'Dollar eight billion remittances expected during current fiscal'
Federal Minister for Environment, Hameedullah Jan Afridi has said remittances of overseas Pakistanis are likely to touch $8 billion during the current financial year. He asked the NAVTEC chairman to take the technical and vocational education & training programme forward in accordance with the world market demand to sustain and enhance the level of remittances more... (BR)

No consensus yet on new taxes: budget outlay not finalised so far
The government is yet to finalise the total budget outlay for 2009-10 due to lack of consensus on which new taxes are to be imposed, which taxes to be enhanced and by how much. The budget outlay is likely to be around Rs 2.74 trillion for 2009-10, Rs 211 billion higher than the current financial year; whereas expenditure is estimated at Rs 2.17 trillion as compared to Rs 2.12 trillion for the ongoing fiscal year more... (BR)

Subsidy on electricity being removed, tariff to be raised
Tariff hikes of around 10 per cent are expected this July as the govt gears up to eliminate subsidies next year more... (D)

Pakistan to wipe out militants, US senators assured
Gilani asked the international community, particularly the US, to do more by assisting the govt in its relief efforts more... (D)

Troops take over Maalam Jabba
‘It may take seven to 10 days to clear Mingora of militants:’ military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas more... (D)

India receives its first AWACS plane
India on Monday took delivery of its first Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) plane, as part of a deal with Israel worth more than one billion dollars, officials said. The delivery is seen as part of India's quest for air dominance over arch rival Pakistan as well as a milestone in growing military ties with Israel more... (BR)

IPI deal to be finalised in a month
Following settlement of gas price issue at 80 percent of crude, Pakistan and Iran are expected to finalise the deal on Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project in Turkey within a month more... (BR)

Decline in oil and gas production
Pakistan produced an average 66,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil during the first ten months of the ongoing fiscal (Jul-Apr 2009), five percent less than the previous year's 10-month average output of 70,000 bpd. On the other hand, gas production remained flatter with average supply recorded at 3.99 billion cubic feet (bcf) per day in the 10 months of FY09 compared to 3.98bcf/day during the similar period of last year more... (BR)

DAP offtake jumps ahead of KharifM Yasir Yousuf
Fertiliser sales in the country continue to soar as farmers demand more inputs to meet the requirements of the upcoming Kharif crop more... (FD)