[location-weather id='16258']
Gallery – Business
Energy giant BP has reported record annual profits after oil and gas prices surged last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The company’s profits more than doubled to $27.7bn (£23bn) in 2022, compared with $12.8bn the year before. Other energy firms have seen similar rises, with Shell reporting record earnings of nearly $40bn last week. The profits have led to calls for energy firms to pay more tax as many households struggle with rising bills.
Alibaba Group subsidiary, Daraz Group, an e-commerce platform, is reducing its workforce by 11 per cent to prepare for the ‘current market reality’, the group’s CEO Bjarke Mikkelsen said in a letter to employees shared on the company website. Mikkelsen cited a difficult market environment, with a war in Europe, huge supply chain disruptions, soaring inflation, increasing taxes, and removal of essential government subsidies in its markets. The group operates in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
The Pakistani currency maintained a freefall for a second consecutive day, plunging by a fresh 4.78% (or Rs12.87) to a new all-time low of Rs268.30 against the US dollar in the interbank market at around 10:30 am on Friday. Yesterday, the currency recorded the single largest slump in a day of 9.61% (or Rs24.54) to Rs255.43 against the greenback. Accordingly, the rupee has recorded a cumulative drop of almost 14% (or Rs37.41) in just two days.
Pakistani currency nosedived by Rs24.11 (or 9.45%) to an all-time low at Rs255 against the US dollar in the interbank market at around 1 pm on Thursday.rtThe latest fall comes as the government ended its control over the rupee-dollar exchange rate as part of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) condition.
Pakistan and Russia “finalised consultations” to enhance cooperation in areas of mutual interests — a day after they discussed ways for supplying oil and gas to Pakistan on a “long-term” basis — according to state media Radio Pakistan. A Russian delegation led by Energy Minister Nikolay Shulginov called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Lahore where they discussed procurement of oil to Pakistan at discounted rates. — Twitter/PakPMO
The Government of Pakistan and Germany signed two framework agreements -amounting Euro 28 million focusing on the socio-economic uplift and sustainable development of Pakistan. German Ambassador to Pakistan Alfred Grannas representing the German Government and the Ministry of Economic Affairs signed agreements in the energy and governance sectors.
Saudi Arabia hinted at once again rescuing Pakistan from the precarious balance of payment problem, as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman directed authorities to consider increasing the cash deposit with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) as well as investment in the country.
Annual inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was recorded at 24.5 per cent in December, compared to 23.8pc in the previous month, as food and transport costs continued to remain high, data shared by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed on Monday. Inflation rose 0.5pc on a month-on-month basis, compared to a 0.76pc increase in November.
Nishat Chunian Limited, one of Pakistan’s largest textile companies, informed investors on Wednesday that it was temporarily shutting off some spindles because of market conditions. Nishat Chunian Limited is the latest in a line of companies that have temporarily suspended operations. Others include Indus Motor Company, the maker of Toyota vehicles, Pak Suzuki Motor Company Ltd, Bolan Castings Limited and Baluchistan Wheels Ltd. Millat Tractors Limited has been observing non-production days since Dec 16.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar assured investors on Monday that there was no chance Pakistan would default, insisting that the country had a “beautiful future and a resilient economy”. The finance minister said Pakistan would complete the ongoing International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. He said regardless of the difficult conditions the previous government had agreed with the IMF, he would make efforts to complete the programme a second time.
Moscow is ready to resume gas supplies to Europe through the Yamal-Europe Pipeline and it can also send supplies to Pakistan and Afghanistan in the long term, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told state TASS news agency.
The federal government announced closure of restaurants and markets across the country by 8pm as a new plan for energy conservation has been unveiled. Defence Minister Khwaja Asif hoped that the decision would help Pakistan save 8,000 to 9,000 megawatts of electricity and Rs62 billion in a year.
The Supreme Court (SC) declared an agreement signed between the Pakistan government and two international firms — Antofagasta PLC and Barrick Gold Corporation — in March for the revival of the long-stalled Reko Diq mining project as legal. The two international firms were part of the consortium Tethyan Copper company and had found vast gold and copper deposits at Reko Diq in Balochistan. But the hugely lucrative open-pit mine project came to a standstill in 2011 after the local government refused to renew Tethyan Copper’s lease, and in 2013 Supreme Court declared it invalid.
Alibaba Group Holding co-founder Jack Ma has resigned as president of the General Association of Zhejiang Entrepreneurs, a position he has held since 2015. The Chinese billionaire was the first president of the nonprofit organization formed by Zhejiang businesspeople in 2015. Ma has rarely appeared in public since his criticism of China’s financial regulation in October 2020 led to a rare summons by regulators and the eventual suspension of a planned initial public offering of Ant Group, Alibaba’s giant fintech affiliate.
Britain’s economy is on course to shrink 0.4 percent next year as inflation remains high and companies put investment on hold, with gloomy implications for long-term growth, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) forecast on Monday.
The old-designed large-size banknotes of Rs10, Rs50, Rs100 and Rs1,000 can be exchanged from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) till December 31, 2022. The issuance of new series and demonetisation of the old-designed banknotes helps central banks in checking to counterfeit and ensuring the integrity of banknotes in circulation.
Shares at the Pakistan Stock Exchange began the week in the red as uncertainty looms on the outlook for the country’s foreign exchange reserves with no clarity on when the pending ninth review of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will conclude. The benchmark KSE-100 index fell by 537.43 points, or 1.28 per cent, to close at 41,612. Pakistan’s forex reserves stood at a historic low of $7.5 billion for the week ending on November 25 — barely enough to cover a month’s imports.
The government has quietly delisted two power plants, which over four years ago, had been put on an active list for privatisation to raise an estimated $1.5 billion, aimed at selling these state assets to Qatar in a direct deal to avoid a looming sovereign default. The development came two days after the government constituted a new cabinet committee aimed at selling the state assets on a fast-track basis. The 2460 megawatts (MW) capacity LNG-fired power plants will now be handed over to this committee to find a suitable foreign nation buyer, reported The Express Tribune.
State Minister for Petroleum Musadik Malik said that preparations for the agreement to purchase discounted oil from Russia were complete. According to the sources, the Russian officials informed the other side about their intention to visit Pakistan on January 19 and 20 to discuss further modalities on the purchase of crude oil and petroleum products.
The Pakistan Business Council (PBC), on Friday, urged the government to admit before the nation that the country is in a serious economic crisis, instead of denying the default risk to effectively plan, execute and get out of the tough situation. In addition, the country’s preeminent business advocacy group, comprising the top 100 foreign businesses across the country, recommended a $19 billion energy conservation plan and the adoption of austerity measures.