Government not to tax agriculture income says Tarin:

Government not to tax agriculture income says Tarin:

Adviser to PM on Finance has said that the government is not planning to impose tax on agriculture as there is no pre-condition from the IMF. However in order to meet the tax to GDP ratio to 15% in a few years the government will have to bring as many sectors as possible in the tax net. The government plans to impose taxes on real estate and stock market as well. For agriculture sector taxes may burden the already struggling sector.

Shelving of QGF sell-off to cost government $1 billion:

Shelving of QGF sell-off to cost government $1 billion:


The federal government has abandoned the idea of divesting Qadipur Gas Field on the pretext that it was being opposed by the workers and opposition parties - a decision that would cost one billion dollars to the federal kitty. Earlier the government had decided to sell off 37% of its share in the Qadirpur gas field for about US$2 billion; however the total value of its assets is of over US$7 billion. This bodes positive for OGDC as, Qadirpur is the second largest gas field after Sui, with OGDC having 75% stakes in it. The field provides 50% of the gross gas revenues for OGDC.

Pakistan gets $3.1bn first tranche of IMF loan

Pakistan gets $3.1bn first tranche of IMF loan

The country received its first tranche of $3.1 bn of IMF loan yesterday as per the spokesman of SBP. This will help to shore up the forex reserves which as per the week ended November 22nd has declined to $6.6 billion. The inflow will help stabilize the Rupee Dollar parity and will give enough liquidity to ensure that the country is able to meet its external obligations for some months to come. However as per the IMF the country needs in excess of $13 billion in the current fiscal to meet its external obligations including the yearly debt services of around $3.5 billion. IMF has pledge around $4.7 billion for the current fiscal while the rest of the amount the Fund envisages will be met by other bilateral and donor institutes.

Forex reserves fall to $6.6bn

Forex reserves fall to $6.6bn

The reserves fell by $ 40 million in the week ended November 22nd to stand at $6.6 billion. The SBP own reserves fell to $3.44 billion from $3.46 billion a week earlier, and reserves held by commercial banks were $3.16 billion compared with $3.18 billion. Earlier SBP received its first tranche of $3.1 billion from IMF and the reserves numbers will show a healthy increase in the figures for the week ended December 4th.