Day: November 17, 2021

The Pakistani Rupee (PKR) posted big gains against the US Dollar (USD) and appreciated Rs. 1.12 paisas against the greenback in the inter-bank market today- one of its highest single-day gains in 2021. It hit an intra-day high of Rs. 173.75 against the USD during today’s open market session.

The PKR appreciated by 0.65 percent against the USD and closed at Rs. 173.76 today after it posted gains of 40 paisas and closed at Rs. 174.89 in the inter-bank market on Tuesday, 16 November.

Today’s gains come on the back of news that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will convene its next meeting on Friday, 19 November. The SBP explained, in a revised circular, that the meeting was brought forward in consideration of the recent developments that have affected the inflation outlook and the balance of payments.

Other than the MPC preponement, the PKR is expected to appreciate even further on the back of the positive sentiment in the market and the near-term approval of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) sixth review on fulfilling five prior actions.

The Advisor on Finance, Shaukat Tarin, discussed the Rupee forecast with reporters in reference to the emerging trends. He said that the government has increased the power tariff besides withdrawing tax exemptions.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Law is reviewing the SBP autonomy bill that will be passed soon. He added that the Rupee will soon strengthen after the completion of the sixth review of the IMF.

Regarding the PKR’s interbank performance earlier today during the trading hours, the former Treasury Head of Chase Manhattan Bank, Asad Rizvi, said, “MPC [Monetary Policy Committee] on Nov 19 instead of Nov 26. Petroleum prices hiked in a hurry on Nov 5 instead of NOV 16, more 2come. #PKR at [a] desired level, more easy 2do. Gas/Electricity adjusted upward, some more to come. CRR UP to 6%”.

He added, “Liquidity CRUNCH & Hike 100bp or + Deposit Rate Attractive”.

The PKR maintained its performance against other major currencies as well and posted encouraging gains in the inter-bank currency market today.

It continued its winning streak against the Euro for the second day running after it posted big gains of Rs. 2.28 against the eurozone currency. It also posted 37 paisas against the Malaysian Ringgit (MYR), and 19 paisas against the Chinese Yuan (CNY).

It posted gains of 30 paisas against both the UAE Dirham (AED) and the Saudi Riyal (SAR) in today’s inter-bank currency market.

Besides this, the PKR posted whopping gains of Rs. 1.18 against the Canadian Dollar (CAD), Rs. 1.72 against the Australian Dollar (AUD), and Rs. 1.64 against the Pound Sterling (GBP).

Source: Pro Pakistani

Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue, Shaukat Tarin, has stated that the government will soon introduce and enforce a whistleblower law against those hoarding different commodities as it is committed to curbing hoarding.

The Advisor presided over the National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC) meeting held at the Finance Division on Wednesday. The NPMC reviewed the prices of wheat, sugar, pulses, chicken, and other essential food items in the country.

Secretary Finance briefed the NPMC on the weekly sensitive price index (SPI) situation which, he said, had increased by 1.81 percent in the last week. He said the prices of six essential commodities recorded a decline, whereas the prices of 15 items remained stable in the week.

He said the prices of moong pulse and onion registered a decline in the week. To this, the NPMC emphasized the need for building strategic reserves of moong and providing incentives to farmers to domestically produce maash pulse to lessen the import dependence.

According to Secretary Finance, the prices of wheat flour bags remained consistent at Rs. 1,100 per 20 kg due to the proactive measures of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments and the ICT administration. The Advisor Finance commended the efforts of the governments of Punjab and KP and the Islamabad administration.

However, he expressed concerns over the significant difference in prices of wheat flour in Sindh and Balochistan as compared to other provinces. He urged the Chief Secretaries of Sindh and Balochistan to increase the daily releases of wheat to improve the supply situation in the markets and make efforts to bring the prices of wheat down.

Chief Secretary Sindh briefed the NPMC that the government of Sindh was taking all possible measures to control the price of wheat in the province by timely releasing the stocks.

Secretary Ministry of National Food Security & Research briefed the NPMC on the sufficient availability of wheat stock with the provinces and Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO).

Secretary Finance informed the committee that the prices of sugar were easing out in Punjab, KP, and Islamabad due to the start of crop crushing in addition to the proactive measures taken by the government. Tarin expressed concerns over the high prices of sugar at the retail level in Sindh and Balochistan despite the start of crushing.

Secretary Ministry of Industries and Production informed the meeting that sugar mills in Sindh and Punjab had started production, hence with the arrival of new stocks of sugar in the market, the prices would decline in the coming days.

About the prices of edible oil, the NMPC observed that the increase in prices of edible oil in the global market had affected the local prices, while the seasonal factor had affected the prices of chicken and eggs. The meeting took notice of the high prices of vegetable ghee at Sasta Bazaars in KP and directed the Chief Secretary KP to take necessary corrective measures to ease out prices. Besides, the Advisor urged the Federal Board of Revenue to effectively accelerate the monitoring of supply side of edible oil to keep the prices stable.

Observing the shortage of fertilizers stock, the Advisor directed the provincial governments to take strict actions against fertilizer hoarders and prevent the shortage.

The NPMC observed that Sasta and Sahulat Bazaars in Punjab were offering essential goods at subsidized prices. The Advisor commended the efforts of the government of Punjab and Islamabad administration for providing key items at discounted prices through the Bazaars.

Federal Minister for National Food Security & Research, Syed Fakhar Imam, Federal Secretaries, Chairperson Competition Commission of Pakistan, Managing Director Utility Stores Corporation, Chairman Trading Corporation of Pakistan, Chief Secretaries, Chief Statistician Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, and other senior officers attended the meeting.

Source: Pro Pakistani

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has selected the Lahore School of Economics (LSE) under its WTO Chairs program.

Advisor to Prime Minister for Commerce and Investment, Abdul Razzak Dawood, announced this in a tweet on Monday. He also congratulated the LSE administration and Pakistan’s Mission at WTO for this achievement.

“WTO has selected Lahore School of Economics as the first Pakistani institution under the WTO Chairs’ program,” he said.

The four-year grant will be used to develop curriculum, conduct research, and inform Management of Change (MoC) policy decisions on trade issues, he added.

The WTO Chairs Program was launched in 2009-10 as a capacity-building project. According to WTO’s official website, the program “aims to enhance knowledge and understanding of the trading system among academics and policymakers in developing countries through curriculum development, research and outreach activities by universities and research institutions.”

Under this program, the World Trade Organization supports trade-related academic activities in the universities and research institutions in developing countries. In the first phase of the program, 14 institutions from developing and least-developed countries were selected as WTO Chairs.

Another nine institutes made it to the second phase of the program in 2014 that ended in 2019, while the applications for the third phase, starting in 2022, were submitted in March this year.

Source: Pro Pakistani

Asian Development Bank (ADB) officials Wednesday visited the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) HQs to review the progress made on “FBR Reform Engagement with ADB” and issues and challenges being faced for effective implementation.

During the meeting, the progress on Integrated Transit Trade Management System (ITTMS) was shared with the ADB delegation. Giving specific details about Customs trade facilitation at Border Crossing Points (BCPs), FBR team informed that facilitation of multi-agency administration and round the clock operationalization and establishment of well-equipped import & export Custom Control Zones (CCZs) at Border Crossing Points have been ensured. Regarding Customs Trade Harmonization at BCPs.

The ADB delegation was informed that the least possible human interface between entry and exit points has been ensured for enhanced trade facilitation. Moreover, WeBOC has been integrated with Pakistan Single Window (PSW) for real-time data sharing with the concerned stakeholders.

The Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is also being shared with regional economies and trading partners. Speedy electronic verification of documents, clearance, weighing and scanning has expedited cross-border cargo movement under WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) for reducing the Cost of Doing Business.

Progress on Tax Administration Diagnostic Assessment Tool (TADAT) was also shared with ADB Team. The visiting delegation was informed that FBR has launched the formulation of the Inland Revenue Code in a bid to harmonize all inland taxation laws and maximize the facilitation of taxpayers. The single Inland Revenue Code will reduce the implementation cost of FBR and reduce compliance costs for taxpayers.

The ADB Team was apprised of broader revenue mobilization initiatives of FBR particularly in the realm of the Pakistan Raises Revenue Program (PRR). It was informed that FBR was on its way to achieve objectives of the Program for a simple and transparent tax system, effective control of taxpayers’ obligations, and facilitation of compliance and institutional development for efficiency and accountability.

Chairman FBR dilated upon the key initiatives of FBR which included E-Monitoring (Track & Trace System), Point of Sale (POS) Integration, the establishment of Single Sales Tax Portal and similar other technological initiatives. He further reaffirmed that team FBR had exceeded the last financial years’ revenue target of Rs. 4691 billion and FBR had already collected Rs. 235 billion in excess of the assigned budget for the first four months (July-October, 2021), achieving a commendable growth of 36.7 %.

He informed the delegation that for the first time ever in FBR history, the country’s premier revenue collection organization has adopted a policy of clean revenue collection by not holding back a penny in refunds payable to taxpayers and not accepting any advances, as against the standing practices in the past.

The ADB team appreciated FBR’s efforts to maximize revenue potential through automation and digitization and hoped that team FBR will continue to maintain its ongoing momentum to broaden the tax base through technology and thus collect maximum revenue for the people of Pakistan. At the end, Chairman FBR thanked the visiting delegation of ADB and reassured them of full cooperation from FBR in ensuring smooth bilateral engagement between ADB and FBR.

The FBR team was led by Chairman, FBR, Dr. Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed and the ADB team was headed by John Hurley, United States’ Alternate Executive Director who was accompanied by Country Director Yong Ye, Principal Energy Specialist Asad Aleem, Executive Director Noor Ahmed, Senior Project Officer Financial Sector Ms. Sana Masood, Senior Project Officer Infrastructure Khurram Ghafoor and Senior Economist Ms. Farzana Noshab. Member (Customs Operations) Syed Muhammad Tariq Huda, Member (IR Operations) Qaiser Iqbal, Member (Reforms) Ms. Ambreen Iftikhar, Chief FATE/Director (Media) Muhammad Asad Tahir and Project Director (PRR) Nadeem Basheer were also present in the meeting.

Source: Pro Pakistani

The Joint sitting of the Parliament on Wednesday passed the crucial SBP Banking Services Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 paving way paving way for International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan.

The bill aims to reduce the Finance Ministry’s oversight of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) by removing its nominee on the central bank’s board, a key demand of IMF.

According to the statement of objects and reasons of the bill, a new sub-section has been introduced in section 9, in line with good governance for the appointment of an Acting Managing Director within a period of fifteen days, from the date of vacancy, provided that, the Managing Director shall be appointed within a period of three months from the date of the occurrence of vacancy.

The power of the Board of Directors to appoint external auditors has been proposed in line with good governance.

An enabling clause on stations of subsidiaries by the Bank with the approval of Board and State Bank under this legislative proposal has been introduced for operational efficiency.

Amendments have been proposed to exempt the gratuity and provident fund employees of the Bank from attachment as already provided for, in case of pensioners, to make the bill consistent with the existing compensation benefits.

In order to provide adequate protection to the Bank and the officers of the Bank for actions taken in good faith, amendments have been proposed in section 28 of the Ordinance.

A new section 24-A has been proposed to legally protect the proceedings of the Board and the committees of the Board from any questions arising merely on the grounds of any vacancy or any defect in the constitution of the Board. This Bill is designed to achieve the aforesaid purposes.

The IMF loan seemed a certainty until April but has dragged on for seven months due to deadlock in negotiations between Pakistan and the IMF on the conditions of the loan. The delay in the bailout saw the rupee hit a historic low of 175.73 against the US dollar last week.

The joint sitting also passed The Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and The Corporate Restructuring Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2021. The latter will help in making the Corporate Restructuring Companies (CRC) operate efficiently, acquiring Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) from the financial institutions and raising funds for acquisition of NPAs.

Source: Pro Pakistani