Forex-starved Pakistan earned $2.6 billion last fiscal year through exports of information and communication technology (ICT) services. And within ten months of this year, ICT exports fetched $2.1bn, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). Every dollar counts for Pakistan. ICT exports that are part of overall services exports are an important source of forex earnings. They can potentiall
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) chief executive Farrukh H. Khan said on Tuesday the government should do away with the distortion in its tax policy that currently favours certain asset classes against others. Speaking at a press conference, Mr Khan called for aligning the tax rates for the equity market with those on real estate and agriculture, sectors that’ve traditionally remained undertaxed f
The federal government has called the meetings of the Annual Planning Coordination Committee (APCC) and National Economic Council (NEC) on June 2 and 3, respectively, to finalise the development programme and set targets for the macroeconomic indicators for 2023-24. The 13-member NEC led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is the country’s highest forum of the federation on economic decision-makin
Lucky Cement Ltd said in a regulatory filing with the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Thursday that it’ll purchase 23.8 million of its shares in a second buyback starting next Friday (June 2). The buyback exercise, which will be carried out using the firm’s distributable profits, will continue until Nov 20. Afterwards, the cement maker will cancel the shares, which constitute about 7.6 per cent of t
The central bank’s foreign exchange reserves dropped for the fourth consecutive week to below $4.2 billion, official data showed on Thursday, barely enough to cover a month of controlled imports. The latest decline in the State Bank’s reserves, during the week ended May 19, was $119 million. Commercial bank reserves also fell by $87.5m, to $5.54bn during the week. Therefore, the country’s overa