Weekly News Roundup

March 8, 2020 (MLN): The departed week observed number of interesting developments at both state and national level.

To begin with, the government on Friday, reduced the Urea price of 50 Kg urea bag by Rs. 375 /- to provide relief to the farmers in line with the vision of the Government. The new price per 50kg bag of urea is fixed at Rs. 1665 /.

The same day, Federal Minister for Privatization chaired a meeting of key stakeholders to discuss the divestment of up to 7% shares of Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL) wherein Federal Minister discussed the share price trend of OGDCL in the capital market and also the extent to which the capital market is conducive for such divestment of shares.

On Thursday, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in a statement clarified that number of tax returns filed in Tax Year 2018 till February 28, 2019, were 1,695,560 whereas the number of tax returns filed in Tax Year 2019 till February 28, 2020, were 2,472,609 which showed an increase of 45 percent as compared to corresponding month in the last tax year.

Meanwhile, on the energy front, the Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL), Operator of Pindori D&P Lease tested hydrocarbons from its Development Well Pindori-10, located in district Rawalpindi, Punjab.

On Wednesday, the power division directed all power distribution companies (DISCOs) to disconnect connections of top 50 running private defaulters.

Furthermore, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Wednesday approved a host of measures to encourage and facilitate the overseas Pakistanis to send their remittances through official banking channels.

On Tuesday, the Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) released its annual report as per which SECP has taken effective measures to undertake an assessment of the “technical” compliance with the FATF Recommendations and the “effectiveness” of the implemented AML/CFT regime, based on the FATF’s assessment methodology.

Moreover, the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Overseas Pakistanis Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari told the Standing Committee of National Assembly on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development that Pakistani workers abroad will start getting annuity in future as the present government is moving forward to materialize a plan which will ensure their inclusion in Employees’ Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) pension scheme.

The same day, Pakistani Federal Minister and Adviser to Prime Minister for Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam announced that cheap and environment-friendly electric vehicles manufactured by Pakistan would be in the market soon as the policy has been approved by the cabinet.

On Monday, the State Bank of Pakistan Governor Dr. Reza Baqir said that the economic conditions are better in many areas as compared to the past and the country’s economy was not in strong position back then as the reserves and exchange rates were falling.

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