OPEC ignores Trump’s warning as crude oil crosses $80 per barrel

Corporate Ambassador: The OPEC crude oil price this week crossed $80 per barrel, the highest price since 2015 as OPEC countries ignored the warning of the US President Donald Trump regarding reduction in oil prices.

In 2017, the average OPEC crude oil price ended at US$52/barrel that has steadily crossed 80 dollars a barrel on Sept 27, 2018. Thus in 2018, the OPEC countries have increased their crude oil price by $28 dollars/barrel since January.

The OPEC crude oil was trading around $76/barrel when the American President Trump gave a stern warning to the Arab oildoms against consistent hike in prices and ordered them to cut the prices, but during this week the crude oil of OPEC has crossed the benchmark of $80/barrel that means the Gulf countries, exporting more than 75 percent of the world oil, paid no heed to the warning of Trump.

Interestingly, the OPEC has anticipated 69 dollars per barrel average price for the year 2018, but if the crude oil value continued to mount further, it will settle much above the projection of the oil exporting countries in the Gulf.

Accusing the OPEC oil cartel of ripping off the world, US President Donald Trump warned in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly this week that Washington wouldn’t stand idly by as fuel prices continued to rise.

“We defend many of these nations for nothing and then they take advantage of us by giving us high oil prices. Not good,” he declared, referring to OPEC’s mainly Middle Eastern members, and how the price of oil is at a four-year high.

Hinting that his administration would take action to halt further price increases, Trump said the US was “ready to export our abundant, affordable supply of oil, clean coal, and natural gas.”

OPEC has been limiting output for the past 18 months following a steep price downturn when the global economy recovered from the 2008/09 financial crisis. Stabilization measures have seen prices rise to between $70 (€59.9) and $80 per barrel, leading the cartel to agree in June to raise production by 1 million barrels per day.

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Companies registered with SECP exceed 87K

Now a small company with a paid-up capital of one hundred thousand can be registered at the cost of only 1,500 rupees. As a result of an agreement with the FBR, one-window service has been started. Now with its registration, the company automatically gets its national tax number

Corporate Ambassador/ISLAMABAD: Total number of companies registered with the Securities and Exchanges Companies (SECP) has increased to 87,620 so far. In the financial year 2017-18, the SECP registered 11,370 companies, indicating a growth of 37% over 2016-17. The report has revealed that 558 companies with total paid-up capital of Rs1,297.375 billion are listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange. The market capitalization stood at Rs8,665 billion on June 30, 2018.

The SECP has pointed out this in its annual report for the financial year 2017-18 issued on Sept 28, 2018. The report has detailed various measures that the organization has taken to promote the corporate sector, capital market, non-banking financial sector and insurance sector. The report has also mentions the efforts that the SECP has made to promote ease of doing business, reduce cost of doing business and leverage technological advances for making its services easily accessible.

Speaking on the occasion, Shaukat Hussain, the SECP chairman, said that the regulatory framework has further been strengthened during the year. “We did our best to proactively facilitate business growth, accelerate private capital formation, improve access to formal financial products and interlink the capital markets with the real economy,” he added.

He further said that we have to reach out to our regulated entities and market participants on a proactive basis. Decisions should be made, processes implemented and regulations enacted based on an active dialogue and thorough understanding of the underlying business realities to create markets that support capital formation, economic prosperity, level playing field, transparency and removal of arbitrary and subjective decision-making.  “We vow to continue to take the right initiatives in this regard.”
The report has also outlined the SECP’s  future plans. It says that dedicated efforts will be made for continued  development of the capital markets by trying to foster a deeper linkage and connectivity with the real economy. We also plan establishing state-of-the-art facilitation centers at CROs in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, implementing the Companies (General Provisions and Forms) Regulations and Foreign Companies Regulations. In order to provide Shariah-compliant alternatives to investors, Shariah-compliant financing services are being designed in coordination with NCCPL. Efforts are also underway to introduce a Shariah-based trading platform at PSX.

The salient features of the report are:
•
•Several steps were taken to make incorporation easier. Time for online registration has been reduced to four hours. Now a small company with a paid-up capital of one hundred thousand can be registered at the cost of only 1,500 rupees. As a result of an agreement with the FBR, one-window service has been started. Now with its registration, the company automatically gets its national tax number.

•The KSE 100 index began the year at 44,665.41 points and closed at 41,910.90 on June 30, 2018, i.e., registering a decrease of almost 7% since the beginning of the year. The index touched its lowest level, i.e. 37,919.42 on December 19, 2017, and reached its highest level of 47,084.34 on August 3, 2017. The average daily turnover recorded on June 30, 2018 was 174.532 million shares.

•The Centralized Customer Protection and Compensation Fund replaced the Investor Protection Fund of PSX. The fund is operational, offering adequate safety net to investors trading in our capital market against broker default. The PSX was granted a license to operate as a futures exchange under the Futures Exchanges (Licensing and Operations) Regulations, 2017.

•The SECP approved futures commodity contracts that include Brent crude, crude oil (1,000 barrels), copper (25,000 pounds), silver (5,000 oz) and international cotton (50,000 pounds), which were launched at PMEX.

•As of June 30, 2018, the asset size of the NBF sector stood at Rs1,228 billion as compared to Rs1,196 billion on June 30, 2017, reflecting an overall increase of 2.70%.

•Five companies, including two modarabas offered shares/modaraba certificates to the public as compared to four companies last year. New capital of Rs6.48 billion was listed in FY-2018 as compared to Rs11.651 billion in FY -2017.

•As of June 30, 2018, 25 microfinance institutions had been successfully licensed with total assets of Rs97.17 billion.

•The IOSCO has upgraded Pakistan’s compliance rating in 10 out of 14 of its principles. Pakistan’s compliance went up from 62% in 2015 to 83% in 2017.

•In 2017, premium revenue of life insurers and non-life insurers grew by 18% and 12% respectively. The life insurance sector underwrote premium of Rs213.6 billion, and non-life insurance sector recorded premium of Rs94.8 billion.

Six Major-Generals of Pak Army promoted as Lt-Generals today

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Army has promoted six Major Generals to the next higher rank of Lieutenant General on Friday (Sept 28, 2018).

According to a hand out of ISPR, the promoted Maj-Generals are: Shaheen Mazhar; Maj Gen Nadeem Zaki Manj; Maj-Gen. Abdul Aziz; Maj-Gen. Asim Munir; Maj-Gen. Adnan and Maj Gen Waseem Ashraf.

These senior army officers have been promoted three days ahead of the retirement of some Lt-Generals, who are: Lt-Gen. Mian Muhammad Hilal Hussain, Commander, Army Strategic Force Command (ASFCOM), Lt-Gen. Ghayur Mahmood, Military Secretary; Lt-Gen. Nazir Ahmed Butt; Commander 11 Corps, Peshawar; Lt-Gen. Naveed Mukhtar, Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence (DG ISI) and Lt-Gen. Hidayat-ur-Rehman, Inspector General, Training and Evaluation. They are scheduled to be retired on Oct 1, 2018.

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Five Lt-Generals of Pak Army retiring on 1st of Oct 2018

By J. Choudhry, Editor Corporate Ambassador/ISLAMABAD

Five senior three-star Generals of Pakistan are due to retire on 1^st of Oct 2018, including the Director-General of ISI Naveed Mukhtar, after completing their service in Pakistan Army.

Lt-Gen. Mian Muhammad Hilal Hussain, Commander, Army Strategic Force Command (ASFCOM), Lt-Gen. Ghayur Mahmood, Military Secretary; Lt-Gen. Nazir Ahmed Butt; Commander 11 Corps, Peshawar; Lt-Gen. Naveed Mukhtar, Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence (DG ISI) and Lt-Gen. Hidayat-ur-Rehman, Inspector General, Training and Evaluation are scheduled to be retired on Oct 1, 2018.

Meanwhile, on August 24, 2018, the ISPR has announced reshuffle in Pakistan Army.  According to statement, Lt Gen Nadeem Raza, who previously served as Commander 10 Corps, has been promoted to Chief of General Staff (CGS). Headquartered in Rawalpindi, the X-Corps is primarily responsible for defending the Line of Control (LoC).

Lt Gen Shahid Baig Mirza has been transferred as the new IG C&IT. Lt Gen Humayun Aziz has taken command of V Corps. Chairman Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) Lt Gen Mohammad Naeem Ashraf has been appointed Commander II Corps. Lt Gen Bilal Akbar, replaced by Lt Gen Raza, formerly served as CGS and assumed command of X-Corps while Lt Gen Abdullah Dogar has been appointed as the new chairman of Heavy Industries of Taxila.

(Writer is Editor, Weekly Corporate Ambassador, former Resident Editor of daily The Nation, Karachi and International Correspondent of Pakistan Forward, Washington. Writer is also Founding-Member of Karachi Editors Club. He can be contacted at jchoudhry63@gmail.com)

Related Post

https://weeklycorporateambassador.wordpress.com/2017/05/30/10-generals-of-pakistan-army-due-to-retire-in-next-16-months/

 

US suffers $375 billion deficit in trade with China in 2017

Trade War between the United States and China would cost more to the US and its consumers rather than having any major negative impact on China.

Corporate Ambassador/ISLAMABAD:

With all the recent hostilities over trade, it’s easy to forget that China and the United States have been top trading partners for years. While trade relations between the two economic powerhouses have not always been smooth, they changed dramatically on July 6, 2018, when Washington imposed the first wave of tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods, prompting an immediate retaliation from Beijing. If President Trump’s threats throughout May and June 2018 are to be taken seriously, nearly a third of Chinese imports to the United States could be affected by tariffs in coming months. The tariffs on China represent a fundamental retreat by the US from the global trading system. US

President Donald Trump has rallied against trade imbalances, particularly with China, on various occasions as he seeks to renegotiate America’s economic relationship with other nations he accuses of exploiting the US. This threatens to cast a dark shadow over the global economy. Beijing appeared stunned that Trump failed to share China’s sentiment that the US has ignored the economic and coincided with the signing by 11 countries of a new Trans-Pacific trade pact that the United States
withdrew from in 2017. The US had a $375.2 bn trade deficit with China in 2017 and had demanded the deficit be slashed by at least $200 bn by 2020. Mian Ahmed Naeem Salik, a Research Fellow of the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad has pointed out this in its report titled “The US-China Trade War 2018” published this week.

The announcement underlines concern about rising US protectionism across the world Both the US and China are targeting each other’s weakest points — the US is targeting China’s future technological capacity, and China is responding by targeting US exporters’ present revenues. The Trump administration argues that in addition to undermining US competitiveness in strategic sectors, Chinese state intervention distorts the global market place through inefficient mergers and acquisitions that artificially inflate the prices of potential acquisition targets and pair lesser Chinese firms with more productive US partners. Ultimately, Chinese market distorting policies, as advanced through the ‘Made in China’ 2025 program, blunt US innovation and corrode its distinct competitive
advantage.

For years, China defended these practices on the grounds that it was a developing country. However, now that China has grown to become the world’s second largest economy, a consensus is building in the US that Beijing can no longer go on hoodwinking the international order by pursuing such blatantly mercantilist policies.4
The US cannot solve trade deficits bilaterally, particularly with China, where trade relations are particularly complex as US companies have moved their production to China. In practice, the US deficit with China has fallen and China’s barriers to imports have been reduced. Modern industrial production takes place within complex international networks and protection is not going to bring whole industries back to the US. The world’s two largest economies account for 40% of global GDP, a quarter of all exported goods, and 30% of the world’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) outflows and
inflows. Their fates are inextricably linked. In a way, they complement and need each other.
The trade war between the US and China carries a major risk of escalation that could weaken investment, depress spending, unsettle financial markets and slow the global economy. These initial tariffs are unlikely to inflict serious harm to the world’s two biggest economies. But the conflict could soon escalate. Even before the first shots, the prospect of a trade war was worrying investors. The Dow Jones industrial average has shed hundreds of points since June 11, 2018. But the risks are  trade cooperation with mutual benefit and win-win results over the last 40 years. President Trump
announced earlier this year that he would levy tariffs on imported steel and aluminium, including products from China. He also signed a memorandum seeking tariffs on $60 bn worth of Chinese goods. China responded with retaliatory tariffs on food imports from the US. Trump’s declaration now priced into the market, and the Dow actually rose nearly 100 points on 13/7/2018 to 24,456.48. China’s currency, the Yuan, has dropped 3.5% against the dollar over June 2018, giving Chinese companies a price edge over their US competition. The drop might reflect a deliberate devaluation by Beijing to signal its displeasure over the state of trade negotiations.

Beijing needs a Plan B to deal with any potential fallout. If relations with Washington deteriorate any further and the trade war escalates, China’s policymakers will need to step up their game, making up for any shortfall in demand. One thing is very clear, monetary conditions must be kept loose for as long as possible to boost domestic reflation hopes. In conclusion, it can be said that the US is an advanced industrialized economy that relies upon liberal, free market principles to spur innovation and growth of its economy.

In contrast, China seeks to occupy a similar position in global commerce, but through a managed economy led by national champions, often state-owned enterprises, and a top-down industrial policy. While there are missing nuances in this characterization, this fundamental difference should be the starting point for any level-headed approach to addressing the dispute. The US objective, it seems, is not to win trade concessions, which would be meaningless against such a backdrop, but to force a change in China’s hole economic and industrial policy approach. Hence, Washington’s preparedness to take actions against companies like against ZTE, a Chinese telecom giant threaten to harm, not improve, the US trade balance with China. A trade-war scenario between the US and China suggests that the US, and especially its consumers, would be amongst the biggest losers. Given globalised supply chains, however, the ramifications would be felt by producers and consumers far and wide.

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Son-in-law of ex-CJP Iftikhar Chaudhary arrested in mega real estate scam

Corporate Ambassador/ISLAMABAD: A son-in-law of Iftikhar Chaudhry, former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP), has been arrested from Dubai in a mega real estate scam involving the Eden Housing Society on Wednesday.

Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhary minister termed the arrest of Murtaza Amjad by the Federal Investigation Agency in UAE as a breakthrough in the government’s campaign for accountability. The warrants for his arrest were issued by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). He claimed that former CJP Chaudhry had made the “shocking” decision by hearing a case regarding the housing scheme himself, and later gave “relief” to its owners because they were the in-laws of his daughter.

The minister said others accused of allegedly cheating people who had invested their money in the Eden Housing Society included Iftikhar Chaudhry’s son, Arsalan Iftikhar, his daughter and the father-in-law of his daughter. Some concrete development regarding the arrest of the other accused is expected to emerge today, Fawad added. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan has sought a report regarding the arrests of the accused in the case within 24 hours.

The affectees of the Eden Housing Society had on Sunday held a demonstration outside the Lahore residence of Prime Minister Khan, urging him to help them recover their hard-earned money allegedly looted by the group that launched the housing scheme.

The protesters demanded that the PTI government bring Eden Housing group owner Dr Amjad and others back from Canada and recover the looted money from them or ensure the group completed the project and handed them over the houses and plots promised to them.

There are about 10,000 affectees of the Eden Housing group. Dr Amjad and his two sons had managed to flee the country in April last and traveled to Canada as the interior ministry did not put their names on the Exit Control List despite a request by NAB.

NAB has estimated the property seized from the Eden group to be worth up to Rs20bn. The NAB has claimed that it would compensate the affectees soon.

In June, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) had written a letter to NAB Chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal, asking him to launch an investigation against ex-CJP Chaudhry and his family for allegedly receiving benefits in the scam of the failed Eden Housing Society.

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Saudi Arabia joining CPEC as Third Strategic Partner _ A Big Breakthrough in mega project

By Javed Mahmood, Editor Corporate Ambassador

We have suddenly heard an unexpected breakthrough in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that is the participation of Saudi Arabia in this multi-billion dollars mega project. Last week, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan held meetings with Saudi King Muhammad Bin Salman and other senior Saudi officials.

The big news that hit the headlines was the Pakistani PM’s offer to Saudi Arabia to set-up an Oil City in Gwadar at a cost of US$10 billion under the CPEC project. The Pakistani Premier also offered Saudi Arabia to become the third strategic partner of this mega project, no doubt, with the consent of China. How much significant is the entry of Saudi Arabia in CPEC can be imagined from the fact that this development would set aside fears and speculations about China’s debt trap for Pakistan and that the PTI government is going to wind up the CPEC.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is being honoured with Guard of Honour in Saudi Arabia during his maiden foreign visit as PM.

Moreover, the opponents of Pakistan, China were opposing tooth and nail the CPEC project with the aim to create hurdles in the way of this project and to spread rumours and speculations about the transparency and entire project through malicious and well-planned propaganda on social media and electronic media.

Everyone knows that Saudi Arabia is one of the influential country in this region and a very powerful Muslim country. Its participation in the CPEC would not only encourage more countries to join this project, but also cause a blow to the evil forces, strongly opposing this game-changing development project to achieve their nefarious designs and vested interests.

The United States of America and India were openly opposing the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, but now it would be very difficult for both these power countries to create obstacles in the way of CPEC after the participation in Saudi Arabia in this project as a Third Strategic Partner.

Prime Minister of Pakistan and his Ministers who accompanied him in the recent Saudi trip are of the opinion that next month the official delegation of Saudi Arabia would visit Pakistan to discuss in detail the nature of their partnership in the CPEC, proposed Saudi Oil City in Gwadar and other investment projects in Pakistan.

China has pledged more than US$55 billion worth investment in the CPEC projects in Pakistan and with the entry of Saudi Arabia, the quantum of investment would exceed US$65 billion, which will increase further with the entrance of more countries in coming months.

In other words, Prime Minister Imran Khan had done a miraculous diplomacy to make Saudi Arabia a strategic partner with the consent of China. Because of the entry of Saudi Arabia in this project that open a flood-gate of foreign investment in CPEC projects in Pakistan in the years ahead.

A couple of weeks before the Saudi visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Saudi Ambassador in Pakistan, Chinese Ambassador and Chinese Foreign Minister held marathon meetings with Khan and other government officials to negotiate the fate of the CPEC and to make Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as third strategic partner of the mega project.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan also visited the United Arab Emirates, a day after visiting Saudi Arabia and also convinced the UAE rulers to make investment in Pakistan either in the CPEC or in other development projects in this country. The official announcement is that the high-level UAE government delegation would be visiting Pakistan next month to discuss the investment avenues.

So in his maiden foreign visit as Prime Minister, Imran Khan had done a wonderful diplomacy and won the hearts of Saudi and UAE rulers for making long-term big investment in Pakistan. The difference between Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan is that the NS promoted his family and filthy business during foreign trips, but Khan is doing everything for his country and for his people.

This approach of Imran Khan would make a big difference those who have ruled the Pakistan in the past, but did nothing worth mentioning except promoting their vested interests.

As the Prime Minister is expected to visit more countries in the weeks to come, we anticipate that his efforts would open many avenues of big foreign investment in Pakistan that had been neglected badly in the past one decade because of massive corruption, bad governance and nepotism.

We believe that in less than one month of his Premiership, Imran Khan had done the finest diplomacy for his country that would benefit the people in the days to come.

In another important diplomacy of the PTI government is that it deliberately ignored the US decision of suspending US$300 million aid to Pakistan under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) during the visit of the Foreign Secretary of America. Instead of begging money, the PTI government made it clear that they want to reset and revisit the Pak-US bilateral relationship with the purpose to find out a strategy that goes in the interest of Pakistan. This unexpected diplomacy of Pakistan, led by Imran Khan, has left America with no other choice but to announce yesterday that the USA is going to reconsider the payment of US$300 million CSF amount to Pakistan.

The most difficult challenge for the PTI government at this time is the repayment of about US$9 billion worth foreign loans by Dec 2018 and we anticipate that the government would overcome this major challenge soon through its well-thought out diplomacy, austerity drive and efforts to recover the looted money by signing bilateral agreements with the United Kingdom and other leading countries in the world.

(Writer is Editor, Weekly Corporate Ambassador, a founding-member of Karachi Editors Club and former Resident Editor of daily The Nation, Karachi. For feedback, plz send email to Mr Javed Mahmood at jchoudhry63@gmail.com or send message at WhatsApp 923343939029)

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WAPDA receives bids for Bhasha Dam

Corporate Ambassador/ISLAMABAD: The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) on Wednesday has received pre-qualifications bids from some firms for the construction of Diamer-Bhasha dam that appears a major breakthrough towards the construction of this mega dam.

The Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), while gearing up its efforts for implementation of the projects, has received pre-qualification bids at Wapda House on Wednesday from as many as five joint ventures of foreign and local firms through international competitive bidding for construction of main dam and appurtenant structures of Diamer-Bhasha dam project, WAPDA said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

 

It announced to evaluate the bids in accordance with the procurement rules of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority and the Pakistan Engineering Council. The 272-meter Diamer-Bhasha dam will have a gross water storage capacity of 8.1 million acre feet and would generate more than 18 billion units of electricity on annual basis.

 

Several philanthropists and common people have donated tens of millions of rupees for the construction of this dam on the appeal of the Chief Justice of Pakistan and Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan.

 

Diamer-Bhasha dam is a multipurpose project aimed at water storage, flood mitigation and power generation. The project will be constructed across River Indus about 40-kilometer downstream of Chillas town.

 

The project will generate 4500 megawatts of electricity with annual energy generation of more than 18 billion units of low-cost and environment friendly electricity. With construction of Diamer-Bhasha Dam project, the life of Tarbela dam will increase to another 35 years,” it added.

PM Imran Khan’s towering personality cuts the image of Modi

News Analysis By J. Choudhry, Editor Corporate Ambassador

ISLAMABAD: The towering personality of newly-elected Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan who enjoys global fame has cut the popularity graph of Indian Prime Minister Modi. Before general elections 2018 in Pakistan, Modi was more popular in comparison with our previous leaders in the government.

However, after the formation of PTI Government and oath-taking of Prime Minister Imran Khan on August 18, 2018, the popularity graph of Khan, known as liberal, hyper-active and friendly as well throughout the world, has left Indian PM Modi far, far behind in popularity and good leadership role.

From the day the Khan had taken oath as Premier of Pakistan, we now rarely hear about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was earlier dominating the debate in Pakistani circles because of frequent firing on LoC and his rhetoric against Pakistan.

When PTI came to power, some Indians tried to create mess through their media, but Indian cricketers like Sidhu, Gawaskar, Kapil Dev and others came on the front and they welcomed Imran Khan as new PM of Pakistan with the hope that his (Khan’s) government would promote  friendly relationship with India.

When Indian cricketer Sidhu embraced Pakistani Army Chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, the Indian extremists raised a lot of hue and cry on their media and declared traitor to the legendary Indian cricketer Sidhu. However, this wicked and malicious propaganda of Indians ended in fiasco when someone shared the joint military exercises in Russia in which Pakistani and Indian military officials also participated.

Some Indians also gave examples of Indian PM Modi who flew to Lahore and went to Jati Umra to attend wedding of the grand-daughter of jailed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Modi gifted several turbans to Sharif family during that wedding.

Opening of Kartarpur Border for Sikh Yatrees

The new government’s decision of opening Kartarpur Border for Sikh Yatrees on the occasion of upcoming anniversary of Sikhs’ spiritual leader Baba Guru Nanak has further elevated the image of Pakistan, Prime Minister and Army Chief. Indian cricketer Sidhu requested the Pakistan government, including the Chief of Army Staff, to open the Kartarpur border to which Pakistan immediately responded and also approached the Indian government to take necessary steps to facilitate the opening of Kartarpur border and arrival/departure of Sikh Yatrees from that point of border between the two countries.

In his opening speech, Imran Khan has made it clear that his government is ready to improve bilateral relationship with India but with the condition of equality and that the issue of Kashmir should also be resolved amicably.

The austerity measures taken by Prime Minister Imran Khan, abolition of about Rs 80 billion worth discretionary funds of the PM and Ministers and decision of auctioning most luxurious and expensive cars dedicated for the PM’s fleet have further elevated the popularity  graph of Imran Khan.

From the day the PTI chairman had taken the oath as Prime Minister, several important diplomats and ambassadors from different countries have not only met with Khan but also invited him to visit their countries.

Interesting to note is that instead of rushing for foreign trips, Prime Minister Imran Khan has decided to spend his first 100 days in Pakistan with the aim to bring sweeping changes in the system and to bolster action against the Kings of Corruption through the National Accountability Bureau and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for the recovery of the plundered billions of rupees in the past.

A few days ago the Prime Minister of Pakistan has urged the overseas Pakistanis and local people to donate generously to support the government to build mega dam – Diamir Basha Dam that envisages and estimated cost of about US$14 billion. The government needed around US$1.5 billion to US$2 billion a year for the construction of this mega dam that will have live storage of water of more than 6 million acres feed while it will also produce 4500MWs of low-cost hydel electricity.

These decisions are improving the image of Imran Khan day by day and the people are anticipating that the new Prime Minister and his government would be much better than the Kings of Corruption, who ruled for Pakistan in the past for many years. Some of them are in Jail and some more are expected to be in jail who are facing mega corruption cases.

(Writer is Editor of Weekly Corporate Ambassador, International Correspondent, Columist/TV Analyst, Founding-Member of Karachi Editors Club & Ex-Resident Editor daily The Nation, Karachi. For feedback send him email at jchoudhry63@gmail.com)

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CPEC generates 70,000 jobs, $19bn investment: Chinese Minister