Day: March 10, 2022

The Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) sales tax collection would suffer massive revenue loss in 2021-22 after withdrawal of sales tax on crude oil and replacing its status with the zero-rating.

FBR officials told Propakistani that one of the reasons for low domestic sales tax collection during July-Feb (2021-22) is the changes in the status of crude oil. The zero-rating to crude oil, which was withdrawn through the Finance Act, 2021 was restored from January 16, 2022. This would have serious revenue implications over the sales tax collection during the period under review. The revenue loss would be over Rs. 60 billion per month due to zero-rating of crude oil.

The applicability of a zero-percent sales tax on all petroleum products would also cause a revenue loss of Rs. 200 billion revenue loss during the March-June period of 2021-22.

According to a tax expert, in the last budget, 17 percent sales tax was imposed on crude oil which was an adjustable tax. In the last budget, a 17 percent sales tax was imposed on crude oil. It was an adjustable tax, but the FBR has been able to have funded through the imposition of this tax on crude oil. Now its status has been changed to zero-rating, he added.

Source:: Radio Pakistan

Foreign reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) witnessed outflows of $250 million in the week that ended on March 4, 2022, depicting a 1.5 percent dip on a week-on-week basis.

The central bank’s weekly report released on Thursday revealed that the country’s total liquid foreign exchange reserves went down by $206.4 million on March 4, 2022, to $22.87 billion, compared to $22.66 billion in the previous week. SBP’s reserves decreased by $250.1 million to $16.21 billion, compared to $16.46 billion a week earlier.

Meanwhile, the net foreign reserves held by the commercial banks stood at $6.4 billion, depicting an increase of $43.7 million on a weekly basis.

The decline in foreign exchange is attributed to the payment against debt servicing to various lenders.

On the flip side, the Pakistani Rupee (PKR) held out against the US Dollar on Thursday’s interbank close. It lost 38 paisas against the Canadian Dollar (CAD), 42 paisas against the Australian Dollar (AUD), Rs. 1.01 against the Pound Sterling (GBP), and Rs. 2.03 against the Euro (EUR).

Source:: Radio Pakistan

The Lahore Central Business District Development Authority (LCBDDA) on Thursday reported over Rs. 35.89 billion in revenue generated through the auction of seven commercial plots in Lahore’s first Downtown.

This comes just weeks after the authority revealed tentative plans to offer seven mixed-use commercial plots. The Central Business District (CBD) Punjab is Pakistan’s first environment-friendly and comprehensively planned business district.

Lahore’s first planned Downtown is a unique prospect for businesses to obtain premium mix-use commercial plots on a “buy to build basis” via open auction. Moreover, it offers a lifetime chance to build ultra-high-rise signature towers, mix-use complexes, financial towers, digital hubs, or any promising business center.

Source:: Radio Pakistan