News

Cabinet okays new power supply system for special economic zones

The federal cabinet on Tuesday approved a new power supply system for special economic zones (SEZs) and industrial estates, aiming to accelerate industrial development and simplify electricity management. According to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the Cabinet Committee on Energy allowed the provision of power supply to SEZs and industrial estates at a single point and allowed their managem

Govt retires Rs1.5tr bank debt

The government retired Rs1.541 trillion in commercial banks’ debt during the first half of the current fiscal year against a net borrowing of Rs3.74tr in the same period last year, reflecting improved fiscal management. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data issued on Tuesday showed that during the July 1-3-Jan 3 period of FY25, the government emerged as a net debt retiring institution despite b

Bulls stage 983-point rally on value-hunting

Amid a relative political calm and improved economic outlook, the stock market witnessed an across the board buying spree at attractive valuations, helping the benchmark KSE 100 index staged an impressive rally on Monday. Ali Najib, Head of Sales at Insight Securities, said it was a clear sky day at PSX as the index floated easily during the trading hours and settled at 114,230, an increase of

Scrapping a coal power avenue

With energy minister Awais Khan Leghari listing the planned 300MW Gwadar coal power plant amongst projects considered unaffordable for the consumers and hinting at scrapping it — along with several other proposed generation schemes of 10,000MW — the future of the long-stalled project appears more uncertain than ever. The ‘warning’ comes at a time when the imported coal-based plant’s Chinese dev

Return of the fossil fuels

The reality is grim. Green energy is in retreat. The battle against climate change, which has put the oil and gas industry on the defensive for some time now, is weakening. The changing political map of the world, taking a right tilt all around — from the Americas to Europe — is helping industries wriggle out of the situation. The changing political map has pushed the climate battle on a back b