Last week, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb reported “very good progress” on privatising loss-making Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and outsourcing three airports. Meanwhile, the Privatisation Commission of Pakistan is reportedly busy devising a new three-phase strategy to privatise state-owned entities (SOEs), barring those considered of national or strategic importance. The curr
The country is stuck in a low-growth trap. A shift in the economic model from consumption to export-oriented growth necessitates the availability of affordable electricity. The age-old practice of passing on prices to the consumer will only add more burdens on the consumer and further restrict growth. Electricity consumption per capita has consistently declined over the last five years, wherein
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has announced the commencement of a sweeping registration drive under the Tajir Dost Scheme, designed to integrate traders and wholesalers into the formal tax framework by April 30. Scheduled to start on April 1, this initiative facilitates free registration and extends a variety of tax-related benefits to incentivise participation. The FBR has warned that
Tax collection by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) fell short of the target by almost Rs1 billion in March, mainly due to a drop in domestic taxes and customs duty, provisional figures showed on Saturday. The revenue collection in March stood at Rs878bn against a projected target of Rs879bn. It increased by 32.62pc compared with Rs662bn in the corresponding month last year. These figures w
Despite the rupee’s impressive recovery against the dollar, which led to a declining trend in the landed cost of imported items, mainly petroleum products, over the last six months, consumers have not experienced any significant price relief. This situation indicates that the market players have deliberately not passed on the real impact of the global decline in commodity prices, thanks to the