Economic Coordination Committee green-lights more sugar exports – Business
ISLAMABAD: On the demand of the sugar industry, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Friday allowed the export of another 500,000 tonnes of sugar with the condition to start sugarcane crushing by Nov 21 and approved a compensation package for the families of the deceased Chinese workers of the Port Qasim Power […]
Govt plans separate tax policy cell – Business
ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to withdraw the Inland Revenue Service’s (IRS) powers to propose tax increases and place it with a special cell to be constituted under the federal finance minister. Since 2019, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has assured the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that tax policymaking and collection would be independent. […]
PPP pushes talks forward with draft amendment – Pakistan
• Party makes its proposals public, outlines provisions for creating federal and provincial constitutional courts• Stalemate persists in the parliamentary committee as PTI terms PML-N’s suggestions ‘vague’• Govt ‘gives Bilawal one-month’ to evolve consensus; Fazl confirms receiving govt draft ISLAMABAD: There was a whiff of consensus on the proposed constitutional amendments during talks between the […]
Govt pledges PSDP cuts, other reforms amid IMF criticism – Business
• Lender warns Pakistan on SIFC, Sovereign Wealth Fund• Govt promises to adjust gas, power tariffs, expand tax net to agriculture, retail sectors• Plans to privatise four power sector entities this year ISLAMABAD: Amid criticism from the IMF over the Special Investment Facilitation Council and Sovereign Wealth Fund, the government has committed to drastically reduce […]
21 killed, 10 coal mines destroyed in Duki carnage – Pakistan
QUETTA: At least 21 coal miners, including three Afghan nationals, were killed and six others injured in a deadly terrorist attack at a mines area of a private company, some 10km from Duki district headquarters, in the wee hours of Friday. Officials said that militants fired rockets, hurled hand grenades and opened indiscriminate fire, killing […]
Israel draws world ire as two more UN staff injured in Lebanon – World
• Lebanon asks UN to seek immediate truce• Israel targets head of Hezbollah’s security apparatus BEIRUT: Israel claimed that its forces fired at a ‘threat’ near a UN peacekeeping position on Friday in Lebanon, acknowledging that a “hit” was responsible for wounding two Blue Helmets in an incident that has sparked a fierce diplomatic backlash. […]
Russian court orders arrest of CNN reporter – World
MOSCOW: A Russian court on Friday ordered the arrest in absentia of a CNN journalist, Nick Paton Walsh, for reporting from Ukrainian-held territory in Russia’s Kursk region. Moscow has launched several criminal proceedings against Western journalists who had produced reports from the Kursk region after Kyiv’s surprise August incursion. It has charged them with illegally […]
IMF raises alarm over banks’ heavy reliance on govt – Business
ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cautioned that the entrenched nexus between the government, the central bank and the banking sector is detrimental to the country’s economy and financial sector, as this relationship can lead to conflicting policies, regulatory challenges and a debt-inflation trade-off. In a special chapter in the IMF’s latest report on […]