Author: Mrs. Anjum Shahnawaz

Rupee hits another historic low of Rs162.17 against dollar

KARACHI: The Pak Rupee hit recorded another historic low against dollar on Wednesday by depreciating Rs5.51 in interbank foreign exchange market owing to withdrawal of high denomination prize bonds by the government.

The rupee ended Rs162.17 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs156.99 in interbank foreign exchange market.

The foreign currency market was initiated in the range of Rs157.00 and Rs158.00. The market recorded day high of Rs162.50 and low of Rs158.50 and ended at Rs162.17.

Currency experts said that the withdrawal of Rs40,000 prize bonds put the pressure on dollar buying.

The government has announced to withdraw the bearer bonds of Rs40,000 bonds by March 2020 and its sales through bank branches has been closed since June 24, 2019.

The exchange rate in open market also witnessed deterioration in rupee value.

The buying and selling of dollar was recorded at Rs162.00/Rs163.00 from previous day’s closing of Rs156.00/Rs156.70 in cash ready market.

June 26, 2019
Rs260 billion to be documented through withdrawal of Rs40,000 bearer bonds in first phase

KARACHI: The government will document an amount of Rs260 billion in first phase by withdrawing Rs40,000 denomination bonds.

The government has announced to stop circulation of high denomination bearer bonds in order to curb the black economy.

Till February 2019 the central directorate of national savings issued Rs259.22 billion bonds of Rs40,000.

On Jane 24, 2019 State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) issued instructions to commercial banks for not selling Rs40,000 Prize Bonds. The SBP also issued procedure for exchanging the bonds with premium bonds or documented saving certificates by March 2020.

According to Economic Survey of Pakistan 2018-2019 the CDNS had planned to convert all bearer bonds into documented securities.

A staggering amount of Rs939 billion has been invested in bearer bonds up to February 2019.

Market sources said the holders of bearer bonds worth Rs40,000 were desperate to exchange and were even offering to exchange much lower rates in order to avoid questioning.

The sources further said that many of those holders were desperate to exchange with US dollar and other foreign currencies, which put pressure on the local currency.

The rupee hit all time low at Rs165 to a dollar in Interbank Foreign Exchange Market on Wednesday.

On the other hand the FBR is also planning to question the persons exchanging the bearer bonds regarding source of investment.

June 26, 2019
Meezan Bank partners with IBM for accelerating digital transformation

KARACHI: Meezan Bank, leading Islamic bank, has announced its partnership with IBM (International Business Machines Corporation) Pakistan, to accelerate its digital transformation.

The new solution shall enable real-time analysis of data and help the Bank uncover customer behavioral insights. With a network of over 676 branches in more than 180 cities in Pakistan, Meezan Bank will utilize IBM’s data analytics to improve and personalize customer experience, provide new efficiencies to the Bank’s operations and mitigate financial risks.

Meezan Bank serves more than two million customers currently. The new partnership will enable the Bank to develop insights to improve customer acquisition, servicing as well as overall productivity.

“Meezan Bank is acutely aware of the increasing importance of leveraging technology to deliver solutions for both customers and the Bank’s own processes. We continue to invest heavily in technology and I am confident that this Data Analytics project will be a game changer,” said Ariful Islam – Deputy CEO of Meezan Bank.

“Technologies are disrupting our lives at an accelerated pace, and it is our endeavor to deliver as per the expectations of our customers using the tools that new technologies will give us. The future of banking depends on the speed with which we can adapt these new realities.”

The implementation of this Data Analytics project will give Meezan Bank the ability to ingest and analyze data in real time from various sources, including social media and mobile, and in turn, uncover customer behavioral insights, such as past purchasing behaviors, and make more informed data-driven decisions.

“Data has become the biggest differentiating factor in the constantly evolving and competitive financial services industry,” said Ghazanfar Ali – Country General Manager of IBM Pakistan.

“Through IBM’s analytics and cognitive solutions, Meezan Bank will be able to benefit from a data driven approach to create personalized customer experiences, expand the business and drive efficiencies that will extend its leadership in the banking marketplace.”

June 25, 2019
Share market sheds another 281 points

KARACHI: The share market lost another 281 points on Tuesday owing to continued selling pressure.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 34,191 points as against 34,472 points showing a decline of 281 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market witnessed a relatively dull session today and continued the downside towards 487 points.

Market made recovery a number of times during the day and the same was observed in last half hour, which saw recovery of close to 200 points at a point in time.

Selling was observed in Cement, Banks, E&P and Autos sectors. Steel, Fertilizer and Sui Utilities remained relatively unscathed.

Cement Sector led the volumes table with 27 million, followed by Power (23 million). KEL led the total volumes with 21 million, followed by MLCF (10 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (-86 points), E&P (-43 points), Power (-31 points), Cement (-27 points) and Fertilizer (-23 points).

Volumes increased from 78.7 million shares to 144.1 million shares (+83 percent DoD). Average traded value also increased by 42 percent to reach US$ 26.1 million as against US$ 18.4 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include KEL, MLCF, TRG, PAEL and TPL, which formed 37 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively include EFERT (+10 points), PMPK (+10 points), MARI (+7 points), HGFA (+6 points) and BOP (+5 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include HUBC (-30 points), PAKT (-29 points), NESTLE (-23 points), FFC (-21 points) and PPL (-21 points).

June 25, 2019
Rupee ends unchanged in interbank foreign exchange market

KARACHI: The Pak Rupee ended unchanged at all time low against the dollar on Tuesday amid demand for import and corporate payments.

The rupee ended Rs156.99 to the dollar, the same previous day’s level, in interbank foreign exchange market.

The foreign exchange market opened in the range of Rs156.75 and Rs157.00. The market recorded day high of Rs157.00 and low of Rs156.50 in interbank foreign exchange market.

The exchange rate in open market was also remained unchanged. The buying and selling of dollar was recorded at Rs156.00/Rs156.70, the same previous day’s level, in cash ready market.

June 25, 2019
FBR amends baggage rules, passengers required to make customs declaration

ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has amended baggage rules and made it mandatory for passengers to declare their goods on arrival.

The FBR on Tuesday issued draft amendments to Baggage Rules for passengers in order to clear their goods under concessionary or exempt regime.

Under the draft rules made available to PkRevenue.com, a passenger is required to file a customs declaration at the time of arrival or departure.

The declaration form shall include:

Name of collectorate

Passenger’s name

Gender

Date of birth

Passport number

Nationality

Country coming from/going to

Country going to (if in transit)

Name of countries visited during the last 7 days

Purpose of visit such as personal, official, business or tourism

Contact person/sponsor, contact number in Pakistan, address in Pakistan

The passenger is required to make following declaration:

Are you carrying any of the following goods?

Prohibited/restricted goods such as narcotics, psychotropic substance, firearms, weapons, satellite phones etc?

Gold Jewelry, precious /semi previous stones

Foreign currency in US $ or equivalent.

Passengers have been advised to inform customs officer at the red channel if any of the above answer in Yes.

June 25, 2019
Automated sales tax registration to start from July 01: FBR

ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Monday said that the automated system for sales tax registration will start from July 01, 2019.

The following procedure has been proposed and the same shall replace the one as prescribed in sub-rules (2) to (8) of rule 5 of the Sales Tax Act, 1990:

The applicant having NTN/income tax registration shall, using his login credentials, upload following information / documents:

Bank account certificate issued by the bank in the name of the business.

Registration / consumer number with the gas and electricity supplier.

Particulars of all branches in case of multiple branches at various locations.

GPS-tagged photographs of the business premises In case of manufacturer, also the GPS-tagged photographs of machinery and industrial electricity or gas meter installed.

On furnishing above documents, the system shall register the applicant for sales tax, the FBR said.

After registration, the applicant or his authorized person shall visit e-Sahulat Centre of NADRA within a month for bio-metric verification.

In case of failure to visit or failure of verification, the registered person’s name shall be taken off the sales tax Active Taxpayer List.

In case of manufacturer, the FBR may require post verification through field offices or a third party authorized by the Board.

In case, the field office, during scrutiny after the registration, finds that any document provided is non-genuine / fake / wrong, it may request through the system, to provide the missing document, in fifteen days, failing which the registered person shall be taken off from the sales Active Taxpayer List.

June 25, 2019
Customs stations to remain open on June 29, 30 for duty, tax collection

ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has instructed all the customs stations in the country to remain open and observe extended working house till 10:00 pm on Saturday (June 29, 2019) and till 12:00 mid-night Sunday (June 30, 2019).

The FBR issued these instructions for facilitation of trade in payment of duty/taxes.

The FBR has further instructed the Chief Collector of Customs to liaise with the State Bank of Pakistan and other scheduled commercial banks in their respective jurisdiction to ensure transfer of the duties/taxes collected by these branches to the respective branches of State Bank of Pakistan on the same date and to account the same towards collection for the month of June, 2019, a notification said on Monday.

June 25, 2019
SBP stops banks selling Rs40,000 prize bonds, issues procedure for conversion into registered bonds

KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has stopped banks from issuing prize bond denomination of Rs40,000 with immediate effect and also issued instructions regarding conversion into registered bonds and encashment.

The SBP on Monday issued the following instructions regarding handling of Rs.40,000/- denomination National Prize Bonds are issued herewith for information, guidance and meticulous compliance:

a) National Prize Bonds of Rs.40,000/- denomination shall not be sold after June 24, 2019 and will not be encashed/redeemed after March 31, 2020.

b) No further draws of Rs.40,000/-denomination National Prize Bonds shall be held.

c) Cash payment for encashments of bonds is not allowed. However, the bond holder (s) shall have the following options to replace / encash these bonds:

1. Conversion of premium prize bonds (registered)

2. Replacement with special saving certificate (SSC)/Defence Saving Certificate (DSC)

3. Encashment at face value.

d) Appended below is the SOP for processing requests under the aforementioned options for compliance by all banks:

1. Conversion to Premium Prize Bonds (Registered)

i. The bonds can be converted to premium prize bonds (registered) through the 16 field offices of SBP Banking Services Corporation, and authorized branches of six commercial banks i.e. National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Habib Bank Limited (HBL), United Bank Limited (UBL), MCB Bank Limited (MCB), Allied Bank Limited (ABL) and Bank Alflah Limited (BAFL).

ii. The bond holder shall be required to submit a written request for conversion of bearer bonds to premium prize bonds (registered) to be registered in his (her) name on the prescribed application.

iii. The bond holder shall also be required to submit prescribed applications forms for registrations / purchase of premium prize bond as per the procedure in vogue.

Replacement with the Special Saving Certificate (SSC)/Defence Saving Certificate (DSC)

i. The bonds can be replaced with SSC / DSC through the 16 field offices of SBP Banking Services Corporation, authorized commercial banks and National Savings Centers.

ii. All authorized commercial banks shall, therefore, accept requests for replacement of bearer bonds with SSC or DSC on the prescribed application form.

iii. The bondholder shall also be required to submit application form for purchase of SSC/DSC (SC-1) as per the prescribed procedure.

Encashment at Face Value:

i. The bonds will only be encashed by transferring the proceeds to the bond holder’s bank account through the 16 field offices of SBP Banking Services Corporation as well as the authorized commercial bank branches.

ii. All commercial banks shall receive requests for encashment of bearer bonds on the prescribed application form.

A cop of the application form, duly signed and stamped, shall be provided to the bondholder as an acknowledgement receipt.

The SBP said that it is needless to mention that the National Prize Bonds of Rs40,000 denomination tendered at the counters of banks shall be subject to through scrutiny to ascertain their genuineness. In this regard, details regarding the security features in Rs40,000 denomination National Prize Bonds are available online.

Moreover, the prize bonds encashed / replaced by general public may be surrendered to concerned SBP BSC office through respective regional office of the commercial banks. For the purpose, the regional office may intimate the SBP BSC office three days in advance so that necessary arrangements for receipt of the bonds can be made.

It is imperative to mention that a notice regarding the above / mentioned facilities must be displayed at prominent places within branch premises for awareness and information of general public.

June 24, 2019
Share market falls by 653 points on heavy selling

KARACHI: The share market sharply fell by 653 points or 1.9 percent on Monday owing to heavy selling during the day.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 34,472 points as against 35,125 points showing a decrease of 653 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market opened on a positive note with +24 points, but hit a ceiling of +69 points followed by heavy selling throughout the session.

Cement sector caused the concern among investors due to requirement introduced in the budget for presenting CNIC to buy cement as well as the protest from cement dealers highlighting the risks of low sales by cement manufacturers.

Non-activation of State Enterprise Fund, also added to the misery of investors. Across the board selling was observed and positive news flow on Qatar’s potential investment in Pakistan to the tune of US$ 3 billion also failed to stem the flow of selling.

Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (-127 points), Cement (-106 points), Fertilizer (-102 points), Banks (-91 points), OGMCs (-56 points).

Volumes declined from 129.3 million shares to 78.7 million shares (-39 percent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 31 percent DoD to reach US$ 18.4 million as against US$ 26.9 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include KEL, TRG, FCCL, MLCF and UNITY, which formed 29 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed negatively include LUCK (-56 points), PPL (-40 points), POL (-34 points), OGDC (-34 points) and ENGRO (-33 points). Stocks that contributed positively include PMPK (+11 points), BAHL (+7 points), NESTLE (+7 points), PKGS (+3 points) and NATF (+3 points).

June 24, 2019