Pakistan Economy - News & Updates - Archive

[Spring Onion]

LO theek ha Neo pehala ap kar lo post news

 

[Spring Onion]

OGDCL's daily oil, gas production reaches to 41,503 barrels, 947 MMcf



ISLAMABAD, Nov 2 (APP): The daily oil and gas production of

state-run Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL) including its
share in operated and non-operated fields, has reached to 41,503
barrels and 947 MMcf respectively, this year.
According to annual report of the Company, the average oil and
gas production remained at 38,966 barrels and 946 MMcf during the
last year.
The also made ten oil and gas discoveries this year as
compared to five during the last years.


Out of these ten discoveries, eight were in Sindh and one each
in Punjab and NWFP provinces.

According to details, the Company accomplished the target date
of completion of Mela Project located in District Kohat, NWFP
during this year.
The project was completed in a record time of 19 weeks in
spite of an unexpected delay of four weeks caused due to
unprecedented rains.
The infrastructure laid for this project is capable of
handling 10,000 barrels of oil per day and 20 MMcfd of gas.
All phases of the project were efficiently handled using the
JITE (Just-in Time Engineering) approach.
The well was put on extended testing during May 2007 after
laying 12 kms pipeline in a very difficult terrain and by
installing processing plant and surface facilities.
The Mela-1 well is currently producing 5,000 barrels per day
of oil and 8 MMcfd gas, Pasakhi North East-01 was put on regular
production during December 26.
The well is currently producing 1,300 barrels of oil per day.
Chanda Well-02 which was put on regular production in
September 2006, an acid stimulation job was carried out on this
well which resulted an increase in daily oil production by 1,400
barrels.
Dhodak-10A gas after direct completion was put on production
with 8.6 MMcfd gas and 270 barrels per day of condensate.
Testing and successfully completion of Dakhni Deep-01 and
Dakhni-10 was also achieved during the year.
Sale of 10 MMcfd of gas to M/s SSGCL also started in May 2007
after completion of 42 kms gas pipeline at Bobi.
According to the report, Annual Bottom Hole Pressure (BHP)
survey at Qadirpur wells completed during the year and Multi-finger
Imaging Tool (MIT) survey carried out in order to check the
condition of tubing of 10 wells.
Additionally, acid stimulation jobs were carried out at
Qadirpur 26 and 28 alongwith drilling of another development well
i.e. Qadirpur 29 which is in progress.
In order to effectively run the processing plants, annual
turnaround were carried out at six gas/condensate plants during the
year.
It may be mentioned here that OGDCL maintained its status as
leading national oil and gas producing company in the country and
it produced 54 percent of total crude oil and 22 percent of gas
during this year.

APP

 

[Spring Onion]

Collectors asked to help transform FBR into
standard instittion

ISLAMABAD: Secretary General, Revenue Division & Chairman, Federal Board of Revenue, Mr. M. Abdullah Yusuf called upon the Customs Collectors to play their due role to transform the Board into a progressive transparent and vibrant revenue collecting organisation matching international standards.
He was addressing the Quarterly Conference of Collectors of Customs at FBR House here today. Director General, Customs Intelligence, Members and senior officers of FBR also attended the Conference.
Abdullah Yusuf said that the creation of FBR was not a mere change of the name but it signifies the change of mindset and attitude where tax payers facilitation was of paramount importance. "We all have to work hard to make FBR an institution capable to deliver and provide the funds needed for speedy economic growth of the country," he added.
Appreciating the Government's whole-hearted support in transformation of CBR into FBR, the Chairman observed that in the new economic environment FBR's role was extremely imperative. "Its role in country's economic and material development was ab50lutely essential", he remarked.
All employees of FBR are, therefore, expected to do their job under the revised scheme of things.
He expressed his fim1 belief that they have all the capacity and capabilities to deliver in accordance with the expections of the Government and general public.
Speaking on the requirement of changing systems, rules and procedures and making them transparent and efficient, the Secretary General was of the opinion that we must try and follow the modern best practices at international level with a total reliance on information technology.



The Chairman observed that some of the changes already brought in the systems and procedures have been recognised and appreciated by all the stakeholders especially the taxpayers but still we have a long way to go to achieve the desired results "you are supposed to facilitate and satisfy your customers (the taxpayers)", he urged the collectors.



On the occasion, Chairman greatly appreciated the efforts made by Member (Legal), Mr. Mumtaz Ahmed and his team and Legal Advisor Mr. Bilal Sufi in transformation of CBR into FBR.


Responding, Member (Customs), FBR, Mr- Shahid Rahim Sheikh, assured the Chairman that all out efforts will be made to realise the goals of establishment of FBR. He asked the Collectors to take full advantage of the unprecedented financial and technological resources currently available to improve their performance skills and working environment and to facilitate their clients.



While highlighting the duty collection performance of the Customs Collectorates, Chief (Customs), FBR, Mr. Nasir Masroor, informed the Conference that against the target of Rs. 39.1 bn customs duty collection for the first four months (July-October) of current financial, the total duty collected was Rs. 39.15 bn thus registering 100% achievement of the target.



Similarly, the total customs duty collected in first quarter (Jul-Sept.) of CFY was Rs 28.976 bn against a target of Rs. 28.800 billion. The import value during the quarter under reference has also shown a growth of 8.8%.



Major revenue spinners which have shown positive growth were edible oil (22%), electrical machinery (27%)1 plastic & articles (11%), paper & paperboard (24%), articles of iron & steel (7%) tanning & dyeing (20%) rubber & articles (14%), soap & detergents (22%) etc.



While discussing the strategy to achieve revenue collection target for 2nd quarter (Oct-Dec), the Conference decided to take certain measures to improve duty collections which include: to keep an effective check on under-invoicing valuation, plugging possible avenues of revenue leakages; concerted efforts for quick recovery of out-standing arrears and effective pursuance of court cases involving revenue.



Kh. Tanvir Ahmed, Project Director, Customs Administrative Refom1s (CARE), briefed the pal1icipants on transformation of Pakistan Customs Clearance System (PaCCS) into PCCS. He also gave a comparative analysis of Pakistan Customs Clearance System (PaCCS) clearance at KICT during July-September, 2006 & in the same period, this year. He also identified various problems conforming with Pakistan Customs Clearance System (PaCCS).



Commenting on the psrfonnance of the PaCCS, the Chairman directed the concerned officials to check and minimise the human involvement in customs clearance process. He also asked them to take necessary measures to uproot corruption from the Customs Department

Report By Jana

 

[Spring Onion]

Auto sector's potential need to be explored

LAHORE, Nov 11 (APP): Pakistan's auto sector has huge
potential and the people attached to it should fully exploit
it for maximum utility.
Professor Fuji San, Japanese auto sector expert, said
speaking at a seminar "Lean Manufacturing System" organized by
Toyota in collaboration with Lahore Chamber of Commerce and
Industry, SMEDA and the Association of Overseas Technical
Scholarship (AOTS) at a local hotel on Friday.
The LCCI Senior Vice President Yaqoob Tahir Izhar, the
Chairman AOTS Malik Ikhlaq Ahmad, Vice Chairman Nabeel Hashmi
also spoke on the occasion.
Professor San said basic purpose of this seminar
was to enhance mutual economic development and friendly
relations between the developing countries and Japan.
Chairman of the Association of Overseas Technical
Scholarship (AOTS) Ikhlaq Ahmad Malik said the
International seminar and conference being organized by the
Lahore Centre would have a far-reaching impact on the auto
sector of Pakistan.
This would help the participants
particularly the Pakistanis to learn various Japanese
Techniques so that they could be able to enhance their
efficiency while remaining cost effective.
The Vice Chairman of Association Syed Nabeel Hashmi in
his address said their objective was to give awareness to
the participants about the capacity-building measures being
adopted by the Japanese institutions and to equip them with
latest methodologies for the enhancement of production.

APP

 

[Spring Onion]

PTA seeks details about activation of answering machines

ISLAMABAD, Nov 2 (APP): The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority
(PTA) has sought details from the Pakistan Telecommunication Company
(PTCL) about fixing of answering machines to phone connections without obtaining consent of the subscribers.
A PTA official said the Authority would look into the matter as
it was its responsibility to safeguard and protect the interest of users of telecom services.
A survey conducted by APP revealed that many subscribers in Islamabad and Rawalpindi were perturbed over the unsolicited fixing of answering machines and claimed that the move entailed extra expenses to them.
"The PTCL is not supposed to take such a step without consent of the
subscriber as it is solely meant to generate income illegally. It is also notable
that there is no way you can retrieve the messages left on voice mailbox," said
Rehana Qayyum, an official of a local advertising agency.
Khwaja Imranul Haq, a resident of Rawalpindi, said that when he made a call
to his residential number, the answering machine informed him to record his message.
"I made calls twice but I was told to record the message.
The residential
number was actually busy and without showing busy tone the calls were interrupted
by answering machine and they were included in our monthly bill," he said.
Aisha Tanveer, a resident of Islamabad, said the PTCL move was tantamount
to "abuse of power." She said the answering machine intervenes immediately without waiting for the call to go through and the obvious purpose is to make the subscriber pay some extra amount.
"We are already paying high charges for local calls and now it will further
increase our telephone bills," she said.
When contacted, the PTCL official said the subscription of the service was
optional for subscribers and one could contact the company to de-activate it.
To a question on why PTCL has quietly activated the service on phone lines,
he said there was some misunderstanding and "we took remedial steps in this
regard."
"PTCL has sent written letters to all the subscribers and informed them how
to deactivate the service," he said.
Here is the complete procedure for all kinds of call transfers/forwarding.
1) Call forwarding unconditional/immediate to activate *21*Telephone number# To
deactivate *21# 2) For busy to activate: *09*Telephone number# To deactivate *09#
3) For no reply to activate: *06*Telephone number# - To deactivate *06#

APP

 

[Neo]

Insurance sector profit grows 26pc ​

Friday, November 02, 2007

KARACHI: During the first nine months of the year 2007, most of the private listed non-life insurance companies listed on local bourses depicted a growth of approximately 26 per cent by registering a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs3.9 billion.

In the corresponding period of last year, these companies had registered a growth of 25 per cent to Rs31bn. In 2006, private non-life insurance sector’s gross premium grew by 23 per cent to Rs28bn

Higher investment income is the major reason behind the decent net profit growth of the sector, which registered an upsurge of 31 per cent to Rs3.6bn primarily due to increase in the capital gain income, a research report prepared by First Capital Research said.

Insurance sector in Pakistan is considered as under penetrated versus region. On the basis of 2005 premium, insurance penetration and insurance density in Pakistan is recorded at 0.4 per cent and US$2.8, which is one of the lowest in the region. Interestingly, average insurance penetration in Asian countries and the world are recorded at 1.67 per cent and 3.18 per cent, respectively. While insurance density in Asia and the world on an average is at the level of US$48.3 and

US$219, respectively. The FCEL in its analysis consisted 11 non-life insurance companies that are listed on local bourses and occupy 82 per cent share in total non-life insurance sector. On the flip side, underwriting business of 11 insurance companies registered a decline of 3.2 per cent to Rs911million. While net premium increased by 10 per cent with a 46 per cent growth in miscellaneous sector at Rs1.3 billion.

Besides this, on the basis of net premium, motor business also witnessed an increase of 13 per cent to Rs6.56bn. Marine and fire insurance segment recorded a modest growth of one per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively.

Insurance sector profit grows 26pc

 

[Neo]

Emaar Pak to invest heavily ​

Friday, November 02, 2007

ISLAMABAD: Emaar Pakistan has reiterated its commitment to invest heavily in the country’s real estate sector in the next 20 years.

Mohammed Al-Falasi, Managing Director, Emaar Pakistan, said the country was one of the most attractive destinations for foreign investment in the real estate sector and underscored the company’s objective of developing world-class residences.

He was addressing a group of officials during a ceremony to launch DHA in Islamabad, the Tunnel Form System (TFT), a construction technique. He said the new system will help Emaar meet its commitment to provide quality residences. TFT which is new to housing projects in Pakistan is the system to ensure speedy construction.

On an average it will take only two days to complete a villa with high quality construction and better finishes. It will also eliminate chances of any settlement of foundation and give higher tensile compressive strength to walls and roof by strengthening concrete. Emaar Pakistan has unveiled projects of development valuing Rs145.8 billion ($2.4 billion) in Islamabad and Karachi.

Emaar Pak to invest heavily

 

[Neo]

Portfolio investment reaches record level​

KARACHI, Nov 1: Highest-ever inflow of foreign exchange was witnessed in a single month, which was a record for Pakistani stock market.

The portfolio investment came as Special Convertible Rupee Account (SCRA) hit $302 million in October 2007. It was a record high inflow in a single month.

The shares market has been waiting for foreign investment, but it failed to attract or retain investment during the first quarter of the current fiscal.

The portfolio investment was almost negative during July-September.

The four-month, July-October, total inflows in the shares market reached $296 million which are less than the total inflows during October, reflecting a negative total during the first quarter.

It could be strange for political analysts that a sudden jump in foreign inflow was because of political stability in the country. Some analysts believe that the political stability helped build confidence for the record portfolio investment.

The foreign direct investment during the first quarter witnessed a 10 per cent decline, but mainly because of non-availability of privatisation proceeds.

The political instability, which was due to expected general elections, did not allow the government to take any major step for selling public sector units.

Analysts said the portfolio inflows were also important because the total $302 million did not include any inflows through launching of global depository receipts (GDRs).

October witnessed massive inflows and outflows despite record investment. During the month, $639.8 million landed into the shares market while the outflow was $337.8 million, showing the high volume of trading.

In the first four months, July-October, total inflows were $1.804 billion and the outflows were $1.507 billion.

Last year, the portfolio investment were to the tune of $3.2 billion which included GDRs. By excluding the GDRs, the total portfolio investments were about $900 million.

However, the most significant was the unchanged pattern of investment as most of the investments were still coming from United States.

The US investment reached $257.9 million during October and in the four months its total investment was $352.7 million. After US, the United Kingdom showed interest to invest $18.4 million during October but its total investment in four months was negative in terms of outflow of $52.5 million.

Kuwait and Hong Kong were others who remained positive while investing in Pakistan.

Analysts were of divergent views. Few of them said the record crude oil prices which reached $96 on Thursday would add to the liquidity already existing in the international the market. The recent cut in the US interest rate aiming to create liquidity has also found ways to maximise profits by investing in the ‘risky’ countries like Pakistan.

Analyst said three major political developments produced a stable situation in October. First the Supreme Court allowed presidential election, secondly General Musharaff was re-elected and thirdly the arrival of Benazir Bhutto which removed possibility of any confrontation with the government.

However, it is believed that the recent development in the North of Pakistan, series of bomb explosions and the return of Benazir Bhutto to Dubai could cause an outflow during November.

Portfolio investment reaches record level -DAWN - Business; November 02, 2007

 

[Neo]

Leading Gulf investors due shortly ​

KARACHI (November 02 2007): A large number of Gulf investors from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia will be visiting Pakistan to ***** the investment scope in Pakistan, it is reliably learnt.

Despite political uncertainty and poor law and order situation and at a time when the foreigners especially from Western countries are avoiding visiting Pakistan, the Gulf investors' interest in Pakistan's economy is a good sign, experts said.

The delegations are expected to visit Pakistan sometime next week to meet entrepreneurs in oil and gas, cement, power, pharma, banking, insurance and food industry. According to sources the visiting investors have set aside millions of dollars to invest in industrial and financial sectors over the next 12 months.

The groups will attend 'Investors Forum' to explore Shariah-compliant investment opportunities during WorldAsia Islamic Capital Conference starting November 7 in Karachi. Sources said that over 50 Gulf investors have confirmed their participation in the conference. The investor groups include Abraaj, Al Salam, Qatar Islamic Bank, Jefferies and National Bank of Dubai.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

[Neo]

Continued investments reflects world's confidence: Prime Minister​

ISLAMABAD (November 02 2007): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Thursday said the government's reforms to strengthen banking industry has greatly facilitated in attracting record amount of foreign investment.

The Prime Minister was talking to Francis A Rozario, Chairman NIB Bank and CEO of Fullerton Financial, a company owned by Tamasek a Singapore Government Investment Company, who called on him here at the PM House.

He emphasised that the banking industry which has been transformed from state monopoly to a vibrant private entity has come up with new products and services to serve the less privileged sections of the society. He said that in order to consolidate the banking sector, the government was encouraging mergers and acquisitions so that a few but stronger banks provide a full range of services to the people.

Shaukat Aziz said that far-reaching reforms in every facet of life have transformed Pakistan into a country having record growth. He said the reforms based on de-regulation of the economy, transparent privatisation, creation of a business-friendly environment, rationalisation of taxes and tariffs and transparency in the government transactions, have restored the confidence of the investors.

He said economic stability, continuity and consistency of policies had helped the business to flourish, thus making Pakistan an investment friendly place. The Prime Minister said the interest shown by Tamasek for investment in Pakistan reflects the growing confidence of international community in the success of economic and structural reforms implemented by the government during the last eight years.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

[Neo]

'Investment Division may help enhance FDI targets' ​

ISLAMABAD (November 02 2007): The Board of Investment (BOI), which has been made Investment Division, would make policy decisions more efficiently as the Division is having access to the highest level of policy making, a BOI official said on Thursday.

According to the official, this has been done to remove operational snags, as per the rules of business, besides simplifying the procedure for investment. Previously, the BOI could not independently move summaries/proposals for the approval of the prime minister and the ECC on certain issues.

The decision of the prime minister to make BOI Investment Division is in line with the reorganisation approved for BOI and make it similar to the Economic Affairs Division (EAD); which is a multilateral and bilateral debt and grant facilitation agency of the government.

The Investment Division will promote investment, domestic as well as foreign, which incidentally during FY07 has been $8.4 billion, compared to a meagre $322 million in FY02. During FY02, investment as percentage of GDP was 14 percent, which has now increased to 23.9 percent of GDP in FY07. With the creation of Investment Division, FDI targets are likely to be enhanced.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

[Neo]

'13 MoUs with foreign power generating companies signed' ​

LAHORE (November 02 2007): Federal Minister for Water and Power Liaquat Ali Jatoi has said that his Ministry has signed 13 memorandum of understandings (MoUs) with the international power generating companies in the last six months to set up power plants to overcome shortfall of 1500MW currently faced by the country.

He told reporters here on Thursday that investment worth $200 billion would be made to establish power generation plants. The government has allocated over 140 billion rupees for the mega projects for the power sector to minimise the load management in the country.

Jatoi said that load shedding currently resorted in the country would be finished soon. The Ministry of Water and Power had also signed an agreement with the Iranian company to import 100MW power to overcome power shortage.

The work on Bhasha Dam will be started in 2009 which would help overcome power shortage on completion, he added. He further said that Mangla Raising Project will be completed in June 2008 and an additional 2.88 million acre feet (MAF) water will be made available to the country for irrigation purpose after the completion of Mangla Dam Raising Project by June 2008. Besides, 644 Gigawatt hour (Gwh) additional electricity will also be generated from the existing powerhouse due to the high head of water.

He added that different power generation companies would invest US $200 billions in the country, which was an uneasy task. The president and the prime minister tried to convince the investors, despite their strong reservations. He said, "It is the top priority of the government to provide smooth and constant power supply to the consumers on the cheap rates."

He further stated, "Wapda had to follow the load management policy because of intensive use of electricity accessories, especially the use of more than 150000 air-conditioners were increasing per year in the country, the industry and housing sectors are booming rapidly which also needs the ample quantity of power. In the last summer there was a shortfall of 1,500 to 2,000MW in the country. It is decreasing rapidly because of pragmatic precautionary measures taken by the Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco)."

He said Pepco Managing Director Munawar Baseer had chalked out a plan to control the power shortage by the National Conservation Policy and through it to maintain and repair dreaded power generation plants. Using energy savers would save more than 860MW. He said the Rainy Canal and Kachi Canal project would be completed soon, helping to minimise power-cuts in the country.

The minister said old power generation plants would be repaired and if its spare parts were available in the market they would be replaced. He said in 2010 more than 200MW power would be surplus because of various power generation projects were in the pipeline.

He said he himself was against the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) because of no-compromise on the plundering money of the nation Benazir Bhutto looted more than US $150 billion of the public which is unpardonable crime. "People will elect their candidates keeping in mind their performance. Her arrival never scared me," he added.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

[Neo]

ESOLPK intends to revolutionise small, medium enterprise sector ​

LAHORE (November 02 2007): The ESOLPK and the Microsoft jointly held a seminar here at a hotel on Thursday to launch formers services to provide a rapidly deployable and affordable automation solution based on "Microsoft dynamics".

Speakers said the seminar aimed at promoting the Microsoft dynamics ERP system in the industrial sector of Pakistan. Microsoft dynamics is the software enhancing the quality, productivity and the efficiency of business resources.

ESOLPK Managing Director Ahsan Ahmed said his firm intended to revolutionise the small and medium enterprise sector and the government and non-profit organisations by promoting the technology services in Pakistan. "With a vision of a new horizon, Microsoft, through its expertise and partners like ESOLPK, will help and assist the companies in implementation of ERP," he said. SMS and P Manager Microsoft Osman Maqbool said, "Today's businesses face complex challenges and immense opportunities.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

[Neo]

Investment in power sector projects against changes in laws: government is reluctant to indemnify lenders ​

ISLAMABAD (November 03 2007): The government is reluctant to indemnify foreign lenders and companies investing in projects against changes in Pakistan's laws which can affect the legality and enforceability of the power sector 'Implementation Agreement' (IA), 'Power Purchase Agreement' (PPA) and government guarantee, sources in Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB) told Business Recorder here on Friday.

Under Power Policy 2002, the government had approved standardised project IA, PPA, and government sovereign guarantee, governed by the current laws of Pakistan, with arbitration in London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) for disputes over a certain monetary threshold.

Sources said that the Ministry of Power had submitted a proposal to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on October 31 to offer a choice to the investors between the laws of Pakistan and England with respect to direct agreements (IA and PPA) but it was not approved, as some stakeholders opposed it.

Agreements signed by PPIB have been executed with Orient, Sail, Sapphire, Attock, Atlas, Nishat, Star and Fauji power project companies. However, independent power producers (IPPs), with participation of foreign lenders, have taken the position during the negotiations that the foreign lenders require English law as the governing law for the GoP guarantee and direct agreements.

Sources said that each foreign lender wants direct agreements (IA and PPA) and GoP guarantee to be subject to and governed by the laws of England to provide protection to them, as per the normal practice with cross-border limited recourse financing of projects of this nature involving international sponsors and lenders, against the invalidity and unenforceability of the GoP guarantee due to change in the laws of Pakistan.

The Ministry of Water and Power was of the view that the Pakistan government under Section 11.2(f) of the IA executes and delivers acknowledgements to the lenders, through direct agreements with respect to any assignment or creation of a security interest granted to them pursuant to article XI of the IA.

It is customary (practice) that the financing documents (including loans agreements, notes, indentures, security agreements, guarantees and other instruments providing security to the lenders) executed between the project company and the lenders are governed by the laws of England or New York, as it allows creation of secured interests in the future revenues and receivables of the project, and assignment of the project company's contractual rights and interests in the project agreements.

"These jurisdictions being major international commercial and banking centres, large number of precedents of the courts and practice are available in such transactions, which reduces the uncertainty regarding the outcome of disputes," the Ministry argued in its summary.

A project company is required under the financing documents to assign its rights and interests to the security trustee, or agent, who shall act for and on the lenders' behalf in the enforcement of their security interest.

Similarly, the IA allows the lenders to designate an agent for exercise of cure or step-in rights on their behalf, in the event of a default by the project company under the financing documents.

Since the security trustee, or agent, are acknowledged by the GoP under the direct agreements, it is essential from the lenders' perspective that the governing laws under the financing documents and direct agreements are the same to prevent any conflict in the enforcement of the lenders' rights.

According to the summary foreign lenders are of the view that since the project agreements (IA and PPA) and GoP guarantee are governed by the laws of Pakistan, a change in law affecting the legality or validity of these agreements shall create a risk that an international arbitration tribunal would be unable to enforce the project agreements.

In such a case international lenders would not be entitled to receive any compensation or other remedy under these project agreements, sources added.

"Lenders are of the view that if IA and PPA should be governed by laws of Pakistan, they must be given protection through GoP guarantee being governed by English law," sources said.

The Ministry of Water and Power, while backing the investors, had argued that to mitigate the risk of change in law, and afford protection to the foreign lenders and project company, GoP should indemnify the project company and its lenders from Pakistan's laws.

The PPIB had recommended that a choice may be given to the lenders to opt the laws of Pakistan, or England, with respect to IA and PPA, which may contain an indemnity to the effect that if the IA, PPA or GoP guarantee becomes unenforceable, illegal or invalid due to change in law, the GoP shall indemnify the project company or the lenders for any cost, loss or liability resulting from such unenforceability, illegality or invalidity, which amount in case of IA, PPA or GoP guarantee.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

[Neo]

Export growth target missed ​

KARACHI (November 03 2007): The country has failed to achieve overall export growth target in the first quarter of the 2008 fiscal year, mainly because of political uncertainty and deteriorating law and order situation in the country, exporters said. However, a high official of the Ministry of Commerce believes that export during next few months will rapidly increase and export target will be achieved.

The Ministry of Commerce has fixed the target at 19.2 billion dollars for the current fiscal year as against the previous target of 17.01 billion dollars, with a 12.83 percent growth target.

The official export statistics revealed that during the first quarter of the current fiscal year, growth in the overall export stood at 4.77 percent to 4.456 billion dollars, while the required growth rate for the quarter was seven-eight percent to 4.6 billion dollars.

However, the set exports target for the first quarter has been missed by some three percent during July-Septeember of the 2008 fiscal year. Exporters are of the view that months of November and December were important as these two months, the country had experienced much higher shipment of export cargo.

However, they expected that overall export of textile would not show more than one or two percent growth during the 2008 fiscal year. Exporters said that efforts to bring country's economic growth rate to the positive track might get hampered, and added if this present state of political uncertainty did not end in the next few weeks, the exports would further decline.

"Notwithstanding the current political scenario and some problems faced by the textile sector, the exports are likely to pick up in the next months," said Commerce Minster Hamayun Akhtar on phone from Lahore.

He adds, "With the appreciation of the Indian rupee, our exports will increase during the next three quarters." Commenting on the political uncertainty, leading exporter Zubair Motiwala said: "Present political and law and order situation have badly damaged the country's image abroad and leading importers are now reluctant to place orders, as they believe that their orders could be delayed."

He said that textile exports, having 65 share in overall exports, had witnessed 0.53 percent growth during July-September. During the first half of the 2008 fiscal year, there was one percent growth. "Insufficient growth in the industrial production is also a major reason behind decline in the exports," said economist Qaisar Bangali. The Federal government had fixed a 13 percent export growth target without fixing sector-wise targets, which was unrealistic, he added.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]