Business

ISLAMABAD: Pressure is mounting on the government for the withdrawal of Federal Excise Duty (FED) on the cellular calls as the GSM Association that represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide too has asked the finance minister to waive this new duty. Julian Gorman, GSMA’s head of Asia Pacific, said that the additional FED will have a negative impact …

KARACHI: Stocks snapped the three-day winning streak on Friday after the KSE-100 index accumulated 808 points from 47,007 and crossed intraday the resistance of 48,000. Profit booking by investors mainly in the power, banks, E&P, cement and investment banking sectors pulled back the index. Intraday the index oscillated between the high and low of 279 and 163 points. The benchmark …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said the government will soon launch a `National Remittance Loyalty Programme’ for overseas Pakistanis to provide them incentives for their contributions to the country’s development. While presiding over a meeting on remittances on Friday, the prime minister highlighted the need for taking measures to provide more facilities to the Pakistanis living abroad. The programme …

ISLAMABAD: Through introduction of amen­dments to Income Tax Ordinance, the government has declared concealment of income a cognizable offence and withdrawn the time limitation in probing of past returns of a person having foreign income or assets as part of documentation. These and other amendments were explained in two different circulars — income tax and sales tax — released on …

ISLAMABAD: As the government conceded up to 1,500MW power cuts due to shortfall in addition to loadshedding, the power regulator on Friday approved an increase of up to Rs2.97 per unit in tariff for electricity consumers of ex-Wapda distribution companies (Discos) with effect from October 1. According to an order along with schedule of tariff (SOT) released by the National …

\ ISLAMABAD: The income tax returns for tax year 2020 (TY20) have reached 3.01 million, posting an increase of 12.5 per cent from 2.67m in tax year 2019, a statement by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) said on Thursday. Tax deposited with returns was Rs52 billion in TY20, up 52.1pc from Rs34.3bn a year ago, the FBR statement added. …

ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has approved registration of the first Shariah-compliant developmental Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) scheme in Pakistan under the revamped REIT regulatory framework. “The Arif Habib Dolmen REIT Management Ltd, a company having a successful track record of launching the only REIT scheme in the country, has successfully partnered with leading business …

Saudi Arabia plans to target international transit passenger traffic with its new national airline, going head-to-head with Emirates and Qatar Airways and revving up regional competition. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is pushing economic diversification to wean Saudi Arabia off oil revenues and create jobs, announced a transportation and logistics drive on Tuesday aimed at making the kingdom the fifth-biggest air …

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank has announced that it is providing over $4 billion for the purchase and supply of Covid-19 vaccines to 51 countries, including Pakistan. More than half of the financing comes from the International Development Association (IDA), the bank’s fund for the world’s poorest countries, and is provided as grant or on highly concessional terms, according to a …

ISLAMABAD: In a move to encourage local mobile phone manufacturing, the government on Thursday revised the upward regulatory duty in flat rates for six different slabs according to import value of the cellphones. The regulatory duty on import of mobile phones valuing up to $30 will remain at a flat rate of Rs300 per set, while it will be charged …