Day: September 23, 2020

  • FBR extends utilization period of input goods under export schemes

    FBR extends utilization period of input goods under export schemes

    ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has extended the utilization period of input goods under export facilitation schemes up to February 28, 2021 for all three schemes that are Manufacturing Bond, Export Oriented Units and Export Processing Zones, a statement said on Wednesday.

    A FBR spokesman said that this measure would ensure that the feared losses of these exporters due to Covid-19 Pandemic wherein orders were either cancelled or delayed shall be addressed.

    Pakistan Customs (FBR) is committed to achieve the vision of Prime Minister for exporter’s facilitation and addressing their genuine hardships on a proactive basis at their doorsteps.

    Such steps shall boost exports and will result in trade facilitation by ensuring competitiveness of our exported goods in international markets.

  • SBP sells Rs478 billion worth treasury bills through auction

    SBP sells Rs478 billion worth treasury bills through auction

    KARACHI: The government has borrowed an amount of Rs474.8 billion through sale of market treasure bills on Wednesday.

    The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said that bids were invited for the auction of 3-, 6- and 12-month maturities. The auction target was Rs450 billion.

    The auction witnessed aggressive participation of the banks as the central bank received total bids amounting Rs918.47 billion (face value) for all the three maturities.

    The central bank accepted bids worth Rs474.8 billion in the sale of treasury bills.

    The SBP accepted Rs113.8 billion against offered amount of Rs490.9 billion in three-month treasury bills. The cut-off yield for the paper was 7.1292 percent.

    The central bank accepted bids of Rs192 billion against the offer of Rs239.57 billion in six-month treasury bills. The cut-off yield was at 7.18 percent.

    The SBP accepted Rs169 billion against the offer of Rs188 billion in 12-month treasury bills. The cut-off yield was at 7.3090 percent.

    Experts said that the banks were desperate to invest in government papers due to sufficient liquidity available with them.

    The government borrowed funds through sale of treasury bills for budget financing.

  • FBR introduces income tax return form in Urdu language

    FBR introduces income tax return form in Urdu language

    ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has introduced income tax return form in Urdu language in order to facilitate taxpayers, a FBR spokesman said on Wednesday.

    The spokesman said that on the vision of the Prime Minister to facilitate taxpayers and on the directives of Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue, the FBR had introduced income tax return forms in the national language.

    The FBR introduced tax return forms in a wizard view for salaried persons and a simplified one-page tax return and one-page wealth statement issued in Urdu language.

    These return forms in Urdu language are available on the IRIS portal, the spokesman said.

    The spokesman said that to facilitate other taxpayers the FBR was also in process of preparing other return forms and mobile phone application Tax Asaan in Urdu language. These forms will be available soon on the FBR web portal, the spokesman added.

  • Boycott against foodpanda expands to major cities

    Boycott against foodpanda expands to major cities

    KARACHI: Restaurant owners of major cities of the country have joined boycott against foodpanda as food delivery company failed to negotiate, a statement said on Wednesday.

    The All Pakistan Restaurant Association (APRA), after successful boycott in Karachi of foodpanda, has now started protest in Punjab province and restaurants owners of Lahore, Islamabad and other cities, have joined the protest, the statement said.

    APRA chairman, Muhammad Naeem Siddiqui pointed out that foodpanda has started putting more pressure on restaurants after boycotting its services and threatened that it would not deliver the food if 30 percent commission was not paid.

    “APRA has strongly protested the imposition of a 30 percent self-imposed commission on restaurants, calling it against the rules of the Competition Commission of Pakistan and the CCP is asked to play its role in ending the food panda monopoly and malpractices so that all food delivery companies have equal business opportunities”, he said.

    Chairman APRA, after consultation with the Islamabad Restaurant Association (IRA), Lahore Restaurant Association (LRA) and Lahore Restaurant Unity Association, subjected to certain conditions for the restoration of foodpanda’s services.

    The conditions are:

    Restaurants should be allowed to deliver foodpanda orders directly through their own riders.

    There should be standardized commission structure for all brands.

    Customer data should be shared with restaurants.

    Restaurants should not be threatened with commission increases, otherwise they will be closed.

    Exclusive agreement should not be signed with any restaurant as it’s against competition laws.

    Chairman APRA warned, if their demands will not meet, they will continue foodpanda boycott.

  • Regulatory duty, additional customs duty withdrawn on various textile products

    Regulatory duty, additional customs duty withdrawn on various textile products

    ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Wednesday approved withdrawal of regulatory duty and additional customs duty on various textile products.

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  • NCCPL announces collection of capital gain tax on September 30

    NCCPL announces collection of capital gain tax on September 30

    KARACHI: National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited (NCCPL) on Wednesday announced that it will collect/deduct capital gain tax (CGT) for the period of July – August on September 30, 2020.

    In a letter to Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), the NCCPL said that the aggregate amount of CGT arising on disposal of shares at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) for the period July 01, 2020 to August 31, 2020, would be collected on Wednesday September 30, 2020 through respective settling banks of the Clearing Members.

    All Clearing Members have been asked to ensure requisite amount in their respective settling bank’s account. Necessary details and reports for the period have already been made available in the CGT System, the NCCPL said.

    Further, the aggregate amount of CGT arising on trading of future commodity contracts at Pakistan Mercantile Exchange for the period July 01, 2020 to August 31, 2020, would also be collected from the Pakistan Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday September 30, 2020.

    The NCCPL advised clearing members and Pakistan Mercantile Exchange are hereby requested to verify the investor wise details of capital gain or loss and tax thereon, if any, through reports/downloads.

    In case of none or partial collection of CGT, necessary action would be taken in accordance with the Rules and NCCPL Regulations, it warned.

  • Share market inches up in narrow range trading

    Share market inches up in narrow range trading

    KARACHI: The share market gained 47 points on Wednesday while trading in narrow band, analysts said.

    The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 41,876 points as against 41,828 points showing an increase of 47 points.

    Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market traded in a narrow range, moving between -73 points and +194 points during the session closing 47 points.

    While E&P sector saw retreat in OGDC and PPL, which has been the case since last several sessions on the back of weak crude oil prices, Banking sector saw renewed buying activity, especially in HBL and BOP.

    Among OMCs, PSO and HASCOL performed well today, besides Cement sector that showed positive activity in anticipation of healthy dispatches in the ongoing month.

    Post credit of UNITY right shares in investor accounts, the stock price dipped but recovered by day end. Banking sector saw high volumes of 194.2 million shares, followed by Vanaspati (51.8 million) and Technology (47.1 million). Among scrips, SILK registered trading volume of 167.4 million shares, followed by UNITY (51.7 million) and JSCL (36.2 million).

    Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (-43 points), Textile (+30 points), Inv Banks (+19 points), O&GMCs (+17 points), Chemical (+12 points) and Fertilizer (+11 points).

    Volumes increased further from 441.3 million shares to 582.8m shares (+32 percent DoD). Average traded value dropped by 1 percent to reach US$ 77.5 million as against US$ 77.9 million.

    Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include SILK, UNITY, JSCL, PTC and HASCOL, which formed 54 percent of total volumes.

    Stocks that contributed positively to the index include DAWH (+23 points), COLG (+16 points), ILP (+13 points), JLICL (+7 points) and BOP (+7 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include OGDC (-17 points), PPL (-12 points), LUCK (-11 points), POL (-8 points) and UBL (-8 points).

  • Rupee ends flat amid demand for import payment

    Rupee ends flat amid demand for import payment

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee ended flat against dollar on Wednesday despite higher demand for import and corporate payments, dealers said.

    The rupee ended Rs166.22 to the dollar from the previous day’s closing of Rs166.23 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

    The currency dealers said that positive sentiments prevailed in the market owing to reports of current account surplus during the first two months of the current fiscal year.

    They said that due to higher demand for imports and corporate payments during the last days of quarter end the rupee was under pressure.

    However, the positive sentiments prevented the rupee from major decline.

    According to statistics of Balance of Payment (BOP) released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday revealed that the current account balance had registered a surplus of $805 million during July – August 2020 as against a deficit of $1.21 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year

  • FBR advised to activate anti-corruption committees

    FBR advised to activate anti-corruption committees

    ISLAMABAD: A senior officer of Pakistan Customs has advised the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to activate recently established committees for eliminating corruption in the organization.

    Dr. Asif Mahmood Jah, Chief Collector Customs (North), who is also In charge of Integrity Management Cell, in a letter advised the FBR chairman to activate ‘integrity committees’ at the field level at the earliest.

    The collector said that with a view to giving an easy access to the general public for redressal of their grievances and transforming FBR into an accountable, fair and responsive organization, an “Integrity Management and Performance Management System” was established at FBR HQ in 2014.

    The system was aimed at combating corruption within the organization and providing checks to ensure the integrity of its employees.

    “Nevertheless, the accountability mechanism remained sluggish and slow owing to various HR and other related issues. It must, however, be understood, without any ambiguity, that FBR is following zero tolerance policy for corruption. Recent suspension of many officials/officers, clearly establishes our resolve against corrupt elements.”

    The collector said that recently the FBR geared up its efforts in line with the policy of the government to curb corruption and established internal integrity management system and accountability mechanism within the department.

    The collector further said that integrity management committees at the field formation level have also been notified by the board. All field formations of the FBR are, therefore, expected to follow a policy of zero tolerance for corruption and take every possible step to curb this menace.