Money and banking drive economic activity by facilitating transactions, savings, and investments. Banks manage financial resources, offer credit, and regulate money supply, ensuring stability and growth in Pakistan’s financial sector.
Currency experts said that foreign currency demand was seen for import and corporate payments during the day.
They said that widening of trade deficit had kept the pressure on demand side. They said import prices of international commodities and energy had witnessed substantial increase.
They said that the country required immediate support in the share of export dollars and inflows of workers’ remittances to support the local currency.
KARACHI: Engro Enfrashare, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Engro Corporation, has entered into an Islamic syndicate arrangement amounting to Rs4.5 billion, led by Meezan Bank and Faysal Bank, according to a statement issued on Tuesday.
The proceeds raised through this Islamic syndication would be utilized to finance the development of tower sites for various mobile network operators (MNOs) operating in Pakistan.
As per terms of the financing arrangement, the tenor of the financing will be seven years, including a grace period of two years. The syndicate includes Meezan Bank Limited, Faysal Bank Limited, National Bank of Pakistan, MCB Islamic Bank and Allied Islamic Bank.
Last month, Engro had announced to enhance its total equity investment in the Telecom Infrastructure Vertical to Rs21.5 billion. The Telecom Infrastructure vertical was setup in 2019 to accelerate the development of connectivity infrastructure in Pakistan, thereby providing an opportunity for the people to be part of the new digital era.
Engro Enfrashare is engaged in the acquisition and construction of shared telecom towers, provision of various telecommunication infrastructure and related services, including state-of-the-art network monitoring solutions.
Since its inception, the Company has now established strong relationships with all MNOs active in Pakistan and is working closely with them to develop build-to-suit (B2S) sites across the country to serve their coverage and capacity requirements.
According to Ghias Khan, President & CEO Engro Corporation: “Engro is committed to expanding its footprint in the Telecom Infrastructure vertical to power Pakistan’s progress in the digital era. With the support of banking partners like Meezan Bank, Engro Enfrashare will continue to work towards its purpose of making connectivity more accessible and affordable for everyone.”
Irfan Siddiqui, Founding President & CEO, Meezan Bank, added that digitization would be a major element driving business success in the era we are entering into.
Meezan Bank being not only the country’s leading Islamic Bank but also the Best Bank in Pakistan, not only understands the significance of telecom infrastructure but also encourages companies to build strong telecom infrastructure that would support their digitization initiatives and enable them to deliver a better customer experience.
A signing ceremony of the agreement was signed at the Head Office of Engro Corporation, in the presence of Ghias Khan (President & CEO, Engro Corporation), Mazhar Hasnani (Chief Financial Officer, Engro Corporation), Faisal Sattar (CEO, Engro Enfrashare), Irfan Siddiqui (President & CEO, Meezan Bank), Ariful Islam (Deputy CEO of Meezan Bank), Yousaf Hussain (President & CEO, Faysal Bank) and other senior representatives of both institutions.
KARACHI: Following are the exchange rates of foreign currencies in Pak Rupee (PKR) on September 14, 2021: The rates are updated at 11.00 AM.
Currency
Buying
Selling
Australian Dollar
123
125
Bahrain Dinar
386.5
388.5
Canadian Dollar
134.5
136.5
China Yuan
23.65
23.8
Danish Krone
23.35
23.65
Euro
197
199
Hong Kong Dollar
16.55
16.8
Indian Rupee
2.03
2.1
Japanese Yen
1.41
1.44
Kuwaiti Dinar
481.85
484.4
Malaysian Ringgit
36.65
37
NewZealand $
96.35
97.05
Norwegians Krone
17.5
17.75
Omani Riyal
392.7
394.7
Qatari Riyal
39.6
40.2
Saudi Riyal
44.8
45.3
Singapore Dollar
122.7
124.7
Swedish Korona
18
18.25
Swiss Franc
159.5
160.4
Thai Bhat
4.8
4.9
U.A.E Dirham
46.3
46.8
UK Pound Sterling
232
234.5
US Dollar
168.6
169.40
Disclaimer: Team PKRevenue.com provides the available rates of the open market, which are subject to change every hour. Team PKRevenue.com provides the available exchange rates at the time of posting the story. So the team is not responsible for any inaccuracy of the data.
Disclaimer: Team PKRevenue.com provides the available rates of the open market, which are subject to change every hour. Team PKRevenue.com provides the available exchange rates at the time of posting the story. So the team is not responsible for any inaccuracy of the data.
Disclaimer: Team PKRevenue.com provides the available rates of the open market, which are subject to change every hour. Team PKRevenue.com provides the available exchange rates at the time of posting the story. So the team is not responsible for any inaccuracy of the data.
The SBP said that the Monetary Policy Committee of SBP will meet on Monday, September 20, 2021, at SBP Karachi to decide about the Monetary Policy.
It would be pertinent to mention here that SBP issued an advanced calendar of MPC meetings earlier in May 2021 through a press release (https://www.sbp.org.pk/press/2021/Pr-20-May-21.pdf) and all the meetings are being held accordingly.
In the last monetary policy announcement on July 27, 2021, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to maintain the policy rate at 7 percent.
The decision has been taken because since its last meeting in May, the MPC was encouraged by the continued domestic recovery and improved inflation outlook following the recent decline in food prices and core inflation.
In addition, consumer and business confidence have risen to multi-year highs and inflation expectations have fallen.
As a result of these positive developments, growth is projected to rise from 3.9 percent in FY21 to 4 – 5 percent this year, and average inflation to moderate to 7 – 9 percent this year from its recent higher out-turns.
Imports are expected to grow on the back of the domestic recovery and rebound in global commodity prices, albeit more moderately than in FY21.
The MPC noted that the market-based flexible exchange rate system, resilience in remittances, an improving outlook for exports, and appropriate macroeconomic policy settings should help contain the current account deficit in a sustainable range of 2 – 3 percent of GDP in FY22.
Notwithstanding this moderate current account deficit, the country’s foreign exchange reserves position is expected to continue to improve this year due to adequate availability of external financing.
Against this backdrop, the MPC felt that the uncertainty created by the ongoing fourth Covid wave in Pakistan and the global spread of new variants warrants a continued emphasis on supporting the recovery through accommodative monetary policy.
