KARACHI: The Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) said that the foreign investors operating in Pakistan and multinational companies (MNCs) have contributed around 1/3rd of the total tax collection by Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) during fiscal year 2019/2020.
(more…)Day: July 15, 2020
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Stock market slides after 13 consecutive positive sessions
KARACHI: The stock market fell by 66 points on Wednesday owing to profit taking after 13 consecutive positive sessions, analysts said.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 36,679 points as against 36,745 points showing a decline of 66 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market opened on a positive note today with +106 points and gained a total of 146 points during the session, however, profit booking caused the index to slide.
PPL again showed high volumes and closed the session slightly below VWAP. Majority of the crosses were observed at 97.50. O&GMCs, Fertilizer, Steel and Pharma saw profit booking in general.
Cement sector topped the volumes with 54 million shares, followed by Banks (34.5 million) and Technology (34 million).
Among scrips, MLCF realized 33 million shares, followed by PAEL (27 million) and UNITY (21.7 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P(+17 points), Tobacco (+16 points), O&GMCs (-30 points), Inv Banks (-24 points), Fertilizer (-24 points), Banks (-23 points).
Volumes further declined to 328.4 million shares as against 466.2 million shares (-30 percent DoD). Average traded value declined by 23 percent to reach US$ 84.9 million as against US$ 109.5 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include MLCF, PAEL, UNITY, PPL and TRG, which formed 30 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include PAKT (+16 points), PPL (+15 points), HUBC (+13 points), INDU (+11 points) and POL (+10 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include DAWH (-21 points), SNGP (-19 points), MTL (-16 points), MEBL (-13 points), and FFC (-10 points).
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Pakistan, Hungary sign treaty for exchange of information
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Hungary have signed a treaty for exchange of information under newer version of protocol of avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income, a statement issued by Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) said on Wednesday.
Hungarian Ambassador to Pakistan Istvan Szabo signed the Protocol on behalf of Government of Hungary, while Dr. Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed, Member (Inland Revenue Operations)/Additional Secretary inked it on behalf of Pakistan.
The Article 27 of the Convention deals with Exchange of Information. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) approved changes in the Article on Exchange of Information in July 2012 to include provisions concerning cooperation between the tax administrations of the two Contracting States.
The present article embodies the rules under which information may be exchanged to the widest possible extent to include taxes other than the income tax.
Therefore, to incorporate the latest standard of administrative assistance in the extant Convention, Pakistan and Hungary decided to replace the Article on Exchange of Information with the new version through Protocol.
The new Article on exchange of information provides that the competent authorities of the Contracting States shall exchange such information that will not be restricted by Article 1 & 2 of the Convention and no state shall decline to provide information merely for the reason that such information is of no interest to it, or because the information is held by a bank, other financial institution or nominee or a person acting in an agency or fiduciary capacity.
According to the new version of the Article, the Contracting States shall exchange such information on request as is foreseeably relevant for carrying out of provisions of the convention or to the administration or enforcement of the domestic tax laws of the requesting state.
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SBP fixes mandatory housing loan targets for banks
KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday fixed mandatory targets of housing loan disbursement for banks in order to promote housing and construction of buildings in the country.
The central bank in a notification said that with a view to promote housing and construction of buildings (Residential and Non-Residential) in Pakistan, the SBP decided to advise mandatory targets to the banks.
“Accordingly, each bank shall ensure that the financing for housing and construction of buildings (Residential and Non-Residential) shall be at least 5 percent of their domestic private sector credit by December, 2021,” the notification stated.
The banks are advised to gear up their infrastructure and capacity to ensure compliance of meeting these targets.
Accordingly, each bank is required to develop a concrete action plan with detailed measures and their timelines to achieve its housing and construction finance targets.
This action plan should contain breakdown of overall targets into quarterly targets, development of suitable products, launching of media campaigns, development of internal technology, capacity building of staff, and other actions needed to ensure the 5 percent target is met.
The SBP directed the banks to submit their concrete action plans to this department within 15 working days.
Banks will be required to report data of approvals and disbursements against these targets on monthly basis starting from September 2020.
The central bank said that it will keep a close monitoring of progress on the mandatory targets. Non-compliance in meeting the targets shall attract punitive action under the relevant provisions of the Banking Companies Ordinance, 1962.
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Rupee ends firmer on improved inflows
KARACHI: The Pak Rupee ended firmer against dollar on Wednesday as stock of foreign currency was sufficient to meet import payment demand.
The rupee ended Rs166.67 to the dollar from the previous day’s close of Rs166.68 in interbank foreign exchange market.
Currency experts said that the inflows of dollars were sufficient to meet the demand for import and corporate payments.
They said that the improved inflows of remittances and lower import payments had helped the rupee to maintain levels.
State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has said that the workers’ remittances rose by a significant 50.7 percent during June 2020 to reach monthly record high $2.46 billion compared with $1.63 billion in June 2019.
Similarly, on a cumulative basis, workers’ remittances increased to a historic high level of $23.12 billion during FY20, witnessing a growth of 6.4 percent over $21.74 billion during FY19.
According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) the import bill of the country fell by 18.6 percent to $44.57 billion as compared with $54.76 billion in the preceding fiscal year.
This helped the country to curtail the trade deficit for the year. The trade deficit of the country shrank by 27 percent to $23.18 billion during fiscal year 2019/2020 as compared with the deficit of $31.8 billion in the preceding fiscal year.
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Sindh launches application for agriculture income tax calculation
KARACHI: The Board of Revenue, Sindh has launched an application for calculation of agriculture income tax and issuance of sales certificate.
A statement on Tuesday said that the BOR Sindh launched revenue applications for facilitating general public for issuance of sales certificate and calculation of agricultural income tax.
The applications are available of the website www.sindhzameen.gos.pk and are available from July 11,2020, in addition to the manual system of issuance of sale certificates and assessment of AIT.
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FBR to prescribe valuation method for used vehicles
ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will prescribe method for valuation of used vehicles for the purpose of sales tax.
FBR sources said that amendment has been made to Sales Tax Act, 1990 through Finance Act, 2020 related to value of supply of used vehicles.
According to the amendment, in case of registered person who is engaged in purchasing used vehicles from general public on which sales tax had already been paid at the time of import or manufacturing, and which paid at the time of import or manufacturing, and which are, later on, sold in the open market after making certain value addition, value of supply will be difference between sale and purchase price of the said vehicles on the basis of the valuation method prescribed by the board [FBR].