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Inquiry into Millat Tractors Ltd refund case reopened

Presi­dent Arif Alvi has asked the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to restore multi-billion inadmissible sales tax refunds of over Rs12 billion through benami transactions during the tax year 2018-2022. The president directed FBR to reopen the investigation into M/s Millat Tractors Ltd (MTL), the company is under scrutiny for allegedly obtaining an inadmissible sales tax refund. This move by

Dip in T-bill yields raises hopes for SBP rate cut

The government on Wednesday slashed the cut-off yields on treasury bills and raised less than the auction target even lower than the maturing debt. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported that the returns on T-bills have been reduced by up to 50 basis points indicating the future interest rate trend. It was also observed that unlike the previous trend, the highest bids were received for 12

Big industry output grows for second month in a row

Large-scale manufacturing (LSM) expanded for the second consecutive month in September, with year-on-year growth of 1.01 per cent, reversing a trend of 14 months of contraction, data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics showed on Wednesday. The LSM expansion can be attributed mostly to a government move to make it easier to open letters of credit (LCs) after being restricted to a few c

Rupee loses more value to the dollar

The rupee depreciated for the 17th consecutive session on Wednesday against the dollar in the interbank market. The currency market players believe that the dollar will continue dominating the local currency in the coming days. The State Bank of Pakistan reported that the greenback appreciated by 27 paise to close at Rs288.14. Currency dealers said there was no change in the market sentiment

Govt okays 40pc tax on banks’ windfall income

The caretaker government imposed a one-off 40 per cent tax on bank profits reaped from foreign exchange transactions in the past two years, a measure the previous coalition administration also considered but failed to implement. The federal cabinet’s approval of the windfall tax came after strong criticism of banks that they had earned a hefty Rs110 billion in profits in 2021 and 2022 from the