ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has wound up an emergency fuel subsidy programme for motorcyclists, farmers and transport operators, the government said on Monday, as a sharp retreat in global oil prices following a U.S.-Iran ceasefire rendered the relief scheme redundant.
Economy
Finance panel overhauls tax bill with digital monitors, EV duty tiers ahead of final vote
ISLAMABAD: The parliamentary finance committee on Monday approved the Finance Bill 2026 with approximately 30 amendments that introduce mandatory digital production monitoring for manufacturers, restructure electric vehicle import duties by price tier and authorise a centralised banking data repository — sweeping changes to the country’s tax architecture as the government intensifies its campaign against evasion before a final legislative vote expected this week.
Pakistan receives seventh LNG cargo since April as Hormuz flows resume
KARACHI: A Qatari liquefied natural gas tanker docked at Pakistan’s Port Qasim on Monday, the country’s seventh LNG delivery since April, as Islamabad moves to rebuild energy reserves following the crisis triggered by Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz earlier this year.
Telecom land-grab bill stalls in Senate as lawmakers warn it threatens constitutional property rights
By Staff Reporter ISLAMABAD: A sweeping overhaul of Pakistan’s telecommunications laws has run into fierce parliamentary resistance, with the Senate standing committee demanding a 45-day
Pakistan bets on bond markets as Gulf alliances show signs of strain
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is preparing to raise more than $4.5 billion from international bond markets and foreign commercial banks in the coming fiscal year — a sharp and deliberate pivot away from the bilateral financing arrangements with Gulf states and China that have kept the country solvent for much of the past decade.
Government and PTI find rare common ground as Fata tax deadline looms
ISLAMABAD: Senior government ministers held rare face-to-face talks with opposition PTI lawmakers on Friday, pledging to lobby the International Monetary Fund to preserve tax exemptions for Pakistan’s former tribal regions that are due to expire at the end of this month — a deadline that has united adversaries across the parliamentary divide in a way little else has managed.
Petrol pumped below Rs300 as Pakistan claims peacemaking dividend
ISLAMABAD: The government has announced its largest single-day reduction in fuel prices in recent memory, slashing petrol by Rs74 per litre and high-speed diesel by Rs67 per litre — a move Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif presented on Friday as both an economic dividend of easing global oil markets and a vindication of Islamabad’s months-long diplomatic gambit to broker peace between Washington and Tehran.
Pakistan gets $700 million ADB loan to fix one of Asia’s most underpenetrated insurance markets
ISLAMABAD: The Asian Development Bank has approved a $700 million policy-based loan to restructure Pakistan’s chronically underdeveloped insurance sector, the Manila-based lender said, as Islamabad accelerates a push to modernise financial markets that remain almost entirely dominated by banks.
FDI shrinks 69 percent as power sector pulls back
Pakistan’s appeal to foreign capital deteriorated sharply in the fiscal year through May, with total foreign investment plunging 69% to $478 million from $1.56 billion a year earlier, as a retreat from the country’s dominant power sector and turbulence in global equity markets eroded inflows that Islamabad has long counted on to shore up its balance of payments.
Pakistan tech exports surge 20 percent to $4.2bn, fueled by freelancer boom
Pakistan’s technology exports climbed 20% in the first 11 months of fiscal year 2026 to $4.2 billion, driven by a near-doubling of freelancer earnings and sustained international demand for the country’s software and digital services — figures that underscore how dramatically the sector has outpaced the broader economy.