Business

In December 2017, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) launched its policy to encourage financing for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The policy seeks to enhance the sector’s share in private-sector credit from 8.7 per cent to 17pc and increase the number of borrowers from less than 164,500 to half a million by 2020. A year later, the situation remains …

The question that sits uneasily on the mind of every stock investor, analyst, broker and his agent is: has the market finally found the bottom? The Pakistan stock market has had more than its fair share of trouble. When the market dished out a mouth-watering 46 per cent return in 2016, investors entered in droves in search of the investment …

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government has decided to shelve a major power project pushed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz regime under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and will axe hundreds of other schemes under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) later this month. Background discussions with government officials suggest that Islamabad has officially conveyed to Beijing that it is …

SHANGHAI: China’s plans for tax cuts targeting smaller companies will help to support employment and economic stability, and will expand the country’s tax base over the long term, Premier Li Keqiang was quoted as saying on Saturday. “Implementing tax cuts for small and micro enterprises is mainly to support employment,” Li said in comments posted on the Chinese government’s website. …

ABU DHABI: The United States is not looking to grant more waivers for Iranian oil imports after the reimposition of US sanctions, the US special representative for Iran said on Saturday, underlining Washington’s push to choke off Tehran’s income. “We are not looking to grant any waivers or exemptions to the import of Iranian crude,” Brian Hook told a industry …

ISLAMABAD: The Punjab government has appointed Sardar Tanvir Ilyas Khan as chairman Punjab Board of Investment and Trade. Former provincial minister Sardar Tanvir Ilyas has been instrumental in bringing investments worth more than $10 billion in the country during the past decade. “Foreign investment was the need of the hour to support the economy of country and boost exports,” Mr …

KARACHI: Islamic banks accelerated their credit to private sector as it grew by almost three times during 1HFY19 over same period last year. The State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) latest report shows the credit to private sector by Islamic banks rose to Rs77.086 billion during July-December FY19, surging by 190 per cent, as against Rs26.56bn in corresponding half of last …

KARACHI: Dispelling the impression that the up­­coming mini-budget be­ing announced on Janu­ary 23 would be loaded with new taxes, federal Minister for Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs Asad Umar has said that it will focus on ease of doing business and other measures to facilitate trade and industrialisation. The minister was addressing members of the business community during his visit …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s unemployment rate edged lower to 5.8pc in 2017-18, from 5.9pc three years ago. However, the unemployment rate for the prime age group of 20-24 years was estimated at 11.56pc during FY18, said a report published by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday. The age-specific joblessness in this category was reported at 11pc in 2014-15 and 9.2pc in …

ISLAMABAD: China plans to import potatoes from Pakistan, said Ambassador Yao Jing on Friday. The envoy in a meeting with Minister for National Food Security and Research Sahibzada Mehboob Sultan said his country will shortly send a delegation to Islamabad to finalise arrangements and fulfilling the requirements sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS). He said that Beijing wants to import more …