KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday issued the following Karachi Interbank Offered Rates (KIBOR) on October 22, 2021.
| Tenor | BID | OFFER |
| 1 – Week | 7.21 | 7.71 |
| 2 – Week | 7.25 | 7.75 |
| 1 – Month | 7.31 | 7.81 |
| 3 – Month | 8.08 | 8.33 |
| 6 – Month | 8.49 | 8.74 |
| 9 – Month | 8.73 | 9.23 |
| 1 – Year | 8.96 | 9.46 |
KARACHI: The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Friday demanded the government of replacing the governor of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
“The business, industry and trade community of Pakistan demands a better, more competent and responsible leadership at the helm of the affairs at State Bank of Pakistan,” said Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo, President FPCCI while criticizing irresponsible and fictitious statement by the Governor SBP on deprecating value of Pakistani Rupee and how it is benefiting Pakistan.
FPCCI Chief said that there is no economic sense and justification in the statement that Pakistan has gained around $3 billion due to recent depreciation in Pak Rupee. He added that the ground realities are diametrically opposite than that of assertions by SBP Chief.
Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo emphasized that monetary policy should be devised in a manner to promote economic growth and bring stability in the economic indicators; however, monetary policy has failed to achieve any of the above.
Nasir Khan, VP FPCCI, has said that unrelentingly depreciating exchange rate is playing a havoc with Pakistani society and the economy. This is unsustainable and the Prime Minister should intervene – in the larger national interest – immediately to arrest the slide in the value of Pak Rupee.
Nasir Khan said that the government must address the domestic and imported inflation through its monetary and fiscal policies; instead of making lame excuses.
Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo said that hardly any justification exists in continuation of the present Governor SBP. In fact, ethically speaking, he should prefer to resign himself in view of totally indefensible policy structure given by SBP.
Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo has also demanded a binding inquiry into the conduct of SBP in recommending sweeping tax concessions for non-resident companies to attract investments in government debt at very high rates to favor certain foreign commercial banks. The same conduct of Governor SBP is part of the history archives, when he was in Egypt.
KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has said that the digital payment continued upward trajectory during fiscal year 2020/2021.
The SBP on Friday released its Annual Payment Systems Review (PSR) for the fiscal year 2020-21, which shows strong growth in the space of digital financial transactions in the country.
According to the SBP, transactions processed through SBP’s large-value payments segment, known as Real-time Inter-Bank Settlement Mechanism (PRISM), recorded YoY growth of 60.0 per cent by number of transactions (volume) and 12.8 per cent by value.
Similarly, overall e-Banking transactions registered YoY growth of 31.1 per cent which highlights substantial increase in adaption of digital means for payments.
This growth was spurred by major uptake in mobile banking (29 per cent increase in the number of users, 133.6 per cent and 178.7 per cent increase in volume and value respectively) and internet banking (32 per cent increase in the number of users, 65.1 per cent and 91.7 per cent increase in volume and value respectively).
This promising growth was achieved on the back of 27 banks offering app-based banking along with other entities offering innovative payment solutions for accepting digital transactions.
During FY21, digital payments adoption for retail transactions continued to show an upward trend. Due to the active efforts of the SBP, the number of card accepting POS machines saw a growth of 47 per cent. Transactions processed through POS machines reached as high as 88.8 million amounting to PKR 453.1 billion, showing YoY growth of 26.3 per cent by volume and 24.4 per cent by value of transactions.
The same trend was reflected in e-commerce transactions as well. The number of e-commerce merchants reached 3,003 which shows double-digit growth of 76 per cent.
Consumers carried out 21.9 million online transactions worth Rs60.6 billion on these locally registered e-Commerce Merchants during the year FY21 which amounts to significant YoY growth of 114.8 per cent and 74.1 per cent by volume and value of transactions respectively. These trends point toward healthy growth in fostering a more digitally integrated economy.
Similarly, on the card issuance side, as on end-June 2021, there were 45.9 million total cards in circulation that mainly comprised of Debit cards (65.0 per cent), Social welfare cards (18.4 per cent), ATM only cards (12.6 per cent), Credit cards (3.7 per cent), and Prepaid cards (0.3 per cent).
Collectively, these cards processed 708.7 million transactions amounting to Rs8.4 trillion during FY2021. The number of debit cards at the end of FY 2021 has been 29.8 million, observing a YoY growth of 11.8 per cent and annualized growth of 13.8 per cent during the last 4 years. Transactions processed through ATMs also grew to 598.7 million with the total value of Rs8.1 trillion.
This amounts to growth of 16.9 per cent by volume and 25.6 per cent by value on YoY basis.
The country’s core payment systems infrastructure remained operationally resilient. All channels of payment systems showed significant growth. SBP expects that going forward, the momentum of growth across all key areas of the digital payments ecosystem will continue to strengthen.
Modernizing the country’s payment system and infrastructure is a key priority, for which SBP will continue to work on providing an enabling regulatory environment.
KARACHI: Bestway Cement Limited announced on Friday its plans to significantly expand its production and energy capabilities with the establishment of a Brownfield cement plant and a 6.4 MW off-grid solar power plant.
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The Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) has taken swift action in response to a complaint against customs authorities, addressing unnecessary delays in the clearance of a consignment. The complainant, a regular importer of Agricultural Tractors, reported that the customs authorities had unjustifiably halted the clearance of a shipment of tractors destined for use by farmers in the country.
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KARACHI: The US dollar continued its upward trajectory in the interbank foreign exchange market on Friday, closing at Rs174. This marks a slight depreciation of the Pakistani rupee, which lost four paisas compared to the previous day’s closing rate of Rs173.96.
(more…)Karachi, October 22, 2021: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has released the official exchange rates for Friday, October 22, 2021.
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KARACHI: Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has assured traders of Jodia Bazaar of taking up their issues with the authorities and get them resolved.
Chairman Businessmen Group (BMG) Zubair Motiwala and President Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) Muhammad Idrees, after listening to the hardships being faced by traders of Jodia Bazaar, assured that the Karachi Chamber will take up all issues being faced by the traders/ shopkeepers of Jodia Bazaar with relevant quarters and will try its best to get them amicably resolved so that the traders and shopkeepers, who are an integral part of KCCI, could smoothly carry out their activities without any hassle.
The assurance was given at a meeting during the visit of a delegation from Jodia Bazaar which was led by Haroon Agar to congratulate the newly elected office bearers. Senior Vice President KCCI Abdul Rehman Naqi, Vice President Qazi Zahid Hussain and KCCI Managing Committee also attended the meeting whereas Jodia Bazaar delegation comprised of Waseem-ur-Rehman, Hanif Pochi, Najam Chughtai, Arif Lakhani, Asif Haji Karim, Javed Qadri, Aslam Nathani and others.
While highlighting numerous issues, Leader of Jodia Bazaar delegation Haroon Agar pointed out that skim milk, which was not a luxury item, was subjected to imposition of Sales Tax which is a serious anomaly that raises the cost of this important household products. Hence, the Federal Board of Revenue should be approached with a request to look into the possibility of exempting this product from Sales Tax, he added.
He further mentioned that due to massive number of Kunda Connection all over Jodia Bazaar, the area frequently undergoes massive load shedding every day which creates a lot of problems even for the legitimate consumers of KE who, despite paying all their outstanding dues, have to suffer badly due to someone else’s misconduct.
“KCCI must take up this matter with higher authorities at KE so that the utility service provider could be convinced to minimize load shedding and remove all Kunda connections in this area where massive trading activities of up to billions of rupees take place every day.
He further highlighted the grievances being faced by traders of Jodia Bazaar due to massive smuggling of various products including milk, spices and plastic etc. which were entering Pakistan in bulk quantities from Afghanistan via Chaman, making the legal trade of all these products uncompetitive in the local markets.
KARACHI: Murree Brewery Company Limited on Friday announced financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2021. The profit after tax of the company increased by 22 per cent to Rs437 million for the quarter under review as compared with Rs357.2 million in the corresponding quarter of the last year.
The company declared earning per share (EPS) at Rs15.80 for the period as against Rs12.91 in the same period of the last year.
The board of directors of Murree Brewery Company Limited in their meeting held on October 22, 2021 recommended an interim cash dividend for the quarter ended September 30, 2021 at Rs5 per share i.e. 50 per cent. However, the board has not recommended any bonus shares, right shares or any other entitlement.
According to the financial results submitted to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), the company’s net turnover increased to Rs3.71 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2021 as compared with Rs3.05 billion in the same quarter of the last year.
Cost of sales also increased to Rs2.76 billion as compared with Rs2.22 billion. The company declared gross profit of Rs945 million as compared with Rs832 million.
The operating profit of the company grew to Rs525 million as compared with Rs469.52 million. The payment of tax for the quarter was flat at Rs160.5 million as compared with Rs160.48 million.
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has vowed to continue its efforts to stop money laundering through real estate and precious metals and stones, including gold and jewellery.
FBR Chairman Dr. Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed that FBR will continue implementing the AML/CFT regulations in order to curb the menace of money laundering through real estate and precious metals and stones, including gold and jewellery.
The chairman issued the statement on the major achievement of completing actions on Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBS) in the FATF action plan I just one reporting cycle and one year ahead of the deadline in September 2022.
The Chairman FBR Dr. Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed congratulated DG DNFBPs, Mr. Mohammad Iqbal, and his team for the tireless efforts to complete the actions on DNFBPs in a short span of three months and one year ahead of the deadlines.
The FATF plenary in its public statement has noted that Pakistan has now satisfied the requirements of most of its action items under the 2021 action plan, ahead of deadlines and in its first reporting cycle.
In June 2021, the FATF plenary had approved a seven actions new action plan for Pakistan, focusing on combating money laundering. This action plan contained two actions specific to DNFBPs, in particular, the real estate agents and Dealers in Precious Metals and Stones (DMPS). FBR was already designated as AML/CFT regulatory authority for real estate agents, DPMS and accountants other than those registered with ICAP and ICMAP under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010, through amendments made in September 2020.
Since the designation of FBR as the AML/CFT regulatory authority, FBR issued AML/CFT regulations for its regulated entities and also embarked upon an extensive outreach to educate and facilitate the DNFBPs on implementation of the new AML/CFT regime. A dedicated portal was made available on FBR website, which contains comprehensive guidance documents and other information for the DNFBPs. FBR also launched a customized mobile App for the registration by DNFBPs, screening the lists of proscribed /designated persons and generating Suspicious Transaction Reports (SRTs). A detailed supervisory plan was chalked out for offsite and onsite supervision of the DNFBPs.
Since June 2021, FBR has carried out onsite inspections of a large number of DNFBPs and imposed a wide range of penalties on the delinquent entities. The real estate associations were also taken on board for the implementation of the AML/CFT obligations.