Friday, 30 december, 2022 i 6 Jamadi us Sani, 1444 i rs 15.00 | vol Xiii no 181 i 12 Pages i islamabad edition
Talks on wiTh saudia for anoTher $3b loan: pasha g
says pakistan will Meet external payMent obligations, return loans due in Jan
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assures talks with iMF to resuMe soon, all Matters to be settled
profit report Shahzad Paracha
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inister of state for Finance and revenue, dr ayesha ghous pasha has assured that talks with saudi arabia for getting three billion dollars are underway. she was talking to the media after the meeting of the senate Finance committee. she said that the ministry’s team is making considerable progress and hopefully, after the holidays, the talks will move forward. the state Minister also said that they are also holding discussions with China for a $3 billion loan and things are moving forward in this regard. she said that pakistan will also meet its external payment obligations and will return the loans that are due in January. adding on to that, she said that we have more foreign exchange reserves in the pipeline and there is nothing to worry about. she said that Finance Ministry officials will meet with the iMF officials at the donors Conference in geneva on January 9, 2023. she assured that negotiations with the iMF will start again after the holidays and the matters with the iMF will be settled as well, she vowed. she also said that the ministry has shared the flood damage estimates with multilateral international organizations and will also find out how much external funding they will be able to receive, at the donors conference. ayesha ghous pasha also said that the government had banned import of unnecessary and luxury items in the best interest of the country, but now they are relaxing these restrictions and sbp is also lifting ban on lCs from the 2nd of January. earlier, responding to the presentation of the Malakand Chamber of Commerce and industry, at the senate standing Committee on Finance, held on thursday, aisha ghous pasha stated that the demand for exemptions should be clearly justified . she maintained that distortions should not be created, due to the proposed sales tax and excise duty exemption, for the steel and ghee/cooking oil units in the tribal areas. “we do not want to create any distortion in the taxation system and if you justify these exemptions, the government would be ready to consider the same”, she added.
ishtiaq ahmad, the president of the Malakand Chamber of Commerce and industry protested that the Fbr had established inland revenue enforcement network (iren) check posts, to conduct surveillance of exit points from non-taxable areas, i.e, Federally administered tribal areas (Fata) and the provincially administered tribal areas (pata) to taxable territories. however, the checks posts have created harassment and made illegal cases against the units located in the tribal areas. Chairman Committee, after due deliberations, directed the officials of Malakand Chamber of Commerce and industry to provide appropriate justifications for the demanded exemptions and further discuss the matter with the government. detailed discussion was held on the restriction of lCs causing delay in development and opening of Five star hotel named “Movenpick hotel, islamabad”. she added that the restriction in imports is just a temporary restriction and will be relaxed as the economic and currency situation improves. since 90% of the work is already completed committee members advised the officials of state bank and Ministry of Finance and revenue to consider the specific import requests and work for the mitigation of the problems faced by the businessmen in this regard. PAkiStAn, turkiSh FMS reSOlve tO wOrk tOgether FOr regiOnAl PeACe, PrOSPerity: Foreign Minister bilawal bhutto Zardari on thursday had a telephonic conversation with his turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavusoglu and discussed the current situation in afghanistan as well as
bilateral and regional matters. both the leaders reiterated their commitment to work together for peaceful and stable afghanistan and for regional peace and prosperity. Foreign minister bilawal appreciated the turkish solidarity for the flood affected people of pakistan and continued support for rehabilitation of the flood-hit people and building a climate resistant pakistan. “pleased to have telephonic conversation with FM Mevlüt Çavusoglu today. appreciated turkiye’s solidarity for flood affectees & continued support for rehabilitation & climate resistant pakistan. reiterated commitment to work together for peaceful & stable afghanistan for regional peace and prosperity,” Foreign Minister bilawal wrote on twitter. nO threAt OF deFAult: Minister for planning development & special initiatives, professor ahsan iqbal on thursday dispelled the rumors related to default risks of the country and called for adopting export oriented policies for public and private sector to accelerate export led growth. the minister made these remarks while chairing a roundtable on ‘Conducive business environment’ organized by the Ministry of planning Commission on thursday. the roundtable was attended by the representatives of relevant ministries, chambers of commerce and other relevant stakeholders. “a specific political party is propagating the rumors about the country's default for the political objectives; however, pakistan has come out of economic crises successfully after taking tough decisions,” he said. the minister said that anyone who talks about the default of the country is pakistan's enemy and the politics of those who declare pakistan as default will default soon. to promote private sector investments, we need to create an enabling and investor-friendly environment in the country while emphasizing to increase exports to up to 100 billion dollars. the problems faced by the country will be solved under the leadership of the prime Minister shahbaz sharif who has adopted the path of stability while moving the country in the right direction, he added. Furthermore, he said that China offers pakistan a ‘potential export market’ which we must take advantage of while emphasizing the importance of local and foreign investors in the country which he believes should be top priority.
PM Shehbaz, COAS Asim Munir discuss national security iSLAMABAD Staff rePort
Chief of army staff (Coas) general syed asim Munir called on prime Minister shehbaz sharif at the pM office on thursday and discussed prevailing security situation with him. professional as well as matters relating to national security were discussed in the meeting, said a statement issued by the pM Media wing here. gen asim briefed the premier on the security situation of the country during the meeting. PM SuMMOnS nSC Meeting prime Minister shehbaz sharif has summoned a meeting of the national security Committee (nsC) on Friday (today) to discuss matters related to national security. sources privy to the matter informed that the prime Minister has convened the nsC meeting at pM house on Friday, which would be attended by the defence minister, interior minister, foreign minister and finance minister as well as the military chiefs. they said the nsC meeting would be briefed on the recent terror wave across pakistan. the high-powered nsC meeting will take a comprehensive review of the strategy in the wake of the ongoing surge in terrorist attacks. Military officials will brief the nsC meeting participants on the rise in terrorism incidents, situation along pak-afghan border and implemen-
tation of the national action plan (nap), sources added. apart from this, issues related to formulating an integrated strategy against terrorism will also be discussed in the huddle of top civil and military leaders. all service chiefs, security officials, foreign minister, interior minister, defence minister, finance minister and information minister will attend the nsC meeting, which will be chaired by pM shehbaz. a day earlier, the military top brass vowed to “fight against terrorists without any distinction” as the menace of terrorism has reared its ugly head again with a fresh wave of attacks in the country. the reiteration of the resolve was made in a huddle of the corps commanders at the ghQ which was presided over by army chief general syed asim Munir. “a comprehensive review of professional and organisational matters of the army was undertaken. it was resolved to fight against terrorists without any distinction and eliminate this menace as per the aspirations of people of the pakistan,” the interservices public relations (ispr) said in the statement. the military commanders’ huddle also came amid a spike in terrorist attacks across the country claimed mostly by the outlawed tehreek-e-taliban pakistan (ttp) which unilaterally scrapped a ceasefire in november effectively ending a startstop negotiation process brokered by the afghan taliban.
Pti announces countrywide protests against inflation from today LAHore Staff rePort
pti leader Fawad Chaudhry on thursday announced that the party had decided to launch a “protest movement” across country from Friday, adding that Chairman imran khan would join supporters after three weeks. “From tomorrow, demonstrations will be staged against inflation and the sinking economy […] and this movement will continue until the incumbent government is sent packing,” he said in a media talk in lahore. the decision, Chaudhry told journalists, was taken by imran in a meeting with senior party members today. “these protests will be led by pti Mnas in their constituencies,” he said, clarifying that the movement will continue in every city. “after three weeks, imran khan will announce the next plan
of action,” he said. Chaudhry also revealed that a “huge protest” will be organised for the release of detained party senator azam swati — who has been in custody in a case pertaining to controversial tweets against senior military officials. Moreover, the pti leader reiterated that the idea of bringing in a technocrat government “will not be tolerated” in pakistan. “if you look at the Constitution, elections are the only way out. the public will not accept a technocrat government. they will only accept general elections,” he stressed. Chaudhry went on to say that “some quarters” in the country were against holding snap polls. “i’m telling the establishment that they will be entirely blamed for this experiment. pakistan should not be made a lab rat,” he warned. talking about the matter of the pun-
jab assembly, the pti leader said held a majority in the province and had the right to dissolve the provincial assembly anytime. he alleged that some punjab lawmakers were being bribed with trips to dubai, saudi arabia, and the united states only if they “abstain from the vote of confidence” of Chief Minister parvez elahi. “but let me tell you […] this game of horse trading will be defeated. Chaudhry parvez elahi will take a vote of confidence and then we will move toward dissolution of the assemblies.” in response to a question on the acceptance of the resignation of pti Mnas, the former minister said that the party would not accept individual verification under any circumstances. “no pti Mna is ready to sit in the assembly. hence, we have decided to approach the supreme Court for a solution to this problem,” he added.