Business

GENEVA: The United Nations said on Monday that the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on the world of work was four times worse than the 2008 economic crisis. The UN’s International Labour Organisation (ILO) said the pandemic had had a “devastating” and even “cataclysmic” effect, as it sought to tackle an uneven recovery from the coronavirus crisis. The ILO on Monday kicked …

LAHORE: Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif has criticised the government for what he calls fudging revenue figures in a bid to show its performance on the economic front. “The Accountant General of Pakistan’s objection to release of Rs140 billion to the Federal Board of Revenue has exposed the credibility of the official economic statistics,” Mr Shehbaz …

Imagine yourself as the newly minted finance minister. Given the unceremonious exit of your predecessor, you are unsure of your tenure. Regardless, you have high confidence in your abilities. You understand the issues and have your heart set on making structural changes with lasting effects on the bottom of the pyramid rather than the bottom line of the commercial banking …

Abhi, a Karachi-based startup, that provides employees salary advances based on accrued wages, has raised $2 million for their seed round. The funding round, led by VEF, the emerging market fintech investor, and Sarmayacar, the local lead, also included a number of international and local investors including Village Global, i2i Ventures, and Zayn Capital. This is Village Global’s first FinTech …

ISLAMABAD: The National Economic Council (NEC) meets here on Monday (today) to approve about Rs2.135 trillion worth of next year’s consolidated development budget (FY2021-22) of the federal and provincial governments — almost 61 per cent higher than the current year’s development allocation of Rs1.324tr. The country’s highest constitutional forum on economic decision-making will also set next fiscal year’s GDP growth …

QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani has said that Rs5.5 billion will be allocated in the next financial year’s budget for providing health insurance to people of the province. While announcing his priorities for the next year, he said on Sunday that an interest-free loan scheme would also be introduced for establishing small businesses. He said the provincial …

ISLAMABAD: The ministry of commerce on Saturday announced that it has approved 10 products for registration as Geographical Indications (GI). The products include Chaunsa and Sindhri mangoes, Kinnow, Hunza Ruby, Swat Emerald, Kashmiri Tourmalin, Skardu Topaz and Aquamarine, Peridot Stone and Peridot Valley. GI will serve as the potential economic tool to promote and enhance national and international trade by …

KARACHI: The month of May proved to be a good one for all cement manufacturers as local sales jumped 41 per cent in spite of the long Eid-ul-Fitr holidays and price increase by manufacturers in the North region. Following a Rs10 per 50kg bag jump on May 29, the Northern region cement makers further raised price by Rs5 on June …

PAKISTAN’S provincial water disputes — particularly between Sindh and Punjab — remain unresolved even three decades after signing of the Water Apportionment Accord to share waters of the Indus river basin. The accord is based on the historical use of water by the provinces and was expected to resolve the simmering disputes between them, once and for all. It didn’t, …

KARACHI: Once again the cotton cultivation area has dropped sharply in both the cotton-producing provinces, creating fear of a major decline in production, which has pushed up the initial cotton trading price to an 11-year high. Cotton traders and ginners are sure that the country would not achieve the target of 10.5 million bales set for this season which has …