Media Tracking Report 10 - 24 February, 2020

Education in Pakistan

Academia urged to contribute for exports promotion - The Nation Advisor to Prime Minister for Finance and Revenue, Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, while addressing the 7th Deans and Directors Conference 2020 organised by National Business Education Accreditation Council (NBEAC) said that since the economy was coming out of the crises, institutes of management sciences and graduates could contribute to promote export-led growth. He further added that “We have to find a way to make business education more relevant to changing times” and build capacity to penetrate international markets.

CPEC in Pakistan

CPEC: The ball is in Pakistan’s court: Afshan Subohi - DAWN China asserts that it is not wavering from its commitment to assist Pakistan in the second, people-centric phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Despite being embroiled in multiple problems — the virus epidemic, growth moderation and trade spat with the United States,China is all set to commit $1 billion in the current calendar year to kick-start the next phase of CPEC. China’s Consul General in Karachi Li Bijian was open and clear about the mutual relationship and its future, dismissing the idea that China is disillusioned by the Pakistani leadership and further ensured that problems arising in the process, linked to Pakistan’s political, administrative or economic conditions or China’s internal matters, they will not waver China’s commitment to CPEC.

Turkey ready to join CPEC projects, Erdogan says - Pakistan Today Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said that his country is ready to work on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects, adding that the initiative should be “better explained to Turkish entrepreneurs”, speaking at the Pakistan-Turkey Business and Investment Forum.

CPEC projects to be expedited: Asad Umar - DAWN Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Friday said the pace of implementation on projects under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would be accelerated in the coming days. He made these remarks while meeting the Ambassador of the People's Republic of China Yao Jing on Friday. The two sides discussed matters relating to the CPEC, business-to-business collaboration between the two countries and social sector development in Pakistan.

IMF and Pakistan

IMF says Pakistan making progress under deal, expects inflation to ease - Reuters An IMF mission has just wrapped up a 10-day visit to Pakistan as it reviews the future course of the country’s $6 billion financial aid programme. It said on Friday that Pakistan was making progress on economic reforms, and said inflation would start to ease after a rapid acceleration. The Fund agreed to a three-year rescue package last year, its 13th bailout programme for Pakistan since the late 1980s. “The mission and the authorities made significant progress in the discussions on policies and reforms,” said Ernesto Ramirez Rigo, the head of the mission. The IMF noted however that the country’s revenue growth from tax had been “strong” as the government had recorded a primary surplus of 0.7% of its gross domestic product.

Trade and commerce reliance: IMF asks Pakistan to cut reliance on China - The News The visiting IMF mission has extended its stay in Pakistan for making more efforts to strike a consensus on the staff-level agreement as both sides so far persisted with their respective differences on ‘immediate measures’ for reducing the revenue-expenditure gap and fixing cash bleeding energy sector. The IMF has also asked Islamabad "to reduce its trade and commerce reliance on Beijing" and look for other international options by signing free trade agreements with other countries too.

Raza Rabbani finds IMF report ‘alarming’ - The Nation Former Chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani has expressed grave concern over some reports that a team of International Monetary Fund (IMF) who was on a recent visit to Pa­kistan has stressed upon the Pakistan Tehreek-e-In­saf (PTI) government to cut its reliance on China. “The IMF team visiting Pakistan must realise that Pakistan is an indepen­dent sovereign nation,” he said in a statement.

Pakistan’s public debt to become ‘sustainable’ after reforms: IMF - Profit by Pakistan Today Ongoing fiscal reforms will put Pakistan’s public debt path on a sustainable footing, according to Athanasios Arvanitis, the Deputy Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), speaking at a seminar titled “Managing Crises in Emerging Markets” at the State Bank (SBP). He explained that the IMF focuses on different dimensions while assisting a country in developing a homegrown stabilization programme.

‘No prior action required’ to secure third IMF tranche, finance ministry reacts to media report - DAWN The finance ministry on Monday dispelled reports that "tough prior actions" were needed before Pakistan could secure the third tranche of Rs452 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In an official statement released on Monday, the finance ministry said: "It is completely normal for quarterly reviews to take a few more days than planned, which must never be viewed as something extraordinary… There is no apprehension whatsoever on the roll-over/refinancing of Chinese loans,".

Cutting Civil Expenditures - The Nation The government is falling short on the next target set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and has announced to cut back on expenditures in order to make up for the losses incurred due to revenue collection. Revenue collection is posing a lot of trouble for the government, despite them successively changing their targets in the last two fiscal years. Revenue collection is a tricky business in Pakistan, especially with a new party in government and the economy barely stabilising.

Civil Services Reform

Govt to reform decades old civil service structure - The News The government has covered another milestone, promised during the election run, by reforming the decades-old Civil Service structure with the objective to transform it into a merit-based, depoliticized cadre of professionals. The reforms target Civil Servants Promotion (BS-18 to BS-21) Rules, with the ‘Promotion Threshold’ being raised. Other conditions for promotion included for the first time, submission of a declaration of assets made mandatory, ensuring promotions to be objective, transparent and merit-based, the collective judgment of the promotion board has become more relevant (more marks for the board; from 15% to 30%). There will also be mandatory reviews after 20 years of service, after which officers may also be retired according to the criterias set.

Govt takes away 600 cadre posts of most influential PAS - The News Ending the decades-old dominance of the Pakistan Administrative Service (ex-DMG/CSP), the government has decided to take away 40% cadre posts (600 in number) of this elite civil service group and offer these positions to provincial services and technical specialists at the federal level. It is said 200 PAS posts had been excluded from the cadre at the federal level and 400 posts taken away from the ex-DMG’s provincial share. According to the reforms approved, “The PAS cadre strength will be reduced by more than 600 to approximately 1,300 posts from the existing 1900 plus posts.”

PCS officers complain of being ignored in service reforms - DAWN The Provincial Civil Service Officers Association in Peshawar on Tuesday said the federal government’s civil service reforms agenda seemed to cater to few hundred federal officers only ignoring thousands of provincial officers across the country. The PCS officers contended that the federal officers were recruited to manage federal subjects and departments under Article 240 (a) of the Constitution, while the provincial subjects and departments were to be manned by the PMS officers in line with Article 240(b). The association said education, health, development and local government were all provincial subjects and not federal.

Climate Change

Pakistan contributes little to climate change but is among the most impacted by it: UN chief - DAWN United Nations General Secretary Antonio Guterres, while addressing a session on sustainable development and climate change in Islamabad on Sunday, said that Pakistan is indeed in the front line of the negative impacts of climate change. "Like all developing countries, Pakistan has contributed little to the problem yet faces disproportionate vulnerability because of it. In the past decade, Pakistan has lost some 10,000 lives to climate-related disasters, including 1,200 due to a terrible heatwave in Karachi in 2015. He added that, "The Indus valley is vulnerable to flooding and coastal communities face the prospect of being swamped by rising sea levels." Guterres said he believes the biggest problem for Pakistan is water.

Pakistan gets highest-ever $200 mln GCF grant to redress environment issues : Malik Amin Aslam - APP Adviser to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam has said Pakistan would initiate work on multiple projects under $ 200 million grant by Green Climate Fund (GCF) to mitigate environmental degradation and combat climate change. He said the GCF grants would help finance crucial projects, including installation of 40 monitoring stations in the Northern Areas’ glaciers, Zero Emission Metro Bus project Karachi and Climate Smart Agriculture, aimed at reducing the devastating impacts of global warming and increased greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs).

WB interested to fund Pakistan’s ecosystem initiative with $188m - Pakistan Today The World Bank has shown its interest to provide $188 million to fund the upcoming Ecosystem Restoration Initiative aims at implementing the ‘Ten Billion Tree Tsunami’ and ‘Recharge Pakistan’ programmes. The $188 million fund will be placed under the National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF), as it already has a framework and mechanism in place for quick and efficient disbursement of the money.

State of the Economy

Sovereign debt: Nadir Cheema - DAWN The recently released Debt Policy Statement for 2019-20 is a sobering reminder of Pakistan’s massive public debt vulnerabilities. The report places Pakistan’s public debt to GDP ratio at 85 percent at end-2019. This is indeed high relative to the 60 per cent benchmark set in the country’s Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation Act, 2005. It is even higher compared with 52pc average for other emerging economies reported in the latest IMF Fiscal Monitor, establishing the need for sustained fiscal consolidation.

Fiscal policies challenged in SC: Govt economic team has clash of interest - The News Former caretaker federal minister for finance Muhammad Zubair Khan has challenged the fiscal policies of the government and appointment of Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Governor State Bank Dr. Reza Baqir, and Deputy Governor Murtaza Sayed under plea of clash of interest and steps taken by the government in the fiscal fields through a constitutional petition filed with the Supreme Court.

Pakistan stays on FATF terrorism financing ‘gray list’ - Arab News The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global money-laundering and terror financing watchdog, on Friday gave Pakistan until June 2020 to improve its anti-terrorism financing measures. This is the second four-month extension given to Pakistan to implement the agreed action plan. The FATF decided to keep Pakistan on its gray list until the country’s next progress review in June and said it would “take action” if Pakistan failed to make progress in prosecuting and penalizing terrorism financing. In response, the Pakistani government reiterated its commitment to taking all necessary actions required.