News

CCP warns sugar mills against price manipulation

After repeated failures of the federal and provincial governments to provide sugar at the stipulated rate of Rs130 per kilogram, the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) too has entered the scenario with a warning to the sugar mills. Contrary to the rates announced by the prime minister, and several attempts by the government to maintain retail sales at Rs130 per kg, sugar prices in the mar

Shares at PSX rally over 600 points on hopes of IMF staff-level agreement soon

Bulls maintained a hold of the trade floor at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday as shares gained over 600 points on expectations of a smooth International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). The benchmark KSE-100 climbed 1,027.32, or 0.89 per cent, to stand at 116,563.48 points from the last close of 115,536.16 at 1:01pm. Finally, the index closed at 116,199.59, up by 663

No proposal to revise govt pay scales under consideration, clarifies finance ministry

The finance ministry on Monday clarified in a statement that no proposals to raise government salaries were under consideration after media reports claimed that government salaries and pensions would remain unchanged in the upcoming fiscal year. According to the statement, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb submitted a written reply to a question asked by PTI MNA and Chief Whip Malik Amir Doga

Current account deficit falls to $12m in February

With a sharp decline in the current account deficit (CAD) to $12 million in February from $420m in the preceding month, Pakistan recorded a surplus of $691m in the first eight months of FY25 against a CAD of $1.7bn a year ago, showed data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday. The central bank recently said that the current account would be in deficit or surplus by 0.5 per cent

Textile exports post paltry growth

The textile and clothing exports grew 9.31 per cent year-on-year during the first eight months of the current fiscal year, showed data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Monday. From the start of the FY25, the textile exports maintained a rising trend with robust growth of 13pc in August, 17.92pc in September, 13.11pc in October, 10.81pc in November, 5.55pc in December and 15.85pc