Tag: Finance

WASHINGTON - Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh is expected to highlight Pakistan's progress towards economic reforms, export trajectory, growth prospects and the importance of international partnership in the country's development in a series of talks at annual World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings.
The finance minister will lead a team of Pakistan's top economic managers at spring meetings that bring together leaders of the world finance and heads

ISLAMABAD - In what appears to be a damage-control move amidst criticism over the devolution of HEC by certain quarters, the Finance Ministry on Saturday assured HEC of releasing Rs 7.7 billion soon, a day after refusing to do so.
A senior official at HEC said the Finance Ministry assured HEC that the ministry had decided to release withheld Rs 7.7 billion of HEC and the commission would receive the fund in the next two days. The funds were earlier withheld by the ministry in

LAHORE - Al Huda Centre of Islamic Banking and Economics Pakistan (CIBE) organised an International Conference on Islamic banking and finance in Mauritius which has now successfully concluded. The aim of this conference was to promote Islamic banking in Mauritius and other African countries so that the methodology of Islamic products could be produced after tapping the actual benefits of this structure.
Heads of banks from Malaysia, Pakistan, Kuwait, Sudan, South Africa,

ISLAMABAD - The Finance Committee of the National Assembly (NA) on Friday approved the revised and proposed budget for the lower house of parliament for the fiscal years 2010-11 and 2011-12 amounting to Rs.1.570 billion and Rs.1.803 billion, respectively.
The committee, which met here at the Parliament House with NA speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza in chair. The participants appreciated the prudent leadership of speaker for initiating austerity measures and maintaining financial

ISLAMABAD - Two more Pakistani banks have signed on to the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) Trade Finance Program (TFP) which should make it easier for companies to import critical goods into the country and export other products.
The participation of NIB Bank and Soneri Bank in the TFP means there are now 13 Pakistani banks signed up to the programme. The TFP provides finance and guarantees through banks to support trade transactions in developing countries. A statement issued by

LAHORE - Punjab LHC Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed on Wednesday issued notice to the Punjab secretary finance on a petition of LHC's additional registrar Riaz Ali Zaidi that assailed non- provision of 50 percent increase in basic pay of the high court employees.
The judge directed a provincial law officer to ensure submission of a reply from secretary finance by March 31. Zaidi had submitted that government employees' basic salaries were increased by 50 percent in federal budget

LAHORE - The Punjab Finance Department has abolished eight posts of the clean drinking water project "in haste" without fulfilling the basic requirement of issuing a one-month prior notification, Pakistan Today has learnt.
The clean drinking water project is a federal government-funded project, which was handed over to the Local Government and Community Development Department of the Punjab government, but was stopped owing to downsizing drive of the government. But the funds

KARACHI - The Federal Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh has warned against 'partisanship' on issues critical to national interest, while the government is determined to develop political consensus over "difficult economic decisions" including reformed General Sales Tax (GST) to fulfill its commitment with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He stated that the PPP-led government would opt for "other steps" to mitigate the immense politico-financial pressure, currently faced by

ISLAMABAD - The Ministry of Finance on Friday told the Pakistan International Airlines management that although it was unable to extend it any financial help, it was ready to submit a revival plan to the prime minister for consideration. In a high-level meeting, the Ministry of finance discussed the revival plan with initial restructuring of the PIA and decided to take a final decision on its financial and administrative restructuring in the next meeting, expected next week.
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ISLAMABAD - Management of the National Logistics Cell (NLC) has informed the government regarding its plans to hire finance and audit professionals for improving the organisation's working. This was informed by the management of NLC at a briefing of the National Logistics Board (NLB), held under the chairmanship of Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh here on Thursday.
An official source said that the Finance Minister wanted to figure out whether the entity would retain its

ISLAMABAD - Islamic finance has proved its viability on a global scale as Islamic banking and finance is spreading at a rapid pace, Federal Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs, Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh has stated. "In the wake of recent global financial crisis and debt problem of the Third world countries and the Eurozone, Islamic finance is now firmly established in the mainstream," the federal minister said while addressing the inaugural session of two day international

ISLAMABAD - A delegation, led by Pakistan Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, will be departing on Sunday to participate in the third session of Pakistan-Kuwait Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) to be held in Kuwait on January 16 -17, says a press release received here on Friday.
The Finance Minister is scheduled to meet Minister for Commerce and Industry, Ahmed Rashed Al-Haroun and the delegation level talks will discuss avenues for further expanding cooperation between

KARACHI - The Sindh government has established a new cell to take over the responsibilities of the public-private partnership unit being run by the Finance Department after failing to ensure that development schemes are properly implemented
The main objective of establishing the new cell is to achieve the goals, which the government had set, sources told Pakistan Today.
A few months ago, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah had directed the additional chief secretary

FAISALABAD - The government, in coordination with a Chinese firm, has decided to launch the long-awaited Controlled Atmosphere Project (CAP) for the conservation of locally produced fruit and vegetables such as apple, banana, orange, strawberry, cherry, lemon, guava, mango, onion, potato, green peas and other items of grocery.
The CAP will double the life span of fruits and vegetables besides preventing the wastage of 34,000 tons of fruits and vegetables that are lost in transit

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Tuesday directed Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh to form a wing or a cell to expedite resolution of issues regarding release of allocations to the ministries or departments concerned and the provincial governments.
Chairing a meeting with the government's financial team, Gilani stressed the need for an efficient functioning of all the ministries and departments involved in restructuring public sector enterprises to speed up the