Wednesday, 13 July, 2022 I 13 Zil hajj, 1443 I rs 40.00 I vol XII No 372 I 48 Pages I Islamabad edition
PM Shehbaz likely to announce cut in Petrol PriceS LAHorE
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rIME Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday asked the ministries concerned to move a summary suggesting reduction in petroleum prices after rates reduced in international market. The PM summoned a summary for a reduction in the oil prices while chairing a meeting at the PM Office. The meeting was attended by officials from Oil and Gas regulatory Authority (OGrA) and other ministries and departments. The directives are two days ahead of the fortnightly summary presented to the prime minister on prices of the petroleum products. Global benchmark Brent crude tumbled $7 to below $100 a barrel on Tuesday on a strengthening dollar, demand-sapping Covid-19 curbs in top crude importer China, and rising fears of a global eco-
nomic slowdown, according to a report by reuters. He asked the ministries of finance and petroleum to present a summary to him for approval, adding that the people deserved
relief after passing through difficult times. “The price reduction seen internationally should be transferred to the people with full transparency,” the PM said. He told the meeting that the
government would reduce the oil prices transparently at par with the reduction in the international market, which according to the PM Office statement was a gift to the people on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha. He said the incumbent government would continue to providing relief to the people hit by the inflation caused by the previous government. Meanwhile, Head of Prime Minister’s Strategic reforms Salman Sufi assured the people that the “relief measure will have no impact on IMF programme. “It is strictly due to the petroleum prices reduction in international market. As the prices fall further internationally, prices shall reflect that in Pakistan,” Sufi added. Earlier on June 30, the government had announced a hike of rs14.85 per litre in the price, the fourth hike in the last 35 days, taking the total raised amount since the incumbents government’s takeover to nearly rs100.
PML-N’s competition not with PTI but with ‘incompetence, inflation’: Maryam Nawaz JHANG staff report
PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz told her party’s supporters that the Shehbaz Sharif-led party’s competition was not against their archrival PTI but with “incompetence and inflation”. The PML-N leader is leading a rally in Jhang
today (Tuesday) as a part of her party’s campaign for the by-polls being held for Punjab Assembly seats PP-125 and PP-127. The PML-N leader has so far addressed the rally in Jhang’s Gojra Morr and Chiniot Morr, where she slammed the PTI. In her address at Gojra Morr, Maryam told the people that the PML-N had formed a govern-
ment in the province and now the hard times are over and the good times are on the horizon. “If the people want inflation to decrease then they should vote for PML-N. PML-N’s competition is not with Imran Khan but with inflation and incompetence,” Maryam said while making a case for the people of Jhang to vote for her party in the July 17 by-polls. She asked the people to make a promise to her that they will throw out the people against Punjab’s development. The PML-N leader also assured the people that she will not rest easy till their fortunes are changed. On July 17, the control of the Punjab Assembly will be on the line, as the race for 20 seats in the province heats up. In Pakistan’s most politically important province, the PML-N is hoping to maintain its narrow control over its fortress. While the PTI is aiming to wrest the province away from the ruling party. Both the parties are campaigning hard to win control of Punjab, PML-N’s Maryam Nawaz has been addressing rallies in all the constituencies while the PTI Chairman Imran Khan himself is leading his party’s campaign.
coaS bajwa oversees army’s support in relief activities in karachi rAWALPiNDi staff report
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa reached Karachi directly from KSA. The COAS was flown over the city to oversee impact of urban flooding due to recent heavy spell of rains. COAS was briefed about latest situation of flooding and Army’s complete support rendered to the civil administration in Karachi. COAS appreciated the timely response of formations in aid of civil administration for rescue and relief efforts. He directed Karachi Corps to ensure that all out efforts and every single resource is utilised to bring comfort to the people. Earlier on his arrival, COAS was received by Corps Commander Lieutenant General Muhammad Saeed .
more inside
Punjab by-polls are a fight for “real independence”: Imran Khan STORY ON BACK PAGE in today’s issue
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Pakistan’s next tech ‘unicorn’ Airlift calls it quits as financial realities force closure TAimoor HAssAN That’s all folks. After three years of operating in Pakistan, Airlift Technologies has announced a complete shutdown of its quick commerce operations from tomorrow (July 13). The company announced the decision of the shutdown in a meeting today with employees. Earlier, multiple Airlift employees told Profit that there was ravaging anxiety at the startup because of the reports that Airlift had decided on a complete shutdown and an all-staff meeting has been called tonight for some important announcement. A high-ranking source at Airlift, on the condition of anonymity, told Profit with authority that the startup was wrapping up operations completely and an announcement in this regard will be made soon. “They have decided to give a two-month severance package to employees and shut it down completely,” the source at Airlift said. Image of an Airlift document shared during a meeting with employees on Tuesday, communicating the news of shutdown Launched in 2019, over the course of its brief presence in Pakistan Airlift fought tooth and nail to first make their mass-transit model fail and later jumped onto the quick commerce bandwagon spending tens of millions of dollars along the way. So what happened? Briefly, a lot. A global fund-
ing crunch, rising inflation, soaring petrol prices, all mean that people are now less willing to pay money for luxuries like immediate grocery delivery. On top of that, because of the global economic downturn, companies like Airlift have had to make these services more expensive. For a very long time, startups have been using VC money to subsidise these luxuries, and as investors pull their purse strings tight during the recession there is a bit of a modern meltdown in progress. ArTIcLe coNTINues AfTer ThIs AdverTIseMeNT: Airlift, like other quick commerce companies, had been working on the belief that if they acquired enough customers they would eventually reach scale and become profitable. The problem was that particularly in a country like Pakistan, where cheap house labour and a culture of extracting favours from places like local kiryana stores exists, people were never going to be happy paying for these services. That still, however, does not entirely explain why Airlift might be shutting down completely. Startups are
built on the concept of solving an existing problem. Perhaps Airlift’s biggest blunder was trying to solve a problem that never really existed. Where Is The shuTdoWN TALK coMINg froM? : Airlift employees have been in a veritable state of anxiety for a few weeks now. Over the course of Eid, Airlift’s services were unavailable and warehouses were reportedly being packed up. Already recently stung with 31% of their colleagues having been given the boot, employees began hearing rumours that the startup was making the moves to exit Pakistan entirely. Another employee told Profit that the startup was going for a complete shutdown because of fundraising difficulties that saw investors, without specifying who, backing out from investing from the $20 million round. “The company is wrapping up stock at its warehouses and there is considerable uncertainty around the future of the employees,” said a source at the startup. The source also af-
firmed that no official announcement regarding the closure of the company has yet been made internally, but anticipate clarity in the coming few days. Profit reached out to Airlift CEO Usman Gul and multiple other high-ranking executives for an official response to reports regarding the company shutdown. Not a single response has been received till the filing of this report. On its Twitter handle, Airlift has said that their services were temporarily suspended, without positively denying rumors of a total shutdown. In response to a Twitter post which asserted that Airlift will be shutting down completely, Airlift said that it was currently undergoing restructuring in response to the global downturn. “We are adapting to the changing economic conditions but we are still committed to providing hassle-free services to all our customers. Our services are temporarily unavailable,” Airlift wrote further in response. But multiple high-ranking sources at Airlift have confirmed that the startup is in-fact opting for a complete shutdown because of funding woes that have been compounded in the presence of the downturn in investments. In a recent update, Airlift employees have been called for a session tonight. The material of the discussion in the meeting was not disclosed to us.
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