Pakistan Daily Economy Update - 25 January

Transcription

1. Jan 24-25 , 2021 KCCI - eBulletin Business community rejects increase in power tariff BMG Chairman and former President KCCI Zubair Motiwala, KCCI president Shariq Vohra, and Chairman Pakistan Apparel Forum Muhammad Jawed Bilwani have appealed PM Imran Khan and his economic aides to take back the totally unwise and ill-timed decisions to raise electricity tariff by 15% and closedown captive power plants. This decision would not only have a devastating impact on the export-oriented industries but would also terribly disturb the local production of general industries, besides sabotaging all the efforts being made by the govt. to enhance the exports. The industries have communicated to KCCI that their fundamental right guaranteed by the constitution must not be usurped and it is the industrial lawful right to get the gas for their captive power plants of to operate their industries. If the gas is discontinued one-sidedly, the industrialists reserve their legitimate right to invoke Article 199 of the constitution and approach the court of law to safeguard their lawful rights and legitimate businesses. BR-Mon. JAZZ, KCCI sign MoU KCCI and JAZZ (Pakistan Mobile Communication Limited -PMCL) have signed a MoU according to which JAZZ will be providing a 35% discount to KCCI members on bill amount excluding tax. The MoU was signed by President KCCI M. Shariq Vohra and Regional Head B2B Sales Jazz Asim Irshad at a simple yet impressive ceremony held at KCCI. As per the MoU which immediately became effective, JAZZ and KCCI agreed to form a business relationship whereby KCCI Members shall be able to avail certain discounts on GSM offer and Data usage plus devices upon execution of a service contract between JAZZ and the respective KCCI Member(s) including existing customers who are valid members of KCCI. BR-Sun. No new tax imposed, FBR clarifies FBR has clarified that no new tax has been imposed on the IT Services and IT Enabled Services and the recent SRO 77 (I)/2021 dated 21st Jan’21 has been issued as a clarification to end dispute between the tax authorities and the taxpayers on the definition of IT and IT Enabled services. The FBR stated that IT and IT Enabled Services were subject to 16% Sales Tax since Jul’15 under Islamabad Capital Territory (Tax on Services) Ordinance, 2001. Later, FBR reduced the rate of Sales Tax on these services to 5% vide SRO 781 (I)/2018 dated 21st Jun’18. BR-Sun. FBR collects PKR 32Bn from profits on bank deposits in first half FBR has seen income tax collection from profit on bank deposits rise 15% to PKR 32Bn during 1HFY21 as compared to PKR 28Bn in 1HFY20, as investors preferred to keep their savings in the banking system amid the coronavirus turmoil. The News-Sun. Reward for whistleblowers notified by FBR FBR has notified rules for a claim of reward for detection, recovery of evaded tax, meritorious services and extraordinary performance of tax officials through a Revenue Division notification SRO78 of 2021. Under these rules, the informer or whistleblower will have to get registered for the purpose of being an informer and provide information in the shape of concrete evidence which leads to detection of tax evasion, formulation of assessment, reassessment, and eventual recovery of the evaded tax. Dawn-Sun. Dawood vows sharp cut in duties on material not produced locally Expressing the resolve to facilitate trade and industry, Advisor on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood has said that the regulatory duty and additional duty on those raw materials will be abolished which are not being produced locally. He said that banking agreements with Afghanistan and Uzbekistan are well on the way. Trade with these countries will be regularized and become smooth once these agreements are finalized, he added. BR-Sun. Private sector borrowing up by 65% in December Private sector borrowing from banks — said to be the most important macro indicator — went up sharply by over 65% in Dec’20. Private sector borrowed PKR 215.5Bn from banks since Jul’20 to 8th Jan’21 compared with PKR 130.2Bn in the same period last year. One of the reasons for higher borrowing by the private sector was the drastic cut in interest rate while banks also received record growth in their deposits. Dawn-Sun. OGRA invites firms for CNG licenses After a gap of almost 12 years, Ogra has officially lifted the ban on issuing new licenses to set up CNG filling stations, however, the new stations have been barred from using natural gas. Ogra has initiated the process to invite applications with a clear warning that the raw material to be used will only be RLNG. Tribune-Sun. SBP’s damage-control efforts SBP has deferred loans of PKR 657Bn as part of its measures to manage the pandemic. Dawn-Mon. \ Buildings survey task force formed to check firefighting measures The district administration of Karachi South has established a task force to check fire prevention and safety measures in high-rise buildings and commercial establishments in the business district of the city to determine the causes of frequent fire incidents and suggest corrective measures. It was also decided that building/site plans shall only be approved where buildings have fire safety mechanism in the structures. Dawn-Sun. KMC to spend PKR 220Mn on flyover repairs, street lights Karachi Metropolitan Corporation has decided to replace an expansion joint of the Native Jetty Flyover, install street lights and raise a boundary wall at a cost of PKR 220Mn. The News-Sun. Economic Indicators List of Indicators Date / Period Unit Value Change Daily USD-Interbank USD-Open MKT 22-Jan 22-Jan PKR PKR 160.75 160.65 0.08% 0.02% KSE-100 index FIPI 22-Jan 22-Jan Pts. $ Mn 45,868 -0.61 -0.25% NM** Crude (AP'19) 22-Jan $/bbl 52.27 0.10% Gold (MA'19) 22-Jan $/oz 1,856.1 -0.38% Gold (10g) Local 22-Jan PKR 96,708 -0.53% Silver (MA'19) 22-Jan $/oz 25.50 -0.35% Cotton(KHI)-40 kg 22-Jan PKR 11,574 0.00% Kibor-6M 22-Jan % 7.35 -0.01% Forex Reserves 15-Jan $ Bn 20.12 WoW -1.94% Remittances Jul-Dec 20 $ Bn 14.20 24.89% Exports* Jul-Dec 20 $ Bn 12.10 4.98% Imports* Jul-Dec 20 $ Bn 24.52 5.72% Trade Balance* Jul-Dec 20 $ Bn -12.42 -6.44% Current Account Foreign Direct Inv. Jul-Dec 20 Jul-Dec 20 $ Bn $ Bn 1.13 0.95 155.66% -29.82% YoY Jul-Nov 20 LSM Growth* % 7.41 % 8.63 Jul-Dec 20 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, 24-Jan-21, 219.8 225 215 205 195 EUR, 24-Jan-21, 195.5 185 175 165 155 145 USD Jan-20 GBP Apr-20 USD, 24-Jan-21, 160.7 Source: KCCI Research ; Oanda.com EUR Jul-20 Oct-20 Jan-21 Quote of the Day “You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.” C.G. Jung Expected 2020 Real GDP growth in South Asia -6.7 South Asia Pak-China OFC Project Phase-II gets ECNEC approval ECNEC has approved PKR 37.9Bn worth Pak-China Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) Project Phase II. The project will pave the way for establishment of Cross-Border OFC network (Khunjerab-Karachi) along CPEC routes and will provide alternate path for international connectivity through Northern Border of Pakistan with China and would transform Pakistan as a Digital Gateway of regional connectivity. The Nation-Mon. Bangladesh 2 Bhutan 0.7 Govt, IPPs ink ‘initial’ agreements The govt. and around two dozen IPPs are said to have initialled the agreements, subject to approval from the boards and govt. of Pakistan. The govt. has also conveyed its consent to pay 40% of PKR 450Bn as a first instalment soon after the signing of final agreements whereas 60% will be paid in one go during FY22. Govt. will pay some portion of amount in cash to the IPPs, while PIB and Sukuk will be given as instruments. BRMon. Pakistan Despite go-ahead by PM twice: Textile Policy 2020-25 in the doldrums Even after go-ahead given by PM Imran Khan twice, approval of Textile Policy 2020-25 is still in doldrums as many important economic ministers, SAPMs are showing defiance by opposing the policy tooth and nail. Some ECC members are not ready to accord approval to the Textile Policy which ensures electricity tariff at 7.5 cents per unit for five years and RLNG supply at $ 6.5 per MMBTU. The News-Sun. Oil import bill declines 22.23% in first half The country’s oil import bill has witnessed a 22.23% reduction during 1HFY21 to $ 4.77Bn as against the imports of $ 6.14Bn in 1HFY20. The commodities that contributed to the decline of the oil import bill included petroleum products, the imports of which decreased 16.30% to $ 2.16Bn. The News-Sun. Pharmaceutical exports increase 23.62% in 1st half of FY2020-21 The exports of pharmaceutical products from the country have witnessed an increase of 23.62% to $ 138.75Mn during 1HFY21 as compared to $ 112.24Mn in 1HFY20. In terms of quantity, the exports of pharmaceutical products also increased by 31.61% by going up from 7,428 metric tons to 9,776 metric tons. The Nation-Sun. Nepal 0.2 -1.5 Afghanistan -5.5 Sri Lanka -6.7 India -9.6 Maldives -21.5 -25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0 Source: KCCI Research; World Bank 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. 5