The federal government on Monday hiked the petrol price by Rs9.99 per litre and that of high-speed diesel (HSD) by Rs6.18/ltr for the next fortnight. A notification from the Finance Division said the new petrol price was Rs275.6/ltr and Rs283.63/ltr for HSD due to price variations in the international market. It said there would be no change in the applicable duties and taxes, adding that they would remain at the existing level. Prices of the two petroleum products were expected to increase by more than Rs7.60 and Rs3.50 because of higher global oil prices. Sources said the prices of petrol and HSD…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
KARACHI: Despite the agreement clinched with the International Monetary Fund last week, the financial sector is not sure about the future trends in interest rate as inflation is expected to shoot up, while political uncertainties are taking more space in the current economic scenario, according to sources in the market. “The staff -level agreement (SLA) with the IMF for $7bn is expected to get final approval soon, but the budgetary measures and frequent hikes in electricity rates will surely push up inflation, which slowed to 12.6 per cent last month,” said a senior banker. Bankers and financial experts believe the…
KARACHI: Businessmen were up in arms against the independent power producers (IPPs), urging the government to revisit the agreement in the larger interest of consumers and industries to bring down the electricity tariffs to help revive industrial and export activities. At a press conference held at the Federation House on Monday on unbearable electricity tariffs due to capacity charges of IPPs, United Business Group (UBG) Patron-in-Chief S.M. Tanveer said the government is paying Rs2 trillion on capacity charges to those IPPs who are not operating. As a result, consumers are facing the negative impact of this huge amount while the…
WASHINGTON: Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Monday that recent data lifts the central bank’s confidence that inflation is coming down towards its two percent target — a trend that signals interest rate cuts on the horizon. “We didn’t gain any additional confidence in the first quarter but the three readings in the second quarter, including the one from last week, do add somewhat to confidence,” Powell said in an interview with David Rubenstein of the Economic Club of Washington DC. While the central bank has focused largely on inflation — which surged in the wake of the pandemic…
ISLAMABAD: The government has set a new ambitious export target of $60 billion over the next three years despite changes to the tax structure in the budget that have sparked widespread discontent among the country’s exporters. Commerce ministry officials craft presentations to support the wishes of every new government without considering the practical challenges faced by the export sector and the export earnings projections of international lenders. Official sources informed Dawn on Monday that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met with his economic team, which included Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, to discuss improving the country’s export earnings. Pakistan’s former Ambassador…
WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden sought to calm a divided nation after his rival Donald Trump survived an assassination bid, saying in a rare Oval Office address Sunday it was time to lower the temperature of America’s hostile politics. “You know, the political record in this country has gotten very heated. It’s time to cool it down,” Biden said in the televised speech, just the third he has given from behind the historic Resolute Desk during his presidency. As the country reeled from images of a bloodied Trump waving his fist after a gunman opened fire at a rally in Pennsylvania,…
Former US president and Republican candidate Donald Trump on Sunday told the New York Post he was “supposed to be dead” after surviving an assassination attempt which he described as a “very surreal experience.” “I’m not supposed to be here, I’m supposed to be dead,” Trump told the Post in an interview aboard his plane en route to Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention where he is set to be confirmed as the party’s presidential candidate. It was a “very surreal experience” he recounted with a white bandage covering his right ear, the paper said. The 78-year-old Trump was hit in the ear…
WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden said on Monday he made a mistake when he told supporters to put rival Donald Trump in a “bullseye” in an effort to focus attention on his rival’s behavior but said Trump regularly employed rhetoric that was inflammatory. “It was a mistake to use the word,” Biden said in an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt. “I meant focus on it, focus on what he’s doing,” Biden said. On July 8, Biden, 81, spoke to some of his biggest donors and said they needed to shift the election campaign’s focus from him and his poor debate performance…
Donald Trump’s Vice Presidential nominee, JD Vance was an active Trump opponent during the Presidential election campaign of 2016 who publically referred to him as an ‘idiot’ and ‘reprehensible’ and in private, compared him to Hitler. Jump to Monday when Trump was naming Vance as his VP for the 2024 elections, the man born in Ohio was already amongst staunch Trump supporters, even when the latter was still politically isolated by other Republicans, Reuters reported. Among Trump followers, one of the drastic transformations worthy of mention is that of James David Vance, formerly known as a “never Trumper”. Most Democrats and…
MILWAUKEE: Donald Trump selected US Senator JD Vance on Monday to serve as his vice presidential running mate, as the Republican Party officially nominated the former president as its 2024 presidential nominee at the start of the party’s national convention in Milwaukee. “As Vice President, JD will continue to fight for our Constitution, stand with our troops, and will do everything he can to help me MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. The four-day convention opened in downtown Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum two days after Trump survived an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, and hours after he…
