Pakistan Economy - News & Updates - Archive

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Plan chalked out to develop small industries on modern lines ​

SIALKOT (July 27 2007): The Chairman Task Force on Trade and Industry Punjab Mian Muhammad Riaz has disclosed that Punjab Small Industries Corporation (PSIC) had formulated a strategy for developing small and medium industries on modern and scientific lines in the Province.

Talking to Business Recorder here on Thursday he added that government had set aside Rs one billion for extending loan facility for the promotion of small and medium industries in the Punjab. The loan facility amounting to Rs 40 thousand was being extended for the promotion of cottage industries and the return of the loan was 98 percent in the Province Mian Riaz disclosed.

Mian Riaz further revealed that in order to further accelerate trade and commerce activities, cluster development centres and business support centres were also being established in major industrial towns of the Punjab. These business supports centres and cluster developments centres would provide training facility on latest machinery aimed at catering the future needs of the industrial sector he added. The task force revealed that an gro food processing zone costing Rs 35 crore was being developed for mango processing in Multan.

The revamping of Metal Industry Development Centre (MIDC) will cost more than Rs 51.556 million while establishment of Institute of Surgical Technology (IST) was being developed at cost of Rs 160.459 million he disclosed.

Mian Riaz was of the opinion that the role of Surgical institute would be pivotal in the provision of surgical nursery to the manufacturers and exporters of surgical instruments while MIDC will ensure provision of services in various fields and it will serve as a "Common Facility Centre". The work on both the projects would be undertaken shortly he added.

On government-to-government level and at individual level efforts were being made for acquiring highly qualified and trained instructors from Germany for imparting latest training to the students in Institute of Surgical Technology he disclosed.

This institute would impart training to 250 students in various fields of surgical manufacturing and it will be equipped with latest machinery and the institute will be the start of a new era in the development of surgical industry he said. Mian Riaz said that surgical industry was enjoying the monopolistic position globally and the surgical instruments are most economical and coupled with unconditional guarantee of the finest quality.

Mian Riaz disclosed that setting up of a "Raw Material Bank" was under active consideration of the government aimed at providing raw material to the surgical manufacturers and exporters on reasonable rates. It is high time business community Sialkot should made collective efforts for doubling the export-volume of the city he said.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=597259&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

 

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Construction of Sialkot business centre in full swing ​

SIALKOT (July 27 2007): The development work on Sialkot Business and Commerce Centre costing Rs 341.67 million is in full swing. The centre was being constructed adjacent to Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) building.

The SCCI sources told Business Recorder here on Thursday that the purpose of setting up of Business and Commerce Centre is to display locally manufactured products under single roof and to organise exhibitions in the centre.

The under constructed Sialkot Business and Commerce Centre would be a multi-storied building consisting on 4 display centres, two halls, office box, auditorium, restaurant and living rooms for the foreign visitors. The industrial sector of Sialkot is contributing handsome foreign exchange amounting to 900 million dollars annually that is exceptional feat, considering the small size and population of the city.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=597198&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

 

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Increased power generation to help meet electricity needs: Shaukat ​

ISLAMABAD (July 27 2007): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Thursday said that intended expansion of operations by IPPs demonstrates confidence of overseas investors in the government's policies and hoped that increased power generation would help meet the electricity requirements.

He was talking to Executive Director Asia, International Power Plc Vince Harris, who called on him here. The Prime Minister said the private sector is contributing in the government's efforts to bridge the gap between demand and supply in the power sector. Shaukat Aziz said the government is encouraging investment by the private sector and a level-playing field has been provided to the local and foreign investors.

He said that the demand in power sector is growing by 9.5 per cent annually mainly due to high growth achieved by the country and the government is engaged in tapping all available sources of energy to keep a balance between the demand and supply.

The Prime Minister said that the surge in power demand is mainly due to better living standards, growing middle class, electrification of rural areas and increase in irrigation and industrial demand, all of which necessitates more electricity generation.

Shaukat Aziz said that the government is trying to utilise all sources of energy and maximise output from hydropower and other alternative energy resources including solar, wind, biogas and coal. Under the energy security strategy, the Prime Minister said, the government will exploit all available resources of commercially viable energy both domestically as well as from abroad.

The Prime Minister said the government is focusing both on enhancing the indigenous capacity as well as on importing gas from the neighbouring countries to meet the energy needs. Vince Harris said his group is planning to expand their operations in Pakistan and are exploring several proposals.

He appreciated the investment friendly policies of the government and the enabling environment created by it to facilitate the investors. The rapid pace of growth in Pakistan has impressed him, he added.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=597165&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

 

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Cell phones, telecom apparatus imports cross billion-dollar mark ​

KARACHI (July 26 2007): The import of mobile phones and other telecom apparatus has crossed the level of a billion-dollar mark during the 2006-07 fiscal. According to official statistics, while the import of telecom accessories has increased by 13 percent, mobile phones import registered a raise up to 18 percent and other apparatus imports increased by eight percent during the last fiscal.

Figure shows that import of telecom in Pakistan during the 2005-06 fiscal year was about 1.197,551 billion dollars, recording a surge of 13 percent in the 2006-07 fiscal year as the import touched 1.347,683 billion-dollar mark.

Same as the import of mobile phones, which amounted to 569.246 million dollars in 2005-06 fiscal year and after an increase of 18 percent in 2006-07 fiscal year, it crossed the figure of 670.163 million dollars.

Statistics show that the import of other apparatus of telecom section remained at 628.305 million dollars in 2005-06 fiscal year and reached 677.519 million dollars in 2006-07 fiscal year, showing an increase of eight percent.

Experts have expressed the hope that the trend of surge in the import of cell-phones and other telecom accessories will continue during the current fiscal year. They said competition among the mobile phone companies had reduced the prices of cell-phones.

The market competition has further boosted the demand of mobile phones as the latest models phones were available at affordable prices, alluring more and more customers, they added. According to a precise estimation, there are over 60 million mobile phones in the country and they are increasing with the passage of time.

President of Karachi Electronic Dealer Association Muhammad Irfan said that 75 percent of mobile phones, being sold in the market, were being imported from China, while only 25 percent being imported from other countries.

Market sources said that sale of Chinese cell-phones were also increasing as Chinese companies were supplying imitated models of cell-phones made by prominent Western companies with minor change in the names of mobiles.

Dealers of electronics market told Business Recorder that the people, who could not afford the latest models of mobile phones of prominent companies, were interested in the Chinese model cell-phones because of their cheaper rates.

Though these models are not durable in use as compared to those made by leading companies, people were still buying them, they said, and added it had also raised the sale of mobile phones in the market.

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40 million SMSs, 10 million calls on Friday! ​

KARACHI (July 22 2007): Restoration of the Chief Justice has brought windfall to the mobile phone companies, which earned millions of rupees profit in a single day on Friday, as approximately 40 million short text messages (SMS) and 10 million calls changed hands to celebrate the historic decision of the Supreme Court, sources in cell phone companies revealed on Saturday.

On Friday, after the restoration of Chief Justice, millions of people started messaging and exchanging greetings, interrupting the service of mobile phone operators.

According to estimated figures, provided by the officials of different mobile phone companies, the subscribers of Mobilink made about 13.2 million SMS worth around Rs 5.6 million and four million calls, costing around Rs 16 millions.

Ufone users also enjoyed this day with provisionally estimated 12.4 million SMS, costing nearly Rs 5.8 million and three millions calls worth Rs 6.4 millions.

Besides, the users of Warid and Telenor mobile phone operators sent nearly 13.4 millions SMS, costing Rs 6.3 millions and three million calls of about Rs 7.1 millions.

Sources told that the operators of all leading mobile phone companies faced difficulties in providing service to their customers due to heavy load on all networks, which resulted in frequent suspension of services. They said there was no truth in the rumours that after the Supreme Court judgement, the government had blocked the network of all mobile phone companies in the country.

"I myself made dozens of calls and SMS to members of our community in the country to congratulate them on the restoration of the Chief Justice", said Matwal Afridi, advocate of Sindh High Court. "I think this is the easiest way to express our feelings and I do the same to congratulate my friends", said advocate Shukat Bhund.

Sources said that in such situations, people liked to make SMS and tried to contact their friends and relatives through their cell phones as this was the easiest way to express their quick reaction.

They faced similar situation last year after the Nishtar Park bomb blast incident when the service of the country's mobile phone operators was badly damaged as people started using their cell phones, they said.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=595474&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

 

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Cellular firms show robust growth in 2006-07 ​

ISLAMABAD (July 19 2007): The cellular companies in Pakistan have shown robust growth of 83 percent in 2006-07, having over 63.18 million subscribers in June 2007 against last year's 34.50 million. According to the statistics, the total mobile users in the country are 63,189,859 as on June 30, 2007 against 34,506,557 last year.

The country's cellular mobile density stands at 40.66 percent against 22.21 percent of the same period last year, said Pakistan Telecommunication Authority on Wednesday.

The statistics uploaded at PTA website on July 18 showed that the mobile sector had shown 3.75 percent growth in June over previous month with cellular density jumping to 40.66 percent and the subscribers base to 63 million.

Mobilink subscribers base was increased from 17,205,555 million in June 2006 to 26,466,451 million in June 2007, Ufone 7487,005 to 14,014,044, Telenor 3,573,660 to 10,731,334 and Warid 4,863,138 million in June 2006 to 10,620,386 million in June 2007. However, both the Instaphone and Paktel lost their subscribers during the period under review.

Monthly analysis showed that the Paktel, taken over by the China mobile, have lost as many as 30,100 subscribers in June over the previous month. The Paktel subscribers have come down from 1,054,663 in May to 1,024563 in June 2007.

Mobilink has added over one million subscribers to its network in the month of June, gaining a subscribers base of 26.46 million in June from 25.79 million in May while Ufone added 6,96,276 users to its network in the month of June and its total subscribers are 14.01 million in June over 13.31 million of last month.

According to the statistics, Instaphone added 6226 subscribers to its network and with this total users of Instaphone services are 333,081 in June against 326,855 in May. Telenor Pakistan and Warid have also made substantial totalling to their networks. Telenor Pakistan added 596,855 users to its network while Warid added 344, 903 subscribers.

The Telenor network users have increased to 10,731,334 million in the month of June from 10,143,479 million in May while Warid have over 10,620,386 million subscribers against last month's 10,275,482 million. The five mobile companies have added over 2,285603 million subscribers to their networks in the month of June and country's cellular users base has gone beyond 63.18 million in June 2007.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=594393&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

 

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Checking inflation ​

EDITORIAL (July 27 2007): It seems that the government has finally woken up to the situation and decided to do something about the problem of rising prices of food items in the country. According to official sources, the Prime Minister is so concerned about this phenomenon that he has constituted a committee to analyse the reasons for food inflation and formulate both short-term and long-term measures in this regard.

The committee will be headed by the Prime Minister himself, who is also the Finance Minister. Members of the committee will be Ministers of Industries, Commerce, Agriculture, Advisor on Finance Salman Shah, the State Bank Governor and the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman. The terms of reference will be finalised by the committee members but the main focus is expected to be on the behaviour of prices of wheat and pulses.

According to certain sources, the government had received reports that 40 percent of petrol pumps were also stocked with wheat instead of fuel and the provincial governments had failed to check illegal movement of the commodity. Some of the traders, who had taken loans for procuring wheat for export purposes, had also stocked it in their godowns to sell it later in the local market.

The rise in the prices of pulses is also a big issue. Minfal was stated to be of the view that middlemen would continue to fleece the general public until a proper marketing system was adopted while Minister of Railways had opined that the prices of pulses could come down within days if four big fish of the Jodia Bazar were arrested.

The concern of the Prime Minister about the rising food prices is understandable. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 7.77 percent during 2006-07 as against the target of 6.5 percent and the main factor behind this rise was a hefty increase of about 10 percent in food inflation. The increase in food prices is undoubtedly a very sensitive issue because of its social and political implications.

The present government has all along been propagating about its economic achievements like rapid growth, a healthy rise in per capita income, better investment rate and comfortable foreign exchange reserves, but, honestly speaking, these kinds of aggregates don't matter much to ordinary people of the country.

What they care about most is the year round availability of various food items at reasonable prices for their families. At the prices now prevailing in the country, it is difficult to ensure easy availability of food items and their purchasing power is eroding fast because a large percentage of their incomes is spent on food and if this trend continues, there is every likelihood of a social unrest and mass resentment in the country with the result that the present government may have to bear a heavy political cost in the forthcoming elections.

Seen against this background, the emphasis on containing food inflation by the government appears to be appropriate to the situation, but the policy response discussed casually by the authorities concerned shows a lack of real understanding of the problem.

Administrative measures like punishing the stockists of a commodity or rationing could backfire most of the time and may even be counter-productive. Pure economic logic would suggest that hoarders are performing a vital function of smoothing out price fluctuations, while punishment or rationing would not only create shortages and induce the stockists and also the shopkeepers to sell under the counter at inflated prices to known consumers.

Besides, artificial suppression of prices would force the entrepreneurs to divert their resources for the production of commodities whose prices are unregulated.

Similarly, subsidies are usually a huge drain on the budget and should, at best, be adopted as a temporary measure. In our view, the task of controlling inflation should mainly be handled by the State Bank because prices are essentially determined by the level of aggregate demand and availability in the economy.

While availabilities could be supplemented by import or banning export of a particular commodity by the government, the management of aggregate demand falls exclusively within the domain of the State Bank which has all the necessary instruments at its disposal to manage overall credit and liquidity in the economy.

If there is a need, it could also resort to selective credit control measures, including total ban on advances for certain commodities like wheat and pulses in order to force the stockists to unload them in the market and provide relief to the common man. In a free market economy, measures adopted to check the rising inflation should be in accordance with the letter and spirit of its true principles otherwise economic system will not run smoothly and faultlessly.

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Expediting work on coal-based power projects? ​

EDITORIAL (July 27 2007): The Federal government has decided to expedite work on coal-based power projects in Thar coal field, says a Recorder Report quoting highly placed sources in Sindh Coal Authority. President Musharraf was scheduled to chair a meeting in Islamabad on Friday, to review the pace of work on the projects, besides holding deliberations on security concerns of foreign companies working in Thar, particularly the Chinese firms.

It is expected that the security cover to foreign firms and their personnel will be further bolstered. The Director-General, Sindh Coal Authority, Abbas Ali Shah has meanwhile held a meeting with the Chinese officials in Karachi following the attack on Chinese nationals working on a project in Hub.

A development package for Thar coalfield and other sites in the province, including Sondha, Jherruk, Thatta, Lakhra, Dadu, and Badin, is also said to be on the cards. According to a study conducted by the German firm RWE Power Engineering at Thar coal field, 1,000 megawatt coal-based power plants can be economically operated in this area.

It may also be mentioned here that a Chinese company, Shenhua Corporation, has been working on construction of two 350-megawatt power plants based on Thar coal. (There have been reports also of Shenhua having pulled out of the project over the tariff issue. What is the position now?).

The Sindh government, under a policy decision, is encouraging projects that will use coal as the main input for industrial activities, because this will relieve pressure on more expensive fuels, oil and gas.

After hydropower, coal has a substantial edge over other non-renewable sources as a relatively cheaper mode of electric power generation. And in view of the apprehended shortfall of electricity and other energy resources during the next 10 years, the demand for indigenous coal would considerably grow for purposes of power generation.

Pakistan has, meanwhile, emerged as the seventh among the top 20 countries of the world after the discovery of huge lignite coal deposits in Sindh. Experts have estimated that Pakistan's energy requirements over the next five years are likely to grow at the rate of 7.4 percent per annum, largely because of the ambitious GDP targets set by the government.

This is a big challenge to be faced in the coming years. According to available data, as many as nine companies including Sumitomo of Japan, Siemens and Reinhaul of Germany, AES Corporation of the US, Al-Jumaih Group of Saudi Arabia and Malakoff of Malaysia have so far submitted statements of qualification for setting up a 1000-1200 megawatt power project in Sindh.

But the progress on the ground has been extremely disappointing. Pakistan's current total mine-able coal reserves are estimated at 2 billion tons, which is 60 percent of the measured coal reserves.

Despite the presence of this huge unutilised coal treasure, the share of coal in Pakistan's energy mix stands at only 5.5 percent, with gas, hydropower and nuclear energy accounting for 50 percent, 30 percent, 12.7 percent and 0.8 percent respectively.

However, under a plan, coal's share in Pakistan's energy mix will be gradually increased to 18 percent by the year 2018, which will still be far below that of India's 54.5 percent. (Britain and the US too have historically relied on coal as a major source of energy despite their advanced nuclear energy generation capabilities.)

It is said that Thar coal reserves, estimated at approximately 185 billion tons, can produce energy equivalent to 400 billion barrels of oil or 850 trillion cubic feet of gas! In real terms this is greater than the combined oil reserves of any of the two major oil producing countries. It has also been estimated that by using only two percent of its coal reserves, Pakistan can generate about 20,000 megawatts of electricity for nearly 40 years.

Further, some of the major by-products Pakistan will get include 5.14 million tons of anhydrous ammonia fertiliser, dephenolized creslylic acid pesticides, wire enamel, epoxy resin, krypton/xenon gases, liquid nitrogen etc. But Pakistan needs an investment of about $4 billion for the mining of Thar coal reserves, which has proved elusive so far.

Following its failure to involve any major multinational company in the mining and power generation, the government had decided last year to set up a $500 million Thar Coal Company, which was planned to be operated by the private sector.

The plan envisaged the unbundling of Thar coal project into mining and power generation sectors to bring down the amount of investment required for each of the six identified blocks of Thar coal field, from $1.5 billion to $500 million. We have yet to know what became of the plan.

The government's decision to expedite work on coal-based Thar projects is a move in the right direction. The government should now focus on speedy implementation of the projects. Above all, it should arrange proper security for the foreign personnel working there.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=597251&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

 

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Worsening of current account balance ​

EDITORIAL (July 25 2007): The current account position of the balance of payments is the best measure to judge the external sector situation of a country. It is unfortunate that current account balance of Pakistan slipped into the red in 2004-05 after posting surpluses for three consecutive years and continues to show a deteriorating trend since then.

According to the latest data released by the State Bank on 21st July, current account deficit of the country reached a record high of $7.016 billion in the fiscal 2006-07 as against $4.99 billion in the preceding year, registering a huge increase of 41 percent.

At this level, it was 4.8 percent of GDP as against the target of 4.3 percent fixed for the year. Increase in current account deficit was contributed by trade, services and income shortages, besides substantial payments of interest and dividends during FY07.

The export target of $18.6 billion was not achieved and the country faced a trade deficit of over $9.87 billion (as per the balance of payments statistics). Services and income deficit also rose to $4.125 billion and $3.574 billion respectively.

Current account deficit without official transfers climbed to $7.516 billion from $5.671 billion during FY06. However, as the inflows of foreign exchange through investments and other capital receipts were also quite high, the country's foreign exchange reserves went up by $2.57 billion to $13.33 billion during the year.

The developments in the external sector, by all indications, are disturbing, to say the least. The fact that Pakistan is facing a growing current account deficit simply means that we are living beyond our means and cannot afford to indulge in this luxury for long, especially since total foreign indebtedness of the country is already quite high.

Multilateral financial institutions as well as the State Bank have been highlighting the developing situation on the external front as a major area of concern, but the authorities do not seem to be too much bothered about the problem.

Complacency of the official quarters is evident from the fact that the huge trade deficit which has been the main factor behind the sharply deteriorating current account balance of the country has again been targeted at a very high level of $10.63 billion in the trade policy for FY08.

There could be two reasons for this apathy. Firstly, home remittances, foreign investment, issuance of GDRs, receipts for services rendered etc, have more than compensated for the soaring deficit with the result that foreign exchange reserves of the country have been going up.

Secondly, the appropriate measures needed to reverse the worsening trend in the current account usually call for harsh measures which the government wants to delay as long as possible due to political imperatives and the forthcoming elections.

We would, however, urge the authorities to attend to the challenge of worsening current account deficit on priority basis and squarely. While high POL prices are likely to persist for some time in the international market for obvious reasons, the country cannot rely on "unpredictable" inflows to meet the gap in the external sector.

Sooner or later, the government has to take remedial measures to achieve a balance in the external accounts of the country otherwise the country could again go back to the days of 1990s, when insolvency, with all its devastating effects, was staring us in the face. A gradual approach towards improvement would of course be less painful than a sudden shock and a major destabilisation of the economy, leading to a huge setback to the industrial activity together with massive unemployment in the country.

To start with, it looks imperative to reduce excess demand in the economy and its spilling over into the foreign sector. Exports of the country have to be made more competitive in the international market and imports dearer in order to reduce the trade gap of the country.

A combination of fiscal, monetary, and exchange rate policies could help achieve this goal to a great extent. Also important are factors like skill development, upgrading of infrastructure, and improvement in law and order situation.

Plans to sell some of the big state-owned companies to fetch foreign exchange may now be difficult to implement in the wake of reinstatement of the Chief Justice and demonstration of strong opposition by the people.

We would urge the government to analyse the situation carefully without losing more time and then go the whole hog to correct the threatening imbalance in the external sector. Protectionary or ad hoc measures only help temporarily and are not an answer to an endemic problem like the one we are faced with.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=596537&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

 

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'IT major contributor in banking growth' ​

KARACHI (July 27 2007): Information Technology (IT) appears to be the major contributor in the tremendous growth in the banking sector in Pakistan. Innovations in IT have enabled banks to operate faster and more efficiently than before, and are also enabling banks to offer services that previously were not easy to implement.

In the roundtable conference held here recently, Cisco's Vertical Sales Manager (Finance) Saad Syed and Business Development Manager (Advanced Technologies), Cherif Sleiman explained the role of IT and Cisco's networking and server technology in improving Pakistan's banking sector.

According to them, automation, risk management and alternative delivery channels are very critical for the development of Pakistan's banking sector. Saad listed some major alternate delivery channels that can be implemented and capitalised on due to the current trends in Pakistan. The most important, as declared by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), are eBanking and mobile banking. Mobile banking is especially attractive as the market penetration for cell phone is extremely high in Pakistan.

When asked to speculate on the implementation of mobile banking, Saad said: "It will take a few years, as implementation of such a system relies on mobile operators, banks and the SBP, as well as the consumers."

Another very interesting development is the deployment of "Banks in Vans". This concept has been pilot tested by Muslim Commercial Bank with its mobile ATMs that operate through a GSM network.

The basic concept behind this alternate delivery system was to test new and far-off areas for their reaction to a bank. These mobile banks would work over a VSAT or GSM network, where VSAT is very expensive but it would be the fastest form of communication, 3G, however, is an alternate system, that is gradually being implemented everywhere.

Cisco has pretty much laid out a plan of action for the banking sector in Pakistan, with which it can expand and grow. Cisco technologies are leaning towards automation and wide-scale systems integration, as well as centralisation of critical resources. Whether this works as a feather in their cap, or as a loose rivet in a wheel, time will tell.

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Agriculture loans: outstanding amount shows 2 percent decline ​

KARACHI (July 27 2007): Despite 24 percent growth in the credit disbursement to the agriculture sector, the outstanding amount shows a slight decline of two percent, as still agri loans outstanding amounts to over Rs 147 billion at the ends of the 2007 fiscal.

Pakistan is an agricultural country, therefore, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is encouraging the agriculture loan disbursement to the farmers, aimed at promoting the agricultural sector.

Commercial and specialised banks have surpassed the target of credit disbursement to the agriculture sector in the 2006-07 fiscal year by showing a growth of 23 percent. As a result, the total disbursements of agri loan reached Rs 168.3 billion in the 2007 fiscal year as against Rs 137.5 billion disbursements during the 2006 fiscal.

Statistics made available to Business Recorder, which was prepared by the Agricultural Credit Department of central bank show that some amount of Rs 147.291 billion credit is due on the farmers as on June 30, 2007 as compared to Rs 150 billion as on June 2006.

"The statistics show that commercial and other agri loan providing banks have improved their recovery side and despite the record disbursement, overall outstanding amount has decline," said a leading banker.

He said that despite the improvement in the recoveries, the outstanding amount was very healthy. As such the banks should adopt some line of action to further reduce the outstanding amount, he added.

Outstanding amount of the five leading commercial banks, including Allied Bank Limited (ABL), Habib Bank Limited (HBL), MCB Bank, National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and United Bank Limited (UBL), Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) and 14 other domestic private banks' outstanding has also increased. The outstanding amount of Punjab Provincial Co-operative Bank Limited (PPCBL) shows decline during the last fiscal.

Five leading commercial banks' agri loans outstanding amount at the end of 2007 fiscal stood at Rs 53.659 billion, out of which ABL has Rs 784 million outstanding agri loan; HBL: Rs 19 billion; MCB Bank: Rs 4.43 billion; NBP: Rs 22.26 billion; and UBL: Rs 7.167 billion as against overall total of Rs 50 billion during 2006.

Unpaid loan of ZBTL stood at Rs 66.775 billion and PPCBL at Rs 8.775 billion, whereas the 14 other commercial banks have outstanding amount of Rs 18 billion at the end of the 2007 fiscal year. It may be mentioned here that for the current fiscal, the central bank has fixed a target of Rs 200 billion-credit disbursement to farmers.

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Kalabagh Dam termed 'win-win project' ​

ISLAMABAD (July 27 2007): Former Chairman Wapda Shamsul Mulk has said that construction of the Kalabagh Dam is a must to overcome the alarming water and power shortage in days to come. Speaking in a PTV programme here on Thursday he said that those who floated the idea of Kalabagh Dam viewed in detail all the associated factors and it was characterised as a win, win project for all.

He said that those who were advocating the construction of small dams in place of Kalabagh dam were actually misguiding the nation. Elaborating the point, he said that there would be a need of constructing 750 small dams instead of Kalabagh only in the areas of water storage adding the small dams were rarely designed for power generation.

He was of the opinion that small dams had their own advantages but they could not be a substitute to mega projects. He said that before the construction of Mangla and Terbela dams, Sindh province was getting 10 million-acre feet during the Rabi season the level, which after the construction of these two reservoirs was raised up to 14.7 maf.

Similarly, he said that with the construction of Kalabagh dam the share of water for that province could further be enhanced. Responding to a question the former WAPDA Chairman said that sustainable pumping capacity of underground water in the country was between 45-50 maf per year adding that limit had already been touched upon.

Further enhancement in the pumping of underground water would be dangerous for the country, he warned. He said in northern parts of the country, the quality of underground water was good but in southern parts that stock was salty.

The ratio of salinity in underground water in Sindh province particularly in Dadu area was double in comparison with seawater, he informed. He said that over pumping of water where its quality was good would attract the saline water to spread underground to fill the gap adding the stock of quality water would thus squeeze.

Responding to another question he said that the world had started to realise the threats of environmental hazards vis-à-vis global warming. He said that that was a big challenge for the entire world hoping the international community would wake up at some stage to save the planet from an imminent destruction.

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'Pakistan should target $1 billion horticulture exports by 2012' ​

ISLAMABAD (July 27 2007): Pakistan should target one billion dollars horticulture exports by 2012 from the current exports of 150 million dollars. A senior advisor to the Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF) said on Thursday in a presentation to the members of the implementation committee on the working of the sub-committees in its first meeting of the Task Force on Finance and Competitiveness of the Horticulture sector.

The meeting was held here under the chairmanship of Ziaur Rehman, Secretary Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal). He informed the members that the objective of the implementation committee is to provide the Task Force for Horticulture Finance and Competitiveness with recommendations for a clear management and financial structure for the industry in the context of coherent, well-planned and well-coordinated studies, research activities.

The implementation body consists of the active operational agencies mainly involved with the horticulture industry ie, Pakistan Horticulture Development and Export Board; Trade Development Authority of Pakistan; Minfal/ADB Agribusiness Development and Diversification Project; Agricultural Support Fund; Smeda; Pisdac (Horticulture SWOG) and provincial secretaries of agriculture.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=597191&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

 

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PM seeks UK help for FTA with EU​

ISLAMABAD, July 26: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz hoped on Thursday that Britain would continue to play a supportive role for conclusion of a free trade agreement (FTA) between Pakistan and European Union.

He said this while talking to the British Foreign Secretary David Miliband who called on him at the Prime Minister House.

Mr Aziz underscored the need for continuing cooperation between the two countries at the international level. An important contribution in this regard would be market access for Pakistan in the EU as there was a clear link between security and development, he added.

The British foreign secretary appreciated Pakistan's role and efforts to effectively tackle extremism and militancy and agreed with the need to win hearts and minds.

He extended the assurance that the British government would continue to work for greater market access for Pakistan in the EU.

Appreciating Pakistan's efforts to deal with climate change, he said that as Chair of the G77, Pakistan could play a pivotal role in this regard. He committed to continued cooperation between the two countries in multilateral forums, such as the UN, for achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

Mr Aziz appreciated the continued interest of private investors from the UK who have taken up opportunities afforded by Pakistan's growing economy and liberal economic policies. He also praised the UK government's economic assistance to Pakistan in earthquake recovery, health and education.

He also emphasised how the Pakistan government's policies are aimed at improving standards of living, social and health sector reforms as well as providing educational opportunities to form a holistic approach in meeting the challenges posed to peace and stability.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/07/27/ebr7.htm

 

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Reserves​

KARACHI, July 26: Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves registered an increase of $112 million at $15,757.9 million on July 21, 2007, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) stated on Thursday.

Of the total reserves the SBP held $13,392 million while $2,365.9 million were held by other banks