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Int’l vendors see immense growthpotential in Pakistan Page 03

Friday, 02 March, 2012

Progress onBalochistanH

eRe’S how to begin proper,progressive forwardmovement on the

Balochistan issue. It didn’t takemuch to get the additional 70mwpower supply from Iran, and makingthe province’s coastal division ‘load-shedding free’ will bring multiplegains. One, it signals the right kindof attention from the centre, that thepeople’s basic issues are very muchon the agenda in Islamabad. two, thesuccess of the present exercise willbring more such projects, in turngenerating related economic activityand employment. two more projectsciting import of 1100MW are alreadyin the pipeline. three, employmentgeneration and energy availabilitycan, under the right patronage,stimulate entrepreneurship andconsumerism, a phenomenon thatcan help the neglected province in anunprecedented manner. threats from extremist tendencies,be they of nationalistic or sectarianpersuasion, are best countered byprogressive treatment of genuinegrievances. Balochistan has sufferedin more ways than one, though theeconomic aspect stands out the most.and even if its claims of long years ofpolitical and financial isolationremain disputed, there can be no twoviews about the pressure it has facedas the natural waste-pool of the waron terror spillover. Its rehabilitationis essential, both financial andpolitical, and in exactly that order. It is also essential to keep the Balocheconomically engaged in theprovince’s uplift, and not just for anultimate politically correct posture.Once the locals increase earning andspending in the local market place,they will engineer the multiplier, andthere are few better ways of turningminds from extremist bias.

QuiCk edit

ISLAMABAD

AMER SIAL

tHe National assembly StandingCommittee on Finance wasinformed on thursday that thegovernment has constituted a

five member Budget Review Committeeunder the chairmanship of the DeputyChairman Planning Commission to reviewand determine the budget needs of thefederal ministries and divisions for thenext fiscal year.Secretary Finance Wajid Rana assured thecommittee which met under Fauzia Wahabin the chair that there would be noirrational increase in the budget of thefederal ministries and divisions for thenext fiscal year. the committee wasinformed that the agriculture growth isexpected to increase to 3.8 per cent againstthe downward revised target 2.5 per cent isto help achieve Real Gross DomesticProduct (GDP) growth target of 4 per centduring the ongoing fiscal year 2011-12.Secretary Finance informed that thedirectives of the federal cabinet, MoF hasnotified a five member committee underDr Nadeem-ul-Haq which will have twomembers from government and two

private sector. explaining the reasons forre-emergence of the circular debt, he saidthat the main reason was tariffdetermination by the National electricPower Regulatory authority and itsnotification by the government. thegovernment had been notifying powertariff 54 per cent lower than the tariffdetermined by NePRa. at present thenotified power tariff is 20 per cent lowerthan the determined tariff. SecretaryFinance said during the July-Januaryperiod total expenditure was targeted at 58per cent of the total budget, however, dueto the austerity measures the expenditurehad remained at 53 per cent of the totalbudget with a saving of 5 per cent. aboutthe utilization of Public SectorDevelopment Program, he said no cut hadbeen made in the development budget andthe government had released Rs221 billionfor the development projects.explaining the demand of IFIs forimposition of RGSt, he said even friendlydonor countries were also demanding toexpand the revenue base by bringing therich in the tax net. He said RGSt wasessential for documentation of economyand for increasing tax collection in comingyears. He said handsome increase in

revenues was made due to the withdrawalof GSt exemptions announced on March15, 2011. He said the GDP growth for FY 12was projected to 4.2 per cent due to 3.4 percent growth in agriculture, 2 per centgrowth in LSM and 5 percent in services sectors.torrential rains in Sindhduring august 2011compelled thegovernment to reviseits GDP growthtarget to 3.6 percent from 4.2 percent on the basisof 2.5 per centgrowth inagriculture,1.5 per centin LSM,and 4.4per centgrowth inservices sector. therecent data of crop arrivals suggeststhat cotton production of 13 million balesas the cotton arrival have already reachedat 12.5 million bales and positive growth inLSM sector indicates that the better cropsproduction in Punjab particularly cotton

has compensated losses in Sindhresultantly agriculture growth as well asLSM and services sector would be adjustedupward and GDP would be close to 4 percent. the LSM data for the period July to

December FY12 suggests that its outputis increased by 0.83 per

cent ascompared todecline of 1.8

per cent in thecorresponding

period of the lastyear.

the inflationrecorded in January

2011 increased to10.1 per cent. this was

primarily on account ofadjustment of energy

and gas prices; however,the food inflation

remained at single digit 9.2per cent. the fiscal deficit

was projected 4 per cent ofGDP. this was estimated to

be financed through net externalborrowing of Rs135 billion, non bankborrowing Rs412 billion and bankborrowing Rs304 billion. However, during

the course of the period the projection forfiscal deficit has been revised to 4.7 percent. For the period July-December FY 12,overall fiscal deficit was Rs.533 billion or2.5 per cent of GDP, while totalexpenditure in first half of the currentfiscal year was only 45 per cent of totalplanned expenditure.the trade deficit witnessed a deteriorationof 38.7 per cent as it increased from $6.5billion in July-January FY11 to $9.05billion in FY12. Substantial increase of 17.7per cent in imports surpassed a healthygrowth of 7.2 per cent in exports during theperiod under review. the current accountdeficit has increased to $2.633 billionduring first seven months of FY12 againstthe deficit of $96 million in the comparableperiod of last year. the foreign directinvestment during July-January FY12 fell41 per cent to $597 million as comparedwith $1 billion in the comparable period ofthe last year. the worker’s remittancesduring July-December FY12 reached to$6.3 billion against $5.3 billion in FY11,showing an increase of 19.5 per cent.However, during July-January FY12 itincreased to $7.4 billion as against $6.1billion in the comparable period of lastyear showing an increase of 21.5 per cent.

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Yaseenanwar has said Pakistan holds enormous poten-tial for economic growth. ‘I am personally opti-mistic about the country’s future, and confident

that our economic managers – who have steered the coun-try through much choppier seas – will guide this resilienteconomy to the path of stability and prosperity,’ he added.

Delivering his key-note address on ‘the state ofPakistan’s economy’ at a seminar organised by theManagement association of Pakistan (MaP) at a localhotel, he emphasised that our economy’s resiliencemay well be unparalleled as we have survived twomajor floods; one catastrophic earthquake; a war onone border and a balance of payments crisis – all inthe past decade. ‘this only goes to show the enormouspotential for growth that the country holds,’ he added.

He said while Pakistan’s economy is goingthrough some testing times, the challenge in front ofus can scarcely be classified as daunting. ‘Our twindeficits are, in my opinion, the most significant chal-lenges at the moment. even then, it is not the sizethat’s the problem; it’s the situation. and unlike theproblems that engulf the economies of the West, weknow precisely what needs to be done. In that regard,we are extremely fortunate,’ SBP Governor added.

anwar said, ‘We know our problems. Unlike manyother countries, the solutions to our problems arestraightforward. all that is required is a good measure ofwillpower and determination to make reforms throughthese interesting and challenging times.’

He said despite the fiscal deficit, the country’s debt toGDP ratio has not increased substantially; in fact, it hasdeclined in the last three years. ‘to put this in perspective,Pakistan’s debt to GDP ratio is half that of most europeancountries and one-third that of Japan, he said, adding thatmost of the country’s debt is denominated in rupees andthe external debt is long-term in nature. thus, I believethere is absolutely no chance that Pakistan will be facinga Greece-like debt crisis anytime in the near future,’ Mranwar added that.SBP Governor said the resilience of theeconomy manifested itself in the pace of recovery that waswitnessed after the flooding in Sindh in the early part ofFY12. the improvement in food supplies has alreadydampened food inflation, which has been edging downcontinuously, he said, adding this is especially good

news for the lower strata of society, which spends roughlyhalf of its income on food. ‘Headline inflation has followedsuit and fell to less than 10 per cent for the first time in twoyears,’ he said. anwar said our textile and sugar industriesare expected to do well this year and added that construc-tion activity has also picked up with support from the risein remittances; a growing population and initiation ofpublic sector development projects.

He pointed out growth across the real sector has beenconstrained significantly by our energy problems. How-ever, the government is very well informed about the en-ergy situation and has been taking steps to alleviate theproblem, he said, adding that such step was the debt swapthat was recently conducted to free up liquidity for com-panies across the energy sector, increase power generationand reduce the level of circular debt in the energy sector.

SBP Governor said all stakeholders are consciousabout the challenges that the economy faces at pres-ent, and discussions have been extremely frank andstraightforward. to help manage the deficit without

too much of an im-pact on eco-

n o m i cgrowth,

the State Bank has ramped up efforts to broaden anddeepen financial markets – both primary and second-ary, he said and added ‘We have undertaken an initia-tive with SeCP to develop debt markets in Pakistan,and we believe that this will go a long way towardsmitigating the negative effects on the economy of gov-ernment borrowing from commercial banks.

anwar said we are working towards the developmentof the corporate debt market that would lead to a second-ary market, thereby creating ample liquidity to absorb thecircular debt as a long term remedy. ‘the depth andbreadth of the market comprising both institutional andindividual investors, would also alleviate government bor-rowing from SBP and the commercial banks, he said,adding that naturally monetary policy would then becomemore effective in managing inflation.

He said SMe, agriculture and housing finance are en-gines of growth. Our banking structure currently is notperforming its key role as a financial intermediary as noneof these sectors have been adequately penetrated; he saidand added that we are working to develop the corporatedebt market to facilitate financing.

SBP Governor said it is financing of the current ac-count deficit that will remain a challenge this year. ‘Net fi-nancial inflows have slowed down to only $1.9 billion inFY11 after peaking at $8.7 billion in FY07. to manage thesituation, the Bank (SBP) has entered into currency swapagreements with turkey and China in order to mitigatethe pressure of any adverse development in the developedworld on our external accounts and reserves,’ he said,adding that other such arrangements are in the pipelinewith other countries that could relieve pressure on our ex-ternal accounts. ‘aside from the currency swaps, thelargest bank in the world, Industrial Commercial Bank ofChina (ICBC) opened its branches in 2011 in Karachi andIslamabad. Soon I will be announcing another foreignbank’s entry into Pakistan that reflects offshore investorconfidence improving. Clearly, there is much to be opti-mistic about,’ he added. SBP Governor said our reservemanagement policies are transparent and the State Bankhas not experienced any substantial pressure on its re-serves yet – despite the recent repayment of a $400 mil-lion installment to the IMF as we start paying our loans.‘the foreign exchange market did not react adversely tothis large outflow, reflecting the confidence it places inSBP’s policies and procedures,’ he said, adding the StateBank successfully managed market expectations andavoided any untoward movements in the exchange rate.

Pakistan holds enormous potential for growth: Yaseen

Budget Review Committee formed to determine budget needs

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news02Friday, 02 March, 2012

experts find conditions not conducive for privatisationISLAMABAD: experts have said that the current internal aswell as the international situation was not conducive for theout right privatisation of the loss making public sectorenterprises and the best options before the government wereto either to appoint professional management or pursue thepublic private partnership course. the Pakistan Institute ofDevelopment economics (PIDe) organised a seminar underthe theme of Privatisation: New Imperatives, where a booktitled “the Impact of Privatization in Pakistan” by Dr akhtarHasan Khan was launched. Speaking on the occasion, ViceChancellor, PIDe, Dr Rashid amjad said policy stances whichreflect our best economic interests and take into account thepolitical economic dimensions. Pakistan’s experience clearlyshows that public sector has not delivered and the realchallenge now is to find ways of increasing efficiency andproductivity of loss making enterprises. STAFF REPORT

LCCi castigates govt for electricity tariff increase LAHORE: While severely criticising 39 per cent per unitincrease in electricity tariff under the monthly fueladjustment formula, the Lahore Chamber of Commerceand Industry thursday urged the government to withdrawthis hike and direct the National electric Power Regulatoryauthority (NePRa) to freeze the tariff at least for one yearfor the sake of the economy. In a statement issued here, theLCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that thegovernment in collaboration with the private sector wouldhave to evolve a mechanism to cap the electricity prices fora term or a period so that the industrial consumers couldcalculate the cost of their finished products. STAFF REPORT

Netherlands shows interest in agriculture,food processing investmentISLAMABAD: as Pakistan gears up for regional trade,Netherlands has shown interest for investment in theagriculture and food processing sectors and has soughtremoval of hurdles in the import of cows and cattle.ambassador of Netherlands Scheltema called on CommerceMinister Makhdoom Fahim on thursday and discussedbilateral trade relations between the two countries. Dutchenvoy said that the embassy of Netherlands not onlysupports activities to enhance Dutch trade to Pakistan butalso supports Pakistani business people who seek to export tothe Netherlands. He informed that their Center forPromotion of Imports from Developing Countries is workingactively in educating Pakistani exporters for improvement oftheir products to export level quality. STAFF REPORT

Manufacturers eye termination of CNG kit import banISLAMABAD: the abrupt ban imposed on the import ofCNG kits and cylinders has started creating its repercussionsas investors in the automobile and kits manufacturing sectorshave started pushing for the lifting of the ban which isjeopardising their investment. a delegation of therepresentatives of Pak Suzuki, Indus Motor Company, LandiRenzo, tesla, BRC meeting with the Secretary Ministry ofIndustries aziz ahmad Bilour and apprised him about thedifficulties faced by OeMs and the CNG kit manufacturersafter the imposition of ban on the import and installation ofCNG kits on December 15, 2011. Representative of Pak Suzukiinformed that they were badly affected by the decision andsales have plummeted. STAFF REPORT

trade, industry condemn frequenthikes in POL, CNG pricesKARACHI: trade and industry stakeholders have stronglycondemned the frequent and unabated increase in petroleumand CNG prices by the government. Patron In-Chief Korangiassociation of trade and Industry (KatI) SM Muneer,Chairman ehtesham Uddin, Vice Chairmen, Hasham aRazzak, tariq Malik and former Chairman, Mian ZahidHussain, rejecting another major increase in petroleumproducts, said it would hit trade and industry hard besidesraising inflation. they demanded withdrawal of POL and CNGprice increases, saying the rise would devastate the industrialsector by increasing cost of production. STAFF REPORT

inflation expected to fall below 12pcKARACHI: Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation in thecountry increased to 11.05 per cent during the month ofFebruary against 10.10 per cent of last month, January(2012).the numbers culminate into 8MFY12 average CPI of10.79 per cent as against 14.07 per cent in the same periodlast year, while on Month-on-month (MoM) basis, theinflation number clocked at 0.3 per cent. “though thecomplete break-up of the number is not available, we believethe primary reason behind an up-tick in the recent number isincrease in inflationary pressure in the food group as evidentby the leading indicator SPI and reducing base effect,” saidNauman Khan, an analyst at topline Securities. STAFF REPORT

ISLAMABAD

AMER SIAL

NatIONaL assemblyStanding Committee onFinance was informed onthursday that the Fed-

eral Board of Revenue (FBR) wouldmanage to surpass the revenue col-lection target of Rs1,952 billion forthe current fiscal year.

Briefing the committee Chair-man FBR Mumtaz Haider Rizvi saidthe next federal budget would nothave any new taxes and there wouldbe no increase in the rate of tax, asnew budget would be growth-ori-ented and focused on simplificationof tax systems, cleansing of the statu-tory regulatory orders (SROs) andphasing out of federal excise duties.He said the budget would focus onthe government policy of moving to-wards three taxes income tax, salestax and customs duty.

tax authorities informed the com-mittee that FBR was seriously consid-ering a budget proposal to enhance therate of withholding tax on the pur-chase of luxury vehicles. the tax is al-

ready applicable on the purchase ofnew vehicles; however, purchaserswere not properly paying withholdingtax. the proposal seeks collection oftax at the time of booking of the car.

Chairman FBR said that the taxauthorities have been able to maintaingrowth of 27 per cent in tax collectiondespite slowdown in the economic ac-tivity. Currently FBR is ahead of targetand expectations were that by the endof current fiscal year FBR would crossthe tax collection target. FBR has pro-visionally collected Rs131.5 billion dur-ing the month of February 2012.

Sharing data of July-January pe-riod of the current fiscal year Rizvisaid FBR has achieved a growth of 27per cent and as against the budgetedtarget of Rs770 billion the actual rev-enue collection stood at Rs975 billionduring first seven months of the cur-rent fiscal year. the required growthduring February-June period wouldbe 24 per cent. FBR has to collectRs977 billion in the remaining monthsof current fiscal. He said the directtaxes collection stood at Rs351 billionduring July-January against Rs278billion in the same period last fiscal,

reflecting an increase of 26 per cent.Sales tax collection was Rs445 billionagainst Rs329 billion, showing an in-crease of 35 per cent. the withdrawalof zero-rating facility and impositionof sales tax on plant, machinery andequipments and withdrawal of salestax exemptions through SROs has im-proved sales tax collection. anotherfactor responsible for increasing insales tax collection is the increase inthe prices of importable items whichalso subsequently raised the incidenceof sales tax at the import stage.

He said that the collection of fed-eral excise duty (FeD) was Rs68 bil-lion during the period under reviewagainst Rs68 billion in the corre-sponding period of last fiscal. thecustoms duty collection was Rs111billion during July-January (2011-12) against Rs95 billion in the sameperiod last fiscal, reflecting an in-crease of 17 per cent.

FBR has been able to collect overRs41 billion with the help of adminis-trative and enforcement efforts. Dur-ing July-January FBR has recoveredan amount of Rs7 billion from audit ofwithholding tax agents. the broaden-

ing the tax-base has resulted in collec-tion of Rs1 billion. the improvementin collection through proper regulationof the afghan transit trade has im-proved collection of Rs6 billion. therecovery of Rs1 billion has been madefrom illegal input tax adjustments.FBR has been able to collect Rs5 bil-lion from income tax surcharge. theimproved valuation of imports re-sulted in collection of Rs3 billionwhereas improved appraisement ofimports through WeBOC has realizedrevenue of Rs1 billion. the recovery ofarrears has been able to help the taxdepartment to generate an additionalamount of Rs9 billion.

FBR is targeting to collect Rs50billion from the administrative and en-forcement actions during February-June period. Out of this amount, theBtB campaign would help in collec-tion of Rs5 billion, recovery of illegalinput tax adjustments Rs10 billion,withholding audit Rs22 billion, stuck-up arrears Rs8 billion and additionalrevenue of Rs5 billion is expected fromadministrative and enforcement ac-tions on the customs side in the re-maining period of current fiscal.

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

PaKIStaN and Malaysiahave agreed to increasebilateral trade and worktogether to narrow down

the trade gap currently heavily tiltedin favour of Malaysia due to $2billion worth of palm oil thatPakistan is importing from Malaysiato meet 95 per cent of its domesticrequirements.the understanding to workprogressively towards balancing thetrade gap and increasing import ofbetter quality Pakistani products,especially rice and food products, byMalaysia was reached during aseries of meetings held between theMalaysian officials and the Pakistanidelegation headed by tariq IqbalPuri, Chairman of tradeDevelopment authority of Pakistan(tDaP), currently visiting Malaysiato explore ways for increasing thebilateral trade and forging businessmatch-making and mutuallybeneficial partnerships.the Pakistani delegation

accompanied by Masood Khalid,Pakistan’s High Commissioner toMalaysia, held separate meetingswith heads of various governmentand business organisations as well assenior government officials andministers, including Minister ofagriculture and agro-based IndustryMalaysia Datuk Seri Noh Bin Omarand Minister for Plantation,Industries and Commodities, tan SriBernard Dompok. a number ofissues and proposals aimed atstrengthening the bilateral relationsand increasing bilateral trade,especially in the fields of agriculture,construction, livestock and dairy,energy, education, It and Halalindustry were discussed. During themeetings, Puri told the Malaysianofficials Pakistan was the world’sthird largest importer of palm oilimporting nearly 2.2 million Mtevery year of which 95 per cent camefrom Malaysia. “Palm oil alonemakes up nearly 79 per cent of our$2.55 billion imports from Malaysiawhich has swung the balance oftrade massively in favour ofMalaysia,” he said, adding that it

would like to narrow down the gapby exporting to such products as riceand mangoes which were alreadyselling all over the world for theirbetter quality and competitive pricesand could grab greater share in theMalaysian market if the country-specific quota in respect of Pakistaniproducts, especially rice, wasenhanced. Puri said Pakistanproduced the best quality rice and itwas not only the 12th largestproducer of rice but also the 4thlargest exporter of rice yielding $2.5billion exports for the country onlylast year. “Pakistan has fullyliberalised the import and export ofrice which should allow theMalaysian importers greater ease toimport more Pakistani rice toMalaysia to meet its domesticrequirement of 1 million Mt of rice,”he said. tDaP Chairman also urgedthe Malaysian government toconsider importing processedPakistani meat, especially beef andchicken, to meet its domesticrequirements and those of its armedForces. He also advocated for greaterpenetration of Pakistani mangoes in

the Malaysian market given the factthat they were accorded preferentialmarket access under the Ftabetween Pakistan and Malaysia andwas available in Pakistan also in theprocessed form after the installationof two Mango-pulp plants inPakistan for production of better-quality end-products.During the meetings, the MalaysianMinisters agreed to promote thebilateral trade and assured toexplore ways for increasing theimport of Pakistani rice and otherproducts. they said Malaysia hadalready signed an agreement withVietnam to import 800,000 Mt ofrice annually but for the remaining200,000 Mt required to meet thedomestic demand; it was preparedto look at the possibility ofenhancing import of the commodityfrom Pakistan. tariq Puri thankedthe Malaysian government for itssupport to Pakistan and invited boththe agriculture and Plantationministers to lead a delegation ofbusinessmen and entrepreneurs toPakistan to attend the expoPakistan 2012 due later this year.

ISLAMABAD

STAFF REPORT

SeCURItIeS and ex-change Commission ofPakistan (SeCP) hasbeen elected as vice-

chair of the International Organ-isation of SecuritiesCommissions (IOSCO) Commit-tee on Regulation of Market In-termediaries for 2013-14.

SeCP had applied forIOSCO committee on market in-termediaries both for leadershipas vice-chair and membership,which were both accepted.Korea will be the vice–chair ofthe committee for 2012-2013.Under IOSCO New Strategic Di-rection, many jurisdictions ap-plied for membership andleadership positions of theIOSCO forthcoming commit-tees. SeCP will now form an in-tegral part of IOSCO’s newcommittee on the regulation of

market intermediaries alongsideinternational counterparts fromjurisdictions such as US, UK,Brazil, China, Japan, France,Germany and India. the com-mittee chaired by Hong Kongwill consist of about 30 memberjurisdictions and will begin itsfunctions in May 2012 afterIOSCO’s annual conference.

Chairman SeCP Muhammadali said being vice-chair of IOSCOcommittee will enable the SeCPto contribute to the policy andstandard setting work of IOSCOand give it an opportunity to ben-efit from the experience and de-velopments taking place insecurities markets of otherIOSCO membership jurisdic-tions. “It is a sign of the SeCP’scommitment and dedication tothe IOSCO’s work and recogni-tion of our past contributions,which will go a long way not onlyin improving the country’s image,but also in paving the way for im-

plementation of best interna-tional practices in the country’scapital market. IOSCO is a globalstandard setter for securitiesmarkets regulation and an inter-national forum for cooperationamongst securities regulators,having objectives to protect in-vestors, maintain fair, efficientand transparent markets andmitigate systemic risks. SeCP hasbeen a member of IOSCO since1998. Currently, IOSCO has over199 members from 114 countriesthat have committed to imple-menting the international stan-dards of regulatory oversight andto develop strong cooperation inenforcement action against mis-conduct. In order to effectivelyimplement the international se-curities regulatory principles, theIOSCO is strengthening its role inthe international financial com-munity and aligning its strategicdirection with the evolving finan-cial regulatory landscape.

FBR upbeat on achievingrevenue target for current FY

SeCP gets chosen as vice-chair iOSCO

Malaysia looks forward to importing more Pakistani rice, mangoes

eu shows interest in financing Munda dam

ISLAMABAD

STAFF REPORT

IN a major development, european Union (eU)has shown interest to finance Munda Dam projectand to establish micro hydro power projects in

various parts of the country. ambassador of eU LarsGunnar Weigmark on thursday called on the Ministerfor Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar. He said eUis keen to invest in the power sector to help resolve theenergy crisis particularly in the far flung areas. Someof the countries under eU commission are alreadyfunding various water and power and energy conser-vation projects individually or with the collaboration ofdonors in Pakistan. He briefed the Minister on eUcountry programme for Pakistan and said that ruraldevelopment, good governance and better use of waterare their priority areas under the programme. He saidthat they have planned to establish community basedhydro projects in 1000 union councils of Malakand,small hydro plants in northern areas and KhyberPakhtunkhwa. eU has also granted 70 million eurosfor rehabilitation and upgradation of two power plantsin Multan and Faisalabad while 30 million euros havebeen allocated for small hydro plants in northern areas.

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Silkbank announces Rs1.359 billion profit for 2011KARACHI: Silkbank approved and announced itsannual accounts for the period ended December 31,2011 at a meeting held at the head office in Karachi.the Bank has made a remarkable turnaround by de-claring a profit before tax of Rs1.359 billion whichis a phenomenal increase of 210 per cent comparedto last year’s figures. Similarly, profit after tax in-creased 161 per cent with respect to last year’s fig-ures. the total deposits reflected a strong growth ofRs8.4 billion for the year, outpacing the banking in-dustry growth to close at Rs64.1 billion. the concen-tration of large deposits was also significantlyreduced from 18 per cent in 2010 to 15.7 per cent in2011. Huge influx of deposits in CaSa accountshelped to improve the CaSa ratio by over 8 per centto as high as 49 per cent.

Burj Bank launches evening Banking Services

KARACHI: Burj Bank has announced the launchof its evening Banking Services from March 01,2012. From now on the bank will offer nonstopbanking services from 9am to 8pm at selectedbranches in Karachi, including Sir Syed RoadBranch (PeCHS), Zamzama Boulevard, Zaib-Un-Nisa Street and Clifton. In the extended hours, cus-tomers can avail most banking services includingcash deposit and cheque deposit for clearing. the

bank will also accept customer requests for fundtransfers, cheque books, pay orders, demand drafts,phone banking and internet banking. PRESS RELEASE

PtC bags ‘2012 Best Wireless Broadband’ award

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan telecommunicationCompany Limited (PtCL) won the 2012 Con-sumer Choice award as the ‘Best Wireless Broad-band’ Internet service provider. Organised lastweek by the Consumers association of Pakistan’s(CaP) in Karachi, the 7th annual ConsumerChoice awards honoured PtCL eVO as the ‘2012Best Wireless Broadband’ brand of Pakistan.PtCL stood tall amongst 85 business awards pre-sented in various commercial categories rangingfrom financial services to FMCG to telecommu-nications. In a glittering ceremony attended byrepresentatives of Pakistan’s leading nationaland international brands, Sindh Minister for In-formation technology, Mr Raza Haroon, pre-sented the award to PtCL Senior executive VicePresident Business Zone South, Mr FurqanHabib Qureshi. PRESS RELEASE

ABF President returns after attendingGlobal Business ConferenceLAHORE: President american Business Forum(aBF) Salim Ghauri has returned from the USafter attending Global Business Conference on

the invitation of State department. Salim wasthe only Pakistani businessman invited to attendthe global business conference. He got opportu-nity of meeting US Vice President Joe Biden andUS Secretary of State Hilary Clinton in the con-ference. He apprised the global business leadersof positive economic trends in Pakistan indicat-ing stability and improvement in confidence.Salim said he has highlighted in his address toglobal business conference that overall depress-ing global economic situation has impacted neg-atively the growth in textile exports fromPakistan. PRESS RELEASE

dr Phillips to conduct programme for kSBLKARACHI: Dr Nelson Phillips will conduct atwo-day executive education Programme forKarachi School for Business and Leadership(KSBL), on “High Impact Leadership”, on the 6thand 7th of March, in Karachi. the course has beendesigned for top and Middle Management execu-tives across all industry sectors whether they be-long to manufacturing, services or socialenterprise. Dr Nelson Phillips is Head of the Or-ganisation and Management Group and Directorof executive education at Imperial College Busi-ness School in London. His areas of expertise in-clude technology strategy, knowledgemanagement, organizational forgetting, and entre-preneurship and family business. PRESS RELEASE

JS Bank set to thrive in highly competitive phase of banking industryKARACHI: the last few years have been charac-terised by qualms and trepidation for the bankingindustry worldwide. With the eurozone debt cri-sis looming on the global forefront in 2011, ourlocal banking industry too has been treading dan-gerous waters amidst growing militant concerns,sluggish GDP growth, worsening law and ordersituation, fuel and energy crises, growing fiscaland current deficits and uncertainty of monetarypolicy. In CY10, inflationary pressure of about

15.5 per cent YoY was compounded by heavy gov-ernment borrowings mainly due to fiscal expan-sion. this was followed by the decision of thegovernment to increase the discount rate thrice.Rising NPLs and increases in provisioning ex-penses were especially detrimental to smallbanks which do not have the capacity to sustainprofitability amidst such growing concerns. as atDecember 31, 2010, the combined NPLs of allbanks and DFIs stood at Rs548 billion, as com-pared to Rs446 billion at December 31, 2009 – anincrease of 22.8 per cent. PRESS RELEASE

NBP leads in agri credit financing KARACHI: National Bank of Pakistan is amongtop five banks of Pakistan. While it offers completerange of commercial banking services, one of thekey areas is lending to farmers. For the financialyear 2011-12 the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) hasfixed an indicate lending target of Rs280 billion outof this NBP has been assigned the maximum share,a specialised institution created to cater the needsof farmers. NBP takes pride in having disbursedeven more than the target assigned last year andaims at offering even better services to the farmersdue to its greater outreach. PRESS RELEASE

news

Friday, 02 March, 2012

03

CORPORATE CORNER

LAHORE: Mr Irfan Qaiser Sheikh, President LahoreChamber of Commerce and Industries, inaugurated the10th edition of MEGATECH-2012, (International MachineryExhibition of Garment and Textile Technology), at ExpoCentre Lahore. Also seen in the picture are Mr AamerKhanzada, Managing Director, Pegasus Consultancy andorganisers of the event. PRESS RELEASE

Major Gainers

Company Open High Low Close Change Turnover

Nestle PakistanXD 3340.39 3507.40 3364.99 3500.46 160.07 652Wyeth Pak Limited 763.33 780.00 768.00 779.96 16.63 309Colgate Palmolive 784.80 800.00 755.00 797.25 12.45 820Shezan Inter. 112.16 117.76 114.90 117.75 5.59 1,300Atlas Battery Ltd. 182.05 187.00 183.90 186.99 4.94 1,813

Major Losers

Bata (Pak) Ltd. 679.23 679.98 646.00 649.59 -29.64 255Service Industries 198.90 197.98 193.00 193.89 -5.01 592MCB Bank Ltd 179.67 181.47 176.00 176.62 -3.05 623,727Biafo Ind. 59.05 56.10 56.10 56.10 -2.95 1,005Pak Gum & Chemicals 53.11 50.51 50.46 50.46 -2.65 1,107

Volume Leaders

Lotte PakPTA 7.90 8.90 7.93 8.90 1.00 25,728,451Jah.Sidd. Co. 10.01 10.09 9.52 9.58 -0.43 12,986,149National Bank 52.11 53.19 51.10 51.39 -0.72 10,914,841Fauji Cement 4.20 4.54 4.18 4.45 0.25 10,830,303TRG Pakistan Ltd. 2.48 2.92 2.50 2.70 0.22 9,478,634

Interbank RatesUS Dollar 90.9570UK Pound 144.8945Japanese Yen 1.1289Euro 122.4282

Buy Sell

US Dollar 90.60 91.10

Euro 121.31 122.35

Great Britain Pound 143.84 144.99

Japanese Yen 1.1196 1.1282

Canadian Dollar 91.00 92.35

Hong Kong Dollar 11.49 11.73

UAE Dirham 24.63 24.79

Saudi Riyal 24.13 24.26

Australian Dollar 97.36 99.69

dollar reservesdecline by $221mto $16.424b

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

tHe country’s dollarreserves continue to movenorthward and contracted

by 1.3 per cent or $221 millionduring the week that endedFebruary 24. Last week too sawthe country’s foreign exchangereserves dipping by $123 millionup to February 17. according toState Bank, during the week underreview, the country’s holdings ofthe greenback shrank to $16.424billion as against $16.645 billionof the previous week. During theweek, the central bank’s reservesdeclined by $150 million or 1.2per cent to $12.062 billion fromthe previous week’s $12.212billion. the commercial banks arealso witnessing their dollarholdings depleting for last twoconsecutive weeks with thecurrent week seeing a contractionof 1.6 per cent or $71 million asopposed to the previous weekwhen the banks’ reserves haddeclined by $49 million. thebanks, during the review week,slid to $4.362 billion against$4.433 billion of last week. afterhitting the record $18.31 billionmark in July last year, thecountry’s dollar reserves areconstantly going down because ofwhat the central bank saysrepayment of foreign loans. theState Bank of Pakistan repaid atleast $399 million to theInternational Monetary Fund atthe end of last month (February),with the economic managersreportedly having said that therepayment of $1.1 billion IMFrepayments by June 2012 werealready budgeted, thus would haveno impact on the fragile economy.

Int’l vendors seeimmense growthpotential in Pakistan

3G LiCeNCeS

ISLAMABAD

STAFF REPORT

aS the government plansto launch three licencesfor offering thirdgeneration (3G)

telecom services in the country,international vendors are seeingimmense investment and growthpotential in Pakistan.an official source said theinternational vendors weremaking a beeline for Pakistan asthree new licences means a lot ofinvestment and growthopportunities. He said during thelast few years Chinese vendorshave ousted majority ofeuropean and North americanvendors from the market but 3Glicences have attracted themback to the country. He said aleading vendor of dynamicOperations Support System(OSS) software, ComptelCorporation,is lookingto

set up its operations in thecountry realising the immensegrowth potential of telecomsector in Pakistan. 3G licenceswill open up multipleopportunities towards providingnewer and more innovativeservices to the customers as wellas to the commercial andindustrial sector in the country.Comptel is a world leader inmediation and facilitates theentire order managementprocess within the operatorsbusiness. It is focused on helpingcommunications serviceproviders better engage withtheir customers inorder to enhancesubscribers’satisfaction andloyalty and

maximize revenue opportunities.Recently, it acquired a companyXtract, which gives it a uniquecapability to offer customers withreal time customer experiencesolutions. Such kind of serviceswill be required by the telcoswhen they start providing highquality data services to thecustomers, he said. Recently,Kuwaiti operator Wataniyatelecom has deployed ComptelDynamic SIM Management togive its customers the ability toself-activate their subscriptions

using their handsets.With Wataniya’s

premium first useexperience, SuperSIM, each user isnow able todynamicallychoose theirnumbers and thepackages they wantin real time. thesolution enables theoperator to monetisevanity numbers andto manage them, all

in real time. Itallows subscribers

to select theirnumbers and

services with aninteractive dialogue the firsttime they use their SIM cards.

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