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
The Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) has expressed concern that the budgetary measure of imposing advance income tax (AIT) on non-filer retailers is not being implemented. The chamber believes this is due to the stubborn stand of a large part of the retail trade who, as before, are not prepared to be part of the tax system, forcing the distributors or the brand owner
The outflow of foreign investment through treasury bills shot up to $61 million during the first nine days of this month, while the inflow was just $8.14m in the same period. The inflows of foreign investments had increased in the last quarter of the previous fiscal year (FY24), improving the country’s investment climate, particularly for foreign investors. According to analysts, since inves