Pakistan Daily Economy Update - 10 May

Transcription

1. May . 10, 2018 KCCI - eBulletin Sindh govt. to present budget today The Sindh govt. is to present the provincial budget today (10th May) in the Sindh Assembly. CM Sindh Murad Ali Shah, who also has the charge of Finance Minister, will be present the budget. BR. Legislators admit standing committee on finance has failed to address issues After serving for almost five years on the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance, legislators have admitted that the parliamentary forum was useless in addressing issues of public interest, due to cold shoulder given by bureaucrats and powerful economic ministers. Lamentably, this realization came just three weeks before the end of their term. During the past five years, a majority of the committee members and its chairman enjoyed privileges attached with the membership. Mohammad Ibrahim, a member of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry who flew from Karachi in a bid to sway the govt.’s decision of changing the tax structure for commercial importers from FY19, questioned that if the parliament is supreme then why is the standing committee apologetic before the govt. departments. He said that it is surprising for the business community that the bureaucracy did not listen to the parliament. PTI’s MNA Asad Umar also opposed the change in the tax structure for commercial importers. He argued that this change will expose the commercial importers to audit by the FBR. Tribune. Governor announces four new federally-funded projects for Karachi Sindh Governor Mohammad Zubair has announced four big development projects for Karachi under a special package of the federal govt. The ground-breaking of these proposed development projects would be performed in the coming weeks. The projects include the construction of three flyovers at a total cost of PKR 2.35Bn at the intersections of Sakhi Hassan, Five Star Chowrangi and the Board Office, the construction of Manghopir Road in two phases at a cost of PKR 3.5Bn, a PKR 860Mn project for Nishtar Road, and a PKR 1.9Bn project to revamp the firefighting system of the city. Besides these projects, the federal govt. would also fund the construction of a hospital and a medical college at the University of Karachi with a cost of PKR 860Mn. However, Zubair said, approval for this project is yet to be given by ECNEC. The News. New textile package on the cards PM Abbasi has assured that the new textile package will be announced within the next couple of days. Talking to businessmen, he said that the govt. is already trying its best to clear the pending refund claims and hopefully, the issue would be resolved within May’18. Commenting on the gas infrastructure development cess, he said that efforts are already being made to settle the issue without any unnecessary delay. Tribune. Senate body finalises budget proposals The Senate has implicitly accepted the govt.’s right to present budget for FY19, as it withdrew a recommendation that sought to limit the its right to present the new budget for only four months. It unanimously adopted a report of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance on Finance Bill 2018 and the Annual Budget Statement for FY19. The Committee had received 175 recommendations on the new budget that it discussed threadbare during past ten days. In case of the Finance Bill, the Senate recommendations are not binding but its report on the budget is seen as the voice of the house of the federation. Tribune. Finance minister assures banks of revisiting super tax Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has assured the banking sector of revisiting the super tax and other measures proposed in the budget for FY19. During a meeting with senior officials of various banks, he said that the govt. would accord due consideration to the proposals put forth by the banks and accommodate them to the extent possible. The News. Pakistan joins WTO bloc to further free trade Pakistan has joined a group of 41 developing and developed countries to support a multilateral trading system for global economic stability, prosperity and development. The rare block emerged in the wake of recent trade restrictive measures by US President Donald Trump. Pakistan’s Ambassador to World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Tauqir Shah, said that the country has played a key role to put together this group in support of a multilateral system. The members include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China and Malaysia amongst others. Dawn. Seven directors appointed on PSX board with strings SECP has appointed seven independent directors on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) board with certain conditions on three of \ them. Out of the seven new directors, Moin M Fudda and Shehzad Chamdia were also the part of the previous PSX board. However, the SECP has imposed a condition on Mr Chamdia that his membership on the board is subject to confirmation for acceptance of his resignation by CDC and its subsidiaries. Ms Naz Khan has been appointed at the female’s reserved seat. The other members are Syed Masoud Ali Naqvi, Sulaiman Sadruddin Mehdi, Amjad Pervez – subject to the condition that he will resign from the post of adviser to Pearl Securities Ltd. Mr Husain Lawai has been appointed along with the condition that in case the sale of Summit Capital (Pvt) Ltd does not materialize till 31st Aug, he will resign either from the PSX board or from the board of Summit Bank. Dawn. KCCI proposes to improve ‘Doing Business Ranking’ to reap benefits of CPEC The Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI),has proposed that the Doing Business Ranking should be improved drastically by taking concrete steps where the rankings should be improved by almost 50 ranks in order to reap the benefits of CPEC. Amongst other measures, the Chamber proposed to reduce the number of days to register for Professional Tax with the Excise and taxation department, SESSI, EOBI, District Labor Department from a total of 2-4 weeks to 1 or 2 days at maximum altogether. It proposed it to be done through a single window online portal which should eventually be integrated with the federal agencies. BR. Haveli Bahadur Shah: LNG-based power plant starts running at highest efficiency Minister for Power Division Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari has announced that the 1,230MW RLNG-based power project at Haveli Bahadur Shah has started electricity production, having the world’s highest efficiency rate of 62.5%. Tribune. Opposition decries giving ‘licence to kill’ to emergency vans’ drivers in new bill The Sindh Assembly has passed into law a bill to facilitate the movement of emergency vehicles, including ambulances, on the road. However, the opposition has raised objections to a provision in the law which its lawmakers said gave a virtual license to kill to drivers of such vehicles. The opposition has objected to a sub-section which states that no driver of an emergency vehicle shall be convicted of an offence punishable under sub-section (1) if he was responding to an emergency and was not exceeding the limit of 80 km/hrs. The News. SBP issues Electronic Fund Transfer regulations to protect consumers, ensure transparency The SBP has issued Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) regulations to promote EFTs in the country, ensure consumer protection and payment transparency by standardizing EFT and setting uniform regulations, policy and procedures, applicable to Authorized Financial Institutions AFIs, Payment System Operators /Payment Service Providers operating in the country. The regulations would be applicable from 1st Oct’18. Daily Times. Economic Indicators List of Indicators Date / Period Unit Value Change Daily 9-May 115.62 118.20 0.00% 0.47% Crude (JU'18) 9-May 9-May 9-May 9-May PKR PKR Pts. $ Mn $/bbl 43,795 -4.89 71.28 -0.62% NM** 1.64% Gold (MY'18) Gold (10g) Local 9-May 9-May $/oz PKR 1,312.6 49,628 -0.20% 0.43% Silver (MY'18) Cotton(KHI)-40 kg 9-May 9-May $/oz PKR 16.46 8,038 0.00% -1.31% Kibor-6M 9-May % 6.51 $ Bn 17.71 -0.01% WoW 3.40% Remittances 27-Apr FY18 Jul-Mar 18 $ Bn 14.61 YoY 3.55% Exports* Imports* Jul-Mar 18 Jul-Mar 18 $ Bn $ Bn 17.08 44.38 13.08% 15.57% USD-Interbank USD-Open MKT KSE-100 index FIPI Forex Reserves Jul-Mar 18 Trade Balance* $ Bn -27.30 Jul-Mar 18 Current Account $ Mn -12,029 Foreign Direct Inv. $ Bn 2.09 Jul-Mar 18 Jul-Feb 18 LSM Growth* % 6.24 % 3.70 Jul-Apr 18 Avg. CPI Discount Rate % 6.00 Mar-18 WoW= Sources: KCCI Research, PMEXweek , NCCPL, KSE, SBP, PBS* ** Not Meaningful on week; -17.18% -50.55% 4.44% Major Currencies 175 GBP, 9-May-18, 156.7 165 155 145 EUR, 9-May-18, 137.2 135 125 115 USD, 9-May-18, 115.7 105 95 May-17 USD Aug-17 GBP EUR Nov-17 Feb-18 Source: KCCI Research ; Oanda.com Quote of the Day "The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing." Walt Disney Chart of the Day BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF FEDERAL BUDGETED RESOURCES - FY19 (PKR BN) External Resources, 1,118 , 23% Estimated Provincial Surplus, 286 , 6% Net Revenue Receipts, 3,070 , 62% Net Capital Receipts, 443 , 9% Source: KCCI Research, MoF 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