Business

Pakistan shares oil import agreement with UAE authorities

Published

2 years ago

Farwa

Once agreement is signed commercial talks would begin between PSO and UAE’s ADNOC.
Pakistan is seeking to import 1.5 million tonnes of motor spirit per year.
Agreement was forwarded as a follow up to talks held in Abu Dhabi in November.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has sent a draft of an inter-governmental agreement (IGA) to UAE for the import of mogas under a government-to-government mode between Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), reported The News on Thursday.

“We have sent the IGA draft to the UAE for approval. Once it is signed, commercial talks would begin between the state entities of both the countries,” a senior official of the Energy Ministry confirmed to the publication.

As per the agreement Pakistan is seeking to import 1.5 million tonnes of motor spirit per annum, which is equivalent to 30 cargoes in a year, in the deal which is expected to last for 5-8 years.

A monthly breakdown would mean that Pakistan would import two and a half to three cargoes a month from the Gulf state.

The agreement was forwarded as a follow-up to the talks held in Abu Dhabi during the first week of November 2022. In the talks, both sides had agreed to enter into a GtG deal for the import of mogas and jet fuel.

“This would help Pakistan have sustainable availability of petroleum products in the country. More importantly, the GtG deal would also provide a monetary solace in terms of premiums in importing petrol and other products,” said the official adding they were hoping that the commercial agreement between PSO and ADNOC would be finalised soon after the IGA was inked.

Pakistan is hoping to begin the import of petrol from January 15, 2023, under the deal.

The official explained that after the agreement is inked, both sides would initiate talks on the structure of the commercial agreement and finalise the specifications of petrol, and jet fuel.

Currently, PSO gets diesel from Kuwait Petroleum Company under a similar agreement and purchases petrol from the open market with high premiums depending upon the prices of products in the international market.

But this deal will allow PSO to get petrol from ADNOC at a negotiated price. In addition, PSO would also import jet fuel on a need basis as the country’s refineries cater to jet fuel needs most of the time.

Business

Robust activity lets PSX climb above 115,000 level again.

Published

2 days ago

Farwa

On Friday, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) resumed its upward trend, crossing 115,000 points once more.

The PSX had strong action in the morning session, as the KSE-100 index increased by 1,000 points to 115,138.

The notoriously volatile PSX closed Thursday at 114,037 points, up 594 points.

DOLLAR DEPRECIES

Meanwhile, in the interbank market this morning, the US dollar fell 7 paisas to Rs278.65 against the Pakistani rupee.

Business

SBP will announce monetary policy on January 27.

Published

2 days ago

Farwa

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will release its monetary policy on Monday.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the SBP will convene on the first day of the following week to make decisions on monetary policy.

The Monetary Policy decision will be announced by Governor SBP Jameel Ahmad at a news conference on the same day after the MPC meeting, according to an official release.

In December, the central bank reduced policy rates by 200 basis points (bps) to 13 percent.

“In November 2024, headline inflation fell to 4.9 percent year on year, meeting the MPC’s estimates. This decrease was mostly caused by the ongoing decline in food inflation and the phasing out of the impact of the gas tariff increase in November 2023,” SBP stated in an official release.

“However, the Committee noted that core inflation, at 9.7 percent, is proving to be sticky, while consumer and business inflation expectations remain volatile.” To that end, the Committee restated its previous assessment that inflation may remain volatile in the short term before stabilizing within the target range.

“At the same time, growth prospects have slightly improved, as evidenced by a recent increase in high-frequency indicators of economic activity.” Overall, the Committee concluded that its approach of gradual policy rate decreases is keeping inflationary and external account pressures under control while promoting long-term economic growth.

Business

Finance Minister Meets With World Leaders at World Economic Forum in Davos

Published

3 days ago

Farwa

During his attendance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has met with officials of organisations and leaders of many nations.
Bangladesh’s Chief Advisor, Muhammad Younas, met with Mohammad Aurangzeb.
On the fringes of the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2025 Opening Banquet, there was an informal meeting.
Additionally, the Finance Minister met with Anwar Ibrahim, the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
Both leaders discussed economic cooperation and bilateral ties.
Muhammad Aurangzeb also had a meeting with Dp World’s Rizwan Soomro and Yuvraj Narayan.
They talked about how to strengthen Pakistan’s logistics and infrastructure systems to support trade.
“The Pakistani government is committed to advancing joint projects and values partnerships in both business-to-business and business-to-government cooperation,” the finance minister added.