Day: January 31, 2022

President & Chief Executive Officer Engro Corporation Limited, Mr. Ghias Khan, has taken over as the President of the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) for the 2022 term.

This was announced at the 162nd Annual General Meeting of the OICCI held at the Chamber on Monday, January 31, 2022. Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Unilever Pakistan Limited, Mr. Amir Rasool Paracha, was elected as the Vice President.

The other elected members of the OICCI Managing Committee for 2022 are Ahmed Zahid Zaheer, Chevron Pakistan Lubricants (PVT) Limited, Ali Ahmed Khan, Frieslandcampina Engro Pakistan Limited, Erum Shakir Rahim, GlaxoSmithKline Pakistan Limited, Ali Asghar Jamali, Indus Motor Company Limited, Samer Chedid, Nestle Pakistan Limited, Waqar Irshad Siddiqui, Shell Pakistan Limited, Markus Strohmeier, Siemens Pakistan Engineering Company Limited, and Rehan Muhammad Shaikh, Standard Chartered Banks (Pakistan) Limited.

In his message to the members, the Incoming President, Ghias Khan, said he strongly believes that Pakistan offers considerable growth potential for existing and new foreign investors. He lauded OICCI’s role in promoting Pakistan to potential foreign investors.

He further appreciated the quality of OICCI Business surveys and the chamber’s focused and continuing advocacy efforts for streamlining the taxation system, pragmatic policy input for increasing the efficiency of the energy sector, initiatives on women empowerment, gender equality, climate and sustainability, and the chamber’s role in pursuing an effective Intellectual Property Rights regime in Pakistan.

Ghias Khan holds an MBA from the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, and also serves as Chairman on the boards of Engro Fertilizers Limited, Engro Polymer & Chemicals Limited, Engro Enfrashare (Pvt) Limited, and Engro Energy Limited.

Source: Pro Pakistani

The government is planning to import 500,000 tonnes of petrol and around 250,000 tonnes of diesel next month to fulfill the country’s demand.

Estimates show that the demand for petrol in Pakistan will be 712,500 tonnes in February 2022, with the demand for diesel at 647,500 tonnes along with furnace oil (FO) at 161,000 tonnes, according to a report by a National Daily.

To meet its oil demand, Pakistan imports 80 percent of the total oil as the local production is not sufficient to meet the demand.

Domestic prices are currently at their highest level in history due to an increase in global oil prices. The devaluation of the Pakistani Rupee against the US Dollar has put a further burden on the consumers.

The country will import diesel to meet the insufficient production by domestic refineries, however, FO will not be imported due to almost zero demand from independent power producers, its major consumers.

The demand for oil products is continuously rising with oil sales increasing by 19.5 percent from 17.41 million tonnes in 2020 to 21 million tonnes in 2021.

Following a similar trend, petrol sales grew by 13.4 percent, increasing to the highest ever in 2021 with 8.64 million tonnes compared to 7.62 million tonnes in 2020. Similarly, during the first half of the fiscal year 2022, the consumption of petroleum products increased by 14 percent and was recorded at 11 million tonnes, despite a 7 percent drop in December 2021 sales.

During the first half-year of FY22, petrol sales grew by 10 percent to 4.5 million tonnes, furnace oil offtake grew by 17 percent to 1.9 million tonnes whereas high-speed diesel sales grew by 16 percent to 4.3 million tonnes.

Source: Pro Pakistani

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is measuring up a new set of rules to restrict foreign currency outflow, such as foreign currency declarations at customs stations, airports, and seaports, among other things.

According to Business Recorder, the tax regulator has decided to document the financial operations of foreign currency dealers/exchange businesses. One of the options being considered is for travelers to declare their currency notes. It is noteworthy that the government has permitted Pakistanis, both residents, and non-residents, to take up to $10,000 every visit. However, passengers taking more than $10,000 must make a declaration.

With this change, the tax machinery aims to mandate the declaration of all foreign cash without exceptions for all in-bound and out-bound passengers.

The plan is to make it obligatory for a passenger taking a few hundred dollars or more to submit a declaration, regardless of the amount. The declaration would be made via an online system which would, in turn, keep the FBR informed about currency disclosures made across the country in real-time.

The FBR also wants to know the real worth of declared foreign currency via land customs posts, trains, air travel, and seaports. Moreover, it has chosen to document foreign exchange dealers’/exchange businesses’ transactions and has urged them to integrate with the FBR’s online system.

The FBR will also ensure that a customer of an integrated enterprise will have access to relevant facilities online to verify and ensure that the invoice or bill issued to him/her has been recorded with the tax regulator, and in the event of non-verification, he/she may upload the image of the invoice or bill.

On the flip side, foreign exchange dealers and firms will install fiscal electronic devices and software that have been approved by the FBR and are available on its website with comprehensive instructions for installation, setup, and integration.

It is worth mentioning that the dealers/firms will inform the FBR of any enterprise or source through which they intend to conduct business and shall register each point of sale (POS) to activate the integration with the required information. The tax regulator has asserted that no sale or service shall be considered unless it is recorded by a legitimate electronic fiscal device (EFD) and at least one POS that meets the FBR’s conditions.

Source: Pro Pakistani

The Pakistani Rupee (PKR) is persisting with its positive run against the US Dollar (USD) and posted gains in the interbank market today. It gained five paisas against the greenback after hitting an intra-day low of Rs. 176.95 against the USD during today’s open market session.

It appreciated by 0.03 percent against the USD and closed at Rs. 176.72 today after gaining 20 paisas and closing at 176.77 in the interbank market on Friday, 28 January.

The rupee closed in the green against the dollar for the third consecutive day in response to the passage of the State Bank of Pakistan Amendment Bill on Friday. The passage of the bill from the Senate was imperative for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to consider Pakistan’s Sixth Review and the delivery of a $1 billion tranche under its Extended Fund Facility. The global lender’s executive board will discuss this program on 2 February.

Discussing the rupee’s near-term outlook earlier in the day, the former Treasury Head of Chase Manhattan Bank, Asad Rizvi, tweeted that the central bank is in a difficult situation as it needs another IMF tranche to meet its external financing requirements.

He pointed out that the central bank was compelled to take a number of measures to calm down the mood because the market wanted considerably higher rates for government treasury bills in the fourth quarter of 2021. “While in present scenario it is worrisome for independent SBP to stay behind the curve. It is a bit of [a] challenge,” he added.

The PKR reversed its winning run against most of the other major currencies and reported losses in the interbank currency market today. It lost 54 paisas against the Euro (EUR), 51 paisas against the Canadian Dollar (CAD), 79 paisas against the Australian Dollar (AUD), and Rs. 1.11 against the Pound Sterling (GBP).

Conversely, it gained one paisa against both the Saudi Riyal (SAR) and the UAE Dirham (AED) in today’s interbank currency market.

Source: Pro Pakistani

The cold weather severely impacted the business and industrial activities in Karachi, the commercial hub of Pakistan, as it witnessed the suspension of gas supplies for the past 100 days, adversely affecting the fresh investment of $3 billion in various exportable sectors.

Addressing a press conference on Monday, Zubair Motiwala, a renowned businessman, while representing the business community, said the industries of Karachi were deeply shocked and disappointed with the government for neglecting and ignoring the repeated appeals and press releases over looming the gas/RLNG crisis.

The government’s promises and commitments to assure the supply of gas to export industries appear to be an eyewash and a mere lip service. It was highly unfair to deprive Karachi of Gas/ RLNG as this city, is the textile and industrial hub of Pakistan, Motiwala remarked.

He stressed that a quantum of 211mmcfd gas, which was erroneously allocated to SNGPL in the past and the same has also been recognized by SAPM Gas and DG Gas, needs to be immediately returned to SSGCL. “Last year, the industry of Karachi entered into an agreement with the Ministry of Energy and Ministry Commerce to purchase extra quantum of gas at a higher price for a period of five months to match the demand. However, we were denied of the same this year due to lack of planning,” he said.

Chairman Pakistan Apparel Forum, Jawed Bilwani, mentioned that Prime Minister’s excellent policy pertaining to Long Term Financing Facility (LTFF) encouraged industrialists to invest more than $3 billion on purchase of machinery/equipment, which was likely to promote industrialization but this policy will be wasted due to unavailability and unjustified distribution of gas.

Bilwani said that the Value-Added Textile Export Industries were saddened over such an unwelcoming act and behavior of the Federal Government. Surprisingly, the government is well aware that the downfall in exports will also result in a downward revision in the national revenue and will also negatively impact the foreign exchange coming to Pakistan where the national exports will ultimately face a sharp decline, nevertheless, however, no response has been provided by the government.

He said that repeated appeals in the print media without any response from the government has also tarnished the soft and positive image of Pakistan in the eyes of the international community around the globe and has also raised several questions in the Diplomatic Missions of friendly countries in Pakistan whereby the Ambassadors and diplomats in Islamabad and Karachi have been continuously observing the situation, and they may send their advisories to the buyers of their countries which may result to disruption or discontinuation of existing and new export orders.

The industries of Karachi were also being victimized and denied other alternate fuels like Furnace Oil as the Department of Explosives, and Petroleum Division was also not granted the required license to export industries which they applied for around two months ago. Production of export industries has come to a complete halt as they have no other alternate energy or power connection/source.

They appealed to Prime Minister Imran Khan to take immediate cognizance of the situation and urgently respond to the Constitutional Right of the business community of Karachi to save the investment of industrialists and protect the soft and positive image of Pakistan globally, otherwise, if such an alarming situation prevails, the country may face unrest and uncertainty due to closure of industries in Karachi, massive layoffs and drastic decline in the national exchequer further leading to chaos.

Source: Pro Pakistani