News

Hearing in PTCL-Telenor merger ends amid rivals’ opposition

Reiterating their concerns over the proposed acquisition of Telenor Pakistan by PTCL, Jazz and Wateen informed a three-member bench of the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) on Thursday that the combined entity would be able to manipulate tariff structures at their discretion. The fifth and the last hearing in the Phase II review of PTCL’s acquisition of Telenor and Orion Towers Ltd was c

Govt begins ‘rationalising’ PSDP projects

ISLAMABAD: On the instructions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government has formally started rationalising the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) and established matrix-based principles for identifying and financing future development projects. On Thursday, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal chaired a meeting of a special committee formed by the prime minister. The meeting

Banks fail to increase lending as ADR remains at 39.3pc

The banks’ advance-to-dep­osit ratio (ADR) remained at 39.3 per cent last month — much below the red line of 50pc, which attracts a 15pc incremental tax. The latest data shows that the ADR increased by 90 basis points month-on-month, but fell by 579bps year-on-year to 39.3pc. The government imposed a 15pc tax in the budget for the current fiscal year on all banks whose ADR was below 50pc.

Stocks surge following constitutional changes

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday staged a remarkable recovery, fueled by encouraging economic indicators and some degree of political stability. The KSE-100 index surged past 86,000 with gains of over 800 points, reflecting investor optimism and confidence. The surge was driven by across-the-board buying following approval of constitutional amendments by the National Assembly (NA). Earli

Export competitiveness increases as REER falls

Pakistan's real effective exchange rate (REER) – the value of local currency compared to a basket of currencies of trading partners – depreciated 1.48 percentage points to 98.65 points in September, reflecting an improvement in the country's export competitiveness. According to the State Bank of Pakistan's (SBP) data, the REER index had been at 100.13 points in August 2024. The latest readin