LONDON – Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) leader Miftah Ismail on Sunday resigned as finance minister while While PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif has nominated ex-finance minister Ishaq Dar as Miftah’s replacement

The PML-N supremo  and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held a meeting in London to discuss the ongoing situation in the country and measures taken by the sitting coalition government.

The meeting was also attended by former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Maryam Aurangzeb, Miftah Ismail, Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan and Ahad Cheema.

During the meeting, Miftah Ismail tendered his resignation to Nawaz Sharif and thanked the PML-N leadership for providing him the opportunity and said that he diligently served his duties during his four-month brief tenure.

While accepting his resignation, Nawaz Sharif praised Miftah s efforts and the way he carried out his duties at a time when the country was facing an economic crisis.

The position was adopted in the meeting that the current government had to extinguish the economic disaster caused by the previous government, while Nawaz Sharif and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif nominated Senator Ishaq Dar as the Finance Minister.

Ishaq Dar, himself, had told he will be coming back to Pakistan along with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday and will take oath as Senator on Tuesday, adding that after the decision of PML-N bigwigs, he would take oath as Finance Minister on Wednesday.

LONDON: PML-N leader Ishaq Dar will be coming back to Pakistan along with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday.

The decision was made by PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and PM Shehbaz after prolonged meetings that took place between the two leaders over the latter’s two-day visit to London.

Nawaz suggested Dar not to delay his return and leave with the premier tonight.

As decided by the two party leaders, Dar will assume charge as the finance minister on Tuesday, while the current Finance Minister Miftah Ismail will continue to remain part of the government. 

A source told that during his meeting with PM Shehbaz yesterday, Nawaz revealed he had not been happy with the economic policies of Miftah and had called for a change in the direction of economic policies.

Nawaz, according to the source, is worried that the rise in prices of commodities had directly affected ordinary people which has impacted the support base of PML-N.

Earlier, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah confirmed that Dar will return to Pakistan next week.

Dar, himself, had told he will take oath as a Senator immediately after his return. The former finance minister said that he would perform whatever duty is assigned to him by Nawaz and Shehbaz.

PM Shehbaz, along with Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb reached London after attending the 77th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York a day earlier and is scheduled to leave for Pakistan on Sunday.

Shsmim Shahid

PESHAWAR:  Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) Chairman Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao on Saturday asked the government to coordinate efforts to provide relief to the flood-stricken people in the country.

He said that it would take years to repair the damage caused by the unprecedented floods.

Aftab Sherpao said that a particular political party and its leadership were doing a disservice to the affected people by playing politics on the issue of floods.

 According to a press release, he was speaking at a meeting of party office-bearers and workers from PK-56 in Charsadda.

 Rejecting former prime minister Imran Khan’s demand for snap polls, the QWP leader said the elections would take place on its stipulated time.

 Aftab Sherpao said the prime minister would appoint the next army chief as per the constitution therefore Imran Khan should avoid making controversial statements.

“Imran Khan is making the appointment of the army chief controversial,” he said, adding that his conduct was unbecoming of a politician.

 However, he said the former prime minister would not be allowed to create anarchy in the country for his vested interests. He said the country had been submerged by the floods therefore this was not the opportune time for politicizing every issue.

 Aftab Sherpao said all the political parties should join hands and help the government mitigate the sufferings of the flood-hit people.

 He expressed grief over the loss of precious lives during the floods and said the entire nation should stand united to face this situation. “The nation cannot afford the politics of agitation and confrontation at this critical juncture,” he remarked, adding that the floods destruction had set the country back and it would take years to rehabilitate the affected people.

 He demanded the provincial government to rebuild the flood-damaged Munda headworks to ensure the supply of water for the sugarcane and other crops.

The QWP leader said that the farmers would suffer financially if the headworks was not restored.

 He also expressed concern over the deteriorating law and order in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and said the incidents of targeted killings and extortion had recorded an alarming increase. He said the situation would spin out of control if corrective steps were not taken.

He appreciated the people of Swat and other parts of the province for staging protests against lawlessness and militancy.  “Peace is a prerequisite for development,” he maintained.

He asked the government to reduce the duration of electricity and gas loadshedding in KP.

He said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa produce cheap and surplus electricity but despite this fact its residents were facing hours long loadshedding which has compelled the people to stage protests.    

Over 42 billion rupees has been disbursed among 1,705,332 flood-affected families

Despite weekly holiday Special Payment Campsites were kept open

 DNA

ISLAMABAD, Sep 25: Benazir Income Support Programme has disbursed Rs.25,000 per family among 122,208 flood-affected families of Balochistan, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Gilgit Baltistan on Sunday. So far a total of Rs.42,633,300,000 has been disbursed among 1,705,332 flood affected families under Flood Relief Cash Assistance.

In Balochistan 144,080 flood affected families have received Rs. 3,602,000,000. 1,218,674 affected families of Sindh have received Rs. 30,466,850,000. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 156,828 families have received Rs. 3,920,700,00 whereas 185,506 families of Punjab have received Rs. 4,637,650,000. In Gilgit Baltistan 244 flood affected families have also received Rs. 6,100,000.

Despite weekly holiday Special Payment Campsite were kept open to facilitate the flood affectees. A control room has been established at Benazir Income Support Pogramme headquarters to ensure smooth payments.

ISLAMABAD, Sep 25: Lessons on the recovery of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) from the unprecedented challenge of COVID-19 should be replicated and modified to strengthen response and recovery from large-scale loss incurred during current floods, said Dr Vaqar Ahmed, Joint Executive Director, Sustainable Development Policy Institute.

 He was speaking at the launch of a study on titled: “Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises amid Disaster: Lessons from Pakistan’s Experience”. The research conducted jointly by SDPI and International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is based on 750 firms across the country with special focus on women-owned and women-led firms. Among other factors, the study highlighted the impacts of supply chain and transmission disruption, resilience to bounce back, and efficacy of government interventions.

Dr Vaqar said that the study revealed that at the initial stages of crisis, there was a decrease in import-export, production and short-term consumption patterns along with liquidity squeeze and decline in capital and investment, which has left MSMEs struggling for survival. He said that tax reforms and subsidies did not have much positive impact and majority SMEs could not avail public financial facilities due to lack of awareness, doubts, cumbersome transaction costs and process whereas informal borrowings remined highly preferred. He suggested that communication channels must be improved exponentially to improve the response to crisis. He also recommended that transaction costs and time for registration of SMEs should be streamlined, and government should support resilience and recovery of SMEs through specific quotas.

Dr Arjan De. Haan, Senior Program Specialist, Sustainable Inclusive Economies, International Development Research Centre (IDRC) stressed the need to realize that governments and other stakeholders need well-researched data and policy recommendations to recover and develop resilience to COVID-19. He said that the research analyzed the impact of COVID-19 on MSMEs and utilizes gender perspective to further understand the impact on different stakeholders and women-led firms.

Faheem Sardar, Senior Policy Specialist, Prime Minister’s Office said that it is crucial to identify hidden disasters and crisis and solution to these issues. He informed the participants that the processing and clearance time in cross-border trade has been brought down to 24 hours after one-window operation was introduced. He further said that MSMEs must abide by “evolve or die” when it comes to e-commerce which has simplified and sped up interaction between seller and buyer. While there is tremendous growth in e-commerce, it is crucial to remember that it creates space for cyber-crimes, which is more than worth US$3 trillion per annum.

Ms Nadia J. Seth, General Manager, Policy and Planning Division, SMEDA said that 70% of SMEs are informal and unregistered which hinders their access to government facilities. Till March 2021, the State Bank of Pakistan has provided Rs 435 billion to SMEs through various COVID-19 relief and recovery initiatives, she said, adding that such initiatives are based on learnings from post-2010 flood initiatives. So far, nearly half of the SMEs are still unaware of these initiatives mainly due to poor communication strategy, weak linkages between SMEs and government due to low registration and formalization.

Ms Kiran Afzal, Private Sector Development Specialist, World Bank, said that tourism and heritage sites across the country have been extensively damaged. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa alone, an estimated $80,000-90,000 is  required for post-flood conservation and restoration.  She suggested that private sector needs to increase financial and technical capacity, and emergency response services to support SMEs to recover from major shocks. She stressed the need for climate resilient infrastructure development in the long-term plan with emphasis on environment impact assessment and implementation of construction by-laws.

Dr Aadil Nakhuda, Assistant Professor of Economics, Institute of Business Administration and co-author of the study briefed the audience that the survey targeted SMEs across Pakistan; younger than 10 years as they lack the experience to maneuver through major shocks like COVID-19 and climate disasters. He said that the study identified that nearly 50% of SMEs were informal and not registered mainly due to procedural difficulties and high cost. He further highlighted various other factors which left SMEs vulnerable and how these impacts varied across the country, based on size and gender.

Ms Izzah Shahbaz, Principal of Credit, Karandaaz Capitals, said that private financial markets are highly collateralized and the necessary condition of guarantee hinders SMEs from accessing financial assistance. She further said that research conducted by Karandaaz revealed that stringent corporate governance discourages SMEs from entering formal sector and registration, which also disables them from accessing formal public financing initiatives leaving them vulnerable to external shocks.

DNA

Chakwal, SEP 25: In Chakwal Chamber of Commerce and Industry annual elections for 2022-23, Waqar Zafar Bakhtawari was elected president unopposed, Umar Sami senior vice president and Ahmad Farooqui vice president.

 Nomination papers have not been filed against the elected officials, on the success of the election, the newly elected president of Chakwal Chamber of Commerce Waqar Zafar Bakhtavari said that by using his skills, he will increase the honor and dignity of businessmen and make them role models in the society.

He said that there are unlimited tourism opportunities in Chakwal which need to be developed. Inspite of the most important geographical location, industrial estate has not yet been established, the water of the dam constructed in Chakwal needs to be utilized and many new dams can be created to create an agricultural revolution, Chakwal. Former presidents of Qazi Muhammad Akbar, Khawaja Arif, Khurram Kamran, Shahzad Saadat, Haji Nazir Sultan, Malik Ghulam Murtaza, Noor Sultan Hafeez Anjum, Aamir Najeeb Bhutta congratulated the newly elected officials and hoped that they would promote industrial and commercial activities in Chakwal.

DNA

Lahore: Pakistan Businesses Forum have demanded an amendment to the export proceeds rule to accelerate export payments. This would buttress foreign exchange reserves of the country and help prevent further volatility of the rupee against the dollar.

Vice President PBF JahanAra Wattoo said the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) must amend the rules of export proceeds time which may have to be decreased to forty days maximum, so that exporters remittance well-timed hit before national exchequer and it also facilitates to assist the rupee dollar volatility. Unfortunately in the previous few months mostly exporters to seeking extra profits, they dealt their proceeds. 

She told that private dollar bank accounts have to be required with the new regulations, If the public need dollars they will get from the financial banks only however it should be not more than $2000 dollars in step with each day on one cnic. These steps are a bit tough for the regulator and the authorities, however with a view to enhance the rupee value for the coming times, we must regularize it as soon as for all. 

She quoted the example that in Bangladesh, individuals hardly to take $1000 for their use because Bangladesh authorised have a strict check and balance on foreign currency and it’s one of the factor of their strong currency even today; he added.

“We need your (government) out of box solutions, regardless maintaining market confidence will be crucial.”

Wattoo further proposes SBP to step in and offer to swap the dollar funds into the rupees cheaply for borrowing banks, and through this SBP could raise substantial funds to $5 billion dollars.

She even said currently real exchange rate is around 195. Dollar is over valued against rupee that’s why the necessary measures should be taken immediately by the regulator so that panic must end especially in the ongoing calamity because for the rehabilitation of the flood affecties strengthen of the rupee is vital. 

DNA

RAWALPINDI: Sheikh Ahmed Sultan Bin Sulayem, Chairman Dubai Port World (one of the largest port operators globally) called on the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Relief efforts in the wake of the devastating floods and all that can be done on the road to recovery for Pakistan was discussed.

Sheikh Sultan, who had earlier today visited flood affected areas in Sindh, made a donation of USD 2.5 Million for the Army relief fund.

The Excellency commended the relief efforts of Pakistan Army in the flood affected areas and said that UAE and its leadership stands with the people of Pakistan in this time of distress. The dignitary committed to raise the issue of climate justice for Pakistan at the world forums. COAS thanked Sheikh Sultan for his valuable and timely support to Pakistan.

Matters of economic development in Pakistan were also discussed. Sheikh Sultan apprised the Army Chief of DP World’s interest in investing further in Pakistan.

Sheikh Sultan offered to bring other donors for Flood Relief efforts in the days ahead.Sheikh Sultan also thanked Mr Fakhr Alam, Sitara e Imtiaz, for arranging this visit and creating awareness in UAE about the need for help in Pakistan.  DNA