January Pak-China FTA-II came into effect The second phase of the free trade agreement came into force, which would allow Pakistani manufacturers and traders to export around 313 new products to the Chinese market with zero duties. February Pakistani group entered EV segment Crown Group organised market testing and sales display of its three and four-wheel electric vehicles and announced plans to manufacture cars at its newly built 26-acre facility at Port Qasim. The plant had initial production capacity of 120,000 units per annum. March Pakistan’s GSP Plus status kept in place The European Union decided to extend the GSP Plus facility for Pakistan for another two years. The status granted Pakistan duty-free access to EU markets in 91% tariff lines. PSX recorded largest drop in history The KSE-100 index of Pakistan’s bourse nosedived 2,376 points as investors dumped stocks on fears of negative impact of Covid-19 and lockdown on Pakistan’s economy. April Oil prices turned negative for first time US crude oil futures collapsed below $0 for the first time in history amid a coronavirus-induced supply glut as desperate traders paid to get rid of oil. Demand for oil disappeared as billions of people across the globe chose to stay at home to slow the spread of Covid-19. Zero car sales Pakistan’s auto industry endured the worst month for car sales in April and recorded zero sales. May Pakistan retained MSCI EM status Pakistan successfully kept its May 2017 upgraded status in the global MSCI Emerging Market (EM) Index and staved off the threat of being downgraded to the Frontier Index in a semi-annual review. Mobile phone policy approved Federal government approved Pakistan’s first mobile phone manufacturing policy aimed at encouraging local production to counter the security threat emanating from handsets being manufactured in India. August ML-1 rail project got final approval The Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved the Mainline-1 railway project of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) worth $6.8 billion, paving the way for loan negotiations with Beijing, which would finance 90% of the cost. Govt, IPPs reached accord to cut energy cost Pakistan signed a new agreement with independent power producers (IPPs) to reduce cost of electricity generation and slash circular debt in the power sector September Pakistan won stay in Reko Diq case World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) granted a stay on enforcement of a massive penalty of $6 billion imposed on Pakistan for its decision to deny a mining lease for the Reko Diq project to Australia’s Tethyan Copper Company (TCC). October Pakistan remained on FATF grey list The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) gave yet another lifeline to Pakistan and decided to keep the country in its grey list for four more months while acknowledging the political commitment to ending deficiencies in the country’s anti-terror financing regime. The next review would take place in Feb 2021. November ADB issued first Pak rupee-based bonds The Asian Development Bank (ADB) raised Rs1.83 billion ($11.4 million) through the first issue of rupee-based Karakoram bonds. Karakoram bond is an offshore bond denominated in Pakistani rupee and settled in US dollar, listed on a major stock exchange and settled through an international central securities depositary. Country secured around $1b debt relief Pakistan secured roughly $980 million worth of debt freeze deals with members of the G-20 club of richest countries. December Exporters challenged India’s GI claim on Basmati Pakistan filed its opposition to India’s claim of geographical indication (GI) tag for Basmati rice in the European Union. India sought protection for its Basmati rice as a GI product in an attempt to hinder Pakistan’s growing exports and expansion of local Basmati segment. Govt discontinued Rs25,000 prize bonds Federal government discontinued bearer prize bonds of Rs25,000 denomination and gave a six-month deadline to investors to en cash or convert their savings of Rs164 billion aimed at addressing concerns of the Financial Action Task Force. Virgin Atlantic kicked off flights to Pakistan British airline Virgin Atlantic commenced its operations in Pakistan, becoming the latest international airline to start serving passengers in the country. Published in The Express Tribune, December 31st, 2020. Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.
from Business News and Updates from the World of Commerce- eTribune https://ift.tt/3rGf5ZF
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