Category: News & Announcement

The rise in disposable face masks and gloves being used to prevent the spread of coronavirus is adding to the glut of plastic pollution threatening the health of oceans and marine life, environmentalists warn. On Wednesday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order, effective this weekend, that New Yorkers must now wear a mask when out in public in situations where social distancing isn’t possible. The CDC advises wearing cloth masks in public (although President Trump says it’s not mandatory and he “doesn’t see it for himself”) due to the concern that Covid-19 can be spread…

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ISLAMABAD: The independent power producers (IPPs), the major stakeholders in power generation, have written a letter to federal minister for energy Omar Ayub Khan, strongly condemning Muhammad Ali, head of the government’s committee for power sector audit, circular debt resolution and future roadmap over his alleged unprecedented bias. The letter stated that Ali expressed his unjust bias against IPPs on media, despite his past was known to everyone, and his appointment as head of the government’s committee has not only stigmatised the entire process but also made the report questionable.…

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ISLAMABAD: The head of legal department of Priv­ate Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB), Barrister Asghar Khan, tendered his resignation on Monday after developing differences over issues relating to payment of capacity charges worth billions of rupees to independent power producers and transactions about new power projects on coal and liquefied natural gas. According to sources, Barrister Khan had written a series of dissenting notes on the new power policy, processing of new coal- and LNG-based projects and ‘undue favours’ to IPPs. An official confirmed that Mr Khan had submitted his…

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Commercial creditors need to support debt relief for the poorest countries and cannot just “free ride” on a suspension in debt payments by official bilateral creditors, World Bank President David Malpass said on Friday. Malpass told the World Bank’s Development Committee that the debt relief initiative agreed this week by the Group of 20 economies and the Paris Club was a “huge achievement” to help the poorest countries deal with the health and economic impact of the new coronavirus pandemic. He said the bank would look at ways of further…

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ISLAMABAD:  Pakistan’s public debt may rise to 90% of national economy or Rs37.7 trillion by June this year and its balance of payments situation may worsen due to severe health and economic shocks in the aftermath of the deadly pandemic, a new International Monetary Fund (IMF) report reveals. In its report, the IMF has disclosed that Pakistan will have to increase its collection of petroleum levy by 65% to Rs489 billion and tax collection by 31% to Rs5.1 trillion in the next fiscal year, if the country is keen to…

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