News

Remittances rise 11pc to reach $30.3bn

The country received over $30 billion in remittances in FY24, showing an increase of 10.7 per cent over the last fiscal year, while inflows for last month jumped by 44pc year-on-year, the central bank reported on Tuesday. The country received almost $3bn more than the receipts for last year, but it was still below the record inflows of $31.3bn in FY22. The growth in remittances has already exce

US tightens aluminium, steel import rules

The United States unveiled stri­cter rules Wednesday on steel and aluminium imp­orts from Mexico, moving to prevent China-origin goods from avoiding tariffs. The election-season actions by President Joe Biden’s administration mark the latest in a series of efforts to guard against excess industrial capacity in China, which Wash­ington has warned could bring a flood of unfairly priced goods to o

Nepra urges govt to correct power generation contracts

The National Elec­tric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Wednesday called on the government to seriously work on corrections in power generation contracts to provide substantial relief amid widespread public outcry over a tariff increase of up to Rs7.12 per unit. During a public hearing, Nepra also announced it had taken notice of last month’s overbilling by distribution companies due to ch

Cash-strapped govt notifies hefty hikes in salaries, pensions

The government on Wednesday notified 15 per cent increase in pensions and 20-25pc increase in salaries of the public servants with effect from July 1. In a series of notifications issued by the Ministry of Finance, the government also restricted public servants from drawing more than Rs1 million per annum on account of their membership on the boards of directors of various corporate entities.

NA clears SOEs bill; PM says no wheat exports yet

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif assured the National Assembly on Wednesday that the government has not decided to export wheat from the country, even as the State-Owned Enterprises (Governance and Operations) Bill, 2024 was rushed through the legislature. This controversial ame­n­dment, which allows the government to remove board members of SOEs based on recommendat­ions from the board nomination