Pakistan Economy - News & Updates - Archive

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ADB to provide $400,000 for Balochistan resource management programme ​

FAISALABAD (December 21 2007): Asian Development Bank will provide $400,000 equivalent on a grant basis from ADB's TA funding programme for preparing the "Second Balochistan Resource Management Programme". According to ADB sources, the TA is estimated to cost $450,000 equivalent in local currency costs.

ADB will provide $400,000 equivalent on a grant basis from ADB's TA funding programme. The government of Balochistan will contribute the remaining local currency cost of $50,000 equivalent in kind by providing office accommodation, counterpart staff, and facilities for seminars and meetings.

The government has been informed that approval of the TA does not commit ADB to finance any ensuing project. The Government of Pakistan has also been informed of the scope of the TA.

According to official sources, this project preparatory TA aims to help the government develop the next generation of public administration reforms to be pursued under BRMP- II. Such continuation and deepening of policy reforms in fiscal and financial management, public administration, and asset management will free resources for pro-poor development and better public service delivery.

This in turn is likely to improve the economic and social outcomes in the province. The expected outcome is greater fiscal space for the province of Balochistan through enhanced flows and improved management of resources.

These outcomes will be achieved through diagnostic and analytical work under the TA, with wide stakeholder consultations (involving the government, civil society groups, and the private sector, among others). Several policy papers will be prepared to help formulate the reform agenda under BRMP II. The consultative nature of the process will raise awareness and build capacity to co-ordinate policy development.

According to an update project report, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has supported the government of Balochistan (the government) in public resource management reforms through the Balochistan Resource Management Program (BRMP I). BRMP I was approved in November 2004 and closed after the release of the second tranche on 31 May 2007.

In total, BRMP-I provided $130 million to assist the government of Balochistan to enhance provincial finances through fiscal restructuring and better financial management, and improve processes and establish appropriate institutions for public service delivery and private sector development.

In early 2007, the government requested further ADB support to sustain the first phase of reforms. An ADB mission visited Quetta and Islamabad during 3-12 September 2007 to reach general agreement on the scope of the proposed technical assistance (TA) required to prepare the second Balochistan Resource Management Program (BRMP II).

According to ADB Project Report, BRMP-I was successful not only in initiating systemic thinking on strategic reforms in the government and with other stakeholders but also in implementing certain fundamental policy changes. Balochistan had an open-ended subsidy system for electricity for operating agricultural tube wells, which accounted for about 8 percent of provincial current expenditure and had increased by 150 percent between fiscal year (FY) 2001 and FY2006.

Through BRMP-I, the subsidy was capped at Rs 2 billion in nominal terms (about 5% of provincial expenditure in FY2007). This decision was taken despite the fact that most of the larger landowners, the principal beneficiaries of the subsidy, had considerable political influence.

The water resource component of BRMP-I has provided a firmer institutional basis for better water resource management through the adoption of an integrated water resource management policy-a first in Pakistan. Debt restructuring was made possible by using ADB's ordinary capital resources loan to retire the more expensive cash development loans of the province from the Federal Government, thus saving over Rs 1 billion per annum in debt servicing costs.

Initial revenue management reforms have begun to take effect: revenue receipts from tax and non-tax sources increased by an impressive 58.2% in FY2006 over the previous year, although the increase in tax revenue was only 8%. The recovery of irrigation water charges has picked up under an action plan supported by BRMP-I.

ADB report explained that the "throw forward" of Balochistan's public sector development program has been reduced under BRMP reforms. A throw forward is the excess of the cost of a development scheme over the current financial year's allocation, and is one of the measures used to analyse the sustainability of the development budget.

It provides information on how many years it will take to complete a development scheme, or in how many future budgets the scheme will have to appear. In this case, the throw forward was reduced from almost 10 years in 2004 to 4 years in 2007. Another fundamental policy achievement was the establishment of a rule-based transparent system of local government funding. Moving forward, there are three sets of constraints.

The fiscal and public financial management reform agenda is incomplete. While the government has taken a number of important steps7 to improve fiscal discipline, further short and medium-term reforms are required over the next one to five years to strengthen the planning and budgeting systems, and adopt a medium-term expenditure framework to enhance the credibility, predictability, comprehensiveness, and transparency of the budgeting process.

BRMP II will continue to strengthen the devolution agenda. Under the Balochistan Local Governance Ordinance, 2001 the provincial government is no longer a direct implementer exercising complete administrative and financial control.

Under the ordinance, it is now required to define the policy and regulatory frameworks and ensure they are observed at the local level. This requires a more complex and sophisticated monitoring and analysis role, and building capacity at the local level.

ADB report hoped that gradually phase out the remaining subsidies that are deemed to be inefficient, while strengthen property and agriculture tax administration, at both provincial and local government levels; (iv) improve pension administration and contingent liability management; and strengthen accounting, internal control, and audit systems.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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Forex reserves down to $15.582 bln: SBP ​

KARACHI (updated on: December 24, 2007, 11:09 PST): Foreign reserves of Pakistan fell by $40 million to $15.582 billion in the week ending on Dec. 15, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Monday.

Reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan fell to $13.344 billion, from $13.417 billion a week earlier, while those held by commercial banks were down to $2.238 billion from $2.205 billion, the SBP said in a statement.

Pakistan's foreign reserves hit a all-time high of $16.388 billion in the week ending on Nov. 10. But they later fell because of outflows from the stock market after President Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency rule on Nov. 3.

Emergency rule was lifted on Dec. 15. Analysts said with less political uncertainty and elections scheduled for next month, the foreign reserves were set to rise.

Forex reserves down to $15.582 bln: SBP : Business Recorder | LATEST NEWS

 

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'2,700 megawatts additional power to be generated in three years' ​

ISLAMABAD (December 24 2007): Caretaker Minister for Water and Power, Tariq Hameed has said that 2,700 MW additional power will be generated in coming three years with the completion of Private Power Infrastructure Board's (PPIB) projects.

Talking to APP, the minister said PPIB had been directed to remove bottlenecks in small hydel projects having capacity of 100 MW to 200 MW to bridge the power demand and supply gap.

He said to overcome load-shedding problem besides starting effective management Wapda will get one rental plant while two rental plants have already been inaugurated having total capacity of 286 MW. He added that 150 MW power will be produced by 2008 through windmills while 600 houses have been provided solar energy in all the four provinces. He said that Wapda has planned to start new power plant at Guddu to improve additional power upto 800 MW during 2008-09.

Tariq Hameed said Mangla raising project will be completed by June next and its filling will be in next summer due to which capacity generation will increase to estimated 180 MW.

He said development work has been started on Jinnah hydel project at Jinnah Barrage by Wapda to generate 94 MW electricity to be completed in 2010.

Hameed said the ministry had planned to purchase 100,000 energy saver bulbs to be distributed in hospitals, educational institutions and other government offices to help save energy.

He said these saver bulbs would also be placed at Utility Stores, as it saves 80 percent energy than other bulbs. He added the decision of closing shops at 8:00 pm has helped save 300 MW electricity.

He said that all mega power projects would be completed by 2016 including Basha-Diamer, Kalabagh, Akora, Munda and Kurram-Tungi to further generate 9,000 MW electricity in the country.

He said electricity demand would also be met through small and medium power generation projects under public-private partnership. Hameed said that a comprehensive strategy is being chalked out for utilisation of coal in power generation to balance the supply and demand of electricity.

The minister said study on Kalabagh Dam has been completed while engineering work of Basha-Diamer Dam will be completed by the end of 2008.

He said the contract award of the project is likely in 2009 while deadline of 2016 has been fixed for its completion. He added that private sector will complete Munda Dam while pending work of Khuram-Tungi will be started within three months.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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CFS hits 10-month highest level of 14.14 percent ​

KARACHI (December 25 2007): The continuous funding system (CFS) rate on Monday hit 10-month highest level of 14.14 percent, mainly due to unavailability of liquidity at the share market on the yearend. Total investment under the CFS remained near its upper cap of Rs 55 billion in the last 10 consecutive session.

"The CFS investment settled near its upper cap at Rs 54.60 billion on Monday, while it was recorded at Rs 54.56 billion on the last trading session of previous week", senior analyst at JS Global Capital Limited Atif Malik said. The similar situation was seen during the last 10 consecutive sessions where the CFS investment remained near its upper cap of Rs 55 billion.

The market participants were of the view that the CFS upper cap should be lifted so that more liquidity would be available for investment at the share market. The KSE-100 index closed at its all time high level of 14,791.92 points on Monday, while the foreign and local brokerage houses reports have indicated that the index would cross potentially 16,500 points level and according to reports oil, banking and fertiliser sectors are undervalue.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves down by $40.1 million ​

KARACHI (December 25 2007): Liquid foreign exchange reserves have further declined by 40.1 million dollars during the week ended on December 15. Latest statistics, issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), shows that total liquid foreign during the last week stood at 15.5824 billion dollars as compared to 15.6225 billion dollars a week earlier.

Total Liquid Foreign during the last week stood at 15.5824 billion dollars as compared to 15.6225 billion dollars a week earlier: Foreign exchange reserves, held by the SBP, have declined by 73.5 million dollars to 13.3442 billion dollars from 13.4177 billion dollars. While net the foreign exchange reserves, held by banks, other than SBP, showed an increase of 33.4 million dollars to 2.2382 billion dollars from 2.2048 billion dollars.

It may be mentioned here that the country's foreign exchange reserves showed a significant decline over five percent after the imposition of state of emergency. On December 15, the country's overall foreign exchange reserves stood at 15.5824 billion dollars, coming down from historical level of 16.3875 billion dollars, showing a dip of 805 million dollars during the last one month.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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Uzbekistan to cater all facilities to Pakistani entrepreneurs ​

ISLAMABAD (December 25 2007): The Deputy Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan Shoazim Minivoarov has said that his country has decided to provide all possible facilities to the Pakistani entrepreneurs to boost bilateral trade. He stated this while talking to the chairman of the Senate Standing Committee for Interior Affairs Senator Talha Mehmood Ariyan, who called on him at his office.

During the meeting, which lasted an hour, various economic and trade affairs were come under discussion. Both sides stressed on the need to enhance economic ties and promotion of trade between Tashkent and Islamabad.

Speaking on the occasion, the Uzbek ambassador said that his country gives immense importance to cement ties with Pakistan and it is the policy of Uzbek government to further strengthen ties with Pakistan.

He said that the Uzbek government is facilitating Pakistani investors to provide them a congenial atmosphere for enterprising. As a result, a number of Pakistani entrepreneurs have set up industries and established their branches there. He expressed the desire of his government of holding a trade conference in Islamabad. He said it is the desire of his government that after elections in Pakistan on January 8, the newly elected prime minister should visit Uzbekistan first of all.

He said that both countries have taken a decision to make the visa process easier and efforts will be made to remove hurdles in the issue of visa to traders.

On the occasion, Senator Talha Mehmood emphasised the need to exchange parliamentary delegations between the two brotherly countries in order to upgrade the bilateral ties in various sector. He agreed with the Uzbek government to hold a trade conference in Pakistan. He said that the atmosphere is conducive for foreign investment in Pakistan.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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KSE-100 index reaches an all-time high ​

KARACHI (December 25 2007): Karachi share market continued its upward journey, setting new records, as the KSE-100 index closed at its highest ever level of 14,791.92 points, with a net gain of 133.09 points on Monday on the back of strong fundamentals, coupled with foreign and local investors' interest, mainly in banking and oil sector stocks.

Index closed at its highest ever level of 14,791.92 points, with a net gain of 133.09 points on the back of strong fundamentals, coupled with foreign and local investors' interest mainly in banking and oil sector stocks.

"The foreign brokerage house reports on under-valuation of oil, banks and fertiliser sectors invited healthy buying on the first day after Eid-ul-Azha holidays, mainly in banking and oil sector stocks, which boosted the index to reach its new record level", analyst said.

Earlier, on October 19, the KSE-100 closed at 14,787.55 points' level. The overall market capitalisation surged by Rs 37 billion to reach its record level of Rs 4.546 trillion. The KSE-30 index surged by 208.05 points to close at 17,671.30 points' level.

The market started on a positive point and the KSE-100 index hit 14, 832.30 points' intra-day high level for the first time in its history. Healthy buying was witnessed, mainly in banking and oil sector stocks. Ready market volume, however, declined to 261.983 million shares as compared to 301.556 million shares traded at the end of the previous week, while futures market turnover increased to 60.939 million shares against 31.973 million shares previously.

Trading took place in 384 scrips, out of which 206 scrips closed in positive and 137 in negative, while the value of 41 scrips remained unchanged. Bosicor Pakistan was the star performer of the day with 28.506 million shares and the scrip surged by Rs 0.50 to close at Rs 23.25.

The banking sector led the rally as NIB Bank, Bank Al Falah, Askari Bank, Bankislami Pak, PICIC Bank and Bank of Punjab (BoP) scrips rose by rupee one, Rs 1.20, Rs 0.75, rupee one, Rs 2.05 and Rs 1.20 respectively. They closed at Rs 23.60, Rs 56.80, Rs 105, Rs 17.85, Rs 43.45 and Rs 104.20, in that order.

Fresh buying was also seen in Arif Habib Sec, which gained rupees five to close at Rs 183. Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) also remained active and closed at Rs 126.90 with a net gain of Rs 0.45. Rafhan Maize and Jahangir Siddiqui Co were the highest gainers, with Rs 90 and Rs 49.40 gains to close at Rs 2,200 and Rs 1,037.75 respectively, while Treet Corporation and National Foods were th biggest losers. They lost Rs 12.50 and Rs 10.50 to close at Rs 301.50 and Rs 420 respectively.

Ahsan Mehanti at Shehzad Chamdia Securities said that the market performed well on expectations and showed bullishness post December on fresh foreign allocations and local institutional liquidity.

Soaring oil prices in the international market (to over 93 dollars) also prompted investors to take fresh positions in the relevant stocks, he said. He added that the investors' expectations for capital gains on shares of FABL, NBP, BOP, and AKBL, based on no announcement of capital gains tax exemption on stock exchange investments, was another reason, which invited fresh buying interest in banking sector stocks.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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Coal reserves found in Cholistan ​

KHANPUR (December 25 2007): Punjab Minister for Mines and Minerals, Makhdoom Ufkar-ul-Hassan has said that coal reserves were found in Cholistan area in Punjab where drilling was under way at 13 different points.

Talking to newsmen here in Liaqutpur, on Sunday, the minister said that Department of Mines and Minerals was contributing about seven billion rupees on quarterly basis to the exchequer, which has now risen to rupees eight billion during the caretaker government.

To a question about transparency of elections he said, Election Commission of Pakistan would take strong action against all those Nazims, irrespective of their political clout, who were interfering with the election campaign, adding that which ever party wins majority would be duly facilitated in forming the government.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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SBP issues guidelines for horticulture sector ​

KARACHI (December 25 2007): State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in consultation with stakeholders has developed new 'Guidelines on Horticulture Financing' to facilitate banks in developing specific products to increase the flow of credit to the horticulture sector.

The SBP sources said that these guidelines provide details about financing to fruit, vegetables, flowers and ornamental plants production besides providing details about the eligibility criteria for borrowers, types of financing, collateral requirements, fixation of loan limit, repayment terms, loan monitoring mechanism, etc.

Banks may adopt these guidelines in the present form or with some adjustments to suit their organisational and operational needs and market characteristics, subject to compliance with SBP's regulations for agriculture financing, SBP sources said.

Disbursement to horticulture was only around Rs 6.5 billion in 2006-07 against total agri disbursement of Rs 169 billion during the same period, sources said and added that one of the main reasons for low disbursement to horticulture sector is lack of awareness regarding this sector.

Therefore, in order to facilitate the banks, the guidelines for financing have been developed by the SBP in collaboration with banks, Minfal, PHDEB, farmer's representatives and other stakeholders. Banks can benefit from the guidelines to tap the sector that promises high returns to the horticulturist, banks and the economy as a whole. As per guidelines banks are required to develop sound and reliable loan monitoring and tracking system to ensure proper utilisation and quality of loan and its timely repayments.

Individuals/partnership concerns and all types of legal entities engaged in horticulture related activities or desirous to establish new horticulture farming and having sufficient knowledge and relevant experience are eligible to draw loan under horticulture financing scheme, the guidelines said.

Financing facilities may be extended, provided bank is satisfied with the capacity of the borrower/sponsor to manage and run the horticulture activities.

To get financing facility borrower should be a holder of CNIC while usual requirements for corporate clients would apply and not be a defaulter of any bank/financial institution. However, this condition may be relaxed in case the bank is satisfied with creditworthiness of the borrower and that earlier default was circumstantial and not willful.

As per guidelines, banks can provide working capital finance on revolving basis for seeds/root-stock and nursery plants, water - charges for purchase of tube-well water, fertilisers and gypsum, chemicals, including herbicides, weedicides, fungicides, detergents, disinfectants and waxes, sprayers, farm labour, laser levelling charges, labour charges for fruits, vegetables sowing or transplantation etc. In addition charges for purchase of diesel and engine oil for tractor and for tube-well operation.

The loan limit shall be assessed by banks on the basis of financing request appraisal or feasibility report. The banks should undertake due diligence and market survey to assess the prices of equipment's, vehicles and assets to be financed for horticulture farming, the sources said.

Banks at their own discretion may sanction revolving credit limits to the borrowers automatically renewable on annual basis for working capital financing. The loans provided under revolving credit scheme are required to be adjusted every year along with up to date mark up. Moreover, banks can extend medium to long term financing for the capital expenditure.

Regarding the interest, SBP has instructed that banks shall determine mark up rate keeping in view KIBOR rate and their cost of funds etc in line with their credit policy. In case of collateral based lending, banks can accept one or more of the following collaterals as per their lending policies/procedures.

In case of hypothecated stocks or assets, they should be comprehensively insured from reputed insurance company or group of companies. It is advisable that banks should sensitise and educate their borrowers about the importance of having an insurance cover and also make insurance as an integral part of their respective horticulture financing products, the guidelines said.

In order to secure the bank's interest for loan against third party guarantee, bank shall ensure proper security of its exposure in accordance with the relevant SBP regulations.

According to the guidelines, the indirect financiers will have to provide a list of their bonafide horticulture farmers or farms along with their computerised NIC numbers and addresses. Finance would be directly disbursed in the account of bonafide horticulture farmers or farms. The guarantor will be responsible for repayment of loan as per terms and conditions agreed between the bank and the indirect financier.

Banks shall ensure that financing to horticulture sector is being made in compliance with SBP's regulations for agriculture financing, including classification of non-performing loans.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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Fiscal deficit may swell to 4.2 percent of GDP ​

ISLAMABAD (December 26 2007): The finance ministry is unlikely to implement the directives of Prime Minister Mohammadmian Soomro for keeping fiscal deficit within the targeted limits, it is reliably learnt. The finance ministry had projected fiscal deficit at 4 percent of the GDP for 2007-08.

The Prime Minister had directed the ministry to constantly review the economic situation to ensure that the growth parameters are not adversely affected. He also asked the ministry to check and manage to keep the budget within overall fiscal deficit targets. However, analysts are of the view that the finance ministry may not be able to keep the fiscal deficit within the projected limits because of freezing domestic oil and electricity prices besides slow growth in revenue.

Analysts say fiscal deficit would be around 4.2 percent of GDP and economic managers are not in a position to contain it. According to the sources the country would be facing huge budget deficit of over Rs 535 billion in FY 08.

"If the government does not pass on the impact of rising oil prices to consumers, it will have to bear an additional burden of Rs 136 billion which will shoot up the budget deficit to 5.4 percent of the GDP," the sources added.

They said Finance Minister Dr Salman Shah had made all-out efforts to unfreeze oil and electricity prices and pass the impact on to consumers in phases with the argument that the caretaker government had no political bias. But the plea had been rejected both at the Prime Minister and the President levels.

The International Monetary Fund has also stressed that further fiscal consolidation would be required to reduce inflation and the external deficit while lessening pressures on real interest rates.

In this regard, IMF Directors have noted the low ratio of tax revenue to GDP and recommended to press ahead with the reforms to increase revenue so that it could reduce fiscal deficit while boosting spending on infrastructure and poverty alleviation. The directors have called for broadening the tax base, through expanding taxation of the agriculture and services sectors and reducing tax exemptions. The Fund is also of the view that there exists need to modernise the energy sector's regulatory and tariff framework and revive the privatisation process.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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Mercedes-Benz plant project: GoP manages to revive $4 billion investment ​

ISLAMABAD (December 26 2007): In a bid to secure $4 billion foreign direct investment, the government has managed to revive Mercedes-Benz manufacturing plant project in Sheikhupura.

President Pervez Musharraf, who has been very keen to see Mercedes-Benz coming to Pakistan with its project offering trucks and other long vehicles' manufacturing facility for the army and other clients, used diplomatic channel to convey to the management that their investment in Pakistan was fully secure and the government will provide sovereign guarantee also.

The President asked Pakistan's ambassador in Germany to take up the matter with Mercedes-Benz Group to convince its management to review its decision of walking out of Pakistan regarding its proposed plan to set up a plant in Sheikhupura, Punjab. The sources said the ambassador held a couple of meetings with Mercedes-Benz management to convey the desire of the President of Pakistan.

The sources said in response to Pakistan's offer, Mercedes-Benz's Dubai-based partner Coastal Trading Group's representative Yusaf Najibi visited Pakistan some three weeks back and held separate meetings with President Musharraf and Prime Minister Mohammadmian Soomro and expressed willingness to revive the project on behalf of the Group.

The officials in Islamabad confirmed on Tuesday that Coastal Trading which is playing a key role in reviving the project has conveyed to government of Pakistan the Mercedes Group's interest for reviving the project and visiting Islamabad shortly for a commitment in writing.

The officials working with Coastal Group are very much hopeful that the GoP and Mercedes Group will formally sign a memorandum of understanding for the project sometime in January 2008.

Mercedes-Benz Group had entered Pakistan with its Dubai-based business partner - Coastal Group - in 2006 with a plan to set up a manufacturing plant for large vehicles. It also planned to set up parts manufacturing facility in Pakistan and export it to other countries where it has only assembling facilities. But the project was left unfinished and the investors walked out of Pakistan.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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Nine foreign firms show interest in port project: Dredging, reclamation work​

KARACHI, Dec 24: Nine foreign companies have shown interest in dredging and reclamation work for the upcoming Pakistan Deep-Water Container Port (PDWCP) being constructed by the Karachi Port Trust at an estimated cost of $1 billion, official sources said Monday.

The new harbour enclave being developed at the east of Keamari Groyne would need an estimated dredging of 32 million cubic metres. Out of this, 15m cubic metre dredging would be required in approach channel and 17 million cubic metres in basin. However, around 08 million cubic metres of dredged spoil picked from the basin will be utilised for reclamation, sources added.

Last month the KPT has inked an agreement with the Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) to set up PDWCP project at an estimated cost of $1 billion, out of which $57 million will be foreign direct investment (FDI) and the remaining to be invested by the KPT.Under the first phase, four berths would become functional by 2010 and the remaining six berths by 1212.

The concession has been awarded on built-operate and transfer (BoT) basis for an initial lease of 25 years and could be extended for another 25 years on mutually agreed terms and conditions.

The PDWCT is a green field project in which the Karachi Port will undertake infrastructure development, including building of three new breakwaters, extensive dredging work and construction of 1500 metres long quay wall at a depth of 18 metres.

The HPH will establish a high throughput container terminal, including back-up area, provision of utilities, procurement of gantry cranes and other associated equipment, along with computers and management systems.

They will also develop container yard, storage and transfer areas, operational buildings, ship to shore gantry cranes, rubber gantry and mobile gantries.

Since infrastructure development work has to be done by the Karachi Port, therefore, it will have to undertake dredging work to develop new approach channel for the container port. Sources told Dawn that Sector-I and II of the existing channel will be deepened and widened, and Sector I will be extended to match the depth of new channel.

They further disclosed that new channel will be 16 metre deep with 300 metre width at the entrance and 600 metre in the inner harbour, with a turning circle of 510 metre diametres.

The channel will be protected with three break waters. The estimated time for completion of dredging work has been fixed at 27 to 30 months.

The KPT has already taken geo-technical survey of the area for soil investigation and also took bore logs and laboratory test of the samples.

Sources said that specialist consultant carried out the study and prepared the work plan, including drawings for the proposed channel of the deep water port.

There is an urgent need for expanding container handling capacity of the country because box tariff had been growing at 18 per cent for the last five years.

The two container terminals at KICT and PICT at Karachi Port handled around 0.652 million boxes in 2000-01, and recorded a traffic of over 1.144 million boxes late year.

Similarly, the Qasim terminal at Port Qasim handled around 0.158m containers in the year 2000-01, and witnessed a traffic of 0.544m TEUs in 2005-06.

According to experts, growth of container traffic at the Karachi Port for next three (2009-10) years has been estimated around 1.8 million TEUs and at Qasim International Container Terminal (QICT) it will go up to 0.856 million boxes.

Nine foreign firms show interest in port project: Dredging, reclamation work -DAWN - Business; December 25, 2007

 

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TDAP to promote medical services for exports​

KARACHI: Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) will promote medical services as part of its strategic thrust, making services as important part of the exports.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TDAP Tariq Ikram had a meeting with Dr. Rasheed Jumma to discuss the modalities to come up with a joint effort to a chalk out a plan between TDAP and Health Ministry, a statement of TDAP stated here Tuesday.

Under this strategy, TDAP is keen on promotion of clinical trial for drugs and medicine under well-established protocol meeting international standards and export medical surgical services, which are of world-class level.

In this connection, both parties will hold discussions with concern stakeholders and conduct seminars to promote and develop better understanding. TDAP and Ministry of Health will provide resources in this context to develop this export service.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

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Mobilink to invest another $500 million in 2008: CEO​

KARACHI: “Mobilink has invested over $2.5 billion in infrastructure, network rollout and the largest franchise, retail and customer services network across the nation. We plan to inject an additional $500 million in 2008 to meet the growing demands of our services and the needs of our customers,” said Zouhair A Khaliq, President and CEO of Mobilink in an exclusive interview to Daily Times.

He further said that Mobilink has progressed from voice to carrier-class nationwide services by completing its own 6,500 kilometre redundant fibre optic backbone network across Pakistan. It now plans to provide high-speed data connectivity in the urban and rural sector of Pakistan through WiMax services.

Being a developing country, the expansion of broadband networks and services is of high importance to the Pakistani economy. Broadband connections in the country currently stand at around 0.1 million. With the population figure at over 165 million, this will clearly place Pakistan’s economic development into the next stages of progress.

Zuhair said that in WiMax services Mobilink is planning to enter the data arena by deploying a state-of- the-art WiMax network offering high speed internet to its customers.

WiMax is the latest global technology for delivering broadband services to the end user.

With Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei and Motorola amongst its list of renowned network vendors, Mobilink’s WiMax infrastructure is in good shape to foresee a commercial launch very soon.

WiMax is bound to bring a broadband revolution in the country with subscriber growth in multiple folds. This would not only bring Pakistan in par with technologically advanced nations but will also stimulate data use in the country. Data services are expected to flourish and demand in new arenas of data handling will be generated.

In addition to this, Mobilink recently entered into an agreement with four companies viz. DVCOM, DanCom, Zarco and WOL to consolidate its operations aimed at providing better wireless and broadband facilities for its customers. Leveraging on the assets and expertise of these acquired companies Mobilink plans to provide state of the art data services in the country in 2008. With the basic infrastructure in place, keeping pace with technological advancements will be one of Mobilink’s key priorities.

In fibre optics, Pakistan Telecommunication Limited (PTCL) had been the only company that owned an optic fibre backbone. Mobilink has successfully introduced competition through the introduction of a nationwide network. Mobilink’s optic fibre backbone provides the perfect platform to Mobilink for connecting its customers nationwide with highest level of voice and data quality with more reliability.

Deployment of the national backhaul stands completed with full protection, making Mobilink’ optic fibre backbone fully protected/redundant. By providing last mile connectivity Mobilink has positioned itself as a one-stop shop for meeting all communication requirements of enterprises and individuals. The optic fibre network currently covers 6,500 kilometres and will be increased to cover another 2000 kilometres very soon.

“We are envisaging sustainable growth in Pakistan. With mobile penetration still at around 43 percent, the room for growth is immense. The growth is not only limited to mobile telephony, as there are huge opportunities in other fields like broadband (optic fibre, DSL, WiMax), LDI etc. This coupled with the enabling environment being provided by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority ensures an excellent future for this sector,” he said when asked to comment on the company’s future plans in Pakistan.

He added that the company plans to maintain its market leadership in all areas from market share to network footprint and coverage. In this regard, the company has aggressive plans for the future to ensure that communication services are provided to each and every Pakistani no matter where he or she lives.

In reply to a question on poor connectivity and frequent call drops he said that, there was a time when this problem existed. “However, with intensive investment in our network, we have now successfully achieved over 98 percent call connectivity throughout our network. Hence, call connectivity issues are a thing of past and I do not see this as a problem anymore.”

The recent surveys done by the PTA show that Mobilink is actually better than any of the other networks, he added.

In 2006 Mobilink issued an international bond for $250 million, which was oversubscribed by 16 times at four billion dollars. The success of this bond reflected the awareness in international capital markets of the company’s current strengths and prospects for continuing its leadership in Pakistan’s telecommunication market.

Mobilink Genie is the first truly secure mobile commerce solution, launched by Mobilink, where mobile subscribers can make financial transactions via their mobile phones.

The company is also the first to launch a voice portal 555 which is an IVR service providing users easy access to a host of value added services such as ring tones, greetings, news, jokes, cricket services, contests, horoscopes, recipes and a lot more. Speech browsing is a unique feature of this service where customers can browse the menu and access content just by saying it aloud. They are able to select the language, desired category content and download options as well as browse the menu via the voice recognition system.

The company is also assisting the nation in meeting its Millennium Development Goals.

“Access to broadband networks and services can make important contributions to the quality of life, in terms of education, health services and social inclusion.”

ICT Industries, public administration, financial intermediation, business services, media, R&D, healthcare, manufacturing and the like involved in various economic activities, have been witnessing growth stagnation due to the untapped broadband infrastructure which needs a major uplift.

Mobilink, with a subscriber base of over 29 million finds itself perfectly placed to help fulfil this need, by playing a vital role in bringing broadband to an unconnected Pakistan.

The way the regulator is facilitating the telecom industry we see positive growth. The last few years have seen a phenomenal expansion in the telecom sector and the future is no less exciting. The market demand is going to get more and more sophisticated. There is going to be a significant demand for data and value added services. The mobile phone has already become a need rather than a luxury. With the BlackBerry solution it has become an office-on-the-go and a personal companion. Such services are going to grow even further as new segments of society come online.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[Neo]

Current account deficit soars to $4.8bn ​

Thursday, December 27, 2007
By our correspondent

KARACHI: The current account deficit in the first five months of fiscal 2007-08 further widened to $4.784 billion creating serious problems for the government to fill the gap amid moribund flow of foreign investment, which also plunged by 19.3 per cent during the period.

Latest figures issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday showed that the current account deficit during July-November 2007 increased to $4.784 billion, which was recorded at $4.077 billion in the same period of last year.

The SBP data showed that in the meantime trade deficit of the country increased to $4.878 billion compared to $4.467 billion during July-November 2006. As the country dispatched goods worth $7.564 billion to different countries during July-Nov 2007, total exports were recorded at $6.837 billion in the same period of last fiscal. Contrary to this, the imports increased to $12.442 billion from $11.304 billion last year.

The data revealed that Pakistan has been paying more in services than it receives in this account. Pakistan paid $3.931 billion for services and received only $1.090 billion in the same account.

Pakistan is facing a stiff competition in the international market, particularly in the textile sector, as India, China and Bangladesh have emerged as the main competitors and have been nibbling market share of Pakistani exports in the US and EU markets, which are the main buyers of Pakistani textile products.

Net foreign investment: Another data issued on the same day by the SBP showed that during July-Nov 2007 net foreign investment in Pakistan declined by 19.3 per cent to $1.818 billion which was recorded at $2.252 billion in the corresponding period of the last financial year.

However, during the aforesaid period, foreign direct investment (FDI) recorded a 15.7 per cent rise. From July-November 2007 total FDI was recorded at $1.712 billion as compared to $1.480 billion in corresponding period of FY07.

In July-Nov 2007 a massive decline of 86.3 percent was recorded in portfolio investment, which shrank to $106 million against $771.9 million of last fiscal year. During first five months of FY08 overall investment in Pakistan from developed countries declined by 10.8 percent to $1.292 billion from $1.449 billion.

However, FDI from developed countries increased by 16.1 percent to $1.119 billion against $963.8 million of last fiscal year. But Portfolio Investment from these countries plunged by 64.3 percent to $173.4 million as compared to $485.5 million in corresponding period of last fiscal year.

Current account deficit soars to $4.8bn