ISLAMABAD: Insisting that the rupee was currently undervalued, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday hinted at taking additional measures to curb demand in the market and inflation. Testifying before the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue, SBP’s Deputy Governor Dr Inayat Hussain said the rupee exchange rate had depreciated by 10.3 per cent between July 1 …

KARACHI: Share prices of the independent power producers (IPPs) soared on Tuesday after the government approved the disbursement of Rs135 billion as part of the tariff renegotiation process aimed at reducing the circular debt. The approval for the final tranche of payments consisting of 60 per cent of the total outstanding dues follows the disbursement of the first instalment amounting to Rs90bn …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan will inaugurate the Track and Trace System (TTS) of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Nov 23 under which movement of sugar bags will be monitored in order to check tax evasion in the sugar industry. Last month, FBR extended the TTS to the cigarette sector to check tax evasion there. So, sugar industry …

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has called an early meeting of its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to address the “recent unforeseen developments” that have changed the outlook for inflation and balance of payments. In a brief press release issued on Tuesday, the central bank said the MPC meeting would now be held on Friday (Nov 19) instead of …

KARACHI: The price of compressed natural gas (CNG) has further gone up by Rs6.89 per litre in Punjab and Rs10.30 per kg in other provinces following an increase in sales tax by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), stakeholders said on Tuesday. In the first week of October, CNG price in Sindh was raised by Rs15 per kg, followed by …

SOKOLKA: Polish forces fired tear gas and deployed water cannons against stone-throwing migrants trying to cross the Belarusian border on Tuesday, sparking accusations from Belarus that Poland was trying to escalate the crisis. Polish border guards estimate up to 4,000 migrants are currently camped out along the border between Poland and Belarus in increasingly dire conditions and freezing temperatures. Western …

PARIS: Technology sold by Israeli spyware company Candiru appears to have been used for a campaign of cyberattacks targeting high-profile Middle Eastern websites, an analysis by cyber-security firm Eset said on Tuesday. “We think it was a client of Candiru that carried out these attacks,” Eset investigator Matthieu Faou said. Eset did not name the client, but pointed to an …

YANGON: Myanmar’s junta has charged Aung San Suu Kyi with committing electoral fraud during the 2020 polls, state media reported on Tuesday, the latest in a barrage of allegations against her since her party won in a landslide. Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military coup in February sparked nationwide protests and a deadly crackdown on dissent. Detained since …

Zahir Zakir Jaffer, the primary accused in the Noor Mukadam murder case, on Wednesday again refused to sign a power of attorney that would have seen him receive legal representation, as he insisted on being represented by a counsel of his own choice. During the hearing of the case today, Additional Sessions Judge Ata Rabbani ordered a lawyer named Malik Amjad to …

LIVERPOOL: British police are investigating the background of a mentally troubled Iraqi-Syrian convert to Christianity who died in a botched bomb attack in Liverpool, according to multiple reports on Tuesday. Counter-terrorism police in northwest England released four men late on Monday after questioning them over the incident, which came seconds before Britain marked Remembrance Sunday. “Police have been satisfied with …