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More of the same, or worse? What economists expect from upcoming budget

Last year we thought the government was going to announce ‘one of the toughest budgets yet’, and yet, here we are once again, at the same point, but worse. The coalition government is set to announce the federal budget for the fiscal year 2024 on June 9. Since the beginning of the year, each month seems to compete with the last to climb the inflation ladder, reaching a record 38 per cent in May

Shift away from fossil fuel-based economy: Akhtar

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Chair­person Dr Shamshad Akhtar has said the country’s “extreme dependence” on fossil fuels to achieve gro­wth has ruined the environment at a high economic cost. Speaking at a seminar on the role of business in protecting the environment organised jointly by the Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance (PICG), Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Indus­try

PM backs fixed tax on IT sector

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday supported the idea of a fixed tax regime for the IT sector in the upcoming budget and also constituted a committee in this regard. Chairing a meeting, which was attended by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and IT Minister Syed Amin-ul Haque, the prime minister also approved a $4.5 billion IT export target for 2023-24. Among others, the meeting was also part

National Econo­mic Council sets economic growth target at 3.5pc

Accommodating the demands of the coalition partners, the PML-N-led National Econo­mic Council (NEC) on Tuesday tentatively approved an overall development budget of Rs2.709 trillion, almost 24 per cent higher than the current year’s budget estimates of Rs2.19tr. This includes a federal public sector development programme (PSDP) of Rs1.15tr, including Rs200bn for public-private partnership and c

LPG users get no price relief

Despite a reduction in the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) notified by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) for the current month, consumers continued to get the fuel at inflated rates. The regulator decre­ased the price of indigenous LPG by about Rs37 per kg, reducing the cost of an 11.8kg domestic cylinder by almost Rs437 or 16pc for June. It had fixed the LPG price at Rs197