The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the week ended November 25, 2021 registered a decrease of 0.67% for the combined income group, going down from 169.29 points during the week ended November 18, 2021 to 168.16 points in the week under review.
The SPI for the combined income group rose 18.64% compared to the corresponding week of previous year. The SPI for the lowest income group decreased 0.81% compared to the previous week. The index for the group stood at 177.6 points against 179.05 points in the previous week, according to provisional figures released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). During the week under review, average prices of 20 items rose in a selected basket of goods, prices of eight items fell and rates of remaining 23 goods recorded no change.
On the other hand, rupee weakened against the US dollar at Rs175.46 in the inter-bank market on Friday compared with Thursday’s close of Rs174.97, according to the (SBP).
Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) is computed on weekly basis to assess the price movements of essential items at shorter interval of time so as to review the current price situation in the country. SPI comprises of 51 necessary commodities which are being collected from 50 markets in 17 cities of the country.
Superstore is proposed to be located in any metropolitan city such as Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Multan, Peshawar or Quetta. Superstore is a large retail store organized into departments offering a variety of merchandize, commonly part of retail chain under one roof. This proposed Pre-feasibility study presents an investment opportunity for establishing a superstore on an area of approximately 2,700sq. ft. This feasibility is projected on rented building. The main investment in this business is of land and building, if we opt own building which has major share in capital cost due to high cost of construction and land price. The cost of required land will be ranging from Rs. 25,000,000 to Rs. 40,000,000 and rental cost of the building is Rs.450,000. The total project cost for setting up a Superstore on rental building is estimated at Rs. 28.025 million. The project is proposed to be financed through 100% equity. The NPV is projected around Rs. 34,745, with an IRR of 41.57% and a Payback Period of 3.98 years. DETAIL FEASIBILITY STUDY BY SMEDA
“The exports of Fruits, Vegetables, Meat, Dairy products, Chemicals, Electrical equipment, Machinery, Paper & Paperboard have contributed to this increase. We continue to encourage legal, secure, transparent, consistent & reliable trade with Afghanistan. Exporters are urged to aggressively market their exports to Afghanistan. We also commend the efforts of MOC’s Trade & Investment Counsellor & urge him to provide even greater facilitation to our exporters,”
“The previous Afghan government imposed higher taxes on Pakistani goods but the main cause of the decline in the exports is the collapse of the banking system in the war-torn country,” he added, saying that with the US withdrawal in April the Pakistani exports of goods via Torkhan reduced by 50 per cent.
“Around 70 per cent exports are of cement because the construction industry is a large one in Afghanistan which was brought to a standstill by the Taliban take over. This is what traders are telling us. Let’s see what happens in the next few weeks,” he said.
Traders said that majority of the share in exports was of Punjab province but local traders and middle men were also benefiting from it in Peshawar.
“The transporters and truck owners are majority Pakhtuns while the middlemen are also from Peshawar. Local traders are involved in exports too but on small scale like jaggary is exported from Peshawar which is in great demand in Afghanistan and tribal belt,” they said.
A local customs clearance agent and trader Mujib Shiwari said that the competition Pakistani traders faced in Afghanistan from Iran and India had almost disappeared and this was a golden opportunity but the new regime in Kabul should reduce taxes on Pakistani goods and ensure security for Pakistani vehicles.
“Security is a major concern and the new government could facilitate Pakistani traders in this regard but another problem was the banking system in Afghanistan which is non-functional after the fall of Kabul and transaction are not possible for traders via banks,” he informed, saying that in the past there were heavy taxes on Pakistani goods in Afghanistan and officials were also corrupt.
Most other traders are worried that the lack of US funding for the new government would push the country’s economy into recession and the purchase powers of the local would drop dramatically as in the past two decades Afghan traders demanded the best food items and other goods which will no more be the case due to declining economy.
“Still we have to supply them with flour, rice and vegetables as well as ghee and oil and Afghanistan is a promising market to a great degree,”
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