Category: Business

Pakistan records handsome growth in software consultancy exports

Pakistan’s IT companies continued to strengthen their niche in software consultancy services as they attracted over $100 million in receipts in first four months of the current financial year 2019-20. It showed growth of 14.7 percent as compared to same period last year. The overall growth in this field was seen due to the improvement in demand and acceptance of Pakistani companies.

US to send 15 trade delegations to Pakistan in 2020: Alice Wells

The United States is planning to send 15 trade delegations to Pakistan in 2020 to explore possibilities for expanding trade with the country, says Assistant Secretary of State Alice Wells. This information was in a paper which Wells read at a Washington think-tank last week. She added that both the governments are working to increase US-Pakistan trade and investment relationship.   

Pakistan signs $787 mn loans with World Bank, majority for Karachi uplift.

Pakistan and the World Bank have signed five loan agreements of $787 million for development projects, majorly directed to uplifting Karachi. The World Bank will provide $652m for three development projects in Karachi to support urban mobility, urban management and service delivery, improve water and sewerage services, tourism and power sectors. Highest amount of $382m was inked for Karachi Mobility (Yellow Line) Project.

Direct flight operations between Kuwait and Karachi begin after two decades

Kuwait-based Jazeera Airways has started direct flights from Kuwait to and from Karachi. The low-cost airline operated the first flight between the two countries on November 21. The new route is first in two decades between Kuwait and Karachi. The Kuwaiti airline also operates from Lahore. Jazeera Airways flight J9 507 will depart from Kuwait every Thursday at 10 pm.

UAE and China exploring for cooperation in CPEC projects: Chinese envoy

China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are exploring opportunities for cooperation under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Chinese ambassador to Islamabad Yao Jing said in an interview with Arab News.The ambassador stressed that UAE was also a partner under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and has a lot of trade and economic links with Pakistan. 

PayPal confirms it’s not coming to Pakistan

In a huge blow, PayPal has informed the government officials that Pakistan is not in its road map for the next three years citing inadequate business opportunities. Ministry of Information Technology’s delegation visited the PayPal headquarters last month in a bid to convince the higher-ups of the payment gateway as it would be highly beneficial for the local freelancers. 

Pakistan is buying tomatoes from Iran at a price of over $1 Per Kg

Iran is selling tomatoes to Pakistan at $1.10 per kilogram. The price stands near Rs. 160-170 per kg for Pakistani importers, much higher than the locally produced tomatoes. Due to lack of trade with India the price of tomatoes soared up as shortage increased in the market and the price reached as high as Rs 350 per kg. The increase in price prompted the government to take remedial measures.  

Ufone, PTCL announce major restructuring

PTCL and Ufone are working on merging their businesses for long, however, due to design and operations of both the operators, the process has remained very gradual. In a new development both the companies have further merged their sales and distribution, marketing, product and pricing, business operations and corporate strategy functions. According to PTCL the previously merged departments have shown significant improvement in terms of productivity. 

China to invest $10 billion in oil and gas sector: Khusro

China has decided to invest $10 billion in oil and gas, $4 billion in local manufacturing and steel sector and $9 billion have been approved for ML-I railway project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), according to Minister for Planning, Development, and Reform, Khusro Bakhtyar. The government has taken several important decisions that paved the way for the finalization of the Gwadar master plan and preliminary design of the ML-1 project, operationalization of Gwadar Port and free zone. 

Pakistan’s current account in surplus after 4 years

After a gap of more than four years, Pakistan posted $99 million current account surplus in October. The latest data released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) showed recovery from long prevailing deficits, but four-month current account position still showed a deficit of $1.5 billion.  Current account deficit in last fiscal year, clocked in at $12.75bn, down 36 per cent from record-high $19.9bn in FY18.