Despite receipt of the much-awaited first tranche of $1.03 billion following approval of the new 37-month $7 billion Extended Fund Facility by International Monetary Fund’s executive board on Sept 25, the benchmark KSE 100 index closed the outgoing week on a bearish note. The market turned depressed primarily due to investors’ worries about the potential impact of stringent IMF conditions, whi
Is Pakistan the new kid on the global energy map? If recent reports are to be believed, this could be the case. Over the last few weeks, local and international media have reported a “massive” oil and gas find in the offshore territory of Pakistan. According to some estimates, the find could be the “fourth largest” oil and gas reserve in the world. That would be a game-changer in more than one
Pakistan’s domestic politico-judicial crisis has seemingly reached a point of no return. The apex court wants to keep the democratic spirit of the Constitution alive, but differences between the top judges continue to add to political uncertainty. The Election Commission, too, is apparently not independent. Simultaneously, terrorism and militancy continue to grow in Balochistan and Khyber Pakht
In 1995, the 1,292 megawatt (MW), $1.6 billion Hub Power Project was hailed as an important precedent for the viability of private finance for a major infrastructure project in a developing country. No other low-income country had made private investments a cornerstone of its energy policy at that point in time. This strategy was a reflection of hard economic realities: an unsustainable fiscal
As the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has advised using the IRIS portal to file returns and verify tax deductions, the business community still faces difficulty filing their tax returns. Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) President Iftikhar Ahmed Shaikh said several traders have approached the chamber complaining that the FBR’s portal for filing tax returns is not working. There