LAHORE: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reform Ahsan Iqbal has put his weight behind the formal domestic packaged fruit juice industry, assuring the manufacturers that he would push for the abolition of 20pc federal excise duty (FED) on its products in the upcoming budget. The excise tax has resulted in a 41pc drop in the sale volumes of packaged fruit juices, which has led to a drastic reduction in the fruit and pulp purchases from the local farmers in the last two years and negatively impacted juice exports by making them uncompetitive. “The minister has given assurance during a…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
ISLAMABAD: The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has approved a scheme of arrangements for the merger of Intermarket Securities Ltd (IMS) with EFG Hermes Pakistan Ltd (EFG). IMS is a publicly unlisted company that provides brokerage services. At the same time, EFG is a publicly listed company that offers brokerage services in stocks and financial brokerage, corporate finance, and financial research. The Phase-I competition assessment by the CCP identified ‘Brokerage Services’ as the relevant product market. The assessment further revealed that post-transaction, IMS will dissolve without winding up, and EFG will be the surviving entity. Under the scheme, the agreed…
ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Monday underscored the long-term mutual relations between Pakistan and the United States. The minister informed US Ambassador Donald Blome, who called on him, about the successful completion of the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) and that the government was engaged with the International Monetary Fund to build upon the reforms under the SBA. He highlighted the government’s priority reform areas, including increasing the tax-to-GDP ratio through end-to-end digitisation, bringing the under-taxed sectors into the tax net, and tax administrative reforms. The minister reiterated the prime minister’s commitment to privatising State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), which has sparked interest from local and foreign…
SEOUL: North Korea’s latest satellite launch ended in a mid-air explosion on Monday night, Pyongyang said, hours after its announcement of the planned projectile was criticised by Seoul and Tokyo. The launch of the Malligyong-1-1 reconnaissance satellite “exploded in the air during the first flight and failed to launch”, the country’s National Aerospace Technology Administration said in a statement carried by state media, adding the “cause of the accident was the reliability of the newly developed liquid oxygen and oil engine”. Japanese broadcaster NHK ran footage of what appeared to be a flaming projectile in the night sky, which then burst into…
CHINA has backed Pakistan’s probe into the March 26 suicide attack on its engineers in Bisham, saying eliminating terrorism is in the “interest of all countries”, the Xinhua news agency reported on Monday. The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson’s response came a day after Pakistan pinned the attack’s responsibility on the leadership of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), based in Afghanistan, and hostile foreign intelligence agencies. While Pakistan demanded Afghanistan to act against terrorists operating out of its soil, the Chinese official’s remarks didn’t specifically name Kabul. “China attaches great importance to the important progress made by the Pakistani side on the investigation of the terrorist attack,” Mao Ning said in…
DRESDEN: French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday raised concerns over “ill wind”, around the rise of the ‘far-right’ in European politics. Macron voiced his concerns during a state visit to Germany, ahead of the EU elections. Macron noted a “fascination with authoritarian regimes” in Europe, whilst singling out the ‘Viktor Orban’ government in Hungary for criticism. “Everywhere in our democracies these ideas thrive, pushed by the extremes and in particular the far-right” Macron said. Macron was delivering a speech in the eastern city of Dresden, which has been a ‘bastion of support’, for Germany’s ‘far-right’. “This ill wind is blowing…
BRUSSELS: Gaza hospitals are reduced to practising “mediaeval medicine”, a British surgeon recently returned from the bombarded Palestinian territory said on Monday. “It’s absolutely true to describe it as mediaeval medicine. It is what you would hear about or read about what would be happening in Europe maybe 300, 400 years ago,” Dr Khaled Dawas, head of gastrointestinal surgery at University College London Hospitals, said in an interview. Dawas described dire conditions in Gaza, with medical staff operating virtually without supplies, power supplies intermittent and patients lying on the floor. He returned at the end of April from his two-week…
MOSCOW: Moscow has invited the Taliban to its biggest annual economic forum and is considering a proposal to remove the group from its terror list, a Russian diplomat was quoted as saying on Monday. Since the Taliban seized power in Aug 2021 as US-led forces withdrew after 20 years, Moscow has been slowly building ties with the Taliban, though the movement is still officially outlawed in Russia. The foreign and justice ministries have reported to President Vladimir Putin on the issue of removing the ban, Zamir Kabulov, an official at the Russian foreign ministry, told state news agency TASS. Some questions remain, Kabulov was…
VIENNA: Planned talks between Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog aimed at breaking the impasse over Tehran’s nuclear programme have been put on hold after the death of President Ebrahim Raisi, an agency report said on Monday. The temporary suspension of talks between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) comes as its chief Rafael Grossi reiterated his concern over public statements made in Iran regarding its nuclear weapons capability. In the report, Grossi said that “further public statements made in Iran…regarding its technical capabilities to produce nuclear weapons and possible changes to Iran’s nuclear doctrine only increase… concerns about the…
BAGHDAD: Iraq’s interior ministry and police on Monday stated that two Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants had been attacked in Baghdad, over the last 48 hours. The attacks damaged the restaurants’; however, no injuries were reported. Since the attacks, Iraqi security forces have arrested ‘some’ suspects. Initial investigations depict that the restaurants were targeted over the perceived support of ‘US-based’ brands for Israel (amidst the war in the Gaza Strip), according to police sources. Police sources said the first attack occurred in the early hours of Sunday. Two men riding a motorcycle threw a make-shift bomb at a branch of the…
