Saturday, 20 October, 2012

Turkey, Pakistanapproach PTA

ANKARA

ONLINE

Both Pakistan and Turkey will expeditetheir efforts for an early conclusion of acomprehensive Preferential Trade Agree-ment (PTA) to further boost bilateral com-mercial relations.Chairman Board of Investment Saleem H.Mandviwalla to this effect held meetingswith the Turkish leadership here inAnkara.Turkish deputy Prime Minister Ali Baba-can (pronounced as Ali Babajan) in hismeeting with the visiting dignitary as-sured his government’s full support in en-couraging Turkish companies to invest inPakistan. Both the leaders agreed that existing hugereservoir of emotions and goodwill be-tween Turkey and Pakistan will certainlyhelp in further improving economic rela-tions.They also discussed the Istanbul-Islam-abad cargo goods train (Gul Train) andagreed that running such train on a regu-lar basis will make it a viable project. They referred to High Level CooperationCouncil (HLCC) which is a highest leveldecision making forum between the twocountries in the economic field. HLCC wasindeed a milestone in the history Pak-istan-Turkey relations and under thisplatform many agreements were signed inthe economic and commercial field.The Pakistani delegation also held exten-sive discussions with Turkey’s deputyMinister for economy Mustafa Sever andhis team. Sever informed that currentlyTurkish companies have about US$365million investment portfolio in Pakistan. Both the dignitaries noted that althoughbilateral trade crossed the threshold ofUS$1 billion last year, but concerted ef-forts are required to keep this momen-tum. They agreed that the signing ofproposed comprehensive PTA would ad-dress all issues including the textile sector.Mandviwalla said he is personally intouch with the Turkish companies whohave investment projects in Pakistan orwho are planning to come and invest inPakistan. He informed that he will be meeting withmany such investors in Istanbul. Mandvi-walla said Pakistan will encourage invest-ment in steel sector and invited steelmanufacturers to consider establishingworld class steel plants in Pakistan.

LAHORE

APP

Federal Commerce Minister MakhdoomAmin Fahim said on Friday the govern-ment was trying for better market accessfor local businesses in international mar-kets by concluding FTAs and PTAs with anumber of countries through active tradediplomacy.

He was speaking at the Lahore Cham-ber of Commerce and Industry on Friday.Issues which came under discussion in-cluded: under-invoicing, duty on raw ma-terials from India, decline in leatherexport ban on export of poultry toAfghanistan.

The minister said the government wasinitiating Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)and Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs)with China, Malaysia, Singapore, Thai-land, Brunei, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Russ-ian Federation, Central Asian Republics,

Iran, Mauritius, Morocco, Tunisia,Libya, Jordan and Sri Lanka. He said thatother market access initiatives includedeCO Trade Agreement, Pakistan-IndiaTrade normalization Process and SAARCAgreement on Trade in Services andAgreement on South Asian Free TradeArea. He said the government had alreadyannounced a number of incentives toboost exports such as concessionary fi-nancing, duty free import of raw materials

under temporary importationscheme/duty tax remission on exports(dTRe), duty drawback scheme, conces-sions in duty/taxes on import of machin-ery, raw material of priority export sectorsand development of export clusters. Hesaid the government was fully aware ofcountless challenges faced by exporters inthe face of the severe competition that re-quired improvement in exports and ex-pansion in the export basket dulysupported by competitive prices and excel-lent quality. He said the scope for agricul-tural products export was quite vast.However, Pakistan has not been able tomake any significant headway due to acomplicated regime of Sanitary and phyto-sanitary (PSP) requirements of the WTO.He said that it was the collective responsi-bility of all stakeholders to move forwardin complying with the commitments to getmaximum benefit.

Calling for an active two-way region-specific and sector-specific detailed pub-lic-private dialogue before the StrategicTrade Policy Framework for 2012-15 is fi-nalized, LCCI President Farooq Iftikharstressed the need for ensuring effective ex-ecution of national Trade FacilitationStrategy in close coordination with allstakeholders. He said the governmentshould expand market access by enteringinto FTAs and PTAs with countries whereit had comparative competitive advantage.

He proposed creation of country-level andregional FTA/PTA Advisory Council in-volving the private sector and govt officialsfor exploring all avenues.

He said regional trade should becomea pillar of the Strategic Trade PolicyFramework for 2012-15 as it was econom-ically efficient. The recent thaw in Pak-istan and India trade relations andreciprocal MFn status will help the causeof greater regional trade.

South Asia is home to one of thelargest consumer markets in the world interms of size. Trade within SAARC ismerely 5% - 6% of their total world tradewhereas trade within ASeAn standsaround 25% and is expected to increase to40% by 2015, he added.

He said the LCCI fully supported in-creased regional trade but it should not beat the expense of the local industry whichwas already under severe pressure due tothe energy crisis. The situation for varioussectors of the economy with regard totrade with India demands a measured ap-proach whereby the local industry such aspharmaceutical, automobiles, auto-parts,ghee and detergent manufactures are sup-ported for improving their innovative ca-pacity to better cope with the onslaught ofnew competition from across the border,he added.

The LCCI president urged the ministerto look into issue of huge import of used

cars that had incurred revenue losses tothe tune of Rs.14 billion but also hit veryhard the auto vendor industry whose

losses were estimated to be around Rs.30billion. The situation led to loss of jobs ofalmost 45,000 workers as well, he added.

‘TRADE DIPLOMACY NEEDED TO ACCESS WORLD MARKETS’

President yearns ADB’s cash splashISLAMABAD

APP

PReSIdenT Asif Ali Zardarion Friday urged the Asiandevelopment Bank (AdP)to be a lead financer of thediamer-Bhasha dam proj-

ect. The President, in his meeting with theBoard of directors of Asian developmentBank (AdB), said that early completion ofthe diamer-Bhasha dam was crucial fordiversifying the energy mix, production ofcheap electricity and enhancing storagecapacity of water.

The President said that energy short-age and water scarcity were among themajor issues faced by the country thathindered smooth economic growth andthe government’s efforts towards povertyalleviation. Briefing about the meeting,Spokesperson to the President SenatorFarhatullah Babar said that the Presidentemphasized that being a water-stressedcountry, it was important for Pakistan tourgently enhance its water storage capac-ity so as to ensure food security and con-tinued agricultural productivity.

The President said that the projectwas also crucial as it would be generating4500 MW of clean and environmentalfriendly energy to meet the growing de-mand of a developing economy.

He said that energyshortage was the majorissue, which was ham-pering economic devel-opment and growth ofthe country and was ad-versely affecting the gov-ernment’s efforts toovercome imprints ofheavy toll in the waragainst terror and that ofthe recurring naturaldisasters.

He said that the con-struction of diamerBhasha dam was an in-tegral part of Pakistan’s strategy to con-trol natural disasters like the devastatingfloods, diversify its energy mix by har-nessing the renewable sources of clean,affordable and environmental friendly en-ergy, generation of short and long termemployment opportunities, particularlyto for the locals, and to focus on buildingmassive infrastructure for overall socio-economic uplift of the area and standardof living of people. He said that the gov-ernment had demonstrated its politicalwill and was tapping all avenues for gen-eration of the resources for this project ofvital importance.

The President said that the govern-ment was also cognizant of the safeguard

policies and concernsand therefore was adher-ing to AdB’s principlesfor resettlement of thedisplaced persons andenvironmental protec-tion.

He also appreciatedthe engagement of theBank in TAPI natural gaspipeline project that willtransport Caspian Seanatural gas from Turk-menistan throughAfghanistan into Pak-istan and then to India.

discussing other mega projects, thePresident said Pakistan believed that re-gional connectivity could play a key rolein ushering in a new era of socio-eco-nomic development and growth of thepeople of the region.

In this regard, the President said,Pakistan would host Ministerial Confer-ence of Central Asia Regional economicCooperation (CAReC) in 2016.

He said that Pakistan was activelyparticipating in all

CAReC forums to expand connectiv-ity and trade with its neighbours and tofacilitate utilization of the available re-sources of the region to be put in the serv-ice of people for socio-economic

development. He also thanked the AdB for posi-

tively responding to Pakistan’s request forassistance in preliminary damage andneed assessment in Sindh and parts ofBalochistan after the devastating floodshad wreaked havoc in those areas.

He said that the Government of Pak-istan looked forward to continued assis-tance of the Asian development Bank inits efforts to extricate people from thegenerational traps of poverty, ensuringsocio-economic development of the peo-ple and to overcome the current chal-lenges faced by the economy.

The delegation thanked the Presidentfor meeting and assured AdB’s continuedengagement with the country. The dele-gation of Asian development Bank (AdB)comprised Maurin Sitorus, Ashok Lahiri,Kazuhiko Koguchi, Jerome destombes,Richard edwards, Khin Khin Lwin, SirajShamsuddin and Werner e. Liepach.

The President was assisted in themeeting by Finance Minister dr HafeezSheikh, BISP Chairperson Ms FarzanaRaja, Secretary General M SalmanFaruqui, Petroleum Advisor dr AsimHussain, Senator Farhatullah Babar, Sen-ator Syeda Sughra Imam, deputy Chair-man Planning Commission drnadeem-ul-Haq and other senior officialsof the ministries concerned.

ISLAMABAD

APP

The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for theweek ended on October 18, for the variousgroups of income ranging betweenRs8,000to above Rs.35,000, registeredmixed trend as compared to the previousweek. SPI for income groups up to 18,000witnessed slight increase and that of for in-come groups from 18,001 to above 35,000witnessed decrease whereas the combinedSPI of all groups of income witnessed slightdecrease of 0.03 percent, according to pro-visional figures of Pakistan Bureau of Sta-tistics (PBS).

The break up figures show that SPI forthe lowest income group up to Rs 8,000,registered slight increase of 0.08 per centby going up from 181.56 points to 181.70points during the week under review.

The weekly SPI has been computedwith base 2007-2008=100, covering 17urban centers and 53 essential items for allincome groups and combined. However,the SPI for the combined group decreasedby 0.03 per cent as it went down from187.28 points in the previous week to187.23 points in the week under review.

As compared to the correspondingweek of last year, the SPI for the combinedgroup in the week under review witnessed

increase of 6.03 percent. As compared tothe last week, the SPI for the incomegroups from Rs 8001-12,000 and 12,001-18,000 witnessed increase of 0.04 percentand 0.02 percent while the SPI for incomegroups from 18001-35,000 and aboveRs.35,000 decreased by 0.03 percent, 0.09percent respectively.

The items which recorded decrease intheir average prices during the week underreview included bananas, chicken live(farm), red chillies (powder), petrol, moong(pulse), vegetable ghee (tin), cooking oil(tin), gram pulse(washed), onions, mashpulse (washed), LPG(11 kg cylender), sugarand masoor pulse (washed).

The items which registered increase intheir prices included tomatoes, diesel, egghen (farm), potatoes, bread (plain),kerosene, garlic, wheat, energy savor, ricebasmati (broken), wheat flour, vegetableghee (loose), mutton, milk(fresh) and curd.The items with no change in their averageprices during the week under review includedrice (irri-6), beef, milk (powdered), mustardoil, gur, salt (powdered), tea (packet), cookedbeef, cooked dal, tea (prepared), cigarettes,long cloth, shirting, lawn, georgette, sandal(gents), chappal (gents), sandal(ladies), elec-tric charges, gas charges (upto 100m3), fire-wood, washing soap, match box, telephonelocal call and bath soap.

Urges ADB to be lead financer of Diamer-Bhasha Dam project

An inflationary mixed bag g Weekly inflation witnesses mixed trend for different income groups

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Saturday, 20 October, 2012

Major Gainers

COMPANY OPEN HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE TURNOVERUniLever Pak 9700.01 10000.00 9900.00 10000.00 299.99 80Bata (Pak) Limited 1249.50 1311.97 1280.00 1311.97 62.47 700Shezan Inter.SPOT 497.73 522.61 522.60 522.60 24.87 4,100Mithchells Fruit 367.00 385.35 385.30 385.35 18.35 3,600National FoodsXD 326.41 342.73 317.00 342.73 16.32 18,700

Major LosersNestle Pakistan Ltd. 5078.70 5000.00 4900.00 5000.00 -78.70 3,980Sitara ChemicalXD 162.29 163.00 156.00 157.53 -4.76 19,200Agriautos IndustXD 90.00 91.99 85.50 85.50 -4.50 9,500Atlas Honda Ltd 136.81 139.00 131.00 132.72 -4.09 5,600National RefinXD 225.15 231.00 215.10 222.27 -2.88 331,200

Volume Leaders

Fauji Cement 6.34 6.85 6.28 6.76 0.42 25,054,500Jah.Sidd. Co. 13.29 14.29 13.37 14.29 1.00 19,463,500Azgard Nine 6.16 6.85 6.18 6.73 0.57 15,836,000Askari Bank 15.52 16.52 15.79 16.51 0.99 15,298,500Fauji Fert Bin 38.60 39.85 38.96 39.20 0.60 8,956,500

Interbank RatesUS dollar 95.3435UK Pound 153.0930Japanese Yen 1.2032euro 124.4232

Dollar EastBUY SELL

US Dollar 95.10 95.50Euro 122.55 124.09Great Britain Pound 150.69 152.54Japanese Yen 1.1829 1.1974Canadian Dollar 94.50 96.16Hong Kong Dollar 12.03 12.24UAE Dirham 25.68 25.97Saudi Riyal 25.13 25.42Australian Dollar 96.82 99.47

Business

NBP has the fastest growing

overseas alliances base for

home remittances

KARACHI: nBP hasthe fastest growingoverseas correspon-dent base for home re-mittances. In justaround two years timenBP has made al-liances with almost allleading Financial In-stitutions/Moneyservice Business pro-viding remittance

services, for facilitation of overseas Pakistanisacross the globe. “nBP’s focus has always been thefacilitation of overseas Pakistanis and encouragingthem to use legal channels for sending their hardearned money to their loved ones at home. Theteam at nBP has made it possible by launching new,innovative and state of the art remittance productswhich are compatible with the technology availableglobally resulting in easy integration with overseascounterparts while staying complaint with domesticand overseas regulations. The services offered bynBP are satisfying to the customer needs which isthe basic reason for nBP’s phenomenal success inthe home remittance business” said Khalid Bin Sha-heen SeVP/Group Chief-nBP and Chairman nBPexchange Co. Ltd. in a recently held ceremony.

Unilever’s Lifebuoy leads

pledge to help millions

ISLAMABAD: This year marks the fifth birthdayof Global Handwashing day (GHd) – a day co-founded by Unilever’s health soap brand Lifebuoy

to raise awareness of handwashing with soap as asimple, but lifesaving habit. This day is being cele-brated in 100 countries and Lifebuoy, a globalUnilever brand, is leading the charge for it in mostcountries.With little over three years to go until the deadlinefor the Millennium development Goals (MdGs)including MdG 4 - to help reduce the mortality ofchildren under five by two-thirds - Lifebuoy alongwith Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) and The Citi-zen’s Foundation (TCF) are visiting schools andcommunities across Pakistan to create awarenesson and focus on handwashing with soap as an in-tervention that can help save millions more lives.

KARACHI: Habib Metropolitan COO, Syed Talib Rizvi Meeting

with Pak Gulf President Sardar Tanvir Ilyas Khan in his office.

Etihad Airways offers special

fares for Johannesburg

LAHORE: etihad Airways, the national airline ofthe United Arab emirates, is offering a special dis-count for travelers flying to Johannesburg.In economy Class, Customers can fly at an amaz-ingly low fare of Rs. 70,590/- to Johannesburgfrom Lahore and Islamabad. This special fare isavailable on tickets purchased till 31st Octoberonly. After buying the ticket, you can avail it till

the 10th of december, 2012. etihad today offersmore than 75 popular destinations around theworld, operating 23 weekly flights from Pakistan,which include daily flights from Karachi, Lahoreand Islamabad along with weekly two flights fromPeshawar via Abu dhabi to the world.

Samsung launches

“Explore the Galaxy” road show

LAHORE: October 19, 2012 – Samsung electronicsLtd. is a global technology leader, which has inaugu-rated smartphones Road-show for the first time acrossPakistan. The show named – “explore the Galaxy” fea-tures the latest range of Samsung Galaxy Smart-phones. This vibrant event creates great opportunityfor customers to experience and acquire the widestrange of the smartest telecom devices, backed by theauthenticity and warranty of the most evolved enter-prise. The purpose of “explore the Galaxy” is to createawareness amongst the potential consumer regardingthe best in class. Smart phone devices for their every-day use for a smarter on the go life backed by an spotselling of the warranty devices. This unique RoadShow will continue for over a month, staying 12 dayseach in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi. ‘explore theGalaxy’ activity has been designed as a smartphone-experience zone ‘on-the-move’ that offers the most

extensive range of devices and introduces an inspira-tional blend of state-of-the-art cellular technologies.

LSE’S outreach programme for

promoting financial literacy

LAHORE: Lahore Stock exchange held its sec-ond session of Campus Outreach Program for thestudents of PAC here at the Professional Academyof Commerce, where LSe’s officials interactedwith the students.At the event organized at the Professional Acad-emy of Commerce, Ms. Madiha Abrahim from In-vestor Relations department-LSe explained tothe participants the broad features of Pakistan’seconomic & financial system, characteristics ofdifferent financial markets, regulatory frame-work, investment products, financial services &opportunities available to investors in Pakistanand roles & responsibilities being performed byvarious financial institutions. She highlighted theneed and importance of various financial marketsavailable along with their role in the economy ofthe country. She briefed the students about vari-ous capital market institutions including Centraldepository Company (CdC), its role and function-ing in the stock market, national Clearing Com-pany of Pakistan Limited (nCCPL) and its role insettlement mechanism of stocks etc. While inter-acting with the students, Mr. nadeem AsgharHead of Investor Relations department-LSe alsospoke on various operational matters of the ex-changes including listings, trading, and investorprotection.“Campus Outreach Program” under the broader

Financial Literacy Initiative has been launched bythe LSe in collaboration with South Asian Feder-ation of exchange (SAFe). The overall objectiveof the FLI - Campus Outreach Program is to pre-pare today’s youth for better understanding of theeconomic/financial affairs affecting them.

CORPORATE CORNER

Google shares suspendedafter earnings release blunderNEW YORK: Google shares were suspended for more than twohours Thursday after an erroneous early release of its disappoint-ing third quarter results shocked the market and sent the Internetgiant’s stock price tumbling. The figures were made public in aregulatory filing hours ahead of their scheduled publication, whichGoogle called a “draft” released by a printer “without authoriza-tion.” The final version came a few hours later, with the samenumbers but with a comment from chief executive Larry Page inplace of a line on the draft which said, “PendInG LARRYQUOTe.” “We had a strong quarter,” Page said in the statement.But the numbers told a slightly different story. net profit was re-ported at $2.18 billion, down 20 percent from $2.73 billion in thesame period a year ago. Google stock slid 8.0 percent to end at$695, taking the company’s market value back down below that ofMicrosoft, which it overtook earlier this month as the number twoplayer in the tech sector behind Apple. AFP

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

THe central bank Friday asked theauthorized dealers for sugar ex-ports to comply with the Ministryof Commerce’s public notice inwhich it set the terms and condi-

tions for export of the commodity. The said no-tice said in pursuance of the economicCoordínatien Committee (eCC) of the Cabi-net’s decision, the export of sugar is hereby al-lowed subject to the following conditions:

200,000 tons of sugar will be exported inaddition to left-over quota of already approvedexport. A quantity not in excess of 10,000 tonsshall be allowed to be exported by individualsugar mills.

The export shall be made only against “e”form. The State Bank of Pakistan will monitor

the sugar exports and no form “e” shall be is-sued in excess of any individual mill quota andcumulative ceiling mentioned above.

Accordingly, the authorized dealers are ad-vised to process the cases as per followingmechanism:-The banks will forward the re-quests of sugar mills along with photocopy ofe-Form, copy of contract, L/C, advance pay-ment, etc. for approval of SBP. While forward-ing such requests banks should also maintainthe record of each sugar mill to ensure compli-ance of maximum prescribed quota of 10,000tons per sugar mill.

All requests should be addressed to the di-rector, exchange Policy department, StateBank of Pakistan. The SBP will allow permis-sion against each e-Form on first come firstserved basis. The bank will send sugar exportupdate to the director, exchange Policy de-partment State Bank on daily basis. Incompleterequests would not be considered. The author-ized dealers are advised to bring the same tothe notice of all their constituents.

SBP conjures stick for sugar daddiesAsks dealers to comply with MoC’s terms on sugar exports

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

Karachi electric Supply Company (KeSC) signeda multi-faceted Memorandum of Understandingwithengro Corporation Ltd (engro Corp) to co-operate on projects of mutual interest. The Mem-orandum of Understanding would cover four keyinitiatives; fertilizer off-take agreement fromKeSC’s Bio-gas waste-to-energy power projectfor generation of 22 MWs electricity; a 300-600MW coal project at Thar; import of LnG as alter-nate fuel for KeSC’s generation plants, and sup-ply of up to 65 MWs electricity to engro’sPolymer and Chemicals unit at Bin Qasim.

The memorandum was signed by TabishGauhar, CeO of KeSC, and Ali Ansari, Presidentof engro Corp, to mark the cooperation betweenthe two private sector companies on four key ini-tiatives. On this occasion, Tabish Gauhar, CeOKeSC, said that, “This multi-dimensional MoU isstrategic in nature as both the private-sectorcompanies are keen to work closely to addressvarious issues confronting the energy sector. Weare confident that together we would realize thesekey projects that are of significant importance forthe national economy”.

Ali Ansari President of engro Corp said:“This memorandum will help deploy greatersynergies across the two businesses and aid thegrowth process by leveraging competencies ofboth engro and KeSC in their respective do-mains. Together we hope to alleviate the grave

issues in the energy sector that continue to af-fect the performance of companies and helpcreate stronger value propositions for the in-dustry and the economy.”

KeSC is in the process of setting up a waste-to-energy power project that will produce ap-proximately 22 MWs of electricity. This bio-gaspower plant will also have the potential to pro-duce 100,000 tons of organic fertilizer everyyear. Under the terms of the MOU, engro Fer-tilizer Ltd will explore the option of setting upan integrated fertilizer plant or entering into anoff-take agreement for the organic fertilizerfrom this bio-gas plant. Another key initiativepursuant to this MoU will be the possibility ofjointly working on a 300-600 MW mine-mouthcoal project at Thar, which will utilize the in-digenous coal to be mined by Sindh engro CoalMining Company Limited holding the mininglease rights in Block-II of Thar.

KeSC in pursuing its strategy for fuel secu-rity will be working with engro Vopak TerminalLtd (eVTL) on the fast track innovative LnGproject aimed at using the existing infrastruc-ture at its terminal at Port Qasim to bring in in-termittent supply of RLnG using a FSRU ofexcelerate, USA as a trading vessel. In addition,it plans to work with engro’s subsidiary, elengyTerminal Pakistan Ltd (eTPL), to obtain longterm terminal capacity in the 3.5mtpa floatingLnG terminal at Khiprianwala, Port Qasimbeing developed by eTPL for delivery of first gasin 15 months after achieving financial close.

World oil pricesmixed in Asian trade

SINGAPORE

AFP

Oil prices were mixed in Asian trade Fri-day as investors await the final outcome ofan eU summit on tackling a debt crisiswhile Greek protests over tough austeritymeasures turned violent.new York’s main contract, light sweetcrude for november, was down nine centsto $92.01 a barrel in morning trade, whileBrent north Sea crude for delivery in de-cember clawed six cents higher to $112.48.european Union leaders meeting in Brus-sels vowed Friday to set up a bankingunion during the course of 2013 as a vitalcrisis-fighting tool, but clashes betweenprotesters and riot police in Greece high-lighted the difficulties ahead. Tens ofthousands of people took part in theAthens protest Thursday while a smallerdemonstration was held in Greece’s sec-ond city Thessaloniki, ahead of a broadermobilisation in southern european coun-tries planned for next month. Scatteredgroups of youths threw stones and fire-bombs at the police, who retaliated withtear gas and stun grenades then chargedto clear the square. Greeks reject addi-tional cutbacks the government plans nextmonth in order to unlock access to eU-IMF loans for their debt-saddled country.

KESC, Engro sign multi-faceted pact

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