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  • Govt. decides immediate release of Rs22 billion tax refunds: Dr. Hafeez Shaikh

    Govt. decides immediate release of Rs22 billion tax refunds: Dr. Hafeez Shaikh

    ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to released tax refunds amounting Rs22 billion immediately for the promotion of economic activities, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance said in a twitter message on Monday.

    According to him the government had taken important decision on tax refunds for the promotion of economic activities in the country and to provide liquidity support to businesses.

    He said that it was decided to issue Rs22 billion of verified sales tax refunds for all years to be released immediately.

    Further, Rs1.7 billion of income tax returns (up to Rs100,000) for all years to be released immediately.

    The verification process for other outstanding refunds to be expedited, he said.

    He also announced that income tax refunds between Rs1 billion to Rs5 billion for all years will be paid next month.

  • PM’s economic team to hold dialogues with business community for growth

    PM’s economic team to hold dialogues with business community for growth

    ISLAMABAD: The economic team of the Prime Minister will hold dialogues with business community to take input for economic stability and growth.

    A meeting decided this on Friday to promote dialogue with the business community to seek their views on increasing the pace of growth and achieving economic stability.

    Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired the meeting of the economic team at PM’s Office.

    The meeting was attended by Muhammad Hammad Azhar Minister for Economic affairs, Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiyar Minister for Planning & Development, Omar Ayub Khan Minister for Power, Muhammad Mian Somro Minister for Privatization, Advisor on Finance Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Advisor on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, Adviser on Institutional Reforms Dr. Ishrat Hussain, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar, SAPM Nadeem Babar, SAPM Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan, Chairman Board of Investment Syed Zubair Gilani, Chairman FBR Syed Shabbar Zaidi, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Jehanzeb Khan and senior officials of the government.

    The prime minister directed that promotion of SMEs must be focused to enable such enterprises to flourish in the country.

    The meeting reviewed the current economic situation and initiatives of the government to improve the business climate, increase exports, reduce current account deficit and stabilizing the economy.

    It was noted that current financial year since July 2019 has commenced on a positive note. Exports have registered an increase and the Current Account Deficit has been reduced by 31 percent.

    It is expected that the fuel prices will also decrease on 1st September, 2019.

    The international financial institutions such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank have restored budgetary support.

    The meeting was informed that ECNEC also approved Rs. 579 billion of projects in agriculture, water and infrastructure sectors including mass-transit projects for Karachi.

  • Foreign exchange reserves increase by $25 million to $15.63 billion

    Foreign exchange reserves increase by $25 million to $15.63 billion

    Karachi – The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has reported an increase of $25 million in the country’s liquid foreign exchange reserves, bringing the total to $15.63 billion for the week ending August 23, 2019.

    (more…)
  • Fiscal deficit balloons to record 8.9 percent in 2018/2019

    Fiscal deficit balloons to record 8.9 percent in 2018/2019

    Pakistan’s fiscal deficit surged to an unprecedented level of 8.9 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) during the fiscal year 2018-2019, as per the latest data released by the federal finance ministry on Tuesday.

    (more…)
  • Total number of SECP registered companies increases to 102,864

    Total number of SECP registered companies increases to 102,864

    ISLAMABAD: The total number of registered companies with Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has increased to 102,864 by end of July 2019, said a statement on Saturday.

    The SECP said that in July it registered 1,525 new companies. As compared to the corresponding month of last financial year, it represents a growth of 41 percent raising the number of total registered companies to 1,02,864.

    The massive increase is the result of series of recent reform measures undertaken by the SECP.

    Around 71 percent companies were registered as private limited companies, while around 25 percent were registered as single member companies.

    Four percent were registered as public unlisted companies, not for profit associations, foreign companies and Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) whereas 96 percent of these companies were registered by using online facility including applications received from overseas subscribers through eService and around 49 percent of these companies were registered on same day.

    The SECP has also upgraded its browser’s compatibility and now in addition to Internet Explorer, other browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge, Safari and Opera can be used for name reservation and company incorporation process.

    The trading sector took the lead and 266 new companies are registered in this sector, construction with 186, Information Technology with 183, Services sector with 177, Tourism with 69, Real Estate Development with 59, Food and Beverages with 56, Engineering with 44, Education with 43, Marketing and Advertisement with 40, Textile with 39, Corporate Agricultural Farming with 36, Pharmaceutical with 30, Healthcare with 29, Transport with 28, Chemical with 27, Mining and quarrying with 24, Communication with 21, Auto and Allied with 18, Fuel and Energy with 16, Logging with 14, Broadcasting and Telecasting with 12, Paper & Board, and Power Generation with 11 each and 86 companies were registered in other sectors.

    Foreign investment has been reported in 58 new companies. These companies have foreign investors from, Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, Iran, Italy, Korea South, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sweden,, Turkey, the UAE the UK and the US.

    The highest numbers of companies, i.e. 603 were registered in Company Registration Office-Islamabad, followed by 378 and 283 companies registered in Lahore and Karachi respectively.

    The Company Registration Offices in Peshawar, Multan, Faisalabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, Quetta, and Sukkur registered, 100, 76, 41, 27, 10 and 7 companies, respectively.

  • Foreign exchange reserves increase by $27 million to $15.604 billion

    Foreign exchange reserves increase by $27 million to $15.604 billion

    KARACHI: The liquid foreign exchange reserves of the country have increased by $27 million to $15.604 billion by week ended August 17, 2019 as compared with $15.577 billion a week ago, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.

    The official reserves held by SBP fell by $26 million to $8.238 billion by week ended August 17, 2019 as compared with $8.264 billion week ago.

    The central bank said that its official reserves were declined due to external debt servicing and other official payments.

    The foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks have increased by $53 million to $7.366 billion from $7.313 billion.

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  • Foreign direct investment declines by 59 percent in July

    Foreign direct investment declines by 59 percent in July

    KARACHI: The net inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) has declined by 59 percent in the month of July 2019, according to data released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.

    The FDI declined to $73 million in July 2019 as compared with $178.9 million in the same month of the last year.

    The inflows under FDI declined to $168.4 million in the first month of current fiscal year as compared with $264.6 million in the corresponding month of the last fiscal year. The outflows were at $95 million as compared with $85.6 million.

    The total foreign private investment witnessed decline of 21.6 percent to $107.2 million during the month under review as compared with $136.8 million in July 2018.

    The inflow of portfolio investment in capital market increased by 180 percent to $34 million in July 2019 as compared with outflow of $42 million in the same month of the last year.

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  • Foreign exchange reserves increase by $557 million to $15.577 billion

    Foreign exchange reserves increase by $557 million to $15.577 billion

    KARACHI: The foreign exchange reserves of the country have increased by $557 million to $15.577 billion by week ended August 09, 2019 as compared with $15.02 billion a week ago, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Saturday.

    The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank were increased by $535 million to $8.264 billion by August 09 as compared with $7.729 billion a week ago.

    The increase in central bank’s reserves is mainly due to inflow of $500 million received from Asian Development Bank (ADB), the SBP said.

    The reserves held by commercial banks also increased by $22 million to $7.313 billion as compared with $7.291 billion.

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  • Investment into premium prize bonds post 46pc growth

    Investment into premium prize bonds post 46pc growth

    KARACHI: The investment in premium prize bonds of Rs40,000 denomination has increased by over 46 percent as the government stopped the circulation of bearer bonds of same denomination and launched campaign to document the economy.

    According to statistics released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) the total investment into premium prize bonds of Rs40,000 denomination increased to Rs7.665 billion by end of June 2019 as compared with Rs5.245 billion in same month of the last year.

    The premium prize bonds were launched by the government in March 2019 with the aim to bring undocumented money into the mainstream economy.

    According to salient features of the premium bonds issued by Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS):

    — The bond is available in Rs40,000 denomination

    — Registered in the name of investor.

    — Quarterly prize money draws as well as bi-annual profit payment.

    — For individuals, public and private sector institutions except banks, insurance companies and mutual funds.

    — Direct credit and prize money and profit in investors bank account.

    — No Application Forms required for claiming prize money & profit.

    — Unlimited Investment and Tenure.

    — WHT applicable and Exempt from Zakat.

    — Transferable and Pledge-able.

    — Can be purchased through Cash, Cheque, Pay-Order and Bank Draft

    — Can be purchased from offices of State Bank of Pakistan Banking Services Corporations.

    The growth in premium prize bonds investment is much faster in the month of June 2019 as compared with the previous month due to the government announcement to stop the circulation of bearer bonds of Rs40,000 denomination.

    The investment in Rs40,000 prize bonds denomination grew by 24 percent to Rs7.665 billion in June 2019 as compared with Rs6.17 billion in May 2019.

    The government on June 24, 2019 notified withdrawal of Rs40,000 denomination national prize bonds from circulation.

    On the same date the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) issued instructions to chief executives and banks of all banks for compliance.

    The SBP instructed:

    (a) National Prize Bonds of Rs40,000 denomination shall not be sold after June 24, 2019 and will not be encashed/redeemed after March 31, 2020.

    (b) No further draws of Rs40,000 denomination national prize bonds shall be held.

    (c) Cash payment for encashment of bonds is ‘Not’ allowed. However, the bond holder(s) shall have the following options to replace/encash the bonds:

    1. Conversion of Premium Prize Bonds (Registered)

    2. Replacement with Special Saving Certificate (SSC)/Defence Savings Certificate (DSC)

    3. Encashment at Face Value.

    The SBP also issued Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for 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, Habib Bank Limited, United Bank Limited, MCB Bank Limited, Allied Bank Limited and Bank Alfalah Limited.

    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 form.

    iii. The bond holder shall also be required to submit prescribed application form for registration/purchase of premium prize bonds as per the procedure in vogue.

    The SBP also issued procedure for replacement with Special Saving Certificate (SSC)/Defence Savings 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 Saving 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 bond holder shall also be required to submit application form for purchase of SSC/DSC as per the prescribed procedure.

    The SBP issued procedure for encashment at face value and said that 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.

    The SBP further said that all commercial banks shall receive request for encashment of bearer bonds on the prescribed application form.

    The SBP said that the prize bonds encashed/replaced by general public may be surrendered to concerned SBP BSC office through respective regional office of the commercial bank. 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.

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