Day: January 11, 2022

Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs, His Excellency Saad Sherida Al Kaabi, announced to become a shareholder in the private LNG terminal to be built in Port Qasim.

Qatar Energy will be a shareholder in the private sector LNG terminal to be set up at Port Qasim. The final agreement for the construction of the LNG terminal at Port Qasim will be finalized by the end of January.

Qatari Minister, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, will sign the agreement in Pakistan. Qatar also reiterated support for Pakistan in the LNG sector.

A video conference was held between Minister Maritime Affairs, Ali Zaidi, and Minister of State for Energy and CEO of Qatar Energy, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, in this regard. Secretary Petroleum, Chairman OGRA, and others were also present during the video conference.

Source: Pro Pakistani

The world’s biggest crypto exchange, Binance, has established contact with the Cyber Crime Wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and pledged full assistance with a mega-scam involving 11 Binance-linked applications which were used by fraudsters to loot over $100 million (Rs. 17.68 billion) from Pakistani investors.

As per a series of tweets by the Head of the FIA Cyber Crime Sindh Zone, Imran Riaz, Binance has nominated a two-member team to coordinate with the agency. “They are former investigators with the U.S. Department of Treasury and specialize in cryptocurrency investigations,” he said.

He also praised Binance’s response, which he said was appropriate, given the severity of the situation, and expressed his desire to continue working with the firm to uncover criminal activities involving cryptocurrency in the foreseeable future.

“I appreciate the response of Binance keeping in view the gravity of the issue and looking forward to continued cooperation in unearthing criminal activities based on cryptocurrency,” he tweeted.

Apps named MCX, HFC, HTFOX, FXCOPY, OKIMINI, BB001, AVG86C, BX66, UG, TASKTOK, and 91fp were using Binance blockchain addresses for fraudulent transactions.

According to an official press release issued last week, the Cyber Crime Wing had summoned the General Manager/Growth Analyst Binance Pakistan (Crypto Currency Exchange), Hamza Khan, to come before the FIA and explain his position on the company’s involvement in fraudulent applications.

To recall, according to the initial findings of the FIA inquiry, each of these applications had an average of 5,000 customers. The reported range of investments per person was from $100 to $80,000, with an estimated average of $2,400 per person, making the estimated scam stand at nearly $100 million (Rs. 17.7 billion).

The FIA Cyber Crime Sindh has started working on keeping a close eye on the peer-to-peer transactions performed by Pakistanis using the application to prevent terror financing and money laundering as Binance is the largest easy-to-go platform facilitating such activities.

Source: Pro Pakistani

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) is likely to approve a technical supplementary grant of Rs. 60 million within sanctioned budget for the purchase of spare parts for helicopter maintenance upon request of the Interior Ministry.

The meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet will be held on Wednesday, 12 January 2022, at Pak-Secretariat in Islamabad. The Minister of Finance and Revenue, Shaukat Tarin, will chair the meeting.

Sources told Propakistani that ECC will review a summary and give the nod for releasing the amount as a technical supplementary grant for helicopter maintenance by HQs Frontier Corps Balochistan (North), Quetta.

The ECC will review the request for the Technical Supplementary Grant under Pakistan Raises Revenue Program (PRRP) of Rs. 4 billion under demand by the Federal Board of Revenue.

The meeting participants will also review the proposal for a Technical Supplementary Grant amounting to Rs. 78,500 million for the projects of ICAT Administration, Islamabad. A grant to the tune of Rs. 3 million within sanctioned budget for the purchase of spare parts for helicopter maintenance by HQs Frontier Corps KP (North), Peshawar, during CFY 2021-22.

Moreover, the Ministry of National Food Security and Research will seek approval for the notification of Minimum Indicative Prices of tobacco crop 2022.

Source: Pro Pakistani

The Federal Board of Revenue has imposed a new condition on the renewal of licenses of shipping agents. The condition requires shipment agents to provide an affidavit declaring that the applicant has not faced any criminal proceedings from any court in the last ten years from the date of application.

The FBR has further tightened the rules for shipping agents and imposed some significant conditions in this regarding.

The FBR has issued further amendments in the Customs Rules through Chapter XXVI. An additional condition has been introduced stating that if the license has remained valid for the last ten years and no criminal proceedings have been initiated or pending against the licensee, the license may be renewed for a period of five years.

There will be also a condition that an affidavit to be presented that no conviction has taken place from a court of law or tribunal against the licensee or any of the partners.

The new also suggested that all information about total number of transactions of shipping activity, details of shipments made and proof of fulfilment of criteria and conduct of customs business as prescribed by the Collector.

Another condition has been inserted that “A fee of Rupees 5,000 may be charged by the Directorate General as examination fee” the expression “Each applicant shall deposit a course fee of Rs5,000 for examination related expenses in the respective account of the Directorate General of Training and Research (Customs) and its Regional Directorates.

The rules also say that the applicant must proof of payment of renewal fee which shall be Rs.2,000 for renewal of license for two years, Rs.3,000 for renewal of license for three years, Rs.4,000 for renewal of license for four years and Rs.5,000 for renewal of license for five years.

In case of any additional charges other than freight, the licensee shall collect them only if mentioned in notified or published tariff of the shipping agent or carrier and is made available to the client or as specifically written on the bill of lading, airway bill or bill of freight, the rules say.

Another condition says, if mutually agreed between shipper and shipping line, detention tariff per container per day including free days shall be mentioned on the bill of lading, airway bill and bill of freight, otherwise detention shall be applicable and charged as per local published tariff of the shipping agent or carrier which is made available to the client.

in case of violation in respect of any additional charges other than freight not mutually agreed by shipper and shipping line that are not mentioned in publicly notified or published tariff of the shipping agent or carrier and are not made available to the client or are not specifically written on the bill of lading, airway bill or bill of freight, punitive action envisaged in the Act and these rules shall be initiated against the delinquent licensee following the due process of law, suggested in the new rules.

They also say that in case of violation in terms of detention charges after lapse of exact free days not mutually agreed by shipper and shipping line that are not mentioned in publicly notified or published tariff of the shipping agent or carrier and are not made available to the client or are not specifically written on bill of lading, airway bill or bill of freight, punitive action as envisaged in the Act and these rules shall be initiated against the delinquent licensee through process of law.

The licensee shall make arrangements for performing transactions which do not require payment of security deposit and only require payment of security deposit when absolutely necessary. The changeable amount of security deposit shall be reasonable and the licensee shall refund the security deposit within fifteen working days after satisfying their accounts. In case of any delay in refund of security deposit beyond the terminal period, punitive action shall be initiated as per law, the rules suggested.

Source: Pro Pakistani

Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) has received an amount of Rs. 1 billion from the Ministry of IT and Telecommunication to hold various skill development training programs through boot camps and batches across the country.

These programs are likely to be commenced this year, starting from major cities of the country. Professionals and graduate students could enroll in the boot camps and batches without any charges, according to an official at PSEB.

These programs will be designed for IT graduates and professionals, in particular, aimed at building their capacity in-demand fields of the local IT industry and various soft skills among the participants.

The boot camps will be 4 to 5 months long depending on the subjects and provide human resources to cater to the local industry, which is facing a shortage of skilled manpower these days.

PSEB is working with various stakeholders for the design of curriculum, practical training sessions, and the availability of trainers and supportive staff from the industry. The board will also hire several experienced professionals from local and foreign IT companies as trainers for these boot camps.

These programs will be organized in collaboration with various IT companies and software houses. In this connection, the board is seeking the participation of interested IT companies, having expertise in training and capacity building of professionals and graduates.

According to estimates, more than 25,000 IT graduates are passed out every year from various universities in Pakistan but merely 5,000 of leading universities are employed by local industry as per the prevailing requirement of the job market, whereas the rest of the students with outdated skills do survive for getting high paid jobs.

Setting up these boot camps will upgrade the skills of these graduates as per the requirement of the local IT industry, and the job markets, as well as companies’ demand, will be met through this way—a win-win situation for graduates and companies.

Pakistan’s IT industry has been on the track of growth for the past two years with several emerging opportunities of automation, BPOs, e-commerce in the local and global markets.

The exports of the industry recorded an all-time high level in the last many straight years with a wider scope in the near future. To enhance the volume of Pakistan’s exports, the development of trained human resources on a sustainable level is needed in the country.

Pakistan’s IT Industry Needs 20,000 Professionals To Meet Exports Orders

Pakistan IT industry is in dire need of 20,000 IT experienced professionals in in-demands fields to meet the demand from domestic and exports markets.

P@SHA, the representative body of the IT industry, has surveyed 148 leading companies out of 5,000 registered member companies on the skill analysis of the sector.

At present, various IT companies and software houses have already initiated in-house programs for the training of IT professionals. However, in order to enhance the human resource demand, the relevant department should organize boot camps in various cities of the country at the earliest.

Pakistan’s IT exports grew to over $1 billion from July to November 2021. It is projected to cross $3 billion by the end of this financial year.

Top in-demand Technologies & Tools

According to the survey, professionals of the below top 20 in-demand technologies and tools are most sought after in the country as there is a direct correlation between the in-demand technologies and the lack of availability of skilled resources.

1. Javascript Fullstack (MEAN/MERN)

2. C# .NET

3. React Native (Hybrid)

4. Android – JAVA

5. PHP (Laravel/CodeIgnitor/ Yii/Zend/Drupal)

6. Python

7. Flutter (Hybrid)

8. iOS – Objective C & SWIFT

9. AWS Developer- Associate

10. Java

11. Redis/ElasticSearch AWS

12. Agile Certified Practioner

13. MICROSOFT SQL

14. Professional Scrum Master™

15. Ruby on Rails

16. Salesforce

17. Unity

18. Selenium

19. Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals

20. Postgres

21. It has been observed that the need for human resources with these technical skills is highest across the country. Keeping in mind the current technology trends, IT companies need to hire around 20 professionals in the next 6-8 months for the technology tracks mentioned in the PASHA survey.

Source: Pro Pakistani

The Pakistani Rupee (PKR) posted gains against the US Dollar (USD) in the interbank market today. It gained five paisas against the greenback after hitting an intra-day high of Rs. 176.55 against the latter during today’s open market session.

It appreciated by 0.03 percent against the USD and closed at Rs. 176.63 today after losing a single paisa and closing at 176.68 in the interbank market on Monday, 10 January.

The rupee managed to post gains against the USD after the local demand for the greenback declined marginally after the decision taken by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reschedule Pakistan’s Sixth Review under its Extended Funds Facility (EFF).

Moreover, the beginning of the new year is yet to post detrimental results since the local credit demand is struggling to pick up the pace. While the private sector advances — aided by a seasonal upturn in the demand and a rise in the input price — observed stimulation during the second half of 2021, a similar forecast is yet to materialize as most of the country’s economic sectors explore newer venues to avail additional financing.

Discussing the rupee’s near-term outlook earlier in the day, the former Treasury Head of Chase Manhattan Bank, Asad Rizvi, tweeted, “PKR ended flat yesterday, as demand for $ is thin. Due to [the] new year, credit request has not [been] picked & private sector activity is slow. While, SBP is confident that the ECO[nomy] will expand & attain 4%+ growth, but delay in rescheduling of 6th IMF review will slowdown pace of growth”.

The rupee managed to post gains against the USD after the local demand for the greenback declined marginally after the decision taken by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reschedule Pakistan’s Sixth Review under its Extended Funds Facility (EFF).

Moreover, the beginning of the new year is yet to post detrimental results since the local credit demand is struggling to pick up the pace. While the private sector advances — aided by a seasonal upturn in the demand and a rise in the input price — observed stimulation during the second half of 2021, a similar forecast is yet to materialize as most of the country’s economic sectors explore newer venues to avail additional financing.

Discussing the rupee’s near-term outlook earlier in the day, the former Treasury Head of Chase Manhattan Bank, Asad Rizvi, tweeted, “PKR ended flat yesterday, as demand for $ is thin. Due to [the] new year, credit request has not [been] picked & private sector activity is slow. While, SBP is confident that the ECO[nomy] will expand & attain 4%+ growth, but delay in rescheduling of 6th IMF review will slowdown pace of growth”.

The PKR made a mixed showing of trends against other major currencies in the interbank currency market today. It posted losses of five paisas against the Euro (EUR) and three paisas against the Pound Sterling (GBP).

On the contrary, it gained five paisas against the Australian Dollar (AUD), 20 paisas against the Canadian Dollar (CAD), and one paisa against both the Saudi Riyal (SAR) and the UAE Dirham (AED) in today’s interbank currency market.

Source: Pro Pakistani

The election results of the directors on the TRG Board have completely barred the former CEO of Afiniti, Zia Chishti, from it. Meanwhile, Khaldoon Bin Latif from Faysal Asset Management bagged the highest votes — more than 504 million — in the elections held at the Extra Ordinary General Meeting today.

The other elected directors are Farrukh Imdad from the Hamdard Group who won 488 million votes, and Hasnain Aslam from the TRG Group who received 486 million votes.

Waleed Tariq Saigol from the Maple Leaf Group; John Leone and Patrick McGinnis from the TRG Group; Zafar Iqbal Sobani, Abid Hussain, Asad Nasir, and Suleman Lalani from the JS Group have been appointed as directors for terms of three years commencing on 14 January.

Zia Chishti lost the elections with a big margin. On the other hand, directors from the JS Group won a majority in the elections.

TRG Pakistan had a leadership crisis in recent months after the exclusion of Zia Chishti against allegations of misconduct.

Source: Pro Pakistani

The federal cabinet has approved a residential project worth $2 billion for the overseas Pakistanis to invest in real estate by making remittances through their Roshan Digital Accounts. The project will be executed at Park Road, Zone-4 of the federal capital, and will cover 6,000 housing units.

Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired the cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed briefed the cabinet on the tragic Murree incident. The cabinet members expressed condolences on the loss of lives in the incident and decided that a detailed inquiry would be conducted to strategize administrative re-organization of Murree administration and to control a risky influx of tourists in the future.

In view of the exponential rise in COVID-19 cases, the cabinet appealed to the general public to ensure using face masks, maintaining social distancing, and completing vaccination.

The cabinet instructed the Attorney General of Pakistan to vigorously pursue cases against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and former Chief Minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif in Lahore High Court.

The cabinet was informed that the Ministry of Science and Technology would provide Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) to the Election Commission of Pakistan for conducting Local Body Election in Islamabad to ensure transparency.

The cabinet approved the appointment of Asif Rasheed as Chairman Copyright Board of Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan. It also approved the appointment of two Members from Punjab and one each from other provinces.

The cabinet accorded ex-post facto approval for acceptance of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia award “Noot-ul-Tamreen” medals by 100 personnel of Pakistan Air Force.

The cabinet also okayed the registration of the existing Credit Guarantee Trust Fund under the ICT Trust Act, 2020, and approved the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) as a regulator of the fund. This approval has been granted to fulfill the requirements of the Anti Money Laundering Act, 2010.

The cabinet approved the Capital Development Authority (CDA) budget estimated for 2021-22. Meanwhile, Chairman CDA informed the cabinet members that CDA, during FY 2017-18, auctioned an area of 53,817 sq. yd and generated Rs. 12.9 billion, while in 2021, CDA auctioned a smaller area measuring 46,783 sq. yd but earned Rs. 31.1 billion. He said it was possible due to the effective policies of the present government.

The cabinet approved tariff rationalization for the power sector through quarterly adjustment for the 4th quarter of FY 2020-21. This adjustment is likely to provide relief to domestic consumers of electricity.

The cabinet approved the appointment of Dr. Liaqat Masih Qaiser as Minority Member at the National Commission for Minorities. It also approved the “Science, Technology and Innovation Policy-2021”. It okayed the appointment of Azam Jamil as Chairman Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation and National Tourism Coordination Board. It ratified the decisions made in the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Institutional Reforms on 22 December 2021 wherein it was decided that the Ministry of Science and Technology would retain the National Institute of Electronics. It also ratified decisions made by Cabinet Committee on Privatization on 31 December 2021.

Miscellaneous Decisions

Revision of Capital Structure-Debt Recapitalization and Refinancing/Replacement of Excess Equity and Pakistan Development Fund Limited Loan through Commercial Borrowing of National Power Parks Management Company Limited.

Divestment of Government of Pakistan’s Shares in Mari Petroleum Co. Ltd. (MPCL).

Privatization of Guddu Power Plant and Nandipur Power Plant.

The cabinet ratified decisions made by Economic Coordination Committee in its meetings held on 31 December 2021 and 5 January 2022, including:

Finalization of Business Plan by National Highway Authority by June 2022

Sambrial Kharian Motorway Project (SKMP).

Allocation of Budget to the Newly Established Secretariat of the Council of Common Interests (CCI).

Gas Rate for Operation of Fatima Fertilizer (Sheikpura Plant) and Agritech.

Provision of Life-Saving Drugs worth Rs. 500 million to Afghan People.

Provision of Funds for Purchase of Equipment in Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences-Federal Medical Teaching Institutes, 2021.

1.2 MGD Reverse Osmosis Desalination (ROD) Plant at Gwadar (Chinese Grant).

Release of Rs. 100 Billion to manage liquidity requirements of the Power Sector.

Source: Pro Pakistani