Business

KARACHI: The State Bank on Thursday issued regulatory instructions to all banks for deploying toll-free numbers at their call centres and ensure that these are displayed prominently at the banks’ premises and websites. Recently, the SBP conducted a thematic review of call centre management at banks. In the light of the findings, banks have been told to bring ease in …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit has ballooned by 97.6 per cent in March, growing to $2.968 billion from $1.502bn over the corresponding month of last year, Ministry of Commerce data showed on Thursday. On a month-on-month basis, the trade deficit grew by 17.77pc. The trade gap has been widening since Dec 2020. In February, it swelled by 23.93pc to $2.52bn as …

ISLAMABAD: A day after launching $2.5 billion international bond and receiving $500 million tranche from the International Monetary Fund, newly appointed Finance Minister Hammad Azhar on Wednesday hinted at reviewing the IMF programme and the controversial State Bank of Pakistan amendment bill 2021. “We are taking the SBP law to parliament with an open mind and are ready to adopt …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL) has received 42 bids from a record 12 international traders for the eight liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo deliveries between April 30 and June 28 against prices that are significantly higher than comparable period last year. According to the bidding results finalised by PLL, Eni SpA of Italy secured three cargoes with the lowest prices …

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) surpassed its collection target by Rs36 billion to reach Rs475bn in March 2021, the highest monthly collection in the current fiscal year (FY21), provisional data released by the tax authorities on Wednesday showed. The net collection for the month of March was Rs475bn against a target of Rs439bn, an increase of 8.2 per …

KARACHI: Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) attracted highest foreign investment of over $100 million in March alone, reflecting rising attraction for foreign investors keen to profit from returns up to 10 per cent. The latest data issued by the State Bank of Pakistan on Wednesday showed that the foreign investors invested $240.69m in the PIBs during July-March FY21. Bankers recalled how …

ISLAMABAD: Clearance of goods containers under the Green Channel has reached 50 per cent of total cargo, leading to reduced dwell time for containers at ports and facilitating trade. The target is to enhance container clearance via the Green Channel to 60 pc, a senior Customs official told on Tuesday. Containers under the Green Channel usually take 15 minutes to …

ISLAMABAD: The prices of petroleum products may come down by up to Rs5.5 per litre on Wednesday provided the prime minister accepts recommendation of the Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) based on fall in international market. A senior government official told Dawn that Ogra’s summary on price cut had reached the Ministry of Finance that would be taking up …

ISLAMABAD: A day after ouster of Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, the government raised $2.5 billion in three dollar bonds of five, 10 and 30 years from the international capital market on Tuesday. Receiving over 50 per cent oversubscription to $5.3bn, this was the first international capital market transaction since the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf came to power in August 2018. Last week’s …

Shares at the Pakistan Stock Exchange were on the rise since the opening bell on Wednesday with the benchmark KSE-100 index up 588 points, or 1.32 per cent, to reach 45,079 by 10am. So far, commercial banks contributed 116 points to the benchmark index, followed by cement stocks with 82 points. The surge was supported by the government’s first foray into the …