British American Tobacco on Tuesday warned it may pull out investment from Pakistan if the government further increases taxes on cigarettes in the budget, stating that existing taxation has already caused a 38% slump in sales and increased the size of the illicit sector to 58%. The company conveyed its concerns about the shrinking regulated tobacco sector and the growing illicit cigarette marke
Pakistani shares experienced selling pressure on Monday as uncertainty surrounding the upcoming budgetary measures caused the benchmark KSE 100 index to turn red despite an initially positive start amid low volume. Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said the market turned bearish on reports that the huge Rs12.5 trillion proposed tax collection target for FY25 would impact industrial earni
As Pakistan faces mounting economic challenges, the government’s ambitious proposal to raise Rs1.2 trillion to Rs1.3tr in the upcoming budget through new taxation measures signals a bold attempt to stabilise the nation’s fiscal health. However, the effectiveness of these measures is tempered by the inherent weaknesses in Pakistan’s tax system, which is fragmented and unfair and leaves entire se
The new Khyber Pakhtunkhwa budget for the next financial year seems to be a smartly crafted document that commits to producing a significant surplus of Rs100 billion while proposing a slew of populist and expansionary measures in line with the ruling PTI’s election manifesto. The estimate of the budgeted provincial receipts of Rs1.75 trillion appears a bit on the ‘higher side’ as some of the re
Although Pakistan is globally ranked ninth in rice production, it claims fourth position as a rice exporter after India, Vietnam, and Thailand. This financial year ending on June 30, rice exports from Pakistan may touch the 5.8 million tonnes mark, a fraction short of the magical 6m tonnes figure, mainly because of favourable weather, availability of farm inputs, and the Indian ban on non-Basma