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The Govt is Extending Subsidy Period for NAPHDA Projects       The federal government has decided to extend the markup subsidy period from 10 to 15 years due to the higher debt burden ratio (DBR) and low socio-economic ranking of the Tier category applicants under Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority (NAPHDA) projects.   Sources told ProPakistani that the federal cabinet, on the summary of the Cabinet Division, approved to extend markup subsidy period from 10 to 15 years with reduced customer pricing such as 2 percent per annum during the first five years and 4 percent per annum during five to 10 years and 5 percent per annum during 10 to 15 years. The commercial banks/PFIs have recently done the appraisal of the existing Government Markup Subsidy Scheme (G-MSS) and found that the bankability of the applications belonging to the Tier-1 NAPHDA projects is not viable mainly due to the higher debt burden ratio and low social-economic ranking of the applicatio...

 The NHA Fails to Table a Commercially Viable Business Plan After 9 Months The National Highway Authority (NHA) has failed to prepare a commercially viable business plan in nine months. Sources told ProPakistani that the Federal Cabinet in January 2021 had directed NHA to prepare a commercially viable business plan, linking debt restructuring, in nine months by hiring a consultant through an international competitive bidding process. Sources revealed that a sub-committee headed by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission along with Secretary Finance, Secretary EAD, Secretary Communication as members, and Chairman NHA as Secretary of the committee had also been constituted to continuously review the progress on the preparation of NHA’s business plan. It was further informed that NHA had shortlisted M/s KPMG Taseer Hadi and Co. as the highest-ranked firm that quoted Rs. 55.3 million to prepare the business plan in five months as per terms and conditions of RFP. It is pertinent to note tha...

  The FBR, SECP and Commerce Ministry to Work on Increasing E-Commerce Sales Locally and Abroad The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), and Ministry of Commerce plan to jointly launch a drive for facilitation of companies expanding their online sales inland and abroad. Sources from FBR informed ProPakistani that the initiative is driven by the growing need for increasing the volumes of turnovers both for enhancing the GST-covered sales and to help the banking and public finance systems grab larger amounts in foreign exchange. The tax machinery has already begun notifying rules for monitoring the online sales while the SECP has been beefing up the registration mechanism with extended facilitation to the selling companies. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) recently initiated a campaign to facilitate the selling companies by acquiring inputs from the banking system on methods and volumes of credit extension at an ever greater scal...

        Faysal Bank Limited has continued to expand its branches network which surged to over 600 with around 98% share of Islamic banking branches. According to the latest update, the number of branches surged to 606 locations in more than 200 cities across the country whereas the number of Islamic branches stood at 595. The Islamic operations included both converted and newly-established branches as per the plan of the bank’s management. The bank is likely to convert the remaining 11 into Islamic branches in the next few weeks. With this development, Faysal Bank will become the first bank in Pakistan with 100 percent conversion from conventional banking operations to Islamic, setting examples for other banks planning to follow the same track. Besides its branch network, the bank also converted its financing-related operations to over 80% on Islamic mode. Faysal Bank is also the second biggest Islamic bank after Meezan Bank in terms of branches, operations and profi...

  Digitization has taken over the world by storm, and there is no department running without it. The same goes for election and voting systems. Pakistan is lacking way behind in this department. The things are handled here manually. But, the government is trying to bring a change. While the government is emphasizing the utilization of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in polling to ensure fairness, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) argues that doing so will cost the country a lot of money. According to sources familiar with a recent discussion between officials from the election monitoring agency and the science and technology ministry, more than Rs200 billion in funding is necessary. Statement of Election Commission of Pakistan According to the sources, the meeting discussed the usage of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in polls. They indicated that the buying of EVMs and the related system will cost Rs150 billion to the government. According to the insiders, two ministry...

  Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has likened his government’s three years in power to “an economic success story” despite a surging current account deficit and the worsening rupee, reported Radio Pakistan.  said that his government has done exceptionally well despite inheriting a colossal circular debt, vicious anti-export policies, unsustainable fiscal conditions, and a less competitive business environment from the previous government’s tenure. ALSO READ Govt Pays 40% to 12 IPPs As First Installment of Rs. 150 Billion Agreed While chairing a meeting of the Macro Economic Advisory Group in Islamabad on Friday (today), the PM said that Pakistan’s GDP is set to grow exceeding four percent regardless of its worst-ever liquidity crisis in 2018 and facing issues like economic difficulties due to COVID-19, high commodity prices in the global market, and the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. He said that in comparison to other countries in the region, Pakistan performed extraordin...

        The government plans to push the highly contentious Finance Supplementary Bill, 2021, for approval at a session of the National Assembly on Monday, 10 January. Sources representing the National Assembly (NA) Secretariat told ProPakistani that the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has produced a summary for the deliberation on the approval of the bill. ALSO READ IMF to Discuss Pakistan’s Loan Program on 12 January The government introduced the Finance Bill in the Senate on 4 January, and Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani had told the House Finance Committee to submit its findings within three days. The Minister for Finance, Shaukat Tarin, had presented the Finance Amendment Bill to the concerned standing committee during the meeting. However, despite the efforts of the benches to keep the Senate session going amid loud protests and numerous walkouts by lawmakers from the Opposition, the speaker was forced to postpone the proceedings until Friday (today) d...

  The Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum was told that there were more than seven hundred thousand illegal gas connections in Karachi only. The Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGC) officials apprised the committee that a number of times, the concerned quarters were informed and the matter has been taken up at an appropriate level. The committee chairman Senator Mohammad Abdul Qadir, who presided over the meeting, said that this is a serious issue and needs to be looked at. The committee directed the authorities to take all the stakeholders into confidence and launch an operation against the illegal connections. ALSO READ Oman Keen to Promote Business Relations with Pakistan Senator further remarked that the gas shortage has added to the miseries of the people and collaborated efforts are required to provide relief. He called upon all the stakeholders to provide input in enhancing production and take effective measures against illegal connections and theft. The committee chai...