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  • Rupee gains 17 paisas on massive decline in import bill

    Rupee gains 17 paisas on massive decline in import bill

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee gained 17 paisas against dollar on Friday on reports of significant decline in import bill for the month of March 2020, dealers said.

    The rupee ended Rs166.76 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs166.93 in interbank foreign exchange market.

    The dealers said that importers were seen cautious to place orders for dollars after considering the latest numbers of imports for the month of March 2020.

    The import bill of the country has declined by 21 percent in March 2020 over the previous month owing to lockdown to contain coronavirus pandemic.

    The import bill was at $3.3 billion in March 2020 as compared with $4.185 billion in February 2020, according to data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday.

    Similarly, the pandemic also adversely affected the country’s exports. The exports fell by 15.56 percent to $1.8 billion in March 2020 as compared with $2.14 billion in February 2020.

    The total import bill during July – March 2019/2020 fell by 14.42 percent to $38.81 billion as compared with $40.68 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

    However, the exports registered increase of 2.23 percent during first nine months of current fiscal year to $17.45 billion as compared with $17 billion in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.

    The trade deficit during first nine months contracted by 26.45 percent to $17.36 billion as compared with the deficit of $23.61 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

  • FBR notifies rules for third party recovery of defaulted amount

    FBR notifies rules for third party recovery of defaulted amount

    ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Friday notified rules for third-party recovery of defaulted amount.

    The FBR issued SRO 274(I)/2020 dated April 02, 2020 to implement the draft rules released on February 14, 2020 through SRO 111(I)/2020.

    Through the SRO the FBR amended the Income Tax Rules, 2002 and introduced a new chapter “Recovery of Tax From Persons Holding Money on Behalf of a Taxpayer.”

    As per the rules the tax authorities have be empowered to recover tax from a defaulter through third party, who owes money to the defaulted taxpayer.

    The FBR is facing huge revenue shortfall for achieving this revenue collection target. Therefore, the tax machinery may apply all possible ways to recovery outstanding amount.

    The Section 140 explains the procedure of recovery through third party.

    Section 140: Recovery of tax from persons holding money on behalf of a taxpayer

    Sub-Section (1): For the purpose of recovering any tax due by a taxpayer, the Commissioner may, by notice, in writing, require any person –

    (a) owing or who may owe money to the taxpayer; or

    (b) holding or who may hold money for, or on account of the taxpayer;

    (c) holding or who may hold money on account of some other person for payment to the taxpayer; or

    (d) having authority of some other person to pay money to the taxpayer, to pay to the Commissioner so much of the money as set out in the notice by the date set out in the notice:

    “Provided that the Commissioner shall not issue notice under this sub-section for recovery of any tax due from a taxpayer if the said taxpayer has filed an appeal under section 127 in respect of the order under which the tax sought to be recovered has become payable and the appeal has not been decided by the Commissioner (Appeals), subject to the condition that ten per cent of the said amount of tax due has been paid by the taxpayer.”

    Sub-Section (2): Subject to sub-section (3), the amount set out in a notice under sub-section (1) —

    (a) where the amount of the money is equal to or less than the amount of tax due by the taxpayer, shall not exceed the amount of the money; or

    (b) in any other case, shall be so much of the money as is sufficient to pay the amount of tax due by the taxpayer.

    Sub-Section (3): Where a person is liable to make a series of payments (such as salary) to a taxpayer, a notice under sub-section (1) may specify an amount to be paid out of each payment until the amount of tax due by the taxpayer has been paid.

    Sub-Section (4): The date for payment specified in a notice under sub-section (1) shall not be a date before the money becomes payable to the taxpayer or held on the taxpayer’s behalf.

    Sub-Section (5): The provisions of sections 160, 161, 162 and 163, so far as may be, shall apply to an amount due under this section as if the amount were required to be deducted from a payment under Division III of Part V of this Chapter.

    Sub-Section (6): Any person who has paid any amount in compliance with a notice under sub-section (1) shall be treated as having paid such amount under the authority of the taxpayer and the receipt of the Commissioner constitutes a good and sufficient discharge of the liability of such person to the taxpayer to the extent of the amount referred to in such receipt.

    Sub-Section (10): In this section, “person” includes any Court, Tribunal or any other authority.

  • Import bill falls by 21 percent in March

    Import bill falls by 21 percent in March

    KARACHI: The import bill of the country has declined by 21 percent in March 2020 over the previous month owing to lockdown to contain coronavirus pandemic.

    The import bill was at $3.3 billion in March 2020 as compared with $4.185 billion in February 2020, according to data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday.

    Similarly, the pandemic also adversely affected the country’s exports. The exports fell by 15.56 percent to $1.8 billion in March 2020 as compared with $2.14 billion in February 2020.

    The total import bill during July – March 2019/2020 fell by 14.42 percent to $38.81 billion as compared with $40.68 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

    However, the exports registered increase of 2.23 percent during first nine months of current fiscal year to $17.45 billion as compared with $17 billion in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.

    The trade deficit during first nine months contracted by 26.45 percent to $17.36 billion as compared with the deficit of $23.61 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

    Industry experts said that the import and exports would face further adverse effect during remaining months of current fiscal year due to ongoing lockdown to contain coronavirus spread.

  • SRB tribunal suspends hearing till April 14

    SRB tribunal suspends hearing till April 14

    KARACHI: Appellate Tribunal, Sindh Revenue Board, has announced that hearing in sales tax matters within provincial jurisdictions will remain suspended up to April 14, 2020.

    The chairman of appellate tribunal SRB issued directives on Thursday in the wake of extension in lockdown by the Sindh government to prevent recent outbreak of COVID-19 and its further eruption.

    The circular said that the regular work of the tribunal such as hearing of appeals would remain suspended for further seven days with effect from April 08 to April 14.

    It said that the appeals will be received daily during days from 9:00AM to 02:00PM. However, the chairman/technical member of the tribunal would be available in the office for attending urgent work from 10:00AM to 02:00PM.

    It further said that the appeals would be taken up during the suspended period on the basis of urgent application which would be enclosed with affidavit disclosing the reason for urgency.

  • Emirates uplifts record cargo from Pakistan amid coronavirus pandemic

    Emirates uplifts record cargo from Pakistan amid coronavirus pandemic

    DUBAI: Emirates SkyCargo completed an industry record uplift of 62 tonnes in a Boeing 777-300 operating from Karachi to Dubai, surpassing its own previous record of 56 tonnes achieved earlier in the week, a statement said on Thursday.

    Amid these unprecedented times in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Emirates SkyCargo continues to underline its commitment to Pakistan by breaking not just one but two records last week to transport essential supplies.

    Exports from Pakistan included perishables like meat, fish and vegetables while imports were mainly pharmaceuticals, testing machines, other medical accessories, industrial machinery, drilling equipment and general courier.

    Given the current challenges with global air cargo capacity due to restrictions on passenger flights, Emirates SkyCargo continues to ensure that commodities such as food and medical supplies are transported to and from Pakistan with four weekly cargo flights each from Karachi and Lahore.

    The much needed capacity will help connect and reach essential commodities to places that need them most, keep global supply chains open, and support communities and businesses in Pakistan and worldwide.

    In recent weeks, Emirates SkyCargo has transported close to 100 tonnes of relief material, including hospital equipment to Milan, and over 55 tonnes of highly temperature-sensitive pharma to New York.

    In March and April, the cargo airline will operate nine charter freighters to Budapest to transport face masks and equipment. Emirates SkyCargo is also playing a vital role in transporting food across the Middle East, and its special flights from the subcontinent and Africa are bringing in tonnes of perishables to Dubai and onwards to other destinations within the Middle East.

    Nabil Sultan, Emirates’ Divisional Senior Vice President, Cargo said: “In these trying times, we more than ever stand by our commitment for Emirates SkyCargo to act as a conveyor belt for the transport of much needed commodities such as food and medicines and also for flying in equipment, machinery and other components which are vital for business continuity across essential industries in Pakistan.

    “As an extremely agile and customer-focused business, we have been able to establish a new network and schedule for our cargo operations within a very short period of time, utilising lower deck capacity on our wide-body Boeing 777 passenger aircraft which supplement the cargo capacity we offer on our freighter aircraft.

    “Additionally, in order to consolidate operations and reduce costs, we have also temporarily shifted all our cargo handling operations to Dubai International Airport (DXB). Taken together, we are making sure that we react more quickly to requests coming in from every part of the globe from our customers.”

    Emirates SkyCargo’s new flight schedule for its global cargo operations also includes cargo flights operated on its Boeing 777 passenger aircraft.

    These flights will offer around 40 tonnes of lower deck cargo capacity per flight and will supplement the cargo capacity being offered on Emirates’ fleet of freighters.

    These cargo only flights are scheduled to operate to over 30 destinations across the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe and Australia with a majority of destinations being served with multiple weekly and daily flights.

    From 1 April 2020, Emirates SkyCargo will consolidate all its cargo handling operations at Dubai International airport, temporarily suspending operations at Emirates SkyCentral DWC, the terminal handling its freighters, the statement said.

    The move will help streamline cargo operations between its freighters and the new dedicated cargo flights on Emirates’ passenger aircraft.

  • SBP’s official reserves fall by $804 million in a week

    SBP’s official reserves fall by $804 million in a week

    KARACHI: The official foreign exchange reserves of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) have decreased by $804 million during one week due to external debt payment.

    The SBP on Thursday said that during the week ended March 27, 2020 its reserves fell by $840 million to $11.185 billion from $11.989 billion a week ago.

    “This decline is attributed primarily to government external debt payments that amounted to $441 million and other official payments,” the SBP said.

    The total liquid foreign reserves of the country fell by $718 million to $17.387 billion on March 27, 2020 as compared with $18.105 billion a week ago.

    The reserves held by the commercial banks however increased by $86 million to $6.202 billion by week ended March 27, 2020 as compared with $6.116 billion a week ago.

  • SBP issues instructions to banks on PM corona relief fund

    SBP issues instructions to banks on PM corona relief fund

    KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has issued instructions to all commercial banks and microfinance banks regarding receiving payments under newly established PM COVID-19 Pandemic Relief Fund 2020.

    In a circular issued on Thursday, the central bank said that the government had notified establishment of a relief fund, namely, Prime Minister’s COVID-19 Pandemic Relief Fund-2020, for providing relief and assistance to the people of Pakistan affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. The Fund shall accept donations / contributions both from domestic and international sources.

    The government has taken a number of steps with a view to enhance transparency in receipts into and payments out of the fund, including the following:

    Cash balance of the Fund shall be kept separate from and independent of cash balance of the general government account;

    Government shall commission separate audit reports on the receipts and payments of the Fund, including audit report by one of the local affiliates of big-four international accounting and auditing firms; and

    The Fund will be administered by the Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division in consultation with the Finance Division.

    The SBP said that a bank account of the Fund has been established for public donations as per the details given below:

    Account Title: Prime Minister’s COVID-19 Pandemic Relief Fund-2020

    Account No: 4162-786-786

    IBAN: PK11NBPA0002004162786786

    SWIFT code: NBPAPKKAMBR

    Bank: National Bank of Pakistan (NBP)

    Branch: Main Branch, I.I. Chundrigar Road, Karachi

    The SBP said that the donors have been provided multiple options for making donation/ contribution to the Fund as described below:

    A. Overseas Donors:

    a. Wire Transfer:

    Overseas donors including overseas Pakistanis may donate to the Fund through wire transfer to the Fund account detailed above. They would simply advise their respective banks to transmit the donation amount in the Fund account by debiting their accounts. The NBP shall transmit the donations received in the Fund account to SBP on daily-basis through ‘Real Time Gross Settlement’ (RTGS) system along with name of donor, country of residence and amount of contribution in both foreign currency and PKR.

    b. E-Payment Gateway:

    Donation / contribution can also be made to the Fund account through a link available at NBP website by using debit / credit cards.

    c. Transfer through Money Service Bureaus, Money Transfer Operators and Exchange Houses:

    Overseas donors may also donate / contribute through Money Service Bureaus (MSBs), Money Transfer Operators (MTOs) (e.g. MoneyGram, Western Union) and Exchange Houses (EHs) in line with the arrangements in place for receiving home remittances. Banks receiving such remittances shall transfer the same through RTGS to the above mentioned account of the NBP every thirty minutes during the banking hours, besides providing the details of their particulars [as specified under A(a) above] to them for the purpose of maintain the register.

    B. Domestic Donors:

    a. Cash Deposits at Banks’ Counters:

    Donors and contributors may make their donations / contributions to the fund in cash at any branch of any bank operating in Pakistan, which shall transfer the amount of donations so received to NBP’s above mentioned account through RTGS after every 30 minutes during the banking hours. Similarly, donations/ contributions may also be made at any of the field offices of SBP Banking Services Corporation.

    b. Deposit of Crossed Cheques in the Name of the Fund in Bank’s Drop Boxes:

    The donors and contributors may make their donations / contributions to the Fund by dropping crossed cheques in the name of the Fund in their respective bank’s drop box. All banks shall make available drop box facility at their selected branches for donors where they may drop their crossed cheques in favor of the Fund. The banks shall, accordingly debit the customer’s account and transfer the proceeds through RTGS/IBFT to the Fund account at NBP.

    c. Alternate Delivery Channels:

    The donor may also use alternate delivery channels e.g. internet banking, mobile banking, automated teller machines (ATMs) and mobile wallets etc. to donate / contribute to the Fund account through Inter-Bank Fund Transfer Facility (IBFT). For this purpose, they will use the IBAN of the Fund given above.

    Note: M/s 1-link will submit on daily basis the report of all donations routed through ADCs and IBFT to NBP by giving the particulars of donors including name, bank and branch of deposit, amount of donations etc.

    d. E-Payment Gateway:

    Donation / contribution can also be made to the Fund account through a link available at NBP website by using debit / credit cards.

    NBP shall transfer all the receipts to SBP through RTGS for credit to the Fund account with SBP on daily basis.

  • FBR extends date for integration of Tier-1 retailers

    FBR extends date for integration of Tier-1 retailers

    ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Thursday extended the date for integration of Point of Sale (POS) by high volume retailers up to April 30, 2020.

    The last date for integrating the POS for Tier-1 retailers was March 31, 2020.

    The FBR said that only those retailers can integrate their POS by April 30 who submit their intention to RTOs/LTUs by April 20, 2020.

    FBR sources said that the decision had been taken due to lockdown in the many parts of the country in order to prevent spread of coronavirus the business activities had become stand still.

    They said that big outlets and shopping plazas are observing closure during the lockdown and many of those big retailers would not able to make compliance.

    Previously, the FBR on March 09, 2020 extended the date of online integration of Tier-1 retailers.

    The FBR said that it had condoned the time limit as provided in Sales Tax Rules, 2006 up to March 31, 2020, for online integration of tier-1 retailers’ POSs with board’s computerized system for real-time reporting of sales.

    However, this permission is subject to condition that the teir-1 retailers should furnish in writing their willingness to integrated all their POSs in terms of the rules to respective Regional Tax Offices (RTOs)/Large Taxpayers Units (LTUs) by March 15, 2020.

    The deadline was expired on December 15, 2019 which was given by the FBR to tier-1 retailers to integrate their POSs with the FBR online system.

    All tier-1 retailers are required to integrate all their POSs with FBR’s computerized system.

    Tier-1 retailer is defined in section 2(43A) of the Sales Tax Act, 1990, to be a person who falls in any of the following categories:

    (a) a retailer operating as a unit of a national or international chain of stores;

    (b) a retailer operating in an air-conditioned shopping mall, plaza or centre, excluding kiosks;

    (c) a retailer whose cumulative electricity bill during the immediately preceding twelve consecutive months exceeds Rupees twelve hundred thousand;

    (d) a wholesaler-cum-retailer, engaged in bulk import and supply of consumer goods on wholesale basis to the retailers as well as on retail basis to the general body of the consumers; and

    (e) a retailer, whose shop measures one thousand square feet in area or more

  • Equity market surges by 1277 points on international oil price increase

    Equity market surges by 1277 points on international oil price increase

    KARACHI: The equity market witnessed sharp increase of 1,277 points on Thursday owing to jump in international oil prices.

    The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 30,782 points as against 29,506 points showing an increase of 4.3 percent or 1277 points.

    Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that After yesterday’s pause, Market again witnessed a huge stride of 1336 points, similar to what was observed day before yesterday.

    Jump in international crude prices by approx. 10 percent believed to have given the impetus that the market saw today, which saw OGDC, PPL and POL trading at and near cap for most part of the trading session.

    Institutional buying further boosted the sentiment amid the possibility of announcement of a relief package for construction industry that is likely to be made by the Premier tomorrow.

    In anticipation, Construction sectors (Cement & Steel) rallied and hit upper circuits. Cement sector topped the charts again with 64 million shares, followed by O&GMCs (37.4 million) and Banks (+33.5 million).

    Among scrips, HASCOL led the volumes with 29.5 million shares, followed by KEL (20.6 million) and UNITY (19 million).

    Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (+328 points), E&P (+258 points), Cement (+160 points), Power (+100 points) and O&GMCs (+93 points).

    Volumes declined from 193.8 million shares to 311.6 million shares (+61 percent DoD). Average traded value also increased by 55 percent to reach US$ 62.3 million as against US$ 40.1 million.

    Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include HASCOL, KEL, UNITY, MLCF and BOP, which formed 32 percent of total volumes.

    Stocks that contributed positively to the index include OGDC (+81 points), PPL (+80 points), LUCK (+78 points), HUBC (+70 points) and HBL (+68 points).

    Stocks that contributed negatively include PAKT (-11 points), COLG (-9 points), FFC (-9 points), HGFA (-5 points), and NESTLE (-1 points).

  • Rupee ends down by 10 paisas on import payment demand

    Rupee ends down by 10 paisas on import payment demand

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee ended down by 10 paisas against dollar on Thursday due to higher import payments and outflow of hot money.

    The rupee ended at Rs166.93 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs166.83 in interbank foreign exchange market.

    Currency experts said that the rupee was remained under pressure due to higher import payment demand. They said that importers were purchasing the foreign currency for importing commodities related to month of Ramazan.

    The experts pointed out that the outflow of funds invested in domestic debt market also put pressure on the local unit.

    The secondary market witnessed outflow of $47.6 million on April 01, 2020 as foreign investors opted to sell treasury bills.

    The currency experts said that the rupee may make recover in coming days due to lower international oil prices and reduced consumption of non-oil imported goods locally.