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April 15, 2023: National Current Affairs MCQs
1. Pakistan inches closer to IMF deal with $1.3bn boost
• Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on April 14, 2023 announced financial support from the United Arab Emirates and China totalling $1.3 billion, giving the ailing economy a shot in the arm as it seeks to meet conditions to unlock IMF funding.
• He said the UAE had promised $1bn to prop up Pakistan`s forex reserves which at their current level of $4.04bn can barely pay for four weeks of controlled imports.
• The confirmation from the emirates removes a key hurdle to securing the much-awaited bailout tranche from the International Monetary Fund.
• Besides, China on Friday was set to release $300 million to Pakistan the last tranche of a $1.3bn rollover loan, he said
2. Gloves off as NA vows to repay SC in same coin
• In an unprecedented move amid the ongoing tussle between parliament and the judiciary, the government on April 14, 2023 convened a National Assembly sitting ahead of schedule and secured approval of three bills including one giving the right of appeal to the aggrieved party in suo motu cases and two damning resolutions against the judiciary within half an hour, after suspending several rules.
• Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, who adjourned Thursday`s sitting of the lower house of parliament until April 26, changed the schedule through a notification at a time when members were attending a briefing by the military leadership on the national security situation
3. Military, political leaders agree to revisit anti-terror policy
• Chief of Army Staff Gen Syed Asim Munir acknowledged on April 14, 2023 that a strategy to engage with terrorists had allowed them to regroup in the tribal areas, before the country`s political and military leadership agreed to revisit the anti-terrorism strategy, during an in-camera briefing to members of the National Assembly.
• Gen Munir was apparently referring to the policy devised and followed by the military and political leadership under the PTI regime, following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021.
• To date, former prime minister and PTI chief Imran Khan has defended his policy and still supports the idea of resettling militants returning from Afghanistan
4. Punjab grid company`s feasibility study complete
• A feasibility study for the establishment of Punjab`s power transmission firm, the Punjab Provincial Grid Company (PPGD), has been completed, a meeting learned on April 14, 2023.
• During the meeting, it was further revealed that the feasibility study for the solarisation of district and sessions courts in Punjab has been completed. The energy secretary highlighted plans to establish a main resource data centre in the department, where comprehensive data on solarisation would be available.
• Work to establish the PPGD Punjab Grid Company started in the last quarter of 2021 during the period of former chief minister Usman Buzdar when a summary was initiated by the provincial energy department which sought approval to establish the PPGD. The work was accelerated more keeping in view the progress in Sindh that already succeeded in establishing its own transmission company
5. WB advises prudent fiscal management to save 4pc of GDP
• The World Bank has estimated that Pakistan can save about four per cent of gross domestic product through proper fiscal management and revenue generation by taking benefit from the process of devolution.
• The Pakistan Federal Public Expenditure Review (PER) 2023, launched on April 14, 2023, highlights that the country`s fiscal deficit has been persistently large and growing, posing risks to fiscal and debt sustainability.
• This is the first PER report since 2010 and also the first one at a federal level since the implementation of the 18th Constitutional Amendment and the seventh National Finance Commission (NFC) Award in 2010.The World Bank has said that the 18th Amendment and the NFC Award represented a major shift in the country`s national fiscal architecture
