The State Bank of Pakistan's (SBP) foreign exchange reserves increased by $16 million during the week ended October 24, 2025, reaching $14.471 billion, the central bank reported on Thursday. According to the SBP, the country's total liquid foreign reserves stood at $19.687 billion, of which commercial banks held $5.216 billion in net reserves. Gold prices in Pakistan fell on Thursday, diverg
Customs authorities seized smuggled cigarette paper, filters, packaging material and manufacturing raw material worth over Rs1.3 billion in a raid on a warehouse on the outskirts of Lahore on Thursday. The authorities have launched a large-scale crackdown on cigarette smugglers and tax evaders across Punjab. The latest raid comes two weeks after officials discovered a cache of cigarette-maki
Speakers at a seminar said that the reversal of the 16% tax on rental properties in Punjab has provided major relief to the country's retail community and reflected the success of collective efforts by trade bodies. They emphasised that such reforms have helped stabilise retail operations and created breathing space for organised businesses struggling under economic pressure. They were addressi
Pakistan's textile exports surged to a three-year high of $1.6 billion in September 2025, marking a strong rebound driven by robust demand for value-added categories and renewed global orders, according to provisional data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). Brokerage house Topline Securities reported that knitted apparel exports alone touched an all-time high of $485 million, undersc
Pakistan has assured the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it will take Rs200 billion worth of additional tax measures in January to compensate any slippages in the budget surplus by increasing the income tax rates on landline and mobile phones and cash withdrawals from banks. The measures will only be triggered following lower-than-targeted revenues and higher-than-agreed expenses in July