News

Nepra announces 85 paise per unit refund

Bringing an ongoing bickering within the regulator to the public domain, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Thursday announced an 85 paise per unit negative fuel cost adjustment (FCA) for electricity sold to consumers of power distribution companies (Discos) in August at a higher rate. The decision, reached by a majority vote of 4:1, followed an unprecedented month-long

Gas found in Sanghar

ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (OGDCL) on Thursday announced the commencement of production from its exploratory Baloch-2 well in the Sembar formation, located in Sanghar district of Sindh. The company had announced the gas condensate discovery from the Baloch-2 well on August 30, 2024, and brought its production to the system, a statement said. The well, situated wit

Hearing in PTCL-Telenor merger ends amid rivals’ opposition

Reiterating their concerns over the proposed acquisition of Telenor Pakistan by PTCL, Jazz and Wateen informed a three-member bench of the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) on Thursday that the combined entity would be able to manipulate tariff structures at their discretion. The fifth and the last hearing in the Phase II review of PTCL’s acquisition of Telenor and Orion Towers Ltd was c

Govt begins ‘rationalising’ PSDP projects

ISLAMABAD: On the instructions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government has formally started rationalising the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) and established matrix-based principles for identifying and financing future development projects. On Thursday, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal chaired a meeting of a special committee formed by the prime minister. The meeting

Banks fail to increase lending as ADR remains at 39.3pc

The banks’ advance-to-dep­osit ratio (ADR) remained at 39.3 per cent last month — much below the red line of 50pc, which attracts a 15pc incremental tax. The latest data shows that the ADR increased by 90 basis points month-on-month, but fell by 579bps year-on-year to 39.3pc. The government imposed a 15pc tax in the budget for the current fiscal year on all banks whose ADR was below 50pc.