Day: September 27, 2021

The payment of sales tax on services has crossed over Rs. 25 billion against 26,000 transactions through ePay Punjab, a Mobile Application developed by Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB).

The ePay Punjab has collected a staggering Rs. 2 billion+ revenue against six million transactions from online traffic challan payments. The online traffic challan payment through e-Pay Punjab is currently available in Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, and Multan. This was informed during a progress review meeting on Monday.

Addressing the meeting, Chairman PITB Azfar Manzoor stated that ePay efficiently facilitated the citizens during the ongoing pandemic. “Citizens are able to make tax payments from the comfort of their homes while practicing social distancing,” he remarked.

Director-General IT Operation, PITB, Faisal Yousaf and other senior officials also attended the meeting.

Currently, ePay Punjab is offering online tax payment of 21 levies for 10 departments, and it has, to date, collected total revenue of PKR 44 billion+.

The ePay Punjab is a flagship project of PITB executed in collaboration with the Punjab Finance Department. Automation of online tax payment system through ePay Punjab has increased the government collections by enabling the citizens to make online payments on the spot or at their own convenience.

Source: Pro Pakistani

The enhancement of Minimum Support Price (MSP), along with a number of other measures taken by the government, has yielded results by helping the country harvest the highest crop of 27.5 million metic tons.

Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam made these remarks while chairing a meeting of the Wheat Review Committee on Wheat Crop of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research on Monday.

Representatives of all provincial food departments, PASSCO, and senior officials of NFS&R attended the meeting. The minister was apprised of the latest wheat production estimates, wheat stock positions, wheat carry forward and procurement progress, and updates on wheat release price and MSP.

The Minister said that every year, almost five to six million people were added to the country’s population, which increased the total demand for wheat in the country. He added that by managing the controllable factors, including the availability of high-quality, rust-resistant, and certified seed, effective utilization of water, and proper usage of fertilizers and pesticides, the overall production of wheat can be significantly increased. He stressed that both the overall area under cultivation and the per hectare yield needed to be increased.

Federal Minister sensitized the provincial food departments about the need for timely finalization of the MSP. He emphasized that MSP should be finalized before the sowing season of wheat in order to make it effective. He was briefed that the provinces had submitted their MSP proposals and were awaiting cabinet approvals.

Fakhar Imam was briefed that Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had finalized their wheat release policies at Rs. 1950/40 kg, whereas the retail price would be Rs. 1100/20 kg. He was further told that Sindh was yet to get final approval from the provincial cabinet for its wheat release policy.

The Federal Minister was apprised by the provincial agricultural departments of the latest production figures of wheat. Punjab’s production, he was told, was estimated at 20.9 MMT, and Sindh’s production at 4.04 MMT, whereas the KPK and GB production estimates stood at 1.45 and 1.15 MMTs. The total wheat stock available with Punjab stands at 3.86 MMT, Sindh’s at 1.26 MMT, KPK’s at 0.18 MMT, and Baluchistan’s at 0.085 MMT, he was informed.

Fakhar Imam said that the government was focusing on the availability of certified seed and for the upcoming season, around 530,000 metric tons would be available including 160,000 tons rust-tolerant varieties.

Fakhar stressed the need for announcing the MSP well before the start of the sowing season. He said that a variety of factors, including an enhancement of MSP from Rs. 1,400 to Rs. 1,800, favorable weather conditions, availability of certified seed (513,000 ton), availability of fertilizers and irrigation water, etc, helped the country achieve a historic production, as it had the highest wheat yield of 27.5 million tons.

Fakhar Imam said that the government planned to formulate a policy, under which all the stakeholders would be heard and all their concerns to be addressed. He announced that an informed policy would be made before the sowing season to enhance wheat productivity and overall production. He made an assurance about Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJ&K) that the federal government was fully willing to supply wheat to the wheat deficit areas from the PASSCO’s stock.

Source: Pro Pakistani

Esther Perez Ruiz, the nominated Resident Representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), paid a courtesy call on Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin at the Finance Division on Monday.

Ruiz, currently visiting Pakistan on a pre-assignment mission, was accompanied by the outgoing IMF representative Ms. Teresa Sanchez. The Finance Minister felicitated the nominated Resident Representative and expressed his best wishes for her upcoming assignment beginning in November 2021.

Finance Minister stated that Pakistan was firmly committed to pursuing an all-inclusive and sustainable economic growth with a focus on a “bottom-up” approach to uplift marginalized segments of the society. “To this end, the government intends to engage development partners to broaden economic development through fiscal consolidation and prudent economic measures amid the COVID-19 pandemic and in the post-COVID-19 scenario,” he underlined. He commended IMF for extending timely assistance during testing times.

The Finance Minister underlined the key initiatives of the government to provide maximum relief to the masses. He stressed that the government was taking a range of administrative, policy, and relief measures to absorb the upward pressure on prices of basic food commodities due to the pandemic.

The government has adopted a multi-pronged strategy to enhance revenue collection and to broaden the existing tax base, he said. He highlighted the commendable performance of FBR in surpassing revenue collection targets in recent months despite the ongoing COVID-19. The broadening of the tax base is one of the key priorities of the government, he added.

The Finance Minister assured the IMF representatives that the government was committed to the IMF program and it hoped to successfully complete the upcoming review as well as Article IV consultations. He said the implementation of track and trace for tobacco was being started from October 1, 2021, as it was one of the requirements under the IMF Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program. He stated that reforms were being carried out in the power sector to address the issue of circular debt. It is worth mentioning that Pakistan is in IMF’s extended fund facility EFF program since July 2019 for 6 billion dollars.

The new representative of IMF commended the efforts of Pakistan in managing the spread of the virus through a series of smart and targeted lockdowns to strike a balance between lives and livelihoods. She expressed a hope to work closely with the Government of Pakistan during her tenure.

The Finance Minister assured Ms. Ruiz of full support and facilitation from the government and wished her well with her new assignment.

Source: Pro Pakistani

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is all set to conduct a spectrum auction in the 1800 MHz band in Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJ&K) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) on Tuesday.

All of the four cellular mobile operators of Pakistan, viz. Jazz, Telenor, Zong, and Ufone, have been notified as qualified bidders and they would participate in the auction process. The auction would start at 10:30 am at PTA headquarters and would continue until all the auction proceedings and processes are completed.

The base price for a 2×1 MHz (1 MHz paired) spectrum in 1800 MHz band is $0.87 million. However, no auction would be conducted in the 2100 MHz band in AJ&K and GB and the spectrum would be awarded to the single bidder i.e., Telenor Pakistan at a base price of $0.87 million.

PTA had invited applications from cellular mobile operators for 16 MHz paired spectrum in the 1800 MHz band, and 30 MHz paired spectrum in the 2100 MHz band for technology-neutral Next Generation Mobile Service (NGMS) in AJ&K and GB.

The current spectrum auction will provide improved quality of service to the consumers of AJ&K and GB and enhance coverage footprint for Voice and Data services. This will positively impact the tourism sector of AJ&K and GB. Total revenue generated and final auction results will be declared after completion of the auction on September 28, 2021.

PTA is conducting the auction process with the assistance of internationally reputed consultant JV Telconet/ Frontier Economics who was onboard since April 2021 and conducted thorough consultation with the cellular industry and other stakeholders.

Source: Pro Pakistani