The Senate was informed on Tuesday that efforts are underway to gradually adopt Islamic mode of financing in the country.
Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid told the House during question hour that State Bank of Pakistan has allowed three types of Islamic Banking, whereas every bank operating in the country has its own Shariah Board to seek guidance for Islamic banking.
He said 11.4 per cent of total assets, whereas 13.2 per cent of total deposits by June 2016 are under Islamic banking. He said over two thousand branches of 21 banks are operating in length and breadth of the country to provide Islamic Banking to customers in addition to other services.
To a question, he said GST on gas and industrial sector has not been increased, and the standard rate of sales tax on supply of gas to industrial sector remains the same, which is 17 per cent. He said the government has nothing to do with writing off loans, as over four billion rupees has been written off by banks since March, 2010 under the guidelines of the SBP.
To a question, Minister for Science and Technology Rana Tanvir Hussain told the House that packaged liquid milk has now been included in the mandatory list of Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority to ensure quality of the milk.
He said after evaluation of the laboratory results and conformity assessment compliance, licenses will be issued to the units to process milk for packaging. He said open market sampling has also been conducted to check quality of the milk through testing from laboratories.
Replying to a question, Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said that 75 per cent of the total amount under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is investment. He said a bulk of CPEC projects are related to energy to make Pakistan self-reliance in this sector.
He said all the investments under the CPEC do not came through Pakistan’s national exchequer and investors are directly investing in energy sector whereas the government is to buy power from them. Similarly, Chinese government award infrastructure project to the lowest bidder and Pakistan has nothing to do with this procedure.
Ahsan Iqbal said the government is constructing infrastructure projects of worth about two hundred billion rupees in Balochistan on the priority basis which will connect the province with rest of the country and open up new avenues of economic growth, development and progress. The House offered Fateha for those who embraced martyrdom in yesterday’s blast in Lahore.
Rana Tanvir Hussain said that several steps have been taken to address the issue of monopolistic environment, especially in small car segment, by attracting new investors to create competition. He said proper checking and certification of finished products of two wheelers and three wheelers auto-vehicles has been made mandatory.
Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Riaz Hussain Pirzada laid before the Senate the Annual Report of the Council of Common Interests for the Financial Year 2015-16. Responding to a calling attention notice moved by Muhammad Azam Khan Swati regarding the problems being faced by thousands of domestic, commercial and industrial consumers across Hazara Division due to closing down of 120 CNG stations in the area, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Shaikh Aftab Ahmad said that CNG stations were closed for some period due to low gas pressure in the wake of intense cold. He said now situation has turned normal and there is no shortage of gas either for domestic or commercial consumers in the area.
