Business

ISLAMABAD: The Eco­n­o­mic Advisory Council’s (EAC) subgroup on agriculture has proposed a block allocation of Rs41.25 billion in budget for 2021-22 for int­erventions under the Agric­ulture Transformation Plan to reduce input cost of farm produce and revive cotton production in order to minimise reliance on imports. The council’s sub-committee on information technology has also submitted a string of proposals to …

LAHORE: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has recommended to the government to eliminate gas subsidies to ward off formation of circular debt and encourage greater participation of the private sector in LNG trade to develop an efficient LNG market to cope with the growing gas shortages in the country. In a special section on LNG sector inserted in its …

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Friday allowed K-Electric to charge an additional fuel cost adjustment (FCA) of average 26 paisa and 10 paisa per unit in June and July, respectively from its consumers to add about Rs500 million to its revenue. The regulator has worked out the increase in rates on the basis of seven months …

ISLAMABAD: The government on Friday completed Rs89.2 billion transactions as the first instalment of payments to 20 independent power producers (IPPSs) from the Rs403bn committed under a settlement agreement with 46 IPPs signed in February. Payment to other IPPs suffered delay as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had decided to examine the deal. “The government has completed the first payment …

KARACHI: Pakistan has received $1.25 billion in Roshan Digital Accounts (RDA) since its beginning in September 2020 while the inflow has been increasing faster than the initial first quarter. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) confirmed on Friday that the total inflows in RDA has reached $1.250bn and said the inflow has increased after achieving the $1bn mark. The inflow …

ISLAMABAD: The Asia Pacific Group (APG) on Money Laundering has improved Pakistan’s rating on 21 of the 40 technical recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) against money laundering and terror financing, but retained it on ‘Enhanced Follow-up’ for sufficient outstanding requirements. The second Follow-Up Report (FUR) on Mutual Evaluation of Pakistan released by the APG — a regional …

ISLAMABAD: The leaders of the main opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Thursday presented a dismal picture of the state of economy in the country due to “failed fiscal policies” of the present Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government as former finance minister Ishaq Dar stressed the need for having a “serious review” of the economic policy to bring Pakistan out of …

ISLAMABAD: Even though the government appears to be slowing down ongoing power projects, it will have to increase generation capacity by 35-40 per cent from about 34,501MW to 57,204MW by 2030. According to the Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan (IGCEP), 2030, prepared by the National Transmission and Dispatch Company, the annualised compound growth rate (ACGR) of 3.3pc to 4.6pc is …

KARACHI: Finance and Revenue Minister Shaukat Tarin has assured businessmen that no notices will be issued by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) from July 1 as the taxpayers will be able to carry out self-assessment whereas only 4 to 5 per cent of the cases will be sent for audit which will not be done by FBR but by …

ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) — the supreme parliamentary forum for accountability of federal government departments — appears to be helpless before influential contractors in the power sector and bureaucrats allegedly involved in irregularities worth billions in construction projects, it has emerged. A PAC meeting was held on Thursday under the chairmanship of Rana Tanveer Hussain that examined the …