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Chopping and stretching finances

In Greek mythology, Procrustes was a unique character known for his obsession of making his guests fit perfectly in his iron bed. His methodology, however, was disturbingly brutal. He altered his guests, not the bed. If a guest was too tall, he’d cut their legs off. If they were too short, he’d stretch them until they occupied the bed entirely. As peculiar as his method was, Procrustes achieved hi

Centre allows Sindh to earn $200m through carbon credits

In the abs­ence of an approved policy, the federal government has allowed Sindh to earn $200-220 million (abo­ut Rs57-63 billion) of carbon credits over the next two decades for its efforts to expand mangrove forests under Pakis­tan’s commitments for unconditional contribution to a global drive for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In 2021, the Ministry of Climate Change submitted the national

A hollow achievement?

After much dilly-dallying, Pakistan has made its first purchase of Russian crude oil — at a “discounted” price. With Russia looking for new outlets for its crude oils and Pakistan looking for cheaper crude to overcome its acute balance of payments crisis, the deal serves both countries well. With a multipolar world in the making, and Pakistan’s traditional allies from China, Iran, Türkiye and e

ICT exports need policy focus

Forex-starved Pakistan earned $2.6 billion last fiscal year through exports of information and communication technology (ICT) services. And within ten months of this year, ICT exports fetched $2.1bn, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). Every dollar counts for Pakistan. ICT exports that are part of overall services exports are an important source of forex earnings. They can potentiall

PSX demands end to tax policy distortion

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) chief executive Farrukh H. Khan said on Tuesday the government should do away with the distortion in its tax policy that currently favours certain asset classes against others. Speaking at a press conference, Mr Khan called for aligning the tax rates for the equity market with those on real estate and agriculture, sectors that’ve traditionally remained undertaxed f