Category: Information Technology

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has acknowledged that cyber currency including bitcoin has been recognized in many countries, but the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the SECP have already prohibited trading/business of Crypto/Virtual currency in Pakistan.

Abdul Rahim, Director, Information System and Technology. and Najia Ubaid, Additional Director, Primary Market Approvals, Securities Market Division Monday held a briefing on the digital assets at the SECP Headquarters.

According to the SECP presentation, the economies where Security token/digital assets/crypto assets are being regulated include Hong Kong, USA, Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, Israel, Canada, Singapore and Abu Dhabi.

The cyber-currency including bitcoin has been recognized in many advanced economies but our central bank and the SECP have already prohibited Crypto/Virtual currency in Pakistan, SECP officials explained.

The SECP officials informed that since the digital/cryptocurrencies do not fall under SECP’s ambit, therefore the position paper does not deal with this issue however the SECP has started consultations to devise policy and regulations regarding the issuance of digital tokens /assets and utility tokens.

The consultation process will be held with the stakeholders, concerned citizens, experts, and the concept paper over digital assets have been shared with the banking sector regulator – the State Bank of Pakistan too.

The SECP official added that bitcoin too was one of the products of the blockchain platform, but it was a cryptocurrency that was currently banned in the country.

The SECP position papers have defined that the “Digital Assets” can be classified as Asset-backed Digital Assets/Token. While, Najia Ubaid, highlighted that initial public offering (IPO) is the process of a private company becoming public by offering shares of that company to the public.

“IPOs are backed by investment banks that list the shares on the stock exchange, allowing you to buy, sell and trade, whereas the SECP envisages that an initial coin offering (ICO) is offered as a cryptocurrency rather than as a stock, and another such product was the Security Tokens (STO).” Ubaid added.

However, ICOs are not regulated and therefore carry much more risk, the SECP highlighted adding that the ICO investment was an idea rather than a business that was already generating revenue.

The SECP intends to study and evaluate the effects of the distributed ledger, digital assets, and other innovative technologies and encourages market participants to get engaged with the regulator.

Potential Approaches to regulate Digital Assets can be either regulating and restricting new products according to existing regulations or outright banning. It is based on the philosophy of ‘let-things-happen approach, described by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

There is a need to develop a policy and regulatory response to Digital Assets in Pakistan is driven by the need for innovation that may impact the financial sector of the country but digital assets do not fit within the current regulatory framework.

Digital assets may create conditions for regulatory arbitrage while posing risks; and Increasing interest, investment, and participation in Digital Assets, SECP added.

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The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has allowed manufacturers of tractors to claim adjustment of subsidy against sales tax on locally manufactured tractors from September 28, 2020, to June 30, 2021.

In this connection, the FBR has issued the Sales Tax Special Procedure for Adjustment of Subsidy Against Sales Tax on Locally Manufactured Tractors Rules, 2020 here on Monday.

The subsidy granted, shall be allowed to be adjusted by the manufacturers of the tractors namely M/s Millat Tractors Limited, Al-Ghazi Tractors Limited and Orient Tractors (Pvt.) Limited (specified manufacturers).

The rules revealed that the Ministry of National Food Security and Research shall apportion the amount of subsidy amongst the specified manufacturers so that the same does not be exceed the limit of Rs. 1.5 billion.

A Tractors Subsidy Cell shall be established by the IR-Operations Wing of Federal Board of Revenue for processing subsidy adjustment claims. The specified manufacturers shall sell the subsidized tractors only to the farmers and growers after obtaining a valid proof of landholding such as Agriculture Pass Book and copy of the record of rights of agricultural land duly verified from Provincial Land Revenue Authorities and shall not charge and collect the applicable amount of sales tax from such buyers.

The specified manufacturers of tractors shall submit data of supplies in the Annexure-C of the monthly return of the Sales Tax and Federal Excise by the 5th day of the month following the end of the tax period.

The specified manufacturers shall sell the subsidized tractors only to the farmers and growers after obtaining a valid proof of landholding such as Agriculture Pass Book and copy of the record of rights of agricultural land duly verified from Provincial Land Revenue Authorities and shall not charge and collect the applicable amount of sales tax from such buyers.

The whole value of the tractor’s applicable amount of the sales tax and amount of subsidy shall be mentioned on the sales tax invoice as specified under section 23 of the Sales Act issued by the specified manufacturers.

The whole value of the tractor’s applicable amount of the sales tax and amount of subsidy shall be mentioned on the sales tax invoice as specified under section 23 of the Sales Tax Act issued by the specified manufacturers, FBR added.

The Ministry of National Food Security and Research after examination of the adjustment claim shall forward its report to the Tractors Subsidy Cell of FBR within seven working days of submission of the Part-1 of the Annexure-A by the specified manufacturers, mentioning the amount of subsidy to which such manufacturers are entitled for the period.

The Government agencies shall not be eligible for subsidy under these rules, however. Agriculture Research Institutes may avail the same.

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Pakistan hosted the first virtual meeting of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Planning Secretaries, chaired by Asad Rafi Chandna, in the Ministry of Planning Development and Special Initiatives, Islamabad.

It was a day-long meeting where all eight member states attended the meeting with their virtual presence. The meeting extensively covered the subject of “Achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 – Vision for South Asia”.

The Planning Secretaries prepared the groundwork for the “First Meeting of SAARC Planning Ministers” dedicated to the theme, “Shaping SAARC Vision 2030” to be held virtually on Wednesday, November 25, 2020.

The senior officials of the Ministry of Planning, Member Social Sector, Chief Sustainable goals, and Poverty Alleviation, along with officers of section and UNDP associated SDG unit, Chief International Trade and Finance, officials from Foreign office were part of the official delegation.

In the welcome remarks, the chair emphasized that the spread of COVID-19 with its impacts on health, education, jobs, and income across the member states is a challenge that warrants a review of national strategies for achieving SDGs.

It was asserted that special focus has to be given particularly on reducing poverty, improving health, quality education, decent work opportunities, addressing inadequate water and sanitation and promoting cooperation.

Asad Rafi Chandna said that the future lies in fostering mutual cooperation, sharing knowledge, espousing shared prosperity, promoting integration, and building partnerships in the region.

The SAARC forum discussed three key agendas which included:

Compilation of national approaches and strategies of SAARC member states on inclusive sustainable development – the agenda 2030.
Impact of COVID-19 on overall economic growth in SAARC member states.
Strategy for collaborative action for mobilizing development financing, especially in the post-COVID-19 scenario.

Pakistan recommended for a workable mechanism to be adopted by SAARC for trans-boundary challenges related to integrated water resources management and air pollution.

A strategy is required to be formulated to foster the spirit of “leaving no one behind” as espoused by the Agenda 2030 for securing the rights of marginalized communities and minorities in member states.

It also recommended that each member country to adopt placement, operation & integration of real-time Dashboard portal in their respective centers for monitoring, evaluation & improvement of their respective indicators.

These member country portals then ought to be interlinked with a Master Dashboard portal at the regional level at the SAARC Secretariat for mutual concerted efforts for achieving the SDGs by 2030.

In relevance to the impact of COVID19 on overall economic growth in SAARC member states, Pakistan urged member states for cooperation not limited to the health services only but also to cover pharmaceutical collaboration, personal protective equipment and expansion on the demands of post-pandemic relief, recovery and rehabilitation.

It was also proposed that the SAARC Comprehensive Disaster framework may be expanded in the context of Pandemic on the promotion of trade in health services through liberalization particularly to draw services of doctors and paramedics.

Pakistan urged member states to raise voice for mobilizing financing committed by the developed countries for achieving SDGs including all multilateral and bilateral agencies.

The role of SAARC observer states, particularly those in the region, maybe enhanced to meet the development financing gaps.

The SAARC Headquarters prepared the draft of overall recommendations provided by each member state in the light of discussions held. It was mutually agreed that SAARC Headquarter will share the concerted document with all the member states for the “First Meeting of SAARC Planning Ministers” to be held on November 25, 2020. It is expected that the next SAARC Secretaries meeting would commence by April 2021.

The Secretary Planning, Pakistan, in his concluding remarks extended gratitude and applauded all the SAARC member states for the realization that mutual cooperation based on the principle of “leaving no one behind” is the pathway to regional prosperity.

He said evolving a common strategy is critical for achieving SDGs while countering all the emerging challenges in the SAARC region including the existential threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The forum largely agreed that the transfer of technology from the technologically advanced countries is one of the critical factors to mitigate the adverse impacts of COVID19 along with the transformation of production, consumption and supply chain mechanism within the SAARC region.

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Sindh Education and Labor Minister, Saeed Ghani, has opposed the Inter-Provincial Education Ministers Conference’s (IPEMC) decision to close all educational institutions from November 26 due to the second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The decision was finalized in the inter-provincial ministerial meeting on Monday, and Saeed Ghani was also a part of it. However, as the Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training, Shafqat Mahmood, announced the decision on TV, Ghani openly went public to oppose it.

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The provincial minister proposed during the NCOC meeting that only those educational institutions with 73 percent enrolment at the primary level should be closed, while classes six and above should continue as usual.

He also suggested students should not be promoted without conducting examinations this year.

“Examinations from grade nine to 12 should not be conducted in May and June next year, but the matter should be postponed and a decision on it taken later keeping in view the situation in the future,” Ghani proposed.

The minister further suggested that all non-teaching activities should stop for a year across the educational institutes.

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Saeed Ghani recommended that small private schools, tuition, and coaching centers be provided soft loans for financial relief, while the federal government should pay the interest.

The IPEMC has decided to close all educational institutes including, schools, colleges, universities, and madrasahs, from November 26 to January 10 amid a rising number of COVID-19 cases. Schools will reopen on January 11, 2021.

All exams scheduled for November-December will be canceled. Meanwhile, the board exams have also been pushed to May-June next year.

The next review meeting of IPEMC will be held in the first week of January.

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A renowned home-appliance company has been defrauded online of equipment worth millions of rupees in Karachi, Lahore, and Rawalpindi.

According to the Cyber Crime Wing (CCW) of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), a group of hackers tricked the company after hacking its software.

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The hackers purchased the company’s appliances online using fake credentials and then updated the payment details in the hacked software.

Consequently, the company delivered appliances worth millions to prescribed addresses in Karachi, Lahore, and Rawalpindi. However, a few days later, it came to light that their payments had not been transferred to the company’s bank account.

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After realizing that it had been defrauded, the company officials contacted the FIA to have the incident investigated.

FIA officials have said that a probe in Karachi, Lahore, and Rawalpindi has been officially initiated. However, no arrests have been made so far.

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A team of Israeli cyber threat researchers has revealed that Russian hackers have put the Pakistan International Airlines’ (PIA) network access and database on sale on the cyber underground.

According to InfoSecurity, a leading magazine on information security, a team at the darknet threat intelligence firm KELA spotted a threat actor offering the domain admin access to the airline for $4,000. The offer is still live on two Russian and one English dark web forums that KELA had been monitoring.

Stationed in Tel Aviv, the firm tracks ransomware trends and identifies threats to international organizations and government setups.

KELA has not reported the incident to PIA due to the absence of diplomatic relations between the two countries and made it public through relevant mediums instead.

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Speaking to the magazine on 9 November, a KELA spokesperson said that they have been tracking the threat actor who published the domain access for sale to PIA’s network last week.

Most of the time, we’re seeing cyber-criminals purchase these initial accesses to gain an initial foothold into the victim’s network, from which they can then perform the lateral movement to advance their access privileges and potentially employ ransomware or some other type of attack.

A week later, the hackers also put all the databases in the airline’s network on sale. The cybercriminals posted a sample, which, according to them, carries ‘all the people’s information who use PIA, including names, last names, phone numbers, and passports’.

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“The actor mentioned that what he is selling includes around fifteen databases, all with different amounts of record — some around 500,000 records and some around 60,000–50,000 records — but that all the records stored in their network are included,” the KELA spokesperson said.

KELA also revealed that the same threat actor has put thirty-eight databases up for sale at a cumulative price of at least $118,700 since July this year.

The threat researchers suspect that the hacker has more records that he offers in private chats.

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Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is planning to serve notices to the filers or non-filers for seeking requisite documents for compliance, through the SMS service of the cell phones registered in the name of that person.

In this regard, the FBR has decided to give legal cover to the FBR’s communication with the citizens through the SMS of the cell phone registered in the name of such person.

Presently, the income tax law does not give legal backing to the seeking of required documents from the taxpayers through the SMS. Similarly, the FBR has no legal authority to issue a notice through the SMS.

After this amendment, the FBR can seek any documents from the filers or non-filers or issue a notice or communicate with the taxpayers through SMS. The document served through the SMS will have full legal cover under the income tax law.

The FBR has already signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with NADRA for real-time verification of CNICs and associated details.

The data linkage will facilitate onward linking of FBR’s system with other organizations and identify persons who are either outside the tax net or conceal their income and assets.

A tax expert told ProPakistani that it is yet not clear whether any communication of FBR with the citizens through Whatsapp is covered under the said amendment or not. However, legal cover would enable the FBR to simultaneously communicate with a large number of persons through the SMS.

According to the draft amendment in the Income Tax Rules 2002 issued by the FBR through a notification here on Monday, where a person is using a Mobile phone, document required to be served on that person by the Commissioner or the Chief Commissioner shall be considered sufficiently served if sent as SMS on the cell phone registered in the name of such person as per record of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) established under section 3 of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Reorganization) Act, 1996 or the relevant Telecommunication Service Provider, FBR added.

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Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Amir, Shoaib Malik and Wahab Riaz are going to receive the same match fees as a category A player despite not being centrally contracted by PCB. The senior cricketers made a request to PCB prior to the series against Zimbabwe that they should be granted the same match fees as a category A player due to their seniority.

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Earlier PCB announced their decision that every player that is not centrally contracted to PCB will receive match fees equivalent to a category C player.

PCB spokesperson said, “The four players made a logical and reasonable request to the PCB prior to the Zimbabwe series.”

“The PCB, taking into consideration their seniority and accepting that their request has merit, agreed to pay their match fees in accordance with Category A scales for all matches they will play from the series against Zimbabwe until 30 June 2021,” he added.

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Hafeez and Malik have not been granted central contracts by the PCB since 2019, while Amir and Wahab were relegated to category C last year, before being axed from the list this year due to their unavailability in all three formats.

Hafeez and Malik announced their retirement from Tests and ODIs and are only eligible for T20Is, while Amir and Wahab have only retired from red-ball cricket.

Malik and Amir were not part of Pakistan’s squad for the series against Zimbabwe and have not been picked in the 35-man squad for the tour of New Zealand as well.

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Pakistan recorded a COVID-19 positivity ratio of 7.46 percent in the last 24 hours, the highest since the coronavirus outbreak in March.

This was revealed during a meeting of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Monday.

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According to the government’s database, a total of 36,929 were performed on November 22, out of which 2,756 came out as positive, resulting in a positivity rate of 7.46 percent.

Sindh reported the highest number of coronavirus cases, 1,322 on Sunday, with a positivity rate of 12.19 percent. On Sunday, Sindh conducted 10,837 tests, out of which 1,322 confirmed infection. This is the highest number of reported infections in the province since July 12, when 1,713 cases were recorded.

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According to the provincial health department, 16 more people died due to the COVID-related complications, pushing the death toll to 2,845.

Besides Sindh, Azad Jammu and Kashmir positivity ratio remained at 11.4 %, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: 9.85 %, Islamabad: 8.09 %, Balochistan 7.73 %, Gilgit-Baltistan 5.23 %, and Punjab 3.95 %.

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Pakistani Rupee further weakened against the US Dollar in the interbank market on Monday.

With a loss of 31 paisas, the rupee closed at 161.04 against the dollar on Monday as compared to 160.72 on Friday, data showed.

CEO of the financial advisory Alpha Beta Core, Khurram Schezad, spoke to ProPakistani and said, “It’s a short-term recovery after PKR improved against the USD about 6 percent from its low.”

He further remarked that there is still room for PKR to improve against the USD as there have been more inflows/supply of Dollars in the market compared to outflows.

On the other side, the smooth supply of USD from Remittances, Roshan Digital account, and other measures by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has kept the overall exchange rate from dropping too low, too quickly.

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PKR, which secured the third-best performing position in Asia, appreciated 3.1 percent against the greenback since October, has now reversed gains from the start of this week. Since Monday last week, it has lost 1.82 percent versus the dollar. Traders fear a surge in imports and the repayment of foreign debt could put pressure on the forex reserves and the rupee in the times to come.

The root cause for this change in PKR’s movement against the dollar is being attributed to the rise in the country’s imports. Temporary Economic Relief Facility (TERF) by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is going to encourage even higher imports of machinery, which would make PKR lose against USD even more.

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