Amid growing official promotion of Bitcoin adoption, both the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) on Thursday said that cryptocurrency remains banned in the country and all its transactions are illegal under current regulations. During a meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue, Finance Secretary Imdadullah Bosal said that although
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) halted its three-day losing streak on Tuesday, posting modest gains on some value-hunting. However, the short-term market outlook remains bearish as investors exercise caution ahead of the unveiling of taxation measures for the next fiscal year. Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation noted that the equity market showed some recovery amid speculations in the pr
THE global experience shows that a cashless economy, where digital payments are the norm, may offer numerous economic benefits: increased convenience for consumers and businesses, greater transparency in financial transactions, enhanced security against fraud and theft, improved economic documentation, wider financial inclusion, lower tax evasion, etc. No wonder the world is moving fast towards
WHAT’S the budget if not ‘strategic’? A mere accounting exercise; an attempt at balancing income and expenditure of the government? Well, the fact is that most budgets in the past have been devoid of any strategic direction. Now, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has promised to introduce “bold measures” in the upcoming budget to steer the economy in a “strategic direction”. What he means by
Despite projected remittance inflows of $38 billion in the current fiscal year (FY25), Pakistan’s per expatriate remittance remains significantly lower than that of peer countries. “Although remittances have grown at a compound annual rate of 6.1 per cent from 2013 to 2023, per expatriate remittance remains low in comparison to other countries in the region,” said a report released by the Polic