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Elahi rearrested SAUDI ARABIA, UAE, QATAR COMMITTED TO Pervaiz for 10th time soon after TANGIBLE INVESTMENTS IN PAKISTAN: PM IHC orders release
Profit
Wednesday, 6 September, 2023 I 19 Safar, 1445
SAYS THERE IS A CLEAR TANGIBLE PLAN WITH A TIMELINE ON WHERE TO-DO-INTERVENTIONS
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ISLAMABAD
STAFF REPORT
ARETAKER Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar has said Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have committed to “clear” and “tangible” investment projects in Pakistan. Speaking in an interview with Dawn News English show Spotlight to be aired on Tuesday night, the prime minister said the members and stakeholders of the Special Investment Facilitation Council had worked on identifying various sectors ripe for investment. “There is a clear tangible plan with a timeline [on] where to do interventions,” he said, as well as who the potential partners would be, adding that they were already identified and engaged in communication. “We are in the process where probably in the next few months, we will be
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realising one, two or three projects in different areas on the ground,” he added. Questioned on which countries had expressed serious interest in the venture, the premier said: “Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar … have shown a lot of interest. It’s not just that they have shown interest, they have assured and they have commitments that they would come for some tangible projects in Pakistan.” The prime minister’s remarks come on the heels of his saying, while speaking to journalists at his official residence on Monday, that Saudi Arabia will invest up to $25 billion in Pakistan over the next two to five years in various sectors. He had said Saudi Arabia’s investment would come in the mining, agriculture and information technology sectors, and was part of a push to increase foreign direct investment in Pakistan. If confirmed, a series of investments worth $25bn would be the biggest ever by the kingdom in Pakistan.
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CLAIMS IN NEXT FEW MONTHS, WE WILL BE REALISING ONE, TWO OR THREE PROJECTS IN DIFFERENT AREAS ON GROUND Meanwhile, in a four-hour meeting with some 50 businessmen on Saturday, Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir had said that during his recent visit to Saudi Arabia, he had informed Mohammad Bin Salman that he had not arrived for a $1-2bn investment into Pakistan. The Saudi prince had assured the army chief of investing $25bn in Pakistan under the SIFC aimed at attracting investment in the agriculture sector by offering land and ensuring exports. Sources said the army chief had asked the Saudi prince to set aside $10bn to overcome the country’s foreign exchange issues which would be returned in rupees. While referring to the meeting in the UAE, the army chief had also requested the UAE ruler to provide $10bn for improving foreign exchange reserves on which the UAE ruler had reportedly agreed. Another $25bn investment was also committed by the UAE ruler.
Gen Munir had also assured businessmen of bringing $25-30bn investment from Qatar and Kuwait in his next visit to improve the country’s economy. He had said that he would try to bring a total of $75-100bn investment from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait. IMF PROPOSALS: Meanwhile, questioned about the caretaker government’s relief proposals to the International Monetary Fund and their rejection by the fund, the prime minister said both sides had explored “many venues” and there was an agreement that the economic class which did not contribute to the tax base should not be incentivised. He said there was a need to look after the economic classes already contributing to the tax net, adding that a targeted power subsidy to disadvantaged socioeconomic classes consuming around 200 units of electricity was not discouraged or curtailed by the government or the Fund.
‘Short and sweet’ verdict soon as SC completes hearing NAB LAW AMENDS ISLAMABAD
STAFF REPORT
The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s 2022 petition challenging amendments made to the accountability laws, bringing months of extensive proceedings — comprising more than 50 hearings — to an end. A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah took up the plea today. In June 2022, the former premier had moved the
apex court against amendments made to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) ordinance under the National Accountability (Second Amendment) Act 2022. The amendments made several changes to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999, including reducing the term of the NAB chairman and prosecutor general to three years, limiting NAB’s jurisdiction to cases involving over Rs500 million, and transferring all pending inquiries, investigations, and trials to the relevant authorities. In his petition, the PTI chief had claimed that the amendments to the NAB law had been made to benefit
SBP likely to hike interest rate in upcoming MPC meeting
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AS INFLATION KEEPS RISING, CENTRAL BANK MAY RAISE POLICY RATE BY UP TO 150 BASIS POINTS PROFIT
UROOJ IMRAN
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is likely to raise the benchmark policy rate in the upcoming meeting of its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on September 14, analysts have said. The monetary policy is a set of tools a central bank uses to control the supply of money to promote economic growth and decrease inflation. The SBP has increased the policy rate by 12.25 percentage points since April, mainly citing rising inflation. Four analysts that Profit reached out to expect the policy rate to be increased at the upcoming meeting. JS Global’s Head of Research Amreen Soorani and Ismail Iqbal Securities’ Head of Research Fahad Rauf both expect the policy rate to be raised by 100 basis points (bps). Meanwhile, Sana Tawfik, a senior analyst at Arif Habib Limited, said the policy rate could be hiked by 100-150 bps. She added, however, that the hike was “not warranted” because inflation would come down in the second half of the fiscal year due to the high-base effect. Inflation has remained elevated since mid-2022, rising to a record high of 37.97 percent in May this year. However, it has fallen below 30 percent in recent months due to the high-base effect — since inflation was already elevated last year, the year-on-year difference in FY24 will not be as high — and was recorded at 27.4 percent in August. Tawfik said there would be inflationary pressure in
the near term due to rupee depreciation, high oil prices, and hikes in electricity and gas tariffs. “So, obviously, there will be inflationary pressure in the short term. It depends on what the SBP [analyses] — core inflation or a forward-looking basis.” “The important aspect here is that the inflationary pressure is due to supply and fiscal sides. The SBP can keep raising the monetary policy but unless there are fiscal reforms … electricity and other reforms, the rate hikes will only increase the government’s cost of borrowing.” The analyst noted the central bank could also raise the policy rate as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had asked for a tight monetary policy. Meanwhile, Chase Securities’ Research Director Yousuf Farooq said the SBP might consider hiking the policy rate to stem the decline in the rupee’s value. It closed at an all-time low of Rs 307.1 per US dollar in the interbank market on Tuesday, while it was trading at Rs 323 per dollar in the open market, according to the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan. The actual rates offered by exchange companies are likely to be much higher. However, Farooq said the rupee was not under pressure due to current imports [the government removed restrictions on opening letters of credit after reaching an agreement with the IMF], but rather because of pending payments from last year when the central bank asked importers to make purchases with 180-365 days of credit. “Once those payments are done, pressure on the rupee should reduce, especially after the current round of devaluation,” he added.
Why is Bank of Khyber faltering?
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PROFITABILITY TAKES A HIT DUE TO INCREASE IN POLICY RATE, BRANCH NETWORK EXPANSION AND POWER STRUGGLE WITHIN MANAGEMENT ALSO AMONG REASONS PROFIT
AZIZ BUNERI
A power struggle between the board of directors and the managing director of Bank of Khyber (BoK) has allegedly impacting the bank’s performance over the past two years. According to sources, the board meeting held on August 25 reviewed the performance of the MD, digital banking policy, HR issues, board minutes, committee minutes, and six-month performance report. Under the Code of Corporate Governance, the MD’s performance should be reviewed annually, but for the past two years, it had not been reviewed due to a lack of interest by the board chairman. Private sector directors tried their best to review the MD’s performance at their level, but were not allowed, which severely affected the bank’s performance. Bank sources said that most of the decisions of the board meeting were previously made with consensus. However, due to differences between the board and the MD, most decisions are being made by the government majority members. Despite strong opposition from the board, MD has appointed various favorite people to senior positions,
including the acting group head of Islamic banking, who was given the acting charge until June 30, 2023. The current acting head failed to fulfill his promises and business development and did not meet the objectives. According to BoK sources, in the appointment of the new company secretary of the bank, MD violated merit as he did not follow the recruitment process. The newly appointed company secretary has no experience in commercial banking and has no knowledge of corporate governance laws. She was previously in charge of legal affairs at KE Solar. The bank administration has not yet responded to the queries sent to them for this story. BoK’s current financial performance The Bank of Khyber (BOK) has set an impressive financial milestone in the first half of 2023, recording a noteworthy profit after tax of nearly Rs 169 crores. This achievement marks a remarkable fourfold increase compared to the same period last year. However, despite this substantial growth, it’s worth noting that BOK’s net profit margin currently stands at a modest 6%, which is considerably lower than the industry average of approximately 200%.
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influential accused persons and legitimise corruption. In recent hearings, Justice Shah has repeatedly urged for a full court to hear the case, citing the matter of the frozen Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) law. However, CJP Bandial had opposed it, noting that his retirement was near and the matter had already been pending before the court for a considerable time — since at least July 19, 2022. In the previous hearing, Justice Shah, while questioning the bona fide of the petitioner, had said he sometimes felt tired of pushing too hard to find errors in the NAB amendments.
ISLAMABAD
STAFF REPORT
For the 10th time during the past three months, PTI President Pervaiz Elahi was rearrested on Tuesday hours after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) ordered his release after suspending the detention under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO). The Islamabad police said that Pervaiz Elahi was arrested in a case registered at the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) police station. Reacting to the re-arrest during a media talk in Islamabad, Sardar Abdul Raziq Khan, the counsel for Ch Pervaiz Elahi, said: “I think all limits have been crossed. This is injustice with the country and its institutions and equivalent to making a mockery of the law and Constitution.” The lawyer said as soon as he and Pervaiz Elahi sat inside their car outside the jail, “some people blocked our way, forcefully opened our car’s door and made me, my driver and associate step out”. Meanwhile, Pervaiz Elahi was “abducted” and taken away, he added. The PTI shared footage of Pervaiz Elahi’s arrest and criticised his arrest. “Absolutely shameful how courts orders keeps getting disrespected by the fascist regime. Pervaiz Elahi’s crime is standing for Pakistan, crime is not leaving PTI despite massive pressure,” the PTI posted on social media platform X in its condemnation of the arrest. THE CASE: The first information report (FIR) against Pervaiz Elahi was registered at the CTD police station on March 18 on the complaint of Ramna police Station House Officer Malik Rasheed. The case pertained to the clashes on that day between Islamabad Police and PTI workers outside the Judicial Complex. The case was lodged under Sections 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 380 (theft in dwelling house, etc), 395 (punishment for dacoity), 427 (mischief causing damage amounting to Rs50), 435 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to cause damage), 440 (mischief committed after preparation made for causing death or hurt) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the AntiTerrorism Act. March 18’s events were marred by clashes between the police and PTI workers amid party chairman Imran Khan’s appearance at the Judicial Complex in a hearing for the Toshakhana case.