Pakistan Daily Economy Update - 11 March

Transcription

1. March 11 , 2021 KCCI - eBulletin List of Indicators Date / Period USD-Interbank USD-Open MKT 10-Mar KE consumers to get PKR 2.35Bn fuel cost benefit Nepra has notified fuel cost adjustments (FCAs) for K-Electric for 11 months - Jul’19 to May’20 — involving a net relief of PKR 2.36Bn to consumers. According to Nepra’s determinations, FCAs increased for six out of 11 months to a maximum of PKR 1.21 per unit while reduced for five months with a maximum reduction of PKR 2.13 per unit. The regulator decided to pass on the impact of these adjustments in three months i.e. Mar-May’21. Dawn. GST removal on locally-assembled units: Samsung, OPPO may start manufacturing cellphones M/s Samsung and M/s OPPO are likely to start local assembly in Pakistan soon after removal of sales tax on locally assembled mobiles from above $ 200 category. Mobile Device Manufacturing Policy 2020 was approved by the ECC in May’20 and ratified by the Cabinet in Jun’20. The policy provides sufficient advantage to the local manufacturing of mobile phones especially below $ 200 category in comparison with imports in completely built condition. M/s VIVO, M/s Airlink Communications, M/s Inovi Telecom are amongst the new investors in local assembly of mobile phones that have already started their trial production in Feb’21. BR. Oil prices to go up as ECC okays increase in margins of OMCs, dealers ECC has approved to revise upwards the margins of oil marketing companies (OMCs) and dealers on petroleum products on the basis of 85% of the latest average core inflation with immediate effect, and directed to expedite a study by PIDE. This would increase the oil prices in the country. The Nation. IMF approval likely by March 24 IMF may finally revive Pakistan’s stalled loan program on 24th Mar’21 as the govt. rushes to show progress on over two-and-a-halfdozen conditions after keeping those pending for over a year. The approval of four reviews and readjustment of deadlines to deliver on some of the pending conditions would pave the way for the release of the 3rd loan tranche of $ 500Mn. Pakistan was required to make progress and implement at least 32 major conditions to get the program revived including, giving autonomy to SBP. Tribune. PM Imran Khan launches initiative to feed poor PM Imran Khan has formally launched ‘Ehsaas Koi Bhuka Na Soye’ (No One Sleeps Hungry) initiative. He regretted that there are many areas in Pakistan where people go to bed hungry. He said that the govt. is starting the programme in Islamabad at the moment but it would soon reach other cities as well. He also announced to launch a subsidy programme by June this year under which money will directly be transferred to the accounts of 30Mn families. The Nation. Cut-off yields on T-bills raised by up to 34bps The yield on three-month T-bills was increased by 34 basis points to 7.59% while for the benchmark six-month papers was jacked up by 25 basis points to 7.80%. The govt. has raised PKR 508.6Bn and PKR 150.7Bn from the three- and six-month T-bills auction, respectively. In addition, the govt. also raised PKR 55.6Bn through non-competitive bids, taking total borrowings to PKR 715.4Bn. Dawn. 0.06% 0.06% KSE-100 index FIPI 10-Mar 10-Mar Pts. $ Mn 43,692 0.60 -1.20% NM** Crude (AP'19) 10-Mar $/bbl 64.95 2.46% Gold (MA'19) 10-Mar $/oz 1,732.0 1.08% Gold (10g) Local 10-Mar PKR 87,450 2.43% Silver (MA'19) 10-Mar $/oz 26.22 1.63% Cotton(KHI)-40 kg 10-Mar PKR 13,182 0.00% Kibor-6M 10-Mar % 7.66 0.00% Forex Reserves 26-Feb $ Bn 20.13 WoW 0.46% Remittances Jul-Jan 21 $ Bn 16.48 24.08% Exports* Jul-Feb 21 $ Bn 16.30 4.29% Imports* Jul-Feb 21 $ Bn 33.84 7.49% Trade Balance* Jul-Feb 21 $ Bn -17.54 -10.64% Current Account Foreign Direct Inv. Jul-Jan 21 Jul-Jan 21 $ Bn $ Bn 0.91 1.15 135.85% -27.37% YoY Jul-Dec 20 LSM Growth* % 8.16 % 8.25 Jul-Feb 21 Avg. CPI Discount Rate % 7.00 Jul-20 Sources: KCCI Research, PMEX , NCCPL, KSE, SBP, PBS* ** Not Meaningful, WoW= week on week; YoY=Year on Year Major Currencies 235 GBP, 2-Mar-21, 219.5 225 215 205 195 EUR, 2-Mar-21, 190.0 185 175 165 155 USD, 2-Mar-21, 145 USD Mar-20 GBP Jun-20 EUR Sep-20 158.1 Source: KCCI Research ; Oanda.com Dec-20 Mar-21 Quote of the Day Teach self-denial and make its practice pleasure, and you can create for the world a destiny more sublime that ever issued from the brain of the wildest dreamer. Sir Walter Scott 78.01% 2 1 Pakistan's Domestic Production of Motorcycles 18.11% -7.58% 19.89% 1.93 1.78 -23.12% 1.63 1.37 1.36 100% 17.11% 80% 60% 40% 0.95 1.11 20% 0% -20% 0 -40% in Million Units % Change (RHS) 7M-FY21 Internet, mobile banking services: SBP asks banks not to levy charges In order to promote digitization in the banking sector and encourage use of digital channels, SBP has asked banks not to levy any \ activation, subscription or annual charges on their customers for using Internet Banking (IB)/Mobile Banking (MB) services. According to fresh directives, financial institutions (FIs) currently offering or planning to offer digital financial services will be required to create a role of Chief Digital Officer (CDO) or a similar role with a different designation. The CDO should preferably be a Key Executive responsible for steering the digitization efforts of the organization. BR. 157.13 157.18 7M-FY20 Inactive taxpayers lose access to forex bank accounts Banks have refused to facilitate transactions in foreign exchange accounts of taxpayers whose names don’t appear in active taxpayer list (ATL) because of late filing of returns. Accountholders have been facing the hassle since the issuance of the new ATL for tax year 2020 on 1st Mar’21. According to a bank manager, half of the return filers have become inactive after the new ATL and would need to pay a surcharge to be included in the ATL. Surcharges are PKR 1,000 for individuals, PKR 10,000 for association of persons and PKR 20,000 for company. The News. PKR PKR FY19 Pakistan’s WBL index up 25pts Pakistan has significantly improved its score on entrepreneurship indicator of Woman, Business and the Law (WBL) index, from 50 to 75 points, as per WBL Report 2021. The rise is mainly attributed to reforms introduced by the SECP, enabling women to register a company effectively and promptly. WBL Report is World Bank’s publication that evaluates laws and regulations of 190 countries, in order to identify requirements that restrict women’s economic opportunities. The Nation. 10-Mar FY18 Tax refunds to be paid through automated system of CITRO A Centralized Income Tax Refund Office (CITRO) has been established at FBR in order to facilitate taxpayers by releasing income tax refund payments directly into their bank accounts in an expeditious and transparent manner. This system would eliminate human interaction between the tax authority and taxpayers as well as ensuring quick relief to the business community. The News. Change Daily FY17 Uzbekistan to get access to Gwadar, Karachi ports: PM PM Imran Khan, in a meeting with Uzbekistan’s Foreign Minister Abdlaziz Kamilov, has said that Pakistan would facilitate Uzbekistan to get access to its seaports of Gwadar and Karachi in a bid to enhance regional connectivity and trade. He said Pakistan offered a shortest route to international seas to all Central Asian Republics including Uzbekistan and could prove as a gateway to landlocked Central Asia. Imran Khan expressed Pakistan’s resolve to forge closer ties with Uzbekistan and other countries of Central Asia in areas of trade, investment, energy, and people-to-people exchanges. BR. Value FY16 Ramazan Package-2021: PKR 7.8Bn subsidy approved by ECC ECC has approved PKR 7.8Bn subsidy for Ramadan Relief Package-2021 to provide 19 essential items at relatively lower rate at Utility Store Corporations (USC) during Ramazan. BR. Unit FY20 Mega-projects in Karachi: Utilization of funds stands at 47% According to the figures for development expenditure of Sindh govt. for 1HFY21, provincial govt. released PKR 972Mn out of the total allocation of 1.94Bn. Out of the released amounts, funds utilized totaled 460Mn, which came to 24% and 47% against the total allocation and releases respectively. BR. Source: KCCI Research; PAMA Business Opportunity Members who are interested to do business with companies in Educational institutions in Sindh to remain open: Ghani Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani has said no educational institutions are to be closed in Sindh and the provincial govt. on the Brazil can find opportunities in the following two links: advice of the school education and literacy department’s (SELD) steering committee will continue with the policy of allowing 50% of pupils to come to schools and colleges. The News. English: https://bit.ly/3sLyDeI Urdu: https://bit.ly/3sKSM4G