Business

ISLAMABAD: As petrol stocks plummeted to three-five days’ consumption cover throughout the country, except Sindh, the government increased its price by Rs1.71 per litre and decided to change berthing order of various oil vessels. A senior government official told Dawn that the country’s overall petrol stocks had fallen below 260,000 tonnes that were equivalent to less than 10 days of consumption. After …

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Tuesday set a deadline of Aug 15 for all tier-1 retailers to get integrated with the Point-of-Sale (POS) system otherwise they would be denied credit for input tax equal to 60 per cent of claimed in the sales tax return for July. The FBR has issued a Sales Tax General Order no.1 …

KARACHI: Rains and Eidul Azha holidays cast gloom on construction activities which led to a 13 per cent drop in local cement sales in July to 3.446 million tonnes from 3.953m tonnes in the same month last year. Exports also dropped by 49pc last month to 452,776 tonnes from 885,255 tonnes in July 2020. As a result of negative trend …

WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved the largest-ever distribution of monetary reserves of $650 billion to boost the global economy and help emerging and low-income nations deal with the mounting debt and Covid-19 crises. The IMF board of governors met in Washington on Monday and approved this historic allocation, known as Special Drawing Rights (SDR). Pakistan, which has …

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Energy and Petroleum Tabish Gauhar, in a letter addressed to Energy Minister Hammad Azhar, has urged that strategies be chalked out and “holistic and structural reforms” made to address energy sector challenges. The four-page letter titled “Beyond The Fire Fighting – Proposed Strategic Workstreams In The Energy Sector”, a copy of which is …

ISLAMABAD: The Pak-China Relations Steering Committee on Monday directed finalisation of a uniform policy framework within a month for extension in commercial operation dates (CODs) of five power projects of about 3,600 megawatts being set up under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The meeting presided over by Planning Minister Asad Umar also directed the Power Division to ensure availability of sufficient …

ISLAMABAD: Inflation eased to 8.4 per cent in July, from 9.7pc in June, on the back of a slight drop in prices of food products, showed the data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Monday. The ease had started in April when it reached 11.1pc. The decline is mainly led by a drop in agriculture products. In …

The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) on Tuesday withdrew its notification from a day earlier that showed the purchase price of liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo at $20.055 by the Pakistan State Oil (PSO), saying the petroleum corporation clarified it had scrapped the bid as it was ‘high’ and ‘unacceptable’. The withdrawal of the Ogra notification comes in the …

KARACHI: Brisk auto sales pushed petrol sales to an all-time high of 0.81 million tonnes in July 2021, up 12.5 per cent year-on-year (YoY) and 4pc month-on-month (MoM). Overall, oil industry sales swelled by 16pc YoY to 1.94 million tonnes in July from 1.66m tonnes in the same month last year. High speed diesel (HSD) sales grew by 7pc to …

ISLAMABAD: The government’s battle against bloated trade deficit is reversing as it widened 81.4 per cent in the first month of the current fiscal year (FY22), driven largely by almost double increase in imports compared to exports from the country. Merchandise trade deficit reached $3.058 billion in July this year against $1.686bn over the corresponding month last year, according to …