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saturday, 11 march, 2023 i 18 shaban, 1444 Pakistani forex reserves stabilize, reducing pressure on rupee
ECP seeks 353,000 additional troops for Punjab, KP elections
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rs 15.00 | Vol Xiii No 252 i 08 pages i islamabad edition
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‘Temporary relief’ as BHC suspends imran’s arresT warranTs g
COurT ADjOurnS CASe FOr TwO weeKS g QueTTA POLiCe TeAm HAD AFTer Serving nOTiCeS TO igP, Dig, SP reACHeD LAHOre TO ArreST LegAL, SHO AnD APPLiCAnT OF CASe FOrmer Premier in THe CASe QUETTA
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staff report
iving temporary relief to PTi Chairman imran Khan, the Balochistan High Court (BHC) on Friday suspended the nonbailable arrest warrants against him issued by a local court in hate speech case. The former prime minister had moved BHC after a local court in Quetta on Thursday issued a nonbailable arrest warrant for imran Khan in a case pertaining to inciting public against state institutions. During the hearing, the BHC judge suspended imran Khan’s arrest warrants for two weeks and issued notices to the igP Balochistan, Dig, SP legal, and SHO. The high court also sent notice to plaintiff Khaleel Kakar and ad-
promised funds of $20.073b face delays g
registered at the Bijli ghar police station. The case was filed against imran Khan for maligning the national institutions. The Balochistan police registered a case against the PTi chairman on the complaint of a citizen – named Abdul Khalil Karak. Kakar had alleged that the PTi chief’s statement was an attempt
journed the hearings for two weeks. The development came hours after Quetta police on Friday morning reached Lahore to arrest the former premier imran Khan in the hate speech case. The Quetta judicial magistrate issued non-bailable arrest warrant for the PTi chief following a case
wB’S PreDiCTiOn OF unDiSBurSeD FunDS FOr juLy TO SePTemBer COme TO LiFe profiT rEporT MoMina ashraf
As the cash-strapped nation eyes assistance from friendly countries and the international monetary Fund (imF), the economic Affairs Division (eAD) has revealed that the balance of undisbursed funds stands at $20.073 billion from September 2022. in the quarterly report, the division noted that the undisbursed balance was $21.121 billion as of end june 2022. During july-September 2022, disbursement was $2.238 billion including $1.166 billion from the imF which was committed in the seventh and eighth review. The undisbursed funds is the amount outstanding from the agreement made by the lender. Back in October 2022, the world Bank had predicted a delay in disbursement of at least nine projects. This also included a potential cancellation of $730 million project, and concessionary financing of $400 million, due ‘serious problems’ in their design and execution. it was noted that the cancellation of the projects can be utilized in flood-related projects it follows proper and timely execution. During the months of july to September 2022, a total of $421.16 million commitments were made including $412.60 million loans and $8.56 million grants. Bank of China also committed 200 million as commercial loans. Foreign-funded projects often remain behind schedule and are restructured due to implementation-related challenges. These projects have mostly been designed by international consultants who are not always in touch with the ground root problems or falling into a disagreement about policies with the government.
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to destroy public peace and order. The PTi chairman was booked under Pakistan Penal Code – Section 505 [Statements conducing to public mischief], Section 124-A [Sedition] and Section 153-A [Promoting enmity between different groups]. Quetta police team reaches lahore: On the other hand, a team of Quetta police on Friday reached Lahore to arrest the former premier and Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTi) chief imran Khan. The Quetta police team, led by Superintendent Police (SP) City nadeem reached Lahore with the arrest warrant of imran Khan. The team led by the SP City includes a sub-inspector, two guards and a driver. Sources privy to the development said CCPO Lahore Bilal Siddiq has been informed about the presence of Quetta police in Lahore for imran Khan’s arrest.
amends to NaB law afoot regarding returned references: law minister iSLAMABAD staff report
Federal minister for Law and justice Azam nazeer Tarar on Friday said that the government had proposed amendments to section-iv and v of the nAB law with regard to the references returned by the accountability courts. “An ordinance would be issued until the Parliament in session to empower accountability courts to transfer references to relevant forums if these do not fall in their jurisdictions”, Law minister Azam nazeer Tarar said while addressing a press conference here on Friday. The minister said that there had been rumors about the future of the references returned by the accountability courts recently,
Imran urges nation to stand up against ‘crooked rulers, rising fascism’
The PSO debt spiral continues
adding that indeed these references were not quashed instead only their forums had been changed. The minister said that the nAB chairman would be authorized to send these inquiries and reference to the relevant institutions. “However, investigations into various cases could be closed only if the court concerned recommend such a move”, he pointed out, adding that the nAB deputy chairman would use all the powers of chairman nAB in his absence. He said that previously nAB had been accused of political engineering and the apex court had also made such observation during Saad rafiq case. “The leadership of PmL-n was acquitted from nAB ref-
erences by the courts under the previous laws,” he said. Azam nazeer Tarar said that PTi’s government had used the nAB for political purposes, adding that imran Khan had introduced three ordinances during his tenure. To a question, the minister said that under Article 19 of the constitution Toshakhana record from 2000 to onward would be public soon on website or in print form, without discrimination after being compiled. He, however, said that compilation Toshakhana record since 1947 was a huge and time-consuming exercise. To another questioned, he said that there was a need for every institution to focus and introduce self-accountability system.
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power consumers to pay additional rs14.24/unit g
new SurCHArge TO Be ADDeD TO BiLLS AS DeFerreD FCA iSLAMABAD ahMad ahMadani
national electric Power regulatory Authority (nePrA) has allowed the power distribution companies (DiSCOS) and K-electric (Ke) to recover a deferred fuel adjustment surcharge up to rs 14.24 per unit from the electricity consumers in eight months from march to October 2023. The regulatory authority has also allowed the Kelectric to recover deferred fuel adjustment charges from its consumers as well. For Karachi locals the surcharge would be up to rs 13.87 per unit. The charges will be separate for each slab of consumers based on their consumption. As per details, the power companies will recover rs 10.34 per unit from domestic protected consumers using 200 units or less per month, rs 14.24 per unit from non-protected consumers using up to 200 units, rs 14.24 per unit from those consuming 200-300 units per month and rs 9.90 per unit from private agricultural consumers. whereas the breakdown for consumers in Karachi is as follows, rs 9.97 per unit will be charged from domestic protect consumers using less than 200 units per month, rs 13.87 per unit from nonprotected consumers using up to 200 units, rs 13.87 per unit from those consuming between 200 to 300 units per month and rs 9.90 per unit from private agricultural consumers. The entire amount will be recovered from the electricity consumers in instalments from march up till October 2023. The government was to pass on this fuel adjustment which was to be originally charged in the months of june and july last year. However, prime minister Shahbaz Sharif had announced to defer it. According to the decision of nePrA, the ministry of energy while justifying its request submitted that rebasing of uniform tariff determined by the regulator which was recommended by it as final tariff for publication in the official gazette was notified by the Federal government in order to not burden the consumers disproportionately in a sequence of rs.3.5/unit in july 2022 and rs 3.5/unit in August 2022. Consumers were hit by rs 9.89 per unit of fuel charge adjustment (FCA) plus rs.7 per unit of rebasing simultaneously in August 2022 billing. This was an average increase of rs. 16.90 per unit over and above the july 2022 rates. These adjustments in tariff significantly increased the electricity bills for the months of August and September 2022. moreover, the extensive flooding also affected consumers across the country. under these difficult conditions the Prime minister of Pakistan decided to stagger the recovery of DiSCOs and K-electric FCAs, which were to be charged in August and September 2022. However, the government had further deferred its implementation.
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remittances slide 9.5pc to $2b in February profiT rEporT islaMabad
Overseas workers’ remittances posted a decline of 9.5% to $2 billion on a year-on-year (yoy) basis in February Fy23 as compared with the same month of previous year’s inflow of $2.2 billion. On month-on-month basis (mom), the remittances in February Fy23 witnessed an increase of 4.9% when compared with the inflow of $1.9 billion recorded in january Fy23. According to data released by State Bank of
Pakistan (SBP) on Friday, remittances’ inflows during February, 2023 were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia ($454.6 million), united Arab emirates ($269.2 million), united Kingdom ($324.0 million) and united States of America ($219.4 million). During the corresponding month, overseas Pakistanis living in Bahrain sent $35.6 million, from Kuwait $63.1 million, from Qatar $67.8 million whereas $75.0 million were dispatched from Oman. Similarly, the inflows from germany, France, The netherlands, Spain, italy, greece, Sweden, Denmark, ireland, and Belgium were
recorded at $47.1 million, $33.9 million, $5.2 million, $37.4 million, $66.5 million, $25.3 million, $5.3 million, $6.9 million, $9.7 million and $8.1 million respectively. Likewise, from malaysia, norway, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, and japan, the workers dispatched $6.5 million, $8.7 million, $3.4 million, $46.8 million, $40.4 million, and $5.9 million respectively. remittances from South Africa during the month under review stood at $11.8 million while that from South Korea stood at $8.6 million. Similarly, $53.9 million were received from other countries.
For nth time, Dar claims staff-level agreement right around corner g
miniSTer’S PrOmiSeS FAiLeD TO give COnFiDenCe TO mArKeTS, COnTinue TO SHOw negATive TrenDS profiT rEporT islaMabad
with uncertainty prevailing over the pending staff level agreement between the Pakistan government and the international monetary Fund (imF), finance minister ishaq Dar on Thursday once again claimed that the accord would be reached within a few days. Despite the finance minister’s assurances, the foreign exchange market reacted negatively with the rupee falling in value by 1.13% and anxiety prevailing within the country’s business community and salaried classes. Dar’s claim that the staff level agreement would “inshallah be within the next few days” is not a new one. in fact, “right around the corner” has become a constant mantra for the embattled
federal government. Pakistan had been able to secure the last tranche of $1.17 billion back in August 2022 under the leadership of former finance minister miftah ismail. The disbursement had been achieved by ending a massive fuel subsidy introduced by former prime minister imran Khan and by agreeing to other terms of the imF. The state bank at the time had more than $8 billion in foreign reserves. in September 2022, however, ishaq Dar took charge of the finance ministry and further negotiations with the imF took a different turn. Dar, who during a television interview said “he knew how to deal with the imF” since he had been doing it for decades, decided to artificially keep the price of the rupee high. However, this strategy failed within a few months and by january 2023 Pak-
istan was staring down the possibility of default. The country began facing a shortage of forex reserves that has led to a curb of imports and skyrocketing inflation. That is when the promises of “good news” in the next few days began. in the last two months alone, this promise has been repeated at least four times either by the finance minister or other ranking members of cabinet. in january 2023 Prime minister Shehbaz Sharif announced that the imF team would arrive in Pakistan in “23 days” to finalize the ninth review for disbursement of remaining $1.1 billion of the $6.5 bailout package approved in 2019. Since then Dar has been trying to keep his chin-up and convince the nation that we are out of the water, negotiations with the imF have not been so
simple. The imF team left Pakistan on the 9th of February without signing a staff level agreement, since when the government has been scrambling to meet the fund’s demands and get the vital $1.1 billion released. On February 11th, the government bulldozed a mini-budget through the national assembly to placate the imF and agreed to impose rs 170 billion in additional taxes to meet the fund’s conditions. in the meantime the government has been trying to receive loans from friendly countries to try and shore up forex reserves and avoid default. Pakistan has previously received a $700m loan from China to help in this regard. Pakistan had been able to secure the last tranche of $1.17 billion back in August 2022, after the imF approved the seventh and eighth reviews of the
package. The state bank at the time had more than $8 billion in foreign reserves but the agreements could not bring about macroeconomic stability. The ninth review is facing major roadblocks due to non fulfillment of conditions, specifically in the energy sector, untargeted subsidies, and pegging the foreign exchange at a lower rate than the market. The cash-strapped nation felt an added pressure due to devastating floods that caused a damage of $30 billion. During this time foreign exchange reserves have dropped from $8 billion to a dangerously low of less than $3 billion. However, subsidies such as the Kissan package have also been slashed and the government has been trying to make concessions to receive the long-overdue tranche.