Pakistan Economy - News & Updates - Archive

[Neo]

IPI gas pipeline project: India not to attend meeting ​

KARACHI (February 06 2008): India has decided not to attend the upcoming meeting of IPI gas pipeline project being held in Tehran this month, a private TV channel reported on late Tuesday night. According to the TV channel, India wants to resolve tariff and other issues before attending the meeting.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

[Neo]

2500kms gas transmission network expanded in NWFP: minister ​

ISLAMABAD (February 05 2008): Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Ahsanullah Khan has said that 2,500 KM gas transmission Network expanded in NWFP during the last seven years providing 1,45,000 new connections to the people.

He said this while talking to a delegation of notables from Distric Swabi, which called on him here on Monday to discuss provision of Sui gas to the people of the area. Secretary Petroleum Farrakh Qayyum, D G (Gas) Saeedullah Shah and G M (SNGPL) Peshawar Iqbal Hussain were also present during the meeting.

The Minister said that under the special directive of the President, the government was taking concrete steps for the provision of sui gas facility to the people of remote and less developed areas on priority basis to upgrade the living standard of the people at a fast pace.

He said that SNGPL was carrying out Sui gas projects of Rs 10 billion in Swabi, Mardan, Charsadda, Nowshera, Swat, Kohat and Peshawar. The Minister said that an amount of Rs 2 billion was being sent on gas supply to Hangu, Bannu, Karak, Tank and Lakki Marwat adding that the provision of gas to the people of D I Khan would also be started soon.

Ahsanullah Khan said that SNGPL and SSGC have provided 1.734 million new gas connections to the people across the country which was accelerating the pace of socio-economic progress and prosperity.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

[Neo]

NDS signs pact with Hewlett-Packard ​

KARACHI (February 05 2008): With a view to provide access to products and solutions by IT users and companies, the NDS Technologies Pvt Ltd has signed an agreement with Hewlett-Packard. This was announced at a press briefing on Monday at a local hotel.

Which was addressed by Pervez Hanif, CEO NDS Technologies Pvt Ltd and Prasenjit Sarkar, General Manager, Vietnam/Asia Emerging Countries, Personal Systems Unit, HP Asia Pacific and Japan.

Being the platinum distributor of Novell, NDS Technologies is the pioneer of network computing in Pakistan and the sole distributor of Novell Inc USA. Widely known for designing the most innovative networking solutions in every major vertical market segment of the country, presently NDS Technologies is playing a key role in helping people and companies address their problems and challenges via effective integration of highly advanced computer technologies and services.

With a revenue of $104 billion for the fiscal year ending October 31, 2007, Hewlett Packard, which currently enjoys 14th place in the fortune 500 ranking, is amongst the world's largest IT companies with its chain of operations set up in more than 170 countries around the globe.

Backed by an impressive technology product portfolio, HP provides infrastructure and business offerings that span from handheld devices to some of the world's most powerful supercomputer installations.

Following Hewlett Packard's alliance with NDS Technologies, HP products will now have the option of Novell's Suse - Linux 0/S for their desktops and servers. Sharing his insights on the alliance, Pervez Hanif, CEO NDS Technologies mentioned that NDS Technologies Pvt Ltd are the sole distributors of Novell Inc USA in Pakistan.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

[Neo]

Czech investors keen on joint ventures ​

Thursday, February 07, 2008

LAHORE: A number of potential investors from the Czech Republic are planning to visit Pakistan to gain first-hand information about available business prospects here and to initiate joint ventures with their Pakistani counterparts.

These views were expressed by a two-member delegation comprising Michal Jirkovsky and Marie Kahounova while talking to LCCI Sr. Vice-president Mian Muzaffar Ali at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday.

Jirkovsky said that existing volume of trade between Pakistan and the Czech Republic needs special attention along with frequent trade delegations. He said that lack of information is an impediment in bilateral trade.

Speaking on the occasion Mian Muzaffar said that the current level of trade between Pakistan and the Czech Republic needs concrete steps to be taken by both and foremost among them is the exchange of information.

He said to narrow down this information gap, it is vital that Chambers of Commerce of both countries exchange information and send frequent trade delegations on a reciprocal basis while arranging single country exhibitions.

Mian Muzaffar said that Pakistan’s major exports to the Czech Republic include leather and textile products, but these exports constitutes only a fraction of Czechoslovakia’s total imports of these commodities.

For instance, the Czech Republic’s total imports of leather products from around the world in 2005 amounted to $176.1 million; Pakistan’s share in these imports was only $3 million i.e. 1.7 per cent.

Similarly textile imports from Pakistan amounted to a mere 2.1 per cent of total Czech textile imports from around the world. He said Pakistan can supply products like surgical instruments, sports goods, fresh fruits and vegetables, carpets, handicrafts, rice, fish and its preparations, besides textiles and leather products.

Czech investors keen on joint ventures

 

[Neo]

Tamil Nadu to import Pakistani cement​

KARACHI, Feb 6: Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M. Karunanidhi announced that he had given a go-ahead signal to import of cement from Pakistan, an Indian media source, “Money Control”, said in a report released on Wednesday.

Tamil Nadu, one of the 28 states of India that lies on the eastern coast of the southern Indian Peninsula, is starved of the commodity that it needs for fast growing infrastructure building requirements. And the step taken by the chief minister appeared to be in frustration over the Indian cement companies’ disregard to urgings to increase supplies and bring down prices.

The “Money Control” wrote: “Karunanidhi seems to be winning round two of the battle between the State government and cement companies. The Tamil Nadu chief minister first gave a nationalisation ultimatum to bring down prices and that didn’t work. So now he is importing from Pakistan”.

“Money Control” stated that the Tamil Nadu Cement Corporation or TANCEM would import at comparatively cheaper prices. Mr Chitty Babu of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India stated that builders would be happy to get a “huge relief of Rs25 per 50-kg bag”.

Analysts at stock brokerage firms in Karachi commented that given the gap between the currency value of the Indian and Pakistani rupee, the exporters would fetch Rs240 per bag. That would doubly benefit the local cement companies.

The export price to India carries significant premium over what the cement fetches in local markets and unlike local sales, exports were exempt from general sales tax (GST) and Central Excise Duty (CED).

The previous week, almost all stock brokerage firms had come up with the latest data for January 2008, which showed cement exports to have touched new peak at 618,000 tons in January. That beat the previous highest export at 575,000 tons achieved in August 2007.

The January figures of sales outside the country were 152 per cent higher on year-on-year basis and 60 per cent up when compared to December 2007. On the other hand, local dispatches stood at 1.6 million tons in the month under review, down by 13 per cent compared to the same month last year.

Analyst Bilal Hameed at JS Global stated in a report on the sector that aggregate (local plus exports) dispatches stood at 2.2 million tons in January 2008, representing an increase of six per cent YoY. That represented growth of six per cent in local dispatches and 148 per cent in exports during the first seven months of FY08.

Tamil Nadu to import Pakistani cement -DAWN - Business; February 07, 2008

 

[Neo]

New govt to inherit sound economy, says Salman​

KARACHI, Feb 6: A jam-packed audience burst into laughter on Wednesday when the caretaker Finance Minister Dr Salman Shah announced that the new setup after the polls “will inherit a very sound economy, which no other new government in the past ever inherited.”

Speaking at the launching of Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) regulations 2008, the minister deviated from the subject to say that now the country is moving towards general elections and a new government will come into existence which, according to him, will inherit a very sound economy.

As he spoke these words, many were unable to resist their smiles.

Those in the back rows were relatively more at ease to exhibit their amusement and there were remarks about people experiencing power outages, low gas pressures, wheat flour crisis and of increasing commodity prices.

Dr Shah’s argument in favour of his assertion of a sound economy was the existence of a large diversified economy with gross output of 160 billion dollars.

“Eight years ago, the size of economy was just 60 billion dollars,’’ he asserted to point out that the growth achieved in last eight years has outperformed the total growth in last 60 years.

In real terms, he said the economy grew at an average rate of seven per cent a year in the last five years.

In terms of current US dollar, the economy has been growing at double digit a year. As a result, per capita income has increased from around 450 dollars to around 1,000 dollars in the last eight years.

The minister also claimed improvement in jobs creation with unemployment rate coming down from 8.3 per cent to 5.5 per cent. Two million jobs were created in the last eight years.

Booming investment was another example given by Dr Salman as he said investment touched eight billion dollars last fiscal from merely a few hundred million dollars a year a decade ago.

Remittances crossed six billion dollars, revenue collection crossed 15 billion dollars, reserves rose to 15 billion dollars and expansion of public sector development programme beyond Rs500 billion were some other instances quoted by the minister, who said the biggest challenge for the new government would be to sustain and carry forward the growth tempo of the last eight years.

Later answering questions from journalists, Dr Salman expressed the hope that the government would maintain a growth tempo in the remaining period of the current fiscal year to achieve the growth target.

He said that the government would be able to retire a big amount of money borrowed from the central and commercial bankers in the coming months.

He explained that government’s borrowing in the first half of any fiscal year is always too high which is retired in the second half of the fiscal year when exports pick up.

Revenue collection is improved and all other indicators show positive trends.

The minister said that Pakistan’s exports are more competitive than those of China and India because of appreciation in value of Indian and Chinese currencies.

The budgetary position, he said would improve when the government would start passing on the impact of rising international oil prices to consumers in the coming days.

New govt to inherit sound economy, says Salman -DAWN - Business; February 07, 2008

 

[Neo]

‘Economy is weakening amid strife sweeping Pakistan’​

NEW YORK, Feb 6: Pakistan’s economy is weakening amid the strife sweeping the country, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

“Anaemic textile exports, rising food prices and energy shortages have undercut growth, causing the government to miss a range of economic targets, the newspaper said in a dispatch from Karachi. Last month the government said growth would fall below its original target of 7.2 per cent for the fiscal year ending June 30.”

After spasms of violence that followed the assassination of PPP leader Benazir Bhutto, and the approach of national elections on Feb 18 that held the potential for more unrest, the Journal, citing analysts, said that the economy could slacken further. Rioters caused an estimated $1.3 billion in losses, according to Karachi Chamber of Commerce. Power transmission, telecommunications and roads were affected.

President Pervez Musharraf, according to the paper, has been counting on a robust economy to ride out the country’s political shocks. For five years, Pakistan has grown on average 7 per cent annually, with the US providing nearly $11 billion in assistance since the Sept 11, 2001, attacks.

The WSJ quoted Finance Minister Salman Shah as saying that economic fundamentals remained strong and growth should still exceed 6 per cent, which would outstrip many of Pakistan’s peers in Asia. Last year, the Karachi Stock Exchange’s benchmark index advanced more than 40 per cent.

But the report cited Musharraf’s opponents as saying that the economy now held huge political hazards because inflation and slower job growth had increased public discontent, especially among the poor. “He’s giving the next government a highly unstable economic scenario,” Sherry Rehman, a spokeswoman for the PPP, was quoted as saying.

Rising prices for food staples have spurred inflation, with the benchmark inflation rate staying above 8 per cent for the second straight month in December and breeching a government target of 7.5 per cent, the Journal said. Inflation has sapped exports, which declined 12 per cent in December from a year earlier.

The WSJ pointed out that the State Bank said in a recent report that Pakistan risked missing its target of containing its fiscal deficit to 4 per cent of gross domestic product partly because the militancy had spurred heavy defence spending.

‘Economy is weakening amid strife sweeping Pakistan’ -DAWN - Top Stories; February 07, 2008

 

[Neo]

PTA to start 3-G mobile phone licensing this year ​

ISLAMABAD (February 07 2008): The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) will start 3-G mobile phone licensing process this year, hoping that these modern services would be available in the country by 2009. For this purpose, auction of the spectrum would be carried out this year and licences would be awarded through competitive bidding.

The 3rd-generation mobile services will enable consumers to use Internet with high speed, make video calls and other value-added data services. Pakistan has now 77 million mobile phone subscribers, 2.1 million Wireless Local Loop (WLL) and 4.7 million fixed line consumers.

Enumerating the developments in the telecom sector the unprecedented growth in this area has impacted the overall economy of the country in many direct and indirect ways.

Leading international telecom operators and investors have acquired stakes in Pakistan telecom sector, showing utmost confidence in the telecom policies and regulatory environments of the country. Regarding licensing in AJK, five mobile companies were awarded licences for AJK and Northern Areas (NAs) and they had started their services in these areas.

The Authority deposited Rs 1.2 billion with the AJK Council and NAs Secretariat on account of Initial Licence Fee (ILF) collected from mobile phone operators. PTA had also launched the second phase of deregulation of fixed line services in the area in September 2007 that received overwhelming response with total 81 applications for various licences, including Long Distance International (LDI), FLL, WLL and others.

The recent launch, of Wimax services, has positioned Pakistan as the leader in the region to initiate wireless broadband services, and the subscribers to this service would be able to make video calls and telephony through special handsets.

At present, two operators--Wateen Telecom and Mytel--are offering WiMax services in most parts of the country, whereas other operators, including Burraq, PTCL, Z-WLL and Cyber Internet, are busy in the deployment of WiMax networks. During 2007, PTA surveyed services of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and mobile phone operators through latest automated equipment.

The recent results show that the services of these companies have considerably improved when compared with the previous survey results. Companies which are not meeting the standards in specific areas have been directed to bring their service quality up to the desired level.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

[Neo]

Large projects to increase external debt: MoF​

ISLAMABAD: Ministry of Finance has warned that large infrastructure projects envisaged in the next decade (including big dams) would increase the external debt burden if sufficient revenues are not generated from within the country.

The first quarter of FY08 saw an increase of External Debt Liabilities (EDLs) by 3.7 percent to $41.67 billion.

Debt Policy Statement 2007-08 issued by the Ministry of Finance has highlighted that although public debt is now on a solid downward footing, sustaining the momentum will be a continuing challenge.

The coming years will see an increase in borrowing particularly in the foreign currency component to finance the infrastructural development programs. Pakistan need substantial amount of resources for major overhaul of existing human and physical infrastructure.

This report has been produced by the Debt Policy Coordination Office (DPCO) to fulfill the requirement laid out under Section 7 of the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation (FRDL) Act 2005.

External debt and liabilities (EDL) at the end of FY07 were $40.17 billion. This shows an increase of $2.93 billion which represents a 7.8 percent increase over the stock at the end of FY06. Majority of the EDLs are in the form of medium and long term borrowing from multilateral and bilateral lenders which accounts for more than 80 percent of outstanding debt. The share of short-term debt is extremely low at 0.1 percent. Pakistan has taken advantage of an earlier Paris Club rescheduling to re-profile its debt at more favourable terms.

The growth of EDLs that had slowed earlier in the decade has started to pick-up pace again partly on account of borrowing for earthquake-related spending. EDLs grew by 4 percent in FY06 while they grew by 7.8 percent in FY07. But because of faster growth in GDP the EDLs as a percentage of GDP have been on a decline. EDLs as percentage of GDP have declined from 29.4 percent in FY06 to 28.0 percent in FY07. During the first quarter of FY08, the EDLs have further declined to 25.7 percent of the projected GDP for the year.

The largest increase in stock was for debt to multilateral donors with a change in stock of $2.16 billion. The foreign exchange liabilities showed a decline of $110 million (7.1 percent), but this was more than compensated for by fresh borrowing from multilateral lenders and Foreign Currency Bonds (including Euro bonds). Interest payments on EDLs were $1.11 billion and the amortization payments stood at $1.87 billion.

The first quarter of FY08 saw an increase of EDLs by 3.7 percent to $41.67 billion. Public and publicly guaranteed debt increased by $1.5 billion (4.2 percent) mainly on account of borrowing from multilateral lenders while the external liabilities continued on their downward trend, declining by $ 0.13 billion (8.8 percent).

The external debt and liabilities (EDL) declined from 51.0 percent of GDP in FY02 to 25.7 percent of the projected GDP for FY08 by end-September 2007. The EDLs were 297.2 percent of foreign exchange earnings at the end of FY00 but declined to 122.5 percent by end FY07. The EDLs were over 19 times of foreign exchange reserves in FY00 but declined to 2.5 times by end 2007. Interest payments on external debt were 11.9 percent of current account receipts but declined to 3.1 percent during the same period. The maturity profile improved significantly as is evident from the fact that short-term debt was 3.2 percent of EDL at the end of FY00 but has declined to 0.07 percent of EDL by FY07.

Total external debt servicing on external debt and liabilities was $2.98 billion of which $1.87 billion was for principal payments while $1.11 billion was against interest payments.

During the first four years (2000-04), the appreciation of Rupee along-with low domestic inflation contributed to lowering of interest rates but in the next four years (2004-08), the depreciation of rupee along-with higher inflation contributed to negative incidence of real cost of borrowing.

At the end of FY07 total domestic debt stood at Rs 2610.2 billion which is 29 percent of GDP. The net increase in domestic debt was Rs 298.6 billion from end of FY06 where domestic debt was Rs 2311.6 billion. This represents a growth rate of 12.9 percent, which is higher than the average growth rate since FY00 of 6.6 percent but still lower than the pace of growth in domestic debt observed in the 1980's and the 1990's, which were 20 percent and 16 percent, respectively.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[Neo]

ECNEC okays Rs 317bn uplift projects​

ISLAMABAD: Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Wednesday approved 32 developmental projects in its meeting with a total cost of Rs 317.277 billion with a foreign exchange component (FEC) of Rs 139.52 billion.

Caretaker Prime Minister Mohammadmian Somoroo presided the ECNEC meeting and the projects approved were related to energy, physical planning and housing, transport and communications, water resources, health education, , higher education, industries, commerce, agriculture, social welfare, and health.

Out of total 32 projects, 23 new developmental projects were approved by the ECNEC with a cost of Rs 309.1 billion having FEC of Rs 135.9 billion. The meeting also approved revised estimates for 9 on-going projects from Rs 6.2 billion to Rs 8.2 billion showing a net addition of Rs 2 billion.

The infrastructure sector had 15 projects worth Rs 132.2 billion with FEC Rs 69.9 billion were approved in the meeting. 15 projects were approved for social sector having value of Rs 183.3 billion with FEC of Rs 68.6 billion, while two other projects were approved worth Rs 1.7 billion with Rs 0.8 billion as FEC.

To cope with current energy crisis, the ECNEC approved four energy projects worth Rs 45.771 billion having FEC of Rs 26.817 billion. These energy projects were related to Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission and water and power division projects.

The meeting approved two projects for physical planning and housing sector with cost of Rs 21.351 billion having Rs 15.318 billion as FEC. The ECNEC approved eight projects for transport and communication sector worth Rs 58.528 billion having Rs 21.969 billion FEC. For water sector one project was approved worth Rs 6.572 billion having FEC Rs 5.783 billion.

For health sector five projects were approved worth Rs 3.898 billion with FEC of Rs 843.540 million. Six developmental projects of Higher Education Commission were approved in the ECNEC meeting worth Rs 171.355 billion with FEC Rs 63.792 billion. The Information Technology sector had 2 projects worth Rs 3.435 billion with FEC of Rs 500 million. The Science and Technology sector had 2 projects worth Rs 4.646 billion with FEC Rs 3.997 billion.

The ECNEC also approved a project for devolution and area development worth Rs 698.128 million with FEC Rs 829.130 million. The only project for industry and commerce sector was approved in the meeting worth Rs 822.065 million. Secretary Planning Ghayasuddin briefed journalists after the ECNEC meeting.

He said one project “widening/improvement of Pattoki to Kanganpur road length 54.80 kms in district Kasur costing Rs 0.6 billion would be finance by the government of Punjab and federal government on 50:50 basis cost sharing. One project namely “construction of road from Nagor Sharif of Sunstar - 54 km” costing Rs 0.6 billion would be fully financed by the government of Punjab. The project “New Balakot City Development” costing Rs 12 billion would be financed from ERRA allocation of Rs 35 billion made during 2007-08.

Spokesperson of Planning Commission Asif Sheikh told journalists that there was no cut in PSDP but slow moving projects would be financed slowly. However, he said that all ongoing power related projects would be fully financed.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[Introvert]

American IT Center and Phonecast to Establish Call Center in Karachi Pakistan
Thursday, 07 February 2008
Karachi: American IT Center of Los Angeles, California and Phonecast of Karachi, Pakistan recently signed an agreement for the establishment of a Call Center/IT Center in Karachi. The Center will render multifarious services, including inbound/outbound calling, BPO, and software development.

The agreement was signed in Karachi by Mr Arif Mansuri, President of American IT Center who is also the President and Managing Editor of Pakistan Link, and Mr Abdullah Butt, Chief Executive of Phonecast, a leading IT company in Pakistan which has a very strong client base in the media sector and provides call center services for many TV networks, including PTV and ATV. Mr Butt is also the President of the Association of Call Centers and Outsourcing (ACCO) of Pakistan.

Mr Mansuri is a leading industrialist/entrepreneur and a prominent member of the Pakistani-American community.

The agreement was signed during Mr Mansuri’s recent visit to Pakistan to launch several developmental ventures. He met a number of high-ranking officials and entrepreneurs to firm up plans for various IT and engineering related projects.

Besides promoting foreign investment in Pakistan, the Call Center will facilitate rapport between Pakistanis residing in North America (United States and Canada) and concerned government agencies and departments with whom the expatriates are required to interact to resolve problems that crop up from time to time. The expatriate Pakistanis will also enjoy access to information relevant to their needs through the Center.

The nature of problems faced by individual Pakistanis and their resolution through the Call Center will be published in Pakistan Link.

Among the many services planned to be offered by the Center would be the much needed service of the online teaching of the Holy Qur’an for the benefit of the expatriate community.

American IT Center and Phonecast to Establish Call Center in Karachi Pakistan - Unique Pakistan

 

[solid snake]

Development fund may be doubled to $16bn

By Ihtashamul Haque​

ISLAMABAD, Feb 7: The government has finalised a plan to double its annual development expenditure from $8 billion to $16 billion with the help of private sector to improve the crumbling infrastructure.

“We will launch this plan this year as part of a public-private partnership programme and it will be formally incorporated into the budget for 2008-09 from the next financial year,” Minister for Finance Dr Salman Shah told Dawn here on Thursday.

He said the current development programme of about $8 billion would be doubled with the help of local and foreign investors.

The previous government had initiated the programme with the objective of increasing the development budget by 10 per cent of the GDP through private sector support as it was being done in many other countries, including Japan and South Korea.

Replying to a question, he said that initially local and foreign private funding would be arranged for improving the infrastructure, especially railways, roads, public transport, hospitals and universities. Some of the projects, he said, had already been taken up through public-private partnership.

He said the private sector would be encouraged to join the public sector and all possible fiscal and non-fiscal incentives would be given.

Dr Salman said it was becoming difficult for the government to continue providing development funds and it was time to seek the support of the private sector.

He rejected suggestions that arranging funds from private investors would be difficult and said: “there is a need to put a certain framework, which will be introduced soon to lure investment from outside the government.”

Earlier speaking at a workshop, Dr Shah said the country was in dire need of more infrastructural projects with collaboration of the public and private sectors.

He said the government had started a training programme for senior officials of the federal ministries concerned and provincial governments so that the private sector investors could be encouraged and guided properly.

Development fund may be doubled to $16bn -DAWN - Top Stories; February 08, 2008

 

[solid snake]

The debt trap​

PAKISTAN’S external debt burden has gone up to nearly $40bn from about $33bn in the last seven years. A whopping additional load of $7bn has been added since President Pervez Musharraf came on the scene. In this period, the country has received a record $12bn in overt aid, over $6bn in privatisation proceeds, including substantial foreign direct investment, and annual remittances flows of $4.5bn on an average. Over and above this, it has also been blessed with a relief of $1.6bn in loan write-offs by foreign governments in the last eight years and the rescheduling of Paris Club debts that has provided an additional relief of $1.2 to $1.5bn annually in terms of debt service payments. Meanwhile, Pakistan has become a large borrower of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. So, 90 per cent of Pakistan’s borrowings continue to be official, which makes it beholden to foreign governments particularly the US and the multilateral aid agencies under Washington’s influence. Direct assistance from the US — both economic and military — is said to have reached levels that make Pakistan the third largest US aid recipient after Israel and Egypt.

Clearly, Islamabad’s increasing dependence on the US largesse has drawn it into Washington’s not-so-savoury influence. And some even view this US dole as a payoff to our ruling elite for their support and aid in helping the US in achieving its foreign policy objectives some of which clash with our national interests. All this cannot but have adverse impact on Pakistan’s political economy. There is no easy way out of this trap. But governments which have the confidence of their people and also their mandate could without worrying about their popularity graph going down take hardship steps like expanding the tax-to-GDP ratio from the current 11 per cent to at least 15 per cent in the next five years; curtailing imports (most of which currently are consumption oriented); diversify the direction of exports and exportables and; setting up a special fund in a hard currency to accumulate all the privatisation proceeds and use that for the early retirement of our external debt. And finally FDIs into sectors without any export bias like banking and telecommunication should be discouraged because profits earned in rupees in these sectors are converted into hard currencies before repatriating them which further widens the current account gap and increases the need for external borrowing.

DAWN - Editorial; February 08, 2008

 

[Neo]

PTCL to invest $50m in new telecom cable ​

Project will be ready by end-2009, meet growing capacity requirements​

Friday, February 08, 2008

KARACHI: The Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has made an investment of US$50 million in a submarine cable as part of a consortium that will lay a high-capacity fibre-optic cable, stretching from India to Italy and France via the Middle East.

A consortium of nine leading telecom operators has signed Construction and Maintenance Agreement (C&MA) and Supply Contract for the fibre-optic cable named ‘I-ME-WE’ (India, Middle East, Western Europe), which will be the fifth in a series of similar systems.

The cable design covers a distance of almost 14,000 kilometres and the system is likely to be available for service by the end of 2009. The system will have a capacity of 3.84 terabits per second.

The PTCL and other members of the consortium intend, through this system, to meet the ever-growing capacity requirement of Asia, the Middle East and Europe, besides satisfying the capacity needs of the US to these regions as well.

The nine companies that form the consortium include Bharti (India), Etisalat (UAE), France Telecom (France), Ogero (Lebanon), PTCL (Pakistan), STC (Saudi Arabia), Telecom Egypt (Egypt), Telecom Italia Sparkle (Italy) and VSNL (India).

PTCL Executive Vice President Sher Bahadur Khan stated that the cable project was an important addition designed to cater to the ever-growing capacity requirements towards the Middle East and western countries with Pakistan in general and PTCL in particular.

He said the project would also play a pivotal role in providing effective resilience to existing cable systems (SMW3 & SMW4) available with PTCL to provide flawless communications for its customers within and outside of Pakistan.

“This entire venture is, of course, a result of the untiring teamwork of the consortium’s member countries to achieve the target,” he added. Earlier, I-ME-WE Consortium Interim Management Committee Chairman K P Tiwari praised all parties involved for their devotion, commitment and untiring efforts over the past one year and a half to address various challenges and make the project a reality and successful.

PTCL to invest $50m in new telecom cable

 

[Neo]

Rice output estimated at 5.5m tonnes ​

Govt to help growers, exporters,Country’s rice consumption stands at 2.5mT​

Friday, February 08, 2008

ISLAMABAD: The government will resolve grievances of rice growers and exporters on a priority basis to enable maximum export of rice, said Federal Food, Agriculture & Livestock minister, Muhammad Isa Jan Baloch.

Chairing a meeting of the Rice Advisory Board on Thursday, the minister said that overall rice harvest and impediments in rice exports were discussed in detail. The meeting also discussed rice research and development. It was discussed that during 2007-08 rice harvest was assessed at 5.5 million tonnes including about 2.5 million tonnes of basmati rice.

The meeting deliberated on domestic consumption of rice which is 2.5 million tonnes and concluded that there was a fairly large exportable surplus available in the country. It was suggested by members to strengthen rice research institutes in the country and help in post-harvest operations as well as BMR (balancing, modernisation and replacement) of rice mills in Sindh.

Aflatoxine and the Khapra beetle were thoroughly discussed and it was agreed that necessary measures be taken at the provincial level to fight these pests. The board also decided to add additional members to the board to make it more constructive.

MINFAL secretary, Zia-ur-Rehman, Additional Secretary, Shahid Hussain Raja, Chairman REAP, Director Rice Research Institutes of Punjab and Sindh, rice growers and other officials of the federal and provincial governments attended the meeting.

Rice output estimated at 5.5m tonnes