Tag: Percent

KSE adds 15 percent surcharge to share taxes

KARACHI - The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) has revised upwards its current advance rates of taxes by 15 percent after a recent presidential ordinance levied 15 percent surcharge on the payable taxes. A KSE notice (KSE/N-1544), which was issued by KSE Acting Managing Director Haroon Askari, informed KSE members that it would collect 15 percent more advance taxes on the purchase value, sale value, trade value and in respect of financing the carry over trade of the traded shares from

No respite in inflation as 8.78 percent rate feared

KARACHI - Deterioration in economic indicators like broad money supply (M2) is indicative of the fact that inflationary pressures will remain unabated in Pakistan in the foreseeable future. State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) statistics highlight that monetary expansion in the country continues to be alarmingly high as government bank borrowing mounts and a higher number of net foreign assets (NFA). The provisional data released by the State Bank reveals that Broad Money (M2), an economic

FDI in July-Feb up 27 percent

KARACHI - Net foreign investment in Pakistan rose 27 percent to $1.23 billion in the first eight months of the 2010/11 fiscal year, because of a sharp rise in foreign portfolio investment, the central bank revealed.
Foreign investment was $969.5 million in the same period last year. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) fell 21.8 percent in the July-February period to $989.6 million, from $1.26 billion in the same period last year, the State Bank of Pakistan said.
A shaky security

Weekly inflation up 0.59 percent

ISLAMABAD - The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), for the week ending on March 10, for the lowest income group up to Rs 3,000, has registered increase of 0.59 percent over the previous week. The SPI for the week under review in the above mentioned group was recorded at 299.36 points compared to 297.61 points registered in the previous week, according provisional figures of Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS). The weekly SPI has been computed with base 2000 2001=100 covering 17 urban

Refinery output slides 6.3 percent

KARACHI - Pakistan's refinery throughput dwindled 6.3 percent to 5.1 million tonnes in February 2011, primarily because of a month-long plant closure of PARCO and operational issues for BYCO and PRL triggered by circular debt. However, refinery production stood at 673,000 tonnes in the stated period - exhibiting a massive annual rise of 20 percent. In addition, capacity utilisation hit a 14 months high, standing at 76 percent - a reflection of rejuvenated refinery margins. Improved

Govt jacks up fuel prices by 10 percent

ISLAMABAD - The government announced a 9.9 percent increase in prices of petroleum products across the board on Monday to lower its fiscal deficit and said it would still have to absorb a differential of Rs 5 billion in March alone because it was not passing on the full impact of the price increase to consumers.
Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority Senior Executive Director of Finance Syed Jawad Naseem said that the price of petrol had been increased by Rs 7.23 per litre from Rs

Government maintains budget deficit at 2.9 percent

ISLAMABAD - The government has managed to curtail the budget deficit at 2.9 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or Rs 490.3 billion during the first six months of the current fiscal year.
According to fiscal operations data for the first half, July-December, of the current financial year (FY 2010-11) released by the Ministry of Finance on Monday, total expenditure rose 8.6 percent of GDP or Rs 1480 billion compared to a total revenue growth of 5.8 percent of GDP or Rs

Meat export surges 15 percent

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has exported 153,543 animals in the current fiscal year, thus increasing meat export by 15 percent, Minister for Religious Affairs Syed Khursheed Ahmad Shah said on Friday.
Replying to a question raised by PML-N's Shireen Arshad Khan in the National Assembly, he said that exported animals included 48,680 cattle, 50,000 buffalos, 54,716 goats and 147 camels.
In order to facilitate and encourage livestock export, the government decided that no permit was

KESC revenues jump by 25 percent

KARACHI - The Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) increased its revenue collection by 25 percent through 'various methods' during a six-month period ended December 31, 2010.
Insiders told Pakistan Today that over billing, average billing and longer duration of load-shedding are the key factors behind the drastic increase in collections during the six months as the power utility adopted several methods to control losses at the expense of its over two million consumers.

IMC announces 50 percent dividend

KARACHI - Indus Motors Company (IMC) has posted a lower profit after tax of Rs 907.758 million during the half year ending December 31, 2010 and declared an interim cash dividend of Rs 5 per share. According to the results despatched to Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) here on Tuesday, pre-tax profit of the company has declined to Rs 1.429 billion against Rs 2.102 billion in 2009.
Similarly, as earning per share also dropped to Rs 11.55 compared to Rs 17.38 same period last year.

LDA rejects 50 percent transfer fee raise

The Lahore Development Authority (LDA) has turned down a well-planned move of a 50 percent hike in transfer fee of plots in its own housing schemes and decided to uphold the present ratio for all allotted, auction and exemption plots, Pakistan Today has learnt.
The proposal to increase the levy on transfer of plots of 3 marlas, 5 marlas, 7 marlas, 250-square metres and more than 250-square metres was floated by highly-ranked officials working on probation and having close

Cement sales dip by 16 percent in January

KARACHI - Cement sales remained weak in January and fell by 16 percent in annual terms. With regards to quantity, the sale of cement declined to 2.5 million tonnes. Rising product prices and meek domestic demand attributable primarily to poor public sector spending kept local off-take constricted (down 16 percent annually), whereas unattractive prices in the regional markets dragged exports down by 17 percent annually.
Though local sales improved by seven percent in monthly terms

Govt expected to trim HSD duty by 5 percent

KARACHI - Fears of a political backlash with regards to increasing product prices may compel the government to trim the deemed duty on High Speed Diesel to five percent in March, but this move is likely to be resisted by local refineries and any changes made to deemed duty may prove to be short-lived.
While deemed duty on local production is collected and retained by refiners; 7.5 percent duty on HSD is collected by the government on imported HSD. Freezing HSD consumption at

CDGL report says 41 percent milk supplied is adulterated

LAHORE - Around 41 percent milk being supplied to the provincial metropolis is reported to be adulterated, the City District Government Lahore (CDGL) Food Department Report 2010 has revealed. The CDGL Food Laboratory compiled a report from January 1 to December 31, 2010 and found 41 percent milk samples impure in comparison to other commodities being consumed by people.
The daily consumption of milk in Lahore is around 1.6 million litres out of which 0.3 million is packed while

Textile exports rise by 25.8 percent in July-Dec 2010

KARACHI - The group-wise exports of Pakistan have significantly increased during July to December 2010, as the textile sector boosted by 25.8 percent, while the food group recorded a 6.2 percent growth compared to the same period in last fiscal year. According to sources, the country's textile and clothing export during the six months of this financial year stood at $6324.247 million compared to $5027.032 million achieved during the corresponding period of 2009-2010, an increase of

Rice trade in 2011 expected to contract by two percent

LAHORE - The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has forecast that the world rice trade in 2011 will contract by two percent to 30.5 million tonnes. The FAO latest Rice Market Monitor (RMM) states that the reduction in global rice trade is expected to follow a tightening of exportable quantities in major rice supplying countries.
It concludes that several rice exporting countries had reduced harvests owing to harsh weather conditions, while some have heavily

Close to 99 percent voted for South Sudan split

JUBA - Close to 99 percent of south Sudanese voters chose secession from the north in a referendum, according to preliminary results published on Friday with tallies from two outstanding states.
With 3,197,038 ballots counted, 98.6 percent had voted to break away in the January 9-15 referendum and become the world's newest nation, partial results posted on the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission website showed. Partial results from the last two states that had not yet published