Business

China’s car production and sales respectively reached 2.84 million units and 2.83m units in December of 2020, and also increased 5.7 per cent and 6.4pc from a year earlier, according to the National Business Daily, citing the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers on Thursday. The production and sales of passenger cars respectively reached 2.33m and 2.38m units in December, jumping 6.5pc …

KARACHI: After staying in surplus for five consecutive months, the country’s current account posted a deficit of $662 million in December, data released by the State Bank of Pakistan showed on Wednesday. The current account was in surplus of $513m in November. On a year-on-year basis, the monthly deficit swelled by more than 130 per cent, data showed. The deterioration …

ISLAMABAD: The Cabinet Com­mittee on State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) on Wednesday decided to remove Pakistan Television Corporation (PTVC) from the list of the SOEs whose privatisation has been proposed. The decision was taken at the request of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The information secretary told a meeting of the committee that PTVC was undergoing massive restructuring to make it …

ISLAMABAD: Pakis­tan’s rank on the trading across border index jumped by 31 positions from 142nd to 111th due to considerably improved implementation of several measures, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) said on Tuesday. The improvement is linked with the ongoing reforms that led to huge improvements in trading across the borders index. The announcement of the FBR did not …

KARACHI: Higher imports of food items boosted the overall import bill by 52 per cent to $3.9 billion in the first half of the current fiscal year (1HFY21). In FY21, import of wheat and sugar to control skyrocketing prices of the commodities have played a major role in fuelling the overall import bill. However, the increase in imports of wheat, …

LAHORE: In compliance with FATF requirements and as a measure towards digitsation and automation of economy, the federal government has made it mandatory on all importers to make payment of duties and taxes exceeding Rs1 million through the e-payment system. From Wednesday (Jan 20), all duties and taxes over Rs1m will be paid only through the system of e-payment — …

sc- KARACHI: What is seen as a breakthrough for the country’s emerging digitising industry and growing potential of e-commerce markets, a less than one-year-old business startup has raised a $6.5 million pool of investment in one of the largest seed rounds in the region, a top official announced on Tuesday. The announcement came from Commerce Adviser Abdul Razak Dawood, who …

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has declined a federal government request for facilitating the settlement of almost Rs300 billion worth of financial claims and counter-claims among various public sector entities and K-Electric. Informed sources told Dawn that the government had recently requested the apex court to set some guiding principles for settlement or arbitration of huge build up of payables and receivables from …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has reconstituted the Executive Committee of National Council (Ecnec) to comply with recent orders of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) which ruled against unelected advisers and special assistants to head decision-making forums. According to a notification issued by the Cabinet Division, Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh will continue to be the chairman of the …

ISLAMABAD: Amid growing number of suppliers competing for pipeline and terminal capacity, the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) on Monday constituted a subcommittee to examine in detail the availability of pipeline capacity and how to allocate it for transportation of re-gasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG). Informed sources said the CCoE met briefly under the chairmanship of Minister for Planning and …