Business

KARACHI: The demand for power generators remained depressed this season owing to steep price hike on account of rupee devaluation and improvement in electricity supply across the country, said dealers of power machines. They also cited diminishing buying power of consumers amid rising inflation taking its toll on overall sales volume. Also the frequent rise in petrol, diesel and gas …

LAHORE: The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has approached the cabinet division, seeking its intervention for the reversal of an order by a sub-committee of the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) to carry out the audit of the regulatory functions of the authority. Ogra contends that the AGP does not have …

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has laid the foundation to eliminate exchange companies from the currency business by allowing banks and their entire branches to buy and sell foreign currencies with public across the country. The SBP on Saturday issued revised chapters of Foreign Exchange (FE) Manual providing details about the currency business while assigning the role of …

LAHORE: France on Friday signed a credit facility agreement with Pakistan to finance rehabilitation of Chitral and Dargai hydel power stations. Under the agreement, the French Development Agency (AfD) will provide 50.02 million euros, including a 0.2m euro grant for the project. The agreement was signed by Secretary Economic Affairs Division Noor Ahmed, Ambass­ador of France Marc Barety and AfD …

LONDON: Italian oil major Eni, China’s overseas energy unit PetroChina and two trading houses are vying to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Pakistan in one of the largest tenders ever worth billions of dollars, two sources familiar with the matter said on Friday. The 240-cargo 10-year tender, which is likely to be worth from $5 billion to $6bn according …

KARACHI: Domestic gold price on Friday soared to an all-time high of Rs84,100 per tola and Rs72,085 per 10 grams, up by Rs700 and Rs600 over Thursday. All Sindh Saraf Jewellers Association (ASSA) attributed local price hike to $16 per ounce rise in world gold rates to $1,438. Keeping in view yellow metal price of Rs67,800 per tola and Rs58,128 …

RAWALPINDI: Establishment of a task force under the prime minister for a roadmap to facilitate indigenous defence production and digital parks to tap software industry potential were among the key recommendations made by a seminar on defence production on Friday. The two-day seminar titled ‘National Defence Production-Security through Self-Reliance’ concluded with a note to maximise defence production with the help …

ISLAMABAD: The Inter­national Monetary Fund programme faces significant risk from a failure to build political consensus around its key components, the IMF resident representative to Pakistan has said. Failure to get off the ‘grey list’ of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) could also complicate access to private financing from global markets, she pointed out. Teresa Daban Sanchez made these …

ISLAMABAD: Japan will provide $5.2 million for the execution of a UN agro-food and industrial development project in Pakistan. In this regard, country representative United Nations Industrial Development Organisation on Thursday had a meeting with the federal minister to discuss the different features of the project. The project aims to strengthen cattle meat and fruit production through the introduction of …

KARACHI: The stock market suffered another bout of intense selling pressure on Thursday with the KSE-100 index going into a tail spin to tank by 672.45 points (2.04 per cent) and close at 32,309.54. The ghosts of investors’ suspicion on the end to State Bank of Pakistan monetary tightening; International Monetary Fund conditions for the bailout and economic worries came …