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CPEC moves into second phase with ‘simple’ celebration

China and Pakistan decided to accelerate the second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, hailing the progress on development initiatives in the decade since the project’s launch in 2013. In a special ceremony held to commemorate 10 years of CPEC on Monday, six new documents were signed for joint cooperation. The celebrations, however, were kept simple out of respect for the victims of

Russian oil imports face port, refinery, currency constraints

Pakistan is unlikely to meet a target for Russian crude to make up two-thirds of its oil imports, despite attractive prices, hampered by a shortage of foreign currency and limitations at its refineries and ports, officials and analysts say. The cash-strapped South Asian nation became Russia’s latest customer snapping up discounted crude that has been banned from European markets due to Russia’s

$25bn repayments due in FY24

Pakistan is under an obligation to pay $25 billion in debt servicing during the current fiscal year. It was disclosed in a briefing to analysts by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday after unveiling the monetary policy stance for the next two months. The country’s total repayment obligation amounts to slightly below $25bn in FY24, comprising $3.3bn in interest payments and slightly ab

July collection target missed

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) missed the collection target for July by almost Rs2 billion amid a decline in imports, showed provisional data released on Monday. The revenue collected in the first month of the current fiscal year amounted to Rs532 billion, falling short of the projected target of Rs534bn. “We will cross eventually the target for the month”, a senior tax official told Dawn.

‘Outgoing’ govt shies away from major fuel price hike

The government on Monday could not announce the fortnightly adjustment in the prices of petroleum products, with consultations continuing into the early hours of Tuesday. However, a 17.5pc increase was announced in the producer price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), as well as a 13.5pc raise in the LPG consumer sale price for August. According to an Ogra notification, the LPG price was incr