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Saturday, 7 January, 2023 I 14 Jamadi us Sani, 1444
Miftah: bol ke lab azaad hain tere
Dar, President AIIB discuss donors’ conference being held in Geneva
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IMF teaM due In PakIstan to decIde Fate oF nInth revIew: PM g
says terms of agreement to be fulfilled in light of flood destruction
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Shahzad Paracha
rime minister shehbaz sharif said on friday that a delegation from the international monetary fund (imf) would travel to pakistan in two to three days to finalise the ninth review. the prime minister stated this while addressing the inaugural ceremony of hazara electric supply company (hesc) on friday. during his address, the premier said that he had spoken with the managing director of the international monetary fund (imf), kristalina georgieva, the previou night. he said that he assured the md that the current government wished to fulfill the terms of the agreement which had been shattered by the previous government. he said that pakistan would try its best to fulfil the terms of the imf agreement, while simultaneously highlighting the destruction brought by last year’s catastrophic floods. the premier further said that he asked georgieva to dispatch a delegation to pakistan in order to complete the ninth review of the imf programme. “she told me that an imf team will arrive in pakistan in two to three days.” the prime minister office said that the managing director international mone-
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appeals to business community to support govt’s energy conservation plan
tary fund ms. kristalina georgieva called prime minister muhammad shehbaz sharif over telephone and expressed her deep sympathy and concern on the human and material losses due to the recent floods and reiterated her commitment to help pakistan in this difficult period. the prime minister thanked the managing director for her concern on the fallout of the floods and extended an invitation to the m.d to participate in the climate resilient pakistan conference at geneva. m.d thanked the p.m for the invitation but explained that as the imf board meetings had been prefixed for 9th and 10th of January, she will only be able to join the conference virtually. the prime minister assured the m.d imf that pakistan is committed to successfully completing the ongoing imf programme and thanked the m.d for her understanding and empathy of the challenges that pakistan has been facing. Why the urgency? on thursday, pakistan recorded its lowest level of foreign reserves, since april 2014. the state bank of pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves were clocked at an alarmingly low level of 5.58 billion. causing pakistan’s import cover to drop to less than a month according to experts. in such trying times pakistan is in dire need of valuable foreign exchange reserves, not only to pay off its debts but also
CCLC approves proposed safety standards of vehicles
Maryam Nawaz in good condition after throat surgery in Geneva: Aurangzeb
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Rs 15.00 | Vol XIII No 189 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition
to finance its imports. as of now, the government has been unable to secure bilateral loans and the resumption of the imf program, seems to be the only way forward to break the deadlock of forex inflow. according to the finance minister, the delay in the 9th review of the imf has been caused by an unsatisfactory assessment of the flood rehabilitation program by the government. Business community should support energy conservation plan prime minister shehbaz sharif on friday appealed business community to support the government’s recently announced energy conservation plan marking the early closure of markets and restaurants, to ensure judicious use of national resources and reduce the import bill. “i appeal to the business community to extend their support to the government (for energy conservation). this will reduce the oil import and bring down the dollar rate which would later be spent on the country’s progress including agriculture and medicine,” the prime minister said addressing a ceremony for the establishment of hazara electric company here. covering a total area of over 16,774 square kilometers, the new company would cater to the needs of around 726,000 consumers across haripur, mansehra, abbottabad, battagram, torgarh, kohistan upper, kohistan lower and kolai plus. the prime minister said any difficulty faced by a nation necessitated collective action and expressed the hope that the traders from across the country would take part in this “jihad” to save the national resources. referring to his telephonic interaction with imf managing director kristalina georgieva on thursday, the prime minister assured that, unlike its predecessor, the incumbent government would abide by its commitments with imf without further burdening the masses. however, he also sensitized the imf head over the country’s economic condition adversely affected by the worst floods and made it clear his government had already taxed the rich but could no more burden the poor.
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Bumper crop in Rabi season likely, but concerns loom large g
post-disaster assessment says pakistan needs at least $16.3b for post-flood rehabilitation and reconstruction Profit rePort
the finance division is hopeful that the country’s agricultural sector will see positive returns from the rabi season off the back of favourable conditions created by the prime minister’s kissan package announced in the wake of last year’s devastating floods. in its monthly report for the end of the last year, Q-block reported that for rabi season 2022-23, the wheat crop has been sown on an area of 20.77 million acres. “the input situation is expected to remain favourable due to incentives announced in kissan package 2022 that will boost agriculture productivity,” reads the report. the better input situation is expected to increase crop production in rabi season. according to irsa the irrigation water supply recorded at 6.32 maf for november 2022 against last year’s supply of 5.50 maf, increased by 0.82 maf. during Jul-nov fy2023, the agriculture credit disbursement increased by 35.9 percent to rs 663.9 billion from rs 488.5 billion compared to corresponding period last year. during rabi 2022-23 (november 2022), urea and dap off-take stood at 583 thousand tonnes (1.6 percent higher than november 2021) and 236 thousand tonnes (7.5 percent higher than november 2021). Devastation the last year had seen climate-change driven floods seriously impacting the country’s agriculture and threatening its food security. already a net importer of food, pakistan’s self-sufficiency struggles continue to climb a steeper and steeper hill. the biggest news this year not just in agriculture but in the entire country and possibly the world this year were the floods in pakistan. in
short, climate change has resulted in a gargantuan increase in the amount of monsoon rainfall that sindh and balochistan have seen this year. the two provinces saw the highest amount of water fall from the skies in living memory, recording 522 and 469 per cent more than the normal downpour this year according to the met department. the economic impact alone has been devastating. all in all, according to the latest report of the post-disaster needs assessment (pdna), pakistan needs at least $16.3 billion for post-flood rehabilitation and reconstruction. the pdna report, released by the representatives of the government and the international development institutions, calculated the cost of floods at $30.1 billion – $14.9 billion in damages and $15.2 billion in losses. Kissan package the kissan package was announced only a few months ago by prime minister shehbaz sharif in the wake of the floods. under this subsidy scheme, the government will give rs10.6 billion loans to small farmers across the country while small farmers of flood-hit areas would get loans worth rs 80 billion. in addition to the interestfree and subsidised loans, subsidies will also be given on farm imports such as fertilisers, electricity, seeds, and even tractors. if implemented correctly, the package will have a wide-reaching impact in helping farmers affected by this year’s floods back on their feet. by the end of december 2022, the government announced that they had managed to disburse agricultural loans worth rs 663.9 billion in the month of november to flood-hit farmers in dire need of recuperation.
Establishment not ‘neutral’ on trust vote in Punjab: Imran LAHore Staff rePort
former prime minister and pakistan tehreek-e-insaf (pti) chairman imran khan said friday that the establishment is not acting neutral on the vote of confidence for punjab chief minister (cm) pervaiz elahi. talking to a delegation of court reporters in lahore today, imran khan said that pti and its allies are preparing for the vote of confidence if the court issues such an order to the punjab cm. he alleged that the establishment is seemingly not acting neutral on the vote of confidence. “our people are being approached and so far, three mpas have informed us about being
contacted,” said the pti chief, adding that the mpas are being asked to ditch punjab cm in the vote of confidence. khan said that pti and pakistan muslim league Quaid (pml-Q) are political allies and pervaiz elahi has his own stance regarding former army chief general (retd) Qamar Javed bajwa. he said that pervaiz elahi cannot ask pti leadership to change its stance. khan clarified once again that his political party is not fighting the establishment but struggling to get justice. the pti chief told the court reporters that no dialogues will be held with the ‘thieves’. he vowed that pti will immediately organise local government (lg) polls after coming into power.
he reiterated his allegations against the former army chief and said that gen (retd) bajwa did not consider corruption wrongdoing and all corruption cases were dissolved. commenting on the horse trading ahead of the vote of confidence, he said that turncoats will not get any support from the nationals anymore. imran khan said that pti will not step back from its narrative and they will continue to expose those people who are the reason for crisis in the country. the delegation of the court reporters includes abid khan, ibadul haq, Zainul abideen, abdul rehman, muhammad Waqas, arshad ali, muhammad ashfaq salman awan, shakir awan and faisal khan.
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