Current Final

Category: Business

  • Company behind COD Mobile made $10bn in 2020

    Timi Studios developed Call of Duty Mobile and many other popular games, and they made 10 $billion in revenue in 2020. 

    Timi studio is a branch of a giant company called Tencent that has produced popular games like Arena of Valor, Honors of Kings, Pokemon Unite and many more.  

    Generating this much revenue means that Timi Studios is one the biggest mobile game developers in the world. They’re acquiring another studio that produces AAA games (games made by major publishers). 

    However, Timi studios have to invest a hefty amount to compete with studios like PC, Xbox, and PlayStation. 

    Tencent has already started building new studios in South Korea, Europe, Japan, and the United States (US). These new studios will be used by Timi as well as Lightspeed and Quantum, the studio behind PUBG Mobile.

  • Data of 533 million people hacked from Facebook servers

    Personal data of more than 533 million people (half a billion) was breached in a massive cyber hack on Facebook. The data includes names, phones numbers, emails and other sensitive information.

    According to reports, the data comes from people across 106 countries — 32 million Americans, 11 million people from the United Kingdom (UK) and around six million Indians.

    On the other hand, Facebook responded that there is nothing to worry about as this data breach was part of a leak that happened years ago.

    Liz Bourgeois, the spokesperson at Facebook, said the vulnerability that caused this data breach was discovered and fixed in August 2019.

    On the contrary, many users have expressed anger against the social media giant by saying that Facebook is trying to downplay the mass data breach.

    Alon Gal, chief technology officer (CTO) at Hudson Rock (Cyber Security firm), said that the leaked data can be used by hackers to scam people with fake schemes and for other illegal activities.

    Facebook has a lot to answer, and a simple “it’s been fixed” is not enough, he said.

  • SBP governor says bank will implement policies benefitting economy

    SBP governor says bank will implement policies benefitting economy

    State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Dr Reza Baqir on Sunday said that SBP would implement those policies benefiting economy of Pakistan.

    Monitory policy adopted by SBP is supporting the economy of Pakistan, he said in an interview with a private television channel.

    Commenting on approaching International Monitoring Fund (IMF), he said: “We had to seek support of IMF because of weak economic condition.”

    During COVID-19 pandemic, he said the government had to lift loan from IMF amounting to Rs250 billion. Appreciating the steps taken by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government to avert coronavirus pandemic, he said that the SBP and the ruling party had successfully managed to cope the difficulties arisen due to spreading virus that played havoc around the world.

    WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW:

    In reply to a question about policy rate, he said that the banks have implemented the policy rate that stood at 13 per cent. To another question about SBP’s working in future, he said that the banking system as autonomous body would have better results.

  • Karachi traders refuse to comply with COVID SOPs

    Karachi traders refuse to comply with COVID SOPs

    Traders in Karachi have refused to pull down shutters by 8 pm amid the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan.

    Addressing a joint press conference, representatives of Sindh Tajir Ittehad (STI) and All-City Tajir Ittehad (ACTI) said that they will not close their businesses from Friday.

    “Arrest us and put us behind bars,” they said while announcing the ‘jail bharo’ movement.

    “Closing businesses at 8 pm will lead to an economic meltdown for traders,” argued the traders. The traders said they planned to recover their losses caused by the lockdown imposed last year and that fresh restrictions will impact the businesses further.

    They also lamented that the Sindh government had announced to waive-off taxes last year, but have instead imposed new taxes since then.

  • Broadband subscriptions reach 100 million in Pakistan: PTA

    Broadband subscriptions reach 100 million in Pakistan: PTA

    The broadband services have reached 100 million (10 crore) people in Pakistan, tweeted Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

    In 2012, only two million people had subscribed to internet services, but after the introduction of 3G services, the figures jumped to 16 million in 2014.

    Moreover, the average downloading speed and upload speed provided by broadband providers are 17.7/ 11.3Mbps. The internet speed is above the levels in comparison to other regional countries.

    Mobile data prices are also affordable in Pakistan. According to the recent figures, mobile data prices declined to 0.70 per cent, which is well below the UN Broadband Commission’s recommendation of less than two per cent.

    All four national cellular mobile operators (CMOS), fixed-line broadband operators, including Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) have collectively crossed 100m subscriptions, due to the higher growth rate in data usage.

    Pakistan’s telecom sector has achieved many milestones previously also such as reaching 100 million mobile subscriptions in 2010, the introduction of the first-ever biometrically verified SIMs across the country in 2009 and implementation of the world’s first open-source Device Identification Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS) in 2019.

    The PTA lauded the users and service providers for achieving this landmark and announced that crossing the 100 million benchmark would be formally celebrated soon with all the stakeholders and national and international telecom community.

  • Incumbent government fails to control inflation, 9.1pc ahead of Ramzan

    The Consumer Price Index (CPI) witnessed a new round of inflation (increase in prices of goods and services) up to 9.1 per cent from 8.7 per cent in February.

    Inflation took place primarily due to price increase in food items, clothing and footwear, say the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

    Non-food items also witnessed a price hike due to higher energy rates in Pakistan. Due to the shortage of production, at the beginning of the current Fiscal Year (FY), inflation stood at 9.3pc in July that eased down to 8.2pc.

    On a month-on-month (MoM) basis, inflation increased by 0.36pc due to the increasing price of cooking oil, sugar, wheat, pulses, petroleum products, and electricity charges.

    Higher food prices pulled up inflation by 11.5pc YoY and 1.7pc MoM in the urban areas of Pakistan. The situation is similar in the rural areas where the food items prices increased 11.1pc YoY and 1.5pc, on MoM in March.

    The MoM increase indicates that prices of essential food items will see a further rise next month. The weekly prices also show an upward movement which will drag monthly inflation.

    The urban areas saw a price hike in March from the previous month included eggs 12.96pc, fruits 10pc, potatoes 9.54pc, chicken 6.58pc, sugar 4.82pc, tomatoes 4.67pc, pulse mash 4.57pc, pulse gram 4.39pc, rice 1.61pc, and wheat flour 1.46pc.

    The items whose prices declined in urban areas were onions 2.37pc, dried fruits 2.19pc, fish 1.78pc and vegetable 1.48pc.

    In rural areas, egg prices were higher by 15pc, chicken 12.21pc, potatoes 11.43pc, fruits 6.08pc, sugar 5.77pc, besan 4.71pc, pulse gram 3.89pc, gram whole 2.53pc, pulse mash 2.52pc, pulse masoor 2.18pc, vegetable ghee 1.58pc, cooking oil 1.53pc, and wheat flour by 0.97pc.

    Whereas tomato prices decreased by 6.10pc, fish 1.14pc, condiments & spices 0.61pc, and wheat 0.33pc.

    Average inflation measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) surged to 18.7pc in March from 11.9pc during the previous month. On an MoM basis, it increased by 5.7pc in March.

    The Wholesale Price Index was slightly up from the previous month’s 9.5pc to 14.6pc in March. WPI inflation MoM increased by 3.7pc in March.

  • Govt says no plans to privatise anything PIA

    Govt says no plans to privatise anything PIA

    The National Assembly (NA) was informed on Friday that there is no plan to privatise any of the assets of national flag carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
    Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan said this during the question hour while speaking at the floor of the House, which met with Speaker Asad Qaiser in the chair.

    Sarwar said that the present government is very keen to make the national flag carrier self-reliant and profitable entity. Efforts are underway to improve the financial health of the airline by reducing its losses through various means, he said. He also said that loss-making routes have been closed and flights on profitable routes have been added which has resulted in reduction of losses.

    Responding to a question, the aviation minister said that 82 pilots were dismissed for acquiring the licences through unfair means. He said that a transparent mechanism has now been evolved to ensure the issuance of licenses in a transparent manner. An agreement to this effect has also been signed with the UK Civil Aviation Authority, he added.

    He maintained that the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAA) will carry out an audit of Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in July this year. He was confident this will lead to removal of travel restrictions on the PIA in the European countries and that the airline will regain its past glory.

    He said that the European Union (EU) aviation safety watchdog had previously decided to retain its ban on PIA from operating in EU member states, expressing its dissatisfaction over the steps taken by the CAA to address licensing and safety concerns. However, recently in March, the EU’s aviation safety watchdog termed safety standards of Pakistan’s CAA as “satisfactory”.

    The decision was made following a two-day meeting of the EU’s Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and CAA officials, in which representatives from Denmark, Italy and Sweden participated via video-link, he said.
    The minister for aviation said that Quetta and Dera Ismail Khan airports will be upgraded and that eight new planes will be inducted in the fleet of PIA to further improve its performance.

    Taking the floor, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has taken the initiative of ‘Live Call Programme’ to directly connect with the people and listen to their problems. He said that this step of the prime minister should be appreciated. He further said that the premier is expected to again interact with the people via telephone next week.

    The House was later adjourned to meet again at 4:00 pm on Monday.

  • Pakistan set to export beef to China

    For the first time ever, Pakistan will be exporting beef to China in the near future.

    Organic Meat is a local public listed company that got approval and registration by Chinese customs authorities to export heat-treated beef to the People’s Republic of China.

    According to Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), the Organic Meat company has new heat machines that kill bacteria and root out the virus from the meat, which is a mandatory process for meat products.

    The export of meat and meat products by Pakistani companies is gradually increasing due to their adoption of new technologies.

    Due to the adoption of new technologies, several Pakistani companies have started exports to different regions, including Gulf countries (GCC) like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain.

    Last year, two Pakistani companies had received approval from the concerned Malaysian authorities to export meat and meat products to Malaysia.

    According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), meat exports have maintained a growth of 12 per cent year-on-year. The exports surged to $216 million from July to February during the financial year 2020-21, in comparison to $210 million recorded in the previous financial year.

    The consistent growth of exports to both the traditional and new emerging markets will also attract new investments in the local companies and the area of livestock.

    Organic Meat won an export deal of supplying meat to markets in Saudi Arabia. The company also claims that their new system will enable them to export.

    The company was listed with the PSX last year for raising of funds, which resulted in the expansion of its operations and businesses.

  • World Bank to replicate PM Imran’s Green Initiatives in other countries

    World Bank to replicate PM Imran’s Green Initiatives in other countries

    The World Bank (WB) has announced complete financial and technical support to different green initiatives on environmental conservation and protection of climate taken by Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, said the Bank’s Country Director Najy Benhassine.

    PM Imran launched several projects on climate conservation and afforestation programmes for Clean Green Pakistan.

    The country Director informed PM’s aide Malik Amin Aslam that funding of US $120 million pledged for PM Imran Khan’s Green Stimulus initiative has already been approved and can be utilised by the country to increase green jobs in the country for those rendered unemployed due to the COVID-19 crisis by engaging them in the country’s green projects.

    He further added that the World Bank management is profoundly impressed with PM Imran’s vision for Clean Green Pakistan and other projects, particularly the world’s largest 10 Billion Tree Tsunami Project (TBTTP).

    “Having been impressed with the marvellous green initiatives of the incumbent government of PM Imran, we at the World Bank are mulling over replication of Pakistan’s green initiatives in other countries in different parts of the world,” Najy Benhassine said.

    PM’s aide informed the delegation further that another ambitious Protected Areas Initiative (PAI) had also been launched under the umbrella programme ‘Green Pakistan’, which aims at the conservation and promotion of nature-based solutions and the creation of additional 5,000 green jobs for the community members in the protected areas.

    Najy Benhassine praised the initiatives and assured that his organisation would utilise financial, technological, and knowledge resources to support Pakistan.

  • Ban on TikTok lifted in Pakistan: Fawad Chaudhry

    Ban on TikTok lifted in Pakistan: Fawad Chaudhry

    Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry on Thursday said that Peshawar High Court (PHC) has lifted the ban on TikTok as it was ordered by a single-member bench of the same court.

    “Peshawar High Court has suspended the operation of single bench judgement, ban on TikTok has been lifted. We need a framework to encourage international companies to make Pakistan their investment hub,” tweeted the federal minister.

    In March, PHC ordered Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to ask service providers to block users access to TikTok immediately in the country.

    “In respectful compliance to the orders of the Peshawar High Court, PTA has issued directions to the service providers to immediately block access to the TikTok App,” the PTA said.

    PHC Chief Justice (CJ) Qaiser Rashid Khan heard the petition filed by a citizen and ordered the ban on Tiktok.

    This is the second time when TikTok faced a ban in Pakistan.

    In October last year, the PTA had blocked TikTok after the company “failed to fully comply” with its instructions for the “development of an effective mechanism for proactive moderation of unlawful online content”.

    The moves had, however, led to outcry over “bars on digital advancement” in the country.