News

Lucky Motor jacks up Stonic price by Rs733,000

After a record price cut of Rs1.513 million in the last week of April, Lucky Motor Corporation Ltd (LMCL) jacked up the price of Kia Stonic by Rs733,000 on Monday. The company slashed the Stonic price to Rs4.767m from Rs6.280m, which changed the vehicle’s sales fortune. Due to its high prices and intense market competition, the vehicle had been facing sluggish demand. Currently, the vehicle pri

Inflation remains elevated at 23.41pc

The government announced on Monday that the annual inflation for 2023-24 exceeded its budgetary target, reaching a staggering 23.41 per cent owing to an increase in electricity, gas, and essential kitchen items. The projected target was 21pc for the outgoing fiscal year. According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Monday, the average monthly inflation fluctuated over t

T-bills see highest inflows in four years

The country saw a record inflow of foreign investment in treasury bills during the last quarter of the financial year FY24, reflecting attractive returns and stability in the exchange rate. Pakistan suffered heavily after the outbreak of Covid in 2020 and almost entire investments in domestic bonds left the country. Since then foreign investors have remained away from t-bills and the long-term

Illegality’ of Point-of-Sale fee throws up questions for FBR

A nationwide nominal Rs1 Point-of-Sale (PoS) service fee on each sale invoice collected by hundreds of thousands of tier-1 retailers translates into tens of billions of rupees annually and is allegedly misappropriated by tax officials. This fee, hardly noticed by customers, was imposed by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) about four years ago. At the time of its imposition in August 2021, it w

Finance Minister Aurangzeb vows to improve tax revenue

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has reiterated his commitment to strengthen the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and its supporting initiatives to enhance revenue collection, digitisation and economic development. The minister expressed these views while chairing a meeting at the FBR headquarters on Monday to review the performance of the tax machinery. Chairman Zubair Tiwana and members of t