Category: Pakistan

Pakistan

12 deaths, 158 new Covid cases in Punjab

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LAHORE: Novel coronavirus claimed 12 more lives and 158 new positive cases were reported in Punjab during the last 24 hours, pushing the tally to 344,799 in the province. According to the data, shared by a spokesperson for the Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department (P&SHD), the death toll has reached 10,615, while 323,925 patients have recovered so far. The P&SHD confirmed that 91 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Lahore, two each in Kasur, Hafizabad, Mandi Bahauddin, Sargodha, Khushab, Dera Ghazi Khan and Sahiwal district, four in Sheikhupura, 13 in Rawalpindi, one each in Chakwal, Jhang, Bhakkar, Lodhran, Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur, Bahawalpur and Okara, six in Sialkot, 12 each in Faisalabad and Multan during the last 24 hours. The Punjab Health Department had conducted 5,461,913 tests for COVID-19 so far. A spokesman for the department said people should wash their hands with soap several times a day to protect themselves from COVID-19 and contact 1033 immediately on appearance of symptoms of coronavirus.

Gold prices decrease by Rs 1000

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ISLAMABAD: The price of 24 karat per tola gold witnessed a decrease of Rs 1000 on Saturday and it was traded at Rs107,300 against its sale at Rs108,300, Karachi Sarafa and Jewellers Group reported. The price of 10 gram 24 karat also decreased by Rs 858 and was traded at Rs 91,992 against its sale at Rs 92,850 whereas the prices of ten gram 22 Karat gold decline to Rs 84,326 from Rs 85,112. The price of per tola silver decreased by Rs10 and was traded at Rs1420 against its sale at Rs1430 whereas that of ten gram silver also decreased by Rs 8.58 and was traded at Rs1217.42 against its sale at Rs1226. The price of gold in international market witnessed decrease of US $28 and was sold at US $1764 against its sale at US $1792.

Primary schools in Sindh opening from June 21

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KARACHI: Provincial Task Force on Corona (PTFC) has decided to open primary schools from June 21 across the Sindh while shrines, amusement parks, gyms and swimming pools would be opened for public from June 28.The vaccination centers, due to shortage of doses, would be closed only on Sunday June 20.The task force met here at CM House on Saturday with Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah in chair.

The meeting was attended by provincial ministers, Dr Azra Fazal, Saeed Ghani, Nasir Shah, Advisor Murtaza Wahab, Parliamentary Secretary Qasim Siraj Soomro, Chief Secretary, IG Police, ACS Home, PSCM, Adl IG Karachi, Secretaries – Finance Hassan Naqvi, School Education, Ahmed Bux Narejo, Industries Riazuddin, Dr Bari, Dr Faisal, Dr Sara of WHO, Dr Qaiser Sajjad and representatives of Corps-5, Rangers and other organizations.

The health department briefing the task force members said that 13,970 tests were conducted on June 18, against which 542 cases have been detected that constituted 3.9 per cent detection rate. Though overall detection rate has come down, Karachi alone has 8.08 percent detection rate, the CM observed adding that in district Karachi East detection rate was recorded 14 percent, in South 10 percent, Central nine percent, Korangi and Malir seven percent each and in district Sukkur also seven percent.

The meeting was informed that Sindh had 82 COVID-19 related deaths during the previous week, of them Karachi East had 25 deaths, Central 25, Korangi eight, South and West six each and Sukkur four. From June 3 to 18, as many as 263 patients succumbed to COVID-19, of them 75 percent or 151 were on ventilators, 19 percent or 49 off ventilators and 24 percent or 63 at homes.

NADRA offices to be set up in every Tehsil HQ

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ISLAMABAD: Minister for Interior Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Saturday said that National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) offices would be opened in every tehsil headquarters after consultation with Members National Assembly (MNAs) whether belonging to treasury or opposition benches.

Taking part in budget debate in National Assembly, he said that complete authority had been given to MNAs regarding opening of NADRA offices in their respective districts and tehsil headquarters. They might select the place for NADRA offices and also to guide in this regard, he added. He said that Mobile Registration Vans (MRVs) had started functioning in the erstwhile FATA and people including women and disabled persons were being served. He said that first NIC was free of cost while these MRVs would continue function there in future. The minister urged other cabinet members to highlight the performance of their respective ministries/divisions in the House so that people might know about their achievements. He said that e-passport system had been introduced in the country while passport could be obtained on the same day by depositing additional fee of Rs 2180.

He said that exit visa was also being made online while backlog of 300,000 visas had been cleared in his tenure. A member of Panel of Chairperson Amjad Khan Niazi was presiding over the proceedings when the interior minister opened his budget speech. The minister paid tributes to Chair”s father Sher Afgan Niazi and said that he was veteran politician as well as lawmaker and he (Sheikh Rashid) learnt parliamentary practices from him as a student. The chair also thanked him for his remarks.

Secretary Health sees decline in Punjab Corona cases

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LAHORE: Secretary Specialised Healthcare Punjab Nabeel Ahmed Awan has said that decline in corona pandemic cases was witnessed in the province. Out of 7,448 beds reserved in all government hospitals for COVID-19 patients, 6,593 beds are lying unoccupied.

In a handout issued here on Friday, he said that likewise 1,555 beds reserved in government hospitals of Lahore and 1,347 beds were vacant so far. He added the department had arranged 3,327 beds in Isolation wards of all government hospitals in the province out of which 3,089 beds were vacant.

Nabeel Awan said that the health department had arranged 782 ventilators for COVID-19 patients in all hospitals of the provincial government of which 168 ventilators were under use while 614 were unoccupied. Around 278 ventilators were reserved in Lahore hospitals of which 60 were occupied while 218 ventilators were vacant, he added.

Rescue 1122 DG regularised at last

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LAHORE: After 17 years of public service finally the services of the Director General Punjab Emergency Service, Rescue 1122 Dr Rizwan Naseer have been regularised by the government of Punjab w.e.f March 17, 2021. The notification was issued upon the approval of Punjab Cabinet in accordance with the Punjab Emergency Service (PES) Amendment Act 2021. All Heads of Wings from Emergency Services Headquarters and Emergency Services Academy along with their staff congratulated DG Rescue 1122 on his regularisation.

Home Dept issues 1m arms licences in collaboration with NADRA

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LAHORE: With the computerization of the arms licenses in Punjab, the provincial Home Department has issued at least one million computerized arms licenses in collaboration with the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) during the last few years and collected Rs4.5 billion as the license fee, media learnt. According to media, the department has collected at least Rs one billion by issuing arms licences from June 2020 to June 2021. The Department has deposited an amount of Rs 4.5 billion in the national exchequer which was collected after the computerization of the licenses.

According to department officials, the government has decided to hand over the powers of issuance and renewal of arms licenses to the Deputy Commissioners instead of the Punjab Home Department. The decision was taken several months ago and the summary was sent to the Punjab Chief Minister for approval which was recently given by the provincial Cabinet in a meeting which discussed the issue in detail.

Sources said the powers to issue and renew arms licenses were delegated to the Deputy Commissioners in view of the hardships people were facing during visit to Home Department from far away. The Deputy Commissioners have been authorized to change the inheritance of arms licences, the bore of the weapons and the number of bullets allowed according to the requirements of the license holders.

Govt mulls tax relief to make cars up to 1,000cc cheap

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ISLAMABAD: Tax relief for the auto sector is expected to be enhanced for cars up to 1,000cc in the Finance Bill 2021, with the aim of promoting affordable cars and localisation in the country. In a meeting chaired by Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin on Friday, Federal Minister for Industries and Production Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar gave a detailed briefing on the new auto policy. The auto policy review and finalisation meeting was attended by Commerce Adviser Abdul Razak Dawood and SAPM on Finance and Revenue Dr Waqar Masood. The Finance Bill presented in the National Assembly proposed tax measures for vehicles up to 850cc under the Customs Revenue Measures and suggested exemption of Additional CustomsDuty (ACD) and Regulatory Duties (RD). It further proposed reduction of Customs Duty (CD) from 30 per cent to 15pc. For Complete Built-Up Unit (CBU), it was proposed to reduce CD from 25pc to 10pc while for local manuf acturing from 12.5pc to 5pc. During the briefing, Mr Bakhtyar highlighted that the new auto policy will help provide af fordable small cars from 850cc to 1,000cc. Meanwhile, an official of the Ministry of Industries and Production (MoIP) said that there were limited cars below the range of 850cc and enhancing the engine capacity up to 1,000cc would be beneficial for the customers as well as the industry. `Currently only a limited number of vehicles are below the 850cc category and if the range is enhanced to 1,000cc many auto companies already present in Pakistan would be able to launch small car models in the country,` the of fi-cial said. Mr Bakhtyar informed the meeting that the upcoming auto policy would help promote localisation in domestically-assembled cars, produce exportable surplus of two and three-wheelers auto parts and increase competition. The meeting also discussed various concessions that could be offered for electric vehicles (EV) to increase the number of such car imports. `Higher number of EVs in the local markets would encourage auto companies to invest in related infrastructure in Pakistan to facilitate EVs,` Mr Bakhtyar said.

Foreign investment jumps by 63pc in May

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KARACHI: The inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) in May jumped by 63 per cent to $198.3 million compared to $121.4m in the same month last year, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Friday. The increase of about $77m in FDI could be a harbinger of positive change, given that slow growth was observed over the past few years. According to the latest SBP data, this year April was good compared to the same period in FY20. However, the month of May proved to be even better as the inflows increased by 25.5pc compared to $158min April, highlighting a positive trend. The overall inflows during July-May (11MFY21) witnessed a decline of 27.7pc. The country received total FDI worth $1.752bn during the period against an inflow of $2.423bn. The external front of the economy is presently in a better shape since the current account is in surplus while the SBP reserves are at a four-year high. This gives an attractive picture to the foreign investors. The government is also providing a number of incentives to the foreign investors. Analysts said the outgoing fiscal year was fully dominated by the uncertainties due to the Covid-19 pandemic which discouraged investors from spending. The FDI in 11MFY21 -so far at $1.751bn surpassed total $1.362bn inflows in FY19. China remained the largest investor in Pakistan but the inflows were less than the previous year. The SBP data showed that the FDI in 11MFY21 from China was $728m compared to $843m in11MFY20.

Profit rates on National Saving Schemes certificates increased

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ISLAMABAD: The Finance Minister on Thursday issued a revised list of profit rates on various National Saving Schemes certificates.

According to the new rates, the profit on the Defence Saving Certificate has been revised to 9.42% from 8.49%. Likewise, profit on Regular Income Certificates has increased to 9% from 8.04%. The profit rate on the Special Savings Certificate has increased from 7.77% to 7.97%, while the Behbood Savings Certificates profit rate has increased to 11.28% from 10.32%. The profit rate has also been increased on Pensioners Benefit Accounts to 11.28% from 10.32%.

The profit rate has also increased on the Shuhada Family Welfare Account to 11.28% from 10.32%. The notification also stated that the profit rate has also increased on short term savings certificate. As per the new rates, the profit on the three-month certificate has increased to 6.76%.

The profit rate on six-month saving certificate has increased to 6.82% from 6.80%. The profit rate on 12-month short-term saving certificate has increased to 6.92% from 6.80%. However, the profit rate on the savings account remains at 5.5%. The notification issued by the finance ministry will come into effect from January 21.