Pakistan Economy - News & Updates - Archive

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Safe industrial production: call to increase global investments ​

ISLAMABAD (February 22 2008): Federal Minister for Environment and Local Government Syed Wajid Hussain Bukhari has stressed on the need for increasing global investments in efficient, clean and safe industrial production methods, as these are key factors for sustainable development.

He expressed these views while addressing 10th special session of the Governing Council / Global Ministerial Environmental Forum of United Nations Environment Protection. The Minister met with Environment Minister of Sweden, Norway, Oman, Russia and Afghanistan. All these countries agreed to work in close liaison with Pakistan on environmental issues and enhance existing co-operation in environment.

The Minister, after the meeting, said that there is a need for assisting countries particularly developing countries in increasing their capacities for sound management of chemicals and hazardous wastes.

"We also need to increase consumer awareness on issues of sustainable consumption and production world over"; the minister added. He said that adaptation, planning, financing and cost-effective preventive actions are needed to be incorporated into national development processes and these actions need to be supported by scientific information, integrated climate impact assessment and local climate data calling for North-South and South-South collaboration.

He urged that UNEP should provide platform for initiating such collaboration. He said improved technologies are needed to be developed, besides devising of mechanisms, whereby these technologies are deployed and obsolete non-environment friendly technologies are phased-out throughout the globe regardless of economic and technological development status of nations. "Strong linkages between the state of eco-systems and human well-being should be promoted including the aspects of poverty and health"; the minister emphasised.

The minister said that Pakistan appreciates the commendable effort made by Executive Director of UNEP in preparing Medium Term Strategy, which focuses on six cross-cutting thematic areas including climate change; disasters and conflicts; ecosystem management; environmental governance, harmful substances and hazardous wastes; resource efficiency - sustainable consumption and production.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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Saudi Arabia won't supply oil on deferred payments: request turned down ​

ISLAMABAD (February 22 2008): Saudi Arabia has declined a Pakistan request for supply of oil on deferred payments, sources told Business Recorder on Thursday. Sources said Pakistan formally made the request to the Saudi government for the supply of oil on deferred payments during caretaker Prime Minister Mohammadmian Soomro's visit to Saudi Arabia a few weeks back.

However, it got poor response for the request. Soomro had flown to Saudi Arabia to perform Umra, besides holding meetings with King Abdullah and other senior Saudi authorities on bilateral issues, including oil import.

Saudi Arabia is one major source from where Pakistan imports oil to meet its demand. Its second source for oil import is Kuwait. Pakistan's local production meets less than half of its demand annually. Heavy dependence on import for oil demand is always a troubling factor for Pakistan's economy.

Now when Pakistan is facing difficulty in managing fiscal affairs due to slow performing of various key sectors of the economy, its oil import bill is cruising close to 10 billion dollars for 2007-08. Among other options for off-setting mounting pressure on the economy, the caretaker government thought it a better option to approach Saudi Arabia for oil supply on two years' deferred payments.

Before putting it before the Saudi authorities, the proposal was discussed at the highest level and subsequently Soomro's visit to Saudi Arabia was considered the right time to formally made the request for the concession.

Saudi Arabia supplied Pakistan oil on deferred payments for three years from 1998 to 2001 to bail it out from difficult economic situation after its nuke test in May 1998. Pakistan approached Saudi Arabia soon after the nuclear tests in 1998, for supply of oil on deferred payment.

The year 1998 was a crucial time for Islamabad when Nawaz government denoted nuclear bomb to declare Pakistan as a nuclear power and in reaction the US and other major donor countries had imposed economic sanctions on it.

Originally, Saudi Arabia's concession for deferred payments in 1998 was for two years and its net benefit to Pakistan was 3.5 billion dollars. However, after expiry of the stipulated period, Saudi Arabia extended the payments for another one-year. The rulers wanted the same arrangement this time too, but they, perhaps, forgot that now it is 2008 and they had done nothing like 1998.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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Prime Minister for alternative energy sources to reduce fuel bill ​

ISLAMABAD (February 22 2008): Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro on Thursday emphasised the need on utilising alternative sources of energy including possible blending of ethanol with petroleum products. The Prime Minister said this while chairing a high level meeting held here to examine the possibility of using ethanol in petroleum products.

He directed all the concerned organisations to focus on developing alternative sources of energy to help reducing the prices of petroleum products as well as saving foreign exchange.

Expressing concern over the escalation of oil prices in the international market, the Prime Minister underlined the need to employ all available alternative sources of energy which could help sustenance of economic growth.

He directed the Petroleum Ministry to finalise its recommendations and strategy in consultation with all the stakeholders. Secretary Petroleum informed the meeting that feasibility study for blending of ethanol with petroleum products was earlier carried out and a pilot project was launched in August 2006 which was completed in March 2007.

He said the project established that the ethanol (E-10) blended fuel is environment friendly and economically viable. The meeting was apprised that ethanol is a by-product of molasses which is presently being exported. The local consumption of the product could help reduce the fuel bill and impact the economy in a positive manner.

The meeting was also informed that Brazil is the leading country where ethanol is being used as a major alternative source of energy. The other countries which are switching towards this trend include USA, China, European Countries, Australia, Canada, Japan, Thailand and India. Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Ehsan-ullah-Khan also attended the meeting.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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AKRSP to launch $16.6 million energy project in Northern Areas and Chitral ​

FAISALABAD (February 22 2008): The Aga Khan Rural Support Program (AKRSP) will launch a Project "Pakistan Community-Based Renewable Energy Development" in Northern Areas and in Chitral, which will be completed with the total cost of $16.599 million. The World Bank will also provide financial assistance for this project.

In the update project report, World Bank expert Jeremy Levin said the proposed development objectives of the carbon offset project are: to increase access to modern energy from renewable energy sources and reduce global emissions of carbon dioxide.

The carbon offset project will provide additional support for the achievement of the objectives, namely (a) develop hydropower potential in an environmentally and socially sustainable manner so as to help meet local electricity demand, (b) improve access of rural areas to modern electricity services, and (c) improve standards of living for the poor through provision of community level infrastructure.

Jeremy Levin said this carbon offset project will facilitate greenhouse emission reductions and support the development of the international market mechanism for trading emission reductions (ERs) developed in the framework of the Kyoto Protocol.

The project consists of sale of ERs to the Community Development Carbon Fund (CDCF) which provides carbon finance to small-scale CDM projects in the least developed countries and poorer areas of all developing countries.

Operational since July 2003, Jeremy Levin said the CDCF actively seeks to reach countries and communities that are neither presently benefiting from development through carbon finance nor are likely to benefit greatly from it in the future.

The CDCF also seeks to support projects, which include, as a measurable output, the provision of goods and services that will lead to improvement in the social welfare of the communities involved in the projects.

The project will be partially financed through grant support from the ongoing World Bank Pakistan Second Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) Project, which includes provision of grants for small scale infrastructure projects. The AKRPS's proposed sale of ER credits to the CDCF will allow for the mobilisation of additional resources to fill the current financing gap and fully fund the community-based renewable energy program.

Jeremy Levin mentioned that this carbon offset project consists of purchase of ERs generated from at least 103 run-of-river hydroelectric plants ranging in size from 0.035 MW to 0.6 MW, with combined capacity of 15 MW in different locations in remote Northern Areas and Chitral by the WB-managed CDCF.

The program shall be financed by a combination of PPAF grant funds, government contributions, equity contributions and domestic borrowing repaid through future carbon finance payments and community payments recovered through tariff charges, Jeremy Levin added.

The WB expert said the hydroelectric plants would be managed on a community basis with implementation support provided by the Aga Khan Rural Support Program. The project includes active community involvement at the identification, design, implementation and operation stages.

The operation of these renewable energy systems will provide increased access to modern energy services to an estimated 22,181 households (with associated social benefits) currently depending on traditional fuels, kerosene, and diesel-fired sets to meet their energy needs.

Operational costs will be recovered from users through tariffs, whose level shall be determined by the operator of the plant, a "Maintenance Committee" formed by the beneficiary community, and other stakeholders at a level, which shall be sufficient to cover all maintenance, repair, depreciation and loan repayment expenses, said Jeremy Levin.

He both local and imported technology will by used for the mini hydel units, depending on site conditions and operational specifications. The private equipment supply companies shall provide warranty and after-sales service to the communities.

Technical support will be provided by the AKRSP, with additional support provided by NAPWD and CWD (Chitral Works Department) for assistance in identification and commissioning stages and in capacity building, WB expert's report added.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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Current account deficit rises to $7.5bn ​

Saturday, February 23, 2008

KARACHI: The current account deficit further widened to $7.51 billion during the first seven months of fiscal 2007-08 against $5.106 billion registered in the same period of last fiscal year.

Latest statistics of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) revealed that during July-January 2007-08 exporters dispatched goods worth $10.977 billion as compared $9.578 billion exported in the same period of last financial year.

The aforesaid period saw imports surging to $18.783 billion against imports worth $15.806 billion during same period last fiscal. Moreover, from July-January 2007-08 the exports of services fetched $1.621 billion against $2.284 billion in the last fiscal, whereas for services hired from abroad $5.608 billion were repatriated outside the country whereas during corresponding period of last fiscal $4.915 billion were sent back by this sector.

The total balance on goods and services ballooned to $11.793 billion against $8.859 billion of last year. During first seven month of current fiscal total $6.548 billion were transferred into the country against $5.837 billion of last financial year.

Out of total inflows the workers remittances stood at $3.621 billion, which was recorded $2.959 billion in the matching period of fiscal 2006-07. In the head of Foreign Currency Account (FCA) Residents the $294 billion credited to the country whereas in capital account country received $49 million against $192 million of last fiscal year. During July-January 2007-08 $4.504 billion were brought into under the head of financial account against $4.597 billion of last fiscal year.

Current account deficit rises to $7.5bn

 

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Income inequality to be a big challenge for new govt ​

Saturday, February 23, 2008

LAHORE: The new government’s main concern should be addressing inequalities and poverty and it even before assuming power must have realised that the rapid growth of the last eight years has increased inequalities in the society.

The new planners must realise that a more rapid reduction in income gap and poverty requires an accelerated pace of growth and a more pro-poor pattern, which implies reducing inequalities that limit the prospects for poor to take a share in opportunities created by economic growth.

Credible research has revealed that poverty impact of growth has been more than 10 times higher in those countries that combine growth with falling rather than rising inequality. If one focuses solely on the period since the early 1990s, there have been signs that a positive correlation is emerging between rising inequality and economic growth. It appears that the recent growth processes seen in many economies undergoing reforms, including Pakistan, have put upward pressure on inequality. There are exceptions, however, as with the growth inequality has fallen in some countries but Pakistan is not among those countries.

The planners must realise that unless there is a sufficient change in distribution, people who have a larger initial share in the pie tend to gain a big share after the pie’s expansion. Among growing economies, the median rate of decline in the $1-a-day headcount index is only about 1 per cent a year for those countries for which growth came with rising inequality. By contrast, poverty declined about 10 per cent a year among countries that combined growth with falling inequality. Either way, poverty tends to fall, but at very different rates. Equitable growth is the fastest way to reduce poverty.

It would be wrong to blame globalisation for poverty. In general, poverty is influenced by globalisation but is seldom mainly caused by it. The world poverty stems from a lack of access to resources and opportunities. Also, dependencies, corruption and other governance failures, and poor people’s lack of rights in the face of traditional local power structures, as well as lack of education and healthcare are all key factors explaining poverty and hunger.

But an analysis of the links between globalisation and poverty must take the dynamics and volatility of globalisation processes into account. Given that the majority of the poor live in rural areas and depend on labour or earn their living as small farmers, the effects of globalisation on employment and small-farm competitiveness are central to determining its impact on poverty.

From the experience of recent elections, the new economic managers must have realised that the poor and hungry people cannot wait for long-term solutions, such as the economic progress that globalisation offers. Overcoming poverty through economic growth alone would require decades, even with a high growth rate.

To tackle the time issue and to cope with emergencies, a social policy is needed. The new regime would have to come up with a social policy aimed at mitigating the miseries of the poorest of poor.

Gender inequality is a common problem in all developing economies. It represents an untapped source for stimulating economic growth and promoting social development. This is particularly true in Pakistan, where women are often systematically deprived of having equal access to social services as well as to physical and social capital.

Hence, empowering women by improving their living conditions and enabling them to actively participate in the social and economic life of a country may well be the key for long-term sustainable development.

Income inequality to be a big challenge for new govt

 

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Romania offers Pakistan to supply items ​

Saturday, February 23, 2008

KARACHI: Romania has offered Pakistan to supply engineering, industrial, electrical, chemical items, automobiles, tractors and fertilisers to Pakistan for expansion of bilateral trade.

A list of these items was presented at a meeting of the Pakistan-Romania Joint Governmental Commission held in Islamabad last year. The government of Pakistan has sent this list to the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) for distribution among Pakistani importers who are willing to buy these items.

The list include equipment for cement plants and refineries, completely knocked-down (CKD) tractors for agricultural and industrial use and parts of tractors, trucks and lorries for civil and military use and cars, equipment and services for oil and gas exploration/production, machine tools, railways rolling stock and wagons, axles and wheels, electrical transformers and electro-mechanical equipment, ball bearings, fertilisers, synthetic fibers, chemicals and petrochemicals, metallurgical products, paper and articles, soda ash and oilseeds.The TDAP said Romania should be considered a source of supply for these items.

Romania offers Pakistan to supply items

 

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ADB discovers delays in project implementation​

RAWALPINDI, Feb 22: The Asian Development Bank, in a new report, says Pakistan has long delays in implementation of ADB-assisted projects and programme as well as average delays in loan closings.

The ADB picked up five projects each to carry out case studies of ongoing Asian Development Fund operations in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal Laos and Vietnam under a special evaluation study in these countries. The projects were selected based on older operations covering different sectors mainly agriculture and natural resources, social sectors, transport and energy.

Pakistan has had by far the longest average delays in loan closings. Against an average disbursement ratio in 2006 of 19 per cent for the entire ADF loan portfolio, case study countries did not do very well, and Pakistan averaged at 17 per cent. When excluding the usually faster disbursing programme loans, then the performance of the four larger case study countries is again slightly below average, showing Pakistan at 14 per cent, the report says.

Reproductive health project was one of the five projects for which ADB approved $36 million on December 20, 2001 but was signed on March 20, 2003 and the loan became effective on February 24, 2004 for which the processing of PC-I by the Planning Commission took eight months. There had been several discussions to cancel the project loan on the basis of slow progress.

Bank’s study team provisionally rates the project as likely to be unsuccessful. The stated end date of the project is June 2008. The team’s rating was based on poor project design and implementation arrangements, involving a relatively new ministry with little on the ground capacity to implement the project activities; social reluctance to promote reproductive health services.

The Agricultural Sector Programme Loan-II was approved by ADB on December 13, 2001. It was signed on April 1, 2002 and became effective on September 24 the same year. The programme loan included three loans: $123 million from ADF resources, $225 million from OCR and $2 million as technical assistance loan from ADF resources.

As a result of this loan programme, Pakistan’s agriculture sector is more liberalised with reduced government interference. Steps have been taken to free the sugar sub-sector from distortions but import duties on sugar still exist.

The report says the provincial governments initially perceived the programme design to be too complex with too many policy requirements. They viewed it as federally-driven. However, this perception changed as a result of extensive consultations with the provinces.

Livestock and horticultural development and strengthened research and extension services figured prominently in the list of projects. Many of these projects were considered innovative and providing technology-based infrastructure. However, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock failed to collect baseline data at the start of the programme.

Access to justice programme was the third case picked up by ADB for the study. The programme relied on three loans: ADF loan of $243.2 million, an ADF loan of $86.8 million and ADF technical assistance loan of $20 million. The ADB also funded six advisory technical assistances from 1997 to 2004, worth $6.9 million. The programme was set to close on June 30, 2005 but was extended three times and the first two loans were closed on September 30, 2007. The TA loan is expected to close in June 2008. Programme loan utilisation was about 73 per cent while that of the TA loan stood at only 9 per cent in September 2007.

The ADB approved $296.2 million ordinary capital resources loan and ADF loan of $5 million for NWFP road development sector and sub-regional connectivity project in November 2004 but the project became effective after 11 months. At the end of August 2007, contracts awards and disbursements amounted to $41 million and $8.873 million, respectively.

Actual road construction only commenced on June 7, 2006 and most of the progress relates to rural roads component of the project.

The ADB study team considered that the project was likely to be only partly successful, even with its revised scope.

ADB discovers delays in project implementation -DAWN - Business; February 23, 2008

 

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Asif for close economic ties with India​

ISLAMABAD, Feb 22: Pakistan People’s Party co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari has said that there is great potential for Pakistan and India to further strengthen their socio-economic ties.

In an interview with India Today’s Managing Director Raj Chengappa, Mr Zardari said the two countries could develop their bilateral relations, particularly in the economic sector.

“We are a small country compared to India, but we are a larger supporter of it. India can be a super economic power if we do things together,” he added.

Mr Zardari also spoke about the issues to be tackled by new government in Pakistan. About the judiciary, he said his party would prefer open debate in the parliament for the restoration of the deposed judges.

“We need to make the judiciary independent financially too. Then we need to lay down the parameters of what the judiciary’s function are,” he added.

Replying to a question about PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif’s stand over the issue of restoration of judiciary, Mr Zardari said PML-N’s agenda would coincide with PPP’s agenda.

The PPP leader said for too long in our history the country had suffered because of judicial decisions. “So, we have to be very careful and therefore, I feel there should be an open debate in the parliament.”

Mr Zardari said his party was calling for a national consensus government. He said: “The nation is in a disarray. There is no governance and institutions have been weakened.”

He rejected an alliance with PML-Q and said it had never been a political party. It was a collection of individuals, he said, adding that people had exposed them.

Replying to a question regarding working with President Pervez Musharraf, he said: “I will be working with the Parliament. It is the sovereign governing body of the country.”

When asked to comment on impeachment of President Musharraf, he said that let the parliament decide about this issue.

“We are getting carried away by slogans rather than going to the crux of the matter.” The belief was to strengthen democracy, he added.

Mr Zardari said people had voted for democratic forces against fundamentalist forces and the previous government.—APP

Asif for close economic ties with India -DAWN - Top Stories; February 23, 2008

 

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LSM grew by 6.9 percent during July-November​

ISLAMABAD: Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) has registered a growth of just 6.9 percent during July-November 2007-08 as compared to the annual growth target of 12.5 percent set for the ongoing fiscal year.

LSM is projected to grow by 12.5 percent in the fiscal year 2007-08 as compared to the estimates of 8.8 percent in the fiscal year 2006-07 and as against the 10.7 percent in 2005-06.

According to a report released by Ministry of Finance on Friday LSM has grown by 6.9 percent in the first five months of the current fiscal year as against 7.7 percent in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year 2006-07.

The main contributors to this five months (July-November) increase in LSM are sugar (25.0 percent) and cement (24.1 percent). Within automobiles group diesel engines, buses, Light Commercial Vehicles (23%) and motorcycles (24.2%,) have registered impressive double-digit growth in the first five months of 2007-08. Similarly, within electrical groups production of electrical fans (32.2%), refrigerators and TV sets (19.0%) have also registered high double-digit growth. Within this group negative growth was witnessed for air conditioners, electric transformers as well as electric meters. Petroleum production, on the other hand, registered a decline of 17 percent in the month of November 2007-08.

This slow down in petroleum production was brought about due to routine maintenance shut down of a couple of oil refineries like PARCO and ARL. However, during the consolidated first five months of 2007-08, the oil refineries production registered a healthy growth of 8.1 percent.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

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Mobilink’s fibre optic project to be completed by year end​

KARACHI: Mobilink fiber optic project is expected to be completed by the second half of the current calendar year. Presently it is 6,500 kilometer long. The third phase of expansion for another 2000 km is currently underway, which will provide a third redundant link. The current deployment already has two redundant links, Mobilink official spokesperson told Daily Times here Friday.

He said Mobilink has a state of the art fibre optic network starting from Peshawar to Karachi covering all major cities. “Our fiber optic network would be one of the best in Pakistan and after the completion of this phase we will be the only service provider to have three levels of protection.”

The Mobilink spokesperson said: “We have introduced latest technology, which automatically shifts traffic to the redundant link in case a link goes down.” This all happens in milliseconds and there is no performance degradation of the voice or data traffic. With a capable technical team available 24 hours our response times for restoration and resolving any possible issues are minimal, he added.

“We have plans to provide high-speed data connectivity in the urban and rural sectors of Pakistan through WiMax services.” Being a developing country, the expansion of broadband networks and services is of high importance to the Pakistani economy, he said adding that broadband connections in the country currently stood 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.

After the completion of fiber optic the company has a plan to divert its traffic on its own fiber optic and would also offer it to the other operators to use it for their traffic. “Currently our network is based on 2.5 generation and we will upgrade this according to the requirement of our subscribers,” he added.

At present, the company is leading among all the existing mobile operators with more than 30 million customers enjoying its services across the nation. With more than 5,000 cities, towns, and villages throughout Pakistan on our network of services. Mobilink has so far invested $2.5 billion in infrastructure and in 2008 the company is planning to invest $500 million to meet the demands of industry and needs of its subscribers.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

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Record-breaking rally continues in Karachi stock market​

* KSE-100 index closes at 14,980.66 points​

KARACHI: Karachi stock market once again made history on the last trading session of the week as its KSE-100 index outshined Thursday’s record by closing at another all time high of 14,980 points manifesting growing confidence of local and foreign buyers in the market.

Analyst have attributed continuous positive momentum of the market to the institutional/foreign investors buying on back of expected strong result announcements, continuation of post election rally on back of capital gains expectations and expectations for better political situation in the days to come.

The KSE-100 index gained 8.69 points or 0.06 percent on Friday as it closed at record level of 14,980.66 points against previous session’s 14,971.97 points. The KSE-30 index closed at 18,387.09 points with a gain of 123.70 points or 0.68 percent.

The market turnover went down to 21.27 percent and traded at 313.08 million shares as compared to 397.69 million shares traded in the previous session. The overall market capitalisation went up to 0.04 percent to Rs 4.608 trillion compared to previous session’s Rs 4.606 trillion. Out of 359 companies, 152 closed in positive, 157 in negative while 50 remained unchanged.

Atif Malik, analyst at J.S. Global Securities said positive sentiment continued unabatedly in the stock market. The market was volatile from the outset as with the start of trading session, it gained but later it set down to minus 90 points. The KSE-100 index at the end of the trading session closed at the highest 14,980.66 points, which is record in the history of the stock market.

Scrips of Mansha Group including MCB, DGK Cement and Nishat Mills performed positively as they remained in the limelight during the trading session.

Ahsan Mehanti, senior analyst at Shahzad Chamdia Securities said institutional/foreign investors continued taking positions on back of expected of positive political development and formation of a strong political government, Special Convertible Rupee Accounts (SCRA) balances improves to $37 million for this fiscal year reflecting appearance of foreign interest in the post elections scenario, post election rally in Nishat Group Companies including NML, DGKC, MCB. DGK Cement was the volume leader in the share market with 32.18 million shares traded as it closed at Rs 111.20 after opening at Rs 106.45 making a financial gaining of Rs 4.75 per share. Lucky Cement traded 18.29 million shares to close at Rs 129.50 after opening at Rs128.80 gaining Rs 0.70 per share. staff report

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

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July-January foreign investment down by 35 percent ​

KARACHI (February 24 2008): Net foreign investment declined by over $1 billion, or 35 percent, during seven months of the current fiscal year mainly due to high portfolio outflows due to political uncertainty.

The State Bank (SBP) on Saturday issued the statistics of foreign investment, including foreign direct investment (FDI) and portfolio investment, which showed that overall 35 percent decline occurred in foreign investment during July-January period of the current fiscal year as compared to same period of last fiscal year.

Overall foreign investment (FI) stood at $2.262 billion during seven months as compared to $3.478 billion of last fiscal year, depicting a drop of $1.2157 billion. "Major reason behind this dip was 100 percent decline in portfolio inflows as the foreign investors were reluctant to invest in the equity market due to political uncertainty and negative reports regarding the country's stock markets," economic experts said.

They believed that after the reconstitution of new political government, foreign investors once again would invest their money in Pakistan's stock markets. They said that during the current fiscal overall investment would be lower than last fiscal year as during last fiscal year the country had received some extraordinary funding by foreign investors, besides some government level investments.

SBP statistics showed that portfolio investment declined by 100 percent or $1.382 billion. After the current decline, portfolio investment has declined to lowest level of 0.4 million dollars, previously standing at 1.382 billion dollars in the January 2007.

FDI during July-January registered a growth of some 8 percent. However, the declining portfolio investment decreased the overall investment by around 35 percent. FDI had gone up by 7.9 percent to 2.2624 billion dollars as compared to 2.096 billion dollars during the same period of the last fiscal year, depicting an increased of 166.4 million dollars during July-January of current fiscal.

Including privatisation proceeds total private investment showed a decline of 19.8 percent to 2.24 billion dollars, while excluding privatisation proceeds it has dipped by 20.8 percent to 2.108 billion dollars during the first seven months of current fiscal year.

Economist said that issuance of GDR in the future would help to boost the foreign investment in the country, as slow privatisation process is another reason of declined in the foreign investment.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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ADB to provide $1100 million for two Karachi mega projects ​

FAISALABAD (February 24 2008): The Asian Development Bank will provide $1100 million for two Karachi projects--'Karachi Mega City Sustainable Development Investment Program (Subproject-1)', and 'MFF-Karachi Mega City Sustainable Development Investment Program (Facility Concept)'.

For strengthened planning, administration and fiscal management, and to increase quality, coverage and reliability of water supply wastewater management, mass transit, and housing.

In an updated project report, Eunkyung Kwon, Principal Urban Development Specialist of ADB, said that the impact of the Investment Program would be an enhanced and sustained contribution of Karachi to national development, and improved quality of life for city residents, particularly the poor.

Project report said that the Investment Program comprises four parts. Part-A of project is designed to provide investment program management and support, addressing (i) program management (establishment and staffing of the Program Reform Monitoring Unit (PRMU) and Program Implementation Unit (PIU), (ii) program support (studies, training and capacity development for Karachi's local governments and service providers, and public awareness and outreach), and (iii) independent monitoring and evaluation. Parts B, C, and D are designed to address the critical sub-sector priorities for improved infrastructure, service provision and low-income housing.

Asian Development Bank will also provide financial assistance for 'MFF-Sindh Cities Improvement Program (Facility Concept)'. In her project report Ms Kathie M Julian, Urban Development of Central and West Asia Department (ADB Division Social Sectors Division, CWRD) said that the proposed program would support infrastructure investments and institutional strengthening in three priority sectors over a 10-year period in select clusters of secondary cities of Sindh province.

The program will support establishment of effective systems for urban service provision. A multi-tranche financing facility (MFF) modality is proposed. The program will support urban planning institutional reforms, public-private partnerships, and capacity development. Physical investment will include water supply, sewerage, drainage and wastewater treatment (wastewater), and solid waste management.

The combination of physical and non-physical investments under the program aim to improve quality, continuity and coverage of urban infrastructure services in water supply, wastewater, and SWM while incentivising and supporting effective management and sustainable financing of urban service providers. This, in turn, will help improve quality of life for residents in Sindh cities, including the poor, and address growing regional development imbalances within Sindh, she added.

The project financing is fully consistent with the increased emphasis on lending for economic infrastructure, including specifically for urban renewal and development, under ADB's recent country strategy and program updates.

First Phase: Urban areas in northern Sindh (Sukkur, New Sukkur, Rohri, Larkana, Khairpur and Shikarpur); Subsequent phase location to be determined as per agreed criteria safeguard planning documents (resettlement frameworks, resettlement plans) in accordance with ADB's 'Environment, Involuntary Resettlement and Indigenous People's Policies' are under preparation. Net environmental benefits, expected to be positive, potential negative impact of the short construction program are expected to be not significant, the report concluded.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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14 development schemes underway in Hyderabad: DCO ​

HYDERABAD (February 24 2008): The District Co-ordination Officer (DCO) Hyderabad Aftab Ahmed Khatri has directed the officers of Regional Transport Authority (RTA) and Hyderabad Traffic Police to ensure implementation of transport and traffic rules for maintaining smooth flow of traffic on city's road.

He was presiding over a meeting of Regional Transport Authority at his camp office here on Saturday. Addressing the meeting, DCO said that district government Hyderabad was carrying out more than 14 different development schemes of flyovers, under passes, bridges and traffic engineering system and these would be enough to meet the traffic requirements of next 25 years of the city.

He said that till the schemes are completed, an effective strategy with proper observance of traffic and transport rules was needed to regulate huge traffic within available communication network.

He asked the management of RTA Hyderabad to keep strict vigil on the registered passenger vehicles to know whether the management concerned transport was following all conditions of route permit, facilitating commuters/passengers accordingly or not. He asked the officers to identify the bottlenecks in smooth traffic flow and submit with their recommendations so that the same could be incorporated in future planning.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]