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Cabinet to take key economic decisions today

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called a meeting of the federal cabinet on Tuesday in which some significant economic decisions are expected to be taken. Although the agenda of the meeting was not issued till the filing of this report, sources in the PM Office said some significant economic decisions would be taken to revive IMF programme, while Monday’s countrywide power outage will also be

Dollar-starved Pakistan imports 2,200 luxury vehicles

The government has allowed the import of 2,200 luxury vehicles in the first six months of the current fiscal year while the country was crippled with strict foreign exchange control even for imports of essential consumer items and industrial goods. As a result of the strict foreign exchange control, the piling of containers containing different consumer and industrial products reaches almost 8,

Profit repatriation by multinationals ‘on hold’

Multinational companies operating in Pakistan haven’t been able to repatriate their dividends in recent quarters because of the curbs on dollar outflows. Speaking to Dawn on Monday, Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) Secretary General M. Abdul Aleem said the repatriation of profits in the form of dividends to the overseas headquarters of foreign companies has been on ho

No ‘prior approvals’ needed for imports

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has withdrawn the requirement for prior approval of imports aiming to clear the backlog of containers stuck-up at the port carrying industrial raw materials and other essentials. The SBP on Monday announced that no prior approvals would be required for making imports under HS code Chapters 84, 85 and certain items under HS code Chapter 87). Besides, the banks we

Ogra refutes reports of petrol shortage, says sufficient stock available

The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) denied reports of petrol and diesel shortages on Tuesday, saying that sufficient stocks were available in the country. “Ogra strongly rebuts the speculations on petrol/diesel shortages,” spokesperson Imran Ghaznavi said in a press release. He said enough stocks were available to fulfil petrol demand for the next 18 days and diesel demand for the ne