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6<br />
Sunday, <strong>April</strong> 8, <strong>2018</strong><br />
Biz<br />
FATF concerns<br />
Miftah says tax amnesty scheme<br />
doesn’t violate money laundering laws<br />
CORPORATE CORNER<br />
Dell showcases its unique range of products<br />
at the Dell experience roadshow in Pakistan<br />
KARACHI: Adviser to the<br />
prime minister on Finance Miftah<br />
Ismail on Saturday assuaged the<br />
concerns of the Financial Action<br />
Task Force (FATF) and assured the<br />
tax amnesty scheme does not violate<br />
money laundering laws.<br />
“Pakistan’s tax amnesty scheme<br />
adheres to all international antimoney<br />
laundering laws,” the adviser<br />
on finance said while speaking to<br />
private TV.<br />
Ismail shared that he has<br />
received an e-mail from the global<br />
money-laundering watchdog, FATF,<br />
calling for global needs and the<br />
agreed-upon guidelines to be<br />
respected.<br />
“The FATF has stressed upon<br />
strict monitoring of money laundering<br />
and terrorist financing activities,”<br />
the Pakistani premier’s financial<br />
adviser said.<br />
Ismail further said he has not<br />
responded to the email as yet.<br />
Earlier a report claimed that the<br />
FATF had written to Ismail to<br />
express reservations regarding the<br />
possibility of violation of money<br />
laundering laws and increase in terrorist<br />
financing under the new<br />
amnesty scheme.<br />
Pakistan has to present a consolidated<br />
plan against money laundering<br />
to FATF next month so it is not<br />
added to the grey-list of the global<br />
money-laundering watchdog.<br />
In February, Pakistan’s Foreign<br />
Office said the country would be<br />
placed on the grey list of the FATF<br />
in June. Member states of the FATF<br />
were persuaded by Washington to<br />
place Pakistan back on the “grey<br />
list” of nations with inadequate terrorist<br />
financing or money laundering<br />
controls. Pakistan was on the list<br />
for three years, until 2015.<br />
On Thursday, Prime Minister<br />
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi announced a<br />
reduction in income tax rates and an<br />
amnesty scheme aimed at broadening<br />
the government's revenue base.<br />
SBP issues warning against virtual currencies<br />
KARACHI: Pakistan's<br />
central bank on Friday<br />
advised people against the<br />
usage of cryptocurrency in<br />
any kind of transactions in<br />
the country, saying the new<br />
medium of exchange was<br />
neither "recognized as a<br />
Legal Tender" nor was<br />
"authorized or licensed" to<br />
anyone.<br />
In its circular — titled<br />
"Caution regarding risks of<br />
virtual currencies", the State<br />
Bank of Pakistan (SBP)<br />
rationalised: "Virtual<br />
Currencies/Coins/Tokens<br />
provide high degree of<br />
anonymity and potentially<br />
can be used for facilitating<br />
illegal activities.<br />
RAWALPINDI: In order<br />
to facilitate the passengers of<br />
Green Line (5-Up/6-Dn), the<br />
Pakistan Railways have<br />
reduced over 10 percent<br />
fares.<br />
Divisional Commercial<br />
Officer (DCO) Pakistan<br />
Railways, Rawalpindi Raza<br />
Ali Habib talking to APP<br />
informed that Pakistan<br />
Railways have reduced over<br />
Rs 600 from Rs 5990 to new<br />
fare Rs 5340 for the passengers<br />
to travel from<br />
Rawalpindi to Karachi.<br />
From Rawalpindi to<br />
"Also due to the ambiguous<br />
nature of Virtual<br />
Currencies, no legal protection<br />
or recourse is available<br />
to any individual," the notification<br />
added.<br />
The top financial authority's<br />
External Relations<br />
Department said it prudent to<br />
stay away from digital currency<br />
deals or investments<br />
since its significant price<br />
fluctuation, hacking and<br />
cybersecurity issues, and closure,<br />
"including action by<br />
law enforcement agencies",<br />
could lead to preventable<br />
losses.<br />
The circular — the third<br />
one issued this year by the<br />
SBP's Banking Policy &<br />
Lahore fare for Green Line<br />
has been fixed Rs 1200<br />
while from Rawalpindi to<br />
Khanewal would be charged<br />
Rs 2410. Similarly, Rs 3180<br />
is new fare for the train from<br />
Rawalpindi to Bahawalpur<br />
and Rs 4430 for Rawalpindi<br />
to Rohri. The passengers of<br />
Green Line would pay Rs<br />
5060 for Rawalpindi to<br />
Hyderabad travel.<br />
He further informed that<br />
due to enhanced security<br />
measures, quality service<br />
and punctuality, the number<br />
of passengers traveling via<br />
Regulations Department<br />
(BPRD) — added that no<br />
financial institution or<br />
investment house is to let its<br />
clients engage in virtual currency-related<br />
transactions.<br />
"Fraudsters are also offering<br />
pyramid style investment<br />
schemes and coins and<br />
promising high returns (similar<br />
to Ponzi schemes) to the<br />
general public in Pakistan.<br />
"This can cause significant<br />
loss to the General Public," it<br />
added.<br />
It is noteworthy that foreign<br />
remittances, even from<br />
countries that have permitted<br />
cryptocurrency trade, would<br />
not be processed either, since<br />
no person or company is<br />
Pakistan railways reduces<br />
Green Line’s fares by 10 percent<br />
train is increasing day by day<br />
and over 42,56,318 passengers<br />
traveled through the rail<br />
service during 2017 from<br />
Rawalpindi Division.<br />
The division earned Rs.<br />
1864.213 million last year,<br />
he added.<br />
To a question he said,<br />
Pakistan Railways,<br />
Rawalpindi Division have<br />
earned Rs. 1612.618 million<br />
against the set target of<br />
Rs. 1595.851 million up to<br />
March 20, during last nine<br />
months of 2017-18 financial<br />
year.<br />
Oil falls on Trump's latest<br />
China trade threats<br />
NEW YORK: Oil prices<br />
fell about 2 percent on Friday<br />
after U.S. President Donald<br />
Trump threatened new tariffs<br />
on China, reigniting fears of a<br />
trade war between the<br />
world’s two largest<br />
economies that could hurt<br />
global growth.<br />
Trump said on Thursday<br />
he had ordered U.S. trade<br />
officials to consider tariffs on<br />
an extra $100 billion of<br />
imports from China, escalating<br />
tensions with Beijing.<br />
China warned on Friday it<br />
was fully prepared to respond<br />
with a “fierce counter strike”<br />
of fresh trade measures if the<br />
United States follows<br />
through on Trump’s threat.<br />
“The heightened possibility<br />
of an outright tariff war is<br />
conjuring up images of<br />
slowed economic growth that<br />
could curtail the strong oil<br />
demand that has helped to<br />
revive a strong pricing environment<br />
during the past couple<br />
of months,” Jim<br />
Ritterbusch, president of<br />
Ritterbusch and Associates,<br />
said in a note.<br />
Brent crude LCOc1<br />
futures settled down $1.22 at<br />
$67.11 a barrel. U.S. West<br />
Texas Intermediate (WTI)<br />
crude CLc1 futures fell $1.48<br />
to $62.06 a barrel, a 2.3 percent<br />
loss. Brent crude<br />
dropped 2.8 percent in the<br />
week while U.S. crude fell<br />
4.4 percent, the biggest<br />
weekly decline since early<br />
February.<br />
U.S. stock indexes also<br />
fell on trade war jitters, which<br />
weighed on oil prices. Crude<br />
futures have recently tracked<br />
with equities.<br />
OPEC member Libya’s<br />
oil output is at around 1.05<br />
million barrels per day<br />
despite a continuing outage<br />
since February at its 70,000<br />
bpd El Feel oilfield, a Libyan<br />
oil source told Reuters on<br />
Friday. U.S. drillers added 11<br />
oil rigs in the week to<strong>April</strong> 6,<br />
bringing the total count up to<br />
808, the highest level since<br />
March 2015, General<br />
Electric Co’s (GE.N) Baker<br />
Hughes energy services firm<br />
said in its closely followed<br />
report on Friday.<br />
The Permian basin in<br />
Texas is leading the way as<br />
U.S. oil production has<br />
reached an all-time high, but<br />
the prolific output is causing<br />
bottlenecks as pipelines<br />
transporting the crude have<br />
filled up more quickly than<br />
expected, depressing prices<br />
in the region.<br />
legally allowed to accept or<br />
send payments via any kind<br />
of digital currencies.<br />
Frenzied Bitcoin demand<br />
sent prices of the digital currency<br />
skyrocketing close to<br />
$20,000 late last year but<br />
<strong>2018</strong> slashed them drastically,<br />
leading to disgruntled<br />
users faced with unexpected<br />
losses.<br />
Businessmen panel<br />
demands cut in prices<br />
of locally made cars<br />
LAHORE: Businessmen<br />
Panel (BMP) Punjab’s<br />
Secretary General Mian<br />
Usman Zulfiqar Saturday<br />
urged the government to<br />
announce special slab to<br />
reduce the prices of locally<br />
assembled cars in the<br />
upcoming budget to facilitate<br />
the masses.<br />
Usman Zulfiqar, in a<br />
statement here, said it was<br />
totally unjustified that local<br />
manufactures revised their<br />
car prices whenever they<br />
desired and without even<br />
getting approval. The<br />
Ministry of Industries must<br />
devise a mechanism to regulate<br />
the local assemblers’<br />
prices, he added.<br />
He suggested some tax<br />
measures to reduce the cost<br />
of locally produced vehicles<br />
and make the same<br />
more affordable. By<br />
exempting the imports<br />
made under SRO<br />
655(I)/2006 and SRO<br />
656(I)/2006 from additional<br />
customs duty under SRO<br />
1178(I)/2015, the government<br />
could help reduce the<br />
cost of vehicles being produced<br />
locally, he added.<br />
Finance division<br />
provided Rs18,107<br />
mln to execute<br />
its projects<br />
I S L A M A B A D : T h e<br />
federal government has so<br />
far released Rs 18,107.546<br />
million for various ongoing<br />
and new projects of the<br />
Finance Division under<br />
the Public Sector<br />
Development Programme<br />
(PSDP) for the current fiscal<br />
year 2017-18.<br />
According to official<br />
sources, the government<br />
had earmarked Rs<br />
27,064.708 million in the<br />
PSDP for the Finance<br />
Division projects, with<br />
foreign exchange component<br />
of Rs 715.402 million.<br />
An amount of Rs 6,998<br />
million has been released<br />
for Greater Karachi Water<br />
Supply Scheme, which is<br />
being developed by the<br />
Sindh and federal governments<br />
on cost sharing<br />
basis. The federal government<br />
has earmarked Rs<br />
9,555 million for the project<br />
under the PSDP of the<br />
current fiscal year.<br />
Similarly, Rs 1,500 million<br />
has been released for<br />
Greater Karachi Sewerage<br />
Plant (S-III) Karachi,<br />
which is also being developed<br />
on cost sharing basis.<br />
The federal government<br />
has earmarked Rs 1,500<br />
million for the project in<br />
the PSDP 2017-18.<br />
The federal government<br />
also released Rs 350 million<br />
for Gwadar<br />
Development Authority<br />
and Rs 300.188 million for<br />
two power plants from<br />
Syngas (IGCC 2009) in<br />
Tharparker, with each<br />
plant having capacity of<br />
producing 50 megawatt<br />
electricity.<br />
The total cost of the<br />
project was estimated at<br />
Rs 8,898.7 million, out of<br />
which Rs 300.188 was earmarked<br />
in the fiscal year<br />
2017-18, which has<br />
already been released.<br />
Call to reduce prices of local<br />
cars to facilitate masses<br />
KARACHI: Businessmen Panel leader, Mian<br />
Usman Zulfiqar said on Saturday that the government<br />
must announce special slap to reduce the prices of<br />
local assembled cars in the coming budget to facilitate<br />
masses.<br />
He said this is no way that whenever local manufactures<br />
desire they revised their car prices without<br />
getting even due approval and in result common people<br />
affect. The Ministry of Industries must design<br />
some mechanism to regulate the local assembler<br />
prices; he added.<br />
Usman told though Pakistan doesn’t have the best<br />
auto industry, it is growing market. Old models<br />
launch in Pakistan after years and they are way more<br />
expensive. One of the reason is that the auto industry<br />
is still in its adolescence and inresult local companies<br />
enjoyed good profits at the year end which is well<br />
seen in their balance sheets but yet to ignore due quality<br />
standards in their existing models.<br />
ISLAMABAD: The<br />
Pakistan Economy Watch<br />
(PEW) on Saturday said<br />
ignoring agricultural sector<br />
is Keeping millions<br />
poor and hitting growth<br />
rate.<br />
The agriculture sector<br />
is considered the backbone<br />
of the economy but<br />
it is not getting due attention<br />
since decades despite<br />
the fact that majority of<br />
the population depends on<br />
this sector, it said.<br />
The bad cotton crop<br />
and reduction in the area<br />
under cultivation of wheat<br />
will reduce the growth<br />
rate while the country<br />
KARACHI: At the Dell Consumer #DellExperience Roadshow held in Lahore<br />
today, Dell unveiled a new suite of world class products to address the myriad ways<br />
people work and play. In addition to showcasing some of the latest devices that represent<br />
style and power, Dell also highlighted the incredible innovations embedded<br />
within these products that are intended to improve performance, functionality and<br />
the overall user experience.<br />
The devices displayed at the roadshow includes the new Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 notebooks,<br />
Dell Gaming series, Latitude and Vostro notebooks. Powered by the 8th<br />
Generation Intel Core processors,these latest Intel Quad Core CPUs provides significant<br />
performance improvements.<br />
Dell is committed to offer the best technology for our valued customers in<br />
Pakistan.Our exceptional products are designed to provide mobility, power and flexibility<br />
to its users. People want richer experiences, and they wanttheir devices to<br />
matchtheir lifestyle requirements. Our new range of notebooks are meeting the<br />
demands ofcustomers who needperformance to correspond withtheir computing<br />
needs”, says Naveed Siraj, country General Manager for Pakistan and Afghanistan.<br />
Dell XPS portfolio has won more product awards than any other brand in the<br />
company’s history. The latest XPS 13 is improved in every conceivable way and was<br />
just named a CES <strong>2018</strong> Innovation Award honoree. Along with its next-generation<br />
InfinityEdge 4K Ultra HD display, the XPS 13 adds a dazzling Rose Gold with<br />
Alpine White woven glass fiber interior as an option to traditional silver and black,<br />
with narrower borders and up to 80% more thermal headroom.<br />
The new Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming laptop is a powerful sub-1” laptop tailored to<br />
the needs of enthusiasts. Dell Inspiron Gaming systems are purpose-built for gaming.<br />
It raises the bar for Dell’s most aggressive performance design and components<br />
offered within the Inspiron Gaming laptop family. They’re easy to use, easy to own,<br />
and deliver exceptional performance for today’s gamers looking to get the most<br />
power and features for their money.<br />
The Dell Experience also featured the new Vostro and refreshed Latitude portfolio,<br />
which aredeveloped with the mobile workforce in mind and aligned with<br />
insights from various research sponsored by Dell. The latest global research shared<br />
the impact of emerging technologies that see 48% global business leaders surveyed,<br />
including leaders in Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ), believe they’ll have more job satisfaction<br />
in the future by offloading tasks to machines. Thus, businesses and workforce<br />
today are increasingly critical on devices they need to support their work today<br />
and to help adapt with the future.<br />
Shell Rimula celebrates hard<br />
working truckers and farmers<br />
KARACHI: Shell Rimula – the premium heavy duty engine<br />
oil launched a new campaign, “What Matters is Inside”. The<br />
campaign portrays the daily toils of Pakistani truck-drivers,<br />
and farmers emphasizing their tireless efforts put in each day<br />
to achieve their goals and reach their destinations safely.<br />
The campaign, champions the people within these professions,<br />
recognizing there is more to these individuals than what<br />
meets the eye. For many, the job of a truck driver and farmer doesn’t immediately<br />
paint an inviting image in our minds. The rugged exterior is overpowering and it is<br />
too easy to miss the critical role they play in the society. Through this campaign, we<br />
see them through the eyes of those that matter most in the lives of truckers and farmers,<br />
looking up to them as their bread winners, doting fathers, hardworking sons and<br />
husbands.<br />
Shell Rimula, their hard-working partner acknowledges their struggle, reveals the<br />
trucker’s personal motivations, ideals and earnest desire to enrich their lives and<br />
understands what they do and who they do it for, because at the end of the day, that<br />
is what matters to them.<br />
Commenting at the launch of the campaign, Mr. Haroon Rashid, Business Manager<br />
Lubricants, Shell Pakistan Limited said, “These hard-working truckers and farmers<br />
play an essential role towards Pakistan’s economic growth and we want to appreciate<br />
and highlight their enduring efforts through Shell Rimula’s ‘What Matters Is Inside’<br />
campaign. We want to celebrate the people behind these professions , for others to recognize<br />
and acknowledge the sacrifices, the journey, and the energy they expend, while<br />
Shell Rimula will continue to support them on their journey.<br />
ISLAMABAD: Girls hold food during the Pakistan Branding Diner to showcase<br />
Pakistan’s halal meat, high-value, off-season vegetables, and kinnow organized by<br />
United State Agency for International Development (USAID) - Pakistan at local hotel.<br />
Ignoring agriculture keeping million poor: PEW<br />
will have to spend billions<br />
to bridge the shortfall<br />
of 2.5 million bales,<br />
said Murtaza Mughal,<br />
President of PEW.<br />
The farmers are ignoring<br />
latest methods and<br />
continue to increase the<br />
volume of inputs like fertilizer<br />
to boost production<br />
which is increasing the<br />
cost of doing business, he<br />
added.<br />
Murtaza Mughal said<br />
that it is next to impossible<br />
to ensure national<br />
development while keeping<br />
agricultural development<br />
on the backburner,<br />
adding that the poor performance<br />
of agriculture<br />
sector to drag down the<br />
GDP.<br />
He said that agriculture<br />
is no more the largest sector<br />
of the economy but it<br />
continues to provide jobs<br />
to the majority of the<br />
laborers therefore it merits<br />
attention.