Situation Report: Pakistan Adds 989 New Cases, 23 Deaths

After a surge for two days, Pakistan’s new cases dropped to 989 in last 24 hours, as compared to 1,297 new cases reported a day ago.
Of the new cases, 427 cases were reported from Sindh while Punjab had 373 new coronavirus cases in last 24 hours. KP recorded 108 new cases during the period. Balochistan, Islamabad, GB and AJK reported 36, 28, 16 and 01 new case respectively.
New coronavirus related deaths also saw a down-ward trend, as total number of coronavirus positive cases who died yesterday stood at 24, down from 32; 17 of them were on ventilator.
KP reported most death with 11 patients dying of complications due to coronavirus. Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan reported 5, 4 and 3 deaths respectively.
Of all the positive cases in Pakistan, 16% of them are imported cases, while another 16% of positive cases are from Tableeghi Jamat individiuals.
A total of 503 health care professionals are also tested positive for cornavirus, while 111 of those have recovered from the virus.
Mor..

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TECNO Setting a New Example on How Brands can Extend their Support in this Tough Hour of Need

The ongoing turmoil occurring on the planet has caused a feeling of worry for the whole world and has everyone thinking in terms of what can be done to curb the issue at hand.
In this time of pandemic crisis, the world has come together in the battle against COVID-19. Organizations are contributing to the cause by helping those in need. Unfortunately, COVID-19 outbreak has dramatically affected work in general, thus causing recession, unemployment and scarcity of resources.
In this time of distress, the brands have come to fill in the gap and are providing safety equipment to medical workers, healthcare respondents, free meals and groceries supply to those who are sick or in need.
Similarly, mobile brand TECNO came out immediately in support by providing items such as masks, hand sanitizers, protective gowns, wipes, mouthwash and other safety hygiene products to the government. Furthermore, the company aims to keep on carrying out its CSR and donating health care products all over t..

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Intel Unveils 10th Gen Comet Lake Desktop Processors

Intel’s 10th generation Comet Lake processors were previously only available to laptops and other mobile solutions and now the chipmaker has finally unveiled them for desktop computers as well. The new lineup is still based on the 14nm Skylake process from years ago but features a number of improvements.
The new 10th generation series includes 32 new processors including the bottom tier Celeron chips all the way up to the i9 10900K. Most of these chips are just variations of a single processor with several having different standards just like previous generations. K indicates unlocked, T signifies low powered variants, and F is used to indicate no GPU integration, and so on.
As mentioned before, the i9-10900K is the flagship model in the series replacing the previous i9-9900K. It is built on a 10 core/20 thread design with a 3.7 GHz base clock and a 5.1 GHz boost clock. Intel has also introduced Turbo Boost Max which allows one of the cores to make a small jump to 5.2 GHz if the CPU ..

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Meezan Bank To Provide Financing to 3 Hospitals Without Profit

Meezan Bank’s management has approved a loan of Rs. 200 million each for three charitable hospitals providing treatment to COVID-19 patients in Karachi.
The bank will provide financing to these hospitals on the basis of Qarze Hasna which also waives off 3 percent profit of the bank on the amount of financing fixed by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
This step is one of the good examples set by a banking company when the whole country is facing a challenging situation. Other profitable banks also came forward to facilitate the speedy development of the healthcare sector for better health services to the masses.
Banks Approve Financing Facility for 11 Hospitals Various commercial banks have approved financing facilities to 23 various hospitals in the tune of Rs. 2.2 billion, according to the SBP.
Commercial banks are also processing financing requests of Rs. 3.6 billion for 23 hospitals/medical centers operating in different cities.
It is expected that large scale facilities will b..

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Export Targets Can’t Be Achieved Due to COVID-19: Razak Dawood

Advisor to the Prime Minister on Commerce, Abdul Razak Dawood said that the country’s export target of $25 billion could not be achieved due to the ongoing lockdown in the country and it could decline to $22 billion.
The exports decreased in April by 50 percent and home remittances also declined in this situation, Abdul Razzak Dawood said in an interview.
Pakistan could get benefits from low oil prices in the current situation in the international market and there will be minimal impact on Current Account Deficit (CoD) because of the decline in petroleum prices, he noted. He also vowed to open the industrial sector in the coming months to provide an opportunity for the local exporters to benefit from the current scenario.
Dawood urged the exporters including the textile industry to get orders freely from all countries to tap the new opportunities in the world.
Replying to a question on the impact on the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), he forecast that it would contract by 0..

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Infinix Announces Note 7: Explore the New Big with 48MP Quad Rear Video Camera

Infinix, a premium online-driven smartphone brand designed for the young generation, collaborated with sensational duo Ayeza Khan and Danish Taimoor to launch much-anticipated Note 7 series. The Infinix Note 7 comes with 48MP Quad Rear Video Camera, capable of shooting high detailed pictures and videos even in low light, MediaTek Helio G70 chipset &a 6.95” HD+ Infinity-O display.
The Note 7 series consists of three variants i.e. 6GB+128GB (Rs.28, 999), 4GB+128GB (Rs.26,999) and two lite variants with 4GB+128GB (Rs.24,999) and 4GB+64GB (Rs. 21,999). Infinix Note 7 will be available for pre-booking on XPark starting from 04thMayin 3 mesmerizing color designs such as Forest Green, Aether Black, and Bolivia Blue with subtle patterns in the reflective glass.
Note 7 boasts with 48MP Quad Camera, allowing users to create ultra-high-resolution photos & videos under a diverse range of lighting conditions, specifically in low light. No matter whether it is a beautiful sunset, a backlight stree..

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Customs Tariff Proposals for Upcoming Federal Budget Discussed

A meeting of the Tariff Policy Board was held at Ministry of Commerce, Islamabad which was chaired by the Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce & Investment Abdul Razak Dawood.
In the meeting, Customs Tariff related proposals for the upcoming federal budget for fiscal year 2020-2021 were discussed.
The meeting also discussed the economic impact of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and deliberated upon ways and means to avert the financial losses to the businesses.
The Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment desired that due to negative impact of Covid-19 emergency on the economy, it is imperative to devise policies for growth and progress of all sectors of the economy.
He emphasized that a Win Win situation for everyone including the government exchequer should be created. He pointed out that better collection of direct taxes will make room for providing relief to the formal documented sectors of economy by reducing indirect taxes like Sales Tax.
The participants vowed to..

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Hafeez Shaikh Stresses Need for Unity to Face Economic Challenges

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh has emphasized the need for better coordination among the stakeholders for arriving at consensus on targets of macro-economic variables and the required policy actions to achieve them.
He further stressed that all organs of the state should play their role in this difficult time to fully capitalize their potential to achieve set macro-economic targets as per their mandate.
He was chairing a meeting of the Monetary and Fiscal Policies Co-ordination Board held at the Finance Division today. Other members of the Board present in the meeting were the Adviser to PM on Commerce and Investment, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Finance Secretary, Governor SBP and Dr. Asad Zaman. Chairperson FBR also attended the meeting on special invitation.
The Finance Minister in his opening remarks stated that this high powered Board facilitates the policy makers to review and coordinate in an effective manner to adopt a co..

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4 Projects Worth Rs. 250 Billion Approved by ECNEC

Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) has approved four major projects at a cost of nearly Rs. 250 billion in a meeting held today at the Cabinet Block with Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh in the chair.
The meeting discussed a proposal for the construction of the Lodhran-Multan Section (North Bound 62 kms) of N-5 and construction of 2 flyovers at Railways Crossing at Lodhran Bypass and approved the project at a cost of Rs. 12.434 billion.
The project is to be completed in 24 months. 2 flyovers along with three interchanges at Super Chowk and Permit ChowkLodhran and an interchange at Bahawalpur Chowk Multan will also be built.
Besides, four minor bridges, as well as reconstruction & widening of culverts and urban area improvement at BastiMalook, Multan City, and Larr Town, would also be carried out under the project.
The reconstruction of existing two-lane northbound and construction of flyovers, interchanges, and ar..

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Unemployment and Subsequently the Poverty in Pakistan to Increase: EAD

The Economic Affairs Division (EAD) has stated that due to contraction in economic growth and fall in workers’ remittances, the unemployment in Pakistan will increase leading towards raise in poverty besides tightening of financial conditions, leading to complicated situation of external debt maturity refinancing.
The Policy Analysis and Development Wing of the EAD has reviewed reports of international financial institutions (IFIs) on the Covid-19 and examined its impacts on Pakistan’s economy. The EAD Wing has concluded that the Covid-19 pandemic will have severe impacts on Pakistan’s economy.
It further stated that the IFIs’ reports had not quantified the impacts of macroeconomic conditions on the general public.
“We can foresee that due to contraction in economic growth, fall in worker’s remittances; unemployment in Pakistan will increase leading towards increase in poverty in Pakistan. It will continue to put pressure for increased social safety spending in near future even afte..

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