Pakistan Economy - News & Updates - Archive

[Neo]

$800 million ADB loan for city mega project: delegation for final talks to leave for Manila on January 16 ​

KARACHI (January 15 2008): Pakistan and Asian Development Bank (ADB) will hold 'final negotiations' on January 16, 2008 for $800 million loan for Karachi Mega City Development Project (KMCDP). The KMCDP is a project sponsored jointly by Sindh government and ADB with the main objective of enhancing the economic potential and living standard of Karachi and strengthening the mega city functions.

A five-member delegation, led by City Nazim Mustafa Kamal, would leave for Manila late on Monday, the Nazim told Business Recorder on Monday. "We are going to hold final negotiations with the ADB on $800 million financial assistance for the Karachi Mega City Development Project", he said.

The delegation during its three-day visit would hold different rounds of talks with the officials of ADB. "We will discuss various modalities and, after successful negotiations, would proceed further", he added. Beside the Nazim, the delegation includes Ghulam Mohammad Mehar, Mumtaz-ur-Rehman, Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui, and Roshan Ali. Project Co-ordinator Roshan told this reporter that the City government was likely to sign the agreement with the ADB next month. "During the visit we will be holding loan appraisal meeting with the ADB which would be followed by the loan appraisal mission within next weeks and then finally loan negotiations would be held," Roshan said.

He said the delegation would return by January 18. According to official sources the loan would be from the Bank's concessional Fund, and would cover 75 percent of total cost of the project.

The loan would be for a 32-year term including a grace period of eight years with a one-percent interest rate to be charged annually during the grace period and 1.5 percent thereafter. Sindh government would contribute the balance of $3.33 million equivalent, they said.

Projects to be undertaken under KMCDP include technical assistance in organisational development of Mega City Planning and capacity building of the CDGK, town municipal administrations and other civic agencies, water and solid waste management, katchi abadis, Urban Road Transport System, Corridors-I and II, Urban Traffic Control Project etc.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

[Neo]

Acer is owned by who Neo? Which country houses the HQ?

Acer is owned by Taiwan.

Global Headquarters

Taiwan
Acer Inc.
8F, 88, Sec.1, Hsin Tai Wu Rd., Hsichih,
Taipei, Hsien 221, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Tel: +886-2-2696-1234/3131
Fax: +886-2-2696-3535

 

[Neo]

About Acer:

Since its founding in 1976, Acer has constantly pursued the goal of breaking the barriers between people and technology. Focused on marketing its brand-name IT products around the globe, Acer ranks as the world's No. 3 (Q307) vendor for total PCs and No. 2 for notebooks, with the fastest growth among the top-five players. A profitable and sustainable Channel Business Model is instrumental to Acer’s continued growth, while a successful merger of Gateway Inc. as a wholly owned subsidiary completes the company’s global footprint by strengthening its presence in the U.S. and enhancing its strong position in Europe. Acer Inc. employs 5,300 people worldwide. Revenues in 2006 reached US$11.32 billion.

About Acer

 

[solid snake]

Wow, I want to cry right now because the rupee keeps sliding and they're about to officially devalue it. I am so pissed at this situation.

 

[Neo]

Real estate trade hits all-time low; Gwadar worst affected ​

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

KARACHI: Real Estate business in Gwadar has seen a massive set back since the 27th December violence as investors are backing out from mega projects leaving the estate agencies in panic whereas other major cities experience an all time slump in this sector.

Azam Khilji, Sales Manager of Canadian City, Gwadar said that the projects in Gwadar are facing a tough time as they are totally influenced by the government and as the country continues to submerge into political turmoil, the projects are being badly neglected.

He said that the conditions in Karachi and Islamabad are better as the advertised projects are in their construction phase and therefore when investors see the buildings, they gain the confidence to continue investing which is not the case in Gwadar.

He explained that while the other projects of his company are working out well, Gwadar has been the worst hit as, “we are selling dreams right now and there is no structure there to prove our progress.”

Real estate businessmen say that their sector was already experiencing a slump over the past year and the assassination of the former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has further scared off investors which have left them in a lurch as property trading has come to a standstill. The real estate business thrives on commission. Higher number of deals ensures more commission. Higher rates translate into better commission. But no trade means no commission and the property brokers sit idle chatting of days when property rates were soaring and business was roaring.

Mehdi Raza, of Estate Zone in Karachi said that only those people are selling properties that desperately need money or there are disheartened investors that have lost faith in Pakistani real estate and want to offload their investments before losses mount.

People are holding on to their properties waiting for the prices to reach better levels whereas, investors are vary of investing in downturn bazaar.

He said that the Karachi had experienced a boom until a couple of years ago when property prices had shot up significantly. “Heavy investments were made in Karachi and now when real estate prices are receding the investors are selling off their investments at the purchase price or even lesser!”

Raza also said that their Gwadar projects are the worst affected, as they only seemed attractive due to the advertisements that promoted them but it will be years before something concrete materialized there and therefore, “investors were running away from it.”

Basit Mahmood, Project Director at GlobBiz, Lahore informed The News that insecurity amongst investors has been the cause for the further setback being faced by real estate managers. “There are many aspects that affect the property sales and for a sector that was already going slow, we are facing further losses.”

Mahmood was of view that builders are always ready to spend money, but when they do not get their returns on investment they look elsewhere. “Our local builders are ready to spend their money abroad into foreign ventures where there is stability but not here as insecurity makes them lose interest.”

Matters look bleaker for the real estate sector as apart from the anxiety of businessmen in the country, some banks have also closed down on their various finance options and development of major projects around the country have also either stopped or are facing delays due to the instability which affected the work progress.

Most of real estate businessmen refused to put a figure to their losses citing it company information. Nevertheless they blamed the government for the current situation and said that revival of their sector was only possible if the country stabilized which would bring back foreign investors into the country and also encourage local builders to invest again.

Real estate trade hits all-time low; Gwadar worst affected

 

[Neo]

Pakistan’s economy facing tough time ​

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

KARACHI: After performing reasonably well in initial months of FY08, Pakistan’s economy is currently in the midst of a difficult time. Mounting inflation, a yawning trade deficit and uncertain political environment pose some serious challenges to the overall macroeconomic stability. “In addition, weak agriculture performance during 1HFY08 has resulted in a twin impact of rising inflation and downward pressure on real GDP growth.

The growing shortage of staple foods mainly wheat, rice and pulses have recently triggered tremendous inflationary pressure on the food side, as testified by latest CPI and SPI numbers, leading us to believe that CPI target would again be missed in FY08 by a wide margin,” said Farhan Rizvi analyst at JS Global Capital.

According to latest figures for Dec 07, CPI posted a year to year increase of 8.8 per cent with year to date inflation for FY08 of 8.0 per cent. Spiraling inflation has been a black spot on the strong economic performance over the last few years.

In FY07, for instance, CPI turned out to be 7.80 per cent, far above the government target of 6.50 per cent. In similar vein, inflation has surged once again in 1HFY08 with food inflation in particular posting double digit growth since Oct 07.

The analyst said as a result, CPI was recorded at 9.3 per cent year to year in Oct 07, its highest level for 29 months. Though there was some respite in the remaining months of 1HFY08, with CPI subsiding below 9 per cent in Nov and Dec 07 as food inflation declined marginally.

However, the recent spike in prices of essential food commodities mainly wheat, edible oil, rice etc is likely to enthuse additional inflationary pressure in 2HFY08. He said it is believed that inflationary pressures to persist in 2HFY08. Analyzing the SPI numbers for the week ending January 3, 2008, it is clearly evident that surge in wheat prices in late Dec 07 and moving into Jan 08 has resulted in steep rise in SPI which was recorded at 1.5 per cent, its highest level in nearly 39 months.

With no major respite in food prices thus far, CPI is likely to remain very high in Jan 08. In any case, inflation for the month of January should remain significantly higher than that for Dec 07, as a month to month decline of 0.88 per cent was witnessed in CPI for Jan 07 which would have a compounding base effect on the CPI calculation for Jan 08, he stated. Rizvi said this is very alarming, given the fact that the impact of rising international oil prices is still to be felt. Hence, it is believed inflationary pressure will continue, keeping CPI on the higher side in 2HFY08 as well. Poor agriculture performance could lower GDP growth.

A major culprit in the recent price spike has been the poor agriculture performance, which has resulted in severe shortage of key commodities such as wheat flour, rice and cotton. While, the element of wheat smuggling to Afghanistan cannot be ignored, it is still important to understand that smuggling of a few million tonnes cannot result in the kind of price spike witnessed in last few weeks.

With cotton production expected to depict a decline of 11 per cent in FY08, coupled with a wheat crop projected to post a stagnant to negative growth, real GDP growth for FY08 could end up much lower than the government target of 7.2 per cent.

In the light of the new cotton estimate of 11.6 million bales, he said: “We have revised downward our full year FY08 GDP forecast to 6.6 per cent.” This forecast could decline even further, if there are any major shocks in store on the wheat production in the coming months.

He said trade deficit jumps to $8.2 billion in Dec 07. In addition to the inflationary spiral, widening trade deficit also remains a point of concern for the economy.

According to the latest trade release (Dec 07) from Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS), trade deficit for 1HFY08 has surged to $8.2 billion as against $6.5 billion in the corresponding period last year an increase of 26 per cent year to year. Driven by rising petroleum and agriculture & chemical import bill, imports have surged by 13 per cent to $17 billion in 1HFY08 compared with $14.9 billion in IHFY07.

In contrast, exports have shown a modest year to year growth of only 4 per cent in 1HFY08. While trade deficit has jumped to $8.2 billion, there has been some respite in deficit growth in Dec 07. Trade deficit has declined by a massive 60 per cent to $1 billion, as against $1.6 billion in Nov 07. He said: “This slowdown though, we believe is extremely short-lived, driven mainly by port inactivity in the aftermath of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto".

Pakistan’s economy facing tough time

 

[Neo]

Minister terms rupee healthy for economy​

GENEVA, Jan 15: The current level of Pakistan’s rupee is acceptable and meets the overall needs of the economy, Trade Minister Shahzada Alam Monnoo said on Tuesday.

Monnoo, a technocrat in Pakistan’s caretaker government with a background in the key textile industry, said that while Islamabad had to look at broader economic issues than export competitiveness, further rupee weakness would help exporters.

The rupee, which recently hit a 6-year low amid Pakistan’s political unrest, traded at 62.50 to the US dollar on Tuesday, after being in a range around 60 for several years.

“So this impression that it’s going down is not a proper impression because the rupee in my opinion is quite stable,” Monnoo told Reuters in an interview.

In any case, Monnoo said the recent rupee weakness was not showing any signs of deterring investment, as investment decisions were taken over the long term.

“If the economy goes down then investment will stop, but in spite of all the terrible incidents the economy is still holding on,” he said.

He forecast investment in the current year would hold at around the level in the 2006-07, which he put at more than $6bn.

Monnoo said the economy was showing resilience despite the unrest since President Pervez Musharraf imposed a state of emergency on Nov 3 last year, and which spilled into a wave of violence after opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was killed on December 27.

One indicator of this was the recovery in the Karachi Stock Exchange 100-share index to levels around 14,000 currently from 13,300 in early January. It had dropped in the wake of Bhutto’s assassination from near record highs of around 14,800 in December, he said.

Monnoo said that exports would be around $18 billion in the current fiscal year based on the six months to December, after $17 billion in 2006-07.

But exports would have been much higher if textiles, which accounted for 63 per cent of Pakistan’s exports in 2006/07, were performing at their full potential, he said.

Textiles are Pakistan’s biggest export product, investment draw and employer, Monnoo said, suggesting Pakistan needed to learn from its regional neighbours, India and Bangladesh.

For instance the Indian government was providing incentives to the textile sector allowing it to withstand recent strength in the Indian rupee, he said.

He noted that India had switched to more productive varieties of cotton, giving it a large surplus over domestic needs, some of which Pakistan is now buying.

At the same time Pakistan’s textile industry needs to diversify into more value-added areas such as making garments and bed linen rather than simply producing cloth, he said.

Monnoo said power was running at about 80 per cent of normal and full supplies should be restored by the end of January.

Minister terms rupee healthy for economy -DAWN - Business; January 16, 2008

 

[Neo]

IT events in US​

ISLAMABAD, Jan 15: Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) is organising networking events in Houston, Austin, Las Vegas, Palo Alto and Chicago, which are the hub of IT activities in USA.

Networking sessions and meetings have been arranged with the leading Blue Chip brand companies, Chambers of Commerce and Government entities in collaboration with Texas Trade Council (TTC), Organisation of Pakistani Entrepreneurs in North American (OPEN), Pakistan’s Embassy in USA and various other local partners, a spokesman of PSEB said on Tuesday.

The main purpose of these meetings and networking sessions in USA was to promote the incentives and opportunities offered by Pakistan IT sector, rectify the misconceptions generated by media about Pakistan, foster business collaboration with American IT companies, the spokesman explained.

Earlier, PSEB arranged various country-focussed networking events in London, Manchester and Glasgow in UK, and Dublin in Ireland.

With an IT Industry worth more than $2.8 billion, including annual IT exports exceeding $1.4 billion, Pakistan was eyeing to increase the size of its IT sector to over $11 billion by 2011.

IT events in US -DAWN - Business; January 16, 2008

 

[Neo]

Declining exports: TDAP working to reverse the drift​

KARACHI: The Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) is working on ‘Export Turnaround Strategy’ to reverse the declining trend in country’s exports, Daily Times learnt on Tuesday.

According to well-placed sources in TDAP, the dismal performance of exports during the current fiscal year has been a cause of great concern for the economic managers, who earlier projected substantial growth in the export by raising its target as compared to last year.

However, the export performance so far during the current financial year is not up to the mark, which evoked the realisation to take immediate short-term measures for the export growth.

Sources said under this strategy, which is currently in the planning phase and is likely to be implemented soon, various measures are being chalked out to bring visible improvement in the country’s export sector.

Under this plan, various markets are being identified which has the major export potential for the Pakistani products but the performance of the export did not match the actual potential.

Also, the big USA and European markets would also be reviewed in order to find out what is blocking the penetration of our exports in these two major markets, sources said, adding that non-traditional markets would also be targeted under this strategy to explore new markets for the local products.

Besides, trade delegations would also be sent for the export marketing in various parts of the world and maximum participation of private sector would be ensured in these delegations.

It is pertinent to mention that country’s exports during the first half of the current financial year posted just 3.67 percent growth to $8.715 billion over $8.407 billion in the corresponding period of last year. Whereas to meet the export target of $19.2 billion of current fiscal, exports need to register average 18 percent growth each month, which appears to be missed as export growth remained between three to five percent so far during the current year.

The export performance in December was even worst, as there was huge decline of 12 percent over the same month of previous year, which has been attributed to large-scale violence and chaos across the country following the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Exporters commenting on TDAP’s initiative termed it a ‘foolish step’ as the authority is just bent upon giving new policies but practically doing nothing for the country’s export sector.

“This can be beneficial for the officials who would be filling the pockets on account of TDAP while visiting abroad but it will be useless for the export sector in the present scenario,” a dejected textile industrialist lamented.

Exporters said instead of coming with such sort of impractical ideas, TDAP should do something substantive for the industry as export sector is currently facing crises like high prices of gas and other utilities, load shedding and above all the law and order situation, which disrupted the industry adversely.

“What will you gain by marketing the products abroad when the country has no export surplus in the present conditions,” Mushtaq Vohra, a leading textile exporter and former office bearer of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) commented.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[Neo]

Government borrowings cross Rs 1 trillion mark ​

KARACHI (January 16 2008): The government's borrowing for budgetary support has crossed one trillion rupees for the first time in the history of Pakistan, swelling to 248 percent during the first half of the current fiscal year, as against the same period of last fiscal, mainly due to below the target revenue collection and high subsidies on petroleum products.

Rising government expenditure, subsidies on commodities and no new privatisation are the main reasons.

The State Bank of Pakistan's statistics revealed that from July to January 6, 2008, net government borrowing for the budgetary support had gone up by Rs 180.445 billion due to the huge borrowing from the schedule banks as well as the central bank.

After the current upsurge, net government sector borrowing from banking system touched Rs 243.942 billion-mark from July to January 6, as against Rs 63.497 billion during the corresponding period of last fiscal 2007. "Rising government expenditure, subsidies on commodities and no new privatisation are the chief main reasons behind this huge budgetary borrowing," said an economist. He said despite tremendous increase in the oil prices, the government had not raised the prices of petroleum products and was compelled to pay huge subsidy on petroleum products to maintain the prices on the previous level.

Besides, the government is importing wheat on high price to meet the local demand and is distributing the commodity to the flourmills on subsidies rates to keep the essential atta price stable in the domestic market.

The SBP statistics shows that the government budgetary borrowing stock on June 30, 2007 stood at Rs 810.053 and after the first half of the current fiscal year raised to Rs 243.942 billion, the overall government budgetary borrowing stocks reaching a new peak of some Rs 1,054 billion. It is expected that at the end of current fiscal, the net budgetary would decline from one trillion rupees.

Major upsurge has been witnessed in the borrowing from State Bank of Pakistan, which reached Rs 222.129 billion during the first half as against Rs112.222 billion during same period of the last fiscal, registering a decreased of around Rs 110 billion. The government sector budgetary borrowing from banks stood at Rs 21.814 billion from July to January 6, while during the corresponding period of last fiscal it stood in negative position.

"The central bank has already asked the government to minimise its borrowing from the SBP, otherwise central bank would used its powers to control the borrowing," said Dr Shahid Hasan Siddiqui, an economist.

He confirmed that, at present, the government budgetary borrowing had reached new peak level, and said that increasing borrowing would eliminate the fruitful results of the SBP's tight monetary policy.

The rising budgetary borrowing would further increase the inflationary pressure on the economy, which was already showing an upward trend for the last few month, he added.

"Below the target revenue collection and no new privatisation deal, besides the no new foreign debt has the local banking system for the budgetary support," an economist said.

He said that since the government was trying to seek the long-term borrowing, therefore, the issuance of fourth Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) has recently been invited by the central bank.

He said if the government received any big payment from foreign or finalised a privatisation deal, then local banking borrowing would decline in the future.

Similarly, as per the latest statistics Broad Money (M2) has registered a growth of 7.17 percent to Rs 291.567 billion from July to January 6 of the 2008 fiscal year as compared to 6.89 percent to Rs 234.799 billion during the same period of the last fiscal, showing an increase of 0.28 percent during first half.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

[Neo]

Oil consumption records 8.3 percent growth ​

KARACHI (January 16 2008): The oil consumption in Pakistan has recorded a growth of 8.3 percent in the first half of FY08 as total volume settled at 9.07 million tons during this period against 8.38 million tons registered in the same period in FY07.

The black oil (FO & LDO) has recorded growth of 4.9 percent on year-on-year basis with total volume of 3.74 million tons in the first half of FY08 against 3.56 million tons in the same period in FY07, due to decline in LDO consumption growth. The other oil category, White Oil (Mogas, HSD, HOBC, Kero and JP) has also witnessed increased volume growth of 10.8 percent with 5.32 million tons of volume against 4.80 million tons in the first half of FY07.

Mogas led the growth path in 1HFY08 of the overall POL consumption growth. In volumetric terms, Black Oil still contributed 26 percent to the total volume increase during 1HFY08 whereas Mogas's proportion to the total volume increase remained 24 percent. Mogas demand has soared on the back of minimised Iranian smuggled oil products in the last 4 months of 1HFY08, greater hassle with increased waiting time for CNG filling, increasing number of vehicles in the country and increased variations observed in alternates fuel prices like LPG, Khurram Schehzad at Invest Capital & Securities said.

In addition, Kero's utilisation remained positive due to continuing gas shortages in the remote areas of the country and its near to 100 percent usage in JP-8's production. JP-1's growth remained negative during the period settling with a negative growth of 13.3 percent during 1HFY08 amidst its exports, shortage of the product, erratic supply to the major airports of the country and fluctuation in flight schedules.

HSD's consumption picked up during 1HFY08 because of increased transportation activities countrywide during the period. However, HOBC revealed a growth of 11.6 percent due to increased utilisation of the premier petrol in the high-end vehicles during the period. On the other hand, LDO has shown negative growth of 10.9 percent on YoY basis due to its lower utilisation short supply to agricultural activities observed in 1HFY08.

The three listed oil marketing companies (OMCs) have captured about 88 percent of the total market share. On quarterly basis, Shell has been the only company, which has improved its market share by 80bps in 2QFY08 (against 1QFY08 of 13.0 percent) capturing market share of 13.8 percent in 1HFY08.

PSO's share was eroded by 210bps settling at 68.6 percent while that of APL remained the same at 5.2 percent on quarterly basis. However, on YoY basis, PSO's market share has actually improved by 560bps during 1HFY08 against 63.0 percent last year.

Shell and APL faced an attrition of 70bps and 100bps standing with 14.5 percent and 6.2 percent market share, respectively in 1HFY07. Increase in Shell's market share came on the back of slightly better volumetric growth in 1HFY08 compared to that of peers. On the other hand, volume growth for both PSO and APL has further slipped to 11 percent and -23 percent in 1HFY08 from 15 percent and -22 percent in 5MFY08.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

[Neo]

World Bank concerned at persistent poverty in Pakistan ​

ISLAMABAD (January 16 2008): The World Bank has expressed serious concern over the persistent poverty in Pakistan, backing the view of caretaker cabinet which believes that it is increasing due to rapid growth in population.

"Inadequate basic services, financial and other resources, disempowered communities particularly exclusion of women from the public sphere, development process, low social capital, ethnic and religious strife and a spate of natural calamities in recent years have contributed towards poverty in Pakistan," WB said in a latest report.

However, Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan, Special Secretary Finance, in a briefing to the federal cabinet on December 12, 2007 had argued that different methodologies were adopted to estimate poverty line and due to this reason poverty estimates made by agencies differed and this state of affairs created enormous doubts in the minds of general public. Methodology followed to estimate poverty in Pakistan includes calorie intake approach, 2350 calories per adult equivalence, consumption- based includes food, non-food items and nutrition- based adult equivalence scale with 0.8 weight for person less than 18 years of age and 1.0 for all other individuals, he added.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

[Neo]

Trade deficit may cross $17 billion by year-end: Piaf ​

LAHORE (January 16 2008): The law and order situation, shortage of gas and electricity may increase trade deficit which has already reached to a record level of $8.24 billion during first half of the current financial year, ie from July-December 2007.

If the situation is not improved and present state of affairs continue, the trade deficit may cross the level of $17 billion by the end of this financial year and Pakistan would become just a consumer country, Pakistan Industrial and Traders Association Front (PIAF) chairman Mian Abuzar Shad said.

It appears the government experts rather than providing industry-friendly environment have left the indigenous industry at the mercy of circumstances, he added.

The rulers only made tall claims of economic progress and did not take any step for providing cheaper energy to the industry. The industrial units remain closed for hours and thus can not meet export orders whereas the number of foreign buyers is also shrinking day-by-day, he maintained.

The setting up of industrial estate is a good step but the government should have also ensured smooth supply of electricity and gas failing which the estates would not yield desired results, he said. He urged the government to resolve gas and electricity issue and ensure maintenance of law and order in the country.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

[Neo]

SPI inflation at 18.63pc for low-income group ​

Tomatoes prices up 99pc, wheat 62pc, wheat flour 58pc, rice 60pc, ghee loose 50pc, red chillies 38pc, bread 21pc on YoY basis

Thursday, January 17, 2008

ISLAMABAD: SPI based inflation has hit hardest the low income families, as it stood at unprecedented 18.63 per cent for low income group, indicating inflation is now in the “not fun” category, namely food and stuff you have to buy just to stay alive.

Weekly combine Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) year-on-year of 53 daily use items for the week ending on January 10, 2008 has shown 14.54 percent increase as compared to the corresponding week of last fiscal, revealed the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) data.

Interestingly, in a span of one week, the SPI inflation was up by 2.16 percentage points as last week that ended on Jan 3, 2008, SPI was at 12.38 per cent. In such circumstances, the cost of living is difficult to afford for low, middle and fixed income groups that are finding it hard to make both ends meet. The miseries of millions of people living below the poverty line cannot be fathomed at times when middle-income groups are in want of food security.

High inflation is mercilessly pushing masses below the poverty line, eating up their purchasing power and leaving them with little money to buy essential food items and fulfil their basic necessities. Affecting the social and economic aspect of common man’s life inflation is becoming a source of irritation for the whole nation.

Question arises how would the government reign in the runaway food inflation, how would it plan to bring the masses out of poverty? Would it not bring down the government’s popularity graph?

The significant feature of the weekly bulletin of FBS was that year-on-year the rise in the prices of some necessities and kitchen items was exorbitant. These items were tomatoes, wheat, wheat flour, vegetable ghee loose, cooking oil, fresh milk, rice, powder milk, firewood, and all kind of pulses.

The SPI bulletin, based on data collected for about 53 items from 17 centres, showed that prices of 25 items increased and five declined, while prices of 23 items remained unchanged. However, further analysis of the data revealed that on year-on-year basis 16 items are dearer by double digits.

These include; tomatoes 99 per cent, wheat 62 per cent, mustard oil 60 per cent, basmati rice 60 per cent, wheat flour 58 per cent, rice irri-6 50 per cent, vegetable ghee loose 50 per cent, L.P.G (11kg cylinder) 40 per cent, red chillies 38 per cent, masoor pulse 35 per cent, vegetable ghee (tin) 33 per cent, cooking oil (tin) 32 per cent, plain bread 21 per cent, firewood 17 per cent, curd 11 per cent and tea (prepared) 11 per cent.

In a short span of one week, among these items the prices of tomatoes grade one increased by 18.79 per cent, wheat flour 7.68 per cent, wheat 5.8 per cent, firewood 4.26 percent, vegetable ghee (loose) 4.07 per cent, mustard oil 3.69 per cent, masoor pulse 2.64 per cent, kerosene 2.63 per cent and L.P.G by 1.49 per cent over previous week.

The figures further showed that though prices of 23 items posted no change during the week, yet compared to the corresponding week of last year, several items are now costly. For example matchbox prices are up by 28 per cent, milk powder 21 per cent, bath soap 21 per cent, washing soap 17 per cent and fresh milk by 12 per cent over the same week prices of the last fiscal. It further adds that the prices of chicken (farm) and egg (farm) also up by 20 per cent and 23 per cent respectively.

SPI inflation at 18.63pc for low-income group

 

[Neo]

TDAP proposes outsourcing of fish harbour ​

Thursday, January 17, 2008

KARACHI: Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) in a meeting with Pakistan Sea Food Industries Association has developed a program to improve fisheries in Pakistan and its exports Wednesday.

Chief Executive TDAP Tariq Ikram presented the outlined program that proposes outsourcing the management of Karachi Fish Harbour to, “some international agency of world class,” a TDAP press release said.

According to a press release of TDAP the program entails that the Certification of Boats will be made by the Fisheries Department -but the technical experts of Karachi Shipyard will do the inspection and repair of boats. The inspection and certification would be done after every six months.

As per plan processing and peeling units are to be ISO certified, their workers should be imparted proper training, and all seafood boxes should be laminated. Ice flake are to be provided to boats via balloting.

The plan also envisages that National Bank of Pakistan should be requested to fund on 50/50 basis the installation of the upgrading equipment. The association reviewed the calendar events for the year 2008 to explore new markets to expand sea exports. It was proposed to send 3-4 research delegations of fish association to visit the seafood importing countries to identity and explore the possibilities for the further enhancing exports to those counties. The association informed that tuna and mackerel canning plant is already working in the country.

TDAP proposes outsourcing of fish harbour