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  • Income Tax Ordinance 2001: three-year jail for person assisting tax evasion

    Income Tax Ordinance 2001: three-year jail for person assisting tax evasion

    Individuals who assist in or encourage tax evasion face severe penalties under Pakistan’s tax laws. Specifically, a person can be sentenced to up to three years in prison for aiding, abetting, or inciting another individual to commit a tax offense. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has emphasized the strict nature of punishments associated with tax evasion, concealment, and willful non-compliance as outlined in the Income Tax Ordinance of 2001.

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  • Headline inflation rises by 8.2 percent in February

    Headline inflation rises by 8.2 percent in February

    ISLAMABAD: The headline inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 8.2 percent on year-on-year basis in February 2019 as compared to an increase of 7.2 percent in the previous month.

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  • Rupee ends firmer in cash ready market

    Rupee ends firmer in cash ready market

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee ended firmer against US dollar in cash ready market on Saturday. The buying and selling of dollar was recorded at Rs138.70/Rs139.20, the same previous day’s level, in open market.

    The rupee made significant recovery in the interbank market during the outgoing week.

    The Pak Rupee gained 29 paisas against dollar on Friday owing to positive sentiments prevailed in currency market.

    The rupee ended Rs138.53 to the dollar as compared with previous day’s close of Rs138.82 in interbank foreign exchange market.

    Currency dealers said that good-will gesture shown by Pakistan for releasing captured Indian pilot for normalization the situation resulted in prevalence of positive sentiments in the market.

    The rupee also made a sharp recovery of 44 paisas against dollar on Thursday.

    The exchange rate went up to Rs139.26 to the dollar after Indian aggression on February 27.

    However, during the past two days, the local unit made significant recovery.


    Rupee ends with another gain against dollar

  • Weekly Review: Market likely to bounce back on easing Pak-India stand off

    Weekly Review: Market likely to bounce back on easing Pak-India stand off

    KARACHI: After witnessing decline the equity market likely to bounce back during next week after ease in stand off between Pakistan and India.

    Analysts at Arif Habib Limited hoped that the market to bounce back next week with tension between India and Pakistan to face a significant suppression following the release of the IAF pilot today.

    Enticing valuations of various stocks open up lucrative buying opportunities.

    The benchmark KSE-100 index remained in the red this week primarily owing to immense tension between Pakistan and India following the Pulwama attacks.

    The intensity of the situation resulted in cross border intrusions by both countries’ respective air forces, and Pakistan arresting one IAF pilot after striking down a fighter jet.

    Following intervention of international powers, especially of President Trump, the investor sentiment improved and the market responded positively to the defusing tension towards the end of the week.

    The KSE-100 index declined 477 points this week, to close at 39,539 points.

    Sector-wise negative contributions came from i) Cements (125 points), ii) Oil & Gas Exploration Companies (70 points), iii) Oil & Gas Marketing Companies (58 points), iv) Commercial Banks (58 points), and v) Power Generation (47 points).

    On the flip side, sectors that contributed positively include i) Tobacco (92 points) and ii) Miscellaneous (7 points). Scrip-wise major losers were LUCK (61 points), MCB (54 points), PPL (46 points), NESTLE (33 points) and UBL (30 points).

    Foreign selling was witnessed this week clocking-in at USD 1.3 million compared to a net buy of USD 3.5 million last week.

    Selling was witnessed in Commercial Banks (USD 1.9 million) and Exploration & Production (USD 0.4 million).

    On the domestic front, major buying was reported by Insurance Companies (USD 15.6 million) and Companies (USD 4.7 million).

    Volumes during the week settled at 160 million shares (up by 52 percent WoW) whereas value traded arrived at USD 51 million (up by 33 percent WoW).

    Other major news: i) Up to 10 percent hike in petroleum prices proposed, ii) RLNG-based power project: Signing of PPA, RA with SNGPL allowed, iii) Singapore offers help in building 5 million low-cost houses, iv) SBP allows Islamic banks to offer refinance.

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  • Two-year jail on deliberate non filing of return, statement

    Two-year jail on deliberate non filing of return, statement

    KARACHI: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is going to invoke certain provisions of tax laws, including prosecution for non-compliance to return and statement filing, under which about two years jails suggested for failing in return filing.

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  • SPI inflation increases by 10.63 percent

    SPI inflation increases by 10.63 percent

    ISLAMABAD: The inflation based on Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) has increased by 10.63 percent by the week ended February 28, 2019, as compared with the corresponding week a year ago, according to details released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday.

    The weekly SPI with base 2007-08=100 covering 17 urban centers and 53 essential items for all income groups/quintiles and combined has been computed.

    According to the PBS, inflation increased by 7.40 percent over the year for the lower-income group up to Rs8,000.

    The detail of inflation for other income is: 7.63 percent for income group Rs8001-120000; Rs7.62 percent for income group Rs12001-18000; 11.57 percent for income group Rs18001-35000; and 14.93 percent for income group above Rs35000.

    The basic items which witnessed significant growth in prices over the year are included: telephone calls; high-speed diesel; washing soap; gas charges; fabric-cloth; cigarettes; red chilli; cooking oil etc.

  • Customs valuation meeting at commerce division

    Customs valuation meeting at commerce division

    A high-level meeting on Customs Valuation was held on Friday at the Commerce Division, chaired by Abdul Razak Dawood, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile, Industries & Production, and Investment. The meeting focused on improving valuation mechanisms and addressing the persistent issue of under-invoicing in imports.

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  • SRB suspends sales tax registration of Sharp Telecom

    SRB suspends sales tax registration of Sharp Telecom

    The Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) has taken decisive action against M/s. Sharp Telecom (Pvt) Limited, suspending its sales tax registration due to failure in making timely payments and filing monthly returns, as per an official notice issued on Friday.

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  • Stock market gains 484 points on ease in border tension

    Stock market gains 484 points on ease in border tension

    KARACHI: The stock market on Friday gained 484 points owing to ease in tension on Pak-India borders.

    The benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 39,539 points as against 39,055 points showing an increase of 484 points.

    Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that lessening of tension at the border between Pakistan and India gave the index a solid reason to leap forward although the volumes did not increase as much.

    Blue chip stocks such as HBL, UBL, ENGRO, OGDC, PPL, POL contributed to todays’ performance.

    Banking sector led the volumes table with 24 million shares (topped by BOP), which was followed by Engineering sector (Steel scrips).

    Financial results of MUGHAL helped improved sectoral performance and otherwise had ISL as main contributor, both of which hit upper circuit and closed near day’s high.

    Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (+175 points), E&P (+93 points), Fertilizer (+56 points), O&GMCs (+29 points), Misc (+25 points).

    Volumes declined from 159 million shares to 137 million shares (-14 percent DoD).

    Average traded value remained unchanged at US$ 53 million.

    Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include BOP, OGDC, KEL, PAEL and PIBTL, which formed 21 percent of total volumes.

    Stocks that contributed positively include HBL (+76 points), OGDC (+56 points), DAWH (+38 points), BAHL (+36 points), and UBL (+33 points).

    Stocks that contributed negatively include EFUG (-7 points), BAFL (-7 points), HMB (-6 points), ASTL (-3 points) and ICI (-3 points).

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  • FBR promotes 83 officers of IRS to BS-18

    FBR promotes 83 officers of IRS to BS-18

    ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Friday promoted 83 officers of Inland Revenue Service (IRS) to BS-18 from BS-17 with on regular basis immediate effect.

    The following officers have been promoted:

    01. Sajjad Hussain

    02. Ms. Ifra Tabassum

    03. Khurram Fakhar Siddique

    04. Ms. Zehra Farooq

    05. Zeeshan Ali

    06. Essam Anwar Khokhar

    07. Ms. Amina Shah

    08. Ms. Naila Gul

    09. Ms. Zainab Asad Munir

    10. Muhammad Irfan Haider

    11. Ms. Amna Tariq Shah

    12. Rabnawaz Ahmed Matiana

    13. Sajjad Sadique

    14. Muhammad Sulaiman

    15. Syed Muhammad Sharique Tanweer

    16. Khan Shahzeb Bashir

    17. Ms. Farah Yamin Khan

    18. Muhammad Ahsan Tahir

    19. Abdul Rouf

    20. Muhammad Junaid Murtaza

    21. Muhammad Awais Ishaque

    22. Ghulam Rasool

    23. Yaser Hussain Bhutto

    24. Muhammad Waqas Maqsood

    25. Akbar Ali

    26. Abdul Ghafoor

    27. Noor Rehman

    28. Ms. Sana Baluch

    29. Danish Qamar

    30. Ms. Aisha Asad

    31. Afaque Ahmed

    32. Riaz Ahmed Alizai

    33. Shiraz Ali

    34. Ahmad Shakeel Babar

    35. Muhammad Adil Khan

    36. Haidar Abbas

    37. Imran Yousef

    38. Muhammad Faheem Sajjad Dhariwal

    39. Sultan Ali

    40. Bahawal Shahryar

    41. Ms. Khadija Hussain

    42. Ms. Sara Khan

    43. Ms. Shiraza Hameed

    44. Usman Ahmed

    45. Ms. Mahwish Khan

    46. Asim Raza

    47. Sardar Ali

    48. Ms. Sarwat Malik Habib

    49. Mohammad Omair Khan

    50. Ms. Maheen Hassan

    51. Amjad Hussain Zada

    52. Ms. Saqiba Mannan

    53. Ms. Mahak Mansoor

    54. Talat Mehmood Bosaal

    55. Ms. Beenish Aruj

    56. Suhail Abbas

    57. Bilal Qasim

    58. Usman Ijaz Rathoe

    59. Abdullah Irshad

    60. Ms. Asma Humayun

    61. Salman Naveed

    62. Junaid Manzoor

    63. Ms. Fatima Ali

    64. Aijaz Ali

    65. Ali Hassan

    66. Mehran Khan

    67. Ghulam Fareed

    68. Mehdi Hassan

    69. Immad Alam

    70. Ali Noor

    71. Muhammad Faiz Hussain

    72. Ejaz Shabbir Malik

    73. Aqeel Ahmed Sheikh

    74. Syed Hassan Abbas Rizvi

    75. Muhammad Aslam Makhdoom

    76. Fayyaz Ahmed Loothar

    77. Abdul Qadeer

    78. Muhammad Qudratullah Khan

    79. Salamat Ali Khan

    80. Abdul Wahab Saria

    81. Ghulam Murtaza Nizamani

    82. Malik Muhammad Riaz

    83. Muhammad Ashraf

    The FBR said that the officers who are drawing performance allowance will continue to draw the same after promotion.

    The officer shall actualize/continue to work at their present place of postings.

    The officers at serial number 2, 11, 17, 25, 36, 56 and 68 will actualize their promotion from the date of their joining at FBR.

    FBR congratulates the officers on their regular promotion to BS-18.

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