Tag: Debt

The federal government is expected to post a deficit of Rs850 billion or four percent of GDP, most of it to be financed through...

As the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led government is set to announce its fourth budget on Friday, Pakistan’s stock of public debt stands at Rs...

Severe petrol shortage has hit Lahore in the last couple of days. A survey of various areas revealed that around 70 percent of the...

Europe faced the spectre of Greek calls for new financial aid as Athens’ ‘catastrophic’ finances returned to haunt stressed eurozone states, despite efforts to...

The next couple of months will be crucial for Pakistan State Oil (PSO) as the government has declared its intent to ease the circular...

KARACHI - The lingering circular debt issue, coupled with heightened security concerns, has forced local oil and gas exploration companies to curtail exploration and development (E & D) activities. Industry analysts observed that E & D activities depicted a significant decline of 40 percent in the nine months of FY11, as a meager 30 wells were spudded in contrast with 50 wells in the same period last year. They further underlined that bifurcation of the number reflects the gravity of

WASHINGTON - Ratings agency Standard and Poor's (S&P) cut the outlook on US sovereign debt to 'negative', sending stocks plunging as it doubted Washington's ability to tackle its huge debt and fiscal deficits. "The path to addressing these (problems) is not clear to us, (so) we have revised our outlook on the long-term rating to negative from stable," S&P said in a statement announcing its first ever downgrade of the US outlook. The move sent US borrowing costs sharply higher in bond

ISLAMABAD - The Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar said, on Tuesday, that the government plans to launch exchangeable bonds between $500 million and $1.0 billion for state owned Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) within this fiscal year. This would help permanently address the issue of inter-corporate circular debt in the power sector. Talking to the media after concluding session of the three day Pakistan Energy Conference 2011, the minister stated that

COLOMBO - Sri Lanka Cricket said Monday it is saddled with a $23-million-dollar debt after cost overruns and hefty bills incurred building stadiums for the recent World Cup.
"We spent a lot of money to host the World Cup, to build two stadiums and rebuild one stadium. The World Cup left us a 2.5 billion rupee ($22.6 million) deficit," Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage told reporters.
Sri Lanka, which lost the final to India by six wickets, hosted 12 matches during the

KARACHI - With its stock price having witnessed a steep fall in previous weeks (losing 11 percent in the last 10 trading sessions), the Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) still faces considerable problems, including potential delays in CAPEX plans and systemic circular debt.
Circular debt remains a key concern for the company as its trade debt have now soared Rs 107.9 billion as of December 2011. Similarly, the initial CAPEX target of $800 million is also likely to be missed

KARACHI - A massive Rs 148 billion of OGDC and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) has been stuck up in circular debt, creating liquidity problems for these two state-run mega oil and gas exploration companies. Different departments and organisations owed around Rs 108 billion to the OGDC and Rs 38 billion to the PPL by December, 2010. Both state-run mega companies are trying hard to recover their receivable amount worth billions of rupees, said a research report of Arif Habib Limited.

KARACHI - The Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) has so far drilled eight wells in FY11 against a total target of 26 wells. Among the drilled wells, only one is exploratory against a target of 10 exploratory wells in FY11. Similarly, the company has drilled a meager seven development and appraisal wells against a target of 16 wells.
The ongoing circular debt crisis, along with restricted security clearance, would continue to keep the exploration programme muted, said Nauman

PHNOM PENH - Cambodian and US officials held talks on Thursday to explore ways of settling a decades-old "dirty debt" of more than $400 million, both sides said. The low-interest loans from the US were given to the government of General Lon Nol after it came to power in a US-backed coup in 1970. Cambodia says the money helped pay for a devastating bombing campaign on the country by US forces targeting Khmer Rouge guerrillas in the early 1970s.
Prime Minister Hun Sen last year

ISLAMABAD - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has sought a clear plan of action from the government by Friday (today) to end the circular debt issue and reform the bleeding public sector enterprises within the current financial year in order to revive the suspended standby arrangement facility. An official source said the success of the talks hinged on the action plan that the government presented to the fund staff on Thursday and would be finalised today. During the talks, IMF

CONTINUED from page 1 - Similarly, the IMF sought a timeframe for inducting professional management in DISCOs and GENCOs. They also expressed reservations that the benchmarks agreed with the fund in September 2008 for the reform of PSEs had not been implemented. The government was continuously borrowing from the commercial banks to keep afloat the non productive PSEs, which had created a non conducive environment for private investments. The government team briefed the IMF officials

KARACHI - The cash strapped state oil marketing company, Pakistan State Oil (PSO), has received around Rs 28 billion from the Ministry of Finance against dues owed by Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) and Kot Addu Power Company (KAPCO). Given that the amount of circular debt has ballooned to Rs 168 billion, the finance ministry, as part of its effort to clear the circular debt, has made a payment of Rs 28 billion to the PSO on Wednesday, sources said.
However, PSO claims

KARACHI - The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) would develop a "bond pricing agency" to revitalise the country's debt market that, the apex regulator believes, is currently not 'vibrant'. Further, the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) has called upon the federal government to accelerate the pace of issuing the amended computation rules for Capital Gains Tax (CGT) before functionality of the leveraged products at the country's bourses.
"Our focus is now the debt