Archive for category: Business

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Wednesday lauded the decision of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to suspend the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations with China.

The decision is praiseworthy as national interests were kept supreme in it on any other consideration, it said. The local business community has also informed the government well before the talks on the second round of FTA that further relaxations to the friendly country will damage the local industry beyond repair.

The Chinese side had refused to give any relaxation to Pakistan which was not expected by our officials, he said, adding that after suspension of talks the Chinese side has shown some flexibility which is good.

Murtaza Mughal said that Pakistan and China signed an FTA on Nov 24, 2006, which boosted Pakistani exports to China from $575 million to $2.6 billion while it increased Chinese exports to Pakistan from $3.5 billion to $14 billion resulting in a large deficit.

The losses in trade with China continue to increase by the passage of every year which Pakistani exports continue to slide as China has given more relaxations to other countries.

India and Vietnam have replaced Pakistani products in the Chinese market because Pakistan’s interests were not preferred by the Chinese authorities.

He said under-invoicing by the Chinese exporters has also become a threat to the Pakistani economy which should be tackled.

SOURCE: https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2018/04/11/pm-lauded-for-suspending-fta-talks-with-china/

Pakistan State Oil (PSO) is in talks with Power China for a partnership in an estimated $8 billion refining project in the country according to informed sources.

An agreement between the two is expected to be signed ‘very soon’, said an official. However, he had no firm details on the particulars of the agreement as reported by an English Newspaper.

It should be noted that during his recent visit to China, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqqan Abbasi witnessed the signing of memorandum of understanding (MoU) between PSO and Power China for the construction of up-country deep conversion oil refinery and laying of crude oil pipeline during a visit at the Boao Forum recently.

The refinery would likely have a capacity of 250,000 barrels/day (bpd) to 300,000 bpd/day.

Moreover, the pipeline has been designed to avoid any accidents and maintain smooth supply to other installed refineries.

Officials said the projects aim to supply uninterrupted crude oil and finished products in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other parts of the country.

Currently, the country has five refineries having a combined capacity of around 404,000 barrels per day.

It is yet to see when the project would materialize as the new refinery should be based on the latest technologies.

At the moment, Pakistani refineries are producing around 25 percent to 40 percent of furnace oil from their product mix. These refineries had to suffer a colossal loss, following the government’s decision to close down power plants running on furnace oil back in November 2017.

Pakistan has already reduced its reliance on furnace oil. It has invested huge amounts in alternate and cheap sources of power generation, as well as in coal and LNG-based power plants.

BEIJING: Just hours after the Trump administration unveiled a list of $50 billion worth of Chinese goods on which the White House plans to impose 25 per cent tariffs, China hit back with its own list of 106 US products, including soybeans, corn, cars as well as aircrafts, that it would also target with tariffs of 25 per cent if the US does not back down.

The US’s list of 1,333 imports which ranges from aerospace equipment to industrial robots, satellites, semiconductor parts and machinery for everything from railways to biscuit ovens – specifically targets a key Chinese campaign to upgrade its economy called “Made in China 2025”.

That Made in China national plan, designed to turn China into a “manufacturing superpower” by investing in sectors such as IT, new energy vehicles, robotics and other forms of smart manufacturing, may be the real sticking point in a potential trade war between China and the US.

“Made in China 2025 is a must for China,” said an independent economist based in Shanghai. “Thus it will be China’s bottom line. We can negotiate, we can bargain on this, we can impose small punishments on each other but if the US touches on the foundation of Made in China 2025, there will definitely be a large trade war,” she said.

Beijing describes Made in China, first introduced by a Chinese think-tank in 2013 and adopted by the Chinese government in 2015, as an effort to avoid the middle-income trap that developing countries can fall into, and encourage home-grown innovation.

To achieve this, China wants to replace most of the foreign technology it imports with locally made components. China’s 2025 campaign is billed as a way to get the country on par with industrial heavyweights, alongside Germany, South Korea, Japan and the US.

The US and other critics do not see it in the same light. In the conclusion of the US trade office investigation into Chinese trade practices, which was the basis of president Trump’s initial announcement of the tariffs in March, the Made in China policy is mentioned numerous times.

China’s top-down approach to economic planning could also stand in the way. State support encourages companies and local officials to chase subsidies, eventually creating overcapacity, according to senior adviser and China practice lead at the Crumpton Group, Jude Blanchette. “Central planning often gets you a lot of waste,” he said. Still, he believes what can be achieved will have a critical impact. “Made in China 2025 is going to drastically change global value chains and how industries operate, if China gets half of the way, that’s going to have profound repercussions.”

Source: https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2018/04/04/china-threatens-to-hit-back-at-us-with-tariffs-on-106-more-us-products/

ISLAMABAD: As Pakistani market is attracting the attention of the Chinese entrepreneurs, from one of the popular Chinese fintech companies, Webull, is all set to jump in to capitalise on the huge financial bonanza – making a new edition to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Having witnessed an unprecedented boom in the recent years, China’s internet finance industry currently leads the world when it comes to the total number of users and the market size, with the country making some of the world’s largest investments in the sector by adopting financial technology (fintech) faster than anywhere else.

Besides Alibaba’s Ant Financial stepping into Pakistan recently, Webull is one of the biggest Chinese fintech companies jumping into Pakistan’s market. The company, however, has already been providing advanced global financial information service to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) since September 2017, and that too free-of-cost.

With four of top five companies in the world ranked in terms of market cap, China’s fintech industry is number one internationally and represents the global advanced productivity. A number of fintech companies such as Alibaba’s Ant Financial Service, Lufax, Zhong An Insurance and JD Internet Finance are covering most aspects of domestic consumption through mobile and internet spending. As capital markets are aggressively pursuing the internet finance industry, Alibaba’s Ant Finance has closed the world’s largest private funding round for an internet company at $4.5 billion.

Webull official claims that the company is also registered at US Securities and Exchange Commission and is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC).

“The aim of Webull is to be the best financial data and trading service provider for individual investors around the world. By integrating advanced information technology, data technology and financial technology, the users can enjoy a stable, reliable and an efficient financial data and trading service,” according to the official.

“People can not only manage the stock portfolios in Webull but can also complete stock transaction through this app. Free and comprehensive real-time quotes, with millisecond updates, cover the data from more than 90 countries and 106 stocks exchanges in stocks, bonds, funds, foreign currency, commodities, cryptos, derivatives and other trading products.”

Until now, as many as 153 thousand Pakistanis have registered themselves with this app to get real-time information about their trading data. Graphical financial data, business analysis, industry contrast and rich tool makes the app user-friendly in real meanings.

According to the statistics gathered from the Google Analytics, the 153 thousand Pakistani users of Webull app fall in the age bracket of 25 to 44 years and hail from several cities from across countries including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Hyderabad, Peshawar and Multan. The highest number of users come from Karachi, followed by Lahore and Islamabad.

According to the available statistics, people spent average seven minutes on the Webull app, and 96.1 per cent of the total visitors were returning customers. Of the total number of visitors, 92.4 per cent were male while 7.6 per cent female.

“Best App for Global Stock with outstanding features,” posted Afzaal Hussain Channar from Karachi on his Facebook page.

“This is the best search for me for Pakistan Stock Exchange scripts,” wrote another app user on the social media website.

With the launch of multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the flagship project of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Chinese companies are fast moving to Pakistan to capitalize on the huge business opportunities offered by unprecedented development projects being executed in the country in a highly progressive and investment-friendly environment.

Pakistan and China are all-weather strategic cooperative partners. With the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) well underway, growth in digital sectors of both countries is set to strengthen efforts for bilateral economic cooperation and there are broad prospects of collaboration in the field of fintech between Pakistan and China.

Source: https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2018/04/07/pakistans-strengthening-financial-market-attracts-chinese-fintech-giant/

ISLAMABAD: Various energy sector projects being set up under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will contribute over 17,000 megawatts of energy to the national grid on completion, a top-level huddle was told on Tuesday.

“CPEC would significantly help towards ensuring inclusive development especially the socio-economic development of the less-developed areas of the country,” said a statement issued by the Prime Minister Office after a weekly federal cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

The cabinet was given a detailed presentation on the CPEC including various projects being undertaken in energy sector, infrastructure, industrial cooperation and development of Gwadar. The statement, however, did not give details of these projects and the timeframe for their completion.

CPEC to boost demand of expert interpreters: Chinese language whiz

“It was informed that the energy sector and infrastructuredevelopment constituted the major areas under the first phase of CPEC—CPEC project would help increasing GDP [gross domestic product] growth and would strengthen various sectors of the economy.”

Official sources who attended the meeting said PM Abbasi, who is expected to visit China soon, will sign a related memorandum of understanding with the Chinese authorities for initiating energy projects under the CPEC on the sidelines of a key regional moot.

Presently, the federal government claims to have ended load shedding in Pakistan with the production of ‘surplus’ electricity but prolonged power outages after the advent of summer season have put to a question mark over these claims.

In a related development, Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing also called on PM Abbasi before the cabinet’s Tuesday huddle. The PM’s upcoming visit to China for participation in the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) and issues of mutual interest were discussed in the meeting, a PM Office statement said.

The forum will be held in China’s southern island province of Hainan from April 8 to 11.

Other decisions

The cabinet approved Prevention of Smuggling of Migrant Ordinance, 2018. The ordinance aims at curbing the smuggling of Pakistani nationals to foreign countries and that of foreigners to Pakistan.

In the light of existing constitutional provisions, an ordinance, which is promulgated by the president of Pakistan, remains in effect for 120 days and can be extended for one time for as many days (120 days) before it lapses permanently and requires parliamentary legislation in order to be become a law.

Annual Report and Audited Financial Statement of Audit Oversight Board for the Year, 2017 was presented before the cabinet.

The cabinet approved signing of seven memorandums of understanding with various countries aimed at enhancement of economic and strategic cooperation and carrying out a feasibility study of a project. It also assented to ceilings for allocation of grants-in-aid to bar councils and bar associations for 2017-18.

Five more CPEC power projects to get special treatment

The cabinet approved appointment of the Utility Stores Corporation managing director. A proposal to grant additional charge of the post of the Port Qasim Authority Karachi chairman to the Ports and Shipping director general was also approved.

It also approved a summary regarding rationalisation of the prices of computerised national identity cards (CNIC) and national identity cards for overseas Pakistanis (NICOP).