Media Tracking Report 27 January - 7 February, 2020

Education in

The future of funding: Faisal Bari - DAWN

Funding for the Higher Education Commission was cut this year. Since the HEC funds all public-sector universities, this meant cuts for universities. Even with a 10-15 per cent cut in their budgets, some universities have been impacted to the point that they are struggling to pay salaries and/or pension benefits, and this situation will be further exacerbated with government plans on tertiary expansion and implementation of quality focused programmes in the Education sector, putting further stresses on the budget. Given this, public-sector universities have to work seriously on diversifying their sources of funding. Revenue generating options are usually limited and tuition fee hikes are unlikely to be approved by the government. Thus, universities must engage their alumni, and the private sector at large for funding immediately.

Pakistan offers higher education, technical skills to Muslim world - The News

During the 40th session of the executive council of Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation in Abu Dhabi, Dr Sajid Yoosufani, Federal Education and Professional Training Secretary offered higher education and technical skills to the residents of Muslim countries for their development. He said this was in line with Prime Minister ’s vision on education, under which recently the Hunarmand Jawan programme, the country’s largest ever skilled development initiative, for the emancipation of youth through quality professional training was launched.

CPEC in Pakistan

CPEC to help Pakistan meet food security needs: experts - The News

The opportunities inherent in the second phase of CPEC for the agricultural sector in Pakistan were highlighted during the policy dialogue on ‘National Agriculture and Food Security in Pakistan’, which was held at Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) in Islamabad, in collaboration with the Pakistan Agriculture Scientists Forum (PAS Forum). Dr Muhammad Azeem Khan, chairman, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) emphasised the need to revive Pakistan’s agricultural potential which has been stifled by lack of productivity and lack of technological integration, and stressed possible learnings from China, that is currently the world’s biggest farm produce importer. He highlighted that combinations of different commodities and products being produced alongside the CPEC routes present huge potential for the production and export.

CPEC project stopped amid ongoing coronavirus fear - The Nation The working on the ongoing project under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in South Punjab had been stopped in the wake of the coronavirus fear on Thursday (30th January, 2020). According to details, the screening and diagnosis of 71 Chinese engineers and their security personnel is underway to ensure they are free of the infection.

CPEC not yet affected by coronavirus: - The Nation

Asad Umar, the Federal Minister for Planning and Development, said that while Coronavirus fear had not yet affected the ongoings of the project, if the virus prolonged, there are chances it might cause delays for the project. Umar briefed that if China gets isolated from rest of the countries in order to mitigate the effects of this coronavirus or to eliminate it within their economy and people, then Pakistan would also be affected like almost every economy of the world.

Coronavirus not to stop economic cooperation with Pakistan: China - Profit by Pakistan Today

Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing, said that that the coronavirus catastrophe would not stop the economic cooperation between China and Pakistan, while addressing a seminar titled, “Six Years of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)” organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in collaboration with Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE). He commented on the successes of CPEC and thanked the Pakistani government and people for their show of solidarity during the health emergency.

IMF and Pakistan

Pakistan’s deficit under microscope as IMF review begins - Arab News An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team sent to review benchmarks set as part of the $6 billion deal began formal meetings in Islamabad on Tuesday that will continue until February 13. It has been predicted that Pakistan will come under pressure to convince the IMF it can bring down a ballooning fiscal deficit. The IMF has estimated that Pakistan’s economy would slow down to 2.4 percent growth in 2020, and since the arrival of the team, there has been growing uncertainty, with the local stock market falling.

The inflation stew: Khurram Husain - DAWN

For the first time in more than two decades that inflation has actually risen when the implementation of an IMF programme begins. Consider that interest rates hit their peak of 13.25 per cent in July 2019 and programme implementation began in the same month. All Fund programmes begin with a rise in interest rates, depreciation of the exchange rate and cutting off government borrowing from the State Bank while setting ceilings on the size of the budget deficit. These measures have the effect of administering a jolt to inflation on the one hand (through the exchange rate depreciation), while at the same time cutting away the monetary roots of inflation by sharply curbing the growth of the money supply.

No new taxes, FBR tells IMF as govt tries to dispel talk of a ‘mini-budget’ - DAWN

At the conclusion of its performance review with the visiting International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation in Islamabad, top officials of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) have denied all talk of a “mini-budget” to bridge the shortfall in revenue collection posted in the first two quarters of this fiscal year. They said that the focus of the talk was primarily on taxation and electricity. Explaining that FBR has met its second-quarter targets, and received a ‘satisfactory’ evaluation by IMF, adding that it has nevertheless been conveyed to the IMF that FBR will not be able to reach even close to the revised target of Rs5.270 trillion.

Saving Pakistan from default is govt’s first priority: Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh - Business Recorder

Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, on an Aaj News talk show, said that the government's first priority is to save the country from default considering the fact that the national exchequer had a debt burden of over Rs 30,000 billion, when the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) took over the government. The advisor added that the government decided to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the same purpose. He also said that if the government didn't approach the IMF, the country would have suffered huge losses. He also pointed out that the government is looking to non-tax revenue sources to meet this deficit, though said nothing when asked about plans for a ‘mini-budget’.

Civil Services Reform

National Executive Service in the making - The News

The cabinet, which met on Tuesday last, discussed a set of civil service and administrative restructuring reforms including the introduction of National Executive Service, appointment of dual nationals in the government and interim relief to officers of federal secretariat. Restructuring plan of the SBP, Securities and Exchange Commission, Auditor General of Pakistan, Ministry of Finance, FBR, Ministry of Planning and Development, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Competition Commission of Pakistan, CDA was also discussed in the meeting.

Climate Change in Pakistan

Food inflation and climate change - Business Recorder

Inflation is expected to cross 13% in January 2020, specifically affecting food prices, leading to devastating consequences for the common man. Apart from the information asymmetry and exploitation inherent in food markets, climate change is a key factor. In previous years such a high inflation rate was caused by exogenous shocks i.e. the floods in 2010-11 and the global hike in oil price in 2008, now climate change may be another unregistered shock. There have been significant shifts in the weather patterns with untimely rain specifically denting the cotton crop, hot temperatures affecting tomato harvest and smog posing a risk to livestock health.

UK, Pakistan vow to work jointly for tackling climate risks - The News

The British High Commissioner to Pakistan, Dr. Christian Turner, on Wednesday called on Prime Minister’s Advisor on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam in Islamabad, and conveyed his government’s interest to work with the climate change ministry on the present government’s green and clean programmes. She explained that the UK government is seriously interested in helping Pakistan boost its climate resilience against negative fallouts of global warming. Can Pakistan's mountain communities protect themselves against melting glaciers? : Syed Muhammad Abubakar - DAWN

Climate change is triggering glacial melt in Pakistan and resulting in increasing glacial lake outburst floods. Temperature rise seems to be the primary cause of glacier melting, including the Hinarchi Glacier on which many glacial lakes are being formed, posing a serious threat to human lives and livelihoods. Global warming poses an existential threat to the glaciers of Pakistan, where it is not just leading to their gradual decline but also resulting in devastating floods. The government has initiated projects to prevent the loss of lives and livelihoods but it needs to step up its efforts to protect the local communities and prevent the glaciers from increased melting. Glacial Lake Outburst Flood-I (GLOF-I) project (2011-2016) jointly managed by the Government of Pakistan and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Pakistan also aimed to reduce the threat of outburst flood incidents in Bagrot valley in Gilgit-Baltistan and Bindo Gol valley in Chitral district of province. Moreover, Bagrot valley is home to Burche Glacier, Yune Glacier and Gutumi Glacier, and all of them experience outburst floods in July and August, inundating Barikan Kot village and other parts of Bagrot valley.

State of the Economy

Gallup Survey reveals 60% Pakistani businessmen find country moving in wrong direction - Business Recorder

According to the Quarterly Business Confidence Survey conducted by Gallup Pakistan with business owners at the end of the year 2019, three in five respondents i.e. 60 percent say they are pessimistic about the direction of the country, with high inflation and taxes taking a toll on their businesses. However, 43pc are hopeful that the year 2020 will be better for their business.

Growth outlook gets murkier: Jawaid Bokhari - DAWN

According to the UN report titled “World Economic Situation and Prospects,” Pakistan’s economy is expected to grow at 2.1 per cent in 2019-20 — i.e. lower than the earlier growth rate forecasts by multilateral agencies supporting the reforms agenda, and close to half of Islamabad’s targeted rate. And to quote an independent analyst, economic activities continue to lose momentum without interruption since its initial signs appeared in December 2018. Thus, despite the notable progress made so far in ongoing reforms to achieve macroeconomic stability, it is now underlined by a growing perception that the outlook for economic growth is getting murkier.