Business

KARACHI: Foreign direct investment fell sharply by 38.7 per cent during the first month of the new fiscal FY22 compared to July FY21, following the declining trend noted in the previous fiscal year. The State Bank’s latest data issued on Tuesday showed that the country received only $90 million as FDI during July against an inflow $128.7m in the same …

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday introduced a financing scheme for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), enabling them to get loans without collateral. The SBP said the scheme had been launched to improve the SMEs’ access to finances in collaboration with the government aimed at enabling the businesses that cannot offer security or collateral to access bank …

KARACHI: Wyeth Pakistan Lim­ited on Monday disclosed the minimum purchase share for the buyback transactions with the minority shareholders at Rs1,284.18 per share. The pharmaceutical firm had first informed the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on May 18, 2021 that the majority shareholder in the company Wyeth LLC, USA intended to repurchase all outstanding shares presently listed at the bourse, barring …

ISLAMABAD: The government on Monday awarded five licences to the state-run Oil & Gas Development Company (OGDC) for exploration in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh provinces, with an investment of around $13.32 million in three years. The Petroleum Concession Agreements (PCAs) and Exploration Licences (ELs) include Block No 3372-26 (Hazro), Block No 2972-7 (Vehari), Block No 2972-8 (Sutlej), Block No …

LAHORE: Pakistan’s dollar-denominated bonds came under selling pressure on Monday as Taliban fighters overthrew the US-backed Ashraf Ghani government in Afghanistan to seize Kabul, with the prices of five, 10- and 30-year maturity papers dropping by 1.4 per cent, 1.7pc and 1.8pc, respectively. “The drop in prices shows some investors are bracing themselves for the potential Afghanistan fallout on Pakistan,” Fahad Rauf, …

ISLAMABAD: The government on Monday allowed a consortium of the country’s leading petroleum exploration and development (E&P) companies in the public sector to go for a $400 million exploration attempt in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet presided over by Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin. It …

ISLAMABAD: The government on Sunday kept unchanged the prices of two major petroleum products — petrol and high speed diesel — and slightly increased those of kerosene and light diesel oil for the next 16 days i.e. till Aug 31. According to a notification issued by finance ministry, the ex-depot price of petrol was kept unchanged at Rs119.80 per litre …

Car and sport utility vehicle (SUV) assemblers are now in top gear mode. After witnessing a massive recovery of 61 per cent in production and 57pc in the sale of cars and 57pc to 227pc in jeeps and light commercial vehicles in 2020-21, they also kicked off their first month of the current fiscal year with 85pc and 104pc rise …

ISLAMABAD: Foreign excha­nge inflows from overseas Pakis­tanis through the expensive Ros­han Digital Account (RDA) cro­ss­ed the $2 billion mark in 11 months on Monday and will now require more than Rs13.1bn subsidy to maintain its growth. “Roshan Digital Account dep­o­sits cross $2billion in just 11 mon­ths,” the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said in a tweet. “As Pakistanis all over …

ISLAMABAD: As another major supply disruption of liquefied natural gas (LNG) looms large, the government is looking for legally safe and commercially viable alternatives to allow continuation of ‘larger replacement regasification terminal’ currently operating in Port Qasim as a fait accompli to avoid major power shortfalls and have greater gas availability during winters. Engro Elengy Terminal Limited (EETL) has told …