Business

LAHORE: Punjab’s collection of agriculture income tax (AIT) has increased by slightly over 50 per cent to Rs2.1 billion from Rs1.4bn in the last five years but remains far below the province’s estimated potential and unable to become a major revenue generation source for the government. A study, done a few years back by Institute of Development and Economic Alternatives …

• Unlike past when EAC was headed by finance minister, PM will now lead council • Shaukat Tarin among 13 private members ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has reconstituted a 25-member Economic Advisory Council (EAC) with the induction of prominent businessmen, including former finance minister Shaukat Tarin, to ensure availability of best possible professional advice to the government on its …

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank is working with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to prepare a programme that will help the latter respond to the post Covid-19 recovery agenda and deal with longstanding deficiencies in the public finance management. The programme, titled Spending Effectively for Enhanced Development (Speed), will support selected actions of public financial management strategy, health policy and education sectoral …

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) announced on Friday that broadband subscriptions in the country had reached 100 million. The PTA said there were fewer than 2m subscriptions in 2012, but after the introduction of 3G service the figure jumped to 16m in 2014 and now stood at 100m.   The telecom sector regulator claimed that currently around 87 per …

ISLAMABAD: The month of March saw an increase in the exports of value-added and non-traditional products owing to the government’s support for the sector, data released by the Ministry of Commerce showed. The commerce ministry added that the country’s overall exports remained above the $2 billion mark for the sixth consecutive month in March since 2011. Cements exports posted a …

LAHORE: The Punjab government improved its own tax collection by 8.9 per cent to Rs156.2 billion during the first eight months (July-February) of 2020-21 from Rs143.4bn a year ago, showed provincial civil accounts. The total tax collection is 70.7pc of the province’s annual budget target of Rs220.9bn. The most growth was shown by the Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) in the …

KARACHI: Cement sector posted the highest-ever monthly growth of 44.39 per cent in March to 5.773 million tonnes from 3.722m tonnes in the same period last year due to a massive increase in domestic consumption and exports. Data released by the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) on Friday showed that local cement dispatches in March 2021 were 4.563m tonnes, …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China are expected to sign a bilateral framework agreement on industrial cooperation under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) even though Islamabad has declined negotiated divestment of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) to Chinese firms. Informed sources said a Chinese delegation has been engaging with Pakistan authorities for a government-to-government (G2G) deal on the country’s largest industrial complex which …

ISLAMABAD: The month of March saw a new round of increased prices of consumer items as inflation edged up to 9.1 per cent from 8.7pc in February, showed data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Thursday. On a month-on-month basis, inflation increased by 0.36pc mainly due to an increase in prices of cooking oil, sugar, wheat, pulses, …

KARACHI: The federal cabinet’s decision to defer the Economic Coordination Committee’s (ECC) decision of allowing the import of cotton and cotton yarn from India through land and sea routes has annoyed the textile sector. Pakistan Apparel Forum chairman Jawed Bilwani on Thursday said the federal cabinet’s decision had disappointed the textile export industry. He described Commerce Adviser Abdul Razak Dawood’s recommendation to …