Day: January 7, 2021

Pension account to become inoperative on verification failure: Finance Division

ISLAMABAD: Bank account of a pensioner shall become inoperative if the person drawing pension fails to undergo biometric verification or is not drawing pension for consecutive six months.

The Finance Division in a letter to the governor of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday informed that that if a person drawing pension fails to submit a life certificate or fails to undergo biometric verification during the months of March and October or a pensioner does not draw pension for consecutive six months, the account shall become dormant.

The finance division said that following clarification for payment of pension through Direct Credit System (DCS):

(i) The pension shall be paid to a pensioner through a bank account either current or PLS maintained in his own name.

(ii) For payment of pension through bank account as mentioned at (i) above, a joint account shall not be valid.

(iii) Dedicated pension bank account shall not be mandatory for drawl of pension.

(iv) The requirement of indemnity bond from a pensioner, as laid down in para 3(f) and 9(xii) of the Revised SOP 2014 issued on July 14, 2014 is discontinued.

It said that the through a letter September 08, 2020 the finance division had already decided that no separate bank account is required for draw/disbursement of pension for all new retirees and that it may be ensured that the pensioner starts receiving pension payment on the date it falls due, in the same bank account, he or she was receiving the salary before retirement, if he or she desires so.

The finance division said that after necessary amendments in the relevant rules, the federal government is going to launch a system which would cater for all the requirements/documentations digitally to further facilitate the pensioners.

Salient features of the system are as under:

(a) A pensioner drawing pension under clause iii of sub rule (6) of Federal Treasury Rules shall be facilitated to undergo biometric verification from any branch of a bank maintaining his pension account, every year in the months of March and October. If the pensioner is unable to under biometric verification due to incapacitation by bodily illness, infirmity or if his fingerprints do not exist due to old or a genetic condition, he will provide a life certificate signed by a person authorized under rule 343 every six months.

(b) The declaration shall be obtained yearly from pensioner who pension is terminable by their marriage or remarriage and shall be attached to the pension bill paid in September instead of December and June.

(c) Further, submission of declaration regarding marriage or remarriage will be dispensed with after the widow or daughter of the pensioner attains the age of sixty year.

(d) If a person drawing pension fails to submit a life certificate or fails to undergo biometric verification during the months of March and October or a pension does not draw pension for consecutive six months, the account shall become dormant.

January 7, 2021
PTCL signs deal to launch Avaya Spaces

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) will launch Avaya Spaces, the all-in-one workstream collaboration app for the digital workplace, for the first time in Pakistan. In this regard the PTCL has signed a partnership agreement with Avaya Holdings Corp (NYSE: AVYA).

The partnership will enable organizations to implement blended and flexible environment for their employees, a statement said on Thursday.

In collaboration with PTCL, Avaya will provide free, full-feature access for a limited time to customers in Pakistan. Avaya Spaces is an all-in-one video meeting and workstream collaboration platform for the digital workplace that changes the way as work gets done in nearly 100 countries.

It helped businesses, schools, governments and other organizations to bring together distributed groups of people instantly with immersive workspaces where they can message, meet, share content, manage tasks and collaborate in the Cloud.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Business Services Officer, PTCL Zarrar Hasham Khan said, “We are continuously working towards empowering organizations within Pakistan and supporting the vision of a Digital Pakistan.

In the present circumstances, where most of the organizations are offering flexible working environment, our partnership with Avaya is the step in the right direction.

Not only that, such solutions are much needed in the educational sector as it offers a more blended learning and working model.

It will certainly create opportunities to streamline and support schools and universities as it introduces an innovative way to learn and deliver lectures.

Speaking on the collaboration with PTCL, Director, Service Providers, Middle East, Africa & Asia, Avaya, Nour Al Atassi, said, “Globally our customers are leveraging Avaya Spaces to create the future digital workplace and to enable new and innovative education delivery models.

With PTCL introducing solutions such as Avaya Spaces, Pakistan will be well on its way to achieving its digitalization goals.

PTCL has already invested in an innovative and robust telecommunications network that is serving as an enabler of business continuity across the country. Together, we look forward to supporting the blended delivery of essential services with Avaya Spaces.”

Avaya Spaces has seen significant growth since its introduction and has been an especially important solution for organizations addressing the challenges of COVID-19.

At the peak of the pandemic, Avaya Spaces was offered for free to enable companies, schools, governments and organizations of all kinds to adapt to remote work and collaborate, stay connected and be productive while keeping employees safe.

With support being offered by PTCL, one of the country’s leading ICT solution providers, Avaya Spaces will better enable local organizations to choose the right working models for themselves and their customers.

January 7, 2021
FBR sets up cell for registration of manufacturers for concessionary power, gas tariff

ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Thursday established a cell for registration of manufacturers in export-oriented sector to allow concessionary tariff on supply of electricity and gas.

The FBR issued an office order to set up Export-oriented Sector Registration Cell (ESRC) for manufacturers of export-oriented sectors (erstwhile zero-rated sector) to process requests for concessionary tariff rates on supply of electricity and gas.

The FBR deputed officers to the cell, who are included: Khalid Mehmood, Second Secretary (ST-L&P), Imran Ullah Khan, Senior Auditor (ST-L&P) and Majid Hussain Abbasi, Inspector (ST-L&P).

The functions of the ESRC are to:

Examine the particulars and recommendations of the respective associations and counter-verify particulars of the taxpayer including declarations in the registration profile etc. as required, and forward the case to the ministry of commerce for further necessary action.

Liaise with Inland Revenue field formations for ground-check, report and recommendations, in case any discrepancies in the verification report and data available with the FBR are spotted.

Earlier in a notification issued on December 30, 2020, the FBR said that the economic coordination committee of the cabinet had approved the reduced rate to manufacturers on supply of electricity and gas in a meeting held on December 12, 2020. The ECC also directed the FBR, ministry of commerce and other stakeholders to devise a standard operating procedure (SOP) for enrollment of registered persons under the export-oriented sectors (erstwhile zero-rated sectors) to quality concessionary regime of electricity, RLNG and gas tariff.

Accordingly, a meeting was held in FBR on December 22, 2020 and as a result of thorough deliberations amongst all stakeholders the requisite SOP has been agreed upon and being rolled onto.

The FBR said the following SOP adopted for enrollment of manufacturers for grant of reduced tariff rate:

(i) For new registration of manufacturers for concessionary tariff rates, applicants may apply respective representative association.

(ii) The Association concerned, after verifying the particulars on the prescribed format, may forward the application along with its element recommendations, duly signed by its chairman/president, to the export oriented sector registration cell (ESRC) of the FBR.

(iii) The ESRC shall examine the particulars and recommendations of the respective associations and counter-verify particulars of the taxpayer including declarations in the registration profile etc. as required, and forward the case to the ministry of commerce for allowing concessionary tariff through respective Distribution Companies (DISCOs)/Gas companies.

(iv) In case the ESRC spots any discrepancies in the verification report and data available with the FBR, the matter will be referred to Inland Revenue field formations for ground-check, report and recommendations.

(v) The newly enrolled taxpayers shall be entitled to avail concessionary tariff prospectively.

(vi) The DISCOs/gas companies shall ensure that the taxpayers are active on FBR’s (Sales Tax) Active Taxpayers List (ATL) as shared with DISCOs/gas companies each month before generating the monthly utility bills. In case the taxpayer is found non-active on the ATL, standard utility tariff shall apply on supply of utilities for the relevant period.

(vii) Any taxpayer aspiring to avail concessionary utility rates and who is not registered with the respective sector association, may approach the Inland Revenue field formation concerned for verification of its business particulars and onward submission of report on the prescribed format to the RSRC within 15 days of the submission of the application.

The procedure for the registration of new entrants in export oriented sectors shall become applicable with effect from January 01, 2021.

Following is the list of export oriented sectors associations:

01. All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA)

02. Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PRGMEA)

03. Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association (PHMA)

04. Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA)

05. Pakistan Leather Garments Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PLGMEA)

06. Pakistan Sports Goods Manufacturers & Exporters Association

07. Surgical Instruments Manufacturing Association of Pakistan

08. Pakistan Denim Manufacturers and Exporters Association

09. All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association (APTPMA)

January 7, 2021
Trade deficit swells by 6.44 percent in first half

ISLAMABAD: The country’s trade deficit has widened by 6.44 percent during the first half (July – December) of fiscal year 2020/2021 owing to uptick in imports during past two months.

According to trade data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Thursday, the trade deficit was recorded at $12.42 billion during July – December of fiscal year 2020/2021 as compared with the deficit of $11.67 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

The exports of the country witnessed a growth of five percent to $12.1 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year as compared with $11.52 billion in the corresponding half of the last fiscal year.

Similarly, the total import bill of the country registered an increase of 5.72 percent to $24.52 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year as compared with $23.2 billion in the corresponding half of the last fiscal year.

The trade deficit was widened sharply by 32 percent in December 2020 to $2.68 billion as compared with the deficit of $2.03 billion in the same month of 2019.

The exports have witnessed 18.31 percent growth to $2.35 billion in December 2020 as compared with $1.99 billion in December 2019.

Meanwhile, the import bill during December 2020 registered a growth of 25.25 percent to $5.04 billion as compared with $4.02 billion.

January 7, 2021
Stock market gains 191 points amid selling pressure

KARACHI: The stock market gained 191 points on Thursday amid to selling pressure prevailed during the day.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 45,345 points as against previous day’s close of 45,153 points showing an increase of 191 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market added a total of 466 points during the session, where the initial start was very fast paced, although profit booking in rest of the session brought the index down.

Profit booking was witnessed in E&P, Cement, Steel and O&GMCs sectors, whereas aggressive buying was witnessed in Banks and Fertilizer sectors.

Developing situation with respect to Quetta incident and laggard approach by the government to meet the protestors’ demands caused concern among investors.

News of removal of Additional Custom Duty on 152 tariff lines, also helped Textile and related chemical sector stocks to perform, however, profit booking brought the rates down by the end of session.

Among scrips, BYCO topped the volumes with 94.8 million shares, followed by POWER (34.2 million) and KAPCO (31.6 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (+177 points), Fertilizer (+100 points), Inv Banks (+12 points), O&GMCs (-51 points), Cement (-34 points) and E&P (-26 points).

Volumes declined slightly from 664.5 million shares to 641.4 million shares (-4 percent DoD). Average traded value, on the contrary, increased by 3 percent to reach US$ 159.5 million as against US$ 154.3 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include BYCO, POWER, KAPCO, PRL and PAEL, which formed 33 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include UBL (+88 points), HBL (+44 points), FFC (+37 points), EFERT (+29 points) and ENGRO (+27 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include PSO (-41 points), PPL (-29 points), OGDC (-19 points), LUCK (-18 points) and ANL (-17 points).

January 7, 2021
Foreign exchange reserves increase to $20.512 billion by year-end 2020

KARACHI: The liquid foreign exchange reserves of the country increased to $20.512 billion by year-end 2020, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.

The foreign exchange reserves of the country increased by $258 million to $20.512 billion by week ended December 31, 2020 as compared with $20.254 billion by week ended December 24, 2020.

The official reserves of the central bank increased by $261 million to $13.412 billion by week ended December 31, 2020 as compared with $13.151 billion a week ago.

The foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks were flat at $7.1 billion by week ended December 31, 2020 as compared with $7.103 billion by week ended December 24, 2020.

January 7, 2021
PRGMEA supports proposal for revival of sales tax zero-rate regime

KARACHI: Exporters and manufacturers of readymade garments on Thursday supported the proposals of revival of zero-rate sales tax regime for entire textile chain.

Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) in a statement endorsed the demand of PM Advisor on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood to seek zero-rating regime for whole textile chain in the Textile and Apparel Policy 2020-25, stating the apparel sector is eagerly waiting for the approval of it from the ECC to make future marketing plan in the light of new policy.

PRGMEA central chairman Sohail A. Sheikh and chief coordinator Ijaz Khokhar, in a joint statement issued here today, observed that restoration of zero-rating status of the textile sector is vital to maintain the momentum of present enhanced exports, as currently the sector is working at full capacity to meet the high demand of export orders.

“It is absolutely essential to sustain this momentum, as economic activities are largely restored to pre-Covid levels in the first quarter of current fiscal year 2020-21, PRGMEA central chairman added.

He said that the uptrend indicated a promising growth ahead in all major sectors especially the value-added apparel industry, but the risk of record high yarn prices amidst its severe shortage has continuously been posing a major threat to exports growth.

Apart from announcing five-year textile policy, the government will have to introduce some soft package for short-term period for the apparel industry to sustain the present growth as yarn prices has increased by 30-40 percent while availability is also very critical, he observed.

Sohail A. Sheikh said that the government can support the industry by restoring the zero rating of sales tax regime besides allowing duty-free cotton yarn, as the industry is hitting hard owing to shortage of its major raw material. Moreover, existing available stocks of cotton yarn are of the poor quality to help any sort of apparels manufacturing for export purposes.

Ijaz Khokhar said the situation demands that the government should immediately abolish customs duty and all types of taxes on import of cotton yarn and exporters should be given full liberty to import yarn from any country till the scarcity of cotton yarn is ended, as removal of just 5 percent regulatory duty could not have a significant effect in the local market.

He added that the value-added apparel sector has been affected badly due to delay in the final announcement of the new textile policy by Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet, as the PM has already given approval in this regard. He was of the view that a delay in textile policy may result in delay or even backing out of investors from possible investments in the industry. Currently, we are in short production capacity and several exporters are refusing export orders because there is not enough capacity available in the country. A clear long term policy will give investors a clear vision that the government of Pakistan is ready to support the apparel sector of Pakistan on long-term basis.

According to him, the new textile policy carries the potential of taking the textile sector out of a crisis like situation. He hailed the PM Advisor for making efforts for incorporating several suggestions of the PRGMEA.

Sohail A. Sheikh also called for a Soft Temporary Import for Re-Export Policy especially designed for SME’s, which are 90 percent of our export industry. This is very important to manage our global supply chain. PRGMEA has already submitted a comparative study of existing SROs and new proposed SRO, which will help us cater to the new Fast Fashion & On-line Business Model.

There is a huge demand of Certified Organic Cotton by the buyers. We the apparel sector strongly recommend that the import of Organic Yarn should be exempted from custom duty and all other taxes, till Pakistan produces its own certified organic cotton.

January 7, 2021
Rupee strengthens by 28 paisas on inflows of exports, remittances

KARACHI: The Pak Rupee strengthened by 28 paisas against the dollar on Thursday owing to improved inflows of export receipts and workers’ remittances.

The rupee ended Rs160.01 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs160.29 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

Currency dealers said that the market had witnessed supply of the foreign currency in the shape of export receipts and workers’ remittances.

The dealers said that the market had demand for import and corporate payments but the inflows were sufficient to meet the demand.

On January 02, 2021, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment, Abdul Razaq Dawood has expressed his satisfaction that the exports in December 2020 have increased by 18.3 percent to $ 2,357 million as compared to $ 1,993 million in December 2019, showing an increase of $364 million.

The Adviser said this was the highest export ever in the previous month of December 2020.

He said that the export figures showed the resilience of the economy of Pakistan and was a vindication of the government’s policy to keep the wheels of economy running during COVID-19 pandemic. The 6-months’ performance of exports was also discussed in the meeting.

January 7, 2021