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Category: Business

  • Canada bans flights from Pakistan, India for 30 days

    Canada bans flights from Pakistan, India for 30 days

    Due to an increasing number of COVID-19 cases, Canadian authorities have banned all passenger flights from Pakistan and India for 30 days.

    Canadian transportation Minister Omar Alghabra announced that “given the higher number of cases of Covid-19 detected in air passengers arriving in Canada from India and Pakistan, I am suspending all commercial and private passenger flights arriving in Canada from India and Pakistan for 30 days.”

    “This is a temporary measure, while we assess the evolving situation and determine appropriate measures going forward,” he added.

    The ban will not be imposed on the cargo flights to ensure the supply of vaccinations, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other essential goods in the time of crises.

    Almost 20 per cent of the travellers coming to Canada are Indians with half of them testing positive, said the report.

    The transportation minister further added that epidemiologists and researchers are trying to make sense of the new variants. Meanwhile, halting travel activities is imperative to curb the trajectory of the cases.

    According to data available with the Canadian health authorities, almost 18 flights from Dehli and two from Lahore that arrived in Toronto and Vancouver in the past month have had at least one passenger on board who tested positive for COVID-19.

    Besides, Canada last December briefly suspended flights from Britain over concerns about outbreaks of a Covid variant.

    Moreover, on Thursday, parliament voted unanimously to urge the government to ban non-essential flights from Covid hotspots where variants have surged, including India and Brazil.

    Several dozen cases of Indian variant have already been identified in Canada, say health authorities in Canada.

    Some countries have taken similar steps to prevent worsening the outbreaks due to this variant: the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced that they will suspend all flights from India.

    All travellers to Canada are already subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine. They must also present a negative COVID test before boarding an international flight, and another upon arrival in Canada.

  • PTI govt’s fourth finance minister in two years here for only six months?

    PTI govt’s fourth finance minister in two years here for only six months?

    As the government has decided to appoint Shaukat Fayyaz Ahmed Tarin as the new minister of finance and revenue, it needs to get him elected as the member of parliament within six months to have him continue in office, reports said.

    This is the same as witnessed in Hafeez Shaikh’s case earlier.

    In yet another shuffle in the federal cabinet, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday removed Hammad Azhar from the Finance Ministry less than a month after his appointment and replaced him with Tarin.

    Prime Minister Imran, instead of appointing Tarin as his adviser on finance, appointed the banking wizard as the finance minister, for which, as per law, he needs to be a member of parliament within six months.

    While most ministers have to be elected representatives – i.e. members of the National Assembly (NA) or Senate – there is a clause in the Constitution that allows short-term appointments of non-elected ministers.

    According to clause nine of Article 91 of the Constitution, a non-elected person can be appointed a federal minister for six months once during the five-year tenure of the NA.

    “A minister, who, for any period of six consecutive months, is not a member of the National Assembly, shall, at the expiration of that period, cease to be a minister and shall not before the dissolution of that assembly be again appointed a minister unless he is elected a member of that assembly,” reads the clause.

    It is worth mentioning here that Tarin had become a senator and the federal finance minister in former president Asif Ali Zardari’s government.

    According to an official at the Finance Ministry, Tarin, who was the finance minister during the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) tenure, would help the government in resolving many issues. As he had completed the 7th National Finance Commission (NFC), he may play an important role in resolving the longstanding issues related to the next NFC. No NFC award was given after the 7th NFC as differences between the Centre and provinces remained unresolved.

    As Tarin had also signed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme during the PPP government, he may also handle matters with the IMF to complete the existing loan programme signed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government. Islamabad had signed the 39-month bailout programme with the IMF to avert sovereign default because of a balance-of-payment crisis.

    As the finance minister under the PPP government, Tarin had signed the bailout programme with the IMF under that government and concluded the seventh NFC Award. However, he left the ministry without completing his tenure to start his own bank, Silk Bank, where he served on the top slot.

    These changes come at a time when Pakistan has just received another $500 million from the IMF as part of the $6 billion bailout package it signed in July 2019.
    The third and latest tranche of the program brings the total borrowing for budget support to $2 billion.

    Tarin was already a member of the prime minister’s Economic Advisory Council. He is a banker by profession and worked as the president of HBL in 1997. In 2000, he built Union Bank, which was later sold to Standard Chartered Bank.

    Earlier this month, it was reported that the government had made an offer to Tarin to join the federal cabinet as special assistant or adviser to the PM, but he linked his joining the federal cabinet with the decision on an accountability reference that he has been facing for nearly a decade.

    He had that said he would not accept the offer, which he claimed had been made for a second time, unless a case against him filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was disposed of.

  • Pakistani elite consumes $17.4bn of economy: UNDP

    Pakistani elite consumes $17.4bn of economy: UNDP

    Economic privileges accorded to Pakistan’s elite groups, including the corporate sector, feudal landlords, the political class and the country’s powerful military, add up to an estimated $17.4 bn, or roughly 6 per cent of the country’s economy, a new United Nations (UN) report has found.

    The UN Development Programme’s (UNDP) National Human Development Report (NHDR) for Pakistan, which was released last week, focuses on issues of inequality in the South Asian country of 220 million people.

    “Powerful groups use their privilege to capture more than their fair share, people perpetuate structural discrimination through prejudice against others based on social characteristics, and policies are often unsuccessful at addressing the resulting inequity, or may even contribute to it,” says the report.

    Kanni Wignaraja, assistant secretary-general and regional chief of the UNDP has been on a two-week “virtual tour” of Pakistan to discuss the report’s findings, holding talks with Prime Minister Imran Khan and other top members of his cabinet.

    She says Pakistani leaders have taken the findings of the report “right on” and pledged to focus on prescriptive action. “[In our remarks in meetings] we focused right in on where […] the shadows are, and what is it that actually diverts from a reform agenda in a country,” she told Al Jazeera in an exclusive interview.

    “My hope is that there is strong intent to review things like the current tax and subsidy policies, to look at land and capital access.”

    The biggest beneficiary of the privileges – which may take the form of tax breaks, cheap input prices, higher output prices or preferential access to capital, land and services – was found to be the country’s corporate sector, which accrued an estimated $4.7 bn in privileges, the report says.

    The second and third-highest recipients of privileges were found to be the country’s richest 1 per cent, who collectively own 9 per cent of the country’s overall income, and the feudal land-owning class, which constitutes 1.1 per cent of the population but owns 22 per cent of all arable farmland.

    Both classes have strong representation in the Pakistani parliament. Wignaraja noted that this creates a paradox where those responsible for doling out the privileges were also those who were receiving them. The military was found to receive $1.7 bn in privileges, mainly in the form of preferential access to land, capital and infrastructure, as well as tax exemptions.

    The wide-ranging NHDR provides detailed data on deep-rooted inequality in Pakistan’s economy.

    While the richest 1 per cent held 9 per cent of the country’s income of $314.4 bn in 2018-19, the report found that the poorest 1 per cent held just 0.15 per cent. The UNDP has suggested Pakistan’s government take on increased spending that focuses on closing the gap between its Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.570 and that of other countries in the region.

    The UNDP has recommended policies that target spending on outcomes that provide both structural support for the country’s poor and on the infrastructure – such as education and healthcare – that would provide them further economic opportunities.

    “If I had just that one extra […] rupee, and you asked me where would I put it, I would put in girls education,” said Wignaraja. Pakistan ranks 153 out of 156 countries on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index with 32 per cent of primary-school-aged girls out of school.

  • Wheat production will break all records this year: experts

    Wheat production will break all records this year: experts

    Pakistan will likely experience an upsurge in wheat production this year as experts are giving projections on the surplus of wheat, media reported.

    A media organisation conducted surveys that say that Pakistan will produce over 28.75 million tons of wheat in 2021. This yield will break the record of 2016-17 when Pakistan produced 26.67 million tons.

    Over the last two years, Pakistan had to import two million tons of wheat to cater for the shortage caused by low harvest. If the projections come true, it will eliminate the need for any imports.

    On the contrary, the Federal Committee on agriculture predicted that the production would remain at 26.04 million tons while showing an increase of 1.7 per cent. The committee gave these estimations while reviewing the performance of Rabi Crops in(2020/21). But the farmers are more optimistic about harvesting a greater output of wheat in the 2020/21 season.

    According to the Punjab Agriculture Department, the production of crops on the provincial level had jumped around 600,000 tons.

    The news report quoted the Chairman of the Agri-Forum Pakistan, Ibrahim Mughal, as saying, “We have never heard so consistently about 40-45 maunds per acre yield by so many growers this year”.

    A conducive temperature when the crop was sown has resulted in favourable prospects for high output. “Safely, we may see at least 1.5 million tons of more production than the initial estimates,” he said.

  • Bitcoin hits all-time high of $62,712 USD

    Bitcoin hits all-time high of $62,712 USD

    Bitcoin (BTC) has hit an all-time high of $62,712, according to analytics from CoinGecko. The price of one BTC is currently comfortable at $62,700.

    The flagship digital currency has been on an impressive journey, with its price increasing at a rate of almost 6 per cent in one week. The new all-time high (ATH) comes only a day after crypto evangelist and investor Coinbase went public yesterday.

    Crypto expert Jason Deanen who works at Quantum Economics, says that “Bitcoin has been testing the resistance levels for some weeks now, bouncing off each time but immediately coming back undeterred. Today’s ATH was inevitable as sheer market momentum, investor sentiment and accelerating rate of development act as primary drivers.”

    Other than BTC, most digital currencies in the crypto top 20 also experienced similar hikes. Ethereum is up 4.91%, Binance 43,65%, and Uniswap is up by 12.04%

    Bitcoin has again boosted investor sentiment amongst the community. Experts and traders are of the view that the BTC will climb even higher, perhaps as high as $400,000, with current trends looking bullish as ever.

    Antoni Trenchev, who is a Crypto investor and preacher, declared: “I do not doubt that this bull run is far from over.”

  • ‘PSW Act will contribute $500m in annual savings,’ says PM

    ‘PSW Act will contribute $500m in annual savings,’ says PM

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has said that the implementation of the Pakistan Single Window (PSW) Act 2021 will bring $500 million in annual savings to the country.

    As per details, the PSW Act 2021 aims to bring an ease in imports and exports. PM Khan said that the PSW will also integrate 75 regulatory departments including customs, banks, port authorities, shipping companies, brokers, etc.

    PSW will be managed by an independent authority that will play a crucial role in unlocking Pakistan’s potential to become a hub for international transit and trade.

    According to reports, the PSW was inaugurated last week in Islamabad by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in compliance with the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

    The PSW was rolled out almost a year before its deadline of June 2022 at a cost of $67 million through an indigenous development effort.

    The Customs department has been tasked with completing this transformational project that will reduce time, cost, and complications while ensuring better compliance with cross-border trade regulations.

  • Russian president’s ‘blank cheque’ to Pakistan: What you need to know

    Russian president’s ‘blank cheque’ to Pakistan: What you need to know

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently visited Islamabad after nearly a decade and delivered an “important” message to the Pakistani leadership from President Vladimir Putin.

    “I came with a message from my president that ‘tell Pakistan we are open for any cooperation, whatever Pakistan needs Russia is ready for it’,” Lavrov was quoted as saying by a senior Pakistani official who, according to The Express Tribune, attended the closed-door meeting.

    The Russian president’s offer was dubbed by the official as a “blank cheque” as they revealed that Putin had conveyed to Pakistan through his top diplomat that Moscow would help Islamabad in any manner.

    “If you’re interested in gas pipelines, corridors, defence or any other cooperation, Russia stands ready for it,” the official quoted Lavrov as saying, explaining what he meant.

    “It is now up to us to follow up this successful visit,” the official said.

    At the joint news conference with his Pakistani counterpart, the Russian foreign minister had said Moscow was ready to supply Pakistan with “special military equipment” to enhance its anti-terrorists potential. He, however, did not provide further details.

    Relations between Pakistan and Russia have undergone transformation in recent years thanks to the new alignments and strategic realities.

    The rapprochement between the former Cold War rivals began in 2011 when Pakistan’s relationship with the US hit the rock bottom. At that time, a decision was taken to bring a strategic shift in Pakistan’s foreign policy. The shift envisaged reaching out to Russia as part of Pakistan’s efforts to diversify its foreign policy options.

    The two countries initially worked quietly to find common ground. The years-long efforts had resulted in the Russian decision to send its troops to Pakistan for the first time in history for joint exercises in 2016. Moscow even overruled the Indian objections over holding joint drills with Pakistan.

    Since then, the two countries have been regularly holding these exercises and they are looking to further deepen that cooperation.

    Pakistan is hoping that Russian President Vladimir Putin would visit the country, something that would complete the Pak-Russia ties from being Cold War foes to friends.

    In contrast, Russian ties with once its solid ally India are heading in the opposite direction. The two still have good relationship but the usual warmth they expressed earlier have been missing.

  • Nike to clean up used, returned sneakers and put them back on shelves

    Nike to clean up used, returned sneakers and put them back on shelves

    Nike Inc said on Monday it will start refurbishing sneakers – from Vapormaxes to Reacts – returned by shoppers and selling them at cheaper prices, a service offered increasingly by retailers to reduce consumer waste.

    The Beaverton, Oregon-based company said it would clean up gently worn, like-new or slightly imperfect sneakers by hand and resell them “at a value for consumers” at certain Nike stores. To qualify for refurbishment, the sneakers need to be returned to Nike stores within 60 days of purchase.

    “Up to fifteen U.S.-based stores will carry Nike Refurbished footwear by the end of April 2021, with plans to integrate more of this product at additional U.S.-based stores in the coming year,” Nike said in a statement.

    Nike is continuing to explore future expansion of the program to markets outside the United States.

  • Interior Ministry to launch e-passport system by June

    Interior Ministry to launch e-passport system by June

    Federal Minister for Interior Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed has announced the launch of the e-passport system by June 2021. The minister made the announcement when he visited Jinnah International Airport, Karachi.

    The e-passport will have an embedded chip that will contain all the biometric information of travellers. It will be used to authenticate the identities of the passport bearers. Along with the chip, the passport will have two pictures of the passport holder.

    The minister had inspected the immigration counters at the airport and ordered to increase the number of immigration counters to facilitate the overseas Pakistanis. He said that the role of overseas Pakistanis is crucial for the economic development of our country.

    The immigration officials also briefed the minister on immigration procedures. The minister instructed the director of the FIA-Sindh to install new counters in a maximum of two months.

    “Promotion of tourism and trade are key aspects of the Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan vision, and online visas will boost the tourism sector. The government is taking steps in this direction, and it will also benefit the country’s economy,” the Interior Minister said.

    Along with e-passports, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed also announced the opening of more NADRA and passport offices in Karachi.

  • Punjab govt launches mobile lungar for travellers, labourers

    Punjab govt launches mobile lungar for travellers, labourers

    Punjab government has launched a mobile lungar scheme in Lahore and Faisalabad in line with Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s Ehsaas Koi Bhooka Na Soye Programme.

    Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar inaugurated the programme in two cities, and food trucks are operating on four different routes in Lahore since.

    The following are the routes of the food trucks in Lahore:

    1. Thokar Niaz Baig to Data Darbar to cater to Multan Chungi, Mandi Stop, Chowk Yateem Khana and Chauburji
    2. Circular Road, Railway Station, Do Moria Pul, Badami Bagh Auto Parts Market, Masti Gate, General Bus Stand, Sabzi Mandi and Niazi Chowk
    3. Garrhi Shahu, Co-op Store, Shalamar, Darogay Wala and Shadipura
    4. Lakshmi Chowk, Mayo Hospital Chowk, Shah Aalam Market, Dalgaraan Chowk and Dehli Gate

    CM Buzdar has announced that 10,000 boxes will be distributed regularly on these routes to provide meals to labourers and travellers.

    In various areas of Faisalabad, two trucks will distribute almost 10,000 lunch boxes regularly.

    CM Buzdar remarked that feeding the needy is Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)’s Sunnah and is also in line with PM Imran’s vision of a welfare state.

    He added that the project will be launched in other cities of Punjab as well.