Pakistan's inflation rate fell to a nearly decade-low level of 2.4% in January, bringing the central bank under pressure to further reduce interest rates to single digits by abandoning its extra-cautious monetary policy. Although the pace of increase in prices was at one of the lowest levels since November 2015, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Monday "expressed conce
The federal government on Monday signed an agreement with the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) to defer by one year a $1.2 billion payment on oil imports. State broadcaster PTV showed the signing ceremony between a delegation of the fund led by its CEO Sultan Bin Abdul Rehman Al Marshad and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The premier welcomed the signing of the oil import financing facility,
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Monday thanked the provincial governments for imposing the agriculture income tax (AIT), in line with the commitment made to the IMF. According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Finance, Mr Aurangzeb praised the passage of the AIT law, a key milestone in efforts to broaden the tax base. The statement followed the Sindh Assembly’s passage of the
The government is making another attempt to privatise PIA after the previous effort in which a sole investor submitted a bid of Rs10 billion, significantly lower than officials’ expectations. The lack of interest shown by the buyers during the first round of privatisation was due to multiple reasons, including the 18 per cent GST on the purchase of new aircraft and the national carrier’s liabil
Even though inflation has fallen to a nine-year low, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet appeared unsure at a meeting on Monday whether it benefited the common people and expressed concern over rising prices of critical kitchen items like sugar, vegetables and edible oil despite declining international prices. The meeting of the ECC, presided over by Finance Minister Muhamm