Category: Highlights

The government is expected to gradually increase petroleum levy on petrol and other petroleum products to improve revenue collection as targeted under the 2021-22 federal budget and IMF programme. The move would help widen a gap between compressed natural gas (CNG) and petrol prices and may contain import bill. The government had set a Rs610bn target of petroleum levy during the current fiscal year but could actually collect no more than Rs25bn in first two and half months of the first quarter, an official said. The Ministry of Finance in…

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A short bureaucratic note from a brutally degraded microstate in the South Pacific to a little-known institution in the Caribbean is about to change the world. Few people are aware of its potential consequences, but the impacts are certain to be far-reaching. The only question is whether that change will be to the detriment of the global environment or the benefit of international governance. In late June, the island republic of Nauru informed the International Seabed Authority (ISA) based in Kingston, Jamaica of its intention to start mining the seabed…

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Ahead of review talks with the IMF for borrowing $1 billion under Extended Fund Facility (EFF), minister Tarin also assured of Pakistan’s commitment to the IMF program. “The government is committed to the IMF program and hopes to successfully complete the upcoming review as well as Article IV consultations,” a statement quoted Tarin as saying. Pakistan has to present a viable plan to erase the monster of circular debt, hike power and gas tariffs as well as grant autonomy to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). A bill for introducing…

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President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan heading a delegation visited Turbat, Baluchistan to explore the business and investment opportunities for its members in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) that has been planned for the area. The delegation was representing various sectors including real estate and construction, IT, pharmaceuticals, steel, solar energy, edible oil, marble, granite and flour milling, said a press release issued here. Turbat is a huge area in which a new SEZ had been planned that offers lucrative incentives for investment. During…

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Energy generated in the Emirate of Sharjah amounted to 5.4 billion kilowatt-hours during the first half of the year, according to latest statistics by the Sharjah Electricity, Water and Gas Authority (SEWA). Figures indicated that the residential sector in the Emirate of Sharjah is the most in consuming electricity at 41.19 percent, and the commercial sector is in 2nd place with 35.18 percent, followed by the government sector with 12.03 percent, then the industrial sector by 11.48 percent, and the agricultural sector by 0.13 percent. Engineer Issa Obaid Al Suwaidi, Director of Electricity Production at SEWA, confirmed that the strategy of implementing SEWA projects in the field of…

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