March 25, 2020 (MLN): Attock Cement Pakistan Limited has decided to temporarily suspend the plant operations with immediate effect in view of the prevailing lockdown announced by the Gov’t of Sindh and Baluchistan in order to control the spread of COVID-19.
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September 23, 2020: The exports of cement from the country witnessed an increase of 5.60 percent during the first two months of ongoing financial year (2020-21) as compare to the corresponding period of last fiscal year.
The country exported cement worth US $ 44.540 million during July-August (2020-21) as against the exports of US $ 42.149 million during July-August (2019-20), showing growth of 5.60 percent, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
In terms of quantity, the exports of cement increased by 29.35 percent by going up from 1,064,154 metric tons to 1,376,536 metric tons, according to the data.
Meanwhile, on year-to-year basis, the exports of cement increased by 28.93 percent during the month of August 2020 as compared to the same month of last year.
The exports of cement from the country during August 2020 were recorded at $21.585 million against the exports of $16.742 million in August 2019.
On month-on-month basis, the exports of cement however decreased by 5.85 percent during August 2020 as compared to the exports of $22.925 million in July 2020, the PBS data revealed.
The country trade deficit witnessed reduction of 8.32 percent during the first two months current fiscal year (2020-21) as compared to the deficit of the corresponding period of last year.
The deficit during July-August (2020-21) was recorded at $3.382 billion against the deficit of $3.689 billion, the data revealed.
During the period under review, the country’s exports registered negative growth of 4.27 percent, by going down from $3.744 billion last year to $3.584 billion during the current year.
On the other hand, the imports witnessed decreased of 6.28 percent, from $7.433 billion last year to $6.966 billion this year.
APP
September 23, 2020: Federal Minister for Privatization Mohammedmian Soomro chaired the Privatization Board (PC) meeting today in Islamabad. Privatization board members and senior officials of the Ministry attended the meeting.
In the meeting various matters relating to Pakistan Steel Mills, Heavy Electrical Complex (HEC) and House Building Finance Corporation Limited (HBFCL) were discussed.
The Meeting started with the approval of the minutes of the previous board meeting and the discussion regarding transaction structure for the privatisation of Heavy Electrical Complex (HEC) ensued after that. The matter regarding the review of the privatisation of House Building Finance Corporation Limited, as per the decision of Federal Cabinet was deliberated upon. The PC Board unanimously decided that the matter may be placed before the CCOP for consideration.
The transaction structure for the Privatisation of Heavy Electrical Complex (HEC) was unanimously approved by the board members before its passage to CCOP. The decision; which would finally be approved by the CCOP and subsequently ratified by the Federal Cabinet; pertains to the divestment of 96.6% government shares of HEC.
In today’s Board meeting transaction structure for the revival of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSMC) was further discussed, before taking it to the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCOP) the other details were thoroughly discussed as the CEO PSMC was also present in the meeting. PSM is not operational since June 2015.
Privatization Commission is fully geared up for achieving its specified objectives. This is the seventh transaction approved since the start of the Privatization plans adopted in October 2018 and Privatization Commission will be focusing to complete these transactions successfully along with other transactions which are currently in process.
The transaction structure(s) approved by the Board of Privatisation Commission will be presented to the cabinet Committee of Privatisation (CCOP) for their approval in the next few days.
Press Release
September 23, 2020 (MLN): The State Bank fo Pakistan(SBP) conducted an auction on Wednesday in which it sold Market Treasury Bills (MTBs) worth Rs.520.55 billion for 3, 6 and 12 months.
Auction target was Rs.450.00 billion against a maturing amount of Rs.603.90 billion.
Cut off yield for 3, 6 and 12 months were relatively unchanged at 7.1292, 7.18 and 7.309 percent.
Total amount offered was Rs.918.48 billion out of which the SBP accepted Rs.474.80 billion. The SBP received bids worth Rs.490.90 billion for 3 months, Rs.239.58 billion for 6 months and Rs.188.00 billion for 12 months out of which it accepted Rs.113.80 billion, Rs. 192.00 billion and Rs.169.00 billion respectively.
In addition the SBP picked up Rs.45.74 billion from the non-competitive auction, making the total amount accepted Rs.520.55 billion.
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September 23, 2020 (MNL): The KSE-100 index ended the trading session on Wednesday with a 47.35 point or 0.11 percent gain to close at 41,876.26.
The market kept oscillating between the green and the red zone, with most of the participation taking place in the banking sector. E&P sector, on the other hand, remained subdued owing to lower crude oil prices.
According to Arif Habib Limited, among OMCs, PSO and HASCOL performed well today, besides Cement sector that showed positive activity in anticipation of healthy dispatches in the ongoing month.
The Index traded in a range of 269.61 points or 0.64 percent of previous close, showing an intraday high of 42,023.01 and a low of 41,753.40.
Of the 94 traded companies in the KSE100 Index 53 closed up 40 closed down, while 1 remained unchanged. Total volume traded for the index was 251.51 million shares.
Sectors propping up the index were Textile Composite with 30 points, Inv. Banks / Inv. Cos. / Securities Cos. with 19 points, Oil & Gas Marketing Companies with 17 points, Chemical with 12 points and Fertilizer with 11 points.
The most points added to the index was by DAWH which contributed 23 points followed by COLG with 16 points, ILP with 13 points, JLICL with 7 points and BOP with 7 points.
Sector wise, the index was let down by Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 43 points, Engineering with 7 points, Pharmaceuticals with 6 points, Refinery with 4 points and Cement with 3 points.
The most points taken off the index was by OGDC which stripped the index of 17 points followed by PPL with 12 points, LUCK with 11 points, POL with 8 points and UBL with 8 points.
All Share Volume increased by 141.51 Million to 582.79 Million Shares. Market Cap increased by Rs.10.27 Billion.
Total companies traded were 420 compared to 428 from the previous session. Of the scrips traded 183 closed up, 218 closed down while 19 remained unchanged.
Total trades decreased by 9,699 to 118,057.
Value Traded decreased by 0.07 Billion to Rs.12.88 Billion
| Company | Volume |
|---|---|
| Silkbank | 167,490,500 |
| Unity Foods | 51,805,500 |
| Jahangir Siddiqui & Co. Ltd. | 36,252,000 |
| Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd | 27,156,000 |
| Hascol Petroleum | 26,982,500 |
| The Bank of Punjab | 17,132,500 |
| Aisha Steel Mills | 15,180,500 |
| K-Electric | 14,590,500 |
| Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim | 13,635,000 |
| Maple Leaf Cement Factory | 12,738,500 |
| Sector | Volume |
|---|---|
| Commercial Banks | 194,312,619 |
| Vanaspati & Allied Industries | 51,814,000 |
| Technology & Communication | 47,191,200 |
| Cement | 44,186,477 |
| Inv. Banks / Inv. Cos. / Securities Cos. | 43,513,900 |
| Oil & Gas Marketing Companies | 34,233,202 |
| Power Generation & Distribution | 27,947,357 |
| Food & Personal Care Products | 24,302,230 |
| Engineering | 24,169,600 |
| Fertilizer | 16,256,932 |
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Sep 23, 2020: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet Wednesday approved an amount of Rs 3850 million for provision of salaries to the employees of Pakistan State Mills (PSM) for the financial year 2020-21, which would be disbursed every month.
However, though the ECC agreed in principle that the dues to the retired non-litigant employees should be paid, the forum decided to seek a detailed report from the Ministry of Industries and Production on the nature of liabilities due to PSM on account of retirement dues, the liabilities.
It will accrue as a result of the retrenchment plan and other expenditures on account of utilities or any other charges due on PSM.
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh chaired the ECC meeting, according to press statement issued here by the Finance Ministry.
It said that the Ministry of Industries and Production had presented the two separate summaries to ECC for the disbursement of salaries to the PSM employees and for clearing the liabilities of its PSM employees who have not approached the Court (Sindh High Court).
ECC was briefed that earlier this month, the retired employees of the PSM were already paid Rs12.741 billion as retirement dues but the court had asked to pay the non-litigant retired employees as well that will further add Rs.11.68 billion to the expenditure of the Federal government.
The ECC also considered and approved 2 technical supplementary grants (TSGs) for the Ministry of Interior amounting to Rs111 million for clearing various liabilities of the ICT administration.
Two other TSGs were approved for Islamabad High Court amounting Rs.102 million and National Heritage & Culture Division of Rs 8.5 million for various expenditures.
ECC also granted waiver of guarantee fee on foreign loans of K2/K3 projects, the statement said adding that according to a report prepared by Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) and Economic Affairs Division (ADB), there would be a benefit of Rs.0.07/KWh to the general public by the waiver of this fee.
For the centralized procurement of the vaccines under the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI), ECC approved shifting of Federal EPI from development to revenue expenditure with an allocation of Rs 9, 903.195 million through TSG for vaccine procurement in CFY to avoid interruption in the immunization program.
Now the vaccine would be procured by the Federal EPI on behalf of the provincial governments and later reimbursement would be made by Punjab and Sindh governments and deduction at source from the shares of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan for their respective vaccine shares would be made.
In order to increase the share of man-made fibers (MMF) in the textile goods for better unit prices in the international markets, product diversification and most importantly, value addition, the Additional Customs Duty (ACDs) and Regulatory Duty (RDs) on selected HS codes of textile sector was allowed to be removed. The total revenue impact of these exemptions would be Rs 533 million.
ECC also allowed notifying the Kharlachi Border Crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan as a rebatable border point for export of goods to Afghanistan. Earlier the opening of this border point helped in the release of congested transit trucks at the Afghan border due to COVID-19 restrictions.
ECC allowed the exemption from re-lending of the funds for Pakistan National Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan for COVID-19 to cover the country's requirements for 12 months through emergency operations.
In order to administer the program, Asian Development Bank would provide a loan of US$ 100 million and an additional US$ 5 million would provided by the government of Norway as a grant administered by ADB.
The Asian Development Bank has already signed a loan agreement with the Ministry of Economic Affairs to finance the said project.
APP
