The Silk Bank has requested the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) that the approval and disclosure of the third quarter of 2019 financial of the bank be allowed to be extended till May 15, 2020 due to the nationwide lockdown in wake of coronavirus pandemic, informed the bank in a statement to the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday.
Tag: Advisor to Prime Minister Imran Khan on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh
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Over Rs99bn spent on Diamer Bhasha dam project so far
A sum of Rs 99.238 billion including Rs 93.9 billion for land acquisition on multi-purpose Diamer Bhasha dam project has already been spent so far.
Sources told state-run news agency here that an amount of Rs 61 billion would be spent on the project during the current fiscal year. Giving the breakup, they said Rs 22 billion would be spent of resettlement while remaining Rs 39 billion would be utilised for construction-related activities, they added.
They said construction activities on main Diamer Bhasha dam and its allied structures would start during the current fiscal year 2019-20 while the project would likely be completed by March 2028. The sources said that the project was divided into six major components for which separate contracts would be awarded in phases.
Modalities for awarding the contract of the main dam and its allied structures have also been finalised, adding that contract was likely to be awarded shortly, they said.
Diamer Bhasha Dam is a multipurpose project aimed at water storage, flood mitigation and power generation. The project is being constructed across River Indus about 40-kilometer downstream of Chillas town. The 272-meter high Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) Dam will have a gross water storage capacity of 8.1 million acre-feet (MAF).
The project will generate 4,500 megawatts of electricity with an annual energy generation of more than 18 billion units of low-cost and environment-friendly electricity. With the construction of Diamer Basha Dam Project, the life of Tarbela Dam will be enhance to another 35 years. It will also have a positive impact on the annual energy generation of the projects in the downstream areas.
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Exports value to remain at $22bn in FY 2019-20: Razak
ISLAMABAD: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood has said that the country’s exports target of US $ 25 billion could not be achieved due to the ongoing situation of lockdown in the country and it could decline to more or less to US $ 22 billion.
The exports decreased in April by 50 percent and home remittances also declined in this situation, Abdul Razzak Dwaood said in an interview with Voice of America (VOA) here.
To a question, he said Pakistan could get benefits from low oil prices in the current evolving situation in the international market and there would be no larger impact of current account deficit (CoD) because of decline in petroleum prices.
He also vowed to open the industrial sector in the coming months to provide opportunities to the local exporters to get more benefits in the current scenario and major shift in the international trade market. He urged the exporters to get orders freely from all countries including textile industry to tap the new opportunities in the world market. Replying to a question on the impact of current situation on country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), he forecast that it would contract by 0.5 percent during the current fiscal year.
He said even in recent challenging situation Pakistan has opened various sectors including information technology and other sectors which attracted the world to the Pakistan product in these sectors. To a question on textile sector export, he said Pakistan was receiving big orders of face masks and sanitizers. “We have also received huge demand of Hydroxychloroquine and Pakistan has exported raw material to Germany and Turkey and 1000,000 tablets to Saudi Arabia,” he added.
Replying to another question about United States-Pakistan trade dialogue, he said Pakistan wanted access in potential US market for this. “We demanded the US government to eliminate the travel restriction for Pakistanis to increase bilateral trade.”
He said during the visit of Prime Minster Imran Khan, both the countries agreed to start dialogue for searching the new avenues for bilateral trade in US and Pakistan. The adviser said that Pakistan also demanded the United States and other international brands and companies to open their offices in Pakistan for bringing foreign investment in the country.
He said Pakistan wanted access in textile, information technology and services sectors in potential US market to increase our exports. Replying to another question on Afghan Transit Trade, he said our trade agreement was going to expire in June 2021, and now “we are in preparation to negotiate with them”.
He said Afghan transit trade gave loss to local industry. He said Pakistan wanted to increase bilateral trade with Afghanistan but “we had some reservation and there is need to take some measures to protect the local industrial sector”.
Replying to another question, he said the government wanted to increase customs duties instead of direct tax. The government wanted to document the non tax businesses and bring them in tax net, he added. He said the government might not change export tariffs and tax slabs in the upcoming budget (2020-21).
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China lauds Pakistan’s relief package for people, business community
ISLAMABAD: Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing has lauded the relief package announced by the government for the people and business community of the country.
During a call on meeting with the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, the ambassador also appreciated the government’s response to tackle the spread of coronavirus in the country.
During the meeting, both the sides discussed matters of mutual concern and decided to further strengthen bilateral collaborations, said a press statement issued by the Finance Ministry the other day.
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ECC meeting today to approve fund for promotion of tourism
ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet will hold a meeting here on Wednesday to approve setting up of fund for promotion of tourism in the country.
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To be presided over by Advisor to Prime Minister Imran Khan on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, the ECC would also ponder over giving subsidy to tubewells in Balochistan. Besides this, the ECC would discuss provision of LNG to the export-oriented sector.