News

Power tariffs for all raised by Rs1.15

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Wednesday approved an additional across-the-board charge of Rs1.15 per unit for electricity consumers throughout the country, including K-Electric, and also concluded the process of imposing another Rs1.72 per unit on K-E consumers for the next three months — January to March 2024. Effectively, K-Electric consumers would have to pay a

Record Rs5.5bn collected from Sost dry port

The Gilgit-Baltistan Collectorate of Customs collected a record revenue of Rs5.525 billion from Sost dry port as duties and other taxes on goods imported from China through the Khunjerab Pass during July-December this year. GB Collector Customs Mohammad Arshad Khan told Dawn that the collectorate had collected Rs2.287bn more than last year’s collection of Rs3.238bn, an increase of 71 per cent.

Exim Bank begins journey to foster exports, says Shamshad Akhtar

While launching the Exim Bank of Pakistan (EBP), Caretaker Finance Minister Dr Sha­mshad Akhtar on Thursday ann­o­un­ced the export fin­ance schemes (EFSs) would stand transferred to the new institution after being pha­sed out from the State Bank of Pak­istan (SBP) because of legal compulsions. The minister said EFSs were being phased out from the SBP under the reforms programme as part of the

Expensive gas hits textile exports

High gas prices appeared to have made textile exports uncompetitive on the world market resulting in an eight per cent month-on-month and 7pc year-on-year decline to $1.3 billion in November. In rupee terms, the country’s textile exports clocked in at Rs376bn, down by 7pc month-on-month but rose 19pc year-on-year owing to rupee depreciation against the dollar, said a note by Topline Securities

SBP reserves fall below $7bn in FY24

The State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) foreign exchange reserves fell below $7 billion for the first time in the current fiscal year, posing challenges for the government to stabilise the exchange rate and meet debt servicing obligations. The SBP on Thursday reported a $136 million decline in reserves to $6.904bn due to debt repayments. This outflow of dollars brought the total SBP reserves to a