News

Jazz invests over Rs20bn in CY23

Jazz has invested Rs20.6 billion mainly under its 4G-for-All initiative in the first nine months of the calendar year 2023, bringing the overall investment in Pakistan to $10.6bn. In a statement on Monday, Jazz said that despite 27 per cent year-on-year growth in overall revenues in the local currency, Jazz’s revenue declined by 3.5pc in dollar terms during the third quarter of 2023. This do

IMF board to approve staff-level agreement on Dec 7

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is tentatively scheduled for Dec 7 to approve the Staff-Level Agreement (SLA) with Pakistan for the first review of the $3bn Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) leading to disbursement of about $700 million on Dec 8. The IMF staff and the Pakistani authorities reached the SLA on Nov 15 in Islamabad, according to an end-of-mission statement. Th

Pakistan floats LNG tender to meet winter demand

Pakistan on Monday floated an urgent international tender for a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) cargo in the first part of January to meet anticipated peak winter shortage in the residential sector. The tender, issued by the state-run Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL) with a four-day notice, asked bidders to submit technical and financial bids by Nov 24 for a standard LNG cargo with targeted delivery on J

Fuel cost adjustment of Rs3.5 more per unit to further inflate bills

The Cen­tral Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) on Mon­day sought a massive Rs3.55 per unit as fuel cost adjustment (FCA) for ex-Wapda distribution comp­anies (Discos) to raise another Rs33bn from consumers in Dece­mber, des­pite a healthy 76 per cent ele­ctricity generation from cheaper domestic fuels. This comes on top of about 26pc increase in the annual base tariff and around 18pc hike under th

IMF deal: a boon and a burden

The caretaker government is jubilant, feeling a sense of vindication. The market, in turn, embraced the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement with warmth. The deal unlocked the critically needed second $700 million tranche, bringing the total disbursement to $1.9 billion, within the $3bn bailout framework deemed essential for Pakistan’s financial stability. While the business community ex