Business

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was told on Tuesday that a subsidiary or a special purpose vehicle (SPV) of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) is likely to be set up by the end of this month that would take away the whopping liability of about Rs450 billion to make the bleeding mill free of all encumbrances. This initiative would help attracting …

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is working on a new type of loan scheme to meet the specific needs of startup companies keeping in view the issues they are facing in raising capital in the form of convertible debt from abroad. According to a working paper titled “Raising of convertible debt from abroad by startup companies” issued by …

ISLAMABAD: K-Electric has sought increase in electricity rates on account of fuel cost adjustments for seven months and quarterly adjustments for nine months involving an additional revenue generation of about Rs40 billion. According to tariff petitions filed before the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), the Karachi-based private power utility has demanded fuel cost adjustments (FCAs) for seven months from …

ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet on Tuesday criticised the Sindh government for playing a “dirty role” in last year’s wheat crisis by “hoarding” millions of tonnes of the commodity. The cabinet could not reach a decision on the raise in salaries of federal secretariat employees and a follow-up meeting between representatives of the employees and Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid on the …

NEW YORK: Tesla helped push bitcoin to an all-time high on Monday after the carmaker anno­unced a $1.5 billion investment in the digital money and plans to accept the cryptocurrency from customers buying its electric vehicles. The announcement comes on the heels of a cheeky social media embrace of bitcoin by iconoclastic Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and marks the latest …

• Overall rice exports fall by 10pc in July-December • Rival’s low prices, costly freight key reasons KARACHI: Pakistan’s rice exports remained subdued in the first half of the current fiscal year (1HFY21) due to low prices offered by India for non-basmati and issues of higher freight and shipments from October 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The country’s overall rice …

cp ISLAMABAD: The Secu­ri­­ties and Exchange Com­mission of Pakistan (SECP) enrolled 2,201 companies in January, taking the total number of registered companies to 134,797. Out of new incorporations, 98 per cent were registered online and around 30pc applicants completed registration process in the same day. Around 69pc companies were registered as private limited companies, while around 28pc as single member …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit swelled 8.27 per cent to $14.96 billion in the first seven months of 2020-21 from $13.82bn over the corresponding period last year, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data showed on Monday. The trade deficit posted a positive trend mainly driven by an increase in imports especially of raw materials and semi-finished products for use in domestic …

Bitcoin extended gains on Tuesday to a record high as the afterglow of Tesla Inc’s investment in the cryptocurrency had investors reckoning it would become a mainstream asset class for both corporates and money managers. Bitcoin has more than doubled over two months as institutional investors search for alternative wealth stores and retail traders ride the wave. Monday’s leap after Tesla’s announcement …

Three economic things can add to or subtract from the political capital of politicians in power. These are: economic growth, employment levels and inflation. When a government aims to achieve a certain level of economic growth, it normally adds to inflationary pressures in the economy. But on the other hand, it can create more jobs as well. If the economy …