May 3, 2020 (MLN): The departed week witnessed many important events that may positively affect Pakistan’s economy and businesses.
In the background of rising cases of COVID-19 in the country and with the need to strengthen the health sector in the fight against COVID-19, SBP on Friday enhanced financing limit of a single hospital/ medical centre under its Refinance Facility for Combating COVID -19 (RFCC) from Rs. 200 million to Rs. 500 million.
On Thursday, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) issued a price-revision notification of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) for the month of May. As per which the authority increased the locally produced LPG price by Rs 255.51 per cylinder of 11.8 kilogram.
Likewise, the federal government on Thursday announced to reduce the prices of petrol by Rs15 per litre for the month of May 2020 to provide relief to the consumers.
Meanwhile, Economic Affairs Division (EAD) gave the policy recommendations to Finance Ministry to fill the fiscal and balance of payments gaps by generating funds from international capital markets in the form of issuing Eurobond/Sukuk with longer maturity despite borrowing from foreign commercial banks at prevailing market rates.
Furthermore, Advisor to Prime Minister of Finance and Revenue, Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said that the federal government will present the budget for the fiscal year 2020-21 in the parliament in the first week of June 2020, with special focus on mitigating sufferings of people through various measures and creating employment opportunities for them.
On Wednesday, an adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile, Industry and Production Abdul Razak Dawood said that government under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan was working on relief packages for the revival of the textile industry, as textile demand has increased due to severe restrictions.
On Tuesday, the Government of Pakistan and the Asian Development Bank signed a concessional loan agreement amounting to USD $ 15 million. This concessional loan is a Project Readiness Financing Facility for engineering and designing urban development projects in seven (7) major cities across Punjab, as identified by the provincial government.
The same day, the Financial Advisors (FAs) appointed for Pakistan Steel Mill (PSM) submitted the first draft of due diligence (DD) report, which subsequently is reviewed by the transaction committee of Pakistan Steel Mills.
Apart from this, General Manager of a leading Chinese company, Qingdao Hongzhu Agriculture Machinery Co. Ltd currently exporting agriculture machinery to Pakistan said that the company has a plan to build a factory to manufacture machines and equipment to meet the growing demand of the local agriculture sector.
On Monday, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) decided to move towards the development and implementation of Risk-Based Capital regime for the insurance sector in a phased manner.
Besides, the ECC chaired by Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance & Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh approved a credit loss subsidy of Rs 30 billion for the Risk Sharing Facility for State Bank of Pakistan’s Refinance Scheme to support employment and prevent lay-off of workers.
Also, the Economic Coordination Committee approved the package that shall benefit 35 lac small businesses. For those with 5KW commercial or 70 KW industrial connections, the government will pay their electricity bills for up to 3 months after they restart operations, the Minister for Industries and Production, Hammad Azhar tweeted on Monday.
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