Tech and Telecom

Cement despatches increased by 7.83 percent in May 2024 with total cement despatches during the month recorded at 4.275 million tons against 3.965 million tons despatched during the same month of last fiscal year (FY23). According to the data released by the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association, local cement despatches by the industry during May 2024 were 3.357 million tons compared to 3.432 million tons in May 2023, showing a decline of 2.17 percent. Exports despatches however increased by a massive 72.16 percent as the volumes increased from 533,215 tons in May 2023 to 917,962 tons in May 2024. In…

Pakistan has so far received $2.8 billion out of $10.987 billion pledges made at the International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan held in Geneva, in the backdrop of the devastating floods in 2022. This was revealed by Federal Minister for Economic Affairs, Ahad Khan Cheema while chairing the 4th meeting of the International Partners Support Group (IPSG) on Tuesday. The meeting marked almost two years since the devastating floods of 2022, aiming to review the progress of flood recovery and realign efforts for a resilient Pakistan. An official statement issued by the ministry noted that addressing the meeting, the minister…

The Finance Division has upward revised the Indicative Budget Ceiling (IBC) for Higher Education Commission (HEC) to Rs. 65 billion from initial allocation of Rs. 25 billion for fiscal year 2024-25. Official documents revealed that finance Division issued a letter with the subject “revised Provisional Indicative Budget Ceilings for fiscal year 2024-25 recurrent budget”. The letter noted that in supersession of Finance Division (Budget Wing)’s letter No.F.2(1)/Budget-11/2024-25/2052, dated 24th May, 2024 on the subject cited above. The revised IBC for FY 2024-25 for recurrent budget is as under: “The IBC for HEC has been revised to Rs. 65 billion from initial…

The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has approved a Scheme of Arrangement for the merger of M/s. Institute of Bankers Pakistan (IBP) with M/s. National Institute of Banking and Finance Pakistan (NIBAF). M/s Institute of Bankers Pakistan (IBP) is a public unlisted company licensed as a not-for-profit association offering banking related educational services in Pakistan. Meanwhile, M/s National Institute of Banking and Finance Pakistan (NIBAF) is a not-for-profit public unlisted company with the prime objective to encourage banking education along with the protection & promotion of the banking profession in Pakistan. The Phase-I competition assessment by the CCP identified ‘Testing…

As part of the national drive against tax crimes by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), the Directorate General of Intelligence & Investigation-Inland Revenue Hyderabad and Karachi have unearthed a network of tax fraudsters who have caused a loss of billions of rupees to the national exchequer. Following a thorough investigation, both the Hyderabad and Karachi Directorates have registered FIRs against M/s Rehman Enterprises and M/s ZA Impex involving tax fraud amounting to Rs. 10 billion and Rs. 11.692 billion respectively under the provisions of the Sales Tax Act, 1990. The investigation revealed the involvement of organized groups in the…

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has called on Federal Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb to address the financial challenges facing the Thar Coal project. In a letter to the finance minister, he said that Thar Coalfields, since 2019, have been instrumental in generating electricity through an indigenous energy source which is also the cheapest source of electricity. However, financing constraints are hampering its future expansion. According to the latest data from the National Transmission & Distribution Company, the weighted average cost of generation through Thar coal was Rs. 4.3 per kilowatt-hour, the lowest for base load electricity generation. Annually,…

In another round of shuffling in the tax department within one week, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has transferred a dozen grade 19 to 21 Inland Revenue Service offices. As per details, Member audit Ahmed Shuja Khan has been transferred to Chief Commissioner RTO Lahore. In addition, Member Operations FBR Mir Badshah Khan Wazir has been given the additional charge of DG International Tax Operations Islamabad. The notification states that Member Accounting Imtiaz Ali Solangi has been given the position of Member Audit and CRM, and he will also look after the post of member accounting. Here’s the full…

Asus’s next gaming phone is not coming until at least early 2025, but the beastly handset has already appeared in its first-ever leak shared by Android Police.  According to the report, the ROG Phone 9 should come in vanilla and Pro models, one of which has appeared on the internet with the model number ASUSAI2501C, though it is unclear which phone it belongs to. Since it is going to be a flagship-grade gaming phone as always, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chipset should be obvious. The SoC is launching in October during the next Snapdragon summit and Xiaomi 15 is…

Why buy a boring regular when you can buy the world’s fastest jet-powered go-kart that costs less than a Suzuki Swift? Currently available for sale in Kansas for $15,000 (around Rs. 41 lac), this go-kart holds the Guinness World Record for its astounding speed, achieved on October 8, 2021. Built by Skylar January, the jet-powered go-kart reached a record-breaking speed of 184.4 kilometers per hour (kph). This impressive feat was powered by two KingTech K450G4 jet engines that produce 99 pounds of thrust. Any attempt to go faster would have required afterburners, which would void the engines’ warranty. January’s journey…

The Punjab government has decided to establish two additional schools dedicated to the transgender community in Lahore, expanding on the existing one in front of Barkat Market. These new educational institutions will be located in Raiwind and Wagah. According to details, free books, stationery, and uniforms for transgender students attending all three schools will be provided by the School Education Department (SED). Furthermore, each student will receive a scholarship of Rs. 10,000, with Rs. 5,000 allocated for stationery and books and Rs. 5,000 for travel expenses, on the condition that they maintain an 80% attendance rate. Previously, similar schools were…