News

Pakistan formally requests $1bn from IMF: finance minister

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb told Reuters that Pakistan is targeting around $1 billion in a formal request for funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) facility that helps manage external shocks. “We have formally requested to be considered for this facility,” Aurangzeb said in an interview on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank autumn meetings in Washington. The IMF agreed

SBP reserves rise

The foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) increased, but the holdings of commercial banks fell during the week ended on Oct 18. The details provided by the central bank showed the SBP reserves rose by $18 million to $11.040 billion. The surging SBP reserves are ensuring exchange rate stability. However, commercial banks’ forex holdings fell $112m to $4.976bn, indicating

Nepra announces 85 paise per unit refund

Bringing an ongoing bickering within the regulator to the public domain, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Thursday announced an 85 paise per unit negative fuel cost adjustment (FCA) for electricity sold to consumers of power distribution companies (Discos) in August at a higher rate. The decision, reached by a majority vote of 4:1, followed an unprecedented month-long

Gas found in Sanghar

ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (OGDCL) on Thursday announced the commencement of production from its exploratory Baloch-2 well in the Sembar formation, located in Sanghar district of Sindh. The company had announced the gas condensate discovery from the Baloch-2 well on August 30, 2024, and brought its production to the system, a statement said. The well, situated wit

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