News

Non-opening of LCs may cause drug shortages, says PMA

The Pakis­tan Medical Association (PMA) has warned that the country’s health delivery system is already in shambles and a shortage of medicines due to the non-opening of letters of credit (LCs) for the import of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) or raw materials will take the situation from bad to worse. Through a press release on Saturday, the doctors’ representative body was expressing

Vegetable exports jump by 57pc to $107m in July-Oct

Overall vegetable exports swelled by 90 per cent in quantity and 57pc in value during the first four months of the current fiscal year thanks to brisk potato shipments that have offset the declining trend in onion exports due to huge crop destruction in Sindh and Balochistan. The total vegetable exports stood at 378,826 tonnes during July-October fetching $107 million compared to 199,119 tonnes

No one to blame but ourselves

After two years of unprecedented profitability, Pakistan’s textiles and clothing exports are facing a strong demand downturn as consumers tighten their belts in the US, Europe and other markets. But Pakistani textile manufacturers aren’t the only ones experiencing this gloomy situation; the orders in the world’s every garment exporting country, including China, India and Bangladesh, have been slow

Gas utilities fail to meet loss cutting targets

Despite unprecedented hike in inter­national oil and gas prices and resultant incr­ease in import bill of two essential commodities, the two gas utilities have failed to control system losses against regulatory targets approved by the government. Over the last three years (2019-22), both the gas utilities — Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL)

FBR beats Rs2.68tr tax target

Despite a sluggish economic growth and import compression, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) surpassed its five-month tax collection target of nearly Rs2.7 trillion on the back of enforcement measures and steady income tax growth. However, the income tax return filing still remained a big challenge for the revenue board during July-November of current fiscal year. “The FBR continues to demo