State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has completed the project of digitalization forex cases namely End-to-End Digitalization of FX Cases.
(more…)Author: Faisal Shahnawaz
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Pakistan exports to seven regional countries up by 20.5%
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has registered an increase in the exports to seven regional countries by 20.50 per cent in the first month of the financial year (2021-2022) as compared with the corresponding month of the last year.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported that the countries in the seven regional countries including Afghanistan, China, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives.
These countries account for a small amount of $282.020 million which is only 12.49 percent of Pakistan’s overall exports of $2257.042 million in July 2021-22.
China tops the list of the countries in which Pakistan exports goods to its neighboring countries except for Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
There is an increase observed in the exports from Pakistan to China with a growth of 55.26 percent to $165.878 million in July 2022 from $106.775 million in July 2021.
On the other hand, there is also an increase in the exports of Pakistan to Bangladesh by 5.66 percent from $5t51.033 million to $48.297 million.
Yet the exports of Pakistan to Afghanistan have dropped by 38.57 percent to $38.557 million this year from $62.774 million. The exports of the country with India also plunged by 87.81 percent to $0.054 million from $0.443 million because of the suspension of trade relations by the government with Pakistan.
The exports to Nepal also declined by 39.86 percent to $0.273 million from 0.454 million. However, the exports to the Maldives also fell by 1.21 percent to 0.325 million from 0.329 million.
The exports of Pakistan with Sri Lanka increased by 68.55 percent to $235.991 million from $15.420 million in the previous year.
However the imports of Pakistan from seven regional countries have increased by 19.36 percent to $1350.535million during July 2022 as compared to $1131.427 million in July 2021.
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Dollar makes gain against PKR in interbank
KARACHI: The US Dollar made 25 paisas gain against the Pak Rupee (PKR) on Monday in the interbank foreign exchange market.
The rupee depreciated during the day despite a report of inflows from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The rupee ended at Rs164.43 to the dollar in the interbank foreign exchange market. The local currency closed last Friday at Rs164.18.
Currency experts said that high dollar demand remained high because the market opened after two weekly holidays.
They, however, said that the market had not paid attention to inflows of $2.77 billion from the IMF scheduled to transfer today.
The rupee depreciation can also be attributed to the current account deficit for the month of July 2021.
The current account deficit reported $773 million for the month of July 2021, which was a $583 million surplus in the same month of the last year.
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China hails Pakistan for BRI initiative, exploring Silk Road
BEIJING: Pakistan and other countries have cooperated in the initiative of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) besides exploring the Digital Silk Road, which reaped fruitful benefits.
Li Yikai, Deputy Director of Centre for International Economic and Technological Cooperation had a 2021 Online Silk Road Conference at Yinchuan, the northwest city of China.
The Deputy Director said, “From 2019 to 2020, there are notable achievements in digital development in BRI countries. For example, the Beidou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) was deployed in Pakistan’s airports, providing accurate timing services for the operations.”
Pakistan and China have cooperated for the satellite navigation system across a major area between both of the countries.
Pakistan has signed a contract with China’s Wuhan Landing Medical High-tech Co., Ltd. To introduce their artificial intelligence (AI) for screening cervical cancer in Pakistan.
In the 18 years of experience in the IT sector of Ericsson (China), Shoukat told CEN, “From 2019 to 2020, there are notable achievements in digital development in BRI countries. For example, the Beidou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) was deployed in Pakistan’s airports, providing accurate timing services for the operations.”
He further said, “Pakistan has a lot of potential in the IT sector. When Pakistani IT talents have the opportunity to venture abroad and work in countries like China, they will definitely bring very good results.”
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FBR announces 4-hour portal shutdown till August 30
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has announced a strategic move to upgrade its technology infrastructure, necessitating a temporary shutdown of its website for four hours daily until August 30, 2021.
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PSO issues clarification LNG purchase
KARACHI: Pakistan State Oil (PSO) has clarified reports about purchase of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) on higher prices.
In a statement on Sunday the company clarified that:
No cargo from long-term supply contract in September has been dropped or canceled by PSO as reported by certain media outlets. As per the Annual Delivery Plan (ADP) agreed with all stakeholders, 04 cargoes were to be supplied under the long-term contract in the month of September and 02 spot deliveries were planned.
PSO’s long-term contract for 60 cargoes a year is not equally divided over 12 months. PSO prudently planned winter (Jan-Feb & Nov-Dec) in advance, when spot prices are usually higher, and arranged 28 cargoes instead of 20 under the long-term contracts -24 cargoes from the existing long-term contract and 4 additional cargoes from the recently executed long-term contract commencing in January 2022 by exercising contractual rights. This has been planned to meet the ever-increasing gas demand in winters at the lowest possible rates.
PSO has enabled considerable savings through effective planning and contract management by reducing the number of spot cargoes from 12 to 6 this year using contractual flexibilities available while maximizing long-term cargoes through contracts from 60 to 70.
As far as the timing of the tenders is concerned, awarding cargoes ahead of the required delivery windows or awarding a strip of cargoes in one go does not suit PSO since the company has certain contractual flexibilities available under long-term contracts and spot purchases are very few in a year as mentioned above. For e.g. due to the unplanned Dry Dock activity of FSRU in Jun-Jul and uncertain situation in September considering scheduled FSRU replacement, had PSO awarded July and September spot cargoes in advance, the company would have had to either drop much cheaper contractual cargo or face Take or Pay penalty. Therefore, spot purchases are finalized after carefully seeing the demand-supply dynamics and market conditions.
The bids received against the required deliveries in September 2021 are yet to be awarded by PSO. As per procedure, the received bids will be presented to the company’s Board of Management along with the supply/demand situation & global price trends and a decision will be arrived at accordingly.
Considering that 2021 has seen exceptionally high LNG prices in international market, the planning and management of contract done by PSO will not only absorb the impact of higher spot prices but also result in potential savings. As the national flag bearer, PSO is committed to safeguarding national interest and leaves no stone unturned to fuel the country’s progress.
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Lahore customs to auction used cars on August 25
ISLAMABAD: Collectorate of Customs (Enforcement), Lahore announced public auction of use motor cars on August 25, 2021.
The customs station has schedule to auction the following vehicles:
01. Toyota Estima Van, Model 1997, Registration No. LES-10-2465, Chassis No. TCR10-1300348
02. Toyota Estima Van, Model 2001, Registration No. LES-11-3031, Chassis No. MCR30-0038488
03. Nissan Patrol Jeep, Model 1995, Registration No. WAA-207-Jaffarabad, Chassis No. JN1WRGY60U-0000175
04. Honda Civic Car, Model 2006, Registration No. LWJ-0095, Chassis No. JHME8168058200451
05. Toyota Noah Van, Model 1997, Registration No. LES-11-5248, Chassis No. SR40-01918137
06. Toyota Noah Van, Model 2002, Registration No. LES-13-3532, Chassis No. AZR60-0011672
07. Toyota Noah Van, Model 2006, Registration No. LEH-13-2313, Chassis No. GRX120-3012804
08. Toyota Coaster, Model 1996, Registration No. EA-4446, Chassis No. BB50-6000009
09. Toyota Sports Car, Model 2010, Registration No. LER-5143, Chassis No. JTNKU58E201133939
10. Honda Civic Car, Model 2013, Registration No. LEH-13-2311, Chassis No.JHMFT3620652047617
11. Honda Accord Car, Model 2003, Registration No. X-54-07 (Islamabad), Chassis No. JHMCL96903C211895
12. BMW Car, Model 2009, Registration No. ICT-ACG-317, Chassis No. WBAKA82000CK771
13. BMW Car, Model 2009, Registration No. LEB-17A-9475, Chassis No. WBANT12000Cx30261
14. Toyota Crown Car, Model 2002, Registration No. LED-7719, Chassis No. JZS171-0050775
15. Toyota Land Cruiser Lexus, Model 2017, Registration No. AGK-647, Chassis No. URJ201-4207384
16. Toyota Land Cruiser Cygnus, Model 2002, Registration No. N/A, Chassis No. UZJ100-0113314
17. Toyota Corolla Altis Car, Model 2002, Registration No. SA-18-142, Chassis No. MRO53ZEE106100894
18. Mercedes Benz Car, Model 2012, Registration No. N/A, Chassis No. WDD207442F155512
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FBR rebuffs report of using pirated software
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Friday strongly rejected the claims of news report about using pirated software for tax system.
The FBR issued a clarification on the news aired by a leading news channel regarding use of pirated software by FBR for its systems.
The revenue body clarified that IT services for Federal and Provincial tax authorities such as FBR, SRB, PRA etc are being provided by PRAL which also includes maintaining the data centers.
In the data centers there are numerous software products which are being used to perform different functions such as cyber security, virtualization, firewall, etc.
Key companies whose products are being utilized include Oracle, Microsoft, VMware, Kaspersky etc.
FBR has clarified that the licensed versions of these softwares have been procured. FBR has added that the original license of the product remains intact, if the support to the software expires.
However, at times support for these services may not get renewed in a timely fashion due to unavoidable circumstances.
FBR has clarified that in year 2019, issue of VMware licensing was raised by US Government, which was addressed by procuring the requisite licenses after following relevant procedures as laid down in PPRA rules.
For over a year no such issue regarding VMware has cropped up, FBR added.
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July current account deficit balloons to $773 million
KARACHI: The current account balance has posted a deficit of $773 million during first month of the current fiscal year, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Friday.
The SBP released Balance of Payment (BOP) statistics. The data revealed that the current account was in surplus of $583 million in July 2020.
However, the current account deficit has been narrowed in July 2021 when compared with $1.619 billion recorded in June 2021.
The balance of trade in goods has posted a deficit of $3.139 billion in July 2021 when compared with the deficit of $1.672 billion in the same month of the last year.
The export receipts have increased to $2.257 billion in the first month of the current fiscal year 2021/2022 when compared with $1.88 billion in the same month of the last fiscal year.
The import bill also recorded significant growth to $5.396 billion in the month under review when compared with $3.557 billion in the same month of the last year.
The inflow of workers’ remittances recorded at $2.707 billion in July 2021 when compared with $2.764 billion in the same month of the last year.
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Self assessment scheme to facilitate taxpayers: Tarin
KARACHI: Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin on Friday said that the Universal Self Assessment Scheme (USAS) has been reintroduced. This scheme will facilitate taxpayers in declaring income and assets.
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