Chairman Railways Syed Mazhar Ali Shah on Tuesday anticipated the commencement of the crucial Main Line-1 (ML-1) project this year despite pending government funding while the Ministry of Railways manages to complete only six out of its 38 approved projects during the current fiscal year at a total cost of Rs260.085 billion. The chairman briefed the Senate Standing Committee on Railways that t
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has purchased $5.9 billion from the currency market since June 2024 to bolster its reserves despite receiving support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and friendly countries. The higher remittance inflows provided sufficient room for the State Bank to purchase dollars, but it was unable to achieve the target it had projected for itself. Following un
As part of pre-budget consultations with stakeholders, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Tuesday promised to shift the tax burden away from the salaried class and documented sector to others through digitisation, and hinted at major steps towards the compulsory use of digital payments to maximise a cashless economy and increase documented transactions. A Ministry of Finance team, led by th
In a major policy departure, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Tuesday approved K-Electric’s request to incorporate unrecovered bills into its consumer tariff — starting with a recovery shortfall of 6.75 per cent in 2023-24, gradually declining to 3.5pc by 2029-30. Nepra set K-Electric’s base tariff at Rs40 per unit for the fiscal year 2023-24, which is almost 40pc hig
The chairman of the Senate standing committee on finance and revenue, former finance minister Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, said on Tuesday that the upcoming budget will further burden the people due to an increase in the petroleum levy. He was also critical of the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) performance, especially in terms of the Tajir Dost Scheme (TDS). Under the TDS, taxes were to be