PR endures over Rs150b losses during PTI's tenure

Pakistan Railways had suffered losses worth over Rs 150 billion during the last three-and-a-half years' rule of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.

According to a document, in addition to an amount exceeding Rs 130 billion in last three years, Pakistan Railways had a deficit of around Rs 20 billion in the first half of the current financial year.

To control the deficit and earn more revenue, Pakistan Railways had introduced 'Raabta' - a platform for the improvement of its financial conditions. Raabta was essentially an attempt to enhance customer facilitation via artificial intelligence.

Around 60 million passengers have used Pakistan Railways annually, for which 40 percent of the tickets were sold using an outdated process without any audit, the document said.

To resolve this problem, Raabta allows customers to plan trips with the help of different options. Single interface customers can check train statuses, choose and purchase seats, book hotels, and order car rentals, meals, and refreshments.

Raabta also allowed passengers to lodge statuses during their journeys. They can book tickets through multiple platforms including mobile applications, websites, ticket agents, reservation officers, vending machines, and handheld devices, it added.

Furthermore, the platform also provided a freight and parcel booking system, a data center, third-party agreements, business intelligence, and reporting system, the document said.

The implementation of Raabta would incur zero costs to Pakistan Railways and the latter would get a fair share in ticket prices, freight, and value-added service.

Moreover, Pakistan Railways was trying to improve the punctuality of its trains and every train was being monitored and each of its detentions was reviewed and rectified.

A mobile application called 'Pakrail Live' has also been launched for the real-time tracking of trains to facilitate passengers.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday stressed for simplifying the process of the banking system and making it easier in order to facilitate consumers. The prime minister stated this in a meeting with Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, which was also attended by Habib Bank President Muhammad Aurangzeb, Chief Secretary Punjab, and other senior officials. Prime Minister directed to formulate a comprehensive strategy to effectively resolve the economic problems of the people. He also ordered special arrangements to ensure the supply of food items to the general public at cheaper rates.

Banks extended record loans to the private sector in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year as the figure is significantly higher than the combined disbursements in the last two fiscal years.

The latest data issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) showed that the private sector borrowed Rs1,235.5 billion till April 22 in the current fiscal year against Rs415bn in the same period of last year. It was the highest amount borrowed by the private sector in last five years.

The bank advances to the private sector in July-April 2021-22 were much higher than the total loans extended in the last two years. The private sector borrowed Rs766.2bn in FY21 and Rs196bn in FY20.

The Covid pandemic badly hit the economy in FY20 that slowed down the private sector borrowings hitting the lowest in the five years due to lockdowns. The combined bank loans to the private sector in FY20 and FY21 was Rs962.5bn.