinese businesses have shown willingness to relocate their production facilities to Pakistan if the ongoing trade war between China and the United States escalates further. Speaking at a conference of business leaders, the special assistant to the prime minister on CPEC affairs said two to three investors have approached …