Category: Latest News

ISLAMABAD: Muhammad Aurangzeb, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, has revealed that Pakistan spends nearly one-fourth of its total import bill on petroleum products, underscoring the country’s continued dependence on imported energy. In a written reply submitted during the National Assembly’s Question Hour on Friday, the minister stated that petroleum imports accounted for 22.2 percent of the country’s total imports during July–March of fiscal year 2025-26, making Pakistan’s external account highly sensitive to fluctuations in global oil prices. Aurangzeb informed the House that the government collected Rs1.342 trillion through petroleum…

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ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has set Pakistan’s petroleum levy collection target at Rs1.73 trillion for fiscal year 2026-27, an increase of Rs259 billion over the current year, while also tightening conditions to ensure the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) meets its revenue goals, according to the Fund’s staff-level report released on Friday. The report revealed that the federal and provincial governments will jointly undertake additional revenue measures worth Rs860 billion. Of this amount, the federal government will generate Rs430 billion through new taxation and enforcement measures, while provinces…

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KARACHI: Stakeholders in Pakistan’s renewable energy sector have called on the Engineering Development Board (EDB) to reduce taxes on lithium battery cells to encourage local manufacturing and accelerate the country’s transition toward clean energy. According to a statement issued on Friday, Irfan Allahawala, Chairman of the Pakistan Renewable Energy Development Forum, said lithium battery cells are currently subject to nearly 50 percent taxation, making domestic battery assembly commercially unviable. He noted that the heavy tax burden has significantly increased battery prices, creating a major obstacle to the wider adoption of…

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ISLAMABAD: Amid global energy disruptions triggered by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the Energy Transitions Commission (ETC) has cautioned governments against expanding fossil fuel infrastructure, urging instead a rapid transition toward renewable energy to strengthen resilience against future geopolitical shocks. In its latest study, the ETC — a coalition of global energy leaders committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 — argued that fossil fuel-based energy systems are highly vulnerable to supply disruptions because they depend on continuous commodity flows through critical chokepoints such as the Strait of…

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