Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a meeting with US Chargé d’Affaires Natalie Baker on Tuesday, reaffirmed Pakistan’s desire to work with the Trump administration to strengthen bilateral ties. PM Shehbaz highlighted Pakistan’s interest in expanding cooperation in trade, information technology, agriculture, health, education, and energy. He also stressed the importance of counterterrorism col
Amid a dearth of positive triggers, the stock market continued its downturn for the fourth straight session on Monday mainly due to a weakening of the rupee on falling foreign exchange reserves ahead of the first review of the International Monetary Fund next month, crucial for the release of next tranche. Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said the market stayed bearish amid consolidation
Following the imposition of higher tax rates on Pakistan’s captive taxpayers (the salaried class), citizens now contribute Rs1.3 billion daily to the national exchequer. Totalling Rs41bn each month, annual tax collection is expected to exceed the Rs500bn mark by the end of FY25 against Rs368bn collected in FY24. While this boosts the Federal Board of Revenue’s performance and eases Internationa
More than 12 million houses are required across the country and the demand is rising due to negative growth in this sector. Some banking experts said the liquidity coming out from banks due to falling interest rate is expected to enter the property market and this could stimulate growth in the housing and construction sector. Builders and developers are, however, hopeful the housing sector w
While acknowledging that the government holds the ownership of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) with the majority of shares, IT and Telecom Minister Shaza Khawaja has admitted that subsidiary Ufone is not sharing its loss-making balance sheet with the government. “Ufone is operationally under Etisalat. Therefore, the government is not responsible for its constant loss-making,”