Pakistan Daily Economy Update - 26 September

Transcription

1. Sep . 26, 2017 KCCI - eBulletin Four new highways to be built under CPEC in Balochistan Under CPEC, four new highways would be constructed in Balochistan that would link far-flung areas of province with the rest of the country and help bring about economic revolution. The CPEC Joint Working Group on Transport Infrastructure has approved financial assistance for the construction of these roads. The total cost of this 210km long four lane highway has been estimated PKR 81Bn and work for land acquisition has already been initiated. Similarly, under the CPEC, work on 110 kilometer Khuzdar- Baseema road would also be initiated this year with total cost of PKR 20Bn. The Nation. PKR 278.4Mn revenue generated from trademarks registration While delivering a presentation during his visit to the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), Registrar Trademarks, Intellectual Property Organization Pakistan, Aftab Khan has said that a sum of PKR 278.4Mn revenue was generated from registration of trademarks during FY17 as compared to PKR 244.5Mn of FY16, which indicates an increase of 13%. During the meeting, Registrar informed that the registry faces immense issues due to shortage of staff which is the basic reason for the delays being suffered by the applicants. The Nation. Canada’s GSP, NAFTA pushes up Pak trade deficit Pakistan has been cultivating trade deficits in its bilateral trade relationship with Canada for several years as the as it does not treat imports from Pakistan under tariff preferential schemes. Annual trade between the two countries staggers below US$ 1Bn, a little over 1% of Pakistan’s total trade volume of around $ 74Bn. Pakistani authorities have told their Canadian counterparts that the lower exports to Canada were due to its preferential trade with US and Mexico under NAFTA as well as GSP, granted only to the World Bank-designated least developing countries, including Bangladesh – Pakistan’s arch rival in foreign textile markets. The News. Pakistan guns to complete China FTA by December The government has asked China to expedite the second FTA and conclude the process by Dec’17. Delegations from both countries has already met in Beijing for the 8th round of negotiations on the FTA. Pakistan now hopes to sign the final agreement before the end of the year. Dawn. Miftah taking policy decisions Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has not completely ended speculations of his imminent resignation. However, the routine affairs of the Ministry of Economic Affairs are being dealt with by the bureaucracy while policy decisions are being taken by Miftah Ismail, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Economic Affairs Division. The Minister has also been conspicuously absent from all important meetings relating to the economy. BR. Provincial ST on services: towel makers seek federal government’s help Home textile - makers have sought the federal govt.’s help over the absence of any procedure for refund of provincial sales tax on services, saying FBR continues to pile up billions of rupees of the cash-starved sector, unreasonably. Provincial revenue authorities are demanding provincial sales tax on services which are not refunded by the FBR as no procedure has been outlined clearly and this is increasing the cost of doing business. The refundable amount of sales tax, custom rebate and provincial sales tax amount is now over PKR 350Bn. BR. Economic Indicators List of Indicators Date / Period Unit Value Change Daily Crude (NO'17) Gold (OC'17) Gold (10g) Local Silver (OC'17) Cotton(KHI)-40 kg Kibor-6M 25-Sep 25-Sep 25-Sep 25-Sep 25-Sep 25-Sep 25-Sep 25-Sep 25-Sep 25-Sep PKR PKR Pts. $ Mn $/bbl $/oz PKR $/oz PKR % 105.42 106.00 42,744 4.68 52.12 1,309.2 44,742 17.13 6,537 6.16% Forex Reserves 15-Sep $ Bn 20.10 0.00% 0.09% -0.02% NM** 2.76% 1.47% 0.09% 1.15% 0.00% -0.01% WoW -2.36% YoY 13.18% 11.80% 24.85% -33.52% -102.10% 154.74% USD-Interbank USD-Open MKT KSE-100 index FIPI Jul-Aug 17 Remittances $ Bn 3.50 Jul-Aug 17 Exports* $ Bn 3.50 Jul-Aug 17 Imports* $ Bn 9.79 Jul-Aug 17 Trade Balance* $ Bn -6.29 Jul-Aug 17 Current Account $ Mn -2,601 Foreign Direct Inv. $ Bn 0.46 Jul-Aug 17 Jul-17 LSM Growth* % 12.98 % 3.41 Jul-Aug 17 Avg. CPI-FY18* Discount Rate % 5.75 Jul-17 WoW= week Sources: KCCI Research, PMEX , NCCPL, KSE, SBP, PBS* ** Not Meaningful on week; Major Currencies 155 Foreign investors demand release of PKR46Bn tax refunds Foreign investors have urged FBR to release the stuck refunds to the tune of PKR 46Bn on a priority basis to help them avert their liquidity problems. The refunds constitute about 4.5% of total tax and levies paid by foreign investors in 2016. The News. 135 Second LNG terminal delayed for third time Pakistan LNG Terminal Limited (PLTL), is presently under alleged government pressure to waive $ 50Mn penalty it has imposed on the contractor for delaying the completion of the country’s second LNG terminal at Port Qasim. The PLTL which is a public sector entity being run under control of the Ministry of Energy, is supervising the LNG terminal project being client while the Pakistan GasPort Consortium Limited (PGPC) is working as contractor. Dawn. 115 Rabi season: country likely to face 20-24% water shortage In a technical committee meeting, it has been disclosed that Pakistan is expected to face 20-24% water shortage during Rabi season (Oct.’17 - Mar.’18). However, the final figures of shortage in Rabi season will be finalized at a meeting of Irsa's Advisory Committee to be held on Sept. 29, 2017. BR. Sugar export: subsidy to be shared by governments ECC has decided that subsidy of PKR 5Bn on export of 0.5Mn tons of sugar will be shared by federal and provincial govt. on a 50:50 basis. The price differential between the domestic cost of sugar production and the international price of sugar is PKR 10.70/kg, which may form \ the basis of subsidy to sugar exporters. The amount of subsidy will be given on a sliding scale between the international price of $ 376/MT (as on Sept. 8, 2017) and $ 499/MT i.e., once the price reaches the level of $ 499/MT in international market, SBP would stop the subsidy. BR. GBP, 25-Sep-17, 142.5 145 125 EUR, 25-Sep-17, 125.4 105 95 Sep-16 USD PKR 141.17Bn released for development projects The government has released over PKR 141.17Bn under its PSDP for FY18 for various ongoing and new schemes against their total allocations of PKR 1,001Bn. The released funds include PKR 37.63Bn for federal ministries and PKR 15.31Bn for special areas. Dawn. Aramco IPO to go ahead in 2018 Saudi Finance Minister has told bond investors during a presentation that IPO of Saudi state oil giant Aramco will proceed as planned in 2018, which could raise around $100Bn through 5% offering. Saudi Arabia held the global investor call in preparation for a potential third international bond issuance, having issued a $ 17.5Bn international bond last year and a $ 9Bn Sukuk in April. Dawn. Auto sector set to make big gains from CPEC The demand for four-wheel vehicles will rise from 0.25 Mn to 0.5 Mn in Pakistan within the next 12 years, said a report by SMEDA. CPEC will bring a lot of opportunities for the auto sector. This in turn will benefit the transport warehousing and freight forwarding services by further expanding the auto and logistics sector. Tribune. EUR Mar-17 Jun-17 Sep-17 Source: KCCI Research ; Oanda.com Quote of the Day "My favorite things in life don't cost any money. It's really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time." Steve Jobs Chart of the Day Apex court’s ruling in favor of pensioners to cost NBP PKR 48Bn A decision by the Supreme Court in favor of the pensioners of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) will cost the bank approximately PKR 47.7Bn. NBP said in a stock notice the Supreme Court dismissed its multiple civil appeals in pension-related cases filed by some of its retired employees and maintained the judgment of the Lahore High Court. Dawn. Oil imports surge 35% to $ 2Bn The country’s oil import bill rose nearly 35% YoY to $ 2.03Bn in 2MFY18. The share of oil in Pakistan’s total import bill in period was 21%, which is putting more pressure on the country’s balance of payments. Official figures compiled by PBS show that import of petroleum products went up 19% in value. However, 58% growth was recorded in terms of quantity of petroleum products. In the petroleum group, the import bill of LNG surged 59% while that of LPG recorded growth of 83% during the period under review. Dawn. Dec-16 GBP USD, 25-Sep-17, 105.5 Central Government Debt 7.58 Long Term-Domestic 4.61 5.00 Short Term-Domestic 6.55 4.67 5.24 5.83 Long Term-External 0.10 0.18 0.09 Short Term-External Value in PKR Tn 8.62 8.30 2.00 Jun'15 4.00 Jun'16 6.00 Jun'17 8.00 10.00 Source: KCCI Research, SBP Disclaimer This report has been prepared by KCCI Research & Development Cell. The information India must not be allowed to build spillways below DSL: Senate body contained herein have been compiled or arrived at based upon information obtained from Senate Water Resources’ Standing Committee has recommended that India should not be allowed to build spillways below Dead Storage sources believed to be reliable and in good faith. Such information has not been independently Level (DSL) in projects currently under construction on the Western rivers under the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) 1960. Joint Secretary of verified. newly created Ministry of Water Resources, Mehr Ali Shah informed an upper House panel that the World Bank is the signatory to a few 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 clauses of Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) and not the entire Treaty signed on Sept. 19, 1960. BR. accuracy. Contact: res@kcci.com.pk