Friday, 19 October, 2012

ISLAMABAD

ONLINE

PAKISTAN has asked AsianDevelopment Bank (ADB) tosend a review mission on Di-amir Bhasha Project in orderto encourage other donors

interested in the project.The meeting between Pakistan eco-

nomic team led by Federal Minister for Fi-nance, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh andBoard of Directors of Asian DevelopmentBank (ADB) led by Mr. Maurin Sitorus,Executive Director ADB held on Thursday.

The meeting aimed to exchange viewson different aspects of Pakistan economy.

Maurin Sitorus, Executive DirectorADB remarked that Pakistan is very im-portant and reliable member of ADB. Heappreciated government for assisting inADB’s profile in Pakistan. He also sharedthat energy sector and infrastructure re-forms are their focus areas.

Finance Minister gave a detail briefingon the overall national economy includingthe history of political economy of Pak-istan. He also showed performance of gov-ernment from 2008 to date. Under thecurrent democratic government, we de-volved ministries, gave more revenue to

provinces in terms of new NFC awards andbring down the inflation to single digit,further said by Finance Minister. In thesame way, impartial judiciary and freemedia are also credited to the present gov-ernment.

Despite many challenges like increas-ing oil prices, security situation and natu-ral disasters like flood, governmentremained able to give pace to economicgrowth. We did aggressive austerity meas-ures in terms of controlling federal expen-ditures and took bold steps to enhancetax revenues, informed by FinanceMinister.

On a question raised by one ofADB member regarding investment inPakistan, Finance Minister informedthe meeting that issue of declining in-vestment is being exaggerated by media.Even some investors exaggerate the inten-sity of risk they face in doing busi-ness here in Pakistan. HafeezShaikh highlighted that wehave very liberal investmentregime and there are enor-mous opportunities forinvestors in Pakistan.There are special eco-nomic zones through-out the country

created for facilitation for investors. In thesame way, we have open and supported in-vestment policies in many special areaslike existing project of Thar Coal.

The meeting also discussed specific is-sues like ADB’s involvement in Thar Coaland Bhasha Diamir project. Finance Min-ister categorically asked ADB to send a re-view mission on Diamir Bhasha Project.This review mission will encourage other

donors interested in thisproject, added by Fi-

nance Minister.Finance Minis-

ter also highlightedthat all misunder-standings or ambi-guities betweenADB and govern-

ment should be set-tled in order to get

early completion ofThar Coal Project.

ADB to mull DiamirBhasha project

MADRID

AFP

Spain’s borrowing costs tumbled in a major bondauction Thursday as Madrid scrambled to decide“within weeks” whether to snatch a eurozone fi-nancial lifeline.

The success of the bond auction, held on theopening day of a European Union summit on the eu-rozone crisis, reflected mounting expectations thatSpain is to seek eurozone help, and soon.

But despite the bond market relief, grim newdata showed that recession-bound Spain, where onein four workers is jobless, still faces deep-seated fi-nancial and economic problems.

Bad loans at Spanish banks soared to record ofmore than one in 10 loans in August, a Bank of Spainreport showed.

The ratio of non-performing loans soared to anunprecedented 10.51 percent of total loans from 9.42percent the previous months, it said.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government hasalready obtained a eurozone rescue loan of up to 100

billion euros for the banks,although it says it willonly need about 40 billion euros of that.

The big question now is when Spain will seek aidto finance the broader economy.

Spain will make a decision one way or the other“within weeks”, a Spanish Economy Ministry officialsaid this week, a timetable that dovetails with othersources in Brussels and elsewhere in Europe.

The latest bond sale was helped, too, by Moody’sInvestors Service’s decision Tuesday to leave theSpanish sovereign credit rating untouched, onenotch above speculative, or junk-bond, status.

A downgrade to junk-bond status could haveprompted a flight by cautious investors, forcing upSpanish borrowing costs and accelerating any re-quest for help.

As it is, Spain’s Treasury took advantage of theimproved confidence to raise an above-target 4.61billion euros ($6.0 billion) in a sale of three-, four-and benchmark 10-year government bonds.

The interest rate on 10-year bonds, the litmustest for market feelings about Spain’s long-termdebt, fell to 5.458 percent from 5.666 percent at the

last comparable sale on September 20.For three-year bonds, the rate dropped to 3.227

percent from 3.676 percent at the previous compa-rable auction September 6 and for four-year bondsit dropped to 3.977percent from 4.603percent over thesame pe-riod.

D e -m a n do u t -stripped supplyby more thantwo-to-one.

Spanish sover-eign borrowing costshave eased in pastweeks, but only be-cause the EuropeanCentral Bank hassaid it is willing tobuy an unlimited

amount of Spanish government bonds to curb rates.The ECB will do so, however, only after Spain has

applied for a credit line from the eurozone bailout fundand submitted to strict economic conditions and in-

ternational supervision.“Hopes were growing that

progress on a deal may bemade at the EU leaders’summit in Brussels which

begins today,” said JonathanLoynes, analyst at Lon-

don-based researchgroup Capital Eco-nomics.

Even if Spainseeks only a “precau-

tionary” eurozone creditline without actually bor-

rowing any cash, the ECBwould still have to buy Span-

ish bonds to prevent Spanishborrowing costs from rising

again, he said in a report.

ISLAMABAD

APP

Minister of State (MOS)/ChairmanBoard of Investment (BOI), Saleem H.Mandviwalla, is currently visitingTurkey as a Special Envoy of the Pres-ident on Thursday said that the trans-portation links between Turkey andPakistan would be improved.

The visit is primarily aimed to ex-change the views on ways and meansto improve the economic and com-mercial interaction between the twocountries, says a statement issued bythe BOI here. It said that ChairmanBOI also stressed to remove any im-pediments in bilateral trade and in-vestment with the Turkish leadership.

During the meeting it was soughtfrom both sides to make concerted ef-forts to meet the target of US$ 2 bil-lion bilateral trade by 2012.

Mandviwalla brought to the atten-tion of President Gul, underlined theneed of urgently concluding a compre-hensive Preferential Trade Arrange-ment between the two countries. TheTurkish leadership is encouragingbusinessmen to further expand theirinvestment ventures in Pakistan, espe-cially in energy and infrastructuresectors, President Gul said.

In order to boost eco-nomic relations and peopleto people contact, the exist-

ing rail, road and air links shall be fur-ther improved. Mr. Mandviwalla dis-cussed these proposals in a meeting withTurkish minister for Transport, Mar-itime affairs and Communications, Bi-nali Yildirim.

It was agreed on the need on improv-ing existing cargo train operations. Mr.Yildirim also suggested increasing the fre-quency of flights between the two coun-tries. He said Pakistan is a brotherlycountry and there are many venues of col-laboration in trade and investment. Mr.Mandviwalla showed his optimism thatexisting cargo train “Gul train” running onpilot basis between Pakistan and Turkeyis a viable commercial venture. After in-creasing the frequency of this cargo train,both countries will commence passengertrain, Mr. Mandviwalla informed.

Secretary Commerce Munir Qureshi,Ambassador of Pakistan

to Turkey Muham-mad Haroon

Shaukat andConsul GeneralIstanbul Dr.Yusuf Junaidwere also pres-ent in the

meeting.

Raja’s the man!Economist lauds PM’s announcement to host ACO in December

ISLAMABAD: Renowned economist Dr Saboor Ghayur lauded the announcement of Prime Minister Raja Parvez Ashraf forhosting Asian Cooperation Organization (ACO) conference on energy in December. Talking to a private news channel, he saidthat if Pakistan hosts the conference, it will open up new avenues of investment in energy sector for exploitation of enormousresources like Thar Coal and small dams. He said that the conference will attract the attention of international investors

towards Pakistan. He lauded the recent conference of Asian Cooperation Organization (ACO) held inKuwait and said that Pakistan is also concentrating on regional trade in order to

reduce its expenditure. Regional trade and cooperation reduce the costs oflabor and transportation, he added. Dr Saboor said that new economies

are emerging in Asia and it is hoped that China will be a leadingeconomy in the next fifteen years. Pakistan has also potential in thisregard, he noted. Moreover, fifty per cent of the world population isalso in Asia, therefore, cooperation among regional countries can playa pivotal role in term of utilisation of human resources, he said.“Pakistan is facing immense energy crisis. The project ofTurkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) will notonly provide energy but also help recipient countries in terms ofpipeline transport fee.” he stated. He said that the surplus ofinternational community is not operational as China has $ 2trillion reserves and it is expanding its investment. Gwadar portwas constructed with assistance of China which is providingbenefits to Pakistan, he said. APP

Spain borrowing costs slide as rescue nears

Better transportation= better tradeTransportation links between Turkey, Pakistanto be improved: Saleem H Mandviwalla

China economy slows, rebound

expected in Q4 BEIJING: China’s economy has slowed for the seventh straight quarter,growing 7.4 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2012, the NationalBureau of Statistics (NBS) announced Thursday. The figure was lower thanthe 7.6-percent growth seen in the second quarter and the first quarter’s 8.1-percent growth but was still in line with economists’ predictions thatthird-quarter economic output would grow between 7.4 and 7.5 percent,reports Xinhua news agency. China’s GDP reached 35.35 trillion yuan (5.61trillion U.S. dollars) in the first three quarters, NBS spokesman Sheng Laiyunsaid at a press conference. “The GDP grew 7.7 percent in the first threequarters and the economy is generally stable,” Sheng said. During the firsthalf, the GDP grew by 7.8 percent. “Compared with the first half, we have seensome improvements in the third quarter,” he said, citing a trade rebound andother major economic indicators showing that growth has picked up. NBSdata released Thursday showed that total retail sales in September hit 1.82trillion yuan, up 14.2 percent year on year, with a month-on-month growthrate of 1.46 percentage points. Industrial value-added output grew 9.2 percentin September, up 0.3 percentage points compared to August. Fixed assetinvestment rose 20.5 percent year-on-year to 25.69 trillion yuan in the firstnine months, with growth accelerating slightly by 0.1 percentage point fromthe first half. “We are fully confident that the economy will meet its growthtarget of 7.5 percent this year,” Sheng said. APP

Pakistan asks ADB to send review mission

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19

Friday, 19 October, 2012

Major Gainers

CoMPANy oPEN HigH LoW CLoSE CHANgE TurNoVErRafhan Maize Prod. 3700.00 3760.00 3760.00 3760.00 60.00 20Bata (Pak) Limited 1190.00 1249.50 1130.51 1249.50 59.50 2,500Shezan Inter.SPOT 474.03 497.73 497.73 497.73 23.70 300National FoodsXD 311.29 326.85 314.00 326.41 15.12 17,700Attock PetroleXD 476.72 498.95 476.72 488.86 12.14 211,800

Major LosersNestle Pakistan Ltd. 5346.00 5078.70 5078.70 5078.70 -267.30 20UniLever Pak 9900.00 9900.00 9700.00 9700.01 -199.99 460Colgate Palmolive 1389.00 1389.00 1319.70 1319.70 -69.30 200Mithchells Fruit 383.67 367.00 364.49 367.00 -16.67 700Shell Pakistan Ltd. 140.48 140.00 134.10 134.47 -6.01 40,600

Volume Leaders

Maple Leaf Cement 9.21 9.86 9.28 9.35 0.14 24,016,000Fauji Cement 6.33 6.47 6.28 6.34 0.01 13,600,000P.T.C.L.A 18.66 19.20 18.55 19.11 0.45 9,503,500D.G.K.CementXD 48.83 50.88 48.80 50.47 1.64 8,535,000PICIC Growth 13.15 13.33 13.05 13.31 0.16 6,543,000

Interbank RatesUS Dollar 95.4300UK Pound 154.2053Japanese Yen 1.2042Euro 125.2710

Dollar EastBuy SELL

US Dollar 95.10 95.50Euro 123.34 124.99Great Britain Pound 151.94 153.93Japanese Yen 1.1832 1.1986Canadian Dollar 95.70 97.45Hong Kong Dollar 12.03 12.25UAE Dirham 25.68 25.99Saudi Riyal 25.13 25.44Australian Dollar 97.51 100.24

Business

ISLAMABAD

APP

AS many as 1500 hectares of landwould be brought under olive cul-tivation within next three yearswith an aim to exploit the potentialin this particular sector and make

the country self-sufficient in olive production.A three-year project has been launched

under the debt swap agreement between Pak-istan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) andItalian Government for Promotion of OliveFarming in Pakistan, a official in the Councilsaid. PARC has already identifiedolive cultivation areas in Khy-ber Pakhtunkhwa, FATA, Po-tohar Region (Punjab) andBalochistan and has startedwork on planting olive treessince March this year. Dr.Mohammad MunirGoraya, Senior Director(Crops) & National Project

Director (Olive Produc-tion) said that the PARChas taken all the fourprovinces onboard forlaunching the project.

The land being broughtunder the cultivation underthe project would be in ad-dition to that already uti-lized for the cultivation ofolive. The official was of theview that olive cultivationneeds fewer resources andmarginal lands are neededfor its cultivation so it is alucrative engagement forfarmers who can take fulladvantage of this.

Once established, theolive gardens would startbearing fruit after three years(in 2015), so the Councilwould set up four olive oil ex-

traction machinery (plants) to facilitate farmers,he said and elaborated that one each big plantwould be established in Balochistan and Potoharregion while two units would be installed in Khy-ber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA region.

In addition, mobile oil extracting unitswould also be arranged that would be used foroil extraction in those areas where farmers haveno access to these four oil extracting facilities.

He said plantation of the olive plants takesplace in March or November of each year addingthat the PARC has identified 12 kinds of plantsto be planted in these gardens, keeping in viewthe climatic conditions.

Dr. Munir Goraya said that theItalian government is also in-terested in launching researchproject aimed promoting olive

cultivation in the country in-cluding AJK. A memorandum

of Understanding to this ef-fect would be finalizedsoon under which Pakistanwould become member ofthe regional centre that hasbeen engaged in researchactivates for promotion ofolive. The Italian govern-ment is already workingwith Afghanistan & Nepaland Pakistan would be thethird member of this cen-tre, he added.

Dr. Munir said that Pak-istan has been involved withthe Italian government since1984 for the promotion ofolive as three projects wereinitiated by Pakistan OilseedDevelopment Board (PODB)in this regard earlier. How-ever, the current project wasthe forth project in this linewhich the Italian govern-

ment gave to the PARC for ex-ecution under Debt-Swap

agreement, he added.

30 HEC scholarships awarded tofemale faculty from Balochistan

ISLAMABAD: Under faculty development pro-gram of Higher Education Commission (HEC), 30scholarships have been awarded to the female fac-ulty of Sardar Bhaudar Khan Women University(SBKWU) Quetta, the first Women University ofBalochistan. According to the details, MS leadingto PhD and PhD level scholarship have beenawarded in three categories: overseas scholar-ships, split and indigenous scholarships. Theawarded scholarships would cover various disci-plines i.e economics, mathematics, computer Sci-ence, management science, botany and zoologyetc. Addressing special scholarship award cere-mony, the Vice Chancellor of SBKWU Ms. SultanaBaloch congratulated the scholarship awardeesand lauded the efforts of HEC for undertaking anumber of initiatives to increase access to highereducation in Balochistan province.

Nespak sets new record,undertakes 3,300 uplift projects LAHORE: NESPAK, a leading Organization ofConsulting Engineers, has set a new record byexecuting 3300 engineering projects at homeand abroad since its establishment in 1973. Cost-ing a cumulative cost of Rs. 8900 billion, 2825 ofthese projects are located in Pakistan and 478projects in 36 developing countries of the MiddleEast, Asia, Africa and the Arab world thus play-ing a key role in the socio-economic develop-ment of these countries.

JWT’S Mansoor Karim Shaikhmakes Pakistan Power 100 listKARACHI: JWT Pakistan CEO Mansoor KarimShaikh has been named one of Pakistan’s mostpowerful and influential people in the inauguralPakistan Power 100 list, alongside cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, Ehsan Malik,Chairman Unilever Pakistan, and Lord NazirAhmed, a member of the House of Lords and theUK’s first Muslim life peer. The Pakistan Power100 was created by UK-based consulting companyCarter Anderson Group, which publishes theGlobal Power 100. Over 33,000 nominations werereceived for the Pakistan Power 100, which wasjudged by a panel led by Pakistan-born investorand BBC’s “Dragon’s Den” star, James Caan. ThePakistan Power 100 winner’s book, which waslaunched at a black-tie event in London on Sep-tember 29, includes messages from British PrimeMinister David Cameron and Pakistan PresidentAsif Ali Zardari, who describes the Power 100 as“role models” whose “remarkable achievementsare a source of inspiration for other Pakistanis.”“I am incredibly honoured and humbled to be in-cluded on this list,” said Mansoor.

Qatar Airways introduces newpayment options for bookingsKARACHI: Qatar Airways has announced the in-troduction of an enhanced booking feature wherecustomers can pay for reservations made onwww.qatarairways.com/pk at any Qatar Airwayslocal office. The new solution offers greater flexi-bility to passengers who can now create bookingsonline and pay for these bookings in cash at alocal Qatar Airways reservations and ticketing of-fice. Payment must be completed within 24 hoursof creating the booking on www.qatarairways.com.Qatar Airways does not charge any additionalbooking fees when bookings are made through itswebsite and payment is made at their local office(subject to terms and conditions). Once paymentfor the booking is made, passengers can thencheck-in online and also select their preferred seatand meals. Passengers who prefer to pay withcredit cards can still complete their travel arrange-ments online.

Etihad Airways, the official airlineof 4th Fashion Pakistan WeekKARACHI: October 18, 2012 – Etihad Airways,the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, isnamed as the Official International Airline of the4th Fashion Pakistan Week (FPW) for October21st to 23rd at Pearl Continental Hotel, Karachi.Fashion Pakistan is the country’s pioneer andlargest platform that provides a much-neededboost to its fashion industry. As a part of theCouncil of International Fashion Designers, it wascreated to promote and support the industry inthe global market place. FPW’s key objective is toeducate, empower and encourage designers along-side efforts to promote traditional crafts. Thisplatform attempts to promote mainstream design-ers and encourage young talent.

Consumers love evolution

KARACHI: Marketing veteran Mr.MasoodHashmi was invited to a seminar organiSed byNavitus titled ‘Swiss knife of Social Media’.Mr.Hashmi explained what mattered to con-sumers the most. “Consumers love evolutionrather than revolution.” Mr.Hashmi said thattechnology has eradicated all boundaries.” Tech-nology has advanced at such a fast pace that youcan virtually tour the world at the comfort ofyour home.” Mr.Hashmi was of the view that oldmediums could co-exsist with newones. “Thefirst newspaper was published in 1830. Afterthat, when the radio came along, people thoughtthat was the end of newspapers. And in 1982when the internet came, people thought that wasthe end of radios. But all three mediums wereable to co-exist.”

Zehra V’s Eid exhibitionKARACHI: Designer “Zehra V” as always plansahead of Time brings to the capital city “Eid Exhi-bition” summer formals, semi formals stitchedand unstitched designer fabrics at her FashionStudio # 528, Margalla Road, F-10/2 Islamabad.The exhibit continues Thursday 18 October 12noon to 7 pm and Friday 19 October 11 am to 7pm. The Exhibition was inaugurated by MRZAFAR BAKHTAWARI, PRESIDENT OF ISLAM-ABAD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUS-TRY. ALSO CHAIRMAN OF D.WATSON GROUPAND A RENOWNED BUSINESS PERONALITYOF THE FEDERAL CAPITAL. Senior Chambermembers also graced the occasion and admiredthe bridal and dresses collection and the efforts byZehraValliani. It was a very well attended exhibi-tion attracting lots of ladies and girls and all theelite people from diplomats, business women andthe social circle.The guests including the Presidentadmired multi talentedZehraVallianiawell knownand respected business lady in Islamabad.Herdresses, are a combination of pure silks, ja-mawars, chiffons, cottons in her display. She has adedicated team and her work is a combination ofthread, resham, sequence, stones andzardozi.Zehra does working woman wardrobe andBridal coutoure at affordable prices but elegant &sophistication and unique colour combinations.

CORPORATE CORNER

Olive to be cultivatedover 1,500 hectare

KARACHI: The English Speaking Union of Pakistan held a receptionin honour of the High Commissioner of India Mr.Sharat Sabharwal,at a local hotel. Picture shows President (ESUP) Mr.Aziz Memon,Consul General of USA Mr.Michael Dodman, Consul General ofTurkey Mr.Onart M.Mustafa, former president KCCI Mr.Majyd Aziz,and Barrister Abdul R.Sattar, with host and chief guest.

How long can

Google’s shares

stay airborne?NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO

AGENCIES

Google Inc’s shares have clung tenaciouslynear record highs after a three-month, 30percent rally fueled by rising optimismabout Internet advertising, but Wall Streetfears it may be running out of steam. Googlestock has hovered near an all-time high of$774.38 since touching that peak on Oct. 5.To break through that level, investors andanalysts say it needs to run a gauntlet ofrisks that could undermine its status astechnology’s second-most valuablecompany. The most immediate concernscenter on competition in the mobile arena,which is shaping up as the mainbattleground for tech supremacy amongGoogle, Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Corp ,Apple Inc and Facebook Inc. Investors pointout that Google’s Android - despite beingthe world’s most-used mobile software - hasyet to yield significant revenue growth. Andthe company has not yet articulated acoherent strategy in the wake of its $12.5billion acquisition in May of cellphonemaker Motorola Mobility. In the longerterm, a rising wave of regulatory scrutinyboth at home and abroad could representthe single biggest risk to the Google story.Regulators are looking into whether Googleis competing unfairly by favoring its ownproperties in its core search product, andwhether it inappropriately uses sensitivepersonal data to target ads.

Crude down in Asia on US energy demand concerns SINGAPORE: Oil fell in Asia on Thursday on demand concerns after US data showed a sharper-than-expected rise in crude inventories in the past week, analysts said. New York’s main contract, light sweet crudefor delivery in November shed 10 cents to $92.02 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for December deliveryretreated two cents to $113.20. A larger-than-expected gain in US crude stockpiles raised demand concernsamong traders, said Sanjeev Gupta, who heads the Asia-Pacific oil and gas practice at Ernst & Young. “Crudeprices edged slightly lower, dragged down by oil demand concerns and the uncertain economy,” he told AFP.The US Department of Energy late Wednesday announced that crude supplies increased by 2.86 millionbarrels in the week ending October 12, a gain more than twice as large as analysts expected. AFP

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