ISLAMABAD: Dr. Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed, a BS-21 officer of Inland Revenue Service (IRS) has assumed the charge of the post of chairman, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
Dr. Ashfaq has replaced Asim Ahmed, who was removed from the post a day earlier.
KARACHI: Bank Alfalah Limited on Wednesday announced 21 per cent growth in earnings for the half year ended June 30, 2021.
The net profit of the bank was at Rs7.02 billion for the first half as compared with net profit of Rs5.78 billion in the same half of the last year.
The bank declared Rs3.94 as earnings per share (EPS) for the first half of 2021 as compared with the EPS of Rs3.25 in the same half of the last year.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that massive reductions in provisioning and quarterly rise in interest earned contributed to the profitability during the quarter.
Net Interest Income of the bank settled at PKR 21.9 billion, decreasing 6 per cent YoY during 1HCY21 while rising 13 per cent QoQ. This quarterly growth could be attributed to volumetric growth.
NFI increased 15 per cent YoY mainly on the back of Fee income which rose by 35 per cent YoY and Dividend income which increased by 79 per cent YoY. Quarterly jump was on account of 12 per cent jump in fee income and 50 per cent uptick in FX/derivatives income.
Provisioning expenses for the bank came in at PKR 934 million during 2QCY21 taking total provisioning expenses to PKR 1.15bn during 1HCY21. Overall there has been a 76 per cent YoY reduction in provisioning, which could be due to improved outlook on the asset quality following the rebound in economic activity across the country leading to reversal in general provisioning. However this quarter saw a 4x jump QoQ which was on account of a provisioning charge against an Oil Marketing Company’s exposure as per management.
Operating expenses rose 11 per cent YoY taking CIR to 58 per cent for 1HCY21 against 52 per cent same period last year (SPLY).
Effective tax rate clocked in at 39 per cent for 1HCY21 vis-à-vis 42 per cent SPLY.
The FBR issued SRO 1063(I)/2021 to amend Sales Tax Rules, 2006. Through the rules, the FBR established IREN and authorized the body to check and verify any of the eventualities.
Besides, the FBR also issued a procedure for companies installing Point of Sales (POSs) at the outlets of Tier-1 retailers.
Following is the text of rules issued by the FBR:
CHAPTER XIV-BB
INTEGRATION OF TIER-I RETAILERS AND LICENSING THEREOF
150ZQZH. Licensing.— (1) No person shall carry out integration of the retailers through software unless he has obtained a licence under these rules.
(2) No licensee under these rules shall maintain or operate system or provide any other service, which is not authorized under these rules.
(3) Every payment counter whether fixed or portable and generates invoices for receipt of payment either in cash or through debit or credit card shall be connected as per rule 150ZEB.
(4) Every licensee shall be bound to integrate the payment counter in the manner as prescribed under sub rule (4), (5),(16) and (17) of rule 150ZEB.
150ZQZI. Functions of the licensing committee.— (1) The licensing committee shall function in accordance with the provisions of these rules or any other instructions, procedures, issued by the Board.
(2) Project Director Retail Monitoring Cell shall be the convener of the licensing committee located at FBR House, Islamabad. The Board shall provide secretarial and other allied support for functioning of the licensing committee.
150ZQZJ. Application for grant of licence.— (1) An application for installation, configuration and integration of point of sale (POS) machine shall be made in duplicate to the Board.
(2) No application under sub-rule (1) shall be considered, unless it is accompanied by —
(I) registration certificate issued by Pakistan Software Houses Association or Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan;
(ii) audited statement of accounts for the last three financial years;
(iii) list of major clientele;
(iv) incorporation certificate under the Companies Act;
(v) National Tax Number (NTN) Certificate;
(vi) the paid up capital for the latest financial year is at least Rs.100 million or above;
(vii) registration with Sales Tax Department if required;
(viii) Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs) of directors of the incorporated company;
(ix) undertaking that the company has never been blacklisted by any Government or Provincial department or organization and has not been involved in confirmed cases of fiscal fraud;
(x) list of projects executed in the last three years;
(xi) and any other documents required through instructions orders issued by the Board.
150ZQZK. Procedure for grant of licence.— (1) On receipt of application for grant of licence in the Board, the licensing committee shall scrutinize the document provided and it shall evaluate the eligibility of the applicant within seven days of receipt of application.
(2) The licensing committee may also carry out visits, if necessary for physical inspection to ascertain the eligibility of the applicant for licensing under these rules.
(3) The licensing committee shall send its recommendations to the Member (IR — Operations) and the Director General Retail within ten days of date of submission of the application, specifying reasons for recommending or rejection of any application under these rules.
(4) In case, the companies meet the criteria under these rules, the licensing committee shall make recommendations for grant of licences.
(5) The licensing committee shall grant the licence to the recommended companies with the prior approval of Member (IR — Operations) and Director General Retail.
150ZQZL. Right granted to the licensee.— (1) A licensee shall have the right to install, configure, integrate, operate and maintain the point of sale on real time basis in accordance with conditions of the licence issued to him.
(2)The licence granted under these rules shall be subject to provisions of the Act and shall be valid for five years from date of issuance.
(3) The licence granted under these rules shall be non-transferable and shall not be allowed to be use by any sub-contractor.
150ZQZM. Renewal of licence.— (1) The application for renewal of licence shall be made to the Board three months before its expiry.
(2) The licensing committee shall evaluate the application and make recommendations to the Member (IR — Operations) and Director General Retail for renewal of licence.
(3) The licensee shall be required to comply with all the provisions of these rules for the renewal period.
150ZQZN. Technical support.— (1)The licensee shall be responsible for post deployment maintenance of Point of Sale as detailed below:
(a) setting up and maintenance of all information technology equipment connected to point of sales; and
(b) the licensee shall be authorized to,
(i) upgrade of the system hardware and software;
(ii) all bug fixes; and
(iii) immediate response to troubleshooting of any post deployment problems for uninterrupted working of the system.
(2) The licensee shall be responsible for safe and secure capture of real-time transmission of sales data from the retails outlet to FBR database at all times.
150ZQZ0. Responsibilities of the Project Director.— The Project Director shall be responsible for overall supervision of the system and the steps taken to address problems encountered during the operation of the systems.
150ZQZP. Procedure for cancellation or termination of licence.— (1) The Project Director shall immediately refer the matter to the licensing committee for further action under these rules, if he, as a result of supervision of the system or on receipt of a report from any of the Commissioners Inland Revenue or on a valid complaint, has reasons to believe that the licensee has-
(a) failed to provide the required services to the satisfaction of the Board authorities;
(b) contravened any condition of the licence;
(c) contravened any provision of these rules or the Act; or
(d) violated any applicable law while carrying out activities of licence under these rules.
(2) On receipt of reference from the Project Director under sub-rule (1), the licensing committee shall cause to serve a notice upon the licensee within fifteen days of receipt of reference, to show cause within thirty days after the date of the notice, as to why the licence issued under these rules should not be cancelled or terminated:
Provided that in cases where the Licensing, on the basis of material evidence, is of the opinion that there exits Prima facie a sufficient case against the licensee, it may suspend the licence to safeguard public finances and to prevent any other serious damage.
(3) The licensing committee may, after giving the licensee adequate opportunity of being heard and after examination of the record, cancel or terminate the licence issued under these rules.
(4) In case of cancellation of licence under these rules, the affected person or company shall have the right to file representation against the order of the licensing committee before the Board.
(5) The Board shall decide the representation after giving proper opportunity of being heard and the decision of the Board shall be final.
150ZQZQ. Fee and Charges.— (1) The licensee shall charge the fee for configuration and integration of point of sales from the retailers.
(2) No fee shall be charged from any of the field formation of the Board.
150ZQZR. Responsibilities of the Tier-I retailers.— The Tier-I retailer shall —
(a) make all payment counters comprising of point of sale at each out let, available for installation of the systems;
(b) be responsible for smooth functioning of point of sales;
(c) report to the Board and the concerned Commissioner Inland Revenue within twenty four hours of any operational failure, damage disruptions or tampering of the system; or
(d) report any inoperative point of sale to the Commissioner Inland Revenue holding the jurisdiction.
150ZQZS. Functions of Commissioner Inland Revenue.— (1) The Commissioner having jurisdiction, shall monitor proper and uninterrupted operation of the system through periodic visits by an officer of Inland Revenue authorized in this behalf.
(2) Where a Tier-I retailer does not account for sales without generating an invoice countering QR code or FBR invoice number, the Commissioner shall compute the taxes on such goods relating to unaccounted invoices, and recover the same under the relevant provisions of law.
150ZQZT. Establishment of Inland Revenue enforcement network.— The Board shall establish Inland Revenue enforcement network which shall be responsible for combating evasion and leakage of taxes payable on goods by way of co-coordinating with enforcement units of the concerned filed formations.
150ZQZU. Functioning of IR enforcement network.— To check and verify any of the eventualities, the enforcement squads of Inland Revenue shall petrol the outlets, verify the invoices and report such invoices to Commissioner Inland Revenue on which due taxes have not been paid. The Commissioner, after receipt of report from enforcement network, shall recover the tax in accordance to the provisions of the Act.
KARACHI: The benchmark KSE-100 index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended down by 284 points on Tuesday. The stocks fell due to profit-taking observed during the day, analysts said.
The index closed at 47,828 points as against the previous day’s closing of 48,112 points, showing a decline of 284 points.
The analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that after posting an increase in the past three consecutive sessions, the index saw profit booking across the board, with PSO being the prominent one due to lower than anticipated payout despite high earnings.
Similarly, Cement, Steel and E&P sectors saw selling activity which kept the index under pressure.
The technology sector showed mixed reactions with AVN, NETSOL, and SYS floating above LDCPs. Among scrips, WTL led the volumes with 43.6 million shares, followed by TELE (30.9 million) and GGL (25.5 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (-64 points), Fertilizer (-60 points), Banks (-60 points), O&GMCs (-52 points) and E&P (-36 points).
Volumes slightly declined from 397.6 million shares to 394.9 million shares. Average traded value also declined by 8 per cent to reach US$ 82.8 million as against US$ 89.9 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include WTL, TELE, GGL, BOP and ANL, which formed 36 per cent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include PSEL (+37 points), HUBC (+22 points), MTL (+7 points), ARPL (+6 points) and PIBTL (+5 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include ENGRO (-50 points), PSO (-41 points), MEBL (-33 points), PPL (-29 points) and LUCK (-28 points).
ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin on Monday directed tax authorities to expeditiously release refunds to importers of edible oil importers.
He issued the directive at a meeting with a delegation of Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association (PVMA).
The finance minister directed the chairman of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to assure expeditious disbursement of refunds to the importers of vegetable ghee/oil to ensure availability of funds.
Federal Minister for Industries and Production Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, SAPM on Finance and Revenue Dr. Waqar Masood, Secretary M/o Industries and Production, Chairman FBR and other senior officers participated in the meeting.
While welcoming the Chairman PVMA, the Finance Minister expressed his concern over the rise in the prices of edible oil/ghee in domestic markets over the period of time.
The Chairman PVMA briefed the Finance Minister about the international hike in prices of palm and soyabean oils particularly during ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The international prices kept fluctuating between the range of $1100 – 1257 per ton and the domestic market drives rates from the prevailing international prices and the dollar value.
The exchange rate also has a significant impact on edible oil prices in the country, he added.
While taking stock of the situation, the Finance Minister urged PVMA to adopt market-based solutions and bring down prices in the domestic market in line with the international price trend.
If there is a slight dip in the international market, it must be reflected in the domestic prices so that the consumers get relief amid highly fluctuating edible oil market.
The finance minister stressed the need to evaluate the whole situation rationally and urged PVMA to come up with sustainable pricing mechanism in collaboration with the Ministry of Industries & Production and FBR.
He constituted a committee comprising representatives of PVMA, Secretary Ministry of Industries and Production and Chairman FBR to workout arrangement for streamlining collection of sales tax and a predictable pricing formula. The Chairman PVMA assured full cooperation in providing maximum relief to the domestic consumers by absorbing international pressure on prices in the edible oil sector.
The index closed at 48,112 points as against previous closing on Friday at 47,600 points, showing an increase of 512 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market traded in the positive zone throughout the session, adding a total of 545 points during the session and closing near the session’s high with net 512 points.
E&P sector, which was a laggard in the past year or so and particularly in the past month or so, performed well on the back of an increase of +3 per cent in international crude oil prices today.
Besides, O&GMCs saw PSO sprinting due to its financial results, which were scheduled to be announced, but could not by sessions end. Besides, Technology stocks ramped up taking cue from Series B fund raising of Airlift that helped improve valuation multiples of listed entities in Tech space. Among scrips, HUMNL topped the volumes with 35.4 million shares, followed by BOP (22.2 million) and GGL (19.8 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (+167 points), E&P (+143 points), Fertilizer (+41 points), Misc (+36 points) and O&GMCs (+34 points).
Volumes increased from 299.1 million shares to 396.2 million shares (+33 per cent DoD). Average traded value also increased by 13 per cent to reach US$ 89.9 million as against US$ 79.5 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include HUMNL, BOP, GGL, TPLP and ANL, which formed 27 per cent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include MEBL (+94 points), PPL (+58 points), OGDC (+46 points), ENGRO (+42 points) and PSEL (+35 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include HUBC (-21 points), COLG (-10 points), MLCF (-9 points), EFERT (-7 points) and FCCL (-4 points).
Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday started distribution of the largest ever allocation of $650 billion to provide additional liquidity to the global economic system.
Ms. Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the IMF made the following statement on Monday:
“The largest allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) in history—about US$650 billion—comes into effect today. The allocation is a significant shot in the arm for the world and, if used wisely, a unique opportunity to combat this unprecedented crisis.
“The SDR allocation will provide additional liquidity to the global economic system – supplementing countries’ foreign exchange reserves and reducing their reliance on more expensive domestic or external debt. Countries can use the space provided by the SDR allocation to support their economies and step up their fight against the crisis.
“SDRs are being distributed to countries in proportion to their quota shares in the IMF. This means about US$275 billion is going to emerging and developing countries, of which low-income countries will receive about US$21 billion – equivalent to as much as 6 percent of GDP in some cases.
“SDRs are a precious resource and the decision on how best to use them rests with our member countries. For SDRs to be deployed for the maximum benefit of member countries and the global economy, those decisions should be prudent and well-informed.
“To support countries, and help ensure transparency and accountability, the IMF is providing a framework for assessing the macroeconomic implications of the new allocation, its statistical treatment and governance, and how it might affect debt sustainability. The IMF will also provide regular updates on all SDR holdings, transactions, and trading – including a follow-up report on the use of SDRs in two years’ time.
“To magnify the benefits of this allocation, the IMF is encouraging voluntary channeling of some SDRs from countries with strong external positions to countries most in need. Over the past 16 months, some members have already pledged to lend US$24bn, including US$15 billion from their existing SDRs, to the IMF’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust, which provides concessional loans to low-income countries. This is just a start, and the IMF will continue to work with our members to build on this effort.
“The IMF is also engaging with its member countries on the possibility of a new Resilience and Sustainability Trust, which could use channeled SDRs to help the most vulnerable countries with structural transformation, including confronting climate-related challenges. Another possibility could be to channel SDRs to support lending by multilateral development banks.
“This SDR allocation is a critical component of the IMF’s broader effort to support countries through the pandemic, which includes: US$117 billion in new financing for 85 countries; debt service relief for 29 low-income countries; and policy advice and capacity development support to over 175 countries to help secure a strong and more sustainable recovery.”
