News

Anatomy of a Ponzi scheme

Located at a stone’s throw from the public beach in Clifton, the offices of For U Real Traders Ltd appeared swarmed with prospective clients looking to double their savings in a short time. Beyond the reception area adorned with a portrait of the Quaid-i-Azam and many works of Islamic calligraphy was a bullpen where a large team of 20-something women worked the phone lines non-stop. Next to it

Hike in fuel prices to trigger joblessness

Reacting to a major increase in petroleum prices by the interim government, business leaders on Wednesday warned that the decision will cause the closure of 50 per cent of industrial units and trigger mass unemployment. They said trade and industry, which are already struggling to survive the power tariff hikes of almost Rs10 per unit, cannot bear the increase of Rs17.50 and Rs20 per litre in t

Stocks tumble on circular debt confusions

The benchmark of representative shares demonstrated a puzzling trend on Thursday as trading began on a high note. Topline Securities said the KSE-100 index carried forward the bullish mome­ntum from a day ago and made an intraday high of 395 points or 0.82 per cent. However, an unexpected and across-the-board sell-off in the latter half of the session disrupted the market momentum. As a resu

Banks lend record Rs1.78tr to agriculture sector

Financial institutions disbursed Rs1.776 trillion under agriculture financing during the previous fiscal year, which was 25 per cent higher year-on-year and was around 97.6pc of the agriculture credit target set by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), data showed on Wednesday. The outstanding portfolio of agriculture credit also grew 10pc to Rs760 billion by the end of June compared to Rs691bn by

Meezan Bank profit up

Meezan Bank Ltd posted its highest-ever quarterly profit in April-June as its consolidated earnings amounted to Rs17.3 billion, up 120 per cent from a year ago. Its net profit rose 12pc from the preceding quarter mainly on the back of higher income and lower provisioning, said Arif Habib Ltd. The bank also announced a dividend of Rs4 per share. Separately, Bank Alfalah Ltd declared on Thursd