KARACHI: The stock market witnessed volatile trading on Tuesday amidst mounting international oil prices, according to Arif Habib Ltd. Global coal prices also hovered on the higher side, leaving stocks in the cement sector under pressure. Investors failed to sustain the physiological level of 46,000 points and resorted to across-the-board profit-taking. Trading remained dull mainly because the market hunted unsuccessfully for a fresh trigger to move up from the current level, said JS Global. As a result, the KSE-100 index gained 106.7 points or 0.23 per cent to close at 45,947.95 points. The trading volume increased 24.8pc to 187.4 million…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet will take up today an 11-point agenda that includes the extension of lease to Chinese contractors of the Saindak copper-gold project and the revival of tax concessions to Chinese power producers as part of the efforts to attract investment to the second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). To be presided over by Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, the ECC will also consider a payment plan for public-sector power producers on the pattern of independent power producers (IPPs) as part of revised tariff agreements of 2020. Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC)…
ISLAMABAD: The World Bank has sought at least four crucial ‘prior actions’ for the second phase of a multi-million dollar loan programme to advance the reform process – Resilient Institutions Strengthening Programme (RISE-II). The key prior actions would require the authorities to ensure harmonisation of General Sales Tax (GST) among the federal and provincial governments, control rising debt burden through amendments to the Fiscal Responsibility & Debt Limitation Act 2005, bring uniformity in provincial property valuations for tax purposes and ensure complete clearance of GST refunds. RISE-II is an extension of an earlier programme approved in 2019 and is meant…
ISLAMABAD: The United States remained the top export destination of Pakistani products during the first six months of 2021-22, followed by China and the United Kingdom. Total exports to the US increased by 45.95 per cent to $3.32 billion during July-December 2021-22 against $2.27bn in 6MFY21, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday. Exports to China grew by 59.05pc to $1.33bn against $837.91 million in the corresponding period last year. The UK was the third top export destination showing an increase of 19.79pc to $1.14bn in 6MFY22 against $956.524m in the same period last…
LAHORE: Pakistan should not be limited to taking measures related to tax alone, but it should also find other ways to enhance the competitiveness of the economy, said IMF’s Resident Representative Ms Esther Perez Ruiz. Speaking to the office-bearers of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday, she said the purpose of the IMF programme is to promote macroeconomic stability and the country’s fiscal and monetary policies must promote the former’s vision in this regard. She said the IMF programme’s aim is to bring a set of policies that could promote sustainable and inclusive growth. She maintained that…
LONDON: Britain’s embattled Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced renewed pressure on Tuesday to apologise to opposition leader Keir Starmer for what critics have called a misleading “Trumpian” attack on him last week. Johnson — already facing calls to step down after months of scandals — accused Starmer of failing in 2013 as head of the country’s prosecution service to take action against notorious celebrity paedophile Jimmy Savile. Labour leader Starmer, who led the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) from 2008 to 2013, was not personally involved in the case but has previously apologised on behalf of the CPS for its failures.…
MANANJARY: The death toll from Madagascar’s latest cyclone rose to 29 on Tuesday as residents of a devastated coastal town tried to fix their homes or build temporary shacks from wood and palm fronds scattered by the violent winds. Cyclone Batsirai slammed into the Indian Ocean island late on Saturday, battering the southeastern coastline until it moved away late on Sunday, leaving 91,000 people with damaged or destroyed homes, according to the state disaster relief agency. It was Madagascar’s second destructive storm in two weeks, after Cyclone Ana killed 55 people and displaced 130,000 in a different area of the…
UNITED NATIONS: The outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) still has between 3,000 and 5,000 fighters in Afghanistan, reports a team of UN monitors. The report, sent to the UN Security Council on Monday, also warns that a Taliban-run “Afghanistan has the potential to become a safe haven for Al Qaeda and a number of terror groups with ties to the Central Asia region and beyond”. The US government and various UN agencies have long claimed that Al Qaeda has been active in Afghanistan since the beginning of the Afghan jihad. US officials also say that despite a public pledge to curb Al…
OTTAWA: The busiest land crossing from the United States to Canada remained shut on Tuesday, Canada’s border agency said, after Canadian truckers blocked lanes on Monday to protest their government’s pandemic control measures. Drivers demanding an end to federal Covid-19 vaccine mandates for cross-border traffic began blocking the streets of Canada’s capital, Ottawa, on Jan 28. Since Sunday night, police have started slowly taking back control, seizing thousands of litres of fuel and removing an oil tanker truck. Trucks started blocking traffic at the Ambassador Bridge, located between Lake Erie and Lake Huron, late on Monday. Canada’s Border Services Agency…
NABLUS: Israeli forces killed three Palestinians on Tuesday during a daytime raid against what Israel described as a “terrorist cell”, leaving a vehicle in the West Bank city of Nablus riddled with bullet holes. Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz praised the raid and said he had ordered an increase in “counterterrorism activities” due to recent shootings in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel’s army since the 1967 Six Day War. The Palestinian health ministry and Israel’s security forces both confirmed the three deaths. Israel’s border police and internal security agency, the Shin Bet, released a statement identifying…
