The two institutions have agreed to collaborate in the spheres of Data-based Policy Research; Data Sharing; formulating Proposals for Monetary Policy and Federal & Provincial Budgets; Policy Advocacy; conducting Economic Surveys, etc., according to a press release on Tuesday.
Mohammad Younus Dagha, Chairman of FPCCI’s Policy Advisory Board & Dr. Akbar Zaidi, Executive Director of IBA Karachi, signed a Memorandum of Understanding at a ceremony attended by the press representatives at the FPCCI Headquarters, Federation House, Karachi.
Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo, President FPCCI, said that a strong proponent of industry-academia linkages & cooperation, he has always pursued the promotion of knowledge-based economy and the MoU is a manifestation of his vision for FPCCI.
Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo maintained that, to him, FPCCI & IBA are natural allies as FPCCI is the apex representative business & trade body of Pakistan and IBA is one of the most prestigious business schools of Pakistan.
Mohammad Younus Dagha said that Policy Advocacy, the primary function of FPCCI, should be data-driven & evidence-based. Policy advocacy should be the primary function of FPCCI; but, it has to be grounded in hard facts to be valid, pragmatic and result-oriented.
Dagha added that an effective policy advice has to reconcile the inspirations of entrepreneurs & expectations of the society at large. He said that the Policy Advisory Board has therefore started its journey by joining hands with the academia & economic think tanks; as well as NGOs working in social sectors.
Amjad Rafi, a Senior Member of FPCCI & a Member of the Board of Governors of IBA, emphasized that business & industry should start looking towards academia & researchers for solutions to their real-world management & operational issues for indigenous, sustainable and research-based ideas; in order to contribute to socioeconomic growth & employment generation.
Dr. Akbar Zaidi said that FPCCI & IBA are old allies and, historically, IBA has always had a member from FPCCI on its board. He expressed his satisfaction that the MoU is a step forward. He added that IBA is a university now; but, its business school continues to be the most important part of it.
Members of a delegation from Jama Alliance Market Association (JAMA), while expressing deep concerns over rising incidents of thefts in the Jama Markets and the poor behavior of police officers in dealing with shopkeepers, requested the Karachi Chamber to take up this serious issue with the high-ups in police department in order to put an end to the highhandedness of police officers.
They also sought KCCI’s help in deployment of women police officers at Jama Markets where incidents of thefts were widely being reported everyday and all of them were being carried out by women culprits.
The help was sought at a meeting during the visit of JAMA delegation to KCCI, which was led by Chairman JAMA Sheikh Muhammad Irshad. President KCCI Muhammad Idrees, Senior Vice President KCCI Abdul Rehman Naqi, Vice President KCCI Qazi Zahid Hussain, Chairman of KCCI’s Special Committee for Small Traders Majeed Memon and Managing Committee Members also attended the meeting.
Speaking on the occasion, Chairman JAMA Sheikh Muhammad Irshad pointed out that shopkeepers of Jama were worst sufferers of lockdowns and to date, they haven’t recovered from the losses, leading to closure of many shops. These shopkeepers have been facing immense hence, it was very necessary that the government should look into the possibility of extending interest-free financing facility to them so that they could stay afloat. “Jama Alliance Market Association can be engaged as guarantor in the process of interest-free financing and we will recommend only those trustworthy shopkeepers who would certainly payback all their debts”, he said, adding that this financing facility was desperately needed for survival of business at Jama Market which was the oldest market of the country.
While referring to anti-encroachment drive, he said that around 192 shops of Jinnah Market mostly engaged in frame-making and Dupatta (scarf) dying businesses were razed and to date, these displaced shopkeepers have not received alternate shops. KCCI should take up this issue with Sindh with a view to provide relief to perturbed shopkeepers and their families.
President KCCI Muhammad Idrees, in his remarks, informed that KCCI was in constant touch with Commissioner Karachi Iqbal Memon and Administrator Karachi Murtaza Wahab and Additional Inspector General Yaqub Minhas who will soon be visiting KCCI to discuss numerous issues. “We will invite JAMA members to these meetings where they will get a perfect opportunity to highlight their grievances directly in front of decision makers and seek resolution of their problems”, he added.
He assured that KCCI was always available round the clock to serve small traders and shopkeepers who can either get in touch with Office Bearers, Chairman Special Committee for Small Traders or Police Chamber Liaison Committee (PCLC) any time to get their law & order related issues resolved. “Any unlawful activity being carried out by police officers must also be brought to this Chamber notice in writing and we will make sure that no injustice is being done to any shopkeeper of Jama Cloth Market”, he added.
While referring to concerns expressed over encroachment drive, President KCCI informed that not a single representative from Jinnah Market has approached KCCI for relocation of their businesses to date. KCCI’s Special Committee for Small Traders under the supervision of Majeed Memon has ensured that alternate shops are allotted to displaced shopkeepers of various markets. “KCCI is ready to take up the problems suffered by shopkeepers of Jinnah Market but the shopkeepers must share details in writing with this Chamber so that we could take up this issue with Administrator Karachi during his forthcoming visit to KCCI”, he added.
He said that it has always been one of the first and foremost responsibility to give top priority to get small traders’ issues resolved in normal and extraordinary circumstances. “It was KCCI that kept demanding to ease restrictions during lockdown and it was this Chamber which convinced Sindh Government to lift lockdown restriction on Sunday”, he added.
Chairman Special Committee for Small Traders Majeed Memon said, “As KCCI has remained actively engaged to ensure smooth relocation of displaced businesses of encroachment drive, the affectees of Jinnah Market should not find themselves alone as we are always available to round the clock to help them out.
All the participants of the meeting paid glowing tribute to Late Siraj Kassam Teli for his relentless efforts towards resolving the issues being faced by the entire business and industrial community particularly those being suffered by small traders and shopkeepers.
In a statement on Monday, FPCCI President Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo expressed shock over the interest rate of up to 9 per cent under SBP’ SME Asaan Finance Scheme (SAAF).
The SMEs were appreciative of the announcement of collateral-free SAAF Scheme; but, the interest rate of 9 per cent makes it unaffordable, unproductive and unsupportive for SMEs, he added.
Maggo said that it is a welcome step that SBP has selected eight banks to get financing under SAAF Scheme from SBP; however, it makes no economic and commercial sense to allow these eight banks to charge up to 8 per cent in addition to 1 per cent of SBP’s lending fee to banks.
The FPCCI chief demanded that SAAF scheme should not have a total interest rate over 3 per cent, which will make it at par with TERF to make it affordable for SMEs, i.e. 1 per cent for SBP financing and 2 per cent for banks’ margin.
He said that in the post-pandemic scenario, nowhere in the world SMEs can afford to get capital at 9 per cent and pay it back without getting bankrupted. Maggo also noted, with concern, that SBP itself sets maximum interest rate under TERF Scheme at 3 per cent for larger enterprises and business groups; and, for SMEs, it has taken a discriminatory and unsupportive stance.
Iftikhar Ghani Vohra, Convener of FPCCI’s Central Standing on SMEs, said that based on the feedback from across Pakistan, he can say that SMEs are not happy with the exorbitant interest rate; as 9 per cent will make the SAAF Scheme unaffordable for them.
Vohra added that his committee had a detailed meeting with the SBP officials in the mid-September; and, they categorically conveyed their concerns to the officials. However, FPCCI’s concerns have fallen on deaf ears and no change in interest rate has been announced.
Maggo said that he disagrees with the assertion by SBP that all stakeholders have been taken onboard on SAAF Scheme; as FPPCI’s proposal has not been taken into account. It is pertinent to note that FPCCI is the apex representative body of all the SMEs, chambers & associations of Pakistan and; therefore, the biggest stakeholder in the policies affecting SMEs, he added.
KARACHI: The apex trade body of the country has alleged the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for misguiding the ministry of commerce on Pak-Iran trade.
Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo, President of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) in a statement on Saturday said that the SBP had misdirected the commerce ministry by advising against banking channels with Iran for sanctions-related concerns; and, not offering and advocating its due and required facilitative role for the barter trade. “Any State Bank should be an enabler of trade and growth; not a block and disruptor like SBP,” the FPCCI said.
The FPCCI chief hailed the Ministry of Commerce’s efforts to kick start barter trade with Iran on a mass scale; however, he has expressed his concerns and apprehensions pertaining to the conduct of the SBP for creating obstacles and showing inaction for the same.
Maggo maintained that when Europe, India and China can do barter trade with Iran, why Pakistan can not do that; while, Pakistan is at the greater advantage on the back of long border and geographical contiguity as compared to all other countries and regions.
Nasir Khan, VP FPCCI from Balochistan, emphasized that it is in the national interest of Pakistan to have barter trade with Iran and have marketplaces in the border areas of the two brotherly countries.
He added that he considers the conduct of the Governor SBP against the national interest and detrimental to the economic growth and prosperity of Pakistan.
Nasir Khan added that Pakistani exporters can export large quantities of rice, meat, pharmaceuticals and textiles to Iran and that can translate into upwards of equivalent of five billion dollars annually; which, in turn, will create millions of jobs.
Nasir Khan further said that the current Governor SBP is an imported one and is not taking care of Pakistani interests into account. We need a die-hard Pakistani at the helm of the affairs, he added.
KARACHI: Dr. Fareed Iqbal Qureshi, Director General, Customs Valuation has said that Pakistan Customs is ready to constitute an advisory committee of the stakeholders from government and business community; and he has an open-door policy for addressing all the grievances.
In a statement on Friday, Saqib Naseem, Central Chairman Pakistan Yarn Merchants Association (PYMA), Muhammad Junaid Teli, Vice Chairman, Sind & Balochistan region, has urged the government to cut the customs duty on polyester yarn and abolish anti-dumping as per announcement in budget 2021-22.
They said that the government had announced in the budget 2021-22 to reduce the customs duty at 9pc on polyester yarn, the main raw material of the textile industry, but after many months, neither the customs duty nor the anti-dumping duty has been reduced.
At the first meeting of the Managing Committee, PYMA office-bearers unanimously demanded to the Prime Minister Imran Khan, Advisor on Trade & Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood, and Finance Adviser, Shaukat Tarin, that the government fulfil promise to reduce customs duty from 11pc to 9pc on polyester yarn. Similarly, the anti-dumping duty should be abolished in the best interest of the textile industry, especially SMEs.
M. Usman, Khurshid Shaikh, Hanif Lakhany, Saqib Goodluck, Farhan Ashrafi, Jawed Khanani, Altaf Haroon, Noman Ilyas, Asif Amanullah, Behroze Kapadia, Shoaib Sharif, Rizwan Almas, Sohail Nisar and Rizwan Diwan were also attended the meeting.
Saqib Naseem, Junaid Teli further said that the prices of polyester yarn have gone up due to rising oil prices, excess freight charges and shortage of containers in the global market. As a result, the textile industry, small and medium enterprises, especially power looms, are suffering from high costs. They are having difficulty making cloth while it is becoming extremely difficult for them to run the units.
PYMA office-bearers added that the steady rise in production costs has forced SMEs and small businesses to consider whether to continue their production activities in the current dire economic situation, as the high cost, continuing to work for SMEs and small businesses is nothing but a loss-making.
KARACHI: Gul Ahmed Textile Mills Ltd. (GATM) on Friday declared over 67 per cent growth in after tax profit for the quarter ended September 30, 2021.
According to the financial results shared with the Pakistan Stock Exchange, the textile unit declared Rs1.167 billion as profit after tax for the first quarter (July – September) 2021 as compared with profit after tax of Rs697 million in the same quarter of the last fiscal year.
The company declared earnings per share at Rs2.73 for the period under review as compared with Rs1.63 in the same period of the last fiscal year.
The sales of the company increased to Rs24.64 billion during the quarter ended September 30, 2021 as compared with Rs20.32 billion in the same quarter of the last year.
The textile unit declared gross profit at Rs5.04 billion for July-September 2021 as compared with Rs3.69 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
The board of directors of Gul Ahmed Textile Mills Limited in its meeting held on October 28, 2021 approved the financial results. The board has not recommended any cash dividend, bonus shares or right shares.
He urged the government that it was high time the State Bank, being the regulator, must intervene to stop the further freefall of PKR and devise some kind of an effective mechanism for appreciating the value of the Pakistani rupee to such an extent that the dollar reverses back to its previous level of Rs150 with a view to reducing the impact of inflation on the common man.
“On the other hand, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), which has been taking advantage of higher dollar value, must also be directed to either bring down taxes and duties or keep them charging at the same rate but the calculation for taxes and duties must be done as per dollar rate of June 2021 when the budget was announced and the dollar at that point in time stood at around Rs150 instead of current rate which would certainly help in controlling the inflation”, he added while speaking at a meeting held during the visit of a delegation from All Pakistan Motorcycle Spare Parts Importers & Dealers Association (APMSPIDA) which was led by Rehan Hanif.
Vice Chairman BMG Anjum Nisar, President KCCI Muhammad Idrees, Senior Vice President Abdul Rehman Naqi, Vice President Qazi Zahid Hussain, Patron-in-Chief APMSPIDA Faisal Khalil, Former Presidents KCCI Majyd Aziz, Haroon Agar, Abdullah Zaki, Iftikhar Vohra, Younus Muhammad Bashir, Shamim Ahmed Firpo, Shariq Vohra and others attended the meeting.
Chairman BMG pointed out that at the time when Federal Budget for current fiscal year 2021-22 was announced in June 2021, the US dollar stood at Rs155 and all the duties and taxes were estimated as per the then dollar rate. As the dollar after surpassing Rs175 level was still hovering above Rs170, it means that the duties and taxes have also risen sharply, which was the core reason behind fostering the inflation.
He explained that out of the total differential amount of more than Rs15 as the dollar still hovers above Rs170 as compared to the previous rate of Rs155 in June 2021, at least 40 percent of the said differential amount i.e., Rs6 on each dollar was silently being collected by FBR in shape of taxes and duties which was highly unfair as it adds to the cost imported goods and escalates inflation.
He was of the opinion that a target of Rs5800 billion was set for revenue collection for FY 2021-22 at a time when dollar rate stood at Rs155 hence, the extra money being collected nowadays due to sharp rise in dollar rate must not be considered as an achievement by FBR but as penalty on masses and the business community as it was the FBR which has been playing a major role in fostering the inflation and overburdening the economy.
Zubair Motiwala said that due to rising dollar rate, high cost of doing business, frequent gas outages, deteriorating infrastructure and other civic issues along with a drastic decline in purchasing power, the local industries have been suffering terribly and facing a severe liquidity crunch which has resulted in limited business activities and it was really unfortunate that the government was not coming up with any workable solution for dealing with all these issues.
Speaking on the occasion, Vice Chairman BMG Anjum Nisar, while expressing deep concerns over deteriorating economic indicators, stated that economic uncertainty has killed the total business environment, leaving the survival of many businesses at stake in the ongoing era of the highest ever inflation. “Currency, which is considered as a barometer of any economy, cannot be allowed to fall freely as it creates a lot of problems not only for the businesses but also for the economy and the common man”, he added.
President KCCI Muhammad Idrees said that devaluation of rupees against the dollar and widening trade account deficit if not promptly addressed would create a nightmarish situation not only for the economy and businesses but also for the common man whose purchasing power has descended sharply nowadays and was hardly in a position to ensure bread and butter for his family. “Dollar rate which impacts prices of almost all the household items and raw material has to be controlled by SBP otherwise, the businesses will not be able to stay afloat due to high cost of doing business, unemployment would rise and the situation may trigger even unrest”, he added.
Leader of APMSPIDA delegation Rehan Hanif, in his remarks, pointed out that importers and dealers of motorcycle spare parts have been facing a lot of problems as motorcycle spare parts remain in the 3rd Schedule list, making it mandatory to put MRP (Retail Price) including GST on motorcycle spare parts at import stage before shipment which was not possible keeping in view the diverse range of hundreds and thousands of spare parts. Moreover, it was a well-known fact that sales of imported spare parts are made all over the country and the freight charges cannot be the same for every city while the fluctuation in exchange rates was also an issue hence it was impossible to calculate MRP in such a varying situation, he added.
KARACHI: Naveed Abbas, Additional Director and Chief Domain Officer, Pakistan Single Window (PSW) has said that 27 banks will be integrated with the PSW for the facilitation of import and exports.
He said that the facility will help reduce time, cost, and complexity to ensure ease of business, besides supporting the government agencies in adopting an integrated risk management approach for efficient enforcement of control on cross-border trade.
Under the PSW platform, he said, an ICT-based port community system will also be established and all stakeholders including FIA, Customs, terminal operators, and others will be integrated for efficient cargo management at seaports, airports, dry ports, and land border crossings.
The implementation of PSW by June 2022 will enable Pakistan to achieve compliance with WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement besides helping to unlock its potential in becoming a hub for trade and transit.
He informed that thousand of registrations have been received so far in the PSW portal whereas 27 banks will also be integrated with PSW which would save the business community from visiting banks to fulfill the requirement of Export and Import forms. Right now in the first phase, PSW have five large banks integrated and other are under process.
Yawar Nawaz, Additional Director (PSW) gave a detailed presentation on the main context of Pakistan Single Window (PSW) is to efficient cross border trade management – key enabler for FDI, GVCs integration, International Trade & Transit; 75 Regulators – working in silos with weak controls, limited resources, antiquated regulations/enforcement; Resultant Thick Borders – nullifies strategic location of Pakistan & investment in allied infrastructure and NSW to overhaul management of external trade/transit & fulfil commitment under WTO’s TFA.
The Scope of PSW is that Single ICT based National Trade Platform for processing cross border trade; Process re-engineering & back-end automation of participating government departments; Port Community System for removing logistic side inefficiencies; Integrated Risk Management for smarter controls, compliance & facilitation; Integrated Tariff Management System for simplified compliance; A robust Business Model for sustainable operations & phased expansion.
The Core Services of PSW are Integrated Tariff Management System, Unified Registration System, Unified e-Payment System, Integrated Lab Management, Integrated Risk Management System, Joint Inspections, Port Community System, Trade Information Portal, Alignment of WeBOC, Hardware, Change Management and Implementation Plan.
The Cardinals for PSW is to eliminating redundancy & duplication, least physical engagement among stakeholders, use of standardized and harmonized data elements, incremental submission of structured data with parallel processing, automatic routing & verifications and real time information exchange. Samar Jamil, BPM Head (PSW) briefed the Registration Process step by step.
After detailed presentation, exporters asked several questions related to PSW which was answered by the PSW Team of Officials.
Muhammad Jawed Bilwani Chief Coordinator & Former Central Chairman PHMA welcomed the PSW Officials at PHMA for this orientation seminar to enlighten the exporters about the main features of PSW which will provide single electronic platform for facilitating compliance with regulatory regime for cross border trade in Pakistan and to answer questions asked by exporters.
Shahzad Azam Khan, Central Chairman PHMA; Abdul Rehman, Chairman (SZ) PHMA; Abdul Kadir Bilwani, Senior Vice-Chairman; Faisal Arshad Shaikh, Vice-Chairman also participated in the Seminar and appreciated this imperative initiative which is a need of time to provide single and unified platform for business requirements which will decrease the cost of manufacturing and shall increase the ease of doing business.
Saqib Naseem, Central Chairman Pakistan Yarn Merchants Association (PYMA) and Muhammad Junaid Teli, Vice Chairman, Sind & Balochistan region in a statement on Monday expressed serious concerns over the sharp rise in the petroleum prices.
They appealed to Prime Minister Imran Khan to significantly reduce in the petroleum prices in the best economic, industrial and public interest of the country, so that the business & industry can survive in COVID-ridden economy.
The PYMA office bearers said that despite the adverse economic situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the sharp rise in prices of petroleum products by the government was a matter of grave concern to the business community, as the increase in the prices of petroleum products is not only a sign of a huge increase in inflation but also cause a huge increase in the production cost of business and industry.
They said: “Raw materials for industries in particular, whose prices have already skyrocketed, will now rise to unbearable levels with the government’s recent move, which will destroy industries, especially SMEs, and increase unemployment in the country.”
The PYMA officer bearers appealed to Prime Minister Imran Khan to reverse the recent rise in petroleum prices, and significantly reduce prices to make it easier to do business and run industries.
They also requested the Prime Minister to review the economic situation of the country and direct the economists to formulate policies according to the ground realities so that steps can be taken to make the country economically stable and prosperous.
Otherwise, in the current situation, it will be very difficult for traders to do business and for industrialists to run industries, which will be a severe blow to the country’s exports.
