News

Auto sales plunge by 39pc in 5MFY23

Despite a 36 per cent month-on-month improvement in demand for cars, jeeps and pickups in Nov­e­mber, the overall automobile sales plunged by 39pc year-on-year in the first five months of the current fiscal year. Total auto sales in November stood at 18,391 units as compared to 13,502 units in October while 66,458 units were sold in 5MFY23 compared to 108,635 units in the corresponding period l

Consumer Confidence Index goes up: survey

The Overall Consumer Confidence Index of Pakistanis in the fourth quarter of the current year has gone up by three points compared to the same period last year. The survey, conducted by market research company Ipsos, shows that an upward trend can be seen in Pakistanis’ optimism about the country’s direction. Moreover, male members of the society, the middle-aged and rural dwellers are more opt

Crisis deepens as domestic consumers to get gas only at ‘meal times’

While Sindh, particularly Karachi, has been experiencing either hour-long gas loadshedding or low pressure for the past many weeks, the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) on Monday officially announced that domestic consumers would get gas only for total eight hours in a day — morning, afternoon and evening — during “meal timing”. “As per the prime minister’s directives, SSGC is ensuring gas suppl

Agriculture, microfinance added to youth loan scheme

The government on Monday while renaming and introducing some changes to the Kamyab Jawan Programme — launched during the PTI government in 2019 — added a couple of new features to the initiative aimed at facilitating the youth to set up or expand their businesses. Categories of ‘agriculture’ and ‘microloans’ have been added to the ‘Prime Minister’s Kamyab Jawan Youth Entrepreneur Scheme (PMKJ-Y

Disgraced crypto tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried arrested in Bahamas

Disgraced cryptocurrency tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested Monday in the Bahamas at the request of the United States, according to US officials seeking to charge him after the spectacular collapse of his FTX platform. The arrest comes on the eve of Bankman-Fried’s scheduled appearance at a US Congress hearing in which he was to testify under oath about the crypto exchange’s overnight demise