Pakistan Daily Economy Update - 18 June

Transcription

1. June 18 , 2022 KCCI - eBulletin Cartels must be busted for prices to go down: CCP Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) Chairperson Rahat Kaunain Hassan, while speaking at KCCI, said that cartels must be busted with strict enforcement of competition law for prices to go down by 25-30%. In an advocacy session held at KCCI, she said the commission had imposed penalties of around PKR 70Bn for different violations of the Competition Act since its inception in 2007. She, however, deplored that the recovery remained paltry because most of the undertakings had challenged the CCP’s orders in higher courts. She said that CCP is not a price regulator, but it only intervenes where prices of goods and services are affected by anti-competitive practices. CCP is not against businesses rather the Competition Law is pro-business and pro-growth. KCCI members brought several issues and competition-related matters to the CCP’s notice. The chairperson offered that CCP can change its regulations to exempt KCCI from charging a fee for filing formal complaints. She said that the informant reward scheme and leniency provisions are available. Earlier, President KCCI Muhammad Idrees welcomed the CCP’s decision of launching two draft studies in SMEs and ecommerce sectors. Dawn. Date / Period Unit Value Change Daily USD-Interbank USD-Open MKT 17-Jun 17-Jun PKR PKR 208.75 210.00 0.52% 1.20% KSE-100 index FIPI 17-Jun 17-Jun Pts. $ Mn 42,141 -0.99 0.98% NM** Crude Oil 17-Jun $/bbl 109.56 -6.83% Gold 17-Jun $/oz 1,840.6 -0.50% Gold (10g) Local 17-Jun PKR 121,140 1.07% Sindh reduces business hours to conserve energy Just hours before midnight, markets, eateries, wedding halls and other business concerns across the country’s financial hub were closed on Friday after the Sindh govt. in line with the Centre’s plan for effective measures to reduce load shedding by conserving energy through a national strategy reduced the timings of all commercial activities except fuel stations, milk shops, bakeries, pharmacies and hospitals. Shops, markets, bazaars, and shopping malls have been asked to close their businesses by 9pm. Second category includes wedding halls, banquets and venues hosting marriage-related ceremonies. All such concerns will have to close by 10:30pm. However, for the third category that includes hotels, restaurants, coffee shops and cafes, the closure time has been fixed at 11pm. Dawn. Silver 17-Jun $/oz 21.59 -1.36% Cotton(KHI)-40 kg 17-Jun PKR 22,077 -0.96% Kibor-6M 16-Jun % 15.43 -0.21% Forex Reserves 10-Jun $ Bn 14.94 WoW -1.54% Pakistan to stay in ‘grey area’ until FATF visit Global dirty money watchdog FATF kept Pakistan on its grey list of countries under increased monitoring but acknowledged that the country had substantially completed its two action plans, covering 34 items. The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will now make an on-site visit to verify Pakistan’s progress in tackling terrorism financing before deciding whether to delist the country. Dawn. Remittances Jul-May 22 $ Bn 28.41 6.26% Exports* Jul-May 22 $ Bn 28.85 27.78% Imports* Jul-May 22 $ Bn 72.18 44.28% Trade Balance* Jul-May 22 $ Bn -43.33 -57.85% Current Account Foreign Direct Inv. Jul-Apr 22 Jul-May 22 $ Bn $ Bn -13.78 1.60 -2437.6% -4.91% FBR directed to resolve importers’ issues Taking stock of the problems being faced by traders who had booked containers prior to the ban on imports, the Senate Standing Committee on Finance directed FBR to resolve their issues. Traders apprised the committee of the containers they had booked prior to the ban on imports, adding that they were not being allowed to bring them. During the meeting, a shocking revelation was made that FBR did not have a system to monitor the Point-of-Sale terminals. Tribune. Traders fear goods transportation crisis Panic has swept through the food and commodity markets as traders fear that a third significant increase in prices of petroleum products within 20 days will plunge the country into a massive goods transportation crisis. Tribune. Pakistan-IMF talks continue as breakthrough expected ‘in 72 hours’ In last-ditch efforts to iron out differences in budgetary numbers, senior officials of Pakistan and IMF continued a round of parleys on Friday (17th Jun’22) with the former expecting breakthrough within the next 72 hours. The News. Power tariff to be raised in three phases The federal govt. has decided to pass on PKR 7.91 per unit determined by Nepra in three phases, along with PKR 0.20 per unit hike on account of subsidy rationalization phase-II. PKR 3.5/unit could be passed on in Jul’22, PKR 3.5/unit in Aug’22 and remaining PKR 0.91/unit in Oct’22. BR. Timely import of edible oil to help cut its price: PM Shehbaz PM Shehbaz Sharif has lauded efforts of Minister for Industries Makhdoom Murtaza Mehmood for making timely arrangements for import of edible oil from Indonesia. The efforts led to supply of 2.5Mn tons of edible through 10 ships from Indonesia. Dawn. Cellular mobile operators for reducing customs duty on fibre-optic cable, taxes There might be hours long connectivity issues in the country in FY23, subsequent to the shutdown of mobile phones if the govt. did not reduce customs duty on the fibre-optic cable and other taxes. This was forewarned by the mobile operators to the govt. during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance. They stated that the customs duty on fibre-optic increased from 10% to 20%. There is additional customs duty of 6% and a regulatory duty of 10%. BR. \ List of Indicators Govt launches PKR 7Bn innovation fund Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal has said that the govt. has launched a PKR 7Bn innovation fund to support innovation in various sectors. BR. YoY Jul-Mar 22 LSM Growth* % 9.40 % 11.29 Jul-May 22 Avg. CPI Discount Rate % 13.75 May-22 Sources: KCCI Research, PMEX , NCCPL, KSE, SBP, PBS* ** Not Meaningful, WoW= week on week; YoY=Year on Year Major Currencies 265 255 245 235 225 215 205 195 185 175 165 155 145 Jun-21 GBP, 17-Jun-22, 258.3 EUR, 17-Jun-22, 221.3 USD, 17-Jun-22, 209.5 USD Sep-21 GBP Dec-21 EUR Mar-22 Quote of the Day "What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals." Zig Ziglar Govt’s hopes to squeeze budget deficit in FY23 dashed In a huge blow to the govt.’s hopes of bringing the FY23 budget deficit to 4.9% of GDP from FY22’s 8.6%, the provinces cumulatively posted a teensy surplus that is not even remotely close to PKR 800Bn envisaged by the budget-makers. The News. ‘Unprecedented’ changes in WTO trading rules The World Trade Organization’s 164 members have agreed to the first change in global trading rules in years, which include ‘unprecedented’ commitments on fish and pledges on health and food security after more than five grueling days of negotiations. The deals were forged in the early hours of the sixth day of a conference of more than 100 trade ministers that was seen as a test of the ability of nations to strike multilateral trade deals amid geopolitical tensions heightened by the Ukraine war. Dawn. 6,000 cusecs water wasted owing to ‘evaporation’, NA told Minister for Water Resources Syed Khursheed Shah has stated that some 6,000 cusecs of water was being wasted while flowing a distance of 350 KMs from Sukkur Barrage to Kotri Barrage because of evaporation. He expressed his surprise over missing 20,000 cusecs between Taunsa, the last barrage in Punjab, and Guddu Barrage in Sindh, despite being nearly equidistant from each other. Dawn. Through solar power: Govt determined to scale down power tariff by 20% In a bid to generate cheaper electricity up to 5,000 megawatts (MW) through solar plants, the govt. has started the spadework and is determined to start generation in one and a half year's time. The initiative will reduce the average power tariff by almost 20%. The News. Jun-22 Source: KCCI Research Net FDI in Pakistan - $ Bn 3.0 2.60 -29.91% 2.5 2.42 -30.69% -4.91% 0% -50% 1.82 2.0 -100% 1.68 1.60 1.5 -150% -200% 1.0 -250% -300% ‘Over 1,200MW being produced through wind’ As many as 24 Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in Sindh are generating 1,235MW through wind energy. An additional 610MW from wind energy would be generated by 12 IPPs including 300MW power generation through four Chinese consortium companies under CPEC. Dawn. Pakistan seeks four LNG cargoes Pakistan LNG Ltd (PLL) is seeking four shipments of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) for delivery in Jul’22, with bids to be sent in by 23rd Jun’22. Pakistan plans to seek a deferred payment plan for LNG bought under long-term deals with Qatar. Dawn. Foreign investment falls 5% in 11MFY22 The country received a total of $ 1,596.8Mn during 11M-FY22 against an inflow of $ 1,679.2Mn in 11M-FY21, reflecting a decline of 4.9%. Inflows in May’22, however, declined by 29% to $ 141.2Mn compared to $ 199.2Mn in May’21. Dawn. PrintPak expo to start from Sept 3 A three-day printing, packaging, and graphic arts exhibition will start from 3rd Sep’22 at the Karachi Expo Center, where local and foreign companies from around the world will take part by showing their products and innovations. The News. 0.5 -350% 0.0 -400% FY20 FY21 11M-FY20 11M-FY21 11M-FY22 Source: KCCI Research; SBP Note If any member is facing any issues pertaining to PakistanAfghanistan investment and trade policies or has project proposals is requested to share the information at secretary@kcci.com.pk for forwarding to the Board of Investment.