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Will cryptocurrency ever be legalised in Pakistan?

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Pakistan has decided to suspend cryptocurrency services available on the internet in the country to prevent illegal digital currency transactions as per the guidelines of the global anti-terror financing watchdog, the federal government said Wednesday.

Adhering to the directives, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the Ministry of Information Technology have initiated work on banning cryptocurrencies.

Briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Finance, Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha asserted that cryptocurrency will “never be legalised in Pakistan”, revealing that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has also imposed restrictions.

“FATF had set a condition that cryptocurrency will not be legalised,” she maintained.

Endorsing Pasha’s views, SBP Director Sohail Jawad said that crypto transactions involve “high risk”; therefore, it will never be granted permission in Pakistan.

“Cyrtocurrency is virtual currency and more than 16,000 types have been formed so far,” he said, adding that the $2.8 trillion market has now shrunk to $1.2 trillion.

Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) Senator Saleem Mandviwalla raised concerns over the billions of dollars invested in the market. Addressing the concerns, the SBP official said that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) — a financial intelligence unit which helps Pakistan to fight against terrorism financing and money laundering — are working on this.

Pakistan has seen a boom in trading and mining cryptocurrency, with interest increasing in thousands of views of related social media videos and online exchange transactions.

Cryptocurrency mining flourished in Pakistan until April 2018 when the government banned trading and mining virtual currencies. There is still a growing mining industry despite the fact that many mining farms have been shut down since this ban was implemented.

Most exchanges operate through ghost partners and never show on the regulatory radar. However, the government has been making continuous efforts to stop crypto trading.

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Pakistan Desires a Sturdy, Long-Term Alliance With Huawei: PM

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According to Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, the government’s primary objective is to give Pakistani youth technical training in the field of information technology.

The prime minister expressed his desire for a strong and long-term collaboration with Huawei in an interview with a five-member delegation that visited him in Islamabad and was led by Huawei CEO Ethan Sun.

He said the Huawei’s ICT training program will not only increase it exports but will also help youth in getting job opportunities.

The meeting was briefed on the progress made in providing training in the it sector to 300,000 pakistani youth organized by Huawei.

Out of 300,000 youth, 240,000 youth will be provided basic training while 60,000 youth will be provided high-tech training.

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The IMF allows Pakistan to lower electricity tariffs.\

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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has permitted the Pakistani government to decrease the energy cost by one rupee.

The alleviation will be incorporated into the base tariff for electrical units, with funding sourced from revenue collected by the levy on captive power plants. A tax has been enacted on the utilization of gas by captive power plants.

The government is developing a relief plan for electricity consumers, which will be announced upon clearance from the international lender.

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Robust purchasing sustains PSX’s positive trend

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On Thursday, bullish momentum continued in the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 index reaching 118,806 after an increase of over 300 points.

Across the board buying was observed in key sectors, including commercial banks, fertiliser, power generation, and oil and gas exploration companies.

Aside from that, index-heavy equities such as MARI, POL, HBL, MCB, UBL, KOHC, and LUCK experienced gains, capitalizing on the prevailing bullish atmosphere in the market.

Market analysts attribute the recent bullish trend in the PSX to a staff-level agreement between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Pakistani authorities following the initial review under Pakistan’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and a new arrangement under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).

Furthermore, a recent study done by the Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) regarding the feasibility of the Reko Diq project in Balochistan has also conveyed favorable indications to investors.

The bulls surged rapidly after the staff-level deal with the global lender, with the KSE-100 Index reaching a peak of 118,220 before closing at 117,178 points, reflecting an advance of 1,139 points on Wednesday.

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