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Pak-China FTA to become operational shortly: Ambassador Hashmi

Pakistan’s Ambassador to China Naghmana Alamgir Hashmi has said that free trade agreement (FTA) signed between Pakistan and China would become operational in a few months. “Actually the free trade agreement will hopefully be implemented shortly, because it’s still going through the internal processes of being ratified. We hope that in the next few months, it will become operational,” she said in an exclusive interview to China Economic Net (CEN) here on Friday.

Ambassador Hashmi said, “On our side all the procedures have been completed. On the Chinese side, there are a few procedures which are left. So we think it is going to be sooner rather than later. We just need to wait a little more, because governmental procedures have to take. But I think it will be very shortly very, very shortly.” While commenting on increase in Pakistani export to China, she said with the FTA becoming operational, the prices will in any way go down, because the import duties will not apply then.

“Secondly, we are just now in the process of completing the first phase of CPEC and the second phase of CPEC has now started, which is actually the establishment of special economic zones in various parts of the country. So with the establishment of these special economic zones and with the increasing number of agreements and cooperation in the agricultural sector, which is a priority both with President Xi and with Prime Minister Imran Khan, I think this is one area where there is huge potential of both investments, growth and then re-export of those value added products to China,” she added.

Commenting on export potential, she said there are certain products which have traditionally come to China, which are very much appreciated here. “We export a lot of rice to China that’s called 86. It’s the small glutinous rice. Then sugar is increasingly being imported in China. And sugar is very good quality. And yarn, we produce a lot of cotton and you have a huge textile industry. So yarn comes to China,” she added. Ambassador Hashmi said the Balochistan province is the only area in the world that produces onyx. Then a lot of gold and copper is being exported to China. Pakistan has a lot of potential both in minerals and in gemstones but do not have that advanced technology to polish and create them. So that is another area where Pakistan is looking for potential joint ventures.

Pakistan, she said, exports a number of leather products which are very good in quality and the area that has the most potential and again the area that has the focus of the leadership of both countries is agricultural products, development of farms, research in hybrid seeds, research and cooperation in the area that you put in the ground for cultivation.

“Then there is a huge prospect of cooperation in drip irrigation, because we are now trying to go to drip irrigation because of the shortage of water,” she added. She said that China is one of the leading countries that have really made very good use of drip irrigation and opined that agriculture is one area where there is a huge potential of further cooperation and joint ventures and investments, adding, “And then, of course, export of the materials to China and beyond China also.”

While dispelling the impression about delay of operation of Sukkur-Multan morotwary, she said the actual project itself has been completed. But along with this highway, there are certain other things that need to be established, adding, “For example, the barriers along the road have to be put in place. That work is ongoing. The lights have to be put. The police force for that particular highway is being raised. So those little things are left.”

Ambassador Hashmi reiterated all China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (PEC) projects have absolute and full support of the government of Pakistan, of the people of Pakistan, of all the political parties across the political divide. So there is no confusion or no controversy on either the importance of CPEC or the importance of completing the projects in time. And some of the projects have been completed even before time. About visa policy for Chinese citizens, she said for Chinese, Pakistan has on arrival visa policy and now there is also online visa.

“One of the first countries with which we’ve liberalized visa regime is China. There is so much work going on. There’s so much people to people contact. There’s so much political contact,” she added. Pakistan, she said, liberalized the visa regime for 94 countries. Pakistan is an open country. “We have nothing to hide. We’re not like the Indian occupied Kashmir, where people can’t go. You can go anywhere in Pakistan. You’re very welcome.” On registration of cell phone at Pakistani airport, she said in Pakistan, a lot of people who were misusing this particularly when there was a lot of terrorism going on. So in order to control that, the authorities have made a policy. Every foreigner who comes to visit Pakistan and even Pakistanis, it’s not only for foreigners, any traveler who’s living abroad and is coming home, at the airport, he needs to register his phone. “And that takes five minutes. So if your phone is registered at the airport and you only have to do once, nobody will stop you. But if your phone is not registered, then it becomes a problem,” she added.

Ambassador Hashmi asked all the Chinese going to Pakistan that there are big booths at the airport where they should register phone. “So if your phone is registered, your SIM will work. There’s absolutely no problem.” “So if you have a phone that you’re using, you register it, you bring it. They know that you’re going back. You’re not leaving the phone here. But if you have new phones, so in one year, one visitor can only bring one new phone,” she added.

On export of sugar to China for next year, she said, “I think next year also, because for our growers, exporters and manufacturers of sugar, it’s a product that we have introduced in Chinese market. Once the word goes around that this was a successful venture, I am sure next year you’ll get more and the year after you might even get more.” Regarding a chain, from Pakistan, China, South Korea, and export to European countries, she said that Pakistan have always had very good relations with South Korea and a very good export trade with that country.

“So I think it’s a very good idea that you pick up one expertise from one country, another from another country, and one advantage of a third country join together. I think this is very, very good. Our world is progressing and the three are friendly countries, there should not be a problem,” she added. About recently held Mango festival, she said this was the third mango festival that was organized in Beijing, which was so successful.

A very large number of Chinese attended the festival to taste mango, to taste the various mango products and we hope to see Pakistani mangoes being sold in supermarkets and markets all over China.

Ambassador Hashmi said with the completion of CPEC and the establishment of cold chains, lot of projects can then be transported by road and they won’t have to be airlifted.

“Mangoes cannot be shipped up to now, because it has very short shelf life and by road with a cold chain is also necessary for fisheries and other agricultural products, so that is another area where a lot of Chinese investors have an opportunity to do business in Pakistan, which would be mutually beneficial to the importers and the exporters, and is a nice way of introducing good Pakistani agricultural products at reasonable prices here in China,” she added.

https://nation.com.pk/05-Oct-2019/pak-china-fta-to-become-operational-shortly-ambassador-hashmi

Chinese and Russian joint economic revival offer for Pakistan Steel Mills

China and Russia have offered to revive multi billions Pakistan Steel Mills as its companies have expressed keen interest to make investments worth billions in Pakistan Steel Mills.

*Prime Minister Imran Khan was apprised of the Chinese and Russian companies offer during a high-level session to discuss the steps for the revival of the state-owned Pakistan Steel Mills.

The session was attended by Adviser to PM on Commerce, Textile, Industries and Production and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood, federal minister for privatization Mohammad Mian Soomro, Board of Investment (BoI) chairman Zubair Gilani and other officials.

PM Khan was briefed over different recommendations for the revival of the steel mills. During the briefing, the premier was told that China and Russia have offered to provide assistance to revive PSM as its companies expressed interest to make investments.

The officials told PM Khan that the concerned institutions are mulling over different recommendations and the offers placed by the foreign companies.

PM Khan said that the revival of PSM is among the top priorities of the present government. He said that the government is making all-out efforts to transform PSM into a profitable entity which will also increase additional burden on the national exchequer.

in brief, PM Imran urged concerned authorities to activate the national entity so that it will play its role in the national development.

https://dailytimes.com.pk/478923/it...nomic-revival-offer-for-pakistan-steel-mills/
 
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NewThose who committed investment have started reconsidering their plans.

Ghandhara Nissan may not introduce cars in Pakistan
by Ahmad Shehryar -

Due to the economic downfall and high-level of investment uncertainty situation in the country, Ghandhara Nissan Limited is reconsidering its plans to assemble Datsun cars in Pakistan, and reportedly, the company may also decide against it.
https://www.pakwheels.com/blog/ghandhara-nissan-may-not-introduce-cars-pakistan/
 
 

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Pakistan, Japan Cooperating To Promote Agro-based Industry

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Pakistan and Japan are looking for increasing bilateral cooperation in agricultural-based industry and value addition as Japan has already announced grant aid to enhance productivity and capacities in relevant agricultural fields.

Recently Japan has announced a grand aid of $ 5.2 million to support Agri-Food and Agro-Industry development in the country's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces through the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Minister and Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Japan in Pakistan Yusuke Shindo told APP here Wednesday.

The senior diplomat said that this amount would be utilized for enhancement of productivity and capacities of relevant sectors in the cattle meat value chain in districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Abbottabad, Kohistan and D I Khan and Apple value chain in province of Balochistan in Quetta, Killa Abdullah and Pishin.

Replying to a question, he said that Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) was already working on potential agro-based region of Khyber Pakhtunkwa including Hazara, Swat and Chitral as in Gilgit Batistan for promoting innovation and value addition culture in these areas.

He said that through JICA, the Japanese government was also working on cold storage for the preservation apple, apricot and other perishable fruits.

"We are initiating capacity building training for farmers' related sowing, cultivation and use of prepared crops and fruits for value addition through increase the value of these products," the senior diplomats said.

Replying to a question, he said that Japanese companies were interested in establishing the industrial units of auto parts in Pakistan for bringing investment to provide opportunity to the local people.

Senior diplomat said that Pakistan had proposed and wanted to negotiate on Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to provide more access in both potential markets.

He said that before negotiating on FTA both side were negotiating to lower the tariff line in potential trade items and also go further for preferential trade agreement in future.

He appreciated Pakistan's steps for 'Ease of Doing Business' and reforms in national tax system, which provided conducive business environment for foreign investor including Japan.

Replying to a question regarding Japanese exports to Pakistan, he said that Japan had major exports in automobile sector including motor cars and vehicles, flat steel, tractors and transport.

He added that Japan had imports mainly in agriculture including cotton yawn, oils, knitwear's, cotton fabric and woven cotton fabric.

He said that both side have more potential to increase bilateral trade from current volume of trade and double the figure to exploit the resources.

He said that Pakistan needed to enhance the competitiveness in exports for competing in international market to increase its export to lower balance of payments issue.

He said that Japan and Pakistan has enjoyed historical diplomatic and economic relation, where Japan has always supported Pakistan in every situation.
 
Germany to grant €23.4m for social sector reforms in Pakistan

Germany will provide a technical grant of 23.4 million euros (Rs3.9 billion) to Pakistan in order to help the latter implement social sector reforms.

In this regard, a Technical Cooperation Agreement was signed on Thursday between Economic Affairs Division Secretary Noor Ahmed and Ambassador of Germany to Pakistan Bernhard Stephan Schlagheck under the Pakistan-Germany Development Programme. Economic Affairs Minister Hammad Azhar was also present on the occasion.

As per a statement issued by the division, the technical assistance would be extended to projects related to social protection, technical and vocational education, local governance and labour standards in Pakistan’s textile industry.

“These schemes are in line with the priority areas of the government and are geared towards impacting the lives of the common people,” it added.


Development cooperation between Pakistan and Germany dates back to 1961, with the funding volume to date totalling more than €3 billion.

The contracting parties lauded the cordial relations between the two countries and looked forward to strengthening their cooperation in diverse sectors. Both sides stressed the need for active collaborations to ensure finalisation of project objectives so that concerns of the end beneficiaries could be addressed.

Economic Affairs Minister Hammad Azhar on the occasion thanked the German government for the grant assistance, especially in priority areas highlighted by Pakistan.


https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk...e23-4m-for-social-sector-reforms-in-pakistan/
 
Pakistani traders eye Chinese market to generate revenue in gems, jewelry sector

Pakistani traders believe that the export of precious stones and jewelry from gem-rich Pakistan to China will help the country in revenue generation, local media reported Friday.

Addressing the Export Promotion Committee of Pakistan China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI), the chamber's President Zarak Khan said that China is the world's largest consumer of gems and jewelry and Pakistan being the fifth largest country of gemstones reservoirs in the world can tap the potential of the Chinese market.

Apart from having an abundance of gemstones, Pakistan also has some unique stones in the world including Pink Topaz and Kashmir Ruby which are famous for their unique color and beauty in the international market. Pink Topaz is also considered one of the highest valued minerals in the world.

The country has potential to exploit and export 800,000 carats of Ruby, 87,000 carats of Emerald and 5 million carats of Peridot, but the yield is much lower, due to lack of skills, technology, and knowledge for processing of the mining materials, the chamber official said.

The country also can not carry out value-added services to the processed stones due to lack of appropriate cutting and polishing facilities, and PCJCCI officials believed that collaboration with China to learn the latest techniques for cutting and polishing of the gemstones may be greatly beneficial for Pakistan to uplift the sector.

They suggested that Chinese professionals in this sector should be invited to train Pakistani labor force and mining engineers for cutting, manufacturing and designing state of the art jewelry.

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-10/18/c_138482879.htm
 
‘Digital economy to boost GDP up to $40 billion annually’

‘Digital economy in Pakistan' has huge potential for boosting the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) up to the level of $ 40 billion, besides consolidating the local economy.

Through the evolution of ‘Digital Economy', Pakistan can rapidly achieve its economic agenda in all major sectors including trade and E-commerce, education and health for economic growth in the country, senior official of Ministry of Commerce informed APP here Sunday.

Pakistan needed to do extensively in digital economy as country has huge participation of global mobile market, with over 160 million mobile phone subscribers and around 150 million Internet users, he said.

He said, “We can improve public services in different sectors through the modern digital tools for providing rapid services to the people". He said that Pakistan was a agriculture country and through the modern digital mechanism, the farmers and agriculture workers can improve their financial mechanism to connect with global value chain.

Replying to a question, he said that digital data integration system would play an important role to improve the economic mechanism in all major sectors of the country's economy. He said it is also important for bridging the gap in economic and trade data process through integration of various data mechanism to reflect the true picture of economy including trade, industries, services and agriculture sector.

“To evolve the proper trade data mechanism to resolve the issues in trade data, the government intended to include Export Processing Zones (EPZs) in its trade data collection system, which was not currently taken into account by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), he told.

He pointed out that exclusion of exports, routed through the EPZs by the two organizations resulted into a difference of $1.2 billion between the actual exports and those reported by them.

The official said the federal cabinet had already approved the E-commerce policy for promoting the digital culture and paperless trade to help enhance the trade volume.

He said it was the government's priority to evolve the integrated trade data system and streamline the affairs by the end of October. All the system would be linked to the Ministry of Commerce under the control of SBP to promote the culture of freelancing to capture opportunities in the global market through websites and other digital tools, he added.

He said the software export potential was not being exploited properly as three different pieces of software were being used by freelancers to acquire the work deals from abroad.

He said mainly the youth were providing their services (to individuals/firms abroad) through the freelancing system, but they were facing problems because of different software. The government would facilitate them so that they could work with ease, he added.

https://www.brecorder.com/2019/10/21/532995/digital-economy-to-boost-gdp-up-to-40-billion-annually/
 
LSM decelerates six percent in July-August

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ISLAMABAD: Large scale manufacturing (LSM) sector decelerated six percent year-on-year in the first two months of the current fiscal year, official data showed on Wednesday, as regulatory snags and liquidity constrains hampered all the key production.

In August, LSM sharply dropped 7.1 percent compared with the corresponding month a year earlier and fell 4.1 percent compared with July 2019, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data showed. This was the five-month record decline. In April 2019, LSM declined 7.76 percent year-on-year.

LSM had also posted a negative growth of 2.2 percent in July-August period of the last fiscal year.

Analysts termed the continuous decline in large scale manufacturing, which accounts for 80 percent of the manufacturing sector, to subdued demand in the economy, imperiled by high interest rate and regulatory measures of the new government to raise revenue.

“CNIC (computerised national identity card) conditions dented sentiments of businessmen who curtailed their orders in supply chain,” Adnan Sheikh, a research analyst at Pak Kuwait Investment said. “High interest is putting investments on hold.”

The government is restricting suppliers to ask for CNIC of buyers in order to document their particulars. This is one of the various measures of the government to expand tax base with number of tax return filers standing below 2.5 million.

In July-December, all the state manufacturing data gathering agencies recorded drop in production.

Oil Companies Advisory Council, logging outputs of 11 oil and petroleum products, measured decline of 1.2 percent year-over-year in outputs during the two months. Ministry of industries, measuring output trend of 36 items, recorded a 3.9 percent decline in production. Provincial bureau of statistics, counting production of 65 products, logged 0.98 percent negative growth.

The deceleration was a perpetuating trend of the last fiscal year of 2018/19 when growth contracted 3.64 percent – the first annual contraction in a decade.

Contraction in LSM growth reflected in fall in overall economic growth at 3.3 percent during the last fiscal year compared with a decade high of 5.5 percent in the preceding fiscal year. Growth is expected to be in the range of 2.5 to 3 percent during the current fiscal year.

While the central bank kept its key benchmark interest rate unchanged in monetary policies, the interest rate of 13.25 percent is still the highest in a decade, discouraging private sector to take credit from banks to meet their financial requirements. This fact has also been recognised by the central bank that anticipated further slowdown in private sector credit offtake.

High borrowing cost is compounded by the regulatory measures adopted by the government to meet its ambitious tax revenue target of over Rs5.5 trillion for the current fiscal year.

While big manufacturers are documented, most of the small and medium sized businesses are undocumented. Businessmen slammed the government’s decision in haste to start economic documentation from their level.

Waves of price hikes, following rupee devaluation and import duties, fuelled price hikes that affected the buying power of consumers and manufacturers who cut their production. Indus Motors decided to shut its production down for half a month to tide over faltering consumer demand.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/545260-lsm-decelerates-six-percent-in-july-august
 
PTI Government Successfully Brings Down Circular Debt Of Power Sector By 68%


Low payments by the distribution companies give rise to the low payments to the generators of the electricity.


By EMINRAJA Last updated OCT 24, 2019

  • PML-N’s strategy added Rs 450bn to the circular debt, the PTI government had previously revealed.
  • The circular debt rate at present is Rs 38bn per month that would be reduced to Rs26bn by the end of the ongoing fiscal month, says Tareen.
  • Crackdown on power theft has recovered 80billion rupees since October last 2018, he further says.


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Bearing the fruit of the unprecedented efforts of the incumbent government, the circular debt in the power sector has been reduced by 32% last year to 68% since the PTI government took over. The government is committed to eliminating the circular debt completely by the next financial year, say the officials.

Technically, circular debt is the non-payment by the power purchaser for the generation of electricity. This non-payment can be due to several reasons. These include inefficiency in distribution companies, distribution losses, and theft. Actually, the government provides subsidy to the consumers of electricity. The subsidy that is not performance-based adds to the circular debt crisis.
How circular debt rises?
Low payments by the distribution companies give rise to the low payments to the generators of the electricity. If electricity generators are underpaid then they’ll neglect to pay their fuel suppliers and exacerbates the circular debt.

The condition of circular debt in Pakistan:
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Dealing with Circular Debt – Business Recorder (2018)
The circular debt which was rising by an amount of 38 billion rupees every month is reduced to 26billion rupees. This gruesome amount will further decrease to 8 billion rupees by the end of June 2020 and a consistent plan has been made for timely action and monitoring of debt payments, Jahangir Tareen previously told.

By the end of the next fiscal year, a regular increase in the circular debt that continued to rise in the last three decades will be brought to zero, he added.
 
Bangladesh to import onion from Pakistan after 15 yrs

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Pakistan on Friday received the first onion export order of more than 300 tons from Bangladesh after nearly 15 years of recess following an Indian ban on the vegetable’s outbound shipment to its neighbouring country, reports The News International.

An official of Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) confirmed that Bangladesh’s Tasho Enterprise finalised deals with a Karachi-based Roshan Enterprise, says the English-language Pakistan daily.

“At least 12 containers of onions are being exported to Bangladesh,” the official said. “More would follow.”

India has slapped a ban on exports of onion to Bangladesh due to its local shortage amid floods. Bangladesh imports 700,000 to 1.1 million tones of onion a year and of which around 75 per cent was imported from India.

The ban caused surge in prices to new heights in Bangladesh, as the market was heavily dependent on Indian supply.

In Dhaka, consumers are being asked to pay Tk 120 ($1.42) per kilogram for onions - twice the price a fortnight ago and the highest since December 2013.

According to the Pakistani newspaper, the official said Bangladesh is also looking for import options from countries like Turkey, Myanmar and Egypt to meet the demand in the local market. “This (ban) has created market potential for Pakistan.”

The official said the onion trade was also agreed in government-to-government level talks. An exporter believes the export price would be much more viable for Bangladesh considering the current onion price in the market.

“The shipment value from Pakistan would be around $600/ton,” Waheed Ahmed, patron-in-chief of All Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters, Importers and Merchant Association, said. He said one container carries approximately 28 tons.

Ahmed does not know the exact local onion production, “as the production fluctuates drastically in Pakistan.” “But whenever the crop is good, a significant quantity can be exported without impacting local supply,” he said.

A local trader, however, fears further rise in prices on onion in the local markets as a result of exports.

“The capacity of farmers has adversely been crippled due to waves of price hikes,” the trader said, citing price rise of urea, chemicals and other agricultural inputs.

“In such circumstances, we are importing onions from Iran,” he added. “So, I doubt that (exports) would be a good idea.”

A kilogram price of onion soared more than 150 per cent to Rs83 during the last week. Onion prices more than doubled in October over the corresponding month a year earlier. Month-on-month, there was around four per cent increase.

A TDAP official said Bangladesh is also considering import of dates, grey fabric and yarn from Pakistani companies.

The News International also reports, a government department said trade diplomacy between the two countries generally remained stalled between 2001 and 2006.

“For instance, holding of the Joint Economic Commission between Pakistan and Bangladesh is long over-due,” the Commercial Wing of Pakistan’s High Commission in Dhaka said in a report. The last JEC meeting was held in 2005 in Bangladesh.

Moreover, most of the trade diplomacy and major bilateral agreements were made during the previous governments.

Bangladesh is a very important export destination for Pakistani products ranking among top destinations globally and 2nd in Asia for Pakistan after China.

During the current year, Pakistani exports to the market have generally slowed down, owing to non-availability of Pakistan International Airlines’ flights between Karachi and Dhaka.

https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/news/204644/Bangladesh-to-import-onion-from-Pakistan-after-15
 
Inflation rose by 1.82 percent in October


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Inflation increased by 1.82 percent in the month of October compared to September of this year.

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) inflation remained at 11.04 percent for the month of October 2019. From July to October, the inflation rate was recorded at 10.32 percent.

In October, 14 items of everyday use became more expensive while six products got cheaper. The price of fresh vegetables increased by 15.78 percent, tea by 15 percent while the price of wheat flour increased by 3.2 percent.

Prices of fresh fruits, chicken, vegetables and fuel decreased.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/551735-inflation-rises-by-182-percent-in-october
 
Pakistan's pharma imports decrease

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ISLAMABAD: The imports of medicinal products into the country during the first quarter of financial year (2019-20) witnessed a decrease of 12.11 percent as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

Pakistan imported medicinal products of worth $257.139 million during July-September (2019-20) compared to the imports of $292.566 million during July-September (2018-19), showing negative growth of 12.11 percent, according to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

In terms of quantity,Pakistan imported 6,544 metric tons of medicinal products during the period under review as compared to the imports of 5,985 metric tons during corresponding period of last year, showing an increase of 9.34 percent in term of quantity.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the medicinal imports witnessed decline of 7.91 percent in September 2019 when compared to the imports of the same month of last year.

The medicinal imports during September 2019 were recorded at $ 90.475 million against the imports of $ 98.245 million in September 2018.

On month-on-month basis, the medicinal imports however increased by 4.46 percent during September 2019 when compared to the imports of $86.616 million in August 2019, the PBS data revealed.


https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/569268-pakistans-pharma-imports-decrease
 
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