News

Sugar prices swell to Rs185 per kg

A direction of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on Monday to the relevant agencies to check the hoarding and smuggling of sugar has failed to bring any respite for the consumers as the rates of the sweetener have swelled further. Traders said that the wholesale rate had ranged between Rs164 per kg, up by Rs4 per kg from Monday, thus putting extra pressure on the retail prices which in

Govt fails to douse anger as citizens burn power bills

ISLAMABAD: With the nationwide protests over massive power bills growing, the caretaker government has failed to come up with any relief measures as it tries to strike a balance between avoiding drawing the IMF’s ire and causing more citizens to blow a fuse. In the cabinet meeting presided over by Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Tuesday, the interim set-up expressed helplessness

UK, Pakistan need to turbocharge trade in IT sector: UK envoy

The newly appointed British High Commissioner to Pakistan Jane Marriott, the United Kingdom’s first woman high commissioner to Pakistan, who arrived at Karachi on Sunday, visited the Royal Navy’s HMS Lancaster here on Tuesday. The HMS Lancaster is in Karachi on a routine bilateral Royal Navy-Pakistan Navy training exercise ‘White Star’, which commences here on Wednesday (today). The exercise al

Stocks lose 192 points on rate hike rumours

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a gloomy session on Monday as the benchmark index remained in red for most of the session amid rumours about an imminent policy rate hike which triggered profit-selling by some investors. This strategic choice by investors not only prompted the market to relinquish some of its previously accrued value but also culminated in the index transitioning int

The hopeless downward spiral

The inevitable has happened. On August 24, the Pakistani rupee fell below 300 to a US dollar in the interbank market. In less than two months of this fiscal year (between July 1 and August 24), the rupee has lost about five per cent value against the mighty greenback. The dollar has been on the rise since the lifting of import restrictions from the beginning of this fiscal year on July 1 at the