In partnership with
Profit
Wednesday, 1 March, 2023 I 8 Shaban, 1444
Rs 40.00 | Vol XIII No 242 I 44 Pages I Islamabad Edition
Ban announced on manufacturing and sale of traditional fans
Hi-tech Lubricants records lowest consolidated half year earnings in five years
Cars continue to become unaffordable with no end to price hike in sight
SECP requests Google to remove 58 unauthorised digital lending apps
Story on Back Page
Story on Back Page
Story on Back Page
Story on Back Page
GOvt sLashes PetrOL PrICe by rs5 Per LItre g
HIGH-SPEED DIESEL PRICE TO REMAIN UNCHANGED DESPITE DROP IN INTERNATIONAL MARKET
g
ISLAMABAD
F
OGRA notifies Rs12/Kg hike in LPG price
Staff RepoRt
INANCE Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday announced a cut in the price of petrol by Rs5 per litre. In a video message, the finance minister said the new price of petrol will be now Rs267 per litre from previous cost of Rs272 per litre. He added that the price of highspeed diesel would remain unchanged at Rs280 per litre. “Kerosene oil’s current price of Rs202.73 is being reduced to Rs187.73 – a decline of 15 rupees. Light-diesel, which is at Rs196.68, is being brought down to Rs184.68 after a reduction of 12 rupees,” the finance minister said. He said the prices would apply from Tuesday midnight. The drop in petrol price comes as a relief to consumers, but the government’s decision to keep diesel prices unchanged is likely to disappoint the country’s oil industry, which was expecting a reduction of over Rs20 per litre as the price of diesel has gone down in the in-
KEROSENE RATE BROUGHT DOWN TO RS187.73 PER LITRE
ISLAMABAD ahmad ahmadani
ternational market. Responding to the news, PML-N Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz said: “Thank you Dar Sahib! Good news for people.” The government is in a race against time to implement tax measures and reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the country’s reserves have depleted to around $3 billion, which experts believe is enough for only 16 or 17 days of imports.
Govt plans Imran’s arrest ahead of polls to ‘overturn’ Nawaz’s conviction: Fawad Ch ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt
The agreement with the IMF on the completion of the ninth review of a $7bn loan programme would not only lead to a disbursement of $1.2bn but also unlock inflows from friendly countries. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif last week had also announced a slew of austerity measures, which he claimed would save the country Rs200bn annually. Pakistan is in dire need of funds as it battles a worsening economic crisis.
Moody’s slashes Pakistan’s credit rating to Caa3 — lowest in 3 decades profIt
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry on Tuesday asserted that the PDM-led government was planning arrest of Imran Khan before holding general elections to “fulfill the desire for overturning conviction of Nawaz Sharif.” “The government thinks that Nawaz Sharif’s convictions should be overturned, but the question remains as to how can there be a consensus on such demand of the government,” declared Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry while talking to journalists outside the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan following the proceedings of suo motu noice regarding delay in announcement of date for holding elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). “The election will be held as per the constitution and not by consensus”, he added. The former information minister lauded the apex court for taking suo motu notice of delay in the announcement of elections date, saying judiciary’s intervention was the way to resolve the matter following the refusal of the governors to announce date for elections of both the provincial assemblies. Terming the Supreme Court the ‘saviour of the Constitution’, the PTI leader said that their primary job was to protect the Constitution and asked the ruling PDM’s leaders’ not to make the apex court part of public debate. Fawad Ch further said during the hearing of the suo motu case, the PML-N also employed its “old tactics to divide the Supreme Court”. “If elections are delayed beyond 90 days it will shake the foundations of the Constitution,” he said, hoping that the court’s verdict will be based on Constitution. Speaking of the proceedings, Fawad noted that the bench considered who has the constitutional responsibility for appointing the date for the holding of a general election to a provincial assembly, upon its dissolution. “All the lawyers have maintained that the elections should be held within 90 days”, he added. “The judge suggested that the matter should be resolved by consensus”, he said, adding that the PTI also wanted the same. However, he said, the government was planning to arrest Imran Khan before holding elections.
The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has raised the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by Rs 12 per kg for the month of March 2023, and issued a notification in this regard. The OGRA notification also includes the hike in domestic cylinder which has been increased by Rs 136 and commercial cylinder which has been jacked up by Rs 525 for the coming month. Following the issuance of this notification, effective from March 1, LPG will be available at Rs 278/KG, domestic cylinder will be available at Rs 3,278 and commercial cylinder at Rs 12,611, in the open mar-
ReuteRS
Global rating agency Moody’s on Tuesday cut Pakistan’s sovereign credit rating by two more notches to ‘Caa3’ — the lowest in three decades — amid international loan negotiations, saying the country’s increasingly fragile liquidity “significantly raises default risks”. The government has been in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to secure a $1 billion loan, which has been pending since late last year over policy issues. It is part of a stalled
$6.5bn bailout package, originally approved in 2019. A payment by the IMF may help to cover Pakistan’s immediate needs, Moody’s said, but warned that “weak governance and heightened social risks impede Pakistan’s ability to continually implement the range of policies that would secure large amounts of financing.” Islamabad has been undertaking key measures such as raising taxes and removing blanket subsidies and artificial curbs on the exchange rate to secure the funds to avert an economic crisis. The rating agency also
said that there is “very limited visibility” on Pakistan’s sources of financing for its “sizeable external payments needs” beyond the life of the current IMF programme that ends in June 2023. Pushed to the brink by last year’s devastating floods, Pakistan has reserves barely enough for three weeks of essential imports, while hotly contested elections are due by November. A Reuters poll on Tuesday showed Pakistan’s central bank may hike rates by 200 basis points in an off-cycle meeting this week to unlock the IMF funds.
ISLAMABAD The Supreme Court Tuesday reserved its verdict on suo motu case regarding delay in the announcement of the date of provincial assemblies’ elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. A five-member larger bench of the apex court led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial concluded the two-day long proceedings in the case. The CJP said that the verdict of the case would be announced on Wednesday (tomorrow) before 11am. Earlier, the apex court had di-
Dear Readers, owing to the current import curbs, and the subsequent shortage of newsprint, specially our Berliner format, Pakistan Today has been temporarily shifted to an eight-page broadsheet format. The quality of our coverage, however, will remain what it always has been.
Five Pakistanis lost lives in two boat wreck incidents near Italy, Libya: FO spokesperson ISLAMABAD
Inflation to remain high in coming months profIt report The Finance Ministry in its monthly Economic Update and Outlook report released on Tuesday forecasted that inflation will remain high in the coming months before easing out gradually. It is expected that inflation will remain around 28 to 30 % in coming months. The key reasons are uncertain political and economic environment, pass through of currency depreciation, recent rise in energy prices and increase in administered prices. Although SBP has been enacting contractionary monetary policy, the inflationary expectation would take some time to settle. The report states that China has finally lifted pandemic restrictions and resumed mobility and this will result in a pickup of economic activity and provide momentum to the international economy.
International financial institutions predict that China will account for one-third of international growth during the current year. The largest beneficiaries from China’s rebounding will possibly be the oil exporters and its Asian neighboring countries, according to Goldman Sachs. Only China’s yearly food imports are almost $266 billion which are expected to increase over the years. Pakistan can benefit from the significant and enhanced consumption patterns of the food sector within the Chinese economy. Pakistan is a home to the Chinese flagship initiative, i.e., CPEC. This initiative slowed down during the previous government, and it is high time to revive the program to put Pakistan on the trajectory of sustainable development by connecting Pakistan to 150 markets worldwide through the BRI.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 02
SC reserves verdict on Punjab, KP polls delay case Staff RepoRt
ket of the country. Chairman LPG Association Irfan Khokhar said that this is unbearable, adding that instead of giving relief, the government has resorted to raise prices further. He asked whether LPG could be made cheaper if incentives similar to Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) are provided. He also asked for the removal of all taxes imposed on LPG. Poor quality LPG cylinders are being manufactured in Gujranwala and currently around 400 factories are manufacturing such poor-quality LPG cylinders, explained Khokhar. The government should close all such factories, he advised and introduce strict legislation in this regard.
rected the incumbent government and the PTI to ‘sit together’ and decide on a date for elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab by 4 pm today. CJP Bandial said that even if the court takes a decision on the matter of poll dates, “the litigation will continue and this will become very costly for the people and the political parties”. The court passed the instructions after it resumed hearing the matter after a short recess. However, when the hearing resumed after 4 pm, the counsel for Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said the ruling party needed additional time for consultations. Mansoor Usman Awan, represent-
ing the party of deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif, in the suo motu case, said the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition includes members from Balochistan as well, and that the PML-N must hold internal discussions as well as consult with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the second largest party in the government. “The court proceedings should continue as more time is needed for consultations,” Awan told the fivejudge bench. These provinces have been under caretaker governments since early January, when their respective assemblies were dissolved. The latest political crisis emerged after President Arif Alvi declared the elec-
tion date for Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) refused to do so. In a letter addressed to Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, the president cited his constitutional authority to declare April 9 as the poll date in the two provinces. The proceedings on Tuesday began with judges debating whether President Alvi had the authority to act without the recommendation of the cabinet of Shehbaz Sharif. Subsequently, Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial highlighted the potential cost and negative impact of ongoing litigation on the public and political parties.
Staff RepoRt
At least five Pakistanis were among the people who lost their lives in two different capsized boat incidents off Southern Italy and Libya. Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, on her Twitter handle, on Tuesday announced that they could confirm with great sorrow that two Pakistanis had lost their lives in the tragic incident of a boat capsized off the coast of Italy, as identified by their families. “However, another Pakistani national has Alhamdulillah been found among survivors the in same incident, bringing total Pakistani survivors to 17,” she further posted. The spokesperson said the Embassy of Pakistan in Italy remained engaged with the authorities to assist in the matter. The embassy officials had met survivors and were in contact with the Italian authorities as well, she further added in her tweet. While in a related tweet, she posted that in an earlier, separate tragic incident, three Pakistani nationals perished in a boat wreck near Benghazi, Libya. The Pakistan embassy in Libya was facilitating the process of transportation of the mortal remains to Pakistan, she added. According to BBC at least 63 migrants were confirmed to have died, with 12 children including a baby said to be among the victims after the vessel, thought to have carried some 200 people, broke apart while trying to land near Crotone, Italy on February 26. On board, there were people from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Iraq and Iran, the report claimed. More than 170 migrants were estimated to have been aboard the ship, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration said in a joint statement. in today’s issue
attention Some readers have complained that they are not getting the magazine with their newspaper copy. Please call or WhatsApp us at the following number to register a complaint. Contact: 0307-7338168 irfan.farooq@pakistantoday.com.pk