Tuesday, 23 August, 2022 I 24 Muharram, 1444 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XIII No 54 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition
PM Shehbaz to eMbark on two-day official viSit of Qatar today ISLAMABAD
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Staff report
RIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif is scheduled to leave for Qatar on a two-day official visit from August 23-24 on the invitation of the Amir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. This will be the prime minister’s first visit to the State of Qatar since assuming office in April 2022. He will be accompanied by a high-level delegation, including key members of the cabinet. During the visit, the prime minister will hold in-depth consultations with the Qatari leadership. The two sides will review the entire spectrum of bilateral relations, with a particular focus on advancing energy-related cooperation, deepening trade and investment ties, and exploring greater employment opportunities for Pakistanis in Qatar. Views on a range of regional and international issues of mutual interest
would also be exchanged. While in Doha, Prime Minister Sharif will also engage with leading Qatari and Pakistani business leaders, investors and entrepreneurs. He will visit “Stadium 974” in Doha, where he would be briefed on the extensive preparations undertaken by the Qatari government to host the FIFA World Cup. Pakistan and Qatar enjoy close and cordial fraternal ties, rooted deep in shared faith, mutual trust and understanding, and close cooperation. The relationship is marked by growing collaboration in all fields of bilateral interest as well as close coordination on regional and international issues. Qatar is home to more than 200,000 Pakistanis, who are contributing to the progress, prosperity and economic development of the two brotherly countries. Regular leadership-level exchanges are a hallmark of the Pakistan-Qatar partnership. The prime minister’s visit to Qatar will impart a renewed impetus to
deepening cooperation between the two countries in diverse fields and further strengthen their growing economic partnership. PAkIsTAN To REcEIVE $2bN IN bIlATERAl suPPoRT fRoM QATAR: Pakistan will receive $2 billion from Qatar in bilateral support to help ease the coun-
try’s financial crunch and the consequent risk of a default, Bloomberg reported on Monday. The assistance will improve the position of the foreign exchange reserves and will further strengthen the local rupee — which was the best performer globally this month according to data tracked by
Bloomberg. In this regard, Acting Governor State Bank of Pakistan Murtaza Syed during a briefing said that Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is visiting Qatar on August 23 and 24 during which an announcement of the assistance may or may not be announced. The country will also get $1 billion in oil financing from Saudi Arabia and a similar amount in investments from the UAE. “All the funds are expected over twelve months,” Syed said. Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail met his Qatari counterpart Ali bin Ahmed Al-Kuwari to discuss bilateral relations and explore areas of joint cooperation. It is pertinent to mention here that the pledges have come in days before the IMF board meeting scheduled on August 29. Pakistan is expecting the release of $1.2 billion in financing from the Fund following the meeting as the Washingtonbased lender has gotten the commitment of funding it had sought from Saudi Arabia.
Marriyum castigates Imran for being ‘mastermind of anti-army campaign’ ISLAMABAD Staff report
Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb on Monday accused former prime minister Imran Khan of “instigating the public” with violence and hate speech, alleging that he was the mastermind of the Shahbaz Gill controversy and the anti-army campaign. “Nowadays, you have seen that a drama is underway in the country because a man, who is an expert at lying, is creating false narrative and spreading propaganda [among the public],” she said at a press conference in Islamabad. The minister recalled that when the PTI government was ousted, it had left behind a “landmine” for the incumbent coalition rulers. “Ever since, we have been trying to fix the economy. And we have succeeded considerably as the market is regaining confidence. “But this man [Imran] just can’t stand to see this,” she said. “When this man saw that the situation was finally getting better, he decided to spread so much hate and anarchism [in the country] that the confi-
dence of the economy started shaking again.” Referring to the PTI chief’s statements at the rally in the capital on Saturday, Aurangzeb said that Imran was a “thug” and who instigated people and then ran away. “He ran away from the Election Commission of Pakistan, FIA (Federal Investigation Agency), helicopter case, Toshakhana Reference […] and closed down all the investigations.” Imran, she
accused, instigated pilgrims in Saudi Arabia and then fled. “On May 25, he called people to DChowk but fled from the site […] last night he called people to Bani Gala but ran away from there too,” Aurangzeb added. She claimed that the ex-premier was “an expert at changing debates”. “He did so with the martyrs of the Lasbela incident […] he wrote that script for Gill […] he is the mastermind behind it all.”
But the reality was that Imran had been caught, the minister continued. “If you haven’t committed theft, submit your answers to the FIA and ECP […] why have you refused to talk to them? Nawaz Sharif did the same, why can’t you?” The Minister also claimed that the FIA had found an undeclared account under President Dr Arif Alvi’s name, claiming that the agency had his signatures as proof. “The account has not been registered under the ECP or anywhere else.” The minister also said that the accountant firm managing PTI’s accounts had recently written a letter to the electoral board in which it had distanced itself from the party’s financial record. “And another important point that has come forward is that two offshore companies that Imran has constantly denied affiliation with […] it has been found the companies were in fact owned by PTI members and the party was withdrawing money from it. “But this was hidden from the ECP for over eight years,” she pointed out, adding that it was now “proven” that Imran was a “foreign agent”.
ihc to initiate contempt of court proceedings against imran khan ISLAMABAD Staff report
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday decided to initiate the contempt of court proceedings against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan for hurling threats to Judicial Magistrate Zeba Chaudhry. According to the Registrar Office, the decision was with the consultation of all judges. A larger bench comprising Justice Mohsin Akhter Kayani, Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Baber Sattar will take up the matter on Tuesday. The PTI chairman, during a rally at F-9 Park Islamabad, had given a threatening statement about Additional Sessiona Judge Zeba Chaudhry in his speech. The judicial magistrate had granted the police a two-day physical remand of PTI leader Shahbaz Gill.
Monetary tightening takes pause as policy rate kept at 15pc g
Policy rate to remain unchanged for the next six weeks KARACHI Monitoring report
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday maintained the status quo by keeping the interest rate on hold at 15%. According to the details, the central bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) met under the chair of Deputy Governor Syed Murtaza and reviewed the economic indicators. The meeting decided to maintain the interest rate for the next six weeks. The status quo decision taken by the MPC Is primarily because of administrative steps taken to curtail imports and plans for strong fiscal consolidation in FY23. In a statement, the SBP said that recent inflation developments have been
in line with expectations, domestic demand has begun moderating and the external position has improved. As a result, “the MPC felt that it was prudent to take a pause at this stage.” “Looking ahead, the MPC intends to remain data-dependent, paying close attention to month-on-month inflation, inflation expectations, developments on the fiscal and external fronts, global commodity prices and interest rate decisions by major central banks,” read the statement. The SBP noted that since the last meeting, headline inflation rose to 24.9% in July as per expectations, the trade balance fell sharply in July,the rupee reversed course during August, and the board meeting on the ongoing review under the IMF programme will
take place on August 29th. It is expected that the Fund will release a further tranche of $1.2 billion. The central bank claims the release will “catalyse financing from multilateral and bilateral lenders.” In terms of international developments, the MPC noted that both global commodity prices and the US dollar have fallen in recent weeks in response to signs of a sharper than anticipated slowdown in global growth and nascent market expectations that the US Federal Reserve tightening cycle may be less aggressive than previously anticipated; more emerging market central banks have started to hold policy rates in their recent meetings. On balance, the MPC noted that
some greater slowdown in global growth will not be as harmful for Pakistan as for most other emerging economies, given the relatively small share of exports and foreign private inflows in the economy. As a result, both inflation and the current account deficit (CAD) should fall as global commodity prices ease, while growth will not be as badly affected. The decision is in line with market expectations. Most analysts had earlier developed consensus that the bank would maintain the rate at the current level, the highest since November 2008. It may be recalled that the committee had raised the benchmark policy rate by 125 basis points (bps) to 15% during the last meeting in July. Be-
sides, it tied interest rates of the Export Finance Scheme (EFS) and Long-Term Financing Facility (LTFF) to the policy rate, giving it a 500-basis point discount relative to the policy rate to encourage exports. Although a number of economists claimed that Pakistan’s trade deficit decreased by 18% YoY and 47% MoM during the month of July 22 mostly as a result of a decrease in import costs, weekly inflation hit a record high of over 42% in the week ended on Friday. Data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) shows that the benchmark CPI inflation spiked to a 14-year high at around 25% in July. So far in 2022, the central bank has held five MPC meetings. A hike in the policy rate was notified in three of these meetings, to a combined hike of 525 basis points.