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December 24, 2021: National / International Current Affairs
1. Govt gets $4.6bn foreign loans in five months
• The PTI government received about $4.6 billion in foreign loans during the first five months (July November) of the current fiscal year, taking its total loan inflows to about $40bn since July 2018.
• According to a monthly report on foreign assistance released by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (ME A) on Thursday, Pakistan received about $4.699bn inflows, including $4.575bn in loans and about $123 million in grants. The government has a budgetary target to obtain about $14.1bn in foreign loans and grants during the current fiscal year.
• The total loans in five months included $2.93bn for programme or budgetary support (non-project aid) and $1.17bn for projects. Of this, multilateral lenders like the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, Islamic Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and others disbursed a total of about $2bn during the first five months of the current fiscal year
2. Rape cases down, honour killings increased in Punjab: report
• The Punjab Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) held a dissemination workshop on the key Endings of the 4th gender parity report 201920.
• According to the report, between 2019 and 2020, reported cases of rape decreased by 2.8pc, acid burning by 24pc while honour killings increased by 20pc The report was compiled to provide an update on key women-related indicators in six thematic areas across 36 districts in Punjab.
• It presented gender disaggregated data analysis collected from over 1,000 public offices against more than 200 indicators across demographics, governance, health, education, economic participation and opportunities, justice and special initiatives introduced by the Punjab government
3. Duties waived on import of many items from Kabul
• The government has waived additional customs duty and regulatory duty on several items and reduced duty on import of essential goods from Afghanistan for six months.
• The move will help the Taliban government generate foreign exchange through exports.
• Through a notification, the government waived the duty on import of coal, bituminous coal, talc, marble (crude or roughly trimmed), plants & parts of plants (including seed & fruit), seeds of cumin neither crushed nor grounded, sulphur of all kinds, other than sublimed Sulphur, yams (Dioscorea spp.) and containers (including containers for the transport of fluids) from Afghanistan
4. IMF to take up sixth review of its programme on Jan 12
• The government says its sixth review of the $6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Pakistan will be taken up by the executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Jan 12, paving the way for disbursement of about$1bntranche.
• Muzammil Aslam, spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance, said in a tweet on Thursday: `I am pleased to confirm 6th review will be presented to IMF Board on 12th January, 2022`.
• Another official said the government was ready to get the Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2021 passed by the National Assembly to ensure reasonable time before the IMF board meeting.
• The IMF directors traditionally require two weeks to review the memorandum of economic and fiscal policy measures
5. Green Line set to start commercial operation tomorrow
• After almost six years since its groundbreaking, the federal-funded Green Line Bus Rapid Transit Service (BRT S) is set to become operational with all 80 buses of its fleet ready to shuttle between Surjani Town and Numaish Chowrangi on Saturday.
• The mega project suffered many hiccups over the period and the delay caused it to incur almost double the cost.
• The f are table is likely to ranging from Rs15 to Rs55 depending on distance.
• The confirmation came from a key member of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) at the Centre who said that the test run of the bus service appeared effective, smooth and up to the mark. It`s set to start a fully-fledged commercial operation from Saturday, he said.
6. No criminal case if `self` cheque is dishonoured: high court
• The Lahore High Court has ruled that dishonouring a `self cheque` does not entitle its bearer to seek a criminal case under section 489-F of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) until and unless there is an endorsement in his favour.
• Justice Muhammad Shan Gul issued the ruling setting aside a decision of a justice of peace that ordered registration of a first information report against a petitioner on the basis of a `self` dishonoured cheque on which no endorsement in favour of the eventual bearer was recorded.
• In his ruling, the judge observes that section 154 of the CrPC mandates registration or recording of information relating to the commission of a cognisable offence and the information provided by an informant must allege the commission of a cognisable offence.
• In case a cheque is made out to self only and there is no supporting evidence that the bearer was in fact a holder in due course of such a cheque, the commission of a cognisable offence cannot be established
7. SBP reserves down by $415m
• Foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) decreased by $415 million to $18.15 billion during the week ending on Dec 17, data released by the central bank showed on December 23, 2021.
• The dip in the SBP`s foreign exchange reserves was because of external debt repayment during the period, a statement by the central bank said.
• The holdings of the commercial banks were $6.48bn.
• The country`s overall reserves totalled $24.66bn at the end of the week under review
8. China donates blood testing machine
• The Chinese Consul General in Karachi, Li Bijian, has said his country will continue to cooperate with the people of Pakistan, especially Balochistan, in every field of life.
• Speaking through a video link at a ceremony held at the Quetta Press Club on Wednesday for handing over a modern blood testing machine and other equipment to the Pakhtunkhwa Blood Bank, he said development and prosperity of Balochistan was very dear to China.
• Mr Li said the Pakhtunkhwa Blood Bank was serving humanity without any discrimination
9. Turkish lira rebounds from historic low after govt assurance
• Turkey`s lira rallied further on Thursday and was on track for its best week in two decades, boosted by a government plan to protect some deposits and the added support of state banks aggressively selling dollars.
• The lira rallied as much as 10pc to 10.25 versus the dollar, its strongest level in a month, before paring most of those gains to trade at 11.395 at close of business.
• The currency has whipsawed back from a historic low of 18.4 on Monday when it was down some 60pc on the year, capping a week of record volatility and intraday swings
10. US cricketers stun Ireland in historic game
• The United States scored a famous and deserved T20 cricket triumph over Ireland to get the most important series in their history off to the best possible start.
• A brilliant 65 from Guyanese-born Gajanand Singh helped the hosts reach a competitive 188-6 in their 20 overs and some disciplined bowling from Saurabh Netravalkar and Ali Khan helped keep the Irish at bay to secure a 26-run in the first of two Twenty20 Internationals, the first US home series ever against a Test playing nation.
• The US, wanting to compete at the very highest level, will need more performances like this to stand them in good stead moving forward.
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