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  • SBP waives 100 percent cash margin requirement on various imported goods

    SBP waives 100 percent cash margin requirement on various imported goods

    KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has waived condition of 100 cash margin on import of various goods against five different HS Codes.

    The SBP in a circular issued on Tuesday said that it had been decided to waive the condition of 100 percent cash margin requirement on imports made against the HS Codes: 0105.1100, 8472.9090, 8473.3090, 1006.1010, 8472.9010

    The SBP said that moreover, it is also clarified that 100 percent cash margin shall not be applicable to the import made by Independent Power Producers and Captive Power Producers against HS Code 8543.7090 – Other.

    All other instructions contained in the aforementioned Circulars shall, however, remain unchanged, the SBP said.

  • SBP renews status of credit rating agencies

    SBP renews status of credit rating agencies

    KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has renewed the status of two leading credit rating agencies.

    In a circular issued on Tuesday, the central bank renewed the status of both credit rating agencies operating in Pakistan namely ‘VIS Credit Rating Company Limited (VIS)’ and ‘The Pakistan Credit Rating Agency Limited (PACRA)’ as eligible / recognized External Credit Assessment Institutions for the calendar year 2019.

    Banks and DFIs using the standardized approach of Basel framework are allowed to use credit ratings assigned by VIS and PACRA for capital adequacy ratio (CAR) calculation purposes.

  • SBP issues procedure for payment of tax against foreign assets declaration

    SBP issues procedure for payment of tax against foreign assets declaration

    KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Saturday issued procedure for deposit of tax against foreign assets under Assets Declaration Ordinance, 2019.

    (more…)
  • SBP issues draft procedures for payment of duty, taxes under Tax Amnesty Scheme 2019

    SBP issues draft procedures for payment of duty, taxes under Tax Amnesty Scheme 2019

    KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Friday issued draft procedure for payment of duty and taxes against declaration made to avail amnesty scheme.

    According to draft text made available to PkRevenue.com, the SBP said that in pursuance of the section 9 of the Asset Declaration Ordinance, 2019 (hereinafter referred to as the “Ordinance”), State Bank of Pakistan (hereinafter abbreviated as SBP) is pleased to notify the procedure for:

    a) Method of conversion of value of assets held outside Pakistan in Pak Rupees.

    b) Deposit of tax in foreign currency through State Bank of Pakistan; and

    c) Repatriation of assets to Pakistan.

    2. Short title and commencement:

    i. The Procedure may be called Procedure under section (9) of the Asset Declaration Ordinance, 2019; and

    ii. It shall be deemed to have come into force from XXth day of May 2019.

    3. Method of Conversion of Value of Foreign Currency Denominated Assets in Pak Rupees:

    i. The asset held outside Pakistan and foreign currency held in Pakistan shall be converted into PKR at such exchange rates1 as may be notified on daily basis by the SBP to Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in respect of ten currencies i.e. AED, AUD, CAD, CHF, CNY, EUR, GBP, JPY, SAR, and USD.

    ii. If the foreign currency denominated assets are in currencies other than those specified in clause 3(i), the taxpayer shall convert the said currency into PKR by using the following formula:

    The arithmetic mean of Weighted Average Customer Exchange Rates (Buying & Selling)

    Amount of assets in PKR = A x B x D / C where,

    A = Amount of asset in currency other than currencies listed in 3(i) held outside Pakistan;

    B = Number of USD per SDR to be taken from IMF website2;

    C = Number of currency units in a currency other than those listed in 3(i)) per SDR3; and

    D = Exchange Rate of USD with PKR as notified by the SBP under clause 3(i) for the applicable.

    Illustration: The taxpayer has assets in Singapore Dollar amounting to 1,000 and files the declaration on May 16, 2019.

    The rates from the IMF Website of preceding working day would be available and applicable for conversion.

    Hence, the parities of USD, Singapore Dollar with SDR as of May 15, 2019 are 1.382330 and 1.891160 respectively.

    Amount of asset in PKR = 1,000 ∗

    1.382330∗141.34451.891160 = PKR. 102,881.94

    4. Registration and Declaration of Assets and Deposit of Tax Thereon:

    i. The taxpayer shall file his/her declaration on FBR Web Portal electronically by disclosing their assets held outside Pakistan, and foreign currency held in Pakistan, in PKR as converted under clause 3.

    ii. The system will generate tax liability of the taxpayer in PKR by applying the relevant tax rate for each category of disclosed assets. The taxpayer has the option of discharging his/her liability either in USD or AED. After selection of tax payment currency, the system will compute the tax liability in PKR and USD/AED.

    iii. The taxpayer will now visit the website: https://paysys.fbr.gov.pk to generate the PSID in PKR and USD/ AED. The sequential number of PSID will be

    2 Special Drawing Rights (SDR) rates (Currency Units per SDR) accessible from https://www.imf.org/external/np/fin/data/param_rms_mth.aspx

    3 Special Drawing Rights (SDR) rates (Currency Units per SDR) accessible from https://www.imf.org/external/np/fin/data/param_rms_mth.aspx recorded by the taxpayer in his/her own record, besides taking the print thereof.

    5. Payment of tax by wire transfer to SBP Account:

    a. Payment of tax in US Dollars:

    i. After declaration of assets and generation of PSID as described in Para ‘4’ above, the tax liability as reflected in the PSID shall be remitted by wire transfer to the following account:

    Receiver’s Correspondent Bank: NATIONAL BANK OF PAKISTAN

    Receiving Bank Address: NEW YORK, U.S.A

    Receiving Bank SWIFT Code: NBPAUS33

    Beneficiary Customer Name: NATIONAL BANK OF PAKISTAN

    Beneficiary Customer Address: I.I. CHUNDRIGAR ROAD, KARACHI, PAKISTAN

    Beneficiary Customer’s SWIFT Code: NBPAPKKAXXX

    Beneficiary Customer’s Account No: XXXXXXXX (to be provided by NBP)

    Payment Instructions: TRANSFER TO SBP COLLECTION A/C WITH NBP-KO

    Taxpayer shall in the SWIFT message, bearing the necessary instructions above shall also include PSID No, CNIC, Date of Birth (DOB), and Place of Birth (POB) of the taxpayer.

    ii. After receiving the money, the correspondent Bank will pass on the funds to the NBP-Karachi account maintained with them for collections of the scheme and inform NBP Karachi through SWIFT message.

    iii. NBP-Karachi shall, after verifying receipt of the money in its account and necessary screening, access the FBR Portal and enter the PSID from SWIFT message in the system to access his/her details.

    Thereafter, the concerned officer shall input the amount so received in the designated field. The system will match the amount received with the amount of PSID; eCPR will be generated if the amount received matches with the PSID amount.

    In case of short payment, the system will generate SMS/ email for the taxpayers regarding the short payment. The short payment of up to USD. 100 can be deposited in cash with the designated NBP branches in major cities.

    In order to avoid the hassle; the taxpayers should make sure that the amount received in the SBP account with NBP net of correspondent and other bank charges, is equal to or greater than the amount of PSID. The excess amount, if any, shall be credited to a temporary account to be closed after the culmination of the scheme.

    iv. NBP – Karachi shall settle the foreign currency proceeds of the issued eCPRs into the Nostro account of SBP with NBP New York on a T+1 basis.

    v. NBP- Karachi shall render summary of settlement of eCPRs in respect of which the settlement has been made in SBP Nostro Account. The summary inter-alia shall include the PKR equivalent of amount of liability as per PSID along with its equivalent in foreign currency.

    vi. SBP shall credit the government account with the amount of PKR as accumulated through PSIDs and consequential exchange rate differential shall be on SBP account.

    b. Payment of tax in UAE Dirham:

    i. After declaration of assets and generation of PSID as described in Para ‘5’ above, the taxpayer shall arrange to remit the AED funds against the tax liability as reflected in the PSID and Form ‘A’ to SBP through official normal banking channels in the following SBP account:

    Receiver’s Correspondent Bank: UNITED BANK LIMITED

    Receiving Bank Address: ABU DHABI, UAE

    Receiving Bank SWIFT Code: UNILAEAD

    Beneficiary Customer Name: NATIONAL BANK OF PAKISTAN

    Beneficiary Customer Address: I.I. CHUNDRIGAR ROAD, KARACHI, PAKISTAN

    Beneficiary Customer’s SWIFT Code: NBPAPKKAXXX

    Beneficiary Customer’s Account No: XXXXXXXX (to be provided by NBP)

    Payment Instructions: TRANSFER TO SBP COLLECTION A/C WITH NBP-KO

    Taxpayer shall in the wire transfer, or SWIFT message, bearing the necessary instructions shall also include PSID No, CNIC, Date of Birth (DOB), and Place of Birth (POB) of the taxpayer.

    ii. After receiving the money, the correspondent bank will pass on the funds to the NBP-Karachi account maintained with them for collections of the scheme and inform NBP Karachi through SWIFT message

    iii. NBP-Karachi shall, after verifying receipt of the money in its account, access the FBR Portal and enter the PSID no from SWIFT message in the system to access his/her details.

    Thereafter, the concerned officer shall input the amount so received in a designated field. The system will match the amount received with the amount of PSID; eCPR will be generated if the amount received matches with the PSID amount.

    In case of short payment, the system will generate SMS/ email to the taxpayers regarding the short payment. The short payment of equivalent to up to USD 100 can be deposited in cash with the designated NBP branches in major cities.

    In order to avoid the hassle; the taxpayers should make sure that the amount received in the SBP account with NBP net of correspondent and other bank charges, is equal to or greater than the amount of PSID.

    The excess amount, if any, shall be credited to a temporary account to be closed after the culmination of the scheme.

    iv. NBP – Karachi shall settle the foreign proceeds into the Nostro account of SBP with UBL – Abu Dhabi on a T+1 basis.

    v. NBP- Karachi shall render a summary of settlement of eCPRs in respect of which the settlement has been made in SBP Nostro Account. The summary inter-alia shall include the PKR equivalent of amount of liability as per PSID along with its equivalent in foreign currency.

    vi. SBP shall credit the government account with the amount of PKR as accumulated through PSIDs and consequential exchange rate differential shall be on SBP account.

    6. Payment of Tax of Foreign Currency Held in Pakistan:

    i. The following assets shall be included in the foreign currency held in Pakistan:

    • Cash held by the declarant which is deposited into a bank account in the manner prescribed by the section 8(a) of the assets declaration ordinance 2019;

    • Foreign Currency held in declarants own foreign currency bank account and retained in the said account in accordance with the provisions of Section 8(b) of the assets declaration ordinance 2019; and

    • Face Value of the amount invested in Pakistan Banao Certificates (PBCs).

    ii. The aforesaid assets shall be converted into Pak Rupee in accordance with the procedure given in Clause 3 above. The PKR value so computed shall be declared in Form-A along with Bank Name, Branch name and account number.

    iii. The taxpayer will then generate a PSID in PKR and USD through https://paysys.fbr.gov.pk; the sequential number of which will be recorded by the taxpayer in his/her own record, besides taking the print thereof.

    iv. The payment of such tax shall be made locally through local USD Clearing accounts of the bank maintained with the State Bank of Pakistan for which purpose the taxpayer may request their banker to issue a debit authority in favor of Chief Manager SBPBSC-KO, authorizing to debit the account to the tune of the tax liability. Debit authority must specify the PSID of the taxpayer, so as to enable the generation of eCPR.

    7. Repatriation of Assets to Pakistan:

    i. Taxpayers intending to repatriate their assets held outside Pakistan shall remit the same to Pakistan through banking channels in declarants’ own in PKR of FCY account in any bank in Pakistan.

    ii. The Pakistani bank receiving the repatriated funds shall issue Asset Repatriation Certificate (ARC) which shall include the details such as Name of Remitter, Amount in FCY, and IBAN of taxpayer. Each ARC shall have a unique reference number, which the taxpayer shall use to report the same to FBR.

    iii. The bank shall issue ARC under these rules only in respect of remittances on or after the date of issuance of this procedure.

    iv. The declaration filed by the taxpayer shall be accepted by the Portal only after incorporating the following information on the FBR Portal in respect of repatriated assets:

    a) Number and Date of Issuance of ARC;

    b) Issuing Bank;

    c) Address of the Branch maintaining the account of the taxpayer; and

    d) IBAN of the account in which the repatriated assets are credited.

    v. SBP may either as a part of its regular inspection or through a special inspection may examine the record of all such certificates issued by the bank so as to confirm their accuracy and conformity with underlying record and transaction trail.

  • Pakistan’s forex reserves fall by $768 million

    Pakistan’s forex reserves fall by $768 million

    KARACHI: Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have slipped by $768 million to $15.126 billion by weed ended May 17, 2019 from $15.894 billion a week ago, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.

    The official reserves of the SBP fell by $788 million to $8.057 billion by week ended May 17, 2019 from $8.845 billion a week ago.

    The central bank said that the official reserves declined due to debt servicing and other office payment.

    The foreign exchange reserves held by other commercial banks, however, increased by $20 million to $7.069 billion as compared with $7.049 billion.

  • SBP raises record Rs3,100 billion through MTBs auction at cut-off yield higher than key policy rate

    SBP raises record Rs3,100 billion through MTBs auction at cut-off yield higher than key policy rate

    KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has raised record huge amount of Rs3,100.71 billion through an auction of Market Treasury Bills (MTBs) at a cut-off yield much higher than the key policy rate of 12.25 percent.

    The central bank on Wednesday received bids in 3- and six-month treasury bills worth Rs3,176.56 billion at face value of Rs3,268.59 billion. The SBP has not received bids for 12-month treasury bills.

    The SBP accepted bids of Rs3,100 billion at face value of Rs3,190 billion. The central bank accepted Rs3,099 billion against three-month MTBs at face value of Rs3,188.99 billion at cut-off yield of 12.7495 percent. For benchmark six-month treasury bills an amount of Rs1.41 billion were accepted at face value of Rs1.5 billion and at cut-off yield of 12.80 percent.

    The amount raised was much higher than the target set for this auction. The central bank had set Rs600 billion target for the auction.

    Market analysts said that banks were still anticipating further increase in interest rate in next monetary policy announcement.

    In the recent monetary policy the SBP increased the key policy rate by 150 basis points to 12.25 percent for next two months starting May 21, 2019.

    The SBP conducts auction of securities for the government to meet budgetary deficit. The fiscal deficit has been increased to 5 percent during July – March 2018/2019, which is already cross the target of 4.9 percent for full fiscal year.

  • FBR restructuring proposed to make autonomous body

    FBR restructuring proposed to make autonomous body

    KARACHI: The government has been proposed to make Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) as an autonomous body on similar line as State Bank of Pakistan.

    The Overseas Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) in its budget proposals for 2019/2020 suggested restructuring of FBR as an independent governing body.

    It suggested that FBR should be made an autonomous body on similar lines as State Bank of Pakistan, SECP, and Internal Revenue Services (IRS) of United States.

    FBR should operate and work in a corporate governance structure with a Board of Directors, vested with powers like that of the Boards of Public listed companies.

    The Chairman of FBR and fifty percent of the Board members may be nominated by the government (Ministries of Finance, Law, and Commerce) and, the remaining fifty percent Board members should be nominated by bodies like OICCI, PBC and ICAP.

    A transparent accountability system in tax administration should be introduced, and reasonable independence and empowerment given to various operational positions.

    The external audit of FBR should be done annually, by an independent international audit firm whose report should be presented and fully discussed in the Tax Policy Board meeting.

    There should also an Internal Audit function within the FBR for an effective ongoing internal audit reporting directly to the independent members of the Board nominated by the Trade bodies.

    Apart from revenue collection a key function of the FBR should be to address coordination issues between federal and provincial revenue authorities, with monthly meetings to ensure ease of doing business for taxpayers.

  • Pakistan’ FDI declines by 52 percent in 10 months

    Pakistan’ FDI declines by 52 percent in 10 months

    KARACHI: Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has declined by 52 percent during first 10 months of current fiscal year owing to higher repatriation of profits by corporate sector.

    The total FDI was recorded at $1.376 billion during July –April 2018/2019 as compared with $2.849 billion in the corresponding period of the last year, showing 51.7 percent decline, according to data released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday.

    The inflows under FDI registered 22 percent decline to $2.684 billion during first 10 months of current fiscal year as compared with $3.44 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.

    The outflows on the other hand increased by 121 percent to $1.308 billion during July – April 2018/2019 as compared with $591 million in the same period of the last fiscal year.

    The total foreign private investment registered 64.3 percent decline to $968 million during July-April 2018/2019 as compared with $2.713 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.

    The portfolio investment posted 200 percent decline during the period under review to outflow of $408 million as compared with the outflow of $136.2 million.

    Foreign public investment witnessed 140.4 percent decline to $2.45 billion during July – April 2018/2019 as compared with outflow of $990.6 in the same period of the last fiscal year.

  • SBP increases policy rate by 150 basis points in line with IMF directives

    SBP increases policy rate by 150 basis points in line with IMF directives

    KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday increased key policy rate by 150 basis points to 12.25 percent, which is inline with the direction of newly agreed loan program with the IMF.

    The SBP in a statement said that there have been three notable developments since the last Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in March 2019.

    First, the government of Pakistan has reached a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund for 39-month long Extended Fund Facility of around US$ 6.0 billion.

    The program is designed to restore macroeconomic stability and support sustainable economic growth, and is expected to unlock considerable additional external financing.

    Second, trends in government borrowing reflect a widening fiscal deficit during the first nine months of FY19 when compared to the same period in FY18.

    In addition, a greater reliance on central bank financing of the deficit has acted to dilute the impact of previous monetary tightening. Finally, since the last MPC, the exchange rate has depreciated by 5.93 percent to PKR 149.65 per USD, at the close of 20th May 2019, reflecting a combination of underlying macroeconomic factors and market sentiment considerations.

    SBP’s estimates show that economic growth is expected to slow in FY19 but rise modestly in FY20.

    This slowdown is mostly due to lower growth in agriculture and industry. More than two-thirds of real GDP growth in FY19 is expected to come from services.

    Going forward, some gradual recovery in economic activity is expected on the back of improved market sentiment in the context of the IMF supported program, a rebound in the agriculture sector and government incentives for export-oriented industries.

    The current account deficit narrowed to US$ 9.6 billion in Jul-Mar FY19 as compared to a deficit of US$ 13.6 billion during the same period last year, a fall of 29 percent.

    The reduction is mainly driven by import compression and a healthy growth in workers’ remittances. This impact was partially offset by higher international oil prices.

    The non-oil trade deficit declined from US$ 13.7 billion in Jul-Mar FY18 to US$ 11.0 billion in Jul-Mar FY19 reflecting the impact of stabilization policies implemented so far.

    Recent indicators suggest export volumes have begun to grow although total export receipts have not grown due unfavorable prices.

    Despite the improvement in the current account and a noticeable increase in official bilateral inflows, the financing of the current account deficit remained challenging.

    Consequently, reserves declined to US$ 8.8 billion as of 10th May 2019 from US$ 10.5 billion at end-March 2019. The exchange rate also came under pressure in the last few days.

    In SBP’s view, the recent movement in the exchange rate reflects the continuing resolution of accumulated imbalances of the past and some role of supply and demand factors.

    SBP will continue to closely monitor the situation and stands ready to take measures, as needed, to address any unwarranted volatility in the foreign exchange market.

    Furthermore, the current level of reserves is below standard adequacy levels (equal to three months of imports cover). As noted in previous MPC statements, deep structural reforms are required to improve productivity and competitiveness of export-oriented sectors and improve the trade balance.

    The overall fiscal deficit is likely to be considerably higher during Jul-Mar FY19 as compared to the same period last year due to a shortfall in revenue collection, higher than budgeted interest payments and security related expenditures. From a monetary policy perspective, a growing portion of the fiscal deficit has been financed through borrowings from SBP.

    In absolute terms, the government borrowed Rs 4.8 trillion from SBP during 1st Jul-10th May FY19, which is 2.4 times the borrowing during the same period last year.

    A major portion of this borrowing from the SBP (Rs 3.7 trillion) reflects a shift away from commercial banks which were reluctant to lend to the government at prevailing rates.

    The resulting increase in monetization of the deficit has added to inflationary pressures.

    Despite the recent tightening of monetary policy, private sector credit rose 9.4 percent during 1st Jul-10th May, FY19.

    Much of the increase in credit was for working capital needs due to higher input prices. The expansionary impact of higher government borrowing and private sector credit on broad money supply (M2) was partly offset by a contraction in net foreign assets of the banking sector.

    In aggregate, broad money supply grew by 4.7 percent during 1st Jul – 10th May, FY19.

    The consumer price index (CPI) rose 9.4 percent in March 2019 and 8.8 percent in April 2019, on a y-o-y basis. Average headline CPI inflation reached 7.0 percent in Jul-Apr FY19 compared to 3.8 percent in the same period last year.

    Moreover, the annualized headline month-on-month inflation has risen considerably in the last three months due to the recent hike in domestic fuel prices and rising food prices and input costs.

    As such, inflationary pressures are likely to continue for some time. The most recent IBA-SBP consumer confidence survey also shows that most households expect higher inflation during the next six months.

    Taking into account the recent developments discussed above and outlook for key sectors, average headline CPI inflation is expected to be in the range of 6.5-7.5 percent in FY19 and it is anticipated to be considerably higher in FY20.

    This inflation outlook is subject to a number of upside risks from an expected rationalization of taxes in the upcoming budget, potential adjustments in electricity and gas tariffs, and volatility in international oil prices. The inflation outlook suggests a fall in real interest rates on a forward-looking basis.

    Taking into account the above considerations and the evolving macroeconomic situation, the MPC noted that further policy measures are required to address underlying inflationary pressures from (i) higher recent month-on-month headline and core inflation outturns; (ii) recent exchange rate depreciation; (iii) an elevated fiscal deficit and its increased monetization, and (iv) potential adjustments in utility tariffs.

    In this context, the MPC decided to increase the policy rate by 150 bps to 12.25 percent effective from 21st May 2019.