The government may soon abolish regulatory bodies of the devolved subjects, particularly health and education, do away with transport facilities for all the federal ministries and divisions, phase out non-executive staff at the Centre and merge aviation and maritime divisions with the defence ministry as part of an upcoming restructuring and austerity drive. The government has been under critic
Pakistani shares extended losses to the third straight day on Thursday amid falling trading volume, thanks to mounting political noise and uncertainty about the economic outlook. Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed under pressure on institutional profit-taking in blue-chis banking and oil scrips. He said falling banking spreads amid easing monetary policy, surging unre
THERE was one line in Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb’s remarks last Sunday that caught my eye. In his press conference on that day, he announced that Islamabad is seeking the re-profiling of $27 billion worth of debt owed to China, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as per a news report. He did not bring up the subject of debt re-profiling himself, preferring to focus his remarks on less sensitive
I COMPLETELY empathise and sympathise [with the people],” remarked Pakistan’s finance minister as the tax-loaded Finance Bill 2024 was passed by the National Assembly. In a country where more than 10 million children are suffering from undernutrition, the finance minister was keen to observe that Pakistan is “making positive progress” before imposing a ‘milk tax’ on infant formula. Such remarks
During the last fiscal year that ended on June 30, Pakistan’s exports (fob value) increased to $31.1 billion whereas imports consumed $53.2bn, leaving a trade deficit of $22.1bn, according to the latest balance of payments statement. Although this volume of deficit is lower compared to the deficit of $24.8bn recorded a year earlier, the country’s precarious external finance situation requires f