Pakistan Daily Economy Update - 10 March

Transcription

1. Mar . 10, 2017 KCCI - eBulletin Senate body to discuss Companies Bill on March 16 Senate standing committee on finance and revenue will hold a public hearing on the Companies Bill 2017 on 16th and 17th Mar’17 at the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI). Chairman of the standing committee has said that we are trying to seek proposals, suggestions and recommendations from all the sectors on Companies Bill 2017. The bill proposed a number of changes for the ease of doing business, including incorporation of new companies and low filing requirements. The objective of the public hearing is to consult with all the stakeholders and business community and build a consensus. The News. Sindh Okays PKR 271Bn for KCR revival The Sindh Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) has approved 6 projects costing PKR 273.21Bn which includes PKR 271Bn for the revival of Karachi Circular Railway (KCR). These include restoration of road from Bashirabad Phatak to Salhani Check Post worth PKR 59.7Mn, establishing the 200-bed Shaheed Mohtrama Benazir Bhutto Hospital at Mominabad, Metroville Site Town in Karachi worth PKR 766Mn, surface drainage scheme near Alam Khan Odho Village worth PKR 436.6Mn and restoration of flood and rain damages emergent works worth PKR 460.9Mn. Dawn. FBR collects PKR 700Mn under amnesty for real estate sector FBR has witnessed a phenomenal growth in tax collection from the real estate sector since the announcement of amnesty scheme as the board collected PKR 700Mn under the scheme in past 3 months. FBR said the people availed the amnesty by disclosing PKR 23.3Bn for making transaction of immovable properties between 7th Dec’16 and Feb’17. The News. 7MFY17: change in POL products’ prices caused shortfall in GST collection: FBR FBR, in a meeting of Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet held on Mar. 2, 2017 under the chairmanship of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, has reportedly claimed that the main reason behind the shortfall in sales tax collection during 7MFY17 is a very little change in petroleum products prices. In a meeting, matters pertaining to various economic indicators have been discussed. BR. Battered, beleaguered Sindh: with eye on 2018 polls, PM vows ‘reconstruction’ Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has announced the launch of a new development phase in Sindh and vowed to bring modern basic facilities to its neglected rural areas. In this regard, while addressing a public gathering, Prime Minister announced number of development projects for Thatta, Sajawal and Tando Mohammad Khan aimed at building better road network, healthcare facilities, provision of electricity and natural gas. Similarly, the Prime Minister also announced that PKR 1.1Bn would be spent on the development of these projects. BR. Construction work on 15 CPEC projects initiated: PAC informed The construction work on 15 projects of total 19 power projects has been initiated, of which 12 projects will be completed by the end of 2018 under CPEC. In a presentation to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Water and Power Secretary said that Sindh would get the lion's share of 5,580MW in the energy projects under the CPEC, followed by Punjab, 2,940MW, Balochistan, 1,620MW, AJ&K 1,124MW, whereas KPK would get 870MW under the project. BR. Pak-China venture to offer 3% stakes in power project to Balochistan A joint venture of Pakistani and Chinese companies, developing 1,320MW coal-fired power plants in Hub, has decided to transfer 3% of the project’s stake to the Baluchistan’s govt. Hub Power Company (Hubco) and China Power International Holding (CPIH) formed the joint venture, China Power Hub Generation Company (Pvt.) Ltd, to develop the $ 2.2Bn coal power project. After the completion of this scheme, Hubco will have 47.5%, CPIH 49.5% and government of Balochistan will have 3% in China Power Hub Generation Company. Initially, CPIH held 51% and Hubco 49% stake in China Power Hub Generation Company. The News. PKR 36Bn LNG terminal, pipeline approved The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) has approved 17 projects worth PKR 99.4Bn in transport and communication, energy, water resources, physical planning and food and agriculture sectors. The biggest project, worth PKR 36Bn, was Gwadar-Nawabshah liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal and pipeline project. Prime Minister’s Programme for construction of 46 new hospitals across Pakistan at the cost of PKR 1.3Bn was also approved. Moreover, PKR 19.9Bn project to dualise and improve the Pindigheb-Kohat road was also approved. Dawn. Pakistan to export hybrid rice seed to Philippines Pakistan has struck an unprecedented deal with Philippines for the export of hybrid rice seed to the Southeast Asian nation. Philippines has decided to import hybrid rice seed from Pakistan because the crop raised from this variety is less labor intensive compared to Irri, which is currently being cultivated in the Southeast Asian country. The News. CSF inflows push up forex reserves to $ 22Bn With the arrival of the much-awaited Coalition Support Fund (CSF) inflows, the country's foreign exchange reserves again crossed $ 22Bn mark at the end of last week. According to State Bank, Pakistan's total liquid forex reserves rose by $ 329Mn to reach $ 22.15Bn as on Mar. 3, 2017 compared to $ 21.82Bn on Feb. 24, 2017. During the week under review, the SBP's reserves increased by $ 289Mn to $ 17.14Bn up from $ 16.85Bn. Similarly, reserves held by banks posted an increase of $ 40.3Mn to $ 5.01Bn at the end of last week up from $ 4.97Bn a week earlier. BR. Economic Indicators List of Indicators Date / Period Unit Value Change Daily Crude (AP'17) Gold (MA'17) Gold (10g) Local Silver (MA'17) Cotton(KHI)-40 kg Kibor-6M 9-Mar 9-Mar 9-Mar 9-Mar 9-Mar 9-Mar 9-Mar 9-Mar 9-Mar 9-Mar PKR PKR Pts. $ Mn $/bbl $/oz PKR $/oz PKR % 104.85 106.00 49,392 6.56 49.76 1,204 43,028 16.93 7,272 6.13% Forex Reserves 3-Mar $ Bn 22.15 0.00% -0.70% -0.73% NM** -1.17% -0.49% -0.79% -1.71% 0.00% 0.01% WoW 1.50% YoY -1.86% -3.21% 13.65% -28.68% -90.24% USD-Interbank USD-Open MKT KSE-100 index FIPI Jul-Jan 17 Remittances $ Bn 10.95 Jul-Jan 17 Exports* $ Bn 11.69 Jul-Jan 17 Imports* $ Bn 29.11 Jul-Jan 17 Trade Balance* $ Bn -17.43 Jul-Jan 17 Current Account $ Mn -4,716 % 3.85 Avg. CPI-FY17* Jul-Feb 17 Jan-17 Discount Rate % 5.75 Sources: KCCI Research, PMEX , NCCPL, KSE, SBP, PBS* ** Not Meaningful WoW= week on week; YoY=Year on Year Major Currencies 175 165 155 145 135 125 115 105 95 85 75 Mar-16 GBP, 9-Mar-17, 127.6 EUR, 9-Mar-17, 110.7 USD, 9-Mar-17, 104.9 Jun-16 USD Power generation down by 4%: Nepra The country’s power generation has registered 4% decline in Jan.’17 compared to the previous month owing to lower electricity off-take during the winter season but it grew by 2% over the same period last year. Hydel and Furnace Oil (FO) based generation cumulatively captured 62% of the generation share while RLNG and nuclear based power captured 4% and 5%, respectively, while gas based generation occupied 24% power generation share during the period. Rising FO prices (up 15% YoY in 7MFY17) has augmented the circular debt concerns. 13 IPPs have reportedly called sovereign guarantees on Mar. 3, 2017 to recover outstanding dues amounting to PKR 48Bn within 10 days. The Nation. Govt. to pay PKR 30Bn to IPPs next week: Senate told Water and Power Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif has said that govt. would pay PKR 30Bn to IPPs during next week and that govt. has separate agreement with each IPP. The minister further said that govt. cannot fix the due dates for payment of electricity bills, because due date of billings are in rotation across the country. He said that it is the responsibility of NEPRA to monitor the tariff of IPPs. BR. US disburses $ 550Mn under CSF to Pakistan The United States (US) has disbursed $ 550Mn under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) grant to Pakistan. According to the finance ministry, the Trump administration transferred the funds this month with a fresh tranche of $ 200Mn coming early this week. However, despite the beginning of the process of release of CSF funds, it is unlikely that Islamabad will get $ 1.65Bn in CSF disbursements before the end of Jun’17. Tribune. Sindh Govt. shows interest to work with Belarus in various sectors In a meeting with a six-member delegation of Belarus led by its Industries Minister Vitaly Vovk, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has said that Sindh govt. is interested to work with Belarus govt. and its private sectors in different sectors such as manufacturing, solid waste management, coal mining, energy and exchange of cultural delegation. In this regard, Chief Minister informed the meeting that the Chinese engineers working for Thar mining have already visited Belarus to inspect the mining machinery offerings. BR. Dec-16 Mar-17 Source: KCCI Research ; Oanda.com EUR Quote of the Day “Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” Jack Welch US, equity funds to invest PKR 15.6Bn in Pakistani SMEs The US govt., in partnership with 3 investment funds, is investing PKR 15.6Bn in small and medium-sized businesses under the Pakistan Private Investment Initiative (PPII). USAID Mission Director for Pakistan John Groarke said that this demonstrates the interest of private equity firms and the value of investing in Pakistan. The USAID programme has provided PKR 2.49Bn for each fund with total contribution of nearly PKR 7.5Bn. Tribune. POL consumption declines 15% Pakistan’s total sales of petroleum oil and lubricants clocked in at 1.74Mn tons in Feb’17, down 15% as compared to the sales in Jan’17, while sales volume in 8MFY17 depicted a decent growth of 15% to 16.71Mn tons. The News. Sep-16 GBP Chart of the Day Pakistan's External Debt Servicing 1400 1200 1,257 1,090 992 1000 789 Value 800 600 400 395 289 246 439 200 0 1QFY16 Value in $ Mn 1QFY17 Principal 2QFY16 Interest 2QFY17 Source: KCCI Research, SBP Disclaimer This report has been prepared by KCCI Research & Development Cell. The information contained herein have been compiled or arrived at based upon information obtained from sources believed to be reliable and in good faith. Such information has not been independently verified. icon represents the sole viewpoint of the KCCI R&D Cell, and is stated to enrich the readers' understanding of the news item. The R&D Dept. bears no responsibility for its correctness or accuracy. Contact: res@kcci.com.pk