After a months-long delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, AirSial is finally here. The private airline owned by the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry will start its operations from next month, and its first Airbus A320-200 plane has already arrived in Sialkot this Sunday.
AirSial was among six new airlines that had applied to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for regular public transport (RPT) licences in 2018. However, following the issuance of the permit, it had faced an uncertain future after its launch scheduled for May 2020 was indefinitely postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic among other reasons.
But, the arrival of its fleet from the US means the private airline is all-set to launch its flights operations. Meanwhile,
reports also claim that PM Imran Khan will inaugurate the private airline on Dec 9, but the operations would be started much later. It will operate flights between Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Sialkot and Peshawar before expanding operations to the other cities.
Initially, the airline’s operations will rely on three Airbus A320-200s, which have been leased from AerCap, the world’s largest independent aircraft leasing company, based in Dublin, Ireland.
According to an AirSial official quoted by Dawn, two more aircraft would arrive soon in Sialkot, one of them on Dec 3, to join the new airline’s fleet.
Reacting to the development, cricketer Shoaib Malik, who hails from Sialkot, said it was a “proud moment for everyone in Sialkot, who has been a part of the process”.
Pakistan has joined the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO) as a founding member.
The organisation has been established under an initiative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that has also invited other countries to join as founding members, including Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait and the UAE.
The organisation was launched at a virtual event on Thursday, hosted by Saudi Arabia Minister of Communication and Information Technology Abdullah Al-Swaha. Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi participated with a video statement.
The foreign minister noted that the creation of DCO would cater to the growing need for international cooperation and collaboration in the digital domain at a time when the digital economy is estimated to be worth over $11 trillion and set to expand further in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The organisation will offer a platform to promote the global digital agenda in the scientific, health, educational, commercial, social, agricultural, investment and security spheres.
Continuing with the previous day’s momentum, Pakistani Rupee gained another 81 paisas against the United States Dollar (USD) in the interbank on Wednesday.
According to a State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) tweet, USD opened at Rs160.09 and closed at Rs159.28. The local currency had gained Re0.96 against the greenback on Tuesday.
Money dealers in the market attributed this rally of rupee against USD to encouraging economic indicators as well as the global downfall of the greenback. On the other side, they added, importers are being careful in buying goods from their foreign suppliers owing to the second wave of COVID-19.
On Tuesday, rupee had weakened against USD. The buying rate of USD was Rs160.4 while it was sold at Rs161.2 at the opening of trading in Pakistan’s currency market on November 24.
Other currency rates had then been recorded as follows:
Whopping losses of Rs122 billion were inflicted to the national exchequer in the petroleum sector alone due to fallout of illogical delays and misguided decisions, but the prime minister (PM) and his teammates are not prepared to disclose as to who benefitted from the damage, journalist Shahzeb Khanzada has claimed.
During his show on Geo News, the journalist claimed deliberate falsehood was spread in the media by ministers and the special advisers who, instead of owning the decisions, hold the media, bureaucracy or the past governments responsible.
While he also accused the government of losing taxpayers’ money to the tune of Rs400 billion in wheat and sugar scandals and taking no action against the ministers responsible, Khanzada raised the question about delayed purchase of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in August and September.
“In July, the LNG was available at 5.7 per cent for August but the government instead of timely tender purchased the commodity in August at the inflated rates of 9.3 per cent that turned out to be $5 million more expensive and the next bid further heaped a loss of $2.5 million. The same was repeated in the purchase of LNG for September in August.”
He said it was available at 6.9 per cent but the timely decision was delayed and then suddenly in September it was decided to purchase the cargo which cost 10.8 per cent. These two cargos alone cost the country Rs1.5 billion. When Special Adviser to Prime Minister (SAPM) Nadeem Babar was asked about it, he blamed K-Electric and accused it of suddenly raising the August and September demand instead of raising advance warning of depleting stocks.
When Federal Minister for Power and Petroleum Omar Ayub was asked if he did not know of the required demand in time, he said the power utility had not intimated of the demand and the load shedding duration in Karachi was increasing prompting the federal government to release their stocks for K Electric.
But, according to Khanzada, the true picture is entirely different from that being stated.
In the last few years, there were differences between the government and the K-Electric due to non-negotiation of a new agreement, The News reported. The power utility kept on demanding gas from the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) on the basis of allocation. But the government denied that on the pretext that there was no prior agreement. The confusion led to a severe power crisis in Karachi.
Back in April 2018, the Cabinet Committee on Energy decided that the Karachi power utility be provided 130 MMCFD gas from the SSGC and 60 MMCFD LNG. Under the agreement, K-Electric kept getting 190 MMCFD since 2018. But SAPM Nadeem Babar and Federal Minister Omar Ayub erroneously claimed that the sudden raising of demand by the Karachi power utility in August and September forced them to tender expensive gas.
MMCFD stands for million standard cubic feet per day.
The anchor maintained the federal government provided K-Electric 198 MMCFD LNG in June, and 121 MMCFD LNG in July but reduced it to 73 MMCFD LNG in August and 66 MMCFD LNG in September. This clearly shows that the K Electric had not suddenly raised the demand in August and September but the government in fact had reduced the amount of gas supply. Not only this was far reduced than the amount given during June and July but was equivalent to the gas supply provided in August and September last year.
There was no justification for purchasing the LNG late in those months, Shahzeb maintained. The prime minister must ask his cabinet why the treasury was inflicted massive loss of Rs 1.5 bn because of this incompetency. Khanzada said when in June the petroleum crisis emerged why the government failed to import the fuel. Both SAPM Nadeem Babar and Federal Minister Omar Ayub blamed fuel companies and announced a thorough probe the results of which are still awaited. Due to this, the refineries had run out of furnace oil stocks and there was nothing left for K-Electric. Here once again the responsibility was lumped on the Karachi power utility.
In January 2019, the government banned the import of furnace oil and the PM ordered cheaper power generation through coal and LNG. It was decided that if need arise the K-Electric would be asked to procure furnace oil from the refineries. Against this scenario, K Electric could not have imported the furnace oil on its own. Furthermore due situation emerging out of Covid-19, the refineries had run short of furnace oil. Primarily, it was the responsibility of the government to monitor the fuel stocks. They must have imported LNG when it was cheaply available globally.
In June, the second LNG terminal was running only at its 45 per cent capacity but the government did nothing. In April, the K-Electric had informed the government in advance of its requirement of 120,000-tonne furnace oil for June.
But in June, the demand was increased to 130,000 tonne furnace oil but the PSO only provided 69,000 tonnes as the refineries had run short of furnace oil. In June 2019, PSO had provided 113,000 tonne furnace oil.
The PSO had informed the Ministry of Petroleum of the increased demand by K Electric on June 2, 2020, while reminding it of the May 19 directive by the Ministry of Petroleum to the refineries to supply maximum furnace oil.
But to this day, there has been no confirmation about it nor the allocation was increased. The PSO had intimated the Ministry of Petroleum of the impending crisis due to shortage of furnace oil, but it was not imported.
Similarly, the LNG was available at rock bottom prices but even that was not imported, causing power and fuel crisis in the country leading to losses running into billions of rupees, Khanzada said. He said the criticality of the situation forced the government to import furnace oil in panic at the last moment.
The anchor said ever since the inauguration of the PTI government, this was not the first time the gas crisis had occurred, but the central government ministers blamed the K Electric and the Sindh government for it.
In 2018 winters, a similar gas crisis had created severe problems for the people, but the government did not import the LNG in time nor it owed its responsibility for it and by blaming the MDs of the SNGPL and SSGC instead sacked them. This negligence led to power production using expensive furnace oil in 2018. In Dec 2018, the power sector was given 200 MMCFD gas which generated only 1,200 MW power instead of the needed 2,600MW. Furthermore, 1,600MW was produced by furnace oil which increased its daily consumption from 4,200 tonnes to 18,000 tonnes. The expensive power generation caused a loss of Rs 10 billion. When the then Minister for Petroleum Ghulam Sarwar was asked that though the SSGC and SNGPL MDs were sacked but if the Ministry of Petroleum and Ministry of Power had “in time “raised gas demand or if the two MDs had to import LNG on their own, Sarwar conceded that the meeting was held late in December.
Today the situation is being repeated in exactly the same manner and expensive power is being generated by furnace oil. Omar Ayub is continues to be the Minister for Oil and Power, while Ghulam Sarwar’s portfolio has been changed to that of aviation. He has, however, struck disaster with the national airline and the pilots. Nothing has changed, no responsibility has been affixed on the members of the cabinet.
Even today cheap LNG is available globally. In July, once again expensive power was generated from furnace oil at 18 month high rates and even then the gas is not available for bitter winters.
Khanzada said that from October to January one million tonnes furnace oil needs to be imported, expensive power would be generated, forex would be wasted with an additional loss of Rs25 billion.
GOVT RESPONDS:
Reacting to the report on Wednesday, PM’s petroleum aide said that LNG terminals are being run on full capacity while arrangements are being made to import around 1,300 cubic feet of LNG to meet domestic needs.
The special assistant said that it’s unfortunate that a negative media campaign is being run against the government about LNG through fudged statistics.
Addressing a press conference along with Information Minister Shibli Faraz, he said that the present government has imported 35 cargo ships of LNG in the last 27 months at a 20 per cent low rate as compared to expensive LNG agreements signed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) previous government with Qatar.
Babar said that the government has also allowed the private sector to construct LNG terminals in the country and two companies have shown their readiness to establish these facilities in Pakistan. In addition, he said that the last PML-N government had established two LNG terminals with the government’s guarantee of running these facilities, inflicting a huge loss to the treasury.
Federal Minister of Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry, announced a special programme of animation and video games certification to encourage young people to be part of the multi-billion dollar gaming industry.
اگر آپ کو پڑھنے سےدلچسپی نہیں اور فون پر ویڈیو گیمز سےرغبت ہے تو تیاری رکھیں @MinistryofST ویڈیو گیمز پروگرامنگ کا خصوصی پروگرام لارہی ہے تا کہ ہم 90 ارب ڈالر کی اس انڈسٹری کاحصہ بن سکیں، Animation اور ویڈیو گیمز سرٹیفیکیشن پروگرام نوجوانوں کیلئے Game ہی نہیں Game Changer ہوں گے
The minister said that they are looking to make people a part of the $900 million programming industry. He said that this new programme is especially targeted at those uninterested in studying and looking into video game development instead. According to him, the certification program should prove to be a “game-changer” for many. The tweet does not reveal any details, but since the Minister talks about Smartphone games, we can expect the program to lean more towards phone apps and games.
The new initiative will be providing animation and video games certification programmes to young people in order to boost the local gaming industry.
The owner of Master Tiles is on the Federal Board Revenue (FBR) radar for spending Rs2 billion on the wedding ceremony of his son.
The wedding ceremony that had attracted media attention for its extravagant style also featured several Pakistani celebrities in addition to a troupe of foreign gymnasts.
Subsequently, a probe was conducted by the FBR into the “service providers involved in the lavish arrangements” to detect possible tax evasion. The document shared by the FBR said that Rosa Blanca Country Club, the venue of baraat located on Raiwind Road in Lahore, was paid Rs150 million for the premises.
The FBR inquiry said that the private company doesn’t have an NTN (national tax number) at all, adding that there’s a strong reason to suspect that the entity was not paying taxes at all.
The wedding organisers supposedly paid Rs5.5m to singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, while singers Atif Aslam was paid Rs5m for gracing the mehndi night. Cleric Moulana Tariq Jameel was reportedly paid Rs1m for solemnising the marriage ceremony.
K-5 Concepts — event manager that managed baraat decor– was paid Rs15-20m as per FBR. It was also accused of tax evasion along with Rosa Blanca. Qasim Yar Tiwana, the event manager, was paid Rs15-20m for the decor of the baraat. According to FBR, Tiwana declared Rs216,743 as income from business in the tax year 2019.
Whimsica I Parties and United Events and Services were paid Rs10m each for decor, whereas Ahsan Habib also received Rs10m in payments for walima decorations.
Photographers and videographers also provided their services for hefty amounts. Irfan Ahsan was paid approx Rs3m, Mobeen Studios charged Rs2m, Osman Pervaiz received Rs3-3.5m, while Ahmad Fayyaz charged Rs1m for photography at mehndi and baraat.
Shazray Khalid and Winc by Nadia charged Rs1m each for makeup services.
The cement sector in Pakistan has reported the highest ever monthly sales in October 2020.
According to the data released by All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), 5.735 million tons of cement was exported in October.
The domestic sales of cement in October 2020 increased by 15.83 per cent to 4.859 million tons from 4.195 million tons in October 2019, while exports registered an increase of 11.58 per cent, increasing to 875,266 tons from 784,433 tons in the same month last year.
In the north region, domestic cement despatches increased by 15.53 per cent to 4.165 million tons during October 2020 from 3.605 million tons in October 2019. Exports from the north increased by 8.54 per cent to 0.283 million tons in October 2020 from 0.261 million tons in October 2019.
There has been positive growth in the southern region as well where the domestic cement despatches increased by 17.70 per cent to 695,221 tons from 590,690 tons in October 2019. Exports from the South continued to grow and increased by 13.09 per cent to 591,877 tons in October this year from 523,353 tons in October 2019.
In the first four months of this fiscal year, 19.321 million tons of cement was despatched, which is 19.89 per cent higher than the first four months of the last fiscal year.
Total cement dispatches during the first four months of the current fiscal year increased by 19.89 per cent to 19.321 million tons from 16.116 million tons in July-Oct 2019. Domestic despatches registered a healthy increase of 17.94 per cent, increasing from 13.315 million tons to 15.704 million tons.
Exports also showed encouraging growth increasing by 29.15 per cent from 2.8 million tons to 3.617 million tons.
In the South (Sindh-Balochistan) the domestic growth remained healthy at 12.08 per cent as consumption in the first four months increased from 1.860 million tons to 2.085 million tons this year.
The exports from the south posted a growth of 46.56 per cent in the first four months of this fiscal which increased to 2.712 million tons from 1.85 million tons during Jul-Oct 19.
One of the major reasons behind tax gap due to a lower number of tax filers, especially in Pakistan, is lack of awareness as there are numerous benefits of being a filer that most self-employed and salaried individuals don’t know about.
Do you wish to avail better services at airports or excise offices? Want to buy a new car at an affordable price? Or even that top-tier piece of real estate at a lower rate? Want to enjoy a minimal withholding tax on all your banking transactions? Or did you recently suffer a loss in your business and are in dire need of a tax waiver?
If your answer to even any one of these questions is ‘yes’, you immediately need to start filing your tax returns and wealth statement.
You might have thought of becoming a filer but later changed your mind because:
It’s a very complexed process
“My employer deducted it, so why should I even bother?”
Lack of knowledge and awareness regarding this matter
“We are already paying tax through indirect mean”
“Who cares? It’s Pakistan”
Being a tax illiterate can hold you back from getting so many benefits, this article will surely get you on your way to becoming a filer.
Filing your tax returns and wealth statement is beneficial for both you and your government.
And here’s how you can start doing so.
Step 1: Know FBR’s Instructions for Filing Taxes in 2020
Before we get to how to register online as a tax filer and submit your returns, it is important to go through the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) recent instructions on how to file your tax return.
Take a look of the tax slabs for salaried person for tax year 2020/2021
Step 2: Get Registered with FBR E-Enrollment System Online
You can get registered with FBR here and start filing your tax returns online. Previously, FBR used to have separate portals for individuals and companies. But now, they have simplified it further for everyone.
Once signed up, you’ll see a few categories on the left. Go to the registration document in the drafts folder and fill it. When you have filled it and submitted it, FBR will confirm your account and you will be able to submit your tax returns and wealth statements.
If going online is not an option for you, then you can manually file your returns on paper at Taxpayer Facilitation Counters of your respective Regional Tax Office. Paper Return Form can be downloaded from FBR’s website as well or you can file your tax return through Tax Asaan App.
You can also consult this video for any further details.
There are few things you need to know before becoming a filer, watch this video to know about all those things:
What happens if you don’t file your taxes?
Your Income Tax Returns will not Be Entertained if:
Under section 182(1), individuals and companies need to make sure that they don’t fill in wrong details in their forms, failing which will result in penalties for the concerned parties.
CNIC should not be missing or incorrect or invalid
Mandatory fields marked by * shouldn’t be empty
Returns should be duly signed by the taxpayer or his representative (as defined in section 172 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001)
Returns should be filed in the prescribed form and format
As announced by the government in a press conference, the due date for all income-tax return (ITR) for FY 2019-20 has been extended from July 31, 2020, and October 31, 2020, to December 8, 2020.
This guide is not meant to be used as an exhaustive resource, however, it does explain the first step for people who are looking to contribute to Pakistan’s well-being and become responsible citizens.
Facebook is planning on launching its own free website builder and paid web hosting service.
The news was officially announced in a blog post by the company. According to Facebook, this new service will be beneficial for all the startups and medium-sized firms, who are looking for a cost-friendly and reliable services.
They are also looking forward to provide a new option for businesses to manage their WhatsApp messages via the hosting services that will be provided by Facebook. This option will make it easier for all the small and medium-sized business to get started. They can now sell their products, manage almost everything and respond to the messages they receive. They will easily communicate with their employees and customers.
Apart from making the hosting service available in a few months, it also plans on introducing ways purchase directly through WhatsApp chats. The compatibility with the existing e-commerce will be monitored, this will make things easier for retailers.
With emerging technology, social media is one of the best platforms to market your business. You don’t have to miss this phenomenal marketing strategy for your business growth. Here are some of the best reasons to market your business on social media.
Increased brand awareness
The best approach to discover the needs of your clients than directly speaking with them, is marketplace awareness. Market place awareness is to enhance your ability to assess the entire marketplace from a macro level. Primarily, the basic way to analyze this is to use Google keyword planner and Google trends. Google keyword planner will tell you how aware the market is on a very basic level. Implementing the right strategy will greatly increase your brand recognition since you will be dealing with a broad audience of consumers.
2. Engaging with your customers
Social media is the best route for drawing in and communicating with clients. Focusing on your social presence is extremely important. Moreover, you need to ensure that you have quality content. posting visual content (Photos/Videos) is a plus, you are more likely to grab customer’s attention through it.The more you interact the more possibilities you have of knowing their mindset, you can conduct polls and interact via comments. Set up a two-way communication with your intended interest group so their desires are known and their interests are satisfied easily. Besides, correspondence and commitment with clients is one of the approaches to win their consideration and pass on your message.
3. Cost-effective
Social media is one of the most cost-effective digital marketing methods used to market your product and increase your business visibility. Just by contributing minimal expenditure and time, you can essentially generate revenue. Invest less and gain more. All you need to invest is your time in creating quality content and interact with your customers. It will cut your marketing costs without sacrificing results.
Improved brand loyalty
The main goal of every business is to develop a loyal customer base. Customer satisfaction and brand loyalty go hand in hand, considering this it is very important to engage with your customers regularly for effective bonding. Delivering value to your customers should be your priority. Also, make sure that your brand is consistent.
It is clear that social media marketing has its own advantages, so what are you waiting for? People who need to know about your brand/business are mostly using social media and your call will surely reach them with the right marketing strategies and approaches.
