Business

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has held that civil servants when reinstated on merits cannot be deprived of back benefits as such deprivation would be against his/her constitutional rights. “In case of reinstatement or restoration to a post on merits, the employee is entitled to full back benefits and there is no discontinuity of service,” observed Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah …

ISLAMABAD: The gap between actual prices of essential food items and rates fixed by the district administrations has widened sharply in Punjab during Ramazan. However, it remained the third province after Balochistan and Sindh in terms of difference between market and official prices.With the start of Ramazan, prices of essential food items posted a rising trend which pushed Punjab to …

KARACHI: Amid rising auto production, the issue of ‘on-money’ and late deliveries on locally assembled cars continues to haunt buyers. According to data of the Pakistan Automotive Manu­facturers Association (PAMA), overall car production rose to 106,439 units in 9MFY21 from 86,628 units in the same period last fiscal year. Consumers are also taking a costly ride as no assembler has …

ISLAMABAD: In his maiden meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin deferred taking a decision on two crucial agenda items — payments to independent power producers (IPPs) and how to go ahead with subsidy on LNG supplies to export industries. Presiding over the ECC meeting, the newly inducted finance minister constituted two smaller …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is close to taking the lead in the global salt trade, as local rock salt of Khwera is set to be registered with international trade bodies. This will prevent Indian traders to market Pakistani rock salt as Himalayan Pink Salt. The federal cabinet recently approved that Pakistan Minerals Development Corporation (PMDC) will be the registrant agency for rock …

ISLAMABAD: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday forecast Pakistan’s GDP would grow by two per cent during the current year subject to successful vaccine rollout and implementation of stabilisation measures. “Assuming successful vaccine rollout and the implementation of economic reform under a stabilisation programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), GDP is expected to grow by 4pc in FY2022 …

KARACHI: Housing and construction finance witnessed historic 36 per cent growth during 2020-21, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Tuesday. In a joint statement, the SBP and Pakistan Banks’ Association (PBA) explained their efforts to bring growth in housing finance and creating awareness about the best use of the offers being introduced by the government, SBP and banks. …

ISLAMABAD: The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has appointed an independent third-party inspector for conducting testing of gas meters of industrial and commercial gas consumers to address consumer complaints of overbilling and one-sided fines. “It is circulated for information of industrial and commercial consumers of natural gas/ RLNG that the authority in pursuance of Clause 8.2 of Natural Gas …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s fiscal deficit has reached 3.5 per cent of GDP (Rs1.603 trillion) in first eight months (July-February) of current fiscal year even though the government boasts of having created over Rs1.7tr worth of fresh tax demand. The eight-month deficit is slightly lower than 3.7pc of GDP or Rs1.613tr of same period last year when the country finally posted 8.1pc …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday asked the finance and power ministries to sit together and devise a formula to retire the mammoth Rs900 billion circular debt in the power sector without putting any additional burden on electricity consumers. Presiding over a cabinet meeting, the prime minister expressed the fear that circular debt might go up to Rs1.5 trillion …