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World Bank wants unified GST collection agency

The World Bank has asked Pakistan to adopt a national fiscal policy by aligning federal and provincial spending with constitutional mandates, merge various federal and provincial revenue agencies into a single general sales tax (GST) collection agency, and effectively tax agriculture, capital gains and real estate in the next fiscal year’s budget. “Implement the new Fiscal Responsibility and De

Stocks manage modest gains in cautious trading

In a volatile session, the equities market closed in the green on Tuesday on rising hopes of an imminent interest rate cut following a sharp dece­l­eration in CPI-based inflation to 20.68 per cent in March. Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation Ltd said the market showed recovery as investors weigh the 22-month lowest inflation reading below the Ministry of Finance’s projection of 23.5pc, whi

WB expects economic activity in Pakistan to ‘remain subdued’, projects GDP growth at 1.8pc in FY24

The World Bank on Tuesday said that it expected economic activity in the country to “remain subdued”, adding that the GDP was expected to grow at 1.8 per cent in the current fiscal year. “Pakistan is expected to continue facing foreign exchange liquidity issues due to the persistent trade deficit and limited access to external financing,” said the World Bank’s latest report titled “Pakistan Dev

MTL barred from selling tractors to third party

The Ministry of Industries and Production has directed Millat Tractors Ltd (MTL) to sell 954 tractors to farmers as per the contract and not supply these vehicles to any third party. The ministry has written to MTL after the Sindh High Court’s order regarding its contractual obligation to sell these tractors to the original buyer. The SHC has issued an order relating to the supply of tracto

Brent oil hits highest price this year

Global oil benchmark Brent on Tuesday rose above $89 a barrel for the first time since October, albeit briefly, as oil supplies faced fresh threats from Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy facilities and escalating conflict in the Middle East. Brent futures for June delivery were up $1.35, or 1.5 per cent, at $88.76 a barrel by 11:40 a.m. EDT (1540 GMT) after touching a peak of $89.08. US We