KARACHI: The Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD) on Tuesday called on the government to abolish the Regulatory Duty (RD) and Additional Regulatory Duty (ARD) on the import of steel bars, emphasizing the need to stabilize their soaring prices in the domestic market.
(more…)Author: Mrs. Anjum Shahnawaz
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FBR launches module for online hearing in audit, assessment cases
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has taken a significant leap into the digital era with the launch of a software platform for conducting online hearings in audit and assessment cases, as announced by an FBR spokesperson on Tuesday.
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Stock market gains 186 points in range bound trading
KARACHI: The stock market gained 186 points on Tuesday in a range bound trading activity during the day. The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 45,982 points as against previous day’s closing of 45,796 points, showing an increase of 186 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market traded in a range during the session that saw an oscillation of -178 points and +238 points.
The decline observed earlier, on the back of profit booking in Technology stocks which triggered selling pressure in Banks, E&P and O&GMCs.
A rebound in buying activity brought back interest in PSO which helped pull stock price up by a good margin from LDCP.
Activity remained skewed towards GGL, UNITY, TRG and TELE which have made a robust rally in the past couple of months. Among scrips, WTL topped the volumes with 49.5 million shares, followed by TELE (49.1 million) and GGL (47.2 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (+80 points), O&GMCs (+74 points), Vanaspati (+37 points), Technology (+30 points) and Fertilizer (+18 points).
Volumes increased from 437.4 million shares to 536.5 million shares (+23 percent DoD). Average traded value also increased by 14 percent to reach US$ 151 million as against US$ 151 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include WTL, TELE, GGL, UNITY and TRG, which formed 38 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include PSO (+50 points), TRG (+43 points), UNITY (+37 points), MARI (+31 points) and PPL (+21 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include BAHL (-26 points), LUCK (-15 points), MCB (-14 points), SYS (-13 points) and ANL (-12 points).
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Remittances hit all-time monthly high of $2.8bn in April
KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday said that the inflow of workers’ remittances rose to an all-time monthly high of $2.8 billion in April 2021, which is 56 percent higher than during the same month last year.
On a cumulative basis, remittances have also surpassed previous records. At $ 24.2 billion in July-April FY21, remittances grew by 29 percent over the same period last year and have already crossed the full FY20 level by more than $1 billion.
Remittance inflows during July-April FY21 were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia ($6.4 billion), United Arab Emirates ($5.1 billion), United Kingdom ($3.3 billion) and the United States ($2.2 billion).
Proactive policy measures by the Government and SBP to encourage more inflows through formal channels, curtailed cross border travel in the face of COVID-19, altruistic transfers to Pakistan amid the pandemic, orderly foreign exchange market conditions and, more recently, Eid-related inflows have contributed to record levels of remittances this year.
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Foreign exchange reserves increase to $22.91 billion
KARACHI: The foreign exchange reserves of the country increased by $167 million to $22.91 billion by week ended May 07, 2021, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Monday.
The foreign exchange reserves of the country were at $22.743 billion by week ended April 30, 2021.
The foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP increased by $176 million to $15.774 billion by week ended May 07, 2021 as compared with $15.598 billion by week ended April 30, 2021. The SBP attributed the weekly increase in the foreign exchange reserves to the government’s official inflows.
The foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks eased by $9 million to $7.136 billion by week ended May 07, 2021 as compared with $7.145 million on the week ended by April 30, 2021.
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Petroleum prices kept unchanged for next fortnight
The government of Pakistan has decided to keep the prices of petroleum products unchanged during the next fortnight. The decision, made on Monday, entails absorbing a tax loss of approximately Rs2.77 billion.
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OGDCL discovers gas reserves in Balochistan
KARACHI: Oil and Gas Development Authority (OGDCL) on Monday announced gas discovery at Jandran X-04 located in District Barkhan, Balochistan Province.
The company said that the structure of Jandran X-04 was delineated, drilled and tested using OGDCL’s in house expertise.
“The well was drilled down to the depth of 1200m into Parh Limestone. Based on Wireline logs data, successfully DST was carried out in Mughal Kot Formation wherein the Well tested 7.08 Million Standard Cubic Feet Per Day (MMSCFD) gas and 0.55 Barrels Per Day (BPD) condensate with Well Head Flowing Pressure (WHFP) of 1300 Pounds Per Square Inch (Psi) at 32/64” Choke size.”
The OGDCL said that the discovery of Jandran X-04 is the result of aggressive exploration strategy adopted by the company. “It has opened a new avenue and would add to the hydrocarbon reserves of OGDCL and the country.”
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Car sales climb up by 54pc in 10 months
KARACHI: Sales of domestic assembled cars have increased by 54 percent during first 10 months of the current fiscal year due to smooth production despite coronavirus threats.
According to statistics released by Pakistan Automobile Manufacturers Association (PAMA), 151,178 units were sold during July – April 2020/2021 as compared with 97,900 units sold in the same period of the last year.
The sales of Indus Motors posted 90 percent growth to 48,025 units during first 10 months of the current fiscal year as compared with 25,300 units in the same period of the last year.
The sales of Honda Cars recorded 71 percent growth to 23,985 units during July – April 2020/2021 as compared with 14,061 units in the same period of the last year.
The sales of Pakistan Suzuki Motors Company (PSMC) recorded 28 percent growth to 74,619 units during first 10 months of the current fiscal year as compared with 58,303 units in the same period of the last year.
The sales of Hyundai cars, which entered the domestic market last year, were at 4,549 units during the first 10 months of the current fiscal year.
Analysts at Topline Securities said that Car sales declined by 17 percent month on month (MoM) in April 2021, affected by the start of the month of Ramadan and supply-side issues.
The same, including Lucky Motors Corporation (KIA, non-member of PAMA), is down by around 16 percent MoM.
To highlight, amid countrywide lockdowns imposed by the Federal and Provincial governments in Mar/Apr-2020, no car sales were recorded during Apr-2020.
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FPCCI urges tax rate cut in budget to mitigate coronavirus losses
KARACHI: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Monday sought sizeable cut in tax rates in upcoming budget 2021/2022 to mitigate industrial losses due to coronavirus.
FPCCI’s Businessmen Panel Chairman Mian Anjum Nisar, in a statement, said that the government will have to make visible reduction in taxes in the budget 2021-22 to help revive the businesses in post-corona economic strategy.
He recommended the government to take serious steps for bringing down cost of production, which is very high due to local currency depreciation, rising power tariffs, costly fuel and escalating import duties on inputs.
While talking to a traders delegation here on Monday, Mian Anjum Nisar, who is also former president of FPCCI, said that like the domestic industry Covid-19 crisis has also forced the global investors to put their new investment plans on hold. He said that there is no visible improvement in employment even after the business activities were allowed and countrywide lockdown eased. The small and medium industries (SMEs) -the main providers of jobs are still struggling because of lack of funds and demand.
Mian Anjum Nisar asked the government to take concrete steps to attract foreign investment, saving the livelihood of millions of workers associated with various sectors, as Foreign direct investment (FDI) has kept falling during the current fiscal, declining by 35 percent at the end of the third quarter, reflecting no improvement in the situation for investors.
Quoting the SBP data, he said that the FDI fell by 35% to $1.39 billion during July-March FY21 compared to $2.15 billion in the same period of last fiscal. The inflow in March was just $167.6 million compared to $278.7m in the same month of last year — a decline of 40%.
While the poor inflows of FDI have continued for more than five years, the government remained unable to offer anything new to attract foreign investors this year, mainly due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Pakistan has reopened its economy from the lockdown. Majority of the sectors in manufacturing and almost entire agriculture sector are operational now. He said that foreign direct investment figures of the previous year reflected the same poor scenario.
The BMP Chief said that Pakistan has succeeded to improve its balance of payments with record remittances in FY20. He said that Pakistan can be a potential market for foreign investors, who still have plans to make fresh investment in the country, but they have continued to wait for the return of economic stability. He highlighted uncertainty in the rupee-dollar parity as one of the major concerns of foreign investors.
He said a slowdown in the economy had badly impacted business confidence. It is must for the authorities concerned to first create an enabling environment for the local businessmen desiring to make new investment. He said that the return of stability to the financial health of the firms is a must to attract new foreign investment in Pakistan.
Resenting frequent increase in power tariff the FPCCI former president strongly opposed the government plan of increasing base electricity tariff across the country by a cumulative Rs5.36 per unit in three phases over the next two years.
Mian Anjum Nisar said the constant increases in energy rates on the behest of the International Monetary Fund would make the Pakistani products uncompetitive in the international market.
He said the regular attempt of economic managers to increase oil prices along with the hike in power and gas tariffs will ultimately harm the government’s overall move of reducing the production cost in the country announced by the prime minister in various phases.
Mian Anjum Nisar said it was imperative to make power and gas tariffs for domestic, as well as export sectors compatible with the tariff being applied in regional and neighbouring countries.
He said that with a view to save the economy from the impacts of the slowdown due to the COVID-19 the government should offer out of the box solution for a cash-strapped SMEs, which represents more than 90 percent of around 3.2 million business enterprises in Pakistan, contributing 40 percent to the GDP, employing more than 80 percent of non-agricultural workforce, and generating 25 percent of export earnings.
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Date for filing Sindh sales tax return extended
The Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) has extended the deadline for filing monthly sales tax returns for the month of April 2021. The decision comes in response to challenges faced by taxpayers who experienced difficulties in meeting compliance requirements during the weeklong Eid holidays.
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