Tag: economy

  • Imran govt admits obtaining $10 billion loan within over a year

    Imran govt admits obtaining $10 billion loan within over a year

    The Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan-led government has admitted to have obtained a total of $10.37 billion debt from different countries and international lenders up until September 30, this year.

    In a written reply to a question in the National Assembly, Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insadf (PTI) government secured $10.37 billion from various governments and international institutions from August 14, 2018 to September 30, 2019.

    The government, during this period, received $1.54 billion from China, $151.79 million from Saudi Arabia, $68.6 million from France, $0.4 million from Germany, $62.48 million from Japan and $0.01 million from Kuwait.

    It also obtained a total of $991.2 million loan so far from International Monetary Fund (IMF) during this period.

    The government received a total $2.751 billion from multilaterals including $997.45 million from Asian Development Bank (ADB), $23 million from Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), $155.04 million from International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), $556.05 million from International Development Association (IDA), $6.14 million form Islamic Development Bank (IDB), $922.84 million from IDB (short terms), $42.24 million from International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), $8.36 million from Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC Fund), and $39.8 million form ECOT/BANK.

    The government obtained $4.805 billion loan from commercial banks including $365 million from Ajman Bank, $2.235 billion from Consortium of Chinese banks (ICBC, CDB, BOC), $150 million from Citibank, $410 million from DIB/Noor, $195 million from DIB, $500 million from Emirates NBD, $300 million from ICBD and $650 million from Credit Suisse.

  • Imran’s adviser all praise for PML-N; says previous govt’s policies boosted economy

    Adviser to Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on Commerce, Abdul Razak Dawood, has given the credit of Pakistan’s improved rating in World Bank’s (WB) Ease of Doing Business Index to the previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government and its good policies.

    Pakistan has jumped up 28 places on the index and secured a place among the top 10 countries with the most improved business climate — a development that will greatly improve its image abroad.

    Pakistan carried out six reforms that helped improving its ranking from 136 to 108, according to the WB’s annual flagship report, ‘Ease of Doing Business 2020’, released last month. It turned out to be the sixth global reformer and first in South Asia that brought ease in doing business in the past one year.

    Praising the PML-N in what is being termed as challenging his own premier’s policy statement, Dawood has said that it was the previous government’s good policies that helped the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) carry out the said reforms.

    “Ease of doing busniess started improving under the previous government and their efforts helped us make even better. It’s not just us… look how the power crisis has been overcome. All of it wasn’t done within a single year,” he can be heard as saying in a video doing rounds over the internet.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    According to The Express Tribune, the WB monitors a country’s business related regulations on 10 benchmarks that are as broad as from starting a business, to getting electricity connection, securing construction permits, paying taxes, dispute resolution, business insolvency and protecting minority shareholders’ rights. All these areas are closely looked at by the global investors before they take decisions on making investment.

    The report measures how close each economy is to the best global practices in business regulations.

    On the measure of absolute progress towards best practices, Pakistan has improved the score to 61 from 55, suggesting the country did some remarkable work this time around and built on the reforms introduced in the previous year as well.

    International investors consult the report and the Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum before taking decisions on investment plans.

    While India remained top among South Asian nations, up 14 spots to 63, Pakistan also made a mark by climbing 28 positions and securing a place among the top 10 global business climate reformers and improving 28 positions in a year.

    “This rise is significant and made possible by collective and coordinated actions of the federal government and provincial governments of Sindh and Punjab over the past year,” said the WB Country Director for Pakistan Illango Patchamuthu.

  • Naya Pakistan: FBR collects Rs580bn, petrol price decreased by Rs4.59

    Naya Pakistan: FBR collects Rs580bn, petrol price decreased by Rs4.59

    In two rare but good developments, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has collected Rs580 billion within the first two months of the new fiscal year whereas the price of petrol has been slashed by Rs4.59 after successive escalation over the past few months.

    As per the details, FBR collected Rs297.4 billion this month, despite 8-10 non-working days. “So far, FBR’s target for FY2019-20 has been achieved to the extent of 90 per cent. Rs580 billion against the target of Rs644 billion,” the FBR chief was quoted as saying.

    “The positive aspects for the two months of FY2019-20 are that imports during the two months decreased by $1 billion,” he said, adding that the positive effect is taken into account, collection during the past two months is in line with the target.

    Meanwhile, according to a statement issued by the Finance Ministry, the prices of high-speed diesel, kerosene oil and light diesel have been lowered by Rs5.33, Rs4.27 and Rs5.63 per litre, respectively.

    The notification (effective September 1) came amid confusing statements by some cabinet members. The government had earlier issued a notification, stating ‘mistakenly’ that the price of high-speed diesel has been reduced by Rs7.67.

  • United opp divides people: All you should know about Bilawal’s Iftar

    United opp divides people: All you should know about Bilawal’s Iftar

    As leaders of major opposition parties joined hands to attend an Iftar dinner hosted by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Sunday, their united stance against the government left social media divided.

    ATTENDANCE:

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz, PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) senior leader Liaquat Baloch, Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) Chairman Aftab Sherpao and Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) leaders Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar were all in attendance for the event organised at Zardari House in Islamabad.

    AGENDA:

    Bilawal is working to unite all opposition parties and his Iftar was an opportunity for them to reach consensus on launching an anti-government movement after Ramzan.

    The grand show of around ten political parties discussed strategies against the government. Sources had earlier informed The Current that the meeting was set to unite opposition leaders against the country’s economic crisis — falling rupee value and inflation.

    It was decided that solutions will be found to the issues the country is facing and all opposition parties will launch a protest inside and outside the parliament after Eid.

    They also agreed that the government has failed in running the affairs of the country and after Eid, an All Parties Conference (APC) would be held where a joint strategy would be formulated.

    The meeting also expressed concerns over “political victimisation” by the National Accountancy Bureau (NAB).

    PM IMRAN’S REACTION:

    Meanwhile, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan hit out at the opposition and said, “Today certain people have gathered for an event but we really know that it is because of them that Pakistan has not moved forward.”

    He said that the economy was being used “as a source of blackmail by corrupt political mafia”.

    DIVIDED SOCIAL MEDIA:

    Some social media users lauded Bilawal and Maryam as the new faces behind the two biggest opposition parties in the country, “taking forward the ideas of their parents” — former PMs Benazir Bhutto and Maryam Nawaz.

    https://twitter.com/always_opposed/status/1130139351558631424

    Meanwhile, some others stepped up to criticise the “unholy alliance”.

    https://twitter.com/FawadPTIUpdates/status/1130080776899452928

    https://twitter.com/Faisal_Kp01/status/1130382713062678528