Facebook at its annual developer conference announced to change the name to Meta. The company said it would better “encompass” what it does, as it broadens its reach beyond social media into areas like virtual reality.
According to BBC, the company, which announced the change at its annual developer conference, said it would better “encompass” what the firm now does. It also revealed plans for a metaverse – an online world where people can game, work and communicate in a virtual environment, often using VR headsets.
The name change follows a series of negative stories about Facebook, based on documents leaked by an ex-employee.
“The metaverse is the next frontier,” Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said in a presentation at Facebook’s Connect conference, held virtually on Thursday. “From now on, we’re going to be metaverse-first, not Facebook-first.”
Facebook’s name change is the most definitive signal so far of the company’s intention to stake its future on a new computing platform — the metaverse, an idea born in the imaginations of sci-fi novelists, according to Bloomberg.
In Facebook’s vision, people will congregate and communicate by entering virtual environments, whether they’re talking with colleagues in a boardroom or hanging out with friends in far-flung corners of the world.
KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday defended its new trading system and said that Jade Trading Terminal (JTT), which was developed on demand of stockbrokers, is causing problems of disconnections and slow speed.
The bank declared Rs9.91 billion as profit after tax during January – September 2021 as compared with Rs11.91 billion in the corresponding period of the last year.
The earnings per share of the bank also declined to Rs2.56 for the period under review as compared with Rs3.08 in the same period of the last year.
SCBL in its financial statement said that despite uncertainties surrounding COVID-19, the bank delivered a resilient financial performance with a profit before tax of Rs18.4 billion compared to Rs19.9 billion in the corresponding period last year.
The revenue of the bank fell to Rs26.56 billion during first nine months of the calendar year as compared with Rs32.07 billion in the corresponding months of the last year. The bank said that the revenue was lower by Rs5.5billion primarily due to sharp reduction in interest rates in second quarter of 2020, subdued economic activity and market volatility which impacted foreign exchange income, revaluation income on derivatives and gain on sale of securities.
Administrative costs continue to be well managed through operational efficiencies and disciplined spending with an increase of one per cent compared to same period last year.
Moreover, strong recoveries of bad debts, coupled with lower impairments as a result o a prudent risk approach led to a net release of Rs0.8 billion in year to date September 2021 compared to charge of Rs3.2 billion in the comparative period.
The bank said that all businesses have positive momentum with strong growth in underlying drivers. “This is evident from pickup in net advances, which have grown by 26 per cent since the start of this year. This was a result of targeted strategy to build profitable, high quality and sustainable portfolios,” it added.
On the liabilities side, the bank’s total deposits grew by Rs40 billion, whereas current and saving accounts grew by Rs41 billion since the start of this year and comprise 93 per cent of deposit base.
KARACHI: Lucky Cement Limited has won the Management Association of Pakistan’s Corporate Excellence Award in the Cement Sector category.
Noman Hasan, Executive Director of Lucky Cement Limited received the award at the 36th MAP Annual Corporate Excellence Award Ceremony held at a local hotel yesterday.
The Corporate Excellence Awards was instituted by MAP in 1982 with the sole aim to recognize and honor companies showing outstanding performance and demonstrating progress and enlightened management practices.
Noman Hasan, Executive Director, Lucky Cement Limited, remarked, “We are pleased to accept this recognition and would like to thank all our internal and external stakeholders for their confidence and continuous support throughout the years.”
He further added: “Our dynamic human capital and efficient corporate governance framework aligned to our vision of ensuring a sustainable leadership position in Pakistan has helped us to achieve remarkable results in every domain of our business. Being an industry leader, we are determined to continue setting new benchmarks and create an environment of growth and opportunities.”
Lucky Cement received the award based on having the best corporate practices and governance in the cement sector. The primary criteria for this award emanates from best Corporate and Management practices reflected by Leadership, Corporate Governance, Customer and Market Focus, HR, Strategic Planning and Communication, Social Responsibility, Risk Management, IT Infrastructure, Service Delivery and Security.
The foreign exchange reserves of the country declined to $23.934 billion by the week ended October 22, 2021, as compared with $24.327 billion a week ago.
The foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank fell by $345 million to $17.147 billion by the week ended October 22, 2021 as compared with $17.492 billion by the week ended October 15, 2021.
The foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks have also come down by $48 million to $6.787 billion by the week ended October 22, 2021, as compared with $6.835 billion a week ago.
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) experienced a positive uptick on Thursday as the benchmark KSE-100 index gained 199 points, closing at 45,991 points from the previous day’s closing at 45,792 points.
He urged the government that it was high time the State Bank, being the regulator, must intervene to stop the further freefall of PKR and devise some kind of an effective mechanism for appreciating the value of the Pakistani rupee to such an extent that the dollar reverses back to its previous level of Rs150 with a view to reducing the impact of inflation on the common man.
“On the other hand, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), which has been taking advantage of higher dollar value, must also be directed to either bring down taxes and duties or keep them charging at the same rate but the calculation for taxes and duties must be done as per dollar rate of June 2021 when the budget was announced and the dollar at that point in time stood at around Rs150 instead of current rate which would certainly help in controlling the inflation”, he added while speaking at a meeting held during the visit of a delegation from All Pakistan Motorcycle Spare Parts Importers & Dealers Association (APMSPIDA) which was led by Rehan Hanif.
Vice Chairman BMG Anjum Nisar, President KCCI Muhammad Idrees, Senior Vice President Abdul Rehman Naqi, Vice President Qazi Zahid Hussain, Patron-in-Chief APMSPIDA Faisal Khalil, Former Presidents KCCI Majyd Aziz, Haroon Agar, Abdullah Zaki, Iftikhar Vohra, Younus Muhammad Bashir, Shamim Ahmed Firpo, Shariq Vohra and others attended the meeting.
Chairman BMG pointed out that at the time when Federal Budget for current fiscal year 2021-22 was announced in June 2021, the US dollar stood at Rs155 and all the duties and taxes were estimated as per the then dollar rate. As the dollar after surpassing Rs175 level was still hovering above Rs170, it means that the duties and taxes have also risen sharply, which was the core reason behind fostering the inflation.
He explained that out of the total differential amount of more than Rs15 as the dollar still hovers above Rs170 as compared to the previous rate of Rs155 in June 2021, at least 40 percent of the said differential amount i.e., Rs6 on each dollar was silently being collected by FBR in shape of taxes and duties which was highly unfair as it adds to the cost imported goods and escalates inflation.
He was of the opinion that a target of Rs5800 billion was set for revenue collection for FY 2021-22 at a time when dollar rate stood at Rs155 hence, the extra money being collected nowadays due to sharp rise in dollar rate must not be considered as an achievement by FBR but as penalty on masses and the business community as it was the FBR which has been playing a major role in fostering the inflation and overburdening the economy.
Zubair Motiwala said that due to rising dollar rate, high cost of doing business, frequent gas outages, deteriorating infrastructure and other civic issues along with a drastic decline in purchasing power, the local industries have been suffering terribly and facing a severe liquidity crunch which has resulted in limited business activities and it was really unfortunate that the government was not coming up with any workable solution for dealing with all these issues.
Speaking on the occasion, Vice Chairman BMG Anjum Nisar, while expressing deep concerns over deteriorating economic indicators, stated that economic uncertainty has killed the total business environment, leaving the survival of many businesses at stake in the ongoing era of the highest ever inflation. “Currency, which is considered as a barometer of any economy, cannot be allowed to fall freely as it creates a lot of problems not only for the businesses but also for the economy and the common man”, he added.
President KCCI Muhammad Idrees said that devaluation of rupees against the dollar and widening trade account deficit if not promptly addressed would create a nightmarish situation not only for the economy and businesses but also for the common man whose purchasing power has descended sharply nowadays and was hardly in a position to ensure bread and butter for his family. “Dollar rate which impacts prices of almost all the household items and raw material has to be controlled by SBP otherwise, the businesses will not be able to stay afloat due to high cost of doing business, unemployment would rise and the situation may trigger even unrest”, he added.
Leader of APMSPIDA delegation Rehan Hanif, in his remarks, pointed out that importers and dealers of motorcycle spare parts have been facing a lot of problems as motorcycle spare parts remain in the 3rd Schedule list, making it mandatory to put MRP (Retail Price) including GST on motorcycle spare parts at import stage before shipment which was not possible keeping in view the diverse range of hundreds and thousands of spare parts. Moreover, it was a well-known fact that sales of imported spare parts are made all over the country and the freight charges cannot be the same for every city while the fluctuation in exchange rates was also an issue hence it was impossible to calculate MRP in such a varying situation, he added.
ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will give cash rewards to law enforcement agencies (LEAs) for recovery and confiscation of smuggled or non-duty paid goods under Customs laws.
According to the draft amendment, the FBR proposed to include in reward rules the “officers and officials of other law enforcement agencies who assist Customs officers and officials or are actually instrumental in the seizure of smuggled goods and vehicles as confirmed by the respective collectorate of customs, for their meritorious conduct in such cases only after realization of part or whole of the duty and taxes involved in such cases.”
At present, the eligibility for reward stated that cash reward shall be sanctioned under the rules to the following categories of persons in cases involving evasion of duty and other taxes, and confiscation of goods, namely:
(a) officers and officials of Pakistan Customs Service for their contribution in such cases; and
(b) informer providing credible information leading to such confiscation or detection, as the case may be.
As per SRO 1386(I)/2012 dated November 26, 2021, the determination of reward has been explained as the amount of reward, in cases involving evasion of duty and other taxes, and confiscation of goods shall be determined in the following manner:
01. Where the amount of customs duty and other taxes realized is Rs500,000 or less, the amount of reward shall be 20 per cent of the customs duty and other taxes.
02. Where the amount of customs duty and other taxes realized is more than Rs500,000 but not more than Rs1,000,000, the amount of reward shall be Rs100,000 plus 10 per cent of the customs duty and other taxes in excess of Rs500,000.
03. Where the amount of customs duty and other taxes realized is over Rs1,000,000, the amount of reward shall be Rs150,000 plus 5 per cent of the customs duty and other taxes in excess of Rs1,000,000.
KARACHI: K-Electric Limited (KE), the power generating and supply company, on Thursday announced massive 161 per cent growth in net profit for quarter ended September 30, 2021, mainly surge in revenue in the shape of tariff adjustment.
The profit after tax of the KE grew by 161 per cent to Rs2.9 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2021 as compared with Rs1.11 billion in the same quarter of the last year.
The company announced Rs0.11 as earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter under review as compared with Rs0.04.
The revenue of KE exhibited sharp growth of 33 per cent to Rs114.14 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2021 as compared with Rs85.55 billion in the same quarter of the last year.
The sales of energy grew by 27 per cent to Rs86.92 billion for the quarter under review as compared with Rs68.40 billion in the same quarter of the last year.
In the head of tariff adjustment, the revenue of the company recorded 58.72 per cent increase to Rs27.22 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2021 as compared with Rs17.15 billion in the same quarter of the last year.
Cost of sale grew by 36 per cent to Rs97.49 billion as against Rs71.68 billion.
Operating expenses of KE recorded a significant increase to Rs1.81 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2021 as compared with Rs338 million in the same quarter of the last year.
KARACHI: The dollar continued to slide against Pak Rupee (PKR) on Thursday following an announcement of Saudi Arabia to support Pakistan in its balance of payment.
The Saudi government on October 26, 2021 announced to deposit $3 billion with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to support the country for balance of payment.
The local currency has made a gain of Rs3.01 or 1.72 per cent against the greenback during the past two days. The rupee hit the historic low at Rs175.27 on October 27, 2021.
Saudi Arabia late Tuesday night announced an additional support of $3 billion to Pakistan for building its foreign exchange reserves. The additional financial support is besides a $1.2 billion dollars deferred oil facility to Pakistan to help its balance of payment issues, an official statement said.
According to the Saudi Press Agency – SPA, the Saudi Fund for Development in a “generous gesture” announced a deposit of $3 billion dollars with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to help the government support its foreign currency reserves and counter the impact of the Corona pandemic.
