Amid a declining trend in the world’s iron and steel scrap market, consumers continued to face multiple price shocks in steel bar prices in the first seven months of the current fiscal year due to massive rupee devaluation. Manufacturers raised steel bar prices by 30 per cent from July 1, 2022 to Jan 31, as a result of a 35pc rupee devaluation which had increased the landed cost of imported ite
The cost of fuel for electricity generation in January went up 59 per cent to Rs11.20 per unit from a month ago, according to data recently released by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority. The rise in the fuel cost was triggered by a decline in hydel- and nuclear-based power generation, according to Tahir Abbas, head of research at Arif Habib Ltd. The share of hydel in the power
After witnessing a net divestment in December 2022, the foreign direct investment (FDI) more than doubled to $222 million in January compared to $110m inflows recorded in the same month last year. The State Bank of Pakistan’s latest data issued on Monday showed that FDI improved mainly on inflows from China and Japan. Due to persistent political and economic uncertainties, the FDI inflows pl
Pakistan joined 26 other nations on Monday in urging US lawmakers to expedite legislation for the renewal of the Generalised System of Preference (GSP) programme for developing countries. Instituted in 1971, with support from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, GSP is a tariff waiver programme on nearly 5,000 products from over 120 countries. Pakistan is a member of the 2
Despite clearly lacking quorum, the National Assembly after a lackluster debate on Monday passed the IMF-dictated Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2023, seeking to impose additional Rs170 billion taxes with minor amendments as Finance Minister Ishaq Dar held the mismanagement in the power sector and poor economic policies of the previous PTI regime mainly responsible for this economic burden on the ma