News

Pak-Hungary investment treaty underway

Pakistan is in the process of signing a bilateral investment treaty with Hungary and the first round of negotiations were held in Islamabad, Minister of State and Chairman Board of Investment (BoI) Muhammad Azfar Ahsan said on Wednesday. Speaking at the foundation of AcquaHatch International Private Limited, a Pak-Hungarian joint venture (JV), the BoI chief said ties between the two countries w

Shaukat Tarin wants export strategy for surplus potato

As the country is all-set to harvest a record potato crop, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin on Wednesday directed the Ministry of National Food Security and Research to come up with a strategy to export the surplus to ensure farmers get a fair price for their produce. Chairing the National Price Monitoring Comm­ittee (NPMC) meeting, Mr Tarin also directed setting up of a production forecasting un

"Underprivileged’ employees of federal govt to get disparity allowance

Federal government employees from BPS 1 to 19 grades will now get a disparity allowance from March 1, except those who are already getting extra allowances. In this regard, the government on Wednesday notified 15 per cent Disparity Reduction Allowance (DRA) on the running basic pay to the “underprivileged employees” up to grade 19. The government announced the DRA earlier this month a day ah

Govt secures $47.55bn foreign loans in 43 months

Struggling with current account challenges and foreign exchange reserves, the PTI government borrowed more than $12 billion from abroad in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (7MFY22), almost 81 per cent higher than foreign loans it secured in comparable period last year. The monthly report of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MEA) on foreign inflows showed that the government cro

Market watch: Stocks fall as global crude oil rises

Pakistan Stock Exchange extended losses on Tuesday, as jittery investors took cue from the global equities’ sell-off amid rising geopolitical tensions that lifted international crude oil prices. The benchmark KSE-100 index, in the absence of any positive triggers, stayed in the red zone throughout the session. Index heavyweight sectors, mainly technology and cement, remained under pressure a