News 20Nov23

 Oil extends gains as OPEC+ to mull deeper cuts

Oil futures nudged higher on Monday, extending gains on expectations of OPEC+ deepening supply cuts to shore up prices, which have fallen for four weeks on easing concern of Mid-East supply disruption brought about by the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Brent crude futures climbed 11 cents, or 0.1%, to $80.72 a barrel by 0012 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $75.97 a barrel, up 8 cents. The front-month December contract expires later on Monday while the more active January futures gained 13 cents, or 0.2%, at $76.17 a barrel.

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Both contracts settled 4% higher on Friday after three OPEC+ sources told Reuters that the producer group, made up of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies including Russia, is set to consider whether to make additional oil supply cuts when it meets on Nov. 26.

Oil prices have dropped by almost 20% since late September while prompt inter-month spreads for Brent and WTI slipped into contango last week. Prompt prices are lower than those in future months in a contango market, signalling sufficient supply.

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"Our statistical model of OPEC decisions suggests that deeper cuts should not be ruled out given the fall in speculative positioning and in timespreads, and higher-than-expected inventories," Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note.

The bank's baseline forecast is that the existing group production cuts stay fully in place in 2024, and that the unilateral cut of 1 million barrels per day by Saudi Arabia will be extended through the second quarter of next year, and reversed only gradually from July.

 

Huthis say they seized Israeli vessel, Israel denies
Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels said on Sunday they had seized an Israeli ship in the Red Sea, a claim immediately denied by Israel.

The allegation came days after the rebel group had threatened to target Israeli vessels in the Red Sea over Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“We took an Israeli cargo ship to the Yemeni coast,” an unidentified Huthi official said in a statement, adding that further details would be released later.

A Yemeni maritime source said the Huthis “seized a commercial vessel” and took it to the port of Salif in the coastal city of Hodeida which the rebels control, without specifying its nationality.

Israel’s military denied the ship was Israeli.

A statement by the army on X, formerly Twitter, said: “The hijacking of a cargo ship by the Huthis near Yemen in the southern Red Sea is a very grave incident of global consequence.”

“The ship departed Turkey on its way to India, staffed by civilians of various nationalities, not including Israelis.

“It is not an Israeli ship,” the Israeli army said in the statement. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also denied the ship was Israeli but denounced, in a statement, “the Iranian attack against an international vessel”.

“The ship, which is owned by a British company and is operated by a Japanese firm, was hijacked with Iran guidance by the Yemenite Huthi,” it said.

 

IMF executive board meeting likely on Dec 7: Scramble to hike power, gas tariffs to curb circular debt
With the possibility of the IMF’s executive board meeting on December 7 for $700 million tranche, the government will have to hike the quarterly power tariff adjustments in order to restrict the ballooning circular debt.

Top officials told The News on Friday that the power companies had sought a determination from Nepra of the quarterly tariff adjustments and it was hoped to be determined within the next couple of weeks.

The date of the hearing has not yet been officially fixed but the quarterly tariff adjustment for the first quarter (July-September) was due and it would be done soon.

Secondly, the government has also agreed to revise the gas tariff from January 2024 mainly because the dollar-denominated tariff might witness further escalation in months ahead with the objective to reduce the circular debt.

The IMF has already estimated that the circular debt of energy sector has ballooned to over 4 percent of GDP equivalent to Rs4,000 billion.

To a question about the possibility of the executive board meeting on December 7 for considering Pakistan’s request for approval of $700 million tranche under the SBA program, Ministry of Finance spokesman Qamar Abbasi stated that the IMF had not yet officially informed Islamabad about date of meeting.

The sources said Pakistan and the IMF had developed consensus on eight charts including restricting the fiscal deficit and envisaging keeping primary surplus in the range of 0.4 percent of GDP, and the debt servicing would hover around Rs8.3 trillion for the current fiscal year against budgetary target of Rs7.3 trillion.

 

Jul-Oct borrowing down $0.408m to $3.847bn YoY: EAD
The country borrowed $3.847 billion from multiple financing sources during the first four months (July-October) of the current fiscal year 2023-24 compared to $4.255 billion borrowed during the same period of 2022-23, revealed the Economic Affairs Division (EAD) data.

 

Data further shows that the country received $318.10 million in October 2023 compared to $2.017 billion in October 2022.

The government has budgeted $2.4 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the current fiscal year 2023-24 and received $1.2 billion as the first tranche of the $3 billion Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) in July 2023, however, the EAD data does not reflect it. Further, there is no mention of $1 billion disbursed by the UAE. If the IMF and UAE inflows are added, the total inflows would reach $6.047 billion during the first four months of the current fiscal year.

The $3.847 billion included $2 billion received from Saudi Arabia under the head of time deposit during July 2023. The data further shows that the government had budgeted estimates of $4.5 billion from the foreign commercial banks for the current fiscal year 2023-24, however, no money was received under this head during the first four months of the current fiscal year.

The government had budgeted $1.5 billion from the issuance of bonds, however, the country is yet to issue the bonds, hence no amount is received so far.

The government had budgeted $17.619 billion from multiple financing sources for the current fiscal year including $17.384 billion loans and $234.60 million grants.

The country borrowed $10.844 billion from multiple financing sources including $2.206 billion from foreign commercial banks during the fiscal year 2022-23 against the budgeted foreign assistance of $22.817 billion. However, the $10.844 billion did not include the rollover of friendly countries’ deposits amounting to $6 billion (i.e. $3 billion each from China and Saudi Arabia), and the re-financing of Chinese loan of $1.3 billion.

 

Average PSDP project takes 14.1 years in Pakistan: IMF
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has assessed average time for completion of development projects in Pakistan stands at 14.1 years if no new projects are included in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) list.

The IMF has come up with a technical assistance report titled ‘Public Investment Management Assessment (PIMA)’ for evaluating Pakistan’s development framework, which is expected to be launched soon.

The IMF assessed there were 244 new development projects included in the PSDP with an estimated cost of Rs2,261.9 billion during the last financial year 2022-23. The number of ongoing development projects was 909 with a total cost of Rs7,961.5 billion, it said. So, the average time for completion of a project stood at 14.1 years provided the development budget remained the same and no projects included into the PSDP.

While the Planning Commission gives funding priority to ongoing projects, reforms are needed to provide a more credible basis for the PSDP budget. The total cost of completion of ongoing projects, the “throw forward”, is very large compared to realistic funding available in the medium term.

It shows if the annual PSDP budget remains the same, and no new projects are added, it will take approximately 14 years to complete the existing approved projects. However, in practice new projects continue to be added at a significant rate.

In addition, the estimated years for completion is likely understated since i) ongoing projects not receiving funding in 2022-23 (known as unfunded projects) are not counted in the funding backlog, ii) the 2022-23 PSDP does not include flood-related projects that have been subsequently approved and iii) delays result in significant cost overruns.

The Planning Commission estimates a typical project requires 2-3 times its original estimated cost due to inflation, damage to work already done and loss of materials at inactive building sites, and increased builder costs – which Planning Commission attributes largely to funding-induced delays.

 

Jul-Oct borrowing down $0.408m to $3.847bn YoY: EAD
The country borrowed $3.847 billion from multiple financing sources during the first four months (July-October) of the current fiscal year 2023-24 compared to $4.255 billion borrowed during the same period of 2022-23, revealed the Economic Affairs Division (EAD) data.

Data further shows that the country received $318.10 million in October 2023 compared to $2.017 billion in October 2022.

The government has budgeted $2.4 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the current fiscal year 2023-24 and received $1.2 billion as the first tranche of the $3 billion Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) in July 2023, however, the EAD data does not reflect it. Further, there is no mention of $1 billion disbursed by the UAE. If the IMF and UAE inflows are added, the total inflows would reach $6.047 billion during the first four months of the current fiscal year.

The $3.847 billion included $2 billion received from Saudi Arabia under the head of time deposit during July 2023. The data further shows that the government had budgeted estimates of $4.5 billion from the foreign commercial banks for the current fiscal year 2023-24, however, no money was received under this head during the first four months of the current fiscal year.

The government had budgeted $1.5 billion from the issuance of bonds, however, the country is yet to issue the bonds, hence no amount is received so far.

The government had budgeted $17.619 billion from multiple financing sources for the current fiscal year including $17.384 billion loans and $234.60 million grants.

The country borrowed $10.844 billion from multiple financing sources including $2.206 billion from foreign commercial banks during the fiscal year 2022-23 against the budgeted foreign assistance of $22.817 billion. However, the $10.844 billion did not include the rollover of friendly countries’ deposits amounting to $6 billion (i.e. $3 billion each from China and Saudi Arabia), and the re-financing of Chinese loan of $1.3 billion.

The country received $306.26 million under the head of “Naya Pakistan Certificate” during the first four months of the current fiscal year 2023-24.

 

Pakistan needs $25b loans this FY: IMF
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised Pakistan’s foreign loan requirements to $25 billion for this fiscal year -- reducing it by $3.4 billion -- and also lowered the economic growth projection to just 2%, turning down the government’s external as well as macroeconomic forecasts.

Finance ministry sources said the IMF had also lowered its inflation projection for the country to 22.8% for this fiscal year -- reducing it from 25.9%.

The IMF did not accept the finance ministry’s projections for the current account deficit (CAD), imports, economic growth, inflation and gross financing requirements.

However, it adjusted all these numbers during the first review talks in comparison with the estimates of July this year.

The revisions to the gross external financing requirements -- a sum of money needed to fill the CAD as well as the repayment of maturing debt --- and to the macroeconomic projections were made during this week’s first review of the $3 billion bailout package.

The IMF remained successful in acquiring a date for the general elections and in return ignored a few critical areas, which in the past had become a cause for the failure of the previous $6.5 billion bailout package.

It also brought the activities of the Special Investment Facilitation Council under its purview.

The finance ministry spokesperson, Qamar Abbasi, did not respond to a request for comments.

In comparison with July this year, the IMF lowered the foreign loan requirements for this fiscal year from $28.4 billion to $25 billion -- a reduction of $3.4 billion.

 

Govt debt may soar to Rs81.8tr
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected the federal government’s total debt obligations will skyrocket to Rs81.8 trillion by the end of this fiscal year while budget deficit and interest payment costs will exceed approved allocations.

Due to unrealistic budgetary allocations, the IMF has now projected the size of Pakistan’s federal budget at Rs15.4 trillion, which is Rs1.1 trillion higher than that approved by the National Assembly in June this year, sources told The Express Tribune.

Government sources said that the global lender projected that the public and publicly guaranteed debt may increase to Rs81.8 trillion, or 77.3% of gross domestic product (GDP), by the end of current fiscal year in June 2024.

The lender revised upwards its debt projection for Pakistan during the recent review talks solely due to slippages in expenditures, they added.

Sources said that compared to the budget deficit target of Rs6.9 trillion, the IMF estimated that the deficit would peak at a record Rs8.2 trillion, a slippage of Rs1.3 trillion. The IMF’s fresh estimates are in line with its earlier projections.

They said that the key reason behind the higher-than-budgeted gap between expenditures and income was the unrealistic allocation for interest payments.

The lender estimated the cost of interest payments at a record Rs8.63 trillion. It was nominally higher than the IMF’s earlier estimate, said the finance ministry sources.

Two months ago, The Express Tribune had reported that interest expenses may exceed the budget allocation by over Rs1 trillion while the government was also facing external financing gap of at least $4.5 billion.

Interim Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar on Thursday announced that they had shelved plans to float $1.5 billion worth of Eurobonds.

 

SBP chief sees CAD below $100m in Oct
State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Gover­nor Jameel Ahmad said on Friday the central bank is expecting the current account deficit (CAD) will be “well below $100 million” in October.

Speaking at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Mr Ahmad said the CAD — which reflects the quantum of a nation’s negative sales in foreign markets — is expected to remain “well-contained” in 2023-24.

The CAD shrank 87 per cent to $2.2 billion in 2022-23 following a wide range of import restriction measures implemented to curb the outflow of dollars. The CAD came down 58pc year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023-24 to $947m.

“We’re hoping the CAD for the first four months will stay below $1.1bn,” he added.
In a speech laden with overly optimistic economic forecasts, the SBP governor told IBA students the worst was over because of the SBP’s “strong and forceful policy response” to the challenges of inflation and a weak external account position.

He took pride in the fact that the SBP was among the first few central banks globally that began to tighten monetary policy — increasing interest rates to stabilise the economy and control inflation — in response to emerging inflationary concerns as early as September 2021.

The SBP sprang into action when most central banks around the world were still “debating” whether the inflationary wave at the time was transitory in nature, he said. Since then, the SBP has raised the policy rate — which serves as a benchmark for borrowers of all categories — by as much as 15 percentage points to the current level of 22pc.

A majority of questions that people raised in the subsequent Q&A session related to the efficacy of such a hawkish monetary stance since the first quarter of 2021-22. Inflation kept on rising and hit a peak of 38pc in May this year regardless of the steep hike in the policy rate, thus bloating the interest expense of the federal government.

 

Urea talks continue with Russia, China, Azerbaijan
The government is reportedly engaged with Russia, China and Azerbaijan for purchase of 0.2 million tons of urea fertiliser for Rabi season as both PPRA Board and federal cabinet have cleared the proposal of Ministry of Industries and Production (MoI&P), well informed sources told Business Recorder.

However, ECC is yet to accord approval of the negotiated price offered by the parties which participated in urea tender.

According to Additional Secretary (Incharge) Ministry of Industries & Production, Asad ur Rehman Gilani, Rabi season has started and the country was short of 200,000-MT urea fertiliser due to closure of local plants for two months.

Urea tender validity extended till Monday: All bidders match the lowest bid price

“The demand of Rabi season spikes in December and January which necessitates generation of required stock to meet the demand. The minimum required stock is 200,000-MT urea,” he said opining that hat since July, 2023 the Ministry of Industries and Production has written five summaries in this regard.

Thereafter, the matter was placed in Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) where the matter of shortage of urea was deliberated at length keeping in view either of the two requirements for urea.

 

SPI inflation up 9.95pc WoW
The Sensitive Price Index (SPI)-based inflation for the current week, ended 16 November 2023, increased by 9.95 per cent due to increase in the prices of gas (480per cent), tea Lipton (8.88per cent), masoor (5.28per cent), chicken (3.99per cent), garlic (3.09 per cent), wheat flour (2.64per cent), LPG (2.03per cent) and potatoes (2per cent), garlic (2.16per cent), salt powdered (1.82per cent) and chicken (1.60per cent), says Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The year-on-year trend depicts an increase of 41.90per cent mainly due to an increase in the prices of gas charges for q1 (1108.59per cent), cigarettes (94.46per cent), wheat flour (86.41per cent), chilies powdered (81.74per cent), rice basmati broken (76.70per cent), garlic (63.56 per cent), rice irri-6/9 (61.91 per cent, gents sponge chappal (58.05 per cent, tea Lipton (54.57per cent), gents sandal (53.37 per cent), gur (51.01per cent), sugar (49.96per cent), and salt powder (46.37per cent), while a decrease is observed in the prices of onions (36.22per cent), tomatoes (14.02per cent), mustard oil (3.95per cent), vegetable ghee 1kg (2.05per cent), and pulse gram (0.49per cent).

During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 25 (49.02per cent) items increased, 13 (25.49per cent) items decreased, and 13 (25.49 per cent) items remained stable.

The SPI for the week under review was recorded at 309.09 points against 281.12 points registered in the previous week, according to the PBS data released on Friday.

 

Economic recovery to boost oil demand after 25.5pc slump in FY23, says PACRA
The demand for petroleum products is expected to accelerate as the economy shows signs of recovery in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, a study by Pakistan Credit Rating Agency (PACRA) said.

The country's consumption of oil products decreased by 25.5 percent in the fiscal year 2022-23 due to the economic slowdown, as noted by PACRA in its latest study on the performance of oil marketing companies (OMCs).

The demand for POL products is primarily driven by the transport sector and the level of industrial activity in the country. Automotive sales across all segments declined due to supply chain disruptions caused by SBP-imposed import restrictions, which led to an increase in vehicle prices and consequently a decline in sales.

On the other hand, LSM also experienced a 10.3 percent dip during FY23. Total consumption of petroleum products during FY23 was recorded at 17.1 million tonnes against 23.1 million tonnes in the previous fiscal year, declining by 25.5 percent year-on-year.

Regarding the types of POL products, white oils accounted for 87 percent of the total POL products consumed, while black oils constituted 13 percent during FY23, compared to 81 percent and 19 percent, respectively, in the previous fiscal year.

The three major products, HSD, MOGAS, and RFO, cumulatively accounted for 94.0 percent of the total POL products consumption in the country during FY23.

However, MOGAS and HSD consumption declined by 74.6 percent and 8.1 percent year-on-year, respectively, in FY23, indicating a slowdown in demand and a concomitant dip in automotive sales.

Passenger car sales experienced a staggering year-on-year drop of 59 percent during FY23, while those for trucks and buses also declined by 41 percent year-on-year due to increasing prices of these vehicles.

RFO consumption declined primarily due to the government's decision to reduce its use as a fuel for power sector plants. During FY23, its consumption declined by 46.5 percent year-on-year to reach 2.3 million tonnes.

 

Power transmission network in Punjab, KP
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $250 million in loans that will help deliver reliable electricity in Pakistan by expanding and improving the power transmission network in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The ADB’s Power Transmission Strengthening Project will help reinforce the stability of the national grid by increasing its transmission capacity. The project will expand the high-voltage transmission network to close 500 kilovolt (kV) and 220 kV transmission lines loops and reduce transmission losses in Lahore city in Punjab by replacing old transmission lines.

“Reliable power supply is essential to inclusive, sustainable economic growth, and it will also provide economic opportunities to rural communities,” said ADB Director General for Central and West Asia Yevgeniy Zhukov. “We are pleased to continue supporting Pakistan in its efforts to achieve energy security while improving energy efficiency.”

The project will complement ADB’s ongoing support to the National Transmission and Despatch Company Limited (NTDC) aimed at ensuring energy security, climate resilience, and increased transmission capacity to deploy sufficient, reliable, clean, and cost-effective energy. Improving the management of the national transmission system of Pakistan is another key objective.

 

Nepra to consider KE petition for grant of electric power distribution, supplier license
National Electric Power Regulatory Authority will consider the K-Electric petition for grant of electric power distribution and supplier license, as the provisional renewal in license granted by Nepra for six months is due to expire on January 20,2024, as stakeholders have opposed the grant of license solely to one company.

The authority is considering the application(s) of KEL for the grant of distribution and supplier licence(s) for its distribution facilities located in the entire metropolitan city of Karachi and Balochistan and has decided to hold a public hearing on November 28, 2023, said Nepra.

It is noteworthy that on July 20, 2023, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) had allowed renewal on provisional basis of six months in the term of distribution licence of K-Electric Limited (KEL), with the condition that the company shall not have any exclusivity for the provision of distribution and/or electric power supply services. NEPRA had granted on July 21, 2003 distribution licence to KEL for the term of 20 years which was expired on July 20, 2023. In response to Nepra notice, the authority received comments from different stakeholders raising various observations/objections to the applications of KEL for the grant of licences. In response to KE petition for renewal/extension of KE distribution and electric power supply license, submitted with Nepra, stakeholders have submitted there comments. According to All City Tajir Ittehad Association: “We firmly believe that the license granted to KE should not be solely granted to KE. License must need to be granted to minimum 20 companies.”

The Association of Builders and Developers of Pakistan(ABAD) representing 1400 construction companies from Pakistan said that the citizens of Karachi have suffered due to inefficiency and poor performance of KE since long. ABAD has opposed any further extension to KE and said that new and well organized and reputed distribution companies should be allowed to operate in city. This will create healthy competition in the market and definitely will be beneficial for the consumers and will also force KE to improve its performance, ABAD argued.

 

Pharma industry plans to enhance export by $1b in FY24: DRAP CEO
The government, along with all stakeholders of the sector, has set a target to enhance pharmaceutical exports to $1 billion in the current financial year from $713 million in exports in the last financial year. This was stated by Asim Rauf, CEO Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP), in a press briefing held on the concluding day of 20th PharmaAsia. The government is working proactively in collaboration with all stakeholders of the pharmaceutical sector, including pharmaceutical companies, raw material producers, and universities, to increase the footprint of this sector in different countries. We held a high-level meeting on the sideline of this conference to set up a plan to achieve the target of $1 billion in exports in the current financial year, he added. Asim Rauf said the government is facilitating the private sector to establish five API plants to increase production of different medicines at a local level for relying less on imported brands while ensuring medicines should be available at low prices in a domestic market.

 

Over 70pc antibiotics used irrationally in Pakistan
In a country where antibiotic medicines worth Rs135 billion were consumed in 2022, over 70 to 80 percent antibiotic medicines were prescribed and consumed unnecessarily for the diseases, which are often self-limiting, officials and experts said on Friday.

“Over 70 percent antibiotics are being used unnecessarily in Pakistan for the diseases which are self-limiting, which means that they are being used where they are not required. This is resulting in Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR), which means antibiotics are being ineffective against disease-casing microorganisms,” Dr Muhammad Salman, acting head of National Institute of Health (NIH) said. “Most of the diseases including flu, cold and other minor health problems should not be treated with antibiotic medicines,” he said.

Infectious diseases specialist Dr Ejaz Ahmed Khan said due to unnecessary use of antibiotics in Pakistan, many patients are not responding to these medicines, and eventually they need expensive medicines to treat the chronic infections, costing hundreds of thousands of rupees.

 

Surging food exports hitting domestic buyers
The export of raw food products recorded an upsurge of almost 60 per cent in October compelling domestic consumers to pay higher prices.

These unchecked exports pushed the food inflation to a staggering 29pc in October as prices skyrocketed affecting accessibility to essential commodities, particularly wheat flour, rice, sugar, meat and vegetables.

Food exports grew 30.29 per cent in the first four months of fiscal year 2023-24 to $1.944 billion from $1.492bn over the corresponding months of last year, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The surge in food exports can be attributed to the unprecedented rupee depreciation. In addition, persistent disruptions in the supply chain and higher prices in the international market have led to soaring demand for food products.

The PBS data showed the country’s rice exports rose 30.12pc in July-October FY24 led by basmati rice, which had been falling since last year.

The export of basmati rice experienced a notable surge of 23.13pc, reaching $225.56 million in July-October from $183.18m in the corresponding period last year.

India’s recent decision to impose a ban on rice exports has emerged as a key driver behind the surge in basmati rice exports.

According to PBS data, the export of non-basmati rice rose 33.64pc to $485.22m in July-October 2023-24 from $363.07m in the same period last year.

Due to a sustained surge in export figures over the past two years, the average price of basmati rice has surged Rs350 per kg from Rs150, restricting buying from domestic consumers.

 

Dual exchange rate resurfaces in banking market
The banking currency market is again operating on a dual-rate system, where dollars are selling at a premium compared to the official exchange rate, particularly impacting small-scale importers, banking sources said on Saturday.

The discrepancy comes even though there are no official restrictions on imports or the opening of letters of credit (LCs).

Atif Ahmed, a currency dealer in the interbank market, said that while a few importers could still access dollars at the official rate, most, especially small importers, were charged Rs2 to Rs3 more per dollar than the official rate quoted by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

Bankers noted that opening LCs became relatively easier during the government’s recent discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In its report, the lender has expressed concerns about Pakistan’s exchange rate policies, advising against administrative measures to control currency movements.

Insiders claim banks selling dollars at a premium, impacting small importers

The SBP denies intervening in the banking sector’s currency market, but bankers allege receiving verbal instructions from the SBP. They claim that sometimes the central bank opens the exchange rate in the morning, and the banks are supposed to follow that rate.

Before September, the open market was plagued by a parallel market that severely disrupted the official exchange rate, diverting some $4 billion in remittances to illegal channels.

 

US lawmakers seek ‘suspension’ of assistance to Pakistan
Eleven members of the US Congress, in a letter to US Secr­e­tary of State Anthony Blinken, have urged the Biden administration to withhold future US assistance to Pakistan, until the country restores constitutional order and holds free and fair elections.

The lawmakers requested a legal determination from the Department of State under the Leahy Laws and Section 502(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act to assess if US-origin security assistance had facilitated human rights violations in Pakistan.

“We further request that future security assistance be withheld until Pakistan has moved decisively toward the restoration of Constitutional order, including by holding free and fair elections in which all parties are able to participate freely,” they wrote.
The country’s moves to further strengthen the blasphemy law also figured prominently in the letter, which warned Secretary Blinken that the proposed changes would be used to further tighten the noose around smaller religious groups and minorities.

Nearly dozen Congress members, including Ilhan Omar, seek restoration of Constitutional order, rollback of blasphemy law changes

“We are extremely concerned about the passing of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2023 which will strengthen the existing blasphemy law, which has historically been used to persecute religious minorities,” the lawmakers wrote.

They pointed out that the bill, which is yet to be signed by the president, was “passed in haste despite repeated calls from many lawmakers for a thorough parliamentary procedure.”