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FTO decides Rs 17,742.16 million refund claims in 2023

By
Najam ul Hassan
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ISLAMABAD, Feb 14 (APP): The Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) has addressed the grievances of the taxpayers by processing 8,963 cases with an implementation status of 94.07% during 2023 as compared to 73.29% last year.

Likewise, requests for refund claims were also decided to the tune of Rs. 17,742.16 million in 2023 and the due amount was paid to the aggrieved taxpayers by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

This was highlighted by the Federal Tax Ombudsman Asif Mahmood Jah, who called on President Dr Arif Alvi and presented FTO’s Annual Report 2023 at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Wednesday.

The Federal Tax Ombudsman briefed the president about FTO’s overall performance and its key initiatives to facilitate taxpayers and expeditiously address their grievances against maladministration of tax officials.

He stated that concerted efforts were undertaken to enhance FTO’s outreach by launching awareness campaigns and opening up regional offices in the country.

He informed that Honorary Advisors had also been appointed abroad to facilitate overseas Pakistanis in the USA, Canada, Sweden, UAE, Hong Kong and the Philippines.

He added that FTO had appointed leading businessmen as Honorary Advisors from various Chambers of Commerce and Industries to facilitate the business community. “To ensure prompt response against the maladministration of tax authorities, a mobile App has been developed enabling aggrieved complainants to lodge complaints and check their status using mobile/smart devices”, he stated.

He apprised that highly informative training sessions had also been conducted to enhance the professional skills and expertise of Ombudsman institutions in the country.

While appreciating the performance of FTO, the president said that FTO had done an excellent job by processing a record number of cases and providing refunds worth Rs Rs17,742.16 million to taxpayers.

He remarked that the institution of FTO needed to be further strengthened as it was providing free-of-cost and prompt justice to aggrieved taxpayers. He called for using the latest technology for seamless service delivery and timely disposal of taxpayers’ complaints to improve the country’s tax regime. He said that FTO had effectively contributed to promoting good governance in the country.

It is worth stating that the FTO is a quasi-judicial forum, mandated to diagnose, investigate, redress and rectify any injustice or maladministration done to a person by the functionaries administering federal tax laws. It aims at enhancing the overall satisfaction of the taxpayers and strengthening their trust in the system.

FPCCI, KhCCI join hands to enhance trade with Afghanistan

By
Ali Ali
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PESHAWAR, Feb 14 (APP):The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) and Khyber Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KhCCI) Wednesday joined hands to enhance bilateral trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
This was agreed during a meeting between the Vice President, Aun Ali Syed and president KhCCI) and other office bearers of both organizations here at FPCCI Regional Office.
The meeting was attended by KCCI President Javad Hussain Kazmi, Vice President Zahirullah Shinwari, and Member Syed Ali Hamad Kazmi.
During the meeting, they expressed their commitment to work together to enhance bilateral trade between the two countries.
Speaking on the occasion, Vice President of FPCCI, Aun Ali Syed said that increasing trade activities with neighboring countries was crucial for economic stability and strengthening relations.
The KhCCI representatives congratulated the newly elected Vice President Aun Ali Syed and expressed their hope that his leadership would pave the way for resolving business community issues in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
They also exchanged suggestions for strengthening Pak-Afghan bilateral relations.
Discussing the current economic situation, Aun Ali Syed emphasized the need for practical steps to address business community problems while promoting business activities.
He observed that Pakistan and Afghanistan were brotherly Islamic countries and  inherently interdependent on each other, therefore efforts would be made to stabilize their bilateral trade relations by the incoming governments, paving the way for uninterrupted trade between the two nations.

220 kites recovered, two arrested

By
Waseem Iqbal
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SARGODHA, Feb 14 (APP): Factory Area police on Wednesday after launching a comprehensive crackdown arrested two kite sellers and recovered 200 kites.
A police spokesman said policemen raided and arrested Nouman and Shamus besides recovering 220 kites and 10 strings.

Project for enhancing domestic pharmaceutical ingredients production inaugurated

By
NNPS Desk
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KARACHI, Feb 14 (APP): The Caretaker Federal Minster for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, Dr. Nadeem Jan, Wednesday, inaugurated a project of expansion and revamping of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) manufacturing facility at DrugPharma Chemicals.

It is the second project under endeavor of revival and invigorating domestic production of API and at completion of the project the production capacity of the Drugpharma would increase in a phased manner from existing 52000 liters to over 105000 liters by end of the year.

The federal minister speaking at the occasion said that APIs are used as basic ingredient in medicines of different disease and their enhanced indigenous production will not only lessen reliance on API imports but it will also help reducing the price of medicines and improving quality and availability of the basic pharmaceutical ingredients in the country.

He said that medicines and other pharmaceutical products manufactured in Pakistan were in a great demand in Central Asia as well as in African countries and we can enhance our exports by ensuring expansion opportunities the local pharmaceutical sector.

Increase in export of pharmaceutical products will also contribute significantly in ensuring the availability of quality medicines on appropriate prices across the country, he added.

“Since formation of caretaker government, I have pursued a three pronged strategy in health sector with core objectives of health sector reforms; decreasing imports, enhancing indigenous production and mobilizing health sector resources for economic stabilization; and increasing the dignity of Pakistan across the globe,” the minister stated and expressed satisfaction on substantial progress so far.

The health ministry had set a target of $ 1 billion for exports of medicines, pharmaceutical products and medicinal equipment in the current financial year, he said adding that we are poised to achieve or even surpass the target. In fact Pakistan has potential and it was possible to expand the pharmaceutical exports to $ 2 billion, he further added.

Governance in health ministry and its allied entities has improved with digitization of the system, accountability is in place and all administrative decisions were being made on merit, Dr. Nadeem Jan said and further informed that control programs on Diabetics and Hepatitis are devised while 500 primary health care centers has mad functional as well.

Government brought structural reforms in PMDC to enhance quality of medical education in the country while measures were also underway for quality enhancement of the Nursing Council, Dr. Jan stated and highlighted the demand of trained nurses across the world.

Elaborating on steps for ensuring availability of quality medicines on appropriate price in the country the minister informed that monitoring system of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) is fully functional and actions were being taken against illegal profiteering and hoarding of drugs.

DRAP’s systems of registration, licensing, review and renewal are made completely online to promote transparency and inclusion of all the stakeholders while measures have also been taken for capacity building and strengthening accountability within the regulatory authority, the minster informed.

The ministry has launched an app to receive and redress public grievances and any citizen could register complaint about prices, availability and other relevant issues on the app and DRAP team will contact the aggrieved person.

The Caretaker Federal Health Minster, at the occasion, unveiled the plank to formally inaugurate the project and also reviewed the progress on the project.

Earlier, Director Business Drugfarma Chemicals Pvt Ltd, Sohail Siddidui briefed about the company and informed that company was manufacturing a number of APIs from drug classes including Penicillin, Steroids, Analgesics and Antipyretics.

The firm had an operating capacity of 52000 liters of reaction equipment installed, he informed adding that current expansion program may enhance the production capacity more than 100%.

UAF’s Confucius Institute organises Spring Festival on Chinese New Year

By
Waseem Iqbal
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FAISALABAD, Feb 14 (APP):The Confucius Institute (CI) at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) celebrated Chinese New Year as ‘Happy Spring Festival’, that brought different performances of Chinese culture for the audience.
UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan attended the festival as the chief guest, while Dean Faculty of CI Chinese Dr Zhou Changming, CI Vice Chairman/Local Dean Prof Dr Zahir Ahmad Zahir spoke on the occasion.
Students presented the heart-touching performances of Chinese culture. It comprised Taiji performance, singing, chopsticks contest, Chinese cultural dress show and other that enabled the audience to get the delight of Chinese culture.
Dr Zhou Changming said that year 2024 is the Chinese year of the dragon and the dragon represents good fortune, prosperity, opportunity, wisdom and energy. It will be a great year for China and Pakistan friendship and cooperation, he added.
Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said that the UAF CI had completed 10 years and it produced 5,000 students so far in Chinese language course.
He said that the CI had proved a hallmark to strengthen the academia, research ties with Chinese institutions.  He stressed the need to learn from China experiences in agriculture and economic development. He said that Chinese universities were proving their mettle globally in every field. He said that the UAF was enjoying excellent ties worldwide as it houses Centre for Advanced Studies, Pak-Koran Nutrition Centre, Seed Centre and others.
Dr Zahir Ahmad Zahir said Pakistan and China were enjoying deepened and time-tested relations that are more strengthened with the China Pakistan Economic Corridor. He said that all possible measures were being taken to produce the skilled manpower and to open up new avenues of development with bilateral ties.
Dean Sciences Dr Ijaz Ahmad Bhatti, Dean Veterinary sciences Dr Farzana Rizvi, Principal Officer Public Relations and Publication Dr Jalal Arif, Treasurer Umar Saeed Qadri, Director Research Dr Jafar Jaskani, Director External Linkages Dr Kashif Saleemi, Director Soil Sciences Dr Ghulam Murtaza, Principal Officer Estate Management Dr Nadeem Akbar, Director Planning and Development Irfan Abbas, Senior Tutor Shoukat Ali, Director Farm Shahid Ibne Zamir, Deputy Registrar Mumtaz Ali, Dr Fahad Rasul, Dr Urfa Bin Tahir and other notables also attended the function.

KPRA officers meet to review targets, challenges

By
Ali Ali
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PESHAWAR, Feb 14 (APP):Director General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority (KPRA), Fouzia Iqbal chaired a meeting of the KPRA Collectorate on Wednesday to conduct a stock-take review of the revenue and non-revenue targets assigned to headquarters and the regional offices.
Additional collectors from the regional offices and the headquarters gave detailed presentations of their performances and highlighted the challenges they were facing. The Director General appreciated the efforts of the officers in the collectorate and assured them to address the issues on a priority basis.
“As officers of a revenue-collecting authority, we are like bread-winning children, who are usually more responsible and overburdened,” she said, adding that this year’s revenue target of Rs42 billion reflects a significant responsibility, and the government has shown its trust in the department.
“We have to work with more passion and zeal to not only achieve the target but to surpass it”, she said adding that efforts would be made to resolve the issues of her team and higher-ups would be approached if needed.

Automobile sale rises 29.57% in January 2024

By
NNPS Desk
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ISLAMABAD, Feb 14 (APP): Sale of cars in the country increased by 29.57 per cent in January 2024 compared to same month of the preceding year, a data released by Pakistan Automobile Manufacturing Association (PAMA) said on Wednesday.

Sale of cars rose to 7,802 units in January 2024 compared to 6,021 units during same month of previous year.

Sale of cars during first seven months (Jul-Jan) however decreased by 48.66 per cent when compared to the sale during same period of the year 2022-23.

According to the data, as many as 38,464 cars were sold during the period under review as opposed to 74,933 units in the same period of last year.

The breakup figures showed that 5,145 units of Honda Civic and City were sold during July-January 2023-24 as compared to the sale of 10,526 units during July-January 2022-23.

Toyota Corolla and Yaris car sales also declined by 46.15 per cent as it went down to 7,422 units from 13,784 units in the previous year.

Suzuki Swift’s sales also decreased by 63.58 per cent as its sales went down to 2,782 units from 7,640 units last year.

Sale of Suzuki Cultus declined to 2,181 units during the first seven months of the current year, whereas during the same months last year, the sale was recorded at 5,686 units while the sale of Suzuki WagonR also decreased to 2,149 units from 4,440 units last year.

Suzuki Alto’s sales also witnessed a sharp decline of 40.74 per cent from 27,658 units to 16,388 units during the current year, whereas the sales of Suzuki Bolan decreased to 1,314 units as opposed to sales of 2,992 units in the same month of last year.

Inspector among 4 cops suspended over negligence

By
Waseem Iqbal
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0
FAISALABAD, Feb 14 (APP):City Police Officer (CPO) Captain (retd) Muhammad Ali Zia suspended four police officials including an inspector of Khurarianwala police station on the charge of negligence from duty.
Police Spokesman Irfan Niazi said here on Wednesday that Khurarianwala police had caught an accused Amanat, son of Charagh, a resident of Chak No 211-RB, in a terrorism case some time ago. But the accused managed to escape from the police custody when he was being taken to a court from the police station.
Taking serious notice of the incident, the CPO Faisalabad immediately suspended four police officials including Inspector Ahmad Nawaz, Sub Inspector (SI) Akram, Constable Asad and Constable Akbar Ali on the charge of negligence from duty.
The CPO also directed the superintendent police (SP) Jaranwala division to probe the matter and submit a report at the earliest so that further departmental action could be taken against the responsible.
Meanwhile, special police teams were constituted on the CPO orders which had started investigation for re-arrest of the escaping accused, the spokesman added.

Thematic design ideas for new banknote series to be submitted till March 11: Qadir Bakhsh

By
Waseem Iqbal
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ISLAMABAD, Feb 14 (APP):Director Finance of the State Bank Pakistan Qadir Bakhsh Wednesday said that SBP was organizing an art competition to develop innovative and thematic design ideas for new banknotes where local artists, designers and art students would submit their final designs by March 11.
Talking to private news channel, he said that the final designs would be submitted to the federal government for  approval and the process of issuing the new series of banknotes would involves a number of steps, adding, cash prizes would be awarded to top three entries in each of the current seven denominations.
The director explained that after the art competition, the selected design ideas and themes would be shared with professional banknote designers chosen through a competitive process.
These designers would then develop the final printable designs for each denomination, he said, adding, the completed designs were going to be submit to the federal government for approval.
Replying a question, he said launching a new banknote series would involves several steps and stages, requiring careful planning and coordination among multiple stakeholders, adding, typically this process took 2 to 3 years, but the SBP targeted to complete it within the next 2 years.
He said a jury of respected artists would evaluate the designs and recommend the top six designs for each denomination to the SBP.
The top three designs for each denomination would receive prizes of Rs 1,000,000, Rs 500,000, and Rs 300,000, respectively, he added.
The participants must ensure that their designs were free from copyright claims and liabilities, he mentioned.
 The complete information about the Art Competition could be accessed at https://www.sbp.org.pk/ArtCompeti­tion/ArtCompetition.pdf, he added.

Rupee remains flat against dollar

By
NNPS Desk
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0

ISLAMABAD, Feb 14 (APP): The Rupee on Wednesday remained unchanged against the US Dollar in the interbank trading and closed at Rs279.31.

However, according to the Forex Association of Pakistan (FAP), the buying and selling rates of the dollar in the open market stood at Rs280.6 and Rs282.35, respectively.

The price of the Euro decreased by Rs1.97 to close at Rs298.90 against the last day’s closing of Rs300.87, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

The Japanese Yen lost 01 paisa to close at Rs1.85, whereas a decrease of Rs2.91 was witnessed in the exchange rate of the British Pound, which was traded at Rs350.45 compared to the last closing of Rs353.36.

The exchange rates of the Emirates Dirham remained unchanged to close at Rs76.04 and the Saudi Riyal decreased by 01 paisa to close at Rs74.47.

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