COLOMBO: A pay battle between Sri Lankan players and the national board has hurt team morale ahead of the One-day International series in Bangladesh starting from Sunday, skipper Kusal Perera said. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) have cut fees for 24 national players by up to 40 percent in new contracts which have been rejected by the players. Perera said no …

LONDON: As one world-class centre forward prepares for his Premier League finale with Manchester City, another has outlined the reason why playing for Pep Guardiola’s team would be a striker’s dream. Sergio Aguero, City’s all-time leading scorer, will be among the players and coaches saying their goodbyes when the league season reaches its climax on Sunday with only a couple …

LAHORE: A worthy vote of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) to the traditional rival candidate of India, Dr Narinder Batra, helped him again win the election as president of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) on Saturday. The election was held during the 47th FIH Congress held virtually. Batra retained the seat for the second consecutive time as he gained 63 …

LAHORE: West Indian famed T20 batting duo of Shimron Hetmyer and Johnson Charles were submitted as replacement picks by Multan Sultans in an online session held with the representatives of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchises on Saturday. The replacements were made after some foreign cricketers were not available for the league, suspended midway in March this year during its …

MUNICH: Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski broke Gerd Mueller’s 49-year-old Bundesliga goal-scoring record for a single season on Saturday when he scored in the last minute of their last match, a 5-2 win over Augsburg, taking his tally to 41 goals, one more than the former Bayern great. The Poland striker is already second on the all-time scorers list in …

KARACHI: The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Saturday expressed concern over the “biased and unfair” manner in which commercial banks have disbursed 90 per cent of the funds coming under export refinance schemes to only a few chosen business groups. In a statement, FPCCI President Mian Nasser Hyatt Magoo said that if this unfair and …

LAHORE: The country’s leading economists have expressed mixed views on the provisional estimate of 3.94 per cent GDP growth rate projected by the National Accounts Committee (NAC) and said it negates the government’s own estimate of 2.9pc GDP growth approved by the federal cabinet last month. Last month, the federal cabinet approved the medium-term budget strategy paper and shared it …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s food import bill grew by 53.93 per cent to $6.899 billion year-on-year during the 10 months of the current fiscal year (10MFY21) mainly due to sugar and wheat imports to bridge the shortfall in domestic production of agriculture produce. The rising food import bill also triggered trade deficit, which would cause some uneasiness on the external side for …

KARACHI: The National Saving Schemes (NSS) witnessed a massive outflow of investment during the nine months of the current fiscal year compared to large accumulation of funds by the government during previous years. Latest data released by the State Bank of Pakistan on May 21 showed that the net mobilisation of funds through the NSS was an outflow of Rs86.3 …

ISLAMABAD: An unexpected rate of economic growth in the current fiscal year has triggered a heated debate in the country, with several members of the federal cabinet coming up with a string of justifications to prove authenticity of the data involved and the main opposition leader expressing doubts over the calculations of government’s economic team. The National Accounts Committee (NAC), …