Latest news with #Arrangement
Business Recorder
6 days ago
- Business
- Business Recorder
Economy rescued
EDITORIAL: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, yet again, credited his government with undertaking effective measures to achieve economic stabilization. This claim is fully supported, given that he single-handedly restored the International Monetary Fund (IMF) confidence in his administration's pledge to implement the reform agenda agreed under the 2019 Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme, reflected by the nine-month 3 billion-dollar Standby Arrangement (SBA) with the Fund in June 2023, that removed all obstacles towards securing the current 36-month-long EFF agreed last year. Attaining stabilisation was of paramount importance, given that the country was facing the looming threat of default attributable to the boom-bust cycle that has periodically characterized Pakistan's economy with imports rising to fuel growth that in turn widens the current account deficit, thereby requiring IMF and donor (bilaterals and multilaterals) injections. It is therefore a singular achievement of his government that from a low of under 3 billion-dollar foreign exchange reserves in February 2023 the country has achieved 14.5 billion dollars as of 4 July 2025. What, however, remains a source of concern is that in spite of a massive rise in remittance inflows (up to 38 billion dollars last fiscal year) the country owes 16 billion-dollar rollovers to friendly countries. It is important to note that Prime Minister also referred to low inflation (from 38 percent Sensitive Price Index to the current 3,81 percent in 2024-25) and a 10 percent decline in the discount rate (from 21 percent in June 2024 to 11 percent in June this year) as positive developments that would impact positively on the general public. Sadly, these two positive developments have yet to filter down to the general public by raising their quality of life or indirectly through raising large-scale manufacturing (LSM) output, which would have a beneficial impact on employment opportunities given that LSM growth was negative 1.52 percent (July-April 2025) against 0.26 percent in the comparable period the year before. The reason for this is the fact that Pakistan's poverty level is on the rise – to 44.2 percent as per the World Bank with unemployment at a high of 22 percent. It is necessary to determine why the feel-good factor is not being widely felt in spite of these two positive developments. Low inflation has not impacted more positively on the general public because the private sector which employs around 93 percent of the country's total labour force has been unable to give a pay raise commensurate to inflation for the past five to six years. This, however, does not apply to the 7 percent who receive their salaries at the taxpayers' expense who have been given an annual raise higher than inflation. And in spite of the reduction in the discount rate it is double that of our regional competitors, which makes local industry uncompetitive. If one adds the input costs of electricity, gas and transport – items whose prices are administered under a rigid upfront IMF programme loan – the negativity in the LSM sector is explained. The Prime Minister further claimed major reforms in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR); notably, digitization and faceless processing which he stated enabled an additional collection of 500-billion rupees. This too must be appreciated; however, success of the enforcement measures was in relation to existing taxes that are mostly in the indirect mode whose incidence on the poor is greater than on the rich. The Chairman FBR publicly noted the increase in collections in the sugar sector with his critics arguing that the recent rise in sugar prices is partly due to these enforcement measures that were passed onto the consumers and partly due to the flawed government decision to allow exports that led to domestic shortages. That the country is embarked on a reform agenda, which is backed by a reaffirmation by the IMF Resident Representative in Pakistan, is a fact. However, a lot more is required to ensure that the effects of these reforms filter down to the poor and for that the government must slash its current expenditure (to narrow the deficit and reduce reliance on debt) as well as increase the pace of structural reforms, including raising reliance on direct taxes, and improving management while reducing inefficiencies and corruption. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Rugby Resources Ltd. Provides Update on Arrangement with Pampa Metals
This news release is not for distribution to United States newswire service or for dissemination in the United States Vancouver, B.C., July 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rugby Resources Ltd. ('Rugby' or the 'Company') (TSX-V: RUG) is pleased to report that it has now filed and mailed materials to the shareholders of Rugby, including the Management Information Circular dated June 9, 2025 (the 'Circular') and related documents for the Special Meeting of the Rugby shareholders to be held in Vancouver on July 16, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. (the 'Meeting'). At the Meeting, shareholders will consider and vote on a Special Resolution (the 'Arrangement Resolution') approving the previously announced Statutory Plan of Arrangement (the 'Arrangement') involving the acquisition by Pampa Metals Corp. ('Pampa Metals') of 100% of the outstanding common shares of Rugby ('Rugby Shares'). Pursuant to the Arrangement, Rugby shareholders will receive one common share of Pampa Metals for every 6.4 Rugby Shares held. In addition, as part of the Arrangement, Rugby shareholders will also receive common shares (Aegis Shares) of a newly incorporated mineral exploration company, Aegis Resources Ltd. (Aegis) on the basis of one Aegis Share for every 10 Rugby Shares held. To be effective, the Arrangement Resolution must be passed by at least two-thirds (66⅔%) of the votes cast by all Rugby shareholders present in person or represented by proxy at the Meeting. The Circular is available under Rugby's profile on SEDAR+ at and posted on Rugby's website. To access the Circular Click the closing of the Arrangement, Aegis will hold a 20% free-carried interest in the Cobrasco project (carried to completion of a feasibility study), a prospective, potentially high-grade copper-molybdenum porphyry in Colombia, a 1.5% NSR in the Mantau copper-gold project in north eastern Chile and a minority joint venture interest in the Georgetown porphyry copper project in Queensland, Australia. In addition, Aegis will hold the prospective El Zanjon and Venidero projects, potentially high grade epithermal gold silver targets in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. In addition, at closing of the Arrangement, Aegis will be a reporting issuer in British Columbia and Alberta. Management of Aegis does not intend to apply to list the Aegis Shares on any recognized stock exchange at this time. Management of Aegis will assess all Aegis's options and determine the best course of action for Aegis, including considering an application to list the Aegis Shares on a stock exchange in the future. There can be no assurance as to if, or when, the Aegis Shares will be listed for trading on any stock the recommendation of its Special Committee, the board of directors of Rugby, after careful consideration, has unanimously determined that the Arrangement is fair, from a financial point of view, to Rugby shareholders and that the Arrangement is in the best interest of Rugby. Accordingly, the Rugby board of directors unanimously recommends that Rugby shareholders vote in favour of the Arrangement June 3, 2025, Rugby received conditional acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange ('TSXV') for the Arrangement. In addition, on June 11, 2025, Rugby was granted an interim order of the Supreme Court of British Columbia (the 'Court') in connection with the Arrangement. Completion of the Arrangement is conditional upon, among others, receipt of a final order by the Court and final acceptance of the TSXV. The Court hearing in respect of the final order is expected to take place at 10:00 a.m. (Vancouver time) on Tuesday July 22, 2025 (or as soon thereafter as legal counsel can be heard). Yale Simpson, Rugby's Chairman stated 'I recommend that shareholders vote in favour of the Arrangement Resolution. We are confident that following the closing of the Arrangement Pampa Metals' management will immediately commence the rapid evaluation of the Cobrasco project. The advancement of Cobrasco should lead to a natural reassessment of the value of Aegis due to its 20% free-carried interest in Cobrasco.' Additionally, Pampa Metals has announced a non-brokered private placement LIFE Offering for gross proceeds of $6,000,000 through the issuance of 37,500,000 common shares at a price of $0.16. Subject to completion of the Arrangement, Pampa Metals intends to use the net proceeds of the Offering to fund exploration drilling at the Cobrasco copper porphyry discovery in Colombia, preparatory work for the upcoming field season at the Piuquenes copper-gold discovery in Argentina, and working capital and general corporate purposes, as more specifically described in the Amended Offering Document (refer July 4, 2025 News Release (CSE:PM)).There are risks associated with the Arrangement and there is no guarantee that the Arrangement will be completed as planned. For a complete list of risks associated with the Arrangement see the risk factors sections of the Circular. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD Bryce Roxburgh | President & CEO rox@ INVESTOR CONTACT Rob Grey |VP Corporate Communicationsrgrey@ 604.688.4941 About RugbyRugby is an exploration company conducting 'discovery stage' exploration on targets in Argentina, Australia, Chile and Colombia. Rugby has a copper-gold-iron oxide target near Antofagasta and in Argentina, the focus is on high grade gold-silver discoveries near existing mines in prolifically mineralized Santa Cruz Province. Rugby benefits from the experience of its directors and management, a team that has either been directly responsible for world-class mineral discoveries or has been part of the management teams responsible for such discoveries. Prior companies under their management included Exeter Resource Corporation and Extorre Gold Mines Limited, which held significant projects in South America. These companies were taken over by Goldcorp (Newmont) and Yamana, additional information you are invited to visit the Rugby Resources Ltd. website at: FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Certain of the statements made and information contained herein is 'forward-looking information' within the meaning of the Canadian securities laws. This includes statements concerning whether the Arrangement will be consummated, Rugby obtaining required regulatory and shareholder approvals, Rugby's expectations of the benefits of the Arrangement including the Spinout and the expected use of proceeds of the LIFE Offering. Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking information, including, without limitation, the effect on prices of major mineral commodities such as copper and gold by factors beyond the control Rugby; events which cannot be accurately predicted such as political and economic instability, terrorism, environmental factors and changes in government regulations and taxes; the shortage of personnel with the requisite knowledge and skills to design and execute exploration programs; difficulties in arranging contracts for drilling and other exploration services; Rugby's dependency on equity market financings to fund its exploration programs and maintain its mineral exploration properties in good standing; political risk that a government will change environmental regulations, taxes or mineral royalties in a manner that could have an adverse effect on Rugby's assets or financial condition and impair its ability to advance its mineral exploration projects or raise further funds for exploration; risks associated with title to resource properties due to the difficulties of determining the validity of certain claims as well as the potential for problems arising from the interpretation of laws regarding ownership or exploration of mineral properties in Argentina, Chile and Colombia and in the sometimes ambiguous conveyancing characteristic of many resource properties, currency risks associated with foreign operations, the timing of obtaining permits to conduct exploration activities, the ability to conclude agreements with local communities and other risks and uncertainties; risks related to geopolitical conflicts; and including those described in each of Rugby's management discussion and analysis and those contained in its financial statements for the year ended February 29, 2025 filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators and available at In addition, forward-looking information is based on various assumptions including, without limitation, assumptions associated with exploration results and costs and the availability of materials and skilled labour. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, Rugby undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. NEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE Sign in to access your portfolio
The Print
02-07-2025
- Business
- The Print
IMF allows Sri Lanka to draw $350 mn tranche from 4-yr facility after 4th review of bailout programme
The facility helped Sri Lanka revive its bankrupt economy by building its reserves and successfully negotiating debt restructuring with external creditors. Amid the island's unprecedented economic crisis, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in March 2023 approved a nearly USD 3 billion facility to assist Sri Lanka's 'efforts to durably restore macroeconomic stability by restoring fiscal and debt sustainability. Colombo: The IMF has completed the fourth review of Sri Lanka's USD 2.9 billion bailout programme, allowing the country to draw a USD 350 million tranche from the four-year facility. 'The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed the Fourth review under the 48-month Extended Fund Facility (EFF) Arrangement, allowing the authorities to draw SDR254 million (about USD 350 million),' the global lender said in a statement. This brings the total IMF financial support disbursed so far to SDR1.27 billion (about USD 1.74 billion). The reforms that were imposed on the IMF's insistence have led to economic hardships, which the global lender said were a must to ensure growth and stability. The unpopular measures led to the change of government in 2024. The current government led by the National People's Power, which had been critical of the IMF-prescribed reforms and had vowed to review them, continues to stay on course with the IMF programme. This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content. Also Read: IMF imposes 11 new conditionalities on Pakistan, warns tensions with India could derail goals
Indian Express
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Exclusive: Before Bhopal's 90-degree bridge became reality, design was tweaked thrice over PWD, Railways disagreements
The design of the railway over bridge (ROB) in Bhopal's Aishbagh area, which is now under investigation for a peculiar 90-degree turn, was altered three times over the past seven years as the Public Works Department and the Railways found themselves at odds, The Indian Express has learnt. Senior PWD members told The Indian Express that the investigation report is ready, with a senior official confirming, 'The design was changed thrice. This is part of our preliminary findings, apart from other issues which were flagged.' On Saturday, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said that 'based on the inquiry report, action has been taken against eight engineers of the PWD.' 'Seven engineers, including two chief engineers, have been suspended with immediate effect. A departmental inquiry will be conducted against a retired sub-engineer. Both the construction agency and the design consultant have been blacklisted for submitting faulty design of the ROB,' Yadav said. Official records indicate that the first design was confirmed on July 7, 2018, when engineers from the Railways and Madhya Pradesh PWD jointly inspected the site. The team concluded that the proposed ROB would require a 45-degree skew to match the road alignment. 'The railway span shall be 45-degree skew to suit the alignment. The span will be constructed within Railway boundary. The approaches on both sides will be built by PWD,' reads the report filed by the then Executive Engineer (Bridge). PWD internal records, however, noted: 'Since the entire construction was to take place on railway land, the Railway department expressed its disagreement. Consequently, the PWD halted the tender process at that time.' By September 2020, a second design was executed, when the PWD and Railways carried out a joint inspection and prepared a new alignment, this time keeping in mind the upcoming Metro Rail line that would pass through the area. 'In this new alignment proposal, keeping in mind the Metro Rail alignment, and with mutual consent between the PWD and the Railway Department, a new General Arrangement Drawing (GAD) was prepared based on the construction of RCC circular piers,' the PWD note stated. The Metro Rail Corporation also issued another no-objection certificate. However, in 2023, the PWD noted: 'Prior to the implementation of the project, discrepancies in the Railway Department's GAD were communicated to them through various letters.' The PWD also claimed in its internal records, 'The Railway department made no changes to its drawing and carried out the construction with the incorrect location and conditions. As a result, due to the Railway's error, the PWD's alignment began encroaching toward the Metro's alignment.' Following this, a third design change was implemented, when the PWD 'prepared a revised GAD in which an additional pier was constructed behind Railway Pier, and the PWD slab was supported on this additional pier and connected to the Railway slab.' According to the revised GAD, the alignment of the Metro Rail 'will remain as before, and all three executing agencies, namely the PWD, Metro Rail Project, and Railways, will be able to carry out their construction work within their previously approved financial limits and on the previously agreed alignments.' The Railway department has, on the other hand, alleged that even before the PWD flagged the issues, Railways had sent a letter on April 4, 2024, apprising the department portions of the bridge constructed by the PWD and Railways are 'meeting almost at right angle, which is neither fulfilling the functional requirement nor safe for road users.' The 648-metre bridge in the Aishbagh area, which cost Rs 18 crore to build, was meant to eliminate long delays at railway crossings and shorten the commute for nearly three lakh people daily.
Business Recorder
19-05-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
The IMF speaks with a forked tongue
Uploading the first review report on the International Mone-tary Fund (IMF) website on the weekend (Saturday), eight days after the Board approved the release of the next tranche, three days after the tranche was released, indicates the veracity of the general perception that was noted in the report 'the 37-month Extended Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), approved on September 25, 2024, is on track. All seven Quantitative Performance Criteria's and five of eight Indicative Targets were met at end-December' – the period under consideration. The Fund then proceeded to reaffirm the appropriateness of its program design by stating that 'continued strong and timely program implementation remains critical to safeguard recent hard-won economic stability and support sustainable growth.' It was indeed hard won, but the price was paid by the general public and therefore what is critical is for the IMF to revisit its program design in light of its three majorly inaccurate assumptions given that negotiating skills incorporating an inbuilt in-house out-of-the-box reforms have not yet been forthcoming from the Pakistani economic team leadership. First and foremost, the Fund expressed satisfaction at the full execution of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) budget, which included a 27 percent nominal increase over last fiscal year after raising the benefit from 10,500 to 13,500 rupees for three months – an increase that the Fund maintains included inflation adjustment (which was understated through data manipulation – clearly and unambiguously evident when petroleum prices were kept constant the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics indicated a decline no doubt in reference to the actual import cost rather than the price payable by the public), a one-time additional adjustment to increase the stipend's generosity level (the use of the word generosity anathema to the Pakistani public as it was compelled to pay indirect taxes to the tune of 75 to 80 percent of all Federal Board of Revenue collections whose incidence on the poor is greater than on the rich) while absorbing an additional 700,000 families into the program, bringing total enrolment to 10 million this fiscal year (an observation that does not take account of a World Bank report maintaining that 1.9 million more were pushed to below poverty level with 42.4 percent remaining below poverty levels in this country this year). The Fund argues that the government reduced electricity tariffs because of the reduction in the discount rate – from 22 percent last year to 12 percent (the recent reduction to 11 percent did not feature in the report) - enabling Muhammad Ali to finally get Fund approval for his 2024 rejected proposal to procure loans from commercial banks to retire the circular debt. One would assume that Fund was unaware of input from intelligence agencies in negotiations with the banks. Be that as it may, the word used by the Fund for the outcome was wisely not definitive, and instead it maintained that it 'anticipated' the 'CD flow should continue to decline through the end of the operation (repayment of the sukuk) in FY31, and with it the need for budgeted power subsidy (a third of which is currently dedicated to CD stock clearance).' In the event that the anticipation was not realized, the Fund warned that 'it is imperative, given limited fiscal space, that payments for the operation are entirely financed out of the existing debt service surcharge (DSS). While DSS flows are expected to fully cover payments, the authorities must remove the existing DSS cap (end-June 2025 new SB) to ensure that the DSS can be adjusted if needed to cover payments should there be any shortfall.' And added that 'going forward, timely notification of the annual rebasing for FY26, set at cost recovery and incorporating cautious assumptions that take account of the sensitivity of costs to internal and external factors.' Or, in other words, if push comes to shove the onus of full cost recovery would again fall on the hapless consumers. The federal and provincial governments' non-interference in the wheat procurement market to meet the IMF condition led to a reduction in the price for the consumers, but it may not be possible next year as farmers are likely to sow a more lucrative crop which would lead to shortages of this staple and the need for imports. Second, the failure to achieve the budgeted tax collections – 26 percent achieved instead of the unrealistic budgeted 40 percent rise – was noted in the report however the authorities have pledged to implement the Taajir Dost Scheme (which needless to add previous administrations including the incumbent government last year pledged but failed to implement due to the threat of country-wide retail sector strike action) as well as the farm income tax scheme which the government has committed would be implemented from 1 July this year though its applicability would be from 1 January 2025 (a tax that needs refinement as the government's capacity to determine income needs clarity and its implementation remains suspect given that federal and provincial assemblies are heavily represented by the rich absentee landlords). The report notes that 'as a pilot initiative, all tax policy proposals for the FY26 budget will undergo cost-benefit analysis, with a full review of tax expenditures also being conducted so that cost in effective measures to be phased out starting July 1, 2025.' One of course would hope that the cost takes account of the prevailing elite capture with the FBR focus remaining on withholding taxes levied in the sales tax mode while dishonestly placing them under direct tax collections, as well as the street power by the retailers/wholesalers/other productive sectors with extremely politically influential organisations reflected by their success in compelling the government to withdraw taxes. However, what is telling is that the Fund envisages the tax to GDP ratio of only 10.5 percent in the current year, with actual achievement projected at 10.6 percent (projected at 12.3 percent next year that one would assume is unlikely unless fiscal policy is even more contractionary than this year with obvious negative fallout on growth). The remaining amount is from on-tax sources with half accruing from the petroleum levy that is a tax placed under other taxes so as not to share the proceeds with the provinces and SBP profits but not from privatisation as the investment climate is simply not conducive to any sale. Finally, the insistence that the tight monetary policy is the reason behind low inflation, though this time around the Fund did note that 'effective communication will help the public better understand the MPC's reaction function and build support for its policy decisions.' There has been little effective communication simply because the general perception based on Fund reports uploaded on its website clearly indicate that the discount rate is determined after consultation with the Fund and given the country's current dependence on external borrowing, all tied in with the country remaining on a strictly monitored Fund programme, this appears to be rather a facetious statement. In addition, the Fund's failure to identify the fact that remittance rise was sourced to SBP purchasing dollars from the market and crediting them under remittances as well as the persistent negativity of the large scale manufacturing sector with the rise in credit to the private sector not earmarked for output but to the stock market indicate another program design failure. The Fund highlights significant risks to three flow indicators (debt-service to the fund as a percent of government revenues, exports, and gross international reserves), which are all above 75 percent of comparator group, as well as risks to policy implementation resistance to adoption of reforms, underperformance of tax revenue, high gross financing needs, low gross reserves, and sizeable net FX derivative position of the SBP, coupled with socio-political tensions, which could erode repayment capacity and debt sustainability. To conclude, the IMF notes current expenditure to remain within the budgeted 18.9 percent of GDP this year while development outlay will rise from 2.3 to 2.5 percent of GDP, a claim not backed by data released by the Planning Ministry, while projecting current expenditure at 17.8 percent of GDP for next fiscal year though that would be contingent on a projected 3.6 percent growth which again maybe suspect with the expected further removal of fiscal and monetary incentives to industry and agriculture as per the Fund program conditions. The time lag between reducing these incentives and promoting a more vibrant productive base with more potential for export promotion is likely to take more than a couple of years. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
