The latest increase in gas prices seems to have pitched the industrialists of Punjab against those of Sindh. Newspaper ads by the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association-North demand that the government do away with different gas rates for the export-oriented industrial units of Punjab and Sindh by adopting a uniform price of $7 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu). After the latest hike,
Despite its attempt to expedite passage of fiscal measures mandated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government was forced to head to parliament on Tuesday after President Arif Alvi “advised” Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to take parliament into confidence over the Rs170 billion in new taxes that are being levied. Soon after the president’s ‘refusal’, a cabinet meeting was conve
The Fitch Ratings agency on Tuesday downgraded Pakistan’s long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating (IDR) to ‘CCC-’, from ‘CCC+’ due to worsening liquidity, political volatility and decline of foreign-exchange reserves to critically low levels. A CCC minus rating denotes a very high level of default risk. One of the three major global rating agencies, Fitch said it did not typically assi
Mixed signals on the economic front resulted in share prices oscillating within a short range on Monday. Arif Habib Ltd said the index of representative shares opened on the lower side while extending losses from the last session of the preceding week. But investors’ sentiments quickly changed as news reports hinted at the early disbursement of next IMF tranche of $1.2bn. Share prices soon r
The government has put to rest all misconceptions and ambiguities surrounding its negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that started with the arrival of the mission led by Nathan Porter on 31st January, 2023. The finance minister held a press conference and announced that the government and the IMF had reached an agreement, and the much-awaited Memorandum of Economic and Finan