News

FBR unearths Rs716m tax evasion in steel bar clearance

The Directorate General of Intelligence and Investigation of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has unearthed duty and tax evasion of Rs716.27 million in the clearance of steel bars at Hyderabad Collectorate. Karachi’s Customs Intelligence Regional Office has lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against the culprits. The steel, initially cleared at the Hyderabad Collectorate, was later found

Middle East crisis raises geopolitical risks, says World Bank

The latest crisis in the Middle East has raised geopolitical risks for commodity markets, but so far its impact on prices has been small, says a World Bank report released on Monday. It said that previous military conflicts in the region often resulted in higher prices and vitality in commodity markets. According to the ‘Commo­dity Markets Outlook’ report this suggests that an escalation could

Dollar reaches close to Rs281

The rupee is gradually and slowly losing the strength it gained against the US dollar during the last couple of months in both the interbank and open markets. The State Bank of Pakistan on Monday re-ported that the greenback continued its appreciation drive against the local currency for the sixth day in a row and added another 38 paise to close at Rs280.95 in the interbank market. Currency

Power companies seek to charge Rs1.8 per unit more

While still reeling under the prolonged application of last year’s Rs135 billion worth of quarterly adjustments, the ex-Wapda distribution com­panies (Discos) have come up with a fresh claim of another Rs22.6bn for the first quarter of FY24 to be charged to consumers acr­oss the country at the rate of about Rs1.8 per unit. The requests have come amid over prevailing over 31pc rate of inflation

Stocks turn in flat performance

The benchmark of equities moved within a narrow range on Thursday even though the session began on a positive note, thanks to the bullish momentum that investors carried forward from a day ago. Topline Securities Ltd said the market witnessed profit-taking in the second half of the session, compelling the KSE-100 index to shed the gains it’d made in the early trading hours. Stocks in the ban