Volatility persisted on the stock market as bears tightened their grip, forcing the benchmark index to post losses for the third straight day on Tuesday amid wild fluctuations triggered by uncertainty. Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation stated that the market was trending lower as the earnings season neared closing. Reports of the IMF board meeting scheduled for Aug 28 missing the agenda f
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has set September 30 as the deadline for income tax returns for the financial year 2023-24. According to FBR, those who fail to submit tax returns may face legal action. In case of default, a 0.1 percent penalty will be imposed on the payable tax amount. The minimum penalty on individual filers will be Rs1,000 and Rs50,000 on other categories. As per the tax c
The government announced on Tuesday that it will need Rs32 trillion in loans this fiscal year, including rollovers from foreign banks and bilateral lenders. The success of this plan hinges on the timely approval of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme and the continued financial support from China. The Ministry of Finance released its annual borrowing plan for fiscal year 2024-25, re
Despite a downward trend in interest rates, new locally assembled vehicles failed to attract buyers as auto financing continued to fall for the 25th consecutive month, dropping to Rs228 billion in July. As per the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data, the outstanding auto loan witnessed a massive drop of Rs140bn from Rs368bn in June 2022. After keeping its policy rate at an unprecedented level
The Asia-Pacific Economic Update warns that the escalation of trade and geopolitical tensions poses a major near-term risk, and a tit-for-tat trade war will take a heavy toll on regional value chains with impacts on exports, employment and workers’ earnings. The Economic Update released on Tuesday by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific points out that the recent impos