ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called on business community to help chart a path toward export-led growth, telling industrialists and entrepreneurs that any expansion not driven by exports would ultimately prove hollow.
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Pakistan ends bank role in pension life checks, shields accounts from dormancy
ISLAMABAD: The finance ministry stripped commercial banks of their role in verifying pensioners are alive, shifting that responsibility to the country’s national identity database in a bid to unclog a payment system that has long frustrated the nation’s retirees.
Pakistan rallies behind Saudi Arabia after Houthi strikes wound 73, hit energy facilities
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif moved swiftly on Tuesday to condemn a wave of Houthi missile and drone strikes on Saudi Arabia, reaffirming Pakistan’s solidarity with the kingdom within hours of an assault that wounded 73 people and ignited fires at oil facilities across four southern Saudi cities — a response that leaned heavily on a trilateral defence pact Islamabad, Riyadh and Ankara had only recently finalised.
ECC approves Rs6.6 billion for armoured fleet ahead of 2027 SCO summit
ISLAMABAD: The country’s economic decision-making body cleared 6.6 billion rupees to buy 30 bulletproof vehicles for next year’s Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, scaling back a request that was nearly double that size, according to a finance ministry statement on Monday.
Pump prices jump as Hormuz tensions send oil to six-week high
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan raised gasoline and diesel prices on Monday, reversing a partial cut from earlier in the week, as intensifying conflict between the United States and Iran pushed global crude toward its highest levels in six weeks and threatened further supply disruptions from the Middle East.
Pakistan approves uniform grid fees to launch power trading market
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s power regulator approved uniform grid-access fees for large electricity users, clearing a final hurdle before the country launches competitive trading in a market long dominated by state-run distributors.
EU warns Pakistan not to take GSP+ trade perks for granted- report
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan cannot assume its preferential access to European Union markets will continue, the bloc’s ambassador to Islamabad said, as the two sides engage in high-stakes talks over a trading arrangement worth billions of euros to the South Asian nation’s export economy.
Pakistan taps international market to offload leftover sugar from last year’s costly import binge
KARACHI: The state trading company has put more than 107,000 tons of white refined sugar up for international sale, moving to clear the remnants of an emergency import that has become a case study in the country’s chronic mismanagement of its sugar supply.
As province fight sharpens, President Zardari cuts short London visit
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan will cut short a visit to London and return home Sept. 8, according to people familiar with his travel plans, as a dispute over restructuring the country’s provinces threatens to strain the ruling coalition.
CM Afridi completes contested run to Karachi, sharpens fight over jailed ex-premier
KARACHI — Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi rolled into this port city in the early hours of Monday after a drive of more than six hours through detours, blocked highways, and what his party described as deliberately dug-up pavement, capping a five-day mobilisation tour that has hardened the standoff between his party and Pakistan’s provincial authorities ahead of a nationwide protest planned for September 27.