Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday stressed the need to honour the International Monetary Fund (IMF) commitments, insisting that the government could not bid farewell to the programme just yet. In July last year, Pakistan and the IMF reached a three-year, $7 billion aid package deal, giving much-needed respite to the cash-strapped nation. Under the programme, the global lender manda
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has begun inviting tax proposals from all stakeholders to enhance the formulation process and reduce backend procedural burdens for Budget 2025-26. The FBR has set Jan 31 as the deadline for receiving budget proposals, advancing its plan to engage all stakeholders in the budget process. In another letter, the commerce ministry has requested tariff-related
The government on Wednesday slashed the returns on treasury bills by up to 49 basis points and raised much below the staggering amount of bids, reflecting another possibility of an interest rate cut. The government raised Rs424.15 billion through the T-bill auction against a target of Rs250bn. The investors looked eager to park their surplus liquidity in the risk-free government papers as the
Four Pakistani banks ranked as the best among the top 10 Asia Pacific lenders in 2024, reported S&P Global Intelligence on Wednesday. “Pakistani banks dominated a ranking of Asia-Pacific lenders with the best-performing stocks in 2024, as several banks based in the region’s developing economies performed better on the metric of total returns than those in traditional powerhouse nations,” said t
The Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) has flattened to just Rs148 billion in the first half of the current fiscal year against revised allocation of Rs1.1 trillion amid substantial revenue shortfalls and the government’s tight control over disbursements to meet requirements of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). According to half-yearly (July-December 2024) data released by the Mini