ZEE5 woos Pakistan, Bangladesh

Source: Zee5. Images for the #ShareTheLove campaign.

Three months after its soft launch across 190+ countries, digital entertainment platform ZEE5 is now focused on Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The #ShareTheLove is themed around the similarities that ZEE5 shares with Pakistan and Bangladesh in terms of culture and entertainment. Bringing in a strong bouquet of content which resonates with audiences in these markets, including Hindi and Bengali original shows like Rangbaaz, Kaali and the upcoming Sharate Aaj, original films like Aranyadeb and Tigers as well as digital premieres like Namaste England and Praktan; ZEE5 shares the love.

Amit Goenka, CEO, ZEE International and Z5 Global, said, "Indian content, especially our TV shows, movies and music gets tremendous love across the globe, and especially so from the sub-continent due to the relatability. We are glad to announce our availability in Bangladesh and Pakistan vide our new campaign #ShareTheLove and we look forward to getting a tremendous response from these markets."

"Good content transcends borders and especially so with Pakistan and Bangladesh where there is so much shared context of culture and language. This high energy TVC captures our innate similarities and showcases the content that we all love to watch, which is now available on ZEE5. With this message at its core, #ShareTheLove is sure to resonate beautifully with audiences in these markets," adds Archana Anand, Chief Business Officer, ZEE5 Global.

ZEE5 offers 1,00,000 hours of Indian movies, TV shows, cine plays, music, videos and exclusive originals across 12 languages - English, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, Oriya, Bhojpuri, Gujarati and Punjabi. It also offers 60+ popular live TV channels.

Details:

Download the ZEE5 app from Google Play Store or the iOS App Store. ZEE5 is also available . ZEE5 is also available on Samsung Smart TV, Apple TV, Android TV and Amazon Fire TV.

Watch the TV commercials for Bangladesh and Pakistan

IMF sees favourable outcome for Pakistan's economic growth

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded its Article IV consultation* with Pakistan on June 14, 2017.

Pakistan’s outlook for economic growth is favourable, the IMF said, with real GDP estimated at 5.3% in FY2016/17 and strengthening to 6% over the medium term on the back of stepped-up China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) investments, improved availability of energy, and growth-supporting structural reforms. Inflation has been gradually increasing but remains contained, the IMF team said, and the financial sector has remained sound.

However, macroeconomic stability gains made under the 2013-16 IMF Extended Fund Facility (EFF)-supported programme have begun to erode and could pose risks to the economic outlook, the IMF warned. Fiscal consolidation has slowed, with the 2016/17 budget deficit target of 4.2% of GDP (authorities’ latest projection) is likely to be exceeded, the IMF said.

The current account deficit has widened and is expected at 3% of GDP in 2016/17, driven by quickly rising imports of capital goods and energy. Foreign exchange reserves have declined in the context of a stable rupee/dollar exchange rate. On the structural front, while the successful implementation of business climate and financial inclusion reforms has continued, some renewed accumulation of arrears in the power sector has been observed, and financial losses of ailing public sector enterprises continue to weigh on scarce fiscal resources.

IMF Directors agreed** that the growth outlook remains favourable, but noted that policy implementation weakened recently and macroeconomic vulnerabilities are reemerging. They  emphasised that sustained fiscal consolidation over the medium term, in line with the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation (FRDL) Act, is critical to strengthen economic resilience, safeguard fiscal sustainability, and limit pressures on the current account and international reserves.

To this end, Directors recommended mobilising additional tax revenues by broadening the tax base and strengthening tax administration; and enhancing the composition of public spending by containing the wage bill’s growth, further reducing electricity subsidies, and increasing priority social spending. They suggested strengthening the national fiscal federalism framework and public debt management.

Directors stressed the importance of maintaining a prudent monetary policy stance to preserve low inflation, and of further advancing financial sector reforms to continue strengthening resilience and support financial deepening. They welcomed the progress in fostering financial inclusion and implementing the business climate reform strategy, and encouraged the authorities to press ahead with these efforts. Directors also recommended further strengthening social safety nets.

*Under Article IV of the IMF's Articles of Agreement, the IMF holds bilateral discussions with members, usually every year. A staff team visits the country, collects economic and financial information, and discusses with officials the country's economic developments and policies. On return to headquarters, the staff prepares a report, which forms the basis for discussion by the Executive Board.

**At the conclusion of the discussion, the MD, as Chairman of the Board, summarises the views of Executive Directors, and this summary is transmitted to the country's authorities. An explanation of any qualifiers used in summings up can be found here.

South Asia has the potential to be the world's premier export region

With the right set of productivity-enhancing policies, South Asia could more than triple its share in global markets of electronics and motor vehicles and come close to doubling its already significant market share in apparel (excluding textiles and leather) by 2030. South Asia could become the fastest-growing exporting region of the world if authorities in Pakistan and its South Asian neighbors implement a set of policy actions aimed at improving the business environment, connecting to global value chains (GVC) and leveraging clusters, said a new World Bank report – South Asia’s Turn: Policies to Boost Competitiveness and Create the Next Export Powerhouse.
The report argues that increasing productivity of firms in Pakistan and the rest of South Asia is the only sustainable path to improving competitiveness. The report highlights well-known challenges in the region’s investment climate, but more importantly draws attention to less well-researched areas such as the role of cities and clusters, global value chains, and firms’ abilities to innovate and efficiently use resources, including technology.

As acknowledged in the recent World Bank 2017 Doing Business report, the implementation of needed reforms is gaining momentum, and needs to be accelerated. Pakistan should also leverage the benefits of its city clusters by actively mitigating congestion forces and facilitating access to industrial land. Expanded participation in global value chains to markets through improvements in trade policies, logistics, and skills will also be beneficial. The report also calls for helping firms innovate, improve their managerial capabilities, and use technology to better connect with customers and suppliers for boosting competitiveness.

The region’s great potential to boost its competitiveness is evidenced through a number of examples in the report, ranging from the highly successful apparel industries in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to Pakistan’s light manufacturing cluster in Sialkot which has achieved dominant global market shares in products such as soccer balls and surgical instruments. 

“Pakistan, in particular, has important strategic endowments and development potential,” says Illango Patchamuthu, World Bank’s Country Director for Pakistan. “Located at the crossroads of South Asia, Central Asia, China and the Middle East, Pakistan is at the heart of a regional market with a vast population, large and diverse resources, and untapped potential for trade.”

Pakistan leads many global competitors when it comes to wage competitiveness and proximity to key markets yet continues to experience weakening in exports competitiveness. Exports remain concentrated in the textiles and food sectors and investment in global value chain capabilities including physical capital, human capital, institutions and logistics remain limited.

“The region has a significant untapped potential in raising productivity through development of urban ecosystems providing thick markets for skilled labour, large tracts of industrial land, and world class logistics,” says Vincent Palmade, Lead Economist and one of the report’s co-authors. According to the report, firms realise significant productivity benefits from locating in areas with a wide diversity of workers, suppliers, and customers.

PIA adds Lahore-Salalah route

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has added Salalah, Oman to its flight destinations. The inaugural flight, PK235, departed from Lahore at 12:30pm on December 1.

Flights on the Lahore-Salalah-Lahore sector will operate twice a week, every Thursday and Sunday.

PIA is already flying to Muscat, the capital of Oman, and with these additional twice-weekly flights to Salalah, PIA hopes to further boost the link between the two countries and within the region.

PIA CEO Bernd Hildenbrand said that PIA is expanding its fleet and flights on profitable routes are being increased, especially to places where there is a sizeable expatriate Pakistani community.

PIA takes 30% off on selected late night domestic flights

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is offering a 30% discount on late-night flights, defined as flights departing between midnight and 6am, on selected domestic routes.

The discounts are available for the Karachi-Lahore, Karachi-Islamabad, Karachi-Multan and Karachi-Faisalabad routes.

IMF mission says Pakistani economic reform needs to continue beyond EFF

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff mission led by Harald Finger, visited Dubai from July 26 – August 4, 2016 to conduct discussions on the 12th and final review of Pakistan’s economic programme, which is supported by a three-year IMF Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement. The staff team met with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Ashraf Wathra, and other senior officials.

At the conclusion of the mission, Finger issued the following statement: “After productive discussions, the mission and the Pakistani authorities have reached staff-level agreement on the completion of the twelfth and final review under the EFF arrangement. The agreement is subject to approval by the IMF Management and the Executive Board. Upon completion of this review, SDR73 million (about US$102 million) will be made available to Pakistan.

“Growth is expected to reach 5% in FY16/17, supported by buoyant construction activity, strengthened private sector credit growth, and an investment upturn related to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Nevertheless, a challenging global environment and declining exports are weighing on growth prospects. Average inflation is expected at around 5.2% in FY2016/17, remaining well-anchored by continued prudent monetary policy. Gross international reserves reached US$18.1 billion at end-June 2016, covering over four months of prospective imports.

“Programme performance in Q4FY15/16 has been solid. Most end-June 2016 quantitative performance criteria (PCs) were met, although the ceilings on the budget deficit and net domestic assets (NDA) of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) were exceeded by small margins. We welcome the authorities’ commitment to take remedial actions in these areas. All indicative targets and structural benchmarks (SB) were met, except for the delayed notification of multi-year tariffs for three power distribution companies.

“In the course of the IMF-supported programme, Pakistan’s economy has made significant progress toward strengthening macroeconomic and financial stability and resilience, and laying foundations for higher, more sustainable, and inclusive growth. Growth gradually accelerated, international reserve buffers have been rebuilt, and the budget deficit narrowed significantly, helped by sizeable growth in tax revenue. Inflation declined, helped by lower oil prices and improved monetary and fiscal policies. Regulatory reforms and improved energy sector performance have slowed the accumulation of arrears and begun to reduce outages. Coverage under the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) has expanded, and stipends increased by over 60%. Regulations to fight money-laundering and financing of terrorism have been strengthened. Despite some delays, the authorities continue to advance in their work toward restructuring and divesting ailing public sector enterprises (PSEs).

“To consolidate and reinforce the gains achieved in the last three years, the economic reform agenda needs to continue after the programme ends. In this context, it will be important to further strengthen public finances and external buffers, broaden the tax net, improve public financial management, strengthen the monetary policy framework, address losses in PSEs, complete the energy sector reforms, and accelerate competitiveness-enhancing improvements of the business climate, including the trade regime. Continued progress with these reforms will be critical to reinforce the authorities’ achievements under this IMF-supported programme."

End-of-Mission statements of IMF staff teams convey preliminary findings after a visit to a country. The views expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF’s Executive Board.

ADIB launches Spice credit card for NRIs, NRPs

Source: ADIB. The new Spice Card offers a range of cashbacks if the owner hits a minimum spend.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) has launched the Spice Card to complement its tailored product offerings to non resident Indians (NRIs) and non resident Pakistanis (NRPs) in the UAE.

The ADIB Spice Card offers NRI and NRP customers a chance to save more money with a range of competitive offers and discounts. This includes 9% cashback on all dining spends, 7% cashback on all supermarket spends, 4% cashback on fuel and 1% cashback on utility bills. The cashbacks apply on local as well as international spend, and customers also earn up to two reward points for every AED1 spent on other merchant categories.

Venkatesh Srikantan, Head of Retail - Expat Banking at ADIB, said, "While there are banking products in the UAE for Indians and Pakistanis to use in their home countries, there is a lack of products specifically tailored for them in the UAE. Our research shows that the spending habits and financial requirements of NRIs and NRPs centre on some common characteristics. As a customer-centric bank, it is of utmost importance for us to design value added products that suit their financial needs."

The Spice Card adds to ADIB's product offering for NRIs and NRPs. Last year, ADIB launched finance solutions for NRIs to buy properties in India and NRPs to purchase properties in Pakistan.

The Indian community in the UAE totals some 2.6 million people and constitutes 30% of the total population, making it the largest expatriate community in the country. Pakistanis form the second largest ethnic group in the UAE, with a population of over 1.2 million, constituting 12.5% of the country's total population.

A minimum monthly spend of AED3,000 is required on the Spice Card to qualify for the cashback offers with a maximum cashback cap of AED50 on utility payments, AED200 on restaurant bills, AED50 on fuel and AED100 on supermarket spending. ​

PIA cuts fares for international and domestic flights post-strike

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has reduced fares on domestic and major international flights. Fares on the Karachi-Islamabad-Karachi and Karachi-Lahore-Karachi routes will start from Rs7,500.

PIA had been dealing with what it said was an illegal strike, and praised the teamwork of PIA employees in managing passengers in the face of resulting flight reductions. The airline made arrangements with Air Blue on 4 February to accept PIA's confirmed ticket passengers for flights to Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, Dubai, Muscat, Jeddah and Riyadh. Arrangements had also been made with Shaheen Air to accept PIA's confirmed ticket passengers for domestic flights.

On 12 February PIA reported that its flight schedule has fully returned to normal within two days of ending the strike, expressing gratitude to customers for their confidence in the national carrier. PIA has also pledged to give full refunds for any international and domestic tickets that were not utilised during strike days.

Interested?

According to a Suroor Asia blog post, PIA also announced fare discounts in January 2016 

Gulf Air extends direct presence to four cities in North Pakistan

Source: Gulf Air.

Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, has officially opened four new sales offices in the north Pakistani cities of Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar and Sialkot. 

Gulf Air operates direct flights between Bahrain and the Pakistani cities of Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Sialkot with 23 flights a week in total. Flights to and from Pakistan can be booked either online at gulfair.com, through the airline’s 24 hour Worldwide Contact Centre on +973 1737 3737, through any Gulf Air sales office or at approved travel agencies.

The new offices will manage passengers’ ticketing and sales requirements and respond to any general enquiries. The new Gulf Air offices in Pakistan can be found at:

Gulf Air, Islamabad
Unit 1-A, Shahid Plaza, 

Blue Area Jinnah Avenue F-6/4, 

Islamabad.
Tel: +92 512 8100 2832

Gulf Air, Karachi
1st Floor, Kashif Centre, 

Shahrah-e-Faisal, 

Karachi.
Tel: +92 21 5675 2316

Gulf Air, Lahore
Lufthansa House 5-G/2, 

Block H, Gulberg II, 

Lahore.
Tel: +92 423 5763 4569

Gulf Air, Peshawar
UG-46, Deans Trade Centre, 

Peshawar Cantt
Tel: +92 9 1556 0778

Gulf Air, Sialkot
10 Ground Floor, 

Abdullah Trade Centre, Kutchery Road, 

Sialkot.
Tel: +92 524 2684 2831

Qatar Airways adds flights to Muscat, Islamabad, Tehran from September

Qatar Airways has announced more flights to the popular destinations of Tehran, the capital of Iran, Islamabad, capital city of Pakistan, and Muscat, capital of Oman in response to a steady increase in passenger demand. 

Source: Qatar Airways. From left: Muscat, Islamabad, and Tehran.

The additional flights, which include four for Tehran, two for Islamabad and four for Muscat per week, will commence September 1, 3 and 16 respectively. The Doha-Muscat route will go up from 31 to 35 per week. Qatar Airways has five flights daily to Oman while Tehran, which is currently served with 14 flights a week, will see an increase to 18 flights weekly when it adds the four flights. 

The airline now flies to Islamabad once a day; two more flights added to the schedule bring the number of weekly flights up from seven to nine. Qatar Airways increased frequencies to Islamabad last year, from four flights a week to daily flights. 

The additional flights will help meet the needs of those travelling to and from the Americas, which is a popular destination for many passengers from Pakistan. The short connection time at Hamad International Airport in Doha is another strong draw for those looking to make the cross-Atlantic journey.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Officer, His Excellency Akbar Al Baker said: “People from all over the world are becoming more and more interested in discovering this part of the world. With such rich histories and stunning, undiscovered landscapes, these destinations are hidden gems that are slowly coming into their own.

“We have witnessed a great increase in passenger demand for both local passengers in each market, as well as international passengers looking to travel to each of these cities, and passengers on these flights can look forward to an enhanced travel experience with Qatar Airways’ five-star service as we welcome them onboard.”

The additional Doha – Tehran weekly flight schedule commencing September 1 (all times local)

Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays

Depart Doha QR488 at 0720 hrs, arrive Tehran at 1055 hrs
Depart Tehran QR489 at 1155 hrs, arrive Doha at 1230 hrs


The two additional Doha – Islamabad flights commencing September 3 (all times local)

Wednesdays and Thursdays

Depart Doha QR616 at 0050 hrs, arrive Islamabad at 0630 hrs
Depart Islamabad QR617 at 0730 hrs, arrive Doha at 0915 hrs


The additional Doha – Muscat weekly flight schedule commencing September 16 (all times local)

Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays

Depart Doha QR1126 at 1440 hrs, arrive Muscat at 1705 hrs
Depart Muscat QR1127 at 1805 hrs, arrive Doha at 1830 hrs