Asghar Khan petition: SC resumes hearing
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday resumed the hearing of a
petition filed by Tehrik-i-Istiqlal chief Air Martial (retd) Asghar Khan
pertaining to the distribution of money among politicians by the Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI), DawnNews reported.A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, has been hearing the 1996 petition filed by Khan who had accused the ISI of financing politicians in the 1990 elections by dishing out Rs140 million to create the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) and prevent Benazir Bhutto’s PPP from winning the polls. The petition was based on an affidavit of former ISI chief Lt-Gen (retd) Asad Durrani.
During today’s hearing, the defence ministry stuck to its denial over the question of the existence of a political cell in the ISI.
The ministry submitted its statement, signed by Secretary Defence Lt-Gen (retd) Asif Yasin Malik, stating that at present no political cell was operating in any of its subordinate departments.
Moreover, today, Interior Secretary K.M. Siddiq Akbar appeared before the bench.
Earlier on Wednesday, Advocate Salman Akram Raja, the counsel for Asghar Khan, had referred to different orders and documents and alleged that the ISI had disbursed the money for political purposes in breach of their oath.
Raja briefs Zardari on political
situation
KARACHI: President Asif Ali Zardari, who arrived here on Tuesday
night after attending the UN General Assembly session in New York, was updated
on the current political situation with particular reference to Balochistan and
the energy crisis in the country.Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, who had arrived in the city on Monday evening, called on the president at the Bilawal House and they held one-to-one meeting.
He informed the president about matters relating to the issue of writing a letter to the Swiss authorities and a draft that would be presented in Supreme Court. They also discussed the law and order situation and energy issue.
Later, Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad and Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah called on the president and informed him about the situation in the wake of reaction in interior Sindh to the new local government bill, post-flood situation and relief efforts.
They particularly exchanged views on the law and situation in Nawabshah, the hometown of the president, because of unrest triggered by the adoption of the local government law.
Earlier, Prime Minister Ashraf, who had arrived in the city to inaugurate the Expo 2012, could not make it to the function held at the Governor’s House because he had to rush to the Bilawal House to hold a meeting with President Zardari.
Federal Minister Babar Ghauri rushed to the place to represent the federal government before the show was declared open by Governor Ishratul Ibad.
LATEST/BRIEF NEWS:
PAKISTAN
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are holding formal talks in Islamabad on today focussing on strengthening of
economic ties.
o The President the Governor and CM Sindh
during a meeting in Karachi have discussed law and order situation in the
province.
o Pak, Afghan generals take up
border issues
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Business News:
SBP cuts T-bill rates by 50bps
KARACHI, Oct 3: The State Bank on Wednesday slashed the rates of
treasury bills by 50 basis points but raised much less amount than the offers
made by the primary dealers (banks).The benchmark six months treasury bills rate was reduced by 47 basis points to 9.758 per cent. Highest cut was introduced in three months paper which fell to 9.729 per cent after a cut of 50 basis points.
The 12-month treasury bills witnessed a slash of 49 basis points.
However, the State Bank sold much less than the market anticipation mainly because the rates were substantially dropped.
The bank picked up a total Rs180 billion while the offered amount was Rs562 billion.
The 50 basis point cut in the treasury bills was taken as an indication by the market that policy interest rate could see a cut in the next monetary policy to be announced on Oct 5.
The third consecutive fall in the consumer price index that represents the main inflation has created a hope for a cut in the discount rate. The September inflation was 8.79 per cent giving hope that the current fiscal year might see a single digit average inflation at the end of the year.
Market treasury bills are indicator of the government borrowing while rates of bills indicate the trend of policy interest rate.
Analysts have started flooding reports about possible policy rate cut with anticipation about the fall in the profitability of the banks.
IMF differs with fiscal projections
ISLAMABAD, Oct 3: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has differed with Pakistan’s major fiscal projections for the current fiscal year including power sector subsidies, provincial expenditures and revenue targets, saying the fiscal deficit limit set at 4.7 per cent for the year was most likely to be missed by a wide margin.
Inside sources said that based on its own evaluation of fiscal and economic trends in the first quarter of the current year, the IMF estimated the fiscal deficit in excess of 6 per cent of GDP.
This was the crux of a week-long consultation process between the two sides as part of post-programme monitoring of Pakistan’s fiscal position and its capacity to pay back international loans.
An official explained that even though these consultations would not have any direct bearing on Pakistan’s macroeconomic policies because Islamabad was currently not under the IMF programme but IMF’s evaluation report on the country’s economic performance could have indirect impact lending from other multilaterals and bilateral lenders who consider IMF’s evaluation very seriously in negotiating new loans.
These sources said the IMF questioned authorities ability to achieve revenue collection target of Rs2.381 trillion and noted that Pakistan would at best reach Rs2.150 trillion mark at the end of the fiscal year.
The authorities, however, informed a usual revenue growth would take Federal Board of Revenue’s taxes to Rs2.2 trillion while another Rs200 billion worth of additional measures would be introduced soon that would also include a couple of tax amnesty schemes.
The IMF mission, said these sources, however, did not take tax amnesty schemes in good taste and argued that long term revenue growth could not be achieved without withdrawing exemptions and bringing new areas into the tax net. The overarching view of the IMF mission was that whitening schemes in fact encouraged tax evasion in the long term, the source said.
Likewise, the IMF team believed that given the election sentiment running the public finance, it was unlikely to restrict provincial expenditures within a Rs1.118 trillion limit and estimated provincial expenditures at around Rs1.2 trillion.
On top of that, the IMF mission was very critical of the lack of power sector reforms resulting in continuous pressure on the federal budget. In this context, the authorities informed the mission that while the government had estimated about Rs120 billion for power tariff differential subsidy in the budget, the target had been revised to Rs185 billion.
Based on feedback from the World Bank, the IMF mission said the power sector subsidy could not be contained below Rs250 billion and in fact this may go beyond Rs325 billion. On these evaluations, the IMF estimated Pakistan’s fiscal deficit at 6.1 per cent of GDP, instead of 4.7 per cent budgeted by the government.
The IMF mission also noted that power sector reforms more importantly strengthening of national electric power regulatory authority, central power purchase agency and power companies of Wapda had shown negligible progress and hence the most critical challenge to federal budget remained unaddressed.
Among other grey areas identified by the IMF included a threat to exports, inflation, deficit financing through borrowing and overall balance of payment position going forward. As a result, both sides decided against a customary media interaction or public announcement at the end of the dialogue.
They said the investors were worried due to expected cut in the discount rate that may hurt banks’ growth of profits.
Since July 2011 the interest rates were slashed by 350 basis points that have already hit the profit of the banking sector.
“If the discount rate is cut by 50 basis points, 2013 estimated profits of our sample banks will rise by 3 per cent now compared to earlier projection of 6 per cent,” said a report of Topline Research.
Banks in Pakistan have been earning profits for last five years despite massive jolt in the global banking industry which failed many giant banks.
Analysts said the drop in the profits of the banks would not fail banks in Pakistan.
EXCHANGE FOR CURRENCY NOTES:
U.S.A 95.75
S.Arabia 25.53
U.K 154.43
Japan 1.2248
Euro 123.54
U.A.E 26.07
BULLION RATES IN
RUPEES PER 10 GRAMS
KARACHI
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