Indonesian CG calls on SBI chairperson

 

KARACHI (APP): Indonesian Consul General Totok Prianamto called on Sindh Board of Investment (SBI) Chairperson Naheed Memon here on Wednesday in SBI Office. They discussed matters of mutual interests and trade and business ties between Indonesia and Pakistan. Naheed briefed the guest about investment opportunities in Pakistan specially in Sindh. She highlighted the various sectors of investment here such as mining, food, health, medical equipments, education, hospitality tourism and other sectors of investment. The Indonesian consul general informed the chairperson that they are arranging a seminar here to highlight the Indonesian palm oil industry. Naheed appreciated the idea of seminar and assured SBI's full cooperation as a strategic partner in holding this seminar. The consul general thanked SBI chairperson for extending her cooperation and said that Sindh was very important also for them because of its port and industrial hub city Karachi. He also extended his full support to boost business and investment ties between two countries.

 

 

Palm oil worth $1.88b imported in 11 months

 

ISLAMABAD (APP): Palm oil worth $1.888 billion and soyabean worth $125.181 million were imported into the country during 11 months of financial year that closed on June 30, 2018 to fulfill the domestic requirements as compared to corresponding period of last year. The imports of the above mentioned commodities including palm oil grew by 8.14 percent, whereas soyabean by 11.24 percent respectively during the period under review, according the data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. During the period from July-May, 2017-18, 2,619,837 metric tons of palm oil worth $1.888 billion was imported as compared to imports of 2,408, 723 metric tons of same period last year. Meanwhile, country spent $125.181 million on the import of about 143,343 metric tons of soyabean, which was recorded at 104,245 metric tons in the same period of last year. During the period from July-May, 2017-18, food commodities worth $5.717 billion were imported as compared to import of $5.566 billion of corresponding period last year.

It is worth mentioning here that exports of food commodities during month of May increased by 44.46 percent as compared to exports of same month of last year as the country earned $508.780 million by exporting different food products from the country.

 

KCCI lauds extension in Amnesty Scheme

 

KARACHI (APP): President of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), Muffasar Atta Malik has appreciated Federal Board of Revenue's recent move to extend the Tax Amnesty Scheme for a period of one month. "This was widely being demanded by the business and industrial community. We are grateful to the decision makers for paying heed to KCCI's request," he said in a statement on Wednesday. KCCI president pointed out that as per figures appearing in numerous media reports, more than Rs100 billion were added to the national exchequer through the scheme till June 30. This figure was expected to increase, keeping in view the massive interest being shown in both schemes. He was fairly optimistic that the schemes will help government in bringing undocumented persons, assets and income into the documented sector. The schemes have the potential to bring in macroeconomic and fiscal stability in the economy. Muffasar Malik said these schemes offer a lucrative opportunity to legalise undeclared assets by paying a nominal tax amount.

 

GE to provide advanced tech to power plant

 

ISLAMABAD (Staff Reporter): GE Power will provide advanced boiler and steam turbine technology to power Pakistan’s first ultra-supercritical power plant in Deh Ghangiaro, Bin Qasim, Karachi. GE is proud to provide this project with highly efficient USC technology, for which reliability has already been proven successfully by GE worldwide, including burning challenging fuels like lignite coal. On top of being designed for local Pakistani Thar coal, the project’s location at Bin Qasim also ensures easy connectivity to the national grid and very low transmission and distribution losses in supplying affordable power to the major load centre of the city of Karachi, in particular.” Dr Sacha Parneix, Commercial General Manager for GE’s Steam Power business in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, said in a statement here. The project will add up to 660 megawatts (MW) of electricity to the national grid- the equivalent power needed to supply up to 1.3 million Pakistani homes and industries, announce by GE Power here Wednesday.