حکومت کا ملکی تاریخ کا سب سے بڑا قرضہ لینے کا فیصلہ

حکومت کا ملکی تاریخ کا سب سے بڑا قرضہ لینے کا فیصلہ،  اگلے مالی سال کے دوران وزارت خزانہ کا 15 ارب ڈالرز کا قرضہ لینے پر غور، کمرشل بینکس اور غیر ممالک سے قرضہ لیا جائے گا، قرضوں پر سود کی ادائیگیوں کا حجم بڑھتا جا رہا ہے۔

پاکستان پرمزید قرض چڑھنے کوتیار، حکومت  پنجاب نے ملکی تاریخ کا سب سے بڑا قرضہ لینے کا فیصلہ کرلیا ہے، آئندہ مالی سال  کے لئے وزرات خزانہ نے 15ارب ڈالرقرض لینے پرغورشروع کردیا، پاکستان پرقرضوں کا بوجھ مسلسل بڑھنے لگا ہے،  قرضوں اورسود کی ادائیگی کے لیے پاکستان کا خزانہ خالی ہو گیا ہے۔

وزارت خزانہ کا کہنا ہے کہ  بین الاقوامی اداروں، کمرشل بینکوں اور غیرممالک سے قرضہ لے گی، نیا قرضہ پرانے قرضوں کی ادائیگی کے لیے حاصل کیا جائے گا، پاکستان کا مقامی قرضوں کا حجم 42 ارب ڈالر،مجموعی قرضے 85 ارب ڈالرسے تجاوز کرچکے ، آئندہ سال میں حکومت کا قرضوں پر سود کی ادائیگیوں  کے لئے 3200 ارب مختص کرنے کا فیصلہ کیا گیا ہے، قرض ادائیگیوں کا حجم5سے 6 ارب ڈالر تک پہنچ سکتا ہے۔

پاکستان پرقرضوں کا بوجھ مسلسل بڑھنے لگا ہے، قرضوں اورسود کی ادائیگی کے لیے پاکستان کا خزانہ خالی پڑا ہے، وزارت خزانہ نے آئندہ مالی سال کے دوران 15 ارب ڈالرز کا قرضہ لینے پرغور شروع کردیا ہے۔ ان میں سے 10 ارب ڈالرپرانے قرضوں کی ادائیگیوں پرخرچ کیے جائیں گے ۔

آئندہ مالی سال کے دوران وزارت خزانہ بین الاقوامی اداروں، کمرشل بینکوں اور غیرممالک سے قرضہ لے گی، ان ممالک میں چین اور سعودی عرب بھی شامل ہیں، وزارت خزانہ کے حکام کا کہنا ہے کہ نیا قرضہ پرانے قرضوں کی ادائیگی کے لیے حاصل کیا جائے گا ، پاکستان پرمقامی قرضوں کا حجم 42 ارب ڈالر جب کہ مجموعی قرضے 85 ارب ڈالر سے تجاوز کرچکے ہیں آئندہ مالی سال کے دوران حکومت نے قرضوں پرسود کی ادائیگیوں کے لیے 3200 ارب روپے مختص کرنے کا فیصلہ کیا ہے قرض ادائیگیوں کا حجم پانچ سے چھ ارب ڈالر تک پہنچ سکتا ہے ۔

نمبر پلیٹس کے منتظر شہریوں کیلئے اچھی خبر

 نمبر پلیٹس کے کنٹریکٹ کے لیے حکومت نے اجازت دے دی، محکمہ ایکسائز کو این آر ٹی سی سے کنٹریکٹ کرنے کے لیے پیپرا رولز میں نرمی کا نوٹیفکیشن جاری کردیا۔

تفصیلات کے مطابق لاہور سمیت پنجاب بھر میں گزشتہ ڈیڑھ سال سے نمبر پلیٹس کا کنٹریکٹ ختم ہونے کی وجہ سے 20 لاکھ سے زائد نمبر پلیٹس کی کمی کا سامنا ہے۔ اس حوالے سے چند ماہ قبل پرائیویٹ کمپنی کو کنٹریکٹ دینے کے لیے تمام مراحل مکمل ہوگئے تھے لیکن قانونی پچیدگیوں کی وجہ سے معاملات طے نہ پاسکے تھے۔

جس کے بعد این آر ٹی سی کی جانب سے نمبر پلیٹس بنانے کی پیشکش کی گئی تھی جسکی منظوری کے لیے محکمہ ایکسائز نے سمری حکومت کو بھجوائی تھی۔

حکومت نے پیپرا رولز میں نرمی کرتے ہوئے گورنمنٹ ٹو گورنمنٹ کنٹریکٹ کی اجازت دیتے ہوئے نوٹیفکیشن جاری کردیا ہے۔ ڈی جی ایکسائز چوہدری مسعود الحق کا کہنا ہے کہ کنٹریکٹ کے لیے ٹیکنیکل کمیٹی تشکیل دی جائے گی جو این آر ٹی سی کی ٹیکنیکل اور فنانشل بڈ کا جائزہ لے گی۔

انہوں نے مزید کہا کہ کوشش کررہے ہیں کہ جلد از جلد نمبر پلیٹس کا اجرا کیا جائے تاکہ شہریوں کو درپیش مشکلات میں کمی آسکے۔

Govt may freeze oil prices till June 15

ISLAMABAD: As an oil crisis looms that will eat up stocks, the government is likely to freeze petroleum product prices till June 15 in a bid to minimise volatility risk for the oil industry and stave off heavy inventory losses.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the Economic Coordination Committee ECC was set to take decision in a meeting scheduled for Saturday. The Petroleum Division has pitched two proposals for ECC’s approval.

To avoid any shortage of petrol from June onwards, the Petroleum Division said the government needed to address the fundamental pricing issue by minimising volatility risk, reducing price risk from 30 days to 15 days and creating visibility in the price index.

Therefore, the forthcoming petroleum price revision may be announced from June 16 rather than from June 1, the Petroleum Division said, adding that it would provide an incentive for oil marketing companies OMCs to import products at such prices at which Pakistan State Oil (PSO) was importing oil cargoes and thereby avoid inventory losses.

It said a previous decision of the cabinet taken on August 31, 2016 already allowed the fortnightly price revision.

The Petroleum Division said ex-refinery prices may be based on the average fortnightly/monthly Platts price plus premium (average premium based on the tender awarded by PSO including PSO’s incidentals and ocean gain/loss taxes, etc as per the current practice.

This mechanism would be the basis for determining selling prices for both refineries as well as OMCs.

At present, the prices of petroleum products are determined under the ECC’s decision, whereby refineries are allowed to fix and announce ex-refinery sale prices on a monthly basis.

This is subject to the condition that ex-refinery prices of petroleum products cannot be more than PSO’s average actual landed price for imported cargoes of the previous month, which are priced on a cost and freight basis, and a five-day average of the Arab Gulf Market Platts price around the date of Bill of Lading.

In case of unavailability of PSO’s import prices, the ex-refinery prices are fixed as per the import parity pricing formula on the basis of prices published by the Platts Oil Gram for the Arab Gulf market. OMCs follow the same process with PSO’s benchmark being the price cap.

PSO has historically imported approximately four vessels each of high-speed diesel and petrol every month. Each cargo covers five pricing days.

The current pricing mechanism would generally mean that any current month’s price is roughly based on the average of previous month’s Platts prices given there are 20-22 pricing days in a month.

There are over 10 active OMCs importing oil and they are bound to follow PSO’s price cap provided it makes commercial-business sense to them.

The present system of monthly price adjustment based on PSO’s previous month procurements, serves as a disincentive, especially when there is volatility in the market. Therefore, OMCs are reluctant to import when margins are unfavourable and instead let the inventory run dry. This, in turn, results in supply side insecurity at the national level.

“If we do not change the mechanism and continue with the present pricing regime, there is a high likelihood that not only would refineries curtail their production but also imports by OMCs (other than PSO) will be insufficient to meet demand, leading to widespread shortages/dryouts,” said the Petroleum Division.

It added that the proposed mechanism may allow OMCs to reduce inventory losses in the first 15 days and thereafter alignment with market conditions would be happening automatically.

Zero car sales in April

KARACHI; Barring tractors April proved to be one of the worst months for the entire auto sector as car production and sales were reduced to zero.

The overall car production and sales during 10MFY20 plunged by 52 per cent year-on-year each to 88,628 and 86,330 units.

Meanwhile, there was no production of heavy vehicles trucks and buses in April but data from the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association [Pama] mentioned negligible sales of some assemblers.

Some manufacturers also posted marginal sales in light commercial vehicles, pickups and jeeps during April despite nil production.

In the two/three-wheeler segment, only Atlas Honda Limited [AHL] registered sales of 2,783 units during the month even though there was no production. All other manufacturers neither assembled nor sold any units.

An official from Pama said that “I have never witnessed zero production and sales in auto history for an entire month and the situation looks the same for May which is alarming for the auto sector.”

The government had suspended production and trading activities under lockdown from the third week of March to contain coronavirus.

Output and sales of the auto are still discontinued in May while other sectors have started opening up after the introduction of standard operating procedures [SoPs] and safety measures.

In trucks only Hino and Isuzu posted sales of 14 units and 22 units amid plant shut down in April. The cumulative production and volumes in 10MFY20 shrank by 49.6pc and 46pc to 2,732 and 2,769.

Under the bus category, only Isuzu recorded sales in April, of just three units, amid zero production while other players did not operate and sell anything. As a result, output and volume of buses declined by 37pc and 31pc to 462 and 536 units in July-April.

In LCVs, pickups and jeeps, plants of all the manufacturers remained closed in April while Jac, D-Max and Hyundai Porter sold six, 11 and 22 units in April. Total production and sales of pickups plunged by 49pc and 52pc to 11,008 and 10,212 units in 10MFY20.

Total output and volume of jeeps stood at 3,290 and 3,140 units, down by 48.5pc and 51pc in the 10-month period whereas no activity was recorded in April.

Despite allowing tractor manufacturing in mid-April for the wheat harvesting season, total production and sales of Fiat and Massey Ferguson remained dismal.

Fiat produced and sold 9,306 and 9,762 units in July-April FY20, down by 40pc and 38pc while Massey Ferguson’s corresponding figures were lower by 43pc and 42pc to 15,581 units and 15,617 units, respectively.

Overall production and sales of two/three-wheelers fell 20pc to 1.187m units and 1.183m units in the last 10 months of the fiscal year.

With no production and sales, Indus Motor Company and Honda Atlas Cars Ltd [HACL] have already raised prices by Rs110,000-500,000 and Rs 60,000-120,000, respectively on account of the rupee devaluation.

Pama on May 8 had urged Indu­s­tries Minister Hammad Azhar and Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah to allow the opening of auto assembling plants under given SoPs as closures are resulting in massive production losses and depriving the government from the revenue.

انٹربینک مارکیٹ‌ میں‌ ڈالر 55 پیسے مہنگا ہو گیا

کراچی: کاروباری ہفتے کے مسلسل تیسرے روز امریکی کرنسی میں اضافہ دیکھنے میں آیا جب انٹربینک میں آج ڈالر کا ریٹ 55 پیسے مزید بڑھ گیا۔

کورونا کے باعث عالمی مارکیٹ میں گراوٹ کے بعد اب کچھ دنوں سے روپے کے مقابلے ڈالر اپنی قدر بحال کرتا نظر آ رہا ہے، آج ڈالر 55 پیسے مہنگا ہوا جس کے بعد انٹربینک مارکیٹ میں 161 روپے پر فروخت ہوا۔

یاد رہے گزشتہ روز ڈالر 38 پیسے اضافے کے ساتھ 160 روپے 45 پیسے پر ٹریڈ ہوا تھا۔

SBP likely to further ease monetary policy stance by 100bps: analysts

KARACHI: Analysts believe that the State Bank of Pakistan likely to further ease the key policy rate by 100 basis points in the upcoming announcement scheduled for May 15, 2020.

Analysts Arif Habib Limited said that the monetary policy committee of SBP will convene on Friday 15th May 2020 to announce the monetary policy for the next two months.

We expect the SBP to cut policy rates by 100 bps to 8.00 percent in the upcoming monetary policy statement, the analysts said.

The said that the SBP may reduce the policy rate due to the following reasons:

1) Inflation is likely to continue its downward trend due to massive decline in prices of petroleum products MoGas and HSD prices reduced by Rs15/liter and Rs27/liter along with lower demand of perishable items which may reduce inflationary pressure and

2) Recent change in macros given outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus which may further induce the SBP  to stimulate the economy by reducing policy rate further.

Moreover, it seems the fixed income market has already incorporated rate cut as treasury bills of 3-, 6- and 12 month are trading at 8.39 percent, 8.00 percent and 7.75 percent which are lower than current policy rate of 9.00 percent.

To recall, Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) convened emergency meeting on April 16, 2020 where the SBP announced a further cut in the policy rate by 200 basis points which is in addition to the 225 basis points cut announced in March, taking the policy rate to a single-digit of 9 percent.

The MPC opted rate cut stance on account of i) to cushion the economic fallout (slowdown in growth and employment) amid Coronavirus, ii) worsening outlook for global and domestic economic activity in the wake of the Coronavirus Pandemic, and iii) SBP forecasting inflation to come down to single digits between 7-9 percent in the next fiscal year.

Govt urged to reduce income tax by 50pc in budget

LAHORE; The country’s leading tax consultants and economic experts on Saturday urged the government to reduce income tax rate by 50 percent in the case of persons earning up to Rs3 million but should not give income tax relief to the rich in the upcoming federal budget. 

Talking to Pakistan Today leading tax consultant and an economic expert Huzaima Bukhari said that the federal and provincial budgets in the prevailing circumstances should concentrate on revival of the economy and not in traditional mode to worry about fiscal deficit etc. She added that the federal and provincial governments must provide maximum tax and other concessions to the public so that they spend the money as the lockdown will be gradually relaxed. 

The tax consultant stated that more spending by the public alone could create the demand which at present is at its lowest ebb. The Federal Board of Revenue FBR must release refunds to all even where tax was not due but withheld and no return is received she said. Bukhari maintained that this data could be taken from Ehsaas as those adjudged eligible for cash were also mobile users and paying 12.5 percent advance income tax. 

“FBR must act as a stimulant for revival. If it fails to do so, there will be more shortfall in collection as revenues come from transactions and not stagnation.” she added. However sales tax rate should be reduced across the board by 50 percent both on goods and services. She maintained that for this, both federal and provincial governments need to take joint decisions under the National Economic Council in terms of Article 56(2) of the Constitution. 

Bukhari stressed that before the finalisation of federal and provincial budgets. Prime Minister Imran Khan should call the meeting of National Economic Council as well as that of National Development Council (NDC) established by him on June18, 2019 (its mandate includes approving long-term planning in relation to national and regional connectivity), to tackle a challenge that requires federalised approach and not centralised or provincial approach. She recommended that all oppressive taxes should be withdrawn by the federal and provincial governments due to extreme hardships faced by the weaker segments of society. 

 For example, about 95 million unique mobile users (as per website of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) total cellular subscribers as on December 31, 2019 were 165 million, but many have multiple and/or dormant SIMs), after vacation of stay by Supreme Court on April 24, 2019 in Human Rights Case (HRC No. 18877/2018), are paying 12.5 percent advance income tax, the tax consultant shared. She maintained that the detail of indirect taxes paid by them is 19.5 percent sales tax on services to all the four provinces, for users in Islamabad Capital Territory, 17 percent federal excise duty, plus 10 percent service/maintenance charges. 

Bukhari added that millions of these mobile users, some of whom are even declared eligible for Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme, are brazenly subjected to extortion by the federal government in the name of advance income tax and by provinces charging sales tax as high 19.5 percent.  “These taxes should be waived in the case of those having no taxable income using the database of Ehsaas,” she said.                                                                  

According to ‘Impact of Covid-19 on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)’ an online survey by Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA), conducted through April 3, 2020 until April 14, 2020, “Annual Sales Turnover of respondents indicates that majority (81.1 percent) of the respondents were from small sized businesses with up to 30 million annual sales turnover. 

She shared that 32.8 percent of respondents indicated to have less than Rs 1 million annual sales turnover. They, while immensely suffering due to lockdown, are still compelled to pay advance income tax on mobile and commercial electricity use under sections 235 and section 236 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 and those in the service sector, by exorbitant sales tax on services. She opined that these taxes should be waived for all those having income below taxable limit.

Meanwhile, economist Dr Farida Faisal said that in the throes of COVID-19 pandemic, budget 2021 will most likely be based on highly optimistic Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of more than two percent, justified by incentives being given to industry like lowering of policy rate etc. She maintained that the budget deficit would probably be inflated to around nine percent to factor in corona-related revenue losses to the tune of more than Rs 1 trillion and emergency relief measures for the poor and unemployed of around Rs 700 billion.

Dr Faisal shared that on the bright side due to debt rescheduling and easing of macroeconomic conditions by International Monetary Fund, heavy taxation will be postponed.  “In fact budget outlays to jumpstart sectors such as construction and agriculture are very much on the cards,” the economist opined.