Business

ISLAMABAD: After more than two years in office, the federal cabinet would be starting on Tuesday the process for appointment of regular/fulltime chief executive officers (CEOs) of power distribution companies (Discos) and approve selection of managing directors of two gas utilities. This comes on the heels of over Rs2.3 trillion circular debt in the power sector as of Sept 30, …

The logic of choosing the current difficult year to freeze the last date for the filing of tax returns two months earlier than the last year is puzzling. More so as fewer Pakistanis have filed tax returns this year than last year. The pandemic has caused disruption and if extending the deadline was ever an option, this was the time …

KARACHI: Cement makers are eyeing a large potential bonanza that might be about to open up before them. Anti-dumping duties imposed by South Africa on Pakistani cement are set to expire on Dec 17, 2020. The duties, which range from 14-77 per cent, were imposed in 2015. The International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) of South Africa has issued a notice …

ISLAMABAD: The federal government’s notification has added to uncertainty in the po­wer corridors as to who will look after the aff­airs of Pakistan’s top tax machinery after the former adviser to the prime minister on fin­ance and revenue, Dr Hafeez Shaikh, was elevated to the position of finance minister only. The cabinet notification reads Dr Shai­kh will look after the …

THE transition from oil is underway. All stakeholders — from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and Russia to the oil majors — are all beginning to appreciate, realise and react to this changing global energy kaleidoscope. Russia has been denying the reality. Now this is changing. “The peak of consumption may have already passed,” said Deputy Russian Finance …

KARACHI: Bulls continued to rule at the stock market for the third week in a row with the benchmark KSE-100 index recording gains of 263 points or 0.6 per cent in the outgoing week. The index settled at 42,470 points level which was last witnessed in September. The bullish momentum, however, remained shaky for the entire week as the growing …

KARACHI: While the Pakistan International Airlines is set to acquire more planes as part of its business plan, it has decided to remove four ATR aircraft from its current fleet of 30 due to an “expensive lease” arrangement. One of the four ATR aircraft was sent to Johannesburg from Karachi on Saturday, while the remaining three would soon be sent …

ISLAMABAD: The National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) has raised questions over Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) agreement with Microsoft Corporation and proposed an audit of the utilisation of the accounts from the last eight years. Through a letter dated Oct 29 and addressed to the federal secretary education, NTC stated: “Arrangement [agreement with Microsoft] of HEC at such a high cost of …

KARACHI: A paltry decline in November sales compared to October and rising prices in the past few months on exchange rate parity did not affect car sales which increased by 13.6 per cent to 55,779 units in 5MFY21. Sales in Nov this year stood at 11,914 units versus 11,997 units in Oct. Car sales in Nov 2019 were much lower …

ISLAMABAD: The PTI government contracted $10.447 billion worth of new foreign loans from multilateral institutions and commercial banks during the fiscal year 2019-20, almost one-fourth higher than previous year’s $8.4bn. According to Annual Report on Foreign Economic Assistance 2019-20 released by Ministry of Economic Affairs, 99 per cent of the new commitments were for loans and the remaining 1pc in grant commitments. …