ISLAMABAD: President of Pakistan, Dr. Arif Alvi on Friday signed the Pakistan Single Window Act, 2021, a statement said.
Under the Pakistan Single Window Act, an independent institution having a Governing Council and Secretariat, would be established for the facilitation of national and international trade.
The new law will provide a coordinated one-window system to facilitate exports, imports and transit trade.
Establishment of an independent institution besides reducing the cost of doing business will also help ease cross border trade and transportation of goods.
The institution will also help in timely processing of data and bring about improvement in the provision of quality services.
The President also signed Senate Secretariat Services (Amendment), Act 2021.
Under the Senate Secretariat Services (Amendment) Act 2021, signed into law by the President under article 75 of the Constitution, the BS-17 appointments in Senate Secretariat will be made through the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC).
However, the Senate Secretariat would be authorized to make appointments in BS-1 to BS-16.
Direct appointments in BS-18 in Senate Secretariat have been done away with. The absorption of officers, posted in Senate Secretariat on deputation, has also been prohibited under the new law.
In an effort to provide relief to the public during the holy month of Ramazan, the Utility Stores Corporation (USC) is set to unveil a special discount package starting from April 1, 2021.
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday launched the vaccination against the coronavirus. The vaccination will be initially for health workers.
The prime minister advised the people to strictly adhere to the SOPs to stop its spread.
He said the vaccination would be judiciously distributed across all the provinces. He was appreciative of China for providing the 0.5 million doses of vaccine.
Earlier, Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiative Asad Umar said that the COVID-19 vaccination drive in the federal capital will start Tuesday in the presence of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
In his tweet, the minister who is also Chairman National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) for Corona said the Corona vaccination campaign in all the provincial capitals would start from February 3, 2021.
Umar added that the front line health workers would receive the doses of vaccine on priority.
On Monday, Pakistan received first batch of Chinese COVID-19 vaccine Sinopharm.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Dr Faisal Sultan received the consignment of 500,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine as a special Pakistan Air Force (PAF) plane with the first tranche of Sinopharm vaccine landed here.
ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet, in its meeting on Thursday, approved the continuation of general subsidies on five essential items provided to consumers through the Utility Stores Corporation (USC).
ISLAMABAD: The government of Pakistan has decided to stop manual processing of visa cases from January 01, 2021, a statement said on Tuesday.
Therefore, all visa applications are required to be processed through online visa portal only at the following web address: www.visa.nadra.gov.pk
The High of Commission of Pakistan, London and Consulates General of Pakistan in Birmingham, Bradford, Glasgow and Manchester will not entertain any manual visa application from February 01, 2021, it added.
KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has launched a compliant resolution portal in order to resolve complaints of potential customers under Markup Subsidy Scheme for affordable housing initiated by the government.
Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired a meeting of National Coordination Committee on Housing, Construction and Development (NCCHCD) in Islamabad on Thursday.
Governor State Bank, Dr. Reza Baqir, presented key features of an online complaint resolution mechanism developed by the SBP to resolve complaints of potential customers under Government’s Markup Subsidy Scheme for affordable housing.
The prime minister appreciated the development of a user friendly and comprehensive complaint resolution mechanism to assist common persons who would like to borrow under this Scheme.
The complaint resolution mechanism comprises an IT based portal supported by a comprehensive network of State Bank and commercial bank staff to take care of problems faced by applicants of low cost and affordable housing finance.
The IT portal has been made live for registration of complaints. This major initiative will help financially excluded low and middle-income segments who often find it difficult to access the formal financial sector, which is a key goal of the SBP.
The system will help in resolving complaints within a predefined timeline with proper escalation mechanism.
The potential customers can already access existing systems and procedures of banks for resolution of their complaints. The complaint resolution mechanism developed by State Bank is a move to improve effectiveness and transparency in complaint redressal process.
In line with Government’s vision of making housing finance affordable, State Bank has, on October 12, 2020, issued Government’s Mark-up Subsidy for Housing Finance to facilitate provision of subsidized finance to low and middle-income individuals.
The features of Markup Subsidy Facility can be seen at https://www.sbp.org.pk/smefd/circulars/2020/C11.htm.
The State Bank is making efforts with the support of banking industry to ensure that the benefits of the markup subsidy scheme reaches targeted customers of banks who currently do not own a house.
On the advice of State Bank of Pakistan, the banks have designated around 50% of their branches for provision of financing under this facility. With this, more than 7,700 branches of banks across the country have been designated to process financing of approaching customers under this scheme, while rest of the branches in the network will act as referral points for the designated branches.
With the launch of portal, customers can now register their concerns by simply putting minimum details on the online service portal accessible at https://servicedesk.sbp.org.pk/.
A short video is also available on this portal to explain how complaints may be lodged and followed up. In case applicants face difficulties in using this portal or need further clarification they are welcome to visit the offices of SBP BSC in 15 major cities where special Help Desks are available to guide and assist, list of offices is available at https://www.sbp.org.pk/sbp_bsc/FieldOff.asp.
In order to facilitate resolution of complaints received under the Markup Subsidy Service Portal, State Bank has created a network of regional focal persons in State Bank BSC regional offices. The banks have also nominated their regional focal persons across the regions in the country where State Bank offices are present.
To ensure the complaint resolution mechanism resolves issues in a timely manner, it is going to be monitored at the highest level within the State Bank. Low cost housing finance customers are encouraged to record their complaints if they experience any difficulty in their loan application with commercial banks.
ISLAMABAD: Among countries in the developing world, Pakistan faces one of the most severe crises of malnutrition, which is the fundamental cause of child morbidity and mortality.
Pakistan ranks 88th out of 107 countries in the Global Hunger Index while food security and nutrition crisis is expected to worsen in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic because country has a serious hunger level.
These are the finding of the “2020 Global Hunger Index & Strategy for Stakeholders’ Engagement on Food and Nutrition Security 2021– 2025 report launched in Islamabad this week by Alliance 2015 — a strategic network of leading eight European non-government and non-profit organizations engaged in humanitarian and development actions in Pakistan and the world.
The report highlights that the worsening food and nutrition security situation retarded human and economic development and carried the risk of jeopardizing national security if it was not tackled well by government, private sector, civil society, media, public, communities, academia and research institutions, the report pointed out.
“The time to act is now, individually, and collectively,” the report has warned. The report also identifies key stakeholders and roles they can play in averting this crisis besides laying out stakeholders’ engagement goals and objectives in the next five years.
The COVID-19 pandemic has further aggravated the food and nutrition security situation in Pakistan. Travel restrictions and limitations on the movement of essential goods including food and agricultural inputs, protracted loss of income and rise in prices have already negatively impacted millions of Pakistanis.
The IMF has predicted a sharp reversal in the declining poverty rates, with 40 percent of the population below the poverty line after the spread of COVID-19.
Moreover, 17 million children under the age of five are missing routine vaccinations, leaving them unprotected and more vulnerable to health risks posed by COVID-19 outbreak.
The report highlights that globally, far too many individuals are suffering from hunger: nearly 690 million people are undernourished; 144 million children suffer from stunting, a sign of chronic under-nutrition; 47 million children suffer from wasting, a sign of acute under-nutrition; and in 2018, 5.3 million children died before their fifth birthdays, in many cases as a result of under-nutrition.
Although hunger worldwide has gradually declined since 2000, in many places progress is too slow and hunger remains severe.
Furthermore, these places are highly vulnerable to a worsening of food and nutrition insecurity caused by the overlapping health, economic and environmental crises of 2020.
To better respond to, and indeed to prevent, the report highlight that complex emergencies, multilateral institutions, governments, communities and individuals should use the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic and other crises to build safe, resilient food systems.
They should review food, health, and economic systems through a One Health lens to chart a path to environmental recovery by investing in sustainable food production, distribution and consumption.
The report warned that beyond 2030, still other actions will be important such as working towards a circular food economy that recycles nutrients and materials, regenerates natural systems and eliminates waste and pollution.
An alarming 37 percent of the population in Pakistan is classified as food insecure; meaning that they do not “have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preference for an active and healthy life,” according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the fragility of globalized food systems characterized by increasing dependence on food imports by low- and middle-income countries, underinvestment in local farmers, farmer associations and smallholder-oriented value chains, increasing rates of diet-related non-communicable disease.
Inadequate emergency responses are disrupting local food systems and fail to support local producers. COVID-19 containment measures—enforced without a clear declaration that agricultural and food services are essential—have contributed to food insecurity in many countries.
ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Friday approved an amount of $150 million for the purchase of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh chaired the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet here at Islamabad.
Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar, Minister for Economic Affairs Khusro Bakhtiar, Adviser to the PM on Institutional Reforms and Austerity Ishrat Hussain, SAPM on Petroleum Nadeem Babar and SAPM on Revenue Dr. Waqar Masood, also participated in the meeting.
The ECC evaluated a proposal submitted by the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations & Coordination and approved, in principle, the provision of technical supplementary grant of $150 million for the purchase of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Ministry of Health briefed the ECC that this shall be the first phase of procurement and the amount of vaccine will suffice for the most vulnerable 5 percent of the population i.e. the health workers and the population above the age of 65 years; around 10 million people would be provided a vaccine cover under the above arrangement.
The ECC further directed the Ministry of National Health Services to discuss the proposal with WB and other donors in coordination with Economic Affairs Division so that they could assist in providing financial facility for the procurement of the vaccine during the first phase and for the procurement of additional quantities in future as needed.
The forum also directed the Ministry of NHS to draw a holistic proposal regarding the pricing and risk mitigation mechanism for the procurement of the COVID-19 vaccine for provision on a wider scale, in consultation with the relevant stake holders.
The ECC approved the request of the Economic Affairs Division to proceed with the formal request for availing the G-20 Debt Relief for the extended period i.e January-June 2021; approval of the Federal Cabinet would be required for signing of the bilateral debt service suspension agreements.
The ECC also approved two technical supplementary grants for “Initiating the Process of Retrenchment of Pakistan Steel Mills Employees (PSM)” for an amount of Rs.19.656 billion and “Prime Minister’s Special Package to Implement SKILLS FOR ALL Strategy as Catalyst for TVET Sector Development in Pakistan for Rs. 500 million.
Another Rs. 689.3 million were also approved as budget re-appropriation for National Information Technology Board (NITB) for fulfilling its various requirements during the meeting. ECC also approved the proposal by the Ministry of Energy/ Petroleum Division for the allocation of 2.25 MMCFD gas from Umair -1 to M/s OGDCL for sale to M/s Engro at a mutually agreed and negotiated price, under a Gas Sale and Purchase Agreement subject to initiation of Field Development Plan and Development and Production Lease.
The ECC was also briefed on the status of wheat import through Trade Corporation of Pakistan. Ministry of National Food Security and Research briefed the forum on the provision of additional 340,000 MT of Wheat, a tender was floated on 11-10-2020; the bids were opened on 18-10-2020 and lowest bid was accepted. The total quantity to be imported is now 2.248 MMT.
KARACHI: The official estimates of Bureau of Immigration and Overseas Employment (BEOE) revealed that over 100,000 overseas job for which the recruitment process was going on in Pakistan, was disrupted due to COVID and is not going to recover unless the recruiting projects are revived.
The bureau categorizes this category as a potential loss, according to a report of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) released on Wednesday.
According to the official estimates of BEOE, more than 8.8 million Pakistanis were living abroad as of December 2017. Of these, 54 percent resided in the Gulf region, and the rest in other destinations, including Europe, UK, US, Canada, and Australia.
Furthermore, during the last three years, around 1.7 million people left for different destinations, of which around 98 percent proceeded for employment in the Gulf region and only a small fraction went to acquire permanent residency in high-income countries.
During the Covid-19 crisis, BEOE records reveal multiple channels of potential job losses for migrant Pakistanis.
Around 50,000 Pakistani migrants faced layoffs in different countries. These jobs may not be recovered in the short term and are thus extremely vulnerable.
Around 60,000 Pakistanis were recruited for overseas work, but could not proceed abroad due to travel restrictions and suspension of flight operations. The Bureau also categorizes these jobs as extremely vulnerable.
In addition to these, 50,000 emigrants (Azaad Visa excluded) returned on paid/unpaid leaves as of June 2020. These workers have not been laid off, but their job continuation entails risk.
For most of the returning workers, the lockdowns resulted in permanent cessation of income along with the loss of legal status and end of accommodation and health benefits associated with employment. In case of forced dismissals, workers also did not receive compensation, and other dues and therefore found it difficult to arrange travel expenses on their own.
The recent figure of stranded Pakistanis in different destinations is highly skewed towards the Gulf region with more than 91 percent in only two countries, i.e., Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
KARACHI: Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Corporate Crime Circle, Karachi has arrested former executives of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in an illegal appointment case, a press release said on Saturday.
It said that the FIA, CCC, Karachi on October 15, 2020 registered FIR against accused Aijaz Haroon, former Managing Director, PIA; Salim Sayani, former DMD, PIA and Haneef Pathan, former Director (HR), PIA on the charges of illegal appointment of Salim Sayani as DMD in PIA in 2009 in violation of PIA HR Rules.
It said that accused Salim Sayani is Pakistani origin USA national.
It further said that huge salaries of $20,000 per month and other perks and privileges were offered to accused Salim Sayani.
The accused Aijaz Haroorn, former MD PIA and accused Hanef Pathan, former Directo (HR), PIA have been arrested in the case, the statement said.
