Business

ISLAMABAD: The government on Monday decided not to increase petroleum prices for the next 13 days. This came as a break from continuous price increases over the past five consecutive fortnights. This was despite an increase in international oil prices over the last 15 days. Bye-elections to seven seats of the national and provincial assemblies are scheduled to be held …

BRUSSELS: China last year overtook the United States as the EU’s biggest trading partner, the EU statistics agency Eurostat said on Monday. Britain meanwhile, which is no longer part of the European Union, was the third-largest trading partner for the bloc, behind China and the United States, the agency said. The supremacy of China came after it suffered from the …

In the first seven months of the current fiscal year, the federal government’s net borrowings from banks rose to Rs906.5 billion, up from Rs703bn in the same period of the last year, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). Keeping this fact in mind, and keeping an eye on further borrowings in the next five months of the year, …

ISLAMABAD: Federal Tax Ombudsman Mushtaq Ahmad Sukhera has directed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to initiate and finalise proceedings against non-compliant withholding agents under the Income Tax Ordinance. He also asked the FBR to register all non-compliant withholding agents on the tax roll and ensure submission of withholding statements in terms of Section 165 of the Income Tax Ordinance. …

ISLAMABAD: The government is likely to sublet unutilised and surplus capacity at existing Lique­fied Natural Gas terminals to cut LNG tariff and restrict their further expansion to give a clear signal to private parties for investments in commercial terminals. An inter-ministerial committee, led by Planning Commission’s deputy chairman Dr Jahanzeb Khan and also comprising secretaries of finance, petroleum and maritime …

Remittances from Pakistani workers employed abroad exceeded $2 billion for the eighth straight month in January at $2.3 billion, up 19 per cent from a year earlier, the country’s central bank said on Monday. Sharing the figures on Twitter, Prime Minister Imran Khan thanked overseas Pakistanis. “This is a record for our country, and I thank our overseas Pakistanis,” he said. The …

Oil prices soared on Monday to their highest in about 13 months as fears of heightened tensions in the Middle East prompted fresh buying, while hopes that a US stimulus and an easing of lockdowns will buoy fuel demand provided support. Brent crude was up $1.09, or 1.8 per cent, at $63.52 a barrel at 0428 GMT, after climbing to …

KARACHI: The US dollar’s weakness against international currencies and higher inflows helped the rupee stage a recovery to a three-month peak against the greenback in the interbank market, currency dealers and experts said on Saturday. However, market experts maintained that some macro indicators were positive in favour of the local currency to recover. During the current fiscal year, the exchange …

ISLAMABAD: The local producers and marketing companies of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) have asked the government to remove the disparity in General Sales Tax (GST) and the petroleum levy between the locally produced LPG and the imported product. In a letter to the petroleum division, the Pakistan Petroleum Exploration and Production Companies Association has stated that local LPG producers are …

ISLAMABAD: Twenty products contributed Rs365 billion (33 per cent) to the total revenue proceeds during the first seven months (July-January) of the current financial year. According to data of the Federal Board of Revenue, the top revenue spinners at the import stage are concentrated in 20 items, including POL (petrol, diesel and lubricants), natural gas, palm oil, bituminous coal and …