ISLAMABAD — Prime Minister Imran Khan presided over a high-level preparatory meeting on Thursday to finalize plans for the upcoming visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman.
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CPEC’s next stage to focus on buy more from Pakistan
ISLAMABAD — Chinese Ambassador Yao Jing, in a meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday, announced that China is poised to enhance its investment and trade activities with Pakistan in the upcoming phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
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Pakistan sees record investment on Saudi Crown Prince visit
Islamabad – Anticipation is running high in Pakistan as the country eagerly awaits the visit of Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, scheduled for February 16, 2019.
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Prices of essential items rise by 13.74 percent for income group above Rs35,000
Islamabad – The prices of essential items have witnessed a significant increase of 13.74 percent for the income group above Rs35,000 for the week ending February 07, 2019, compared to the corresponding week a year ago, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Monday.
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IMF ready to support Pakistan: Christine Lagarde
KARACHI: International Monetary Fund (IMF) is ready to support Pakistan in a difficult economic situation, Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of IMF said on Sunday after meeting with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan.
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CNG stations to remain closed for further 24 hours
KARACHI – Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) announced on Friday that Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) stations will remain closed for an additional 24 hours as part of gas load management.
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Pakistan has geographical importance for investment
KARACHI – Henry Ensher, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, emphasized the geopolitical importance of Pakistan for regional investment during a meeting with Sindh Governor Imran Ismail on Friday.
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Reform plan for improving financial health of three PSEs
ISLAMABAD: The government has launched a reform plan for improving financial health of three major Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) including Pakistan Steel Mills, Pakistan Railways and Pakistan International Airlines, according to Fiscal Policy Statement 2018/2019 issued by the ministry of finance.
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Provinces to be made part of IMF dialogues on fiscal targets
ISLAMABAD: The provinces will be made part of ongoing dialogues with International Monetary Fund (IMF) regarding fiscal targets over medium term.
This was agreed at the inaugural meeting of the reconstituted 9th National Finance Commission (NFC) was held here on Wednesday.
Finance Minister Asad Umar chaired the meeting.
The meeting expressed agreement to Finance Minister Asad Umar’s suggestion for including the provinces in the process of dialogue with IMF with regard to the fiscal targets over the medium term.
Finance Minister Asad Umar welcomed all the participants to the meeting and said NFC has been tasked under the Constitution with amicable distribution of financial resources among the federation and the provinces, and as such its effective role had an important bearing on overall national cohesion.
He said that apart from distribution, the NFC should also address critical issues related to developing a sustainable fiscal structure for center as well as the federating units.
It should also address the social development and poverty alleviation challenges and facilitate the private sector with a view to foster economic development opportunities for the general public.
Federal Secretary Finance briefly recounted the history of NFC awards and shared with the participants details on fiscal position of the federal government.
He apprised the meeting about federal fiscal operations and net revenues of federal and provincial governments.
Provincial Ministers/Secretaries Finance gave the meeting update on their fiscal position and also in the process dilated on issues faced by them in different spheres due to resource constraints.
The ever rising burden of pension payments, allocation for FATA and need for improved coordination on data sharing were highlighted.
They also shared with the meeting proposals on transfer of funds as well as possible future models of revenue generation.
Representative from Baluchistan highlighted the fiscal challenges and the progress being made by the Province through inter-provincial cooperation and support.
He also emphasized better and increased use of automation for revenue generation.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa raised the issue of net hydel profit and difficulties being faced on account of funding required for retirement benefits of employees.
Secretary Finance Punjab called for improved coordination between federal and provincial authorities for timely data sharing.
Member Sindh pointed out less transfers made under the heads “Straight Transfers” and proposed that data on this account may be shared with Provinces.
The participants laid emphasis on smooth vertical and horizontal transfer of funds.
The participants also emphasized on the need to end regional disparities.
The chairman of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on the occasion briefed the meeting on revenue generation/tax collection in the current financial year.
The participants of the meeting were of the opinion that both the federal government as well as the provinces were under-resourced and that additional revenue was needed to meet expenses in different realms including socio-economic development activities.
The need was also felt for more clarity on revenue projections by FBR so that the provincial governments could plan adjustments in expenditure accordingly.
The meeting decided to form six sub-groups to make proposals/ recommendations on:
(1) Macroeconomic framework and benchmarking, to be coordinated by Punjab
(2) Vertical Distribution of the divisible pool taxes between federation and provinces including needs of AJ&K and GB to be coordinated by Federal Government
(3) Horizontal Distribution of divisible pool taxes amongst provinces to be coordinated by Baluchistan
(4) Straight Transfers to be coordinated by Baluchistan
(5) Measures required to be taken to simplify tax procedures and payment systems to facilitate businesses to be coordinated by Sindh and
(6) Integration/ merger of FATA in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to be coordinated by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
It was decided that the next NFC meeting will be convened after six weeks at Lahore.
NFC Sectt. at the Ministry of Finance will be further strengthened for better coordination amongst the sub groups.
Finance Minister called upon all the members to contribute their best towards formulating a new NFC award in future.
Chief Minister Sindh, Murad Ali Shah, Finance Minister Punjab, Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht, Finance Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Taimur Saleem Khan Jhagra, Federal Secretary Finance, Provincial members, Provincial Secretaries Finance and senior officials of the Ministry of Finance attended the meeting.
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Cabinet decides independent audit to check inflated gas bills
ISLAMABAD: The Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) on Wednesday decided to conduct an independent audit to check inflated bills of gas.
Finance Minister Asad Umar chaired meeting of the CCoE.
The meeting was especially called on the instructions of Prime Minister Imran Khan to look into the matter of inflated gas billings to the consumers.
The committee decided to conduct an independent audit of the billing for December 2018 through external auditors in addition to the inquiry regarding excessive billing already conducted by the Petroleum Division.
The reports of both the inquiry and the independent audit would be submitted to CCoE.
Prior to that Secretary Petroleum Division gave a detailed presentation to the Committee on the recent billing exercise of the gas sector.
Chairman OGRA and MD SNGPL also gave their input in this regard.
The meeting was informed that the consumers are billed according to the slabs in which they fall, in accordance with their consumption.
The Secretary Petroleum Division said that following the complaints of a large number of consumers an inquiry has already been launched to look into the matter.
The inquiry would look at the issue comprehensively from all the different angles.
The Secretary also briefed the Committee that there has been an overall increase of 8% in the consumption pattern of the consumers falling in the lowest consumption slab.
He also said that out of the total 6400,000 gas consumers only 92,000 that fall in the 6th and 7th (highest consumption slabs), have been affected by high gas bills.
It was also pointed out by chairman OGRA that during the month of December the domestic consumption of gas doubles which has changed the pricing slabs for many consumers.
However, she also suggested that the data for the last two months may be looked into to find any anomaly.
The meeting also discussed the issue of Gas theft, action taken against illegal practices and the determination of the unaccounted for Gas (UFG) loss benchmark and directed M/o Energy to address the issue.
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