DNA

Islamabad: Pakistan’s industry in general and the steel sector in particular are fighting for sheer survival and are greatly concerned with the current economic situation that is getting worse day by day. The industry fears of more burden which is expected in the upcoming monetary policy of State Bank of Pakistan, due to be announced in its Monetary Policy Statement on August 22, 2022.

The key rate currently stands at 15%, which is highest since the last two decades last seen in April 1999. The industry experts believe that the unbearable benchmark interest rate of 15% is unsustainable for the industry. Comparing it with other regional countries, the benchmark interest rate in Malaysia was 2.25pc, Indonesia 3.5pc, China 3.7pc, Bangladesh 4.75pc and India 5.4pc

The upcoming Monetary Policy Statement will be disastrous and is set to shutdown industries of Pakistan and create unemployment if the interest rate is not reduced effective immediately.            

The SBP has raised rates in previous 7 meetings since September 2021, cumulatively increasing the interest rates by 800 basic points and is expected to hike further. Pakistan Association of Large Steel Producers (PALSP) notes that it is impossible for any businesses to plan expansions or working capital with such abrupt changes.

Secretary General PALSP, Wajid Bukhari, states, “Such fast hikes are a perfect recipe to shut down businesses. How can a business sustain if an interest rates doubles in only 8 months, whereas your regional peers are at around 2-5%?”

Industries are facing problems as Banks are not opening LCs for raw materials. Further exacerbating the situation, spare parts and even consumables falling under Chapter 84 and 85 have become impossible to seek approval from SBP, leading to shutdowns imminently. “Our members are complaining that SBP has become defunct and approvals are just not coming, whereas banks are hesitant to open LC’s for raw materials.”

The steel industry, which is capital intensive business and due to worsening economic condition is already facing severe liquidity crunch, whereas many small to mid-sized mills have already shutdown. This will structurally damage the Industry for decades to come.

Pakistan’s scrap imports amounted to 164,699 mt in May this year, the lowest since March 2014, decreasing by 47.6 percent compared to April and by 38.2 percent year on year. In the month of June, scrap imports ranged at around 210,000 MT, whereas July scrap imports are tentatively less than 100,000MT range, making it the lowest in the last two decades. Mills have started to shut down and supply chain shocks are only adding fuel to the fire.

The Govt set an inflation target at 11.5% for this fiscal year but the SBP has given an inflation range of 18% which is still very high considering falling oil prices, softening of commodities and revaluation of the rupee. Bukhari further noted, “With June and July core inflation clocking in at 11.5 and 12 percent, respectively, the range given by the MPC is absurd. Furthermore, they disastrously fail to comprehend that abnormally high policy rates cannot fix supply chain related issues. It has nothing to do with demand pull inflation so MPC is consciously making a flawed decision, resulting in closure of industries and increase of joblessness.”

Other countries have demand-based inflation whereas Pakistan pricing pressures are import related resulting in a depression of an already fragile economy by crushing the demand to a standstill. Cement sales in the month of July have fallen by 60%, whereas automobile sales have been crushed by 89%. PALSP stated, “the numbers are evident that MPC overreacted and crashed the already ailing economy to a standstill by hiking the key rate by 800bps to an all-time high for the last two decades. MPC states that they are independent, but they are not independent to the 220million population and must be held answerable to justify increasing crime and homicide rates, shutdown of businesses, and a record joblessness. The flawed MPC decisions shall have reverberations in investments and jobs for future generations. The current policy rate must be reduced if we want our country to survive.” Pakistan needs to create 4.5 million jobs over the next five years as per UNDP report. Right now, jobless rates are increasing at the fastest pace in the history of Pakistan.

If we take UK as an example, it doesn’t justify Pakistan to have higher rates than 10.35% as per SBP own inflation assumption of 18% today and comparing to UK which has real negative rate of 7.65%.  The United States currently has a negative real interest rate of 6% today. Bukhari concludes, “MPC has failed our Nation and the current policy rates do not make any logic other than a grand scheme to shut Pakistan down. The policy rates have to be in single digits in line with our regional countries.”

ISLAMABAD, AUG 12 (DNA) — President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi on Friday reappointed Muhammad Saleem Baig as Chairman Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority ( PEMRA).

He has been appointed Chairman PEMRA under MP-1 till he attains the age of 65, i e September 30, 2025, said a notification issued by the Cabinet Secretariat, Establishment Division. =DNA

DNA

Lahore, AUG 12: First Lady Begum Samina Arif Alvi has emphasized on giving equal rights to differently abled persons in society and eliminating their sense of deprivation.She said this during her visit to Pakistan Society for Rehabilitation of Disabled (PSRD) on Friday in Lahore.
Samina Alvi also visited different sections of the PSRD which included its school,  vocational training centre.She appreciated the work and facilities of PSRD and said it was very pleasing to visit the center.
First Lady said it was a very good approach to make various facilities available for differently abled persons under one roof.She said that she and President Dr Arif Alvi wanted to make system inclusive where differently abled persons get facilities like other persons of the society.She further stressed upon the need to empower differently abled persons and to ensure maximum facilities for them.She said there should be ramps at public places to ease the mobility of differently abled persons as their movement was very essential for their development.
Efforts were also being made at government level to facilitate differently abled persons in maximum way, she added.She further said that education and vocational training were important for making differently abled persons useful citizens.Samina Alvi said that passion and commitment were required to facilitate and serve this segment of society in best possible way.She said, “The Allah Almighty has blessed differently abled persons with a lot of skills and people should understand that they are not less than anybody else in the society.”IT training was also also very important for differently abled persons as through this they could start their earning by sitting in their homes.She announced to give Rs 1 million to PSRD on her behalf.PSRD President Syed Shamsi and Chairperson Nighat Saeed also spoke on the ocassion.

DNA

Lahore, 12 August 2022: President Dr Arif Alvi has said that as President all institutions of the country are respected and dear to him and he does not believe in generating any controversy. 

While talking to the eminent media persons at Governor’s House, Lahore, today he said that the purpose of his media interaction with eminent media persons was to get a qualified input from them on the prevailing political and economic situation and discuss possible ways and means to bring down the political temperature in the country.

He said that he was given the responsibility by the people of Pakistan as President of Pakistan which rested upon him some important constitutional responsibilities.   As a President of the country, all institutions of the country are respectable and dear to him and he does not believe in generating any controversy, however, there are many avenues where improvement can be made through a consultative process, he added. 

He said that there was a need to initiate a consultative process to bring all important stakeholders on the table to listen to each other. However, the constitutional role of the President does not allow him officially to reach out to the stakeholders. He further said that it was the primary responsibility of the Executive and the opposition in the Assembly and outside the Assembly and the relevant institutions to deliberate upon defusing the polarization. 

While agreeing with the views of an eminent journalist, he said that the political parties and stakeholders needed to sit together and chalk out an agreed way forward, especially with regard to holding free and fair elections and developing a charter of economy that could help ease out the current political polarization and economic situation. 

The President further said that he believed that corruption was a major factor in the backwardness of any country. He said one of the best ways to counter corruption was to make all financial transactions through formal Banking channels especially by the political parties while receiving and managing donations. 

Replying to another question, he said stakeholders within Pakistan should only be involved in resolving the issues confronting the country without any involvement of any foreign persons or country. 

While replying to a question he said that social media is now here to stay but unfortunately, we are not used to it and that it is difficult to control. Therefore, we need to focus on social media and on what is happening on it. He said that 90% of the social media is good and provides lots of information while we should learn to deal with the remaining 10% by filtering out fake news and hearsay. 

He further said he had a very cordial relationship with the existing government and he accorded timely approval to all the summaries except four summaries which were delayed while remaining within the ambit of the constitution.

 He said that he was the main proponent of EVM since long even during the governments of the Pakistan People’s Party and later Mian Nawaz Sharif. It was he who convinced PTI for the use of Technology during elections. EVM provides extremely simple solutions to conduct free and fair elections. He emphasized the need for consensus on the use of the technology during the election process which, he said, would strengthen the democratic process in the country. 

While replying to a question, he said that through Mufti Taqi Usmani had offered the Afghan government to provide Distance Learning and Virtual Mode of education to Afghan students, especially female students. He said Mufti Taqi Usmani, during his talks with Pakistani Taliban, told them that out of all constitutions of the Muslim world, the closest constitution to Islam was the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.  

While commenting upon the recent reports of Taliban arrival in certain parts of the country, he said that he did not have any opinion on it, as according to reports the negotiations are underway. He said that he was of the opinion that any such negotiations should be mandated by the parliament and may be pursued in confidence to reach some amicable outcome. The result should be reported back to the parliament before making them public.