In the run-up to the finalisation of the federal budget for 2024-25, the Ministry of Finance has asked all ministries, divisions, departments, and self-governing entities to surrender by May 15 the funds that they think cannot be utilised within the current fiscal year, ending June 30, 2024. Under the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) of 2019, all entities established or operated with public
Despite massive foreign buying on Thursday, the stock market turned in a depressed performance amid the widening of the fiscal deficit and dismal auto sales data, forcing the benchmark KSE 100 index to close in the red for the third consecutive session. Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said the market remained under pressure amid a slump in global crude oil prices and steady government t
Consumers remained reluctant to avail costly auto financing, which consequently plunged for the 21st consecutive month ending March 2024 to Rs239 billion, down by 1.4 per cent or Rs3.5bn month-on-month. According to data issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the total decline in the last 21 months stood at Rs128bn, down from Rs368bn at the end of June 2022. Expensive financing, due to
The State Bank’s foreign exchange reserves remained above $8 billion during the week ending April 12. “During the week, SBP has executed the repayment of $1bn maturing Pakistan’s International Bond (principal plus interest),” said the SBP press release issued on Thursday. It was encouraging for the financial market that despite the payment of $1bn, the SBP reserves remained intact at $8bn. S
For the first time in six years, the number of cellular subscribers in Pakistan has declined even though the penetration of 4G has increased across the country, according to data released on Thursday. The total cellular subscriptions in Pakistan fell by over 3.7 million during 2023 to close at 190.9m, down 1.9pc from 194.6m in 2022, according to the annual ‘State of Apps’ report for Pakistan, j