Pkrevenue.com

Author: Faisal Shahnawaz

  • Rupee maintains level against dollar

    Rupee maintains level against dollar

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee remained unchanged against dollar on Thursday amid lackluster trading activities.

    The rupee ended Rs141.40 to the dollar, the same previous day’s closing level, in interbank foreign exchange market.

    The interbank foreign exchange market was initiated in the range of Rs141.39 and Rs141.40.

    The market recorded day high of Rs141.40 and low of Rs141.40 and closed at Rs141.40.

    The exchange rate in open market however ended with appreciation of the local unit.

    The buying and selling of dollar was recorded at Rs141.50/Rs142.00 as compared with previous day’s closing of Rs141.70/Rs142.20 in cash ready market.

  • Foreign Direct Investment falls by 51.4 percent in nine months

    Foreign Direct Investment falls by 51.4 percent in nine months

    KARACHI: The foreign direct investment (FDI) has declined by 51.4 percent to $1.27 billion during first nine months of current fiscal year as compared with $2.6 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year, according to statistics issued by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.

    The inflows of FDI fell by 20.9 percent to $2.51 billion during the period under review as compared with of $3.18 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year. While the outflows sharply increased by 121.8 percent to $1.24 billion as compared with $560 million.

    The portfolio investment in the stock market witnessed massive outflow during the first nine months of current fiscal year. The stock market witnessed outflow of $409 million during July – March 2018/2019 as compared with the outflow of $118.6 million in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year, showing sharp decline of 245 percent.

    The foreign private investment with both the component of FED and portfolio investment declined by 65.5 percent to $864 million during first nine months of current fiscal year as compared with $2.5 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.

    The total foreign private investment after inclusion of foreign public investment witnessed decline of 82.4 percent to $873 million during July – March 2018/2019 as compared with $4.95 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

  • Zubyr Soomro appointed as NBP board chairman

    Zubyr Soomro appointed as NBP board chairman

    KARACHI: Zubyr Soomro has been appointed as chairman of Board of Directors of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), said a notice to Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday.

    A day earlier the finance division notified appointment of chairman and directors on the board of NBP with immediate effect.

    According to the notice the following members have been appointed on the NBP board:

    01. Zubyr Soomro, chairman on vacant slot

    02. Mohammad Sohail Rajput AFS (IF/Inv), Finance Division, Director representing the government. He has replaced A Akbar Sharifzada, Ex-AFS, Finance Division

    03. Tawfiq Asghar Hussain, Director, who replaced Muhammad Imran Malik

    04. Ms. Sadaffe Abid, Director, who replaced Asad Munir

    05. Zafar Masud has been appointed as director on the vacant slot

    06. Imam Bakhsh Baloch has been appointed as director on the vacant slot

  • Sales Tax Act 1990: six years record required to be maintained

    Sales Tax Act 1990: six years record required to be maintained

    As per Section 24 of the Sales Tax Act, 1990, a person engaged in taxable supplies is mandated to preserve records and documents for a period of six years, effective from the end of the tax period to which such records or documents relate.

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  • FBR amends requirement of cash withdrawal information by banks

    FBR amends requirement of cash withdrawal information by banks

    ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Wednesday issued new instructions to banks regarding providing details of cash withdrawal by filers and non-filers.

    The FBR issued SRO 469(I)/2019 dated April 17, 2019 to amend SRO 1165(I)/2018 dated September 28, 2018. The amendment has been made regarding amount deducted on cash withdrawal from banks by filers and non-filers during a month.

    Through SRO 1165(I)/2018, the FBR changed the reporting criteria for banks under Income Tax Rules, 2001. Under the revised reporting criteria banks have been required to provide information of persons who have withdrawn cash exceeding Rs50,000 in a day and tax deductions thereon for filers and non-filers, aggregating to Rs 1 million or more during a month.

    The banks are required to provide information of cash withdrawal including name of person, CNIC, address, amount withdrawn during a month.

    However, through the latest SRO the FBR added a column of amount of tax deducted to the table of information.

  • ECC directs USC to ensure essential items availability during Ramazan

    ECC directs USC to ensure essential items availability during Ramazan

    ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Wednesday directed Utility Stores Corporation (USC) to ensure availability of essential items during the holy month of Ramazan.

    The ECC meeting was held with Finance Minister Asad Umar in the chair.

    The Committee reviewed proposals of various ministries/divisions.

    The committee also considered and approved various demands of division ministries for supplementary and technical supplementary grants.

    Industries and Production Division gave a presentation to update the Committee about status of Ramazan Package.

    The committee directed the USC to expedite the procurement of essential consumer items so as to provide timely relief to the people in Holy Month of Ramazan.

    The ECC constituted a four-member Committee to be headed by Railways Minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, to oversee the implementation of Ramazan Package.

    The Ministry of Petroleum briefed the ECC on the implementation of the Committee’s decision regarding utilization of services of Pakistan Railways for transportation of petroleum products across the country.

    The ministry of Railways informed the committee that it had the capacity to carry higher volumes and would work with the Ministry of Petroleum to explore further possibilities.

    The ECC approved, in principle, the proposal of Ministry of Information & Broadcasting for media campaign aiming to disseminate information relating to initiatives on Poverty Alleviation, Sehat Insaaf Scheme, PM’s Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme etc.

    The committee also directed the Ministry of Finance and National Bank of Pakistan to extend maximum facilitation to the USC in this regard.

    The finance minister said that the budgetary needs of many organizations had not been properly assessed at the time of preparation of budget estimate last year which was leading to a large number of demands for supplementary grants.

    He emphasized the need for proper budgeting of the financial needs of various departments, which would obviate the need for supplementary grants during the currency of the fiscal year.

    He stated that the government is determined to phase out the supplementary grants in the future budgets.

  • Customs intelligence announces auction of confiscated vehicles on April 23

    Customs intelligence announces auction of confiscated vehicles on April 23

    KARACHI: Directorate General of Intelligence and Investigation, Customs, Karachi announced auction of confiscated vehicles to be held on April 23, 2019 at PECHS Karachi.

    01. Toyota Crown Car, Reg No. AA-7095, Model 1995

    02. BMW Car, Reg No QZ-318, Model 2000

    03. Mercedes Benz Car (E-500), Reg No. AC-3077, Model 2002

    04. Toyota Crown Car, Reg No. AAK-226, Model 2005

    05. Honda Inspire Car , Reg No. GS-4012, Model 2003

    06. Toyota Crown Car, Reg No. AAJ-191, Model 2002

    07. Mercedes Benz Car, Reg No. AAJ-106, Model 2001

    08. Toyota Crown Car (Athelete), Reg No. AAQ-425, Model 2004

    09. Toyota Land Cruiser Jeep, Reg No. BRN-124689, Model 1990

    10. Honda Civic Car, Reg No. NE-345, Model 2006

    11. Toyota Premio Car, Reg No. BFB-537, Model 2005

    12. Toyota Premio Car, Reg No. LT-737, Model 2003

    13. Toyota Land Cruiser, Reg No. JAF-935, Model 1994

    14. Toyota Land Cruiser, Reg No. IDL-535, Model 1992

    15. Toyota Surf Jeep, Reg No. BF-4215, Model 1992

    16. Mercedes Benz Car(S-550), Reg No. CZ-672, Model 2007

    17. BMW 760 Li Car, Reg No. BCP-523, Model 2002

    18. Honda Civic Car, Reg No. BDV-517, Model 2006

    19. Toyota Surf Jeep, Reg No. BG-0115, Model 2001

    20. Toyota Surf Jeep, Reg No. BD-0310, Model 2003

    21. Toyota Premio Car, Reg No. QBB-0022, Model 2007

    22. Honda Civic Car, Reg No. NE-345, Model 2006

    23. Toyota Crown Car, Reg No. BBL-439, Model 2004

    24. Honda Accord Car, Reg No. AXY-881, Model 2003

  • PTCL quarterly revenue grows by 11 percent

    PTCL quarterly revenue grows by 11 percent

    ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) on Wednesday announced group’s revenue growth by 11 percent for first quarter ended March 2019.

    The financial results announced at the Board of Directors’ meeting held in Islamabad on April 17, 2019.

    PTCL Group’s revenue for the quarter has grown YoY by 11 percent to Rs.33.5 billion as a result of an accelerated growth in the Ufone and Ubank revenues.

    Ufone revenue has increased double digits YoY, UBank, a microfinance banking subsidiary of PTCL, has shown significant growth of 53 percent in its quarterly revenue over last year.

    PTCL Group’s operating profit and net profit for the quarter have improved by 34 percent and 95 percent respectively as a result of the revenue growth.

    PTCL revenue of Rs.17.9 billion for the quarter is slightly lower than last year.

    PTCL’s flagship Fixed Broadband services posted revenue growth of 5.8 percent over last year.

    PTCL continues its journey to upgrade top 100 exchanges under Network Transformation Project (NTP) in different parts of Pakistan.

    For the 76 exchanges fully transformed to date in 12 cities YoY revenue growth is even higher at 12 percent and there is 40 percent reduction in customer complaints.

    Corporate business continued its growth momentum from a strong 2018 and has achieved a double digit growth YoY. Growth drivers for corporate business are Cloud Infrastructure, IT, Security and Managed Services projects.

    Wireless revenue for the quarter has declined on year-on-year basis due to strong competition by the cellular companies providing wireless data services.

    There is continued decline in domestic and international voice revenues due to illegal/grey traffic termination, continued conversion of subscribers to OTT and cellular services resulting in declining voice traffic volumes.

    PTCL posted a Net Profit after Tax which is 10 percent higher than last year.

    Operating profit for the quarter remained under pressure compared to last year mainly due to increase in operating cost on account of significant hike in power tariffs.

    However, non-operating income has increased due to higher income on investments as a result of significant increase in benchmark interest rates by the State Bank of Pakistan.

  • Commerce Ministry Help Sought as South Africa Imposes Anti-Dumping Duty on Pakistani Cement

    Commerce Ministry Help Sought as South Africa Imposes Anti-Dumping Duty on Pakistani Cement

    KARACHI: Chairman Pakistan-South Africa Business Forum (PSABF) Mohammad Rafiq Memon has said that Pakistan’s cement exports to South Africa have suffered terribly during the last couple of years because of the anti-dumping duty imposed by the South African government that resulted in shrinking cement export to around US$100 to US$150 million which was around US$700 million prior to imposition of anti-dumping duty.

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