News

Chemical plant faces delays amid forex crunch

Engro Polymer and Chemicals Ltd (EPCL) — which is the country’s only manufacturer of polyvinyl chloride or PVC resin used in plastic and rubber production — has been facing long delays in setting up its $23 million hydrogen peroxide plant. Speaking to a group of journalists at the Bin Qasim factory on Wednesday, company officials said the cost of the under-construction facility has exceeded the

Govt exceeds auction target, borrows Rs2.3tr

The government raised Rs2.29 trillion through treasury bill auctions on Wednesday, surpassing the target, as well as the requirement for the maturity of the bills. The cash-starved government raised a total of Rs2.286tr, exceeding the target of Rs1.8tr. This amount also exceeded the required funds for the maturity of the treasury bills on the same day by 35 per cent. In fact, the government rai

Discos allowed to extract Rs16bn

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Wednesday concluded that ex-Wapda distribution companies (Discos) would charge an additional Rs1.61 per unit and K-Electric to refund Rs0.05 to their respective consumers for electricity consumed in April, under monthly fuel cost adjustment (FCA) mechanism. The decisions were made upon completion of two separate public hearings. Discos

Credit card settlements to use interbank dollar rate

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has allowed banks to acquire US dollars from the interbank market for the settlement of card-based cross-border transactions with the International Payment System, apparently to bring down the dollar rate in the open market. The SBP issued a circular on Wednesday, which indicates that this is a short-term move as the permission granted to banks will end on July

Ecnec clears four projects worth Rs120bn

The Exe­cutive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Wednesday approved four development projects in Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with a total estimated cost of Rs120.185bn. Presided over by Fina­nce Minister Ishaq Dar, the meeting of the committee was also attended by Minister for Planning and Develop­ment Ahsan Iqbal, SAPM on Finance Tariq Bajwa, Senat