Business
Rs100 prize bond draw results released, Rs1500
National Savings Center Faisalabad held the draw for Rs1500 prize bond on Monday, while the Multan office performed the lottery for Rs100 prize bond.
Rs1500 Prize Bond Draw No. 107 on 17 August 2026. Bond number 177110 grabbed the first reward of Rs3 million.
Three second prize winners each winning Rs1 million were bond numbers 804336, 985779 and 987416.
Meanwhile, Rs100 prize bond Draw No. 55 was held in Multan. Bond number 732900 bagged the first reward of Rs700,000.
The three second prizes of Rs200,000 each went to bond numbers 252196, 427125 and 875106.
Business
Islamabad may face new tax as city becomes autonomous entity
Sources said that if the federal capital is made an independent unit, proposals have been created to introduce a new local tax in Islamabad and the revenue collected will be used on basic services and administrative structure within the city.
Early recommendations are for levies to fund hospitals, schools, colleges and other educational institutions, welfare operations and the administrative framework in Islamabad, sources added. The suggestions are likely to be addressed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) team during the upcoming economic review while the new tax could be adopted in the budget of the next fiscal year.
No definitive estimate of amount to be collected has yet been prepared. Sources claimed the planned tax was aimed at generating fiscal room for Islamabad, considering the infrastructure requirements of the city.
The fifth review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) is scheduled to be reviewed in Pakistan’s next round of talks with the IMF. The fifth review is also listed as a program milestone in the IMF program materials.
Sources said that Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will prepare tax suggestions in the first instance. These will be laid before the subcommittee created to study the question of taxation in connection with the infrastructure necessary to make of Islamabad an independent unit.
After approval by the relevant subcommittee, the recommendations will be referred to a committee chaired by the minister for planning. After approval there, the plans would be sent to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and then completed after approval by the IMF.
The Ministry of Finance has asked all relevant ministries and agencies to collect the necessary data and reports in preparation for the economic review talks with the IMF.
The relevant ministries will brief the IMF delegation on structural benchmarks and targets for economic reform, sources added. Also reforms in the energy sector will continue to be an important element of the talks and targets relating to circular debt in the electricity and gas industry are also expected to be discussed.
Sources said that if the talks between Pakistan and the IMF were successful it would open the way for the delivery of the fifth tranche under the present loan arrangement. Upon successful completion of the evaluation, the total estimated distribution would be $1.2 billion. Under the fifth tranche, Pakistan is scheduled to receive roughly $1 billion, while another $200 million could be granted to mitigate losses caused by climate change.
According to reports, the planned roadmap also include a new mechanism for the utilization of municipal taxes and distribution of resources. The administrative structure is being put in place and financial affairs are being coordinated with the international lender’s recommendations likely to be part of the effort to make the tax system more effective.
Business
Trump says Bombardier must build jets in US or face loss of market access
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that Canadian private aircraft maker Bombardier (BBDb.TO) would no longer be allowed to sell its jets in the United States unless it began manufacturing in the nation.STOP SELLING BOMBARDIER IN THE UNITED STATES! Their items aren’t good enough!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.“If they want our Market, they have to build here, and stop using America as a piggy bank,” he stated.
The post came as a trade battle between Washington and Ottawa escalated, part of the near-global tariff wall in Trump’s second term that has garnered concerns from numerous US trading partners.
Canada will impose a series of retaliatory tariffs on the US on Tuesday.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how Trump would implement the action or what steps he would take to prevent deliveries of Bombardier jets, which have been cleared by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
The planemaker’s jets also meet the United States-Mexico-Canada trade accord that Trump helped implement.
U.S. aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia said he did not think any business jet buyers would cancel Bombardier contracts, and he did not see how Trump could block them from being sold. Aboulafia, managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory, an aircraft management consulting firm, said most Bombardier private planes are powered by U.S.-made engines from Honeywell aircraft (HONA.O) and GE Aerospace (GE.N).
Aerospace has generally escaped untouched from Trump’s trade battle, with the flow of parts and planes not yet affected by taxes. U.S. aerospace and military has a $109.2 billion trade surplus and exports are up 25% on an annual basis in 2025, according to U.S. trade group Aerospace Industries Association.
Aerospace is as intertwined as the U.S. auto industry, which depends on parts from its northern neighbor.
Bombardier, a rival of U.S. business jet maker Gulfstream Aerospace (GD.N) based in Montreal, with 3,500 American employees, a U.S. footprint of 2,800 suppliers and factories and service centers around the country. The company is also opening its sixth U.S. service center and builds wings for its flagship Global 8000 plane in Texas.
Bombardier stated in a statement Monday nite that it spends more than $2.5 billion annually with U.S. suppliers.The United States is “a place where we will continue to invest in for our people, our customers and the communities we operate in across the country,” the business said.
Bombardier also has a defense subsidiary with a Kansas plant that prepares Canadian-made planes for special-mission missions. Bombardier’s customers operate a fleet of 5,100 aircraft, about half of which are in the U.S. In January, Trump announced the U.S. was decertifying Bombardier Global Express business jets and threatening 50 percent import taxes on all aircraft made in Canada until the country’s regulator certified a number of planes produced by Gulfstream. Neither happened, but during the next month Canada certified a few of Gulfstream planes.
Bombardier said in July that its quarterly sales rose 6 per cent to $2.15 billion from the same three months a year ago, supported by robust demand for aftermarket services.
Business
NEPRA establishes standard grid prices for open access power customers
– The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has issued its decision to introduce uniform grid charges for open access electricity consumers, setting category-wise rates for the use of the power transmission and distribution system.
According to NEPRA, consumers obtaining open access through the competitive wheeling auction mechanism will be subject to uniform grid charges.
The regulator has determined transmission, distribution and cross-subsidy components for different consumer categories under the new arrangement.
Under the decision, B3 consumers will face total variable grid charges of Rs6.23 per unit, while the rate for B4 consumers has been fixed at Rs9.09 per unit.
For C3 consumers, the total variable grid charge has been set at Rs14.95 per unit.
NEPRA has fixed the charge for C2(A) consumers at Rs19.62 per unit, the highest among the categories listed in the decision, while C2(B) consumers will pay Rs17.74 per unit.
Similarly, the total variable grid charge for A2(C) consumers has been determined at Rs19.14 per unit, while A3 consumers will be charged Rs19.10 per unit.
For the D2(B) category, NEPRA has set the total variable grid charge at Rs6.72 per unit.
The decision establishes a defined category-wise charging framework for consumers using the national electricity network under open access arrangements.
Open access allows eligible electricity consumers to procure power through competitive arrangements while continuing to use existing transmission and distribution infrastructure. Grid charges are consequently imposed to recover applicable costs associated with use of that network.
NEPRA’s latest determination provides the applicable variable grid charges for different categories participating in the competitive wheeling framework.
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