Business

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has signed agreements with Saudi companies to bolster collaboration and facilitate the recruitment of Pakistani workers and professionals for various large-scale projects in Saudi Arabia. Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Jawad Sohrab has signed two Letters of Intent (LoIs) with Saudi companies — FNRCO and Maharah Human Resource Company — in …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Kuwait will soon sign seven memorandums of understanding (MoUs) for investments worth $10 billion in Pakistan through seven projects in multiple fields, including environment, mining, and food security. In this regard, the federal cabinet, in its meeting held on Friday, approved seven MoUs to be signed during the upcoming visit of caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar …

ISLAMABAD: Annual short-term inflation remained above 40 per cent for the second week in a row, mainly driven by a massive increase in gas prices, official data showed on Friday. The inflation reading was 41.13pc for the week ending Nov 23, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said, as gas prices stood over 1,100pc higher than a year ago. After …

KARACHI: The amount of outstanding auto loans plunged for the 16th consecutive month to Rs264 billion at the end of October from Rs272bn in September, showing a drop of three per cent on a month-on-month basis and 23.5pc on a year-on-year basis. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data showed that the total drop in the last 16 months was …

KARACHI: The rupee snapped its five-day winning streak as it lost 14 paise to the US dollar in the interbank market on Thursday after the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported a $217 million drop in its foreign exchange reserves on a week-on-week basis. The greenback appreciated to Rs285.27 from Rs285.13 the previous day, reported the SBP. However, the rupee …

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet on Thursday decided to import 220,000 tonnes of urea from Azerbaijan on a government-to-government (G2G) basis, allowed Rs754 billion cash credit limits (CCL) to Punjab and Sindh for procurement of essential commodities and approved a further increase in gas price from January. The ECC meeting, presided over by caretaker Finance Minister …

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Thursday gave in to a demand of the Power Division to impose for 12 months an additional special surcharge at a flat rate of Rs1.52 per unit on all K-Electric consumers, except lifeline category with less than 100 units per month on a permanent basis. The additional surcharge will come into force from …

ISLAMABAD: Care­taker Minister for Infor­mation Technology and Telecommunications Dr Umar Saif unveiled the first IT and ITeS Export Strategy on Thursday, aiming to increase IT exports to $10 billion in the next three years. Dr Saif stated that the Pakistan Software Export Board, under the Ministry of IT and Telecomm­unication, collaborated with Pricewater­house­Coo­pers (PwC) and other international partners, including faculty …

ISLAMABAD: Almost all the provinces and distribution companies as well as the power regulator have raised questions over the revised Rs510 billion investment plan for transmission system to be implemented by the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) over three years (2023-25). Similar objections were raised by provinces in January this year over insufficient allocations for evacuation of power from …

KARACHI: Imports of completely knockdown kits (CKD) by the local car assemblers plunged 58 per cent to $23 million in October from $54m in September. This is the lowest monthly CKD imports recorded by the country and is also lower than the average seen during Covid times. Car production may further reduce during the next couple of months, Muhammad Tahir …