October 2021 – Page 3 – Business Observer

October 30, 2021

Mohammad Rizwan Equals MS Dhoni’s Wicket-Keeping Record

Pakistan’s wicket-keeper batter Mohammad Rizwan is widely regarded as one of the finest wicket-keepers in the world currently. Rizwan has been exceptional for Pakistan both with the bat and with the gloves behind the stumps.

While Rizwan has earned the plaudits for his magnificent form with the bat over the past year, his glove-work has gone a bit unnoticed. Rizwan’s outstanding wicket-keeping has been one of the highlights of the culture of fielding change in Pakistan and his fitness levels have set the standards for the future cricketing stars in the country.

Rizwan has 39 dismissals to his name in 2021 and has equaled the record of Indian legend, MS Dhoni for most dismissals in a calendar year. Dhoni set the record in 2016 as he dismissed 39 batters in 35 matches. Rizwan has also registered 39 dismissals in the calendar year although he has played two more matches than Dhoni.

The 29-year old will have a chance to break the record of MS Dhoni as Pakistan are scheduled to play at least two more T20I matches in the calendar year. The upcoming two encounters against Namibia and Scotland have already been scheduled while Pakistan is more than likely to play in the semi-final of the mega-event as well. With two more months left in the year, Rizwan can create an unbeatable record if he does play more T20 matches, including domestic and franchise league matches, in the year.

Source: Pro Pakistani

October 30, 2021

Babar Azam Becomes The Fastest Player to Score 1,000 T20I Runs as Captain

Pakistan’s all-format captain, Babar Azam is widely regarded as one of the finest batters in world cricket today. Babar has broken many batting records ever since his international debut in 2015 and he added yet another record to his already illustrious career during last night’s Super 12s encounter against Afghanistan in the 2021 T20 World Cup.

Babar became the fastest batter in the world to score 1,000 runs in T20Is as captain of their national side. Babar took only 26 innings to reach the milestone and broke the record previously held by Indian captain Virat Kohli who had taken 30 innings to score 1,000 runs in the format.

Overall, Babar is the ninth international captain to cross the 1,000 run-mark. Australia’s captain, Aaron Finch has the most runs as captain of an international team, having scored 1,626 runs in 51 innings as captain. Babar on the other hand has scored 1,042 runs at an average of 45.30 in 26 innings as captain.

Babar has been impressive as captain of Pakistan’s T20 side. He has led the Men in Green to their first-ever World Cup victory over their arch-rival India and then followed it up with two more victories against New Zealand and Afghanistan in the 2021 T20 World Cup.

Pakistan has registered three consecutive victories and has planted one foot into the semi-finals of the competition. Their next matches in the Super 12s stage are against Namibia and Scotland.

Source: Pro Pakistani

October 30, 2021

Thousands of Pakistani Students Denied Entry in China to Resume Education

From education to work, the Coronavirus pandemic negatively affected every aspect of life. Millions of overseas Pakistani students and workers came back to the homeland amid crippling lockdowns and restrictions imposed to curb the transmission of the deadly virus across the world.

They started going back to resume their education and work once COVID-19 vaccines became widely available all over the world and the Coronavirus vaccination rates also went up in Pakistan.

However, thousands of Pakistani students enrolled in Chinese universities who were sent back by the Chinese government at the peak of the Coronavirus outbreak in China have not been allowed by the Chinese government to return and resume their education.

Almost two years have passed since thousands of Pakistani students came back to the country when the Chinese government imposed strict nationwide lockdown including the suspension of all sorts of academic activities in the country.

Although China, which was the ground zero of the deadly viral outbreak, has already managed to overcome the Coronavirus outbreak and life has returned to normalcy in the country.

Moreover, thousands of Chinese workers working on different projects of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) have already returned to Pakistan, and development work on these projects is in full swing again.

Chinese workers returned despite Pakistan facing severe outbreaks of the Coronavirus, which prompted travel bans on the country from all over the world. These bans have now been lifted and fully vaccinated Pakistani students and workers can travel all over the world without any hassle.

However, it is only the Pakistani students enrolled in Chinese universities who are being denied entry in China to resume their studies despite being fully vaccinated against the Coronavirus.

These students have knocked at the door of every ministry to get their issue resolved but to no avail. Their request is straightforward: either get Chinese universities to offer online classes of the disciplines that do not require physical lab work or get them to China to resume their education. Otherwise, a number of years of the academic careers of thousands of Pakistani students would go to waste.

ProPakistani has contacted the Pakistani Foreign Ministry and Pakistani Embassy in Beijing in this regard. However, at the time of writing this article, they have not issued any statement on the matter.

Source: Pro Pakistani

October 30, 2021

Sindh makes Covid vaccination mandatory for children aged 12

Sindh government has made vaccination of children above the age of 12 as mandatory against COVID-19.

According to a notification, the decision has been taken to ensure that no child is left unvaccinated.

Meanwhile, the University of Sindh Jamshoro has imposed a complete ban on the entrance of the unvaccinated students, teaching and non-teaching staff in the premises of the university.

Source: Radio Pakistan

October 30, 2021

Circular Debt Soared to Rs. 2.37 Trillion in Q1 FY22

The circular debt was recorded at Rs. 2,379 billion in the first quarter of the current fiscal 2021-22.

The power division has informed the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) that the circular debt reached Rs. 2,379 billion from July to September (Q1) for FY 2022 which includes Rs. 1,375 billion payables to power producers, Rs. 90 billion GENCOs payables to fuel suppliers and Rs. 915 billion parked in PHL.

Sources told ProPakistani that circular debt was Rs. 2,253 billion in Q1 FY 2021 and the increase this year is due to payments of power producers. Sources also said the ministry of power has projected the circular debt to fall to Rs. 1,856 billion from October 2021 to June 2022.

Interestingly, the power division had projected a decrease of Rs. 523 billion in circular debt in the remaining nine months of the current fiscal year however now they believe that the decrease could be Rs. 425 billion owing to payments to IPPs as well as PHL principal payments.

A handout issued by the planning commission states that a meeting of the CCOE was held under the Chairmanship of the Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar here in Islamabad on Friday.

Report on Developing Petroleum Reserves

The Petroleum Division presented a report on the development of strategic petroleum reserves. It was informed at the meeting that a working group comprising OGDCL, PSO, PEPCO, PARCO, TPPL, and PRL was constituted to develop a concept paper and study the strategic reserve requirement in the country. This working group has completed the initial assessment and a detailed feasibility study is being planned based on the recommendations of the working group.

The Maritime Ministry also developed a proposal on this, therefore, CCoE was directed to constitute a committee under OGRA with the Maritime Ministry and Petroleum Division as members for finalizing the proposal and reviewing the detailed framework for the establishment of strategic petroleum reserves.

CCoE also considered the summary presented by Power Division on standard security agreements for small Hydropower projects (up to 50MW) under the Power Generation Policy 2015. It was informed that the policy envisaged the development of large as well as small Hydel projects (SHPPs).

CCoE agreed with the framework for the ongoing and committed power projects. For small dams, the CCoE said that they have already directed and approved the policy for the creation of a market-based system so that the risk and liability do not rest with the taxpayer of Pakistan. These guidelines include the Competitive Trading Bilateral Contracts Market (CTBCM) and “Wheeling Policy” which have both been designed for this very purpose. It was further directed that this policy framework for small dams should be consistent with the overall policy direction.

CCoE also reviewed the Circular Debt Report September 2021 submitted by the Power Division and appreciated the reduced accumulation of circular debt.

The meeting was attended by Minister for Finance, Minister for Energy, Advisor to PM on Commerce & Industries, SAPM on CPEC, and representatives of regulatory authorities and senior officials of Ministries/Divisions also participated in the meeting.

Source: Pro Pakistani

October 30, 2021

FBR Exceeds October Tax Collection Target by Rs. 31 Billion

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has exceeded the assigned tax collection target of Rs. 397 billion set for the month of October 2021.

It has collected Rs. 428 billion provisionally during this month against the assigned target of Rs. 397 billion until now, reflecting an increase of Rs. 31 billion.

The provisional revenue collection of FBR reached Rs. 428 billion during the first 29 days of October versus Rs. 331 billion collected last October showing a growth of 29 percent. The revenue collection will increase on the compilation of the final figures by the end of October 2021. These figures will continue to improve before the close of the day and after the book adjustments have been taken into account.

FBR’s provisional data shows that it has collected net revenue of Rs. 1,829 billion during July-October (2021-22) against the assigned target of Rs. 1,608 billion, indicating a growth of 14 percent. Its target of Rs. 1,608 billion was amassed before the end of the current month.

On the other hand, the gross collections increased from Rs 1413 billion during July-October, 2020 to Rs 1932 billion in the current Financial Year, showing an increase of 36.7 %. The number of refunds disbursed was Rs 91 billion during July-October, 2021 compared to Rs 66 billion paid last year, showing an increase of 37.7%.

FBR’s provisional tax collection amounted to Rs. 1,829 billion (net) during the first four months of the current fiscal year against Rs. 1,342 billion collected in the corresponding period of 2020-21, showing a handsome growth of 36 percent.

Source: Pro Pakistani