Tue, 21-Oct-2025

US new home sales drop sharply in March

US

Sales of recent houses fell within the United States ultimate month, authorities statistics said Tuesday, as high expenses endured to crimp demand. Sales dropped to an annualized fee of 763,000, seasonally adjusted, less than analysts expected, and 8.6 percent beneath the rate in February, which was revised sharply upwards, the Commerce Department reported. Prices persisted … Read more

Pakistan, Romania sign MoUs for cooperation in commerce, education

MoUs

BUCHAREST: Pakistan and Romania signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) to enhance bilateral cooperation between the trade bodies as well as for the provision of educational scholarships to Pakistani students. The MoUs were signed during the visit of Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to Romania. A MoU was signed between the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of … Read more

Unisame calls for promotion of hemp exports

Unisame

KARACHI: The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (Unisame) has urged Prime Minister Imran Khan to promote hemp exports and its medical uses, an official said. Unisame president Zulfikar Thaver urged the prime minister to set up a regulatory authority for the promotion of hemp (Bhang) for medicinal and industrial use and exports as well. … Read more

China eyes opportunity in Pakistan’s textile sector: official

China

BEIJING: Both China and Pakistan enjoy their own competitive edge in the textile and garment sector and Chinese businessmen are willing to strengthen trade and investment cooperation with Pakistan in the textile industry, an official said. Bilateral trade has increased after the second phase of the China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement came into effect in 2020, … Read more

Smeda urged to pursue Commerce Ministry for lifting ban on Khaskhas, jaggery

Smeda

KARACHI: The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (Unisame) has requested Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda) chief executive officer Hashim Raza to pursue the Ministry of Commerce accept Smeda’s recommendations and allow export of Khashkhas and jaggery to global buyers, a statement said on Tuesday. Unisame president Zulfikar Thaver said that the SME … Read more

Over 2/3 of Chinese-invested expressway in Cambodia completed

chinese

PHNOM PENH: Nearly 71 percent of the construction work on the Chinese-invested Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway has been completed despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cambodian Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MPWT) said in a news release on Sunday. MPWT’s secretary of state Yit Bunna visited the construction site in southwestern Kampong Speu province on Friday, … Read more

Dharejo blames PTI-led govt for rising debt, inflation

KARACHI: Sindh Minister for Industries, Commerce and Cooperative Department Jam Ikramullah Dharejo slammed skyrocketing external debt and rising inflation during the period of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)-led government which also made the lives of people miserable. He expressed concerns over a significant surge in the volume of foreign loans to Pakistan. He lambasted that foreign loans … Read more

US trade deficit posts big export-fuelled drop in October

US trade

WASHINGTON: Strong American export business caused a large drop in the US trade deficit last month, even as imports also rose, according to government data released on Tuesday. The gap between imports and exports of goods and services dropped 17.6 per cent to $67.1 billion last month, bringing the trade deficit down from a record … Read more

TDAP holds seminar on women in trade

TDAP

KARACHI: The Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), in collaboration with the International Trade Centre (ITC), organised a seminar on “Women-in-Trade: Export Readiness 101” at the Quetta Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the capacity-building of women entrepreneurs in Pakistan, a statement said on Monday. This was the second in a series of planned seminars … Read more

Pakistan’s exports to China expected to double: envoy

Pakistan-China

BEIJING: Pakistan’s exports to China are expected to double in the next two to three years as a result of the second phase of the China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement and other measures taken by the two governments to enhance bilateral trade, Pakistan’s Ambassador to China Moin ul Haque said. “During the first six months, Pakistan’s … Read more

Commerce Ministry asked to conduct monthly sensitivity analysis for trade

Finance Minister Vows To Make E-commerce More Sustainable Through Digitization

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin has stressed on the Ministry of Commerce to conduct sensitivity analysis and build scenarios for effective forecasting both in imports and exports for each month of the year. Presiding over a meeting to review the trade balance situation at the Finance Division on Monday, the finance … Read more

Commerce Ministry blamed for delay in Slic privatisation

ISLAMABAD: The Privatisation Commission has put the entire blame for delay in the privatisation process of the State Life Corporation (Slic) on the Ministry of Commerce, saying that despite repeated follow-ups no progress has so far been achieved. During a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Privatisation, held under the chairmanship of Senator Shamim … Read more

FPCCI’s proposals under consideration: official

KARACHI: The proposals of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) to boost the economy are under consideration, a government official said on Friday. During a meeting with FPCCI’s Regional chairman Chaudhry Muhammad Saleem Bhullar and PTI’s senior leader Raja Muhammad Saleem, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib said … Read more

Businessmen Panel hails self-assessment income scheme

LAHORE: The Businessmen Panel of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has welcomed the government’s self-assessment income Scheme, announcement of ‘no-harassment policy’ from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and withdrawal of notices to the businessmen. FPCCI’s Businessmen Panel chairman Mian Anjum Nisar appreciated Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin for directing the … Read more

SEZs set up under CPEC open to Chinese, third-party investment: official

https://oldsite.bolnews.com/latest/2020/07/diamer-bhasha-dam-another-historic-milestone-for-pakistan/

NINGXIA: The Special Economic Zones (SEZs) under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) are not limited to the Chinese enterprises alone and all the industrial corporation ventures under the CPEC are open to third-country participation, as well. “We look forward to your high-quality investments in Pakistan, while enhancing B2B and P2P cooperation,” Fareena Mazhar, secretary of the … Read more

Ministry organises virtual ‘e-Commerce youth conference

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Commerce on Friday organised a virtual e-Commerce Youth Conference for consultation and implementation of the government’s e-Commerce Policy to empower the youth in the country. The Ministry of Commerce plans a one-day virtual e-Commerce youth conference in collaboration with the Kamyab Jawan Programme, USAID and Pakistan Regional Economic Integration Activity (PREIA), … Read more

Qatar Holding acquires minority stake in Airtel Africa’s business

LONDON: Airtel Africa has signed an agreement under which Qatar Holding LLC, an affiliate of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), will invest $200 million in Airtel Mobile Commerce BV (AMC BV), a subsidiary of Airtel Africa Plc, a statement said. The Airtel Mobile Commerce BV (AMC BV) is the holding company for several Airtel Africa’s … Read more

Bitcoin will be a key part of Twitter’s future, according to Jack Dorsey

Bitcoin

Over the last few years, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has been a big supporter of Bitcoin. He and Jay Z just formed a Bitcoin fund. In a recent development, Dorsey stated that Bitcoin, together with decentralization (In blockchain, decentralization refers to the transfer of control and decision-making from a centralized entity) and artificial intelligence, will be the future of the company.

If the internet had a native currency, he claims, products like subscription, Commerce, Tip Jar, and Super Follows will be able to move faster.

“I think this is a big part of our future. I think there is a lot of innovation above just currency to be had, especially as we think about decentralizing social media more and providing more economic incentives. So I think it’s hugely important to Twitter and to Twitter shareholders that we continue to look at the space and invest aggressively in it” he said.

Dorsey stated on Twitter’s second-quarter earnings call that Bitcoin is the greatest asset to become the internet currency and that once this is established, the company would be able to expand its product line more quickly.

This is the first time Dorsey has openly discussed Bitcoin integration into Twitter’s products, according to a Twitter spokesperson.

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Tesla can now be bought for bitcoin, Elon Musk tweeted

Elon Musk

Tesla customers can now purchase electric vehicles using bitcoin, according to Elon Musk, the company’s CEO.

This is a huge step forward for bitcoin‘s usage in commerce.

“You can now buy a Tesla with bitcoin,” Elon Musk said on Twitter, The option will be available outside of the US later this year, according to the company.

Last month, the electric-car producer said that it had purchased $1.5 billion in bitcoin and would soon accept it as a form of payment for automobiles, marking a significant step toward widespread acceptance that pushed bitcoin to a new high of about $62,000.

After Musk’s tweet, Bitcoin, the world’s most valuable digital currency, jumped more than 4% to US$56,429 at the time of posting.

Musk stated that bitcoin payments to Tesla would not be converted into traditional currency, but he provided some further information about how the payments would be handled. The company was using “internal & open source software,” he said.

Most major companies that accept bitcoin payments, such as AT&T Inc and Microsoft Corp, rely on specialized payment processors to convert bitcoin into, dollars and transmit the money to the company.

Because of its volatility and relatively expensive and slow processing periods, bitcoin, like other cryptocurrencies, is currently infrequently used for commerce in wealthy nations.

Musk, who frequently makes comments about cryptocurrencies on Twitter, criticized conventional money last month, saying that “has a negative real interest, only a fool wouldn’t look elsewhere.”

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Commerce Advisor hopes for speedy economic recovery amid COVID-19

Commerce

Commerce Advisor Abdul Razak Dawood has said that the overall declining trend in exports due to the novel coronavirus has been arrested. On Thursday he tweeted that he was expecting much worse export results at the height of lockdown but we have successfully bounced back. He appreciated the efforts of the exporters. Abdul Razak Dawood … Read more

Govt to reduce examination fee by 40 per cent

Govt to reduce examination fee by 40 per cent

Provincial Industries and Trade Minister Mian Aslam Iqbal chaired an important meeting of Punjab Board of Technical Education at PBIT office in which approval for the budget of PBTE for the fiscal year 2020-21 was granted. 13 other points of agenda were also given approval in the meeting. The decision to reduce 40 percent examination … Read more

Pakistan exports heavily concentrated on a few products, LCCI President

LCCI

Only export-led growth can steer Pakistan to the economic stability and help it emerge as one of the leading economies of South Asia. Those factors should be rooted-out which are hampering the exports related sectors. These views were expressed by the LCCI President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh while addressing a 24-member delegation of 26th Senior Management … Read more

Export of Apparel increased by 17 % in terms of quantity, Abdul Razak Dawood

Abdul Razak Dawood

Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce, Investment, Industries and Textile, Abdul Razak Dawood on Tuesday said that the second phase of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China is going to be operational from Dec 01, 2019 helping Pakistan come at par with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Chinese market, providing a … Read more