KARACHI: Following are the exchange rates of foreign currencies in Pak Rupee (PKR) on October 7, 2021 (The rates are updated at 10:00 AM):
Currency
Buying
Selling
US Dollar
171.10
172.10
Australian Dollar
122.60
124.10
Bahrain Dinar
386.75
388.50
Canadian Dollar
134.50
137.00
China Yuan
23.45
23.75
Danish Krone
23.45
23.75
Euro
1978.10
199.10
Hong Kong Dollar
16.65
16.90
Indian Rupee
2.03
2.10
Japanese Yen
1.41
1.44
Kuwaiti Dinar
481.60
484.10
Malaysian Ringgit
36.45
36.80
NewZealand $
96.35
97.05
Norwegians Krone
17.50
17.75
Omani Riyal
392.70
394.70
Qatari Riyal
39.80
40.40
Saudi Riyal
45.50
46.10
Singapore Dollar
123.65
125.15
Swedish Korona
18.30
18.55
Swiss Franc
159.80
160.70
Thai Bhat
4.80
4.90
U.A.E Dirham
47.35
48.05
UK Pound Sterling
232.10
234.60
Disclaimer: Team PKRevenue.com provides the available rates of the open market, which are subject to change every hour. Team PKRevenue.com provides the available exchange rates at the time of posting the story. So the team is not responsible for any inaccuracy of the data.
KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has made biometric verification mandatory for foreign currency sale transactions.
The central bank on Wednesday issued amendments to the exchange companies manual to stop the undesirable outflow of cash foreign currency.
The SBP introduced following regulatory measures:
i. Persons travelling to Afghanistan will be allowed to carry only USD1,000/- per person per visit with a maximum annual limit of USD6,000.
ii. Exchange companies will be required to conduct biometric verification for all foreign currency sale transactions equivalent to USD500/- and above and outward remittances. This requirement will be applicable with effect from October 22, 2021.
iii. Exchange Companies will sell the cash foreign currency and make outward remittances, equivalent to USD10,000/- and above, against receipt of funds through cheque or banking channels only.
The SBP said that the regulatory measures will help to improve documentation of sale of foreign currency by exchange companies and place a check on undesirable outflow of foreign currency.
Following is the text of circular No. 6 of the SBP
Amendments in Instructions for Exchange Companies
Attention of Exchange Companies and Exchange Companies of ‘B’ Category is invited to instructions contained in Para 9 (i) (f)&(g), 9(iii) (f)&(g) of Chapter 3 and Para 12 (i) (c) & (d) of Chapter 8 of Exchange Companies Manual.
2. In order to strengthen regulatory regime for Exchange Companies, it has been decided to amend/change the applicable regulations relating to scope of business of Exchange Companies and Exchange Companies of ‘B’ Category. Accordingly, the relevant instructions in the following Paras of Exchange Companies Manual stand replaced as under:
Para 9 (i) (f) Chapter 3 of Exchange Companies Manual
“For all foreign currency sale transactions equivalent to USD 500/- or above, Exchange Companies shall retain copies of identification documents i.e., Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) /National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP)/ Pakistan Origin Card (POC) / Passport (having valid visa on it or any other proof of legal stay of a foreigner in Pakistan) after having seen the document in original. In addition, Exchange Companies shall also carry out biometric verification of Pakistani Nationals for all such transactions and maintain the record thereof”.
Para 9 (i) (g) Chapter 3 of Exchange Companies Manual
“All sale transactions of USD 10,000/- or above (or equivalent in other currencies) shall be conducted by the Exchange Companies through Cheque/ Bank Transfer from the personal account of the customer. Instrument/ transaction reference number and issuing bank’s name shall be mentioned on the transaction receipt along with identification document number of the customer.”
Para 9 (iii) (f) Chapter 3 of Exchange Companies Manual
“Exchange Companies shall retain copies of identification documents i.e., Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC)/National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP)/Pakistan Origin Card (POC)/Passport (having valid visa on it or any other proof of legal stay of a foreigner in Pakistan) for conducting transfers/ remittances transaction regardless of the amount. The name, address and identification document number of the customer shall also be mentioned on the receipt after due verification and with stamp of “original seen”. In addition, Exchange Companies shall also carry out biometric verification of Pakistani Nationals for all transactions and maintain record thereof”.
Para 9 (iii) (g) Chapter 3 of Exchange Companies Manual
“All outward transactions of USD 10,000/- or above (or equivalent in other currencies) shall be conducted by the Exchange Companies through Cheque/ Bank transfers from the personal account of the customer. Instrument/ transaction reference number and issuing bank’s name shall be mentioned on the transaction receipt along with identification document number of the customer.”
Para 12 (i) (c) Chapter 8 of Exchange Companies Manual
“For all foreign currency buy and sale transactions equivalent to USD 500/- or above, Exchange Companies of ‘B’ Category shall retain copies of identification documents i.e., Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) /National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP)/ Pakistan Origin Card (POC) / Passport (having valid visa on it or any other proof of legal stay of a foreigner in Pakistan) after having seen the document in original. In addition, Exchange Companies of ‘B’ Category shall also carry out biometric verification of Pakistani Nationals for all such sale transactions and maintain the record thereof”.
Para 12 (i) (d) Chapter 8 of Exchange Companies Manual
“All sale transactions of USD 10,000/- or above (or equivalent in other currencies) shall be conducted by the Exchange Companies of ‘B’ Category through Cheque/ Bank Transfer issued from the personal account of the customer. Instrument/ transaction reference number and issuing bank’s name shall be mentioned on the transaction receipt along with identification document number of the customer.”
3. All above instructions are applicable with immediate effect. However, for implementing the requirements for biometric verification, Exchange Companies and Exchange Companies of ‘B’ Category shall make necessary arrangements, including procurement of hardware and software and establishing connectivity with NADRA latest by October 21, 2021, while the instructions shall be applicable with effect from October 22, 2021.
4. All other terms and conditions on the subject shall remain unchanged.
The FBR through Circular No. 08 extended the last date for filing income tax return for tax year 2021 up to October 15, 2021 from September 30, 2021. The FBR extended the date after admitting serious technical problems on the IRIS – the online return filing portal.
The KTBA wrote a letter to FBR Chairman Dr. Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed apprising him about computational errors and technical issues in filing of income tax return for the tax year 2021.
In his letter KTBA President Muhammad Zeeshan Merchant said that technical issues were not rectified yet and taxpayers were facing difficulties in filing their returns.
“The 90 days time prescribed under section 118 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, will only begin once the due diligence prescribed in law and rules is following in pitch and substance and a complete and flawless return of income is notified in terms of Section 237 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001,” Merchant said.
The tax bar said the issues were previously highlighted related to erroneous tax computation on the IRIS portal with respect to income expressed as ‘minimum tax’, where owing to pre-fixed attributes/formulas taxpayer are forced to pay additional tax or file mix-up return.
This issue despite being pitted to judicial wrangling before the Lahore High Court in writ jurisdiction dated September 24, 2021, has not been resolved as yet, Merchant added
Furthermore, the return of income at the IRIS still suffers technical issues and anomalies that were already highlighted through the KTBA letter dated September 21, 2021. The issues are included: loss on disposal of securities; incorrect working of tax on foreign incomes; discrepancies in tax computation of commercial importers; tax on fee for technical services/royalty of a non-resident person etc.
The KTBA pointed out that simplified return of income for SMEs was unceremoniously uploaded on IRIS portal without prescribing a draft return.
ISLAMABAD: Ufone has launched its new state-of-the-art contact center for Pakistan Banks’ Association (PBA). The contact center has been launched to resolve queries and generate leads for the Government of Pakistan’s ‘Mera Pakistan, MeraGhar’ helpline initiative, which brings affordable housing finance facilities for low-income groups.
The Contact Center was inaugurated by Governor, State Bank of Pakistan, Reza Baqir, here in Islamabad, in presence of President and Group CEO, PTCL & Ufone, Hatem Bamatraf, Chairman, Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority,Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Anwar Ali Hyder, Chairman Pakistan Banks’ Association (PBA), Muhammad Aurangzeb, and senior management of the member banks and financial institutions of PBA.
Ufone is providing Contact Center services to PBA from two existing Centers by disseminating information on the loan process, eligibility criteria etc., besides offering 24/7 query and complaint resolution services to prospective customers.
Sharing his thoughts at the ceremony, President and Group CEO, PTCL & Ufone, Hatem Bamatraf, said:“We are glad to be a part of this historic initiative for the people of Pakistan. Ufone’s onboarding as the official contact service provider is a testament to the company’s extraordinary track record as a dependable services provider for Pakistan’s business sector. We constantly innovate and modernize our products and services ecosystem to deliver a remarkable user experience to our individual and corporate customers. The latest state-of-the-art Contact Center facility will further enhance our capacity to respond to queries and complaints to bring a hassle-free banking experience to the low-cost housing beneficiaries.”
The Contact Center will provide an additional channel for Ufone to resolve queries and generate leads for the housing finance project and promote its nationwide uptake. The facilities are easily scalable to manage additional facilitation as the need arises.
The facilities feature robust centralized Complaints Management and Leads Management Systems to help the member banks track every step of the customer journey, besides expediting the processing of the loans. Ufone Contact Centers are strategically located for effective management of traffic for calls from across Pakistan.
KARACHI: Officials of Large Taxpayers Office (LTO) Karachi have apprised the business community that installation of Point of Sale (POS) offered reduced rate of sales tax.
A team of tax officials from Large Tax Office (LTO) Karachi visited Pakistan Business Council (PBC) on Wednesday to discuss the integration of Tier-1 retailers, a statement said on Wednesday.
The purpose of the visit was to listen and redress the grievances regarding the online integration of Tier-1 retailers / Point of Sale (POS) with the FBR system.
It was apprised to the members that the POS integration of retailers does not involve new tax, rather it gives the benefit of reduced rate of sales tax to consumers who buy the goods from integrated Tier-1 retailers.
The LTO Karachi team was comprised of officers included: Shakeel Ahmad Kasana, Commissioner-Inland Revenue (IR); Aijaz Hussain, Additional Commissioner-IR; Shoukat Ali Changezi, Additional Commissioner-IR; Abdul Hameed Mangrio Deputy Commissioner-IR; and Amjad Ali Moroojo, Audit Officer-IR.
The representatives of the PBC were: Ehsan A. Malik, Chief Executive; Samir S. Amir, Director Research; and Aman Chanchi, Unilever Pakistan.
The Commissioner-IR briefed the members regarding the scope and purpose of POS integration.
A formal presentation was given by Abdul Hameed Mangrio, Deputy Commissioner which was followed by Q&A session.
The delegation requested the members to encourage the Tier-1 retailers to get integrated with the FBR system for ease of reporting of sales and avoid unnecessary documentation besides enjoying reduced rates of tax on their supplies.
The members of the Council appreciated the outreach efforts of FBR to remove the misconception and misgivings regarding the online integration of retailers with the FBR system.
They appreciated the system and informed that Pakistan Business Council is always encouraged to promote documentation of the economy and Point of Sale (POS) is the right step in this direction.
They also assured their active engagement for making the Point of Sale (POS) integration a success story for the larger interest of the country and the documentation of the economy.
KARACHI: The share market fell by 293 points on Wednesday as selling pressure remained unabated during the day. The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 44,373 points as against previous day’s closing of 44,667 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that selling pressure continued unabated at the bourse, courtesy of foreign investors.
Eye watering commodity prices, especially Coal, have had their bearing on Cement and Steel sector stocks and had ripple effects on O&GMCs, E&P sectors due to concerns over potential increase in circular debt emanate from rising energy costs.
A key conditionality from IMF for resumption of program has been upward revision in electricity tariff, besides an end to subsidies and increase in tax revenues.
These measures in part or whole are expected to dent earnings growth of the corporate sector in the coming quarters, which is reflecting on stock prices as well.
Ripple effects of selling in cyclical as well as oil & gas chain are observed in overall market with significant selling pressure in TRG among tech sector stocks. Among scrips, UNITY led the volumes with 25.7 million shares, followed by TELE (20.1 million) and WTL (16.8 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (-91 points), Textile (-36 points), Banks (-35 points), Technology (-30 points), Fertilizer (-24 points) and E&P (+36 points).
Volumes declined from 334.6 million shares to 252.8 million shares (-25 per cent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 26 per cent to reach US$ 59.0 million as against US$ 79.2 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include UNITY, TELE, WTL, TREET and BYCO, which formed 35 per cent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include MARI (+43 points), UBL (+22 points), MTL (+8 points), COLG (+5 points) and NATF (+4 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include HBL (-28 points), CHCC (-24 points), KTML (-20 points), LUCK (-19 points) and ENGRO (-16 points).
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said that taxpayers’ money should be returned to Pakistan from those whose names were revealed by the Pandora papers.
The prime minister has chaired a meeting of the federal cabinet.
The cabinet was informed that initially, the Prime Minister’s Inspection Commission will meticulously review the record of all those Pakistanis which are named in Pandora Revelations and decide about legal proceedings according to the outcome of such investigations. “The taxpayers’ money should return to Pakistan,” the Prime Minister remarked.
The meeting was briefed on the introduction of electronic voting machines and giving voting rights to Overseas Pakistanis.
In this lieu the process of taking opposition on board is underway. Emphasizing the importance of EVMs the Prime Minister said that for the country’s greater good, the government wants to bring transparency in election process.
Effective awareness campaign should be launched to highlight the usefulness of electronic voting machines, he added.
SAPM for National Health Services Dr Faisal Sultan gave a detailed briefing to the Cabinet on admission test in medical colleges. The meeting was told that the admission test is conducted to produce professionally competent doctors and dentists. High standards of medical education are necessary as doctors have to save human lives.
In this regard, a uniform entrance test at par with prevalent international best practices is set up which is marked with the help of modern technology. The purpose of the entrance test is to test the actual intelligence and not to merely pass the exam on the basis of the rote learning. Each student’s exam is different from the other so that the chances of copying are eliminated.
About 200,000 students take the medical admission test every year for 20 thousand seats. Due to lack of resources, it is not possible to arrange computers or laptops for 200000 students at the same time during admission tests. The pool of questions for the exam is made in accordance with the syllabus in which different questions are included in the questionnaire.
The Supreme Court has directed that medical entrance tests be conducted uniformly across the country. The cabinet agreed that Effective and transparent admission test system is of great importance and is necessary as these individuals, later on, have to save human lives by becoming doctors.
The cabinet allowed the MetLife-Alico company to move abroad its capital (received in lieu of its sale proceeding) in accordance with Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan’s regulations.
The Cabinet approved a reduction in the punishment of prisoners on the auspicious occasion of Eid Milad-ul-Nabi. The Cabinet directed that Eid Milad-ul-Nabi (PBUH) be celebrated on a grand scale. Moreover, it was decided that the ten days from 3rd Rabi ul Awwal to 13th Rabi ul Awwal will be dedicated to Rehmat al Alameen (PBUH).
The Cabinet approved the appointment of experts in committee on drug research under Drug (Research) Rules, 1978. These experts posted hail from Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. These experts will help in research on medicines in Pakistan.
The Cabinet allowed the promotion of important and life saving drugs in light of the recommendations of the Drug Regulatory Authority.
In order to provide winter relief for domestic consumers and keeping in view the paucity of Natural gas, the Cabinet approved usage of electricity instead of gas on the recommendation of the Cabinet Committee on Energy. In addition to the above, the domestic electricity customers will also have the facility that if they use more units this winter than the previous year, they will be charged additional units at a lower price.
The decisions taken by the Economic Coordination Committee in the meeting held on 30 september 2021 were also ratified. The decisions taken by the Cabinet Committee on Legislation in the Meeting of 30 September 2021 were also ratified.
The Cabinet directed all ministries to use E-Procurements System. All the tenders should be run in a completely transparent manner and the procurement process should eliminate corruption. The Cabinet directed to form a three members committee that will make a comprehensive assessment of electricity and construction contracts entered by the previous governments, especially road construction contracts and will present the report to the cabinet. The committee will comprise Federal Ministers Fawad Ahmed Chauhdary and Hammad Azhar.
The Cabinet approved submission of the recommended Code of Conduct by Census Advisory Committee to the Council of Common Interests for the Seventh Census.
The Census Rules contain the following recommendations:
-The census will be conducted in accordance with the Constitution and law.
-Adherence to the principles laid by United Nations for Census.
-Setting up of a census-specific unit and master plan.
-Updation of maps.
-Taking on board all Stake Holders.
-Questionnaire for census
– Conducting Pilot exercise for Census
– Census Awareness Campaign
-Training of Personnel
-Code for Data Collection
– Monitoring of Field Teams
-Security arrangements for field teams
– An after census Survey for verification
-Establishment of National Census Liaison Centre
Keeping in view the security reasons, the Cabinet approved the appointment of Security personnel for by-elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
The Cabinet approved the allotment of land in Islamabad for the construction of purpose-built buildings for Panahgahs.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that market lost further ground today by shedding 451 points during the session and closing -378 points.
Discussions with IMF are still ongoing with the hope of near-term resolution and resumption of the IMF program. Besides IMF program worries, continued pressure on PKR parity with USD has also caused concern amongst investors, especially foreigners who have lately started selling PK equities.
Among technology stocks, Octopus hit the upper circuit, whereas other tech stocks remained under pressure, especially TRG which saw selling pressure despite anticipation of high earnings.
Among scrips, TELE topped the volumes with 30.3 million shares, followed by ANL (19.5 million) and GGL (18.5 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (-170 points), Technology (-99 points), Fertilizer (-45 points), Banks (-23 points) and O&GMCs (-17 points).
Volumes increased from 267.2 million shares to 334.7 million shares (+25 per cent DoD). The average traded value also increased by 34 per cent to reach US$ 79.3 million as against US$ 59.1 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include TELE, ANL, GGL, WTL and BYCO, which formed 30 per cent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include MARI (+74 points), UBL (+19 points), HUBC (+18 points), PSEL (+13 points) and EPCL (+11 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include LUCK (-66 points), TRG (-65 points), OGDC (-34 points), SYS (-27 points) and MLCF (-24 points).
KARACHI: The dollar maintained the highest peak against the Pak Rupee in the interbank foreign exchange market on Tuesday.
The rupee ended Rs170.80 to the dollar, which is also the same previous day’s closing level in the interbank foreign exchange market. The dollar is at the highest level against the local unit.
Currency experts said that a day earlier the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) took another measure to support the rupee. The central bank reduced the retention period of foreign exchange by exporters from five days to three days.
They said that the dollar demand for import payment remained high. The dollar demand had increased further after the reports of 65 per cent growth in import bill during the first quarter of the current fiscal year.
KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday reduced the retention period of foreign exchange in the shape of export receipts and remittances of export commission.
