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Need for shipping regulator stressed

To facilitate the business community, all shipping companies will remain operational every Saturday from July 20 for one month to issue Delivery Orders (DO). This was decided in a meeting with businessmen, chaired by Karachi Port Trust (KPT) chairman Syed Syedain Raza Zaidi, in pursuance of the prime minister’s recent decision to establish a regulatory authority for the shipping sector. The

Turkiye entices Chinese investors

Turkiye plans to draw on its geographical position an European Union (EU) customs deal to entice Chinese investors keen to access European markets tariff-free, as it recently just did with Chinse carmaker BYD. The Chinese electric vehicle giant signed a billion-dollar deal with Ankara on Monday to open a plant in west Turkiye, promising to create 5,000 jobs, a move that will help it dodge new E

PBC seeks roadmap to cut tax burden on formal sector

As Pakistan has reached a Staff-Level Agreement (SLA) for $7 billion Extended Fund Facility with the IMF, the Pakistan Business Council (PBC) said the government should now take the formal sector into confidence by offering a roadmap on how and when their taxation burden will be alleviated. The body said the government should provide relief by cutting back on public expenditure and broadening t

Excise duty makes pulses costlier

As the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) cut the interest rate to 20.5 per cent in April following a sharp deceleration in inflation, harsh taxation measures in the budget 2024-25, along with increasing global prices and a growing gap between supply and demand, have once again led to a rise in food prices, particularly for pulses. Commodity importer Faisal Anis Majeed said the federal government has

IMF deal: relief but no cause for celebration, says ex-SBP chief

The $7 billion agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will provide much-needed relief to Pakistan. However, experts caution that this is not a cause for celebration. Murtaza Syed, a former acting governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, noted in a tweet that for this staff-level agreement (SLA) — Pakistan’s 25th with the global lender — to become official, the country requires fina