Pkrevenue.com

Author: Mrs. Anjum Shahnawaz

  • PYMA demands cut in duty rates on polyester yarn import

    PYMA demands cut in duty rates on polyester yarn import

    KARACHI: Pakistan Yarn Merchant Association (PYMA) has demanded the government of immediate reduction in duty rates on import of polyester filament yarn to ensure bring down prices of the commodity.

    Hanif Lakhany, Senior Vice Chairman PYMA and Vice Chairman Farhan Ashrafi urged the government to immediately remove additional customs duty at two percent and regulatory duty at 2.5 percent on the import of polyester filament yarn as an interim relief.

    Furthermore, they demanded a review of tariff structure on the entire polyester chain to make our user industry consisting mostly of small and medium size enterprises competitive to enhance our exports.

    They termed catastrophic for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) over not reviewing the tariff structure of polyester chain and not allowing immediate duty-free import of cotton, polyester cotton and polyester filament yarn by the government, and feared that the textile industry would be ruined if it was not possible to supply raw materials at reasonable prices as per the production demand.

    PYMA office bearers met with a delegation of polyester yarn users, industrialists, importers and traders, raising their concerns, they said that the government is aware that cotton production has declined this year, while the skyrocketing prices of polyester filament yarn, the main raw material for the textile industry, have pushed up production costs to an unbearable level

    “As a result of higher prices in the local market, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have no choice but close their units, if nothing is done to alleviate the pain of super high prices, it may be posing a grave danger to the fragile export growth”, they pointed out

    PYMA office bearers said that we really appreciate that the government is seriously considering measures to tackle the escalation of cotton yarn prices but there is also a need to review the current tariff regime of the Polyester Chain, if we really want Pakistan to be truly competitive in the international market.

    “Polyester filament yarn is subjected to 11% customs duty, 2% additional customs duty and 2.5% regulatory duty in addition to Antidumping duty ranging between 3-11% despite of the fact that local manufacturers of polyester filament can only meet less than one third demand of the user industry”, they added, these local manufacturers of polyester yarn enjoy tremendous tariff protection at the cost of very large small and medium size enterprises to the detriment of our stated public policy to make our value added industry competitive.

  • Stock market gains 559 points on PM vote of confidence

    Stock market gains 559 points on PM vote of confidence

    KARACHI: The stock market gained 559 points on Friday as investors posed confidence on the prime minister’s decision to take vote of confidence from the National Assembly.

    The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 45,837 points as against previous day’s close of 45,279 points, showing an increase of 559 points.

    Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market partially recovered the points lost in yesterday’s trading.

    Investors largely banked on Prime Minister’s Vote of Confidence, scheduled for tomorrow, which was further aided by release of SPI (Sensitive Price Index) data that showed a surprise jump of 15 percent YoY, prompting an active buying in Banks.

    About 5 percent jump in international crude oil prices also favoured otherwise lethargic E&P sector, which also contributed to the surge in Index. Among scrips, ANL topped the volumes with 29.2 million shares, followed by TRG (21.1 million) and PRL (17.8 million).

    Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (+135 points), E&P (+132 points), Cement (+59 points), Fertilizer (+52 points) and Power (+51 points).

    Volumes declined from 441 million shares to 317.2 million shares (-28 percent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 25 percent to reach US$ 101.5 million as against US$ 135.1 million.

    Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include ANL, TRG, PRL, GGL and FFBL, which formed 32 percent of total volumes.

    Stocks that contributed positively to the index include POL (+46 points), OGDC (+42 points), HBL (+37 points), LUCK (+35 points) and TRG (+33 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include COLG (-15 points), PAKT (-12 points), AICL (-2 points), PSX (-2 points) and PSMC (-2 points).

  • Prime Minister directs authorities to focus on flying invoices

    Prime Minister directs authorities to focus on flying invoices

    ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday directed the authorities to curb the menace of flying invoices to prevent tax losses.

    The prime minister chaired a meeting on tax reforms and said the objective of tax reform was to make the tax code simple, plug existing loopholes in the system and reduce discretionary powers of tax collectors and tax practitioners, according to state media.

    He called for structuring and reforming the tax regime to facilitate the common man and businesses to help the economy grow.

    Prime Minister Imran Khan called for introducing automation to ensure transparency of the tax system.

    He directed to especially focus on the issue of flying invoices.

    The meeting was attended by Federal Ministers Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Asad Umar, Hammad Azhar; Advisers Abdul Razzak Dawood and Dr. Ishrat Hussain; Special Assistants Dr. Waqar Masood, Tabish Gohar and Nadeem Babar, Chairman Board of Investment and other senior officials.

  • Trade deficit widens by 24pc in February

    Trade deficit widens by 24pc in February

    ISLAMABAD: The trade deficit has been widened by 24 percent Year on Year (YoY) in February 2021 owing to increase in imports and decline in exports, according to data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday.

    The import bill for the month of February 2021 increased to $4.56 billion as compared with $4.16 billion in the corresponding month of the last year, showing an increase of 9.55 percent.

    However, the exports fell by 4.12 percent to $2.05 billion in February 2021 when compared with $2.13 billion in the same month of the last year.

    The trade deficit widened by 10.64 percent to $17.536 billion in first eight months (July – February) 2020/2021 when compared with the deficit of $15.85 billion in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.

    The imports posted 7.49 percent growth to $33.84 billion during first eight months of the current fiscal year as compared with $31.48 billion in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.

    The exports registered an increase of 4.29 percent to $16.3 billion during July – February 2020/2021 as compared with $15.63 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

  • Rupee gains four paisas against dollar

    Rupee gains four paisas against dollar

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee made a gain of four paisas against the dollar on Friday despite demand for import and corporate payments on last trading of the week.

    The rupee ended at Rs157.12 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs157.16 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

    Currency experts said that demand for the foreign currency was remained high due to upcoming two weekly holidays. However, inflows of workers’ remittances and export receipts helped the rupee to make gain.

    The export receipts have increased by 4.3 percent to $16.3 billion during first eight months (July – February) 2020/2021 as compared with $15.6 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year, according to data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday.

  • Habib Bank pays Rs320.79 million as penalties

    Habib Bank pays Rs320.79 million as penalties

    KARACHI: Habib Bank Limited (HBL) has paid an amount of Rs320.79 million as penalty for various regulatory violations during the year ended December 31, 2020.

    According to financial results released by the bank for the year ended December 31, 2020, the bank paid the amount of Rs320.79 million as penalties for violation of various regulations.

    However, the payment of penal amount reduced by 33 percent when compared with Rs480.56 million paid in the preceding year.

    According to details the bank paid an amount of Rs296 million against fine imposed by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for the year ended December 31, 2020. The latest amount of monetary penalty has been reduced when compared with Rs476 million that was imposed by the SBP on the bank during the preceding year.

    The fall in penal amount shows the bank has strengthened inter controls related to know your customer (KYC) and transactions violating other regulatory provisions.

    The bank has also paid penal amount to the tune of Rs24.37 million as fine to other regulatory bodies during the year ended December 31, 2020 as compared with an amount of Rs3.9 million paid during the preceding year.

  • Standard Chartered Bank declares 18pc fall in annual profit

    Standard Chartered Bank declares 18pc fall in annual profit

    KARACHI: Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan) has declared annual profit of Rs13.13 billion for the year ended December 31, 2020, which was reduced by 18 percent when compared with Rs16 billion in the preceding year.

    According to financial results shared with the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday, the fall in annual profit may be attributed to significant increase in provisioning and write offs during the year.

    The provisioning and write offs of the banks increased to Rs4.9 billion for the year ended December 31, 2020 when compared with Rs16.81 million in the preceding year.

    According to the financial results of the bank, an amount of Rs4.77 billion was cost under the head of provision against loans and advances for the year ended December 31, 2020.

    Net Interest Income of the bank slightly increased to Rs28.14 billion for the year under review as compared with Rs27.78 billion in the preceding fiscal year.

    Total income of the bank during the year also posted nominal growth to Rs40.93 billion when compared with Rs39 billion in the preceding year.

    Total expenses of the bank also increased slightly to Rs12.38 billion for the year ended December 31, 2020 when compared with Rs27.18 billion in the preceding year.

    The bank paid Rs10.48 billion as tax for the year ended December 31, 2020 as compared with Rs11.18 billion in the preceding year.

    Earnings per share of the bank fell to Rs3.39 as compared with EPS of Rs4.14 in the last year.

  • Foreign exchange reserves increase to $20.133 billion

    Foreign exchange reserves increase to $20.133 billion

    KARACHI – The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has reported a positive development in the country’s economic indicators as the liquid foreign exchange reserves increased by $91 million to reach $20.133 billion by the week ending February 26, 2021.

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  • KSE-100 index plunges 882 points on Senate election results

    KSE-100 index plunges 882 points on Senate election results

    KARACHI: The stock market plunged by 882 points on Thursday owing to set back for the government in the Senate elections.

    The benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 45,279 points as against previous day’s closing of 46,161 points, showing a decline of 882 points.

    Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the incumbent government’s defeat at Senate elections trumped KSE100 index, which dropped 1073 points on the opening bell.

    Recovery ensued in the expectation of Vote of Confidence by Prime Minister, which brought the index from -1073 points to ~-350 points during the session.

    Selling was observed across the board. By mid-day, prospects of redemption at Mutual Funds’ end brought the Index under pressure again, continuing till end of session that saw market taking a double dip to end -882 points. Among scrips, KEL led the table with 33.1 million shares, followed by GGL (28.6 million) and TRG (25.8 million).

    Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (-167 points), Banks (-142 points), E&P (-71 points), Fertilizer (-71 points) and Power (-60 points).

    Volumes increased from 403.6 million shares to 441.3 million shares (+9 percent DoD). Average traded value on the contrary declined by 10 percent to reach US$ 135 million as against US$ 149.5 million.

    Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include KEL, GGL, TRG, BYCO and WTL, which formed 29 percent of total volumes.

    Stocks that contributed positively to the index include COLG (+22 points), GATI (+2 points), NESTLE (+1 points), INDU (+0 points) and FHAM (+0 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include LUCK (-67 points), TRG (-53 points), HBL (-35 points), HUBC (-34 points) and UBL (-31 points).

  • Rupee weakens by three paisas on import payment demand

    Rupee weakens by three paisas on import payment demand

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee ended down by three paisas against the dollar on Thursday owing to demand for import and corporate payments.

    The rupee ended Rs157.16 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs157.13 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

    The rupee fell on Thursday after maintaining eight-day streak of appreciation against the foreign currency.

    The exchange rate was at Rs159.10 on February 19, 2021. However, the local currency recovered Rs1.97 against the greenback in the interbank foreign exchange market till March 03, 2021.

    The currency experts said that the growth in export receipts and inflows of workers remittance helped the rupee to make gains.