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KARACHI: Amid falling tax collections, the federal government’s borrowing from banks plunged 84 per cent during the first seven and half months of the current fiscal year. The latest data released by the State Bank on Tuesday showed that the government is far from the volume of borrowings made during the last fiscal year. The federal government borrowed Rs658 billion from July 1 to Feb 14 FY25 compared to Rs4.044tr in the same period of last fiscal year. The government is trying to reduce its debts while facing a drastic drop in revenue collections. However, this shortfall would compel the…

ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday scrutinised audit reports for the Economic Affairs Division and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the fiscal year 2023-24, showing significant financial irregularities. During the session, officials disclosed that the Economic Affairs Division had received a grant of Rs12.97 billion, with Rs122 million returned. The committee directed officials to address outstanding audit objections. It was further revealed that the division utilised an additional Rs46.19bn in the fiscal year 2022-23 due to exchange rate fluctuations. Secretary of Economic Affairs attributed this increase to currency depreciation. Criticising financial planning, PAC member Omar Ayub Khan…

CrowdStrike reported a strong fourth-quarter results Tuesday night, delivering beats on revenue, adjusted earnings and net new annual recurring revenue. However, the stock is under pressure in extended trading after the fast-growing cybersecurity company’s fiscal 2026 full-year outlook was slightly below the consensus forecast. After booking profits in CrowdStrike a couple of times above $400 per share earlier this year, we can look to buy those shares back at these lower prices. Revenue in the fiscal 2025 fourth quarter increased 25% year over year to $1.06 billion, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion, according to LSEG. Adjusted earnings per…

People shop in a supermarket in the Manhattan borough of New York City on Feb. 20, 2025.Charly Triballeau | AFP | Getty ImagesConsumers are certain to face higher sticker prices as businesses prepare to pass on rising costs from tariffs onto buyers, according to EY-Parthenon chief economist Gregory Daco.In an EY survey of 4,000 executives, nearly half said that they were willing to pass on two-thirds of the added costs from tariffs onto their customers. More than 3 in 10 participants were willing to take it a step further and pass over 90% of the additional expense to shoppers, the…

The Treasury has earmarked several billion pounds in draft spending cuts to welfare and other government departments amid expectations the chancellor’s room for manoeuvre has all but been wiped out.The department will put the proposed cuts to the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR), the official forecaster, on Wednesday ahead of the Spring Statement later this month.Sources said it was evident that “the world has changed” since the Budget last October, when the OBR indicated that Chancellor Rachel Reeves had £9.9bn in headroom against her self-imposed borrowing targets.The OBR’s forecast, which will be published alongside the Spring Statement, is likely to…

China has discovered two major shale oilfields boasting combined reserves of 180 million tonnes, in another boost to the country’s push to reduce its reliance on fossil fuel imports.Sinopec, China’s largest oil refiner, announced the discoveries on Monday and confirmed the sites are located in northeastern China’s Bohai Bay Basin and the Subei Basin in the eastern province of Jiangsu, respectively.Early assessments indicate the two shale oilfields have the capacity to maintain stable production over the long term, Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua reported.For the first time, the reserves were assessed using China’s self-developed industry standards for shale oil reserves,…

LAHORE: Domestic cement deliveries that, after many months of negative momentum, showed a month-over-month increase of 11.64% during January 2025, failed to keep the pace during February 2025. According to the data released by All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), local cement despatches by the industry during the month of February 2025 were 3.065 million tons compared to 2.869 million tons in February 2024, showing a marginal increase of 6.82%. Exports despatches, however, increased by 34.30% as the volumes jumped from 395,935 tons in February 2024 to 531,736 tons in February 2025. Total cement despatches during February 2025 were 3.596…

Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch — an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street. Markets: The S & P 500 is lower Tuesday, but the index has made a solid comeback from the lows of the session on global trade tensions. Technology is a big reason behind the market’s rebound off its worst levels, with semiconductor stocks such as Club names Nvidia and Broadcom overcoming early losses to trade in positive territory. Nvidia is up more than 3%, clawing back some of its steep losses…

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in the Financial District in New York City on March 4, 2025. Timothy A. Clary | Afp | Getty ImagesA growth scare in the economy has accompanied worries over a resurgence in inflation, in turn potentially rekindling an ugly condition that the U.S. has not seen in 50 years.Fears over “stagflation” have come as President Donald Trump seems determined to slap tariffs on virtually anything that comes into the country at the same time that multiple indicators are pointing to a pullback in activity.That dual threat of higher prices…

The financial sector Tuesday morning was on track for one of its worst sessions since the March 2023 regional banking crisis. Jim Cramer sees the decline in one bank stock as a buying opportunity. The news Shares of American banks sank as President Donald Trump’s tariffs went into effect on key trade partners, escalating concerns about the global economy. The S & P 500 plunged on the open and worked its way lower in late-morning trading after 25% tariffs went into effect on Canadian and Mexican imports. Trump also imposed an additional 10% tariff on Chinese imports on top of…