July 09, 2020 (MLN): In order to divert gas to K-Electric and reduce the volume of load shedding, the Sui Southern Gas Company has decided to close CNG stations from Friday to Sunday.
In a letter addressed to Petroleum Pump owners, the company informed that the closure shall be observed from Friday 8 am to Sunday 8 am, i.e. 48 hours.
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Aug 15, 2020: National Bank of Pakistan’s President Arif Usmani on Friday said his bank will provide all possible support for the uplift of the general public including provision of very soft loan to make them able to easily own residence under the Prime Minister’s Housing Scheme.
The PM Housing initiative was very revolutionary programme as it would improve the living standard of the common man and to generate big economic activity in the country. The construction industry has great potential to grow and more than 40 other industries directly linked to it, he said while speaking at a ceremony held here at NBP Head Office to mark 73rd independence day of our beloved country, Pakistan.
He said PM Housing Programme would help revive the economy affected by COVID-19, which had posed serious economic challenges to many countries. Prime Minister Imran Khan was personally monitoring the progress in this housing programme and was regularly getting feedback from the concerned organizations /agencies including NBP.
NBP President said this premier government commercial bank had recently gone through various policy, structural and technology upgrades which would start yielding within six months.
He said Coronavirus had affected every sector and every organization , however with their professional commitment and high national spirit NBP employees served the national in the best possible way. And, special allowance will be announced for the top performers, he said.
He urged the bank employees to continue working will all sincerity and professionalism to earn big name for their organization and for themselves , and for their best contribution towards the country’s prosperity.
The President said since its inception, NBP had been playing a pivotal role in the development of the country. The bank primarily established for jute financing , now has a prominent role in every sector of the economy. Serving the nation with more than 1500 branches, NBP was catering to every aspect of banking including Islamic banking, corporate banking, trade finance, agriculture, SMEs and retail, treasury and home remittances.
“ We proudly discharge our responsibility of functioning as government treasury and have the largest rural network in banking industry,” he said adding NBP had taken a lead role in government initiated lending and goodwill programs like PM Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme and now PM Housing Scheme.
He said manage the foreign exchange need of the country, NBP had taken initiatives for promoting remittances through legal channels that included collaboration with Pakistan Post which created the largest remittance payment network in the country with over 2000 payment locations. Besides, he said, customized products in collaboration with Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment had been launched to provide banking facilities to intending emigrant workers. As a result, NBP’s market share in remittance business along with remittances volume had considerably increased in last two years.
He said significant population of the country was below the poverty line and promoting SMEs would be greatly help address this situation. Government of Pakistan was making all out efforts to address these economic challenges and NBP was committed to deliver on the national agenda of inclusive development.
Arif Usmani said due to its best performance, NBP had got two prestigious awards this year.
He said the global regulatory environment poses lot of challenges to the banking sector and the Pakistan economy in general.
NBP had taken various measures to meet certain FATF compliance requirements.
NBP Spokesman said National Bank of Pakistan by organizing independence day ceremonies at its offices/branches throughout the country had sent a message to the nation to show high spirit and celebrate this great day with their renewed commitment to secure the homeland from all evil forces and make the country strong and prosperous.
On this occasion, NBP President along with his team hoisted national flag on the NBP Building.
APP
August 14, 2020: European stock markets slumped on Friday at the end of a largely positive week for global equities, dragged down by fears of a second wave in coronavirus cases and the stalemate in Washington over a new stimulus package for the US economy.
Approaching the half-way mark, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index was down 2.1 percent after the UK government reimposed a quarantine for travellers from France and the Netherlands, prompting Paris to quickly announce a "reciprocal measure".
The Paris CAC 40 index retreated 2.0 percent and Frankfurt's DAX 30 shed 1.25 percent.
Asian ended mixed.
"European markets turned south on Friday led by a decline in travel and leisure stocks after the UK added France to its 14-day quarantine list," noted Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com.
"After a decent start to the week it looks like equity markets are finishing off rather meekly."
Shares in British Airways parent IAG slumped six percent to 192 pence.
The updated quarantine "is sadly yet another blow for British holidaymakers and cannot fail to have an impact on an already troubled aviation industry", IAG said in a statement.
The UK government said the change would kick in Saturday at 0300 GMT, sparking an exodus among the estimated 160,000 British holidaymakers in France, after a rise in coronavirus cases there.
- US stimulus -
Equities were retreating Friday also over fading hopes of a US stimulus deal being struck -- and ahead of key weekend trade talks between the United States and China.
Hopes that Democrats and Republicans would cast aside their mutual animosity to stump up much-needed cash for struggling Americans have been key to supporting equities for weeks.
But they were dealt a blow Thursday when senators broke up for a summer recess, saying they would not return until early next month, while both sides continued to trade accusations over who was to blame for the impasse.
Democrats have called on Republicans and the White House to double their $1-trillion offer, having reduced their own proposal to $2 trillion from an initial $3.5 trillion.
The expectation remains that an agreement will at some point be found, particularly with the US election nearing and millions of Americans in financial crisis.
"Congress' political grandstanding delay is posing some risk for the global recovery," said Stephen Innes at AxiCorp.
In a sign of the battle governments could have in rebooting their economies, data out of China Friday showed consumers were still reluctant to go out spending, with retail sales falling last month despite forecasts of a small increase.
While the drop was shallower than in June, Innes said it showed that it was "going to take more than stimulus and deep discounts on luxury products to get people shopping again".
At the same time, industrial production continued to grow, suggesting the economy's recovery is being supported by the manufacturing sector.
Investors will be keeping a close eye on talks at the weekend between China and the US that will review the trade pact signed in January, though expectations are for the deal to be kept in place, despite increasing tensions between Washington and Beijing.
- Key figures around 1045 GMT -
AFP/APP
August 14, 2020 (MLN): The appliance sector has been experiencing strong recovery after the easing of lockdown and improvement in economic dynamics, the Chief Executive Officer of Waves Singer Pakistan Limited, Mr. Haroon Khan informed in a webinar hosted by BMA Capital Management.
Commenting further on the factors that led to the recovery, the CEO said that the decline in interest rates by 625 basis points had been another major factor that contributed to the increased sales for appliances, as customers were able to obtain cheaper financing options to make the purchases.
The CEO also credited the opening of businesses across the country for an increase in demand for appliances and hoped that the opening of remaining businesses such as marriage halls, restaurants, and hotels will further boost the momentum.
According to BMA Research, Waves Singer Company, which currently holds a market share of 31% for the deep freezer and 7% for refrigerators, is expecting a higher increase in demand for the latter as it has significant potential to post growth going forward.
While the deep freezer segment is operating at its full capacity, the refrigerator segment is utilizing around 70% to 75% of its overall capacity, the CEO said. However, he was hopeful of an improvement in the capacity utilization of all the segments once the adverse business environment created due to COVID-19 ends.
The management of the company is also planning to use both of its brands, i.e. Waves and Singer, to meet the needs of consumers belonging to different income brackets.
The CEO also spoke about how the appliance industry remains exposed to currency risks, as most of the raw materials are not locally available and therefore have to be imported. He also attributed the weaker margins of the company that were witnessed in the past to exchange rate risk.
Waves Singer Company also recently approved the Increase in Authorized Share Capital of the Company from PKR 2,000,000,000/- to PKR 3,000,000,000/- subject to the completion of necessary corporate and regulatory formalities.
The Board also approved the amendment in the Object Clause and other clauses of the Memorandum of Association (MOA) to add development of Affordable Housing Projects and all related Real Estate development activities into the Principal lines of business of the Company subject to the approval of Shareholders and Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan "SECP" and other relevant authorities.
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August 14, 2020 (MLN): The non-government sector has retired another net sum of Rs.17.47 billion during the week ended July 31, 2020, which brings the cumulative net retirment for ongoing fiscal year FY2021 to Rs.107.45 billion. The net retirement as of prior week was recorded at Rs.89.97 billion.
According to weekly data released by the State Bank of Pakistan, the sector's retired amount has dropped by Rs.27.1 billion over the year since the amount retired as of corresponding period of last year was recorded at Rs.134.55 billion.
The non government sector is divided into three broad categories namely, the Private Sector, the Public Sector Enterprises and NBFI. Commercial banks are the main source of financing for the private sector, incuding conventional banks, islamic banks and islamic branches of conventional banks.
This fiscal year, the private sector retired a net sum of Rs.110.29 billion, whereas the PSE's have borrowed Rs.2.52 billion and NBFI has borrowed Rs.326.46 million.
As we disintegrate the inflows and outflows within the private sector, we see that Conventional Banks were retired a cumulative sum of Rs.101.87 billion, Islamic Banks were retired a net of Rs.2.58 billion and lastly the Islamic branches of Conventional Banks were retired Rs.5.85 billion.
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