Year: 2022

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet released on Sunday Rs30 billion funds to help the Pakistan State Oil (PSO) come out of financial constraints and prevent the state-run company from defaulting on international payments. The PSO was heading towards a default situation, as the receivables swelled an all-time high of Rs605 billion. The Petroleum Division had submitted a summary for funds for the PSO to meet the company’s international contractual payments during 1-14 August, 2022. Finance Minister Miftah Ismail presided over the ECC meeting at the Finance Division,…

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Amid strong opposition from small retailers over the collection of taxes through electricity bills, Pakistan Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has decided to exempt the small traders with bills of less than 150 units from the tax as the community staged protests and refused to pay the taxes on energy bills. “We will charge Rs 3,000 even to those shopkeepers who are not registered with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). The tax paid will be full and final. No tax notice will be issued to shops nor will FBR officers visit their…

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Pakistan Businesses Forum (PBF) Vice President Ahmad Jawad expressed grave concerns over environmental issues emerging as safety hazard for Pakistan, and called for taking comprehensive measures to overcome the effects of global warming and other problems related to fast-changing weather patterns. Talking to media here on Sunday, he added that glacial lakes outburst floods, heatwave, environmental degradation, water erosion and extreme weather conditions were some of the major issues facing Pakistan. Ahmad Jawad cited that according to a World Bank report, the climate induced disasters were causing 4 to 6…

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Extreme weather events make Pakistan ‘ground zero’ August 3, 2022 According to the details, Pakistan contributes less than one percent of the world’s greenhouse gases blamed for causing global warming, yet its 220 million people are among the world’s most vulnerable victims of the growing consequences of climate change. Extreme weather even­ts–from scorching hea­tw­aves to now unusually heavy downpours–are causing widespread upheaval and flash floods with hundreds of people killed and millions more displaced across the country. Depleting water supplies are another problem in some parts of the country. Rivers…

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