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Dar’s directive for reviving Reko Diq before Dec 15

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday directed all relevant departments for early completion of the remaining steps to ensure the revival of the multi-billion-dollar Reko Diq project before the Dec 15 deadline. The apex committee on the Reko Diq project chaired by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar reviewed the progress on the implementation of agreed steps so far for the completion of the Reko Diq ar

SBP rebuts reports it withheld payments to Google

Confusion continued to prevail over the central bank’s alleged decision to withhold certain payments to foreign service providers and thus put the citizens at risk of losing access to certain paid apps and services come next month. While the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has dismissed as “baseless and misleading” reports that it had withheld payments to Google, the telecom industry and other sta

Govt to pay heavy price for borrowing after rate hike

The interest rate hike will cost heavily to the government as it will have to re-price the Rs5 trillion maturity of treasury bills and Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) in the next three months. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has increased its policy rate by 100 basis points to 16 per cent to tame inflation but the other aspects of higher interest rates were not considered for serious thought.

Ministry hesitant over ECP plea to release Rs47bn for elections

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has sought Rs47.42 billion from the government in order to make preparations for next year’s general election. However, the Ministry of Finance is apparently in a difficult position to earmark a major supplementary grant at least during the current quarter of the fiscal year in view of engagements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as it is grap

Builders inflate prices of flats

‘Apartmentarianism’ is the philosophy of real estate investors that is bolstered by the fact that 73 per cent of the apartment owners in Pakistan are not apartment dwellers. Around 75pc of apartment residents live in rental flats because of their low buying power. However, in reality, apartment living is not yet in vogue. The real asset is a high return on investment for developers backed by their