News

Govt doles out Rs30bn GST concession to HEV maker

Yielding to pressure from luxury automakers, the government has withdrawn the proposal to impose a 25 per cent sales tax on hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and restored the existing 8.5pc in the Finance Bill 2024, resulting in a loss of a whopping Rs30 billion to the national exchequer on an annualised basis. While wrapping up discussions on the budget 2024-25 in the National Assembly on Tuesda

State-owned enterprises remain a burden despite Rs12tr revenue

Despite their annual revenues touching Rs12 trillion, the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) remain a substantial and increasing drain on taxpayers’ money, with power sector firms leading the losses and eating up the value of the nation’s assets. According to the Aggregate Annual Report on Federal SOEs for Fiscal Year 2023 released by the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday, gross revenues reached Rs11.

Budget for next year aimed at reducing fiscal deficit: Aurangzeb

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said in the National Assembly (NA) on Tuesday that next year’s fiscal budget will aim to reduce fiscal deficit by focusing on measures that enhance the government’s revenues and reduce unnecessary expenditures. Aurangzeb presented the budget on June 12 in the National Assembly, after which the lower house of parliament mulled over the financial plan for the u

PM Shehbaz confirms IMF role in budget prep

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif confirmed on Tuesday that the federal budget for next year was prepared in collaboration with the Inter­national Monetary Fund (IMF). His remarks came as Finance Minister Muha­mmad Aurangzeb ann­ounced significant ame­ndments to the proposed finance bill for 2024-25. “We had to prepare the budget jointly with the IMF” because of the prevailing circumstances and gro

PSX tumbles on dismal data, economic gloom

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday registered a sharp decline of nearly 580 points, driven by dismal economic data showing a $270 million current account deficit for May 2024 and tough tax measures against exporters in the federal budget for FY25. Earlier, trading began on a positive note, with the KSE-100 index reaching the intra-day high of 79,388.11 points. However, the early momentum q