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December 14, 2022: National Current Affairs MCQs
1. Financial wizards split over default risk
• Two of the country’s financial managers — past and present — cannot agree on whether the national economy is still in the red or out of danger.
• Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and his predecessor Miftah Ismail put forward their views on the state of Pakistan’s economy: while Mr Dar argued that the country’s performance criteria were up to the mark and “complete” for the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) ninth review, Mr Ismail insisted that the default risk wouldn’t subside unless the Fund came to the table, Dawn.com reported.
• Meanwhile, borrowers like Pakistan have failed to persuade the IMF to review the surcharges it collects from them on loans that are not repaid quickly. The Fund’s executive board and these middle- and lower-income countries discussed the issue on Monday but failed to reach a conclusion
2. PM lays foundation of Sukkur-Hyderabad motorway
• Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on December 13, 2022 performed the groundbreaking of the 306-kilometre Sukkur-Hyderabad section of the M6 motorway, which would mark the completion of the Karachi-Peshawar motorway corridor connecting major cities.
• Speaking at a ceremony in Sukkur afterwards, the premier said the 306-kilometre M6 motorway project — announced by former prime minister Imran Khan in April last year and estimated to cost Rs307bn, or Rs1bn per kilometre — would be completed in 30 months.
• Besides, he announced that the federal government would contribute Rs1 billion to Sindh’s development portfolio to mitigate the sufferings of flood-affected people and urged the provincial government to share the same amount out of its kitty
3. Attock Refinery suspends furnace oil production
• Attock Refinery Ltd said on December 13, 2022 it`s temporarily shutting down one of its main processing units for eight days owing to `ullage constraints` arising out of low demand for furnace oil.
• Ullage refers to the empty space in a refinery`s storage tanks. In other words, buyers of furnace oil aren`t lifting the product from the refinery, which has forced the crude oil processor to halt operations for the time being.
• As a result, the refinery will operate at a capacity of 35 per cent. Adequate inventories of different products, however, will remain available to meet any immediate requirement, the company said.
• Speaking to Dawn on Tuesday, a veteran of the refining industry said the situation is a direct outcome of furnace oil-based independent power producers (IPPs) not being despatched by the country`s sole electricity purchaser
Click here to get December 2022 Complete Current Affairs
4. Pakistan’s diplomatic property for sale in Washington
• Pakistan has put one of its diplomatic properties in the US capital — a building on the prestigious R Street NW — for sale, with officials insisting that neither the new nor the old embassies are up for sale.
• The building housed the embassy’s defence section from the mid 1950s to early 2000s. “This building is in the market,” an official for the Pakistan Embassy confirmed.
• “We are following the proper procedure for sale.” The embassy advertised the proposed sale in newspapers and has received several bids. “It is still in the market, no final decision yet,” the official added.
• The embassy said they were consulting an appraiser to assess what’s better for them: to sell the building as it is, or to do so after renovation
5. Reko Diq company exempted from capital value tax
• The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has exempted all assets of the Reko Diq gold and copper mining company from capital value tax, which is payable by individuals, firms and companies that acquire an asset by purchase or a right to use for more than 20 years.
• The exemption on assets of the Reko Diq Mining Company Limited, formerly Tethyan Copper Company Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd, will come into effect immediately. The government has set Dec 15 for the complete revival of the multibillion-dollar project.
• The decision was implemented through SRO 2200 to exempt the project assets from the capital value tax. However, Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo has said all provincial taxes would remain effective on the project.
• `We have not transferred any of our power to the federal government and also not waived off any of our tax on the Reko Diq project,` he told reporters in Quetta on Tuesday
