News

Duty-free vehicle import facility withdrawn

The government has reversed the facility of temporary import of duty-free vehicles for overseas Pakistanis and restricted it only to foreign tourists. A series of amendments were made through a customs notification, SRO533, by amending rules for temporary import of vehicles. Over the last five years, 1000 vehicles entered Pakistan under the tourist facility, while only 900 were verified to h

Exports of services fall for third month

Pakistan’s export of services fell 13.50 per cent for the third consecutive month to $614.96 million in March from $710.94m over the corresponding month of last year, according to the data compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. The export of services recorded positive growth during the first half of the current fiscal year, but it started contracting in January. The export of commoditie

Auto financing drops for ninth month

The outstanding auto financing continued its downward trend for the ninth month in a row, plunging almost 12.83 per cent to Rs317 billion in March from Rs363.55bn in the same month last year. It witnessed a 2.74pc drop as compared to Rs325.86bn in February, data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) showed on Monday. Phenomenal hikes in interest rates, soaring automobile prices, frequ

Punjab plans cotton revival to cut imports

Buoyant by the good wheat harvest, the government has decided to focus on the white lint to revive the most important cash crop of the Kharif season and subsequently the textile industry for reducing its import bill. The Punjab government has decided to provide irrigation water to cotton fields as a priority for achieving the over 8.2 million bales production target this season. Agriculture

Hascol not compliant with PSX regulations

The Pakis­tan Stock Exchange (PSX) told investors on Monday that Hascol Petroleum Ltd, an oil marketing company, is in non-compliance for failing to hold its annual general meeting besides not submitting its annual audited financial statements for 2022. However, the company’s shares are already quoted in the defaulters’ segment on account of its non-compliance with a separate regulation i.e. it