News

Pharma sales surge to Rs916bn last fiscal year

The pharmaceutical industry recorded the highest-ever quarterly sales of Rs237 billion, up 25 per cent year-on-year in Q4FY24, while sales rose by 22pc to Rs916bn in the entire FY24. As per healthcare data company IQVIA, pharmaceutical sales rose by a quarter, with 20pc attributed to a price increase and 5pc to a rise in volume. The significant jump in price is due to the government-approved

Trouble at the start line

RARELY have I seen things as scattered and messy as they are today, in the realm of economic management in any case. At the epicentre of the mess is the IMF programme, all dressed up with nowhere to go. A staff-level agreement (SLA) was announced by the Fund on July 12, more than five weeks ago. Then on July 23, on the eve of his departure for China, the finance minister assured the country during

Punjab’s ‘power move’ riles political spectrum

A POWER move by the PML-N government in Punjab, apparently aimed at securing its support base in the most populous province, has put an already-fragile alliance in the Centre, led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, to the test. Besides the opposition PTI, the PPP and MQM-Pakistan — both of whom are PML-N’s partners in the federal government — have also questioned the rationale behind such a move

Situationer: The ‘sunk cost’ of doing e-business

NAVEED Qamar runs an online company, which works on resource augmentation models in the media industry. His company has been hired by foreign service providers, who take on business clients and outsource their work to Pakistan. On August 14, he shared a client’s email on his Facebook profile, in which he was told that his services were no longer required. The reason: delays in delivering edited

Pakistan hoping for $7bn IMF package approval in September: finance minister

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Wednesday the federal government is making good progress with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and hopes to get board approval in September for a new $7 billion loan programme. The government and the IMF reached an agreement on the 37-month loan programme in July. The IMF said the programme was subject to approval from its executive board and obt