News

Burdening the people

THE tax-heavy budget for the next fiscal year approved by parliament on Friday will make the life of average Pakistanis even harder and further deepen the trust deficit between the ruled and the rulers as it imposes an array of additional taxes that will directly hit low- to moderate-income households. The government has unloaded additional taxes of Rs1.7tr to meet its ambitious tax revenue tar

More competition to amp up electric vehicles adoption

Auto sector players are optimistic about China’s BYD entering Pakistan in collaboration with Hub Power Company Ltd (Hubco) to locally assemble electric vehicles (EVs), which could benefit exports. “[The] Entry of BYD in Pakistan should be looked at from a global perspective instead of [a] regional one,” GM Marketing Division, MG JW Automobiles Syed Asif Ahmed told Dawn from Lahore. He said C

FBR surpasses collection target for FY24

The Federal Board of Revenue collected Rs9.285 trillion in 2023-24, slightly exceeding the downward revised target of Rs9.252tr. The budgetary target of Rs9.415tr was revised downward to exclude the tax amount that was stuck in superior courts because of the non-implementation of tax measures announced in the budget 2023-24. The courts stayed the collection of super tax and windfall income t

Budget to cripple FDI and exports, warns PBC

The Pakistan Business Council (PBC) has said that the federal budget 2024-25, approved on Friday, remained almost as regressive as the bill proposed earlier. “Sacred cows will graze freely while the golden geese will be cooked. More alarmingly, none of the country’s fundamental needs will be facilitated,” remarked PBC Chief Executive Ehsan Malik. Exports and investment will not be encouraged

Big gap in bank loans to govt, businesses

Bank advances to the private sector were only Rs123.8 billion, much less than the record lending of Rs7.7 trillion to the government in the outgoing 2023-24. The fiscal year, which ends on June 30, witnessed record inflation and an unprecedented interest rate. This kept the private sector out of costly banking money, resulting in poor economic growth of 2.3 per cent for FY24. The economy con