Pakistan Economy - News & Updates - Archive

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LPG attracts $200m investment since 2000 ​

ISLAMABAD: Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) has shown a tremendous growth as the increasing number of producers, importers, marketing companies and distributors and shows and has so far attracted an investment of $200 million since 2000 in the country.

More investments are expected to continue in future, official sources in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources said on Wednesday.

LPG is a clean, efficient and environmentally-friendly fuel with a wide range of applications in commercial, industries and households as a substitute for natural gas.

The widespread use of LPG in the auto sector will soften the rude impact of rising prices of petroleum products.

The ministry is also looking forward to additional investments in setting up of dedicated LPG auto gas stations and LPG production plants.

LPG availability is confined to urban centres, despite the government’s clear objectives and directives to supply mandatory quota to the northern hilly areas, AJK, interior Sindh, Balochistan and FATA.

The local production of LPG can be increased by another 900 metric tonne per day if the development of the dormant fields is fast tracked by the relevant exploration and production companies.

According to an estimate, about 50 per cent urban households are using LPG in neighbouring India.

In Pakistan, it has become a fuel of choice but it contribute less than one per cent to total energy supplies.

The indigenous production of LPG is about 1,700 metric tonnes per day and there is potential to produce additional 900 metric tonnes per day. The number of distributors has reached to 7,000 across the country.

LPG attracts $200m investment since 2000

 

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Iran sees gas pipeline deal by mid-year​

NEW DELHI, May 28: Iran’s ambassador to New Delhi said Tehran hopes to finalise a gas pipeline deal with India and Pakistan by mid-year, in an interview released on Wednesday.

The 7.5-billion-dollar project which aims to transport natural gas from Iranian oilfields to Pakistan and India was discussed during a visit to India last month Iranian by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

“It is hoped the trilateral agreement will be signed by the middle of summer this year,” Iran’s ambassador to India Sayed Mahdi Nabizadeh was quoted as saying in an interview in the latest issue of India’s Hardnews magazine.

The project was first mooted in 1994 but has been stalled by a series of disputes over prices and transit fees.

“After the president’s recent visits (in April) to India and Pakistan, we have witnessed positive progress regarding implementation,” the envoy said.

Indian and Pakistani energy ministers met in Islamabad last month and said they had made “significant progress” in discussions on transit fees and were hopeful work could start next year.

Also last month, Iran and Pakistan said they had ironed out hurdles delaying the 2,600-km scheme.

India has been under pressure from the United States not to do business with Iran, viewed in Washington as a state sponsor of terrorism and seen as bent on acquiring nuclear weapons.

But India, which imports more than 70 per cent of its energy needs, has been trawling for new supplies of oil and gas while ramping up domestic production to sustain its booming economy.

“This project will be the biggest economic project based on energy in the Asian region and these three important countries (India, Pakistan and Iran) will be united with each other and their economic interests will be tied up with each other,” the Iranian envoy said.

Earlier this year New Delhi told the US not to interfere in its dealings with Iran after a State Department spokesman said Washington would like India to put pressure on Tehran over its nuclear programme.—AFP

Iran sees gas pipeline deal by mid-year -DAWN - Business; May 29, 2008

 

[Neo]

14 telecom firms get licences for AJK, NAs​

ISLAMABAD, May 28: For the first time in the history of Pakistan, the government has opened the telecom market for fair competition in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and the Northern Areas.

In a landmark decision on Wednesday, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority awarded licences at a price of Rs214 million to 14 private companies to operate in AJK and NA.

Licences were awarded for Long Distance International (LDI), Fixed Local Loop (FLL), Wireless Local Loop (WLL), and Class Value Added Services (CVAS) ending more than 30 years of monopoly of the state-owned special communication organisation that had been operating in AJK and NA since 1976.

Speaking at the ceremony, PTA Chairman Shahzada Alam Malik said that now fixed line licences were being awarded to private operators.

“The licence fees have been kept low deliberately as the objective is not to make money, but to bring AJK and NA at par with other developed areas of the country.”

The PTA chairman said that five licences for mobile phone services were already given for AJK and NAs and now mobile services are available in these areas.

Expressing his pleasure over efforts to open up telecom market for fair competition, Minister for Information Technology and KANA Qamar-uz-Zaman Kaira pledged private operators complete cooperation to ensure that people in AJK and NAs had access to telecom services at the earliest.

Elaborating on other developments in the sector, the minister said that the government was mulling over linking Pakistan with China, India, Afghanistan and Iran through fibre optic link. He was in favour of extending the deadline for SIMs registration.

Efforts were being made to introduce the e-government in the country and by next three years, at least 45 ministries, would be linked to e-government, he said.

“This would help bring in efficiency, transparency, and better functioning. It would also facilitate the media as information would be available on internet,” he said.

“The PPP government is also looking into the issue of PTCL employees and the decision would be taken in interest of

the employees,” the minister said.

Mr. Kaira expressed his pleasure that the country was opening up its space for communication purposes and more foreign direct investment was coming in.

He said the government would use the fund of the industry to provide subsidy to the people in suburbs and far-flung areas to ensure maximum coverage in the rural areas.

Later, the minister distributed 24 licences to 13 companies that included Link Direct, Wateen, Telenor, PTCL, World Call, InterWorld, Sky Telecom, Great Bear, WOL, DaleelTeq, BTC, Cybernet, and Mobilink.

The PTA would get around $1,70, 000 against the issue of these licences as initial amount. It had already paid Rs1.2 billion to AJK and NAs for 5 cellular companies’ licences, which were awarded to Mobilink, Telenor, Warid Telecom, Ufone in June 2006, while CMPak was awarded a licence in August 2007.

Out of the total amount, the AJK Council had got Rs927.6 million, while the NAs chief secretary was paid Rs277.1 million against the licences awarded to cell companies.

14 telecom firms get licences for AJK, NAs -DAWN - Business; May 29, 2008

 

[Neo]

PC changes growth targets of LSM, services sector​

* Services sector’s enhanced growth would mean no increase in physical output​

ISLAMABAD: In a surprising move, top bosses in the Planning Commission have changed two important growth projections of the macroeconomic framework for the next fiscal year 2008-09.

Planning Commission has lowered the large scale manufacturing (LSM) growth target from 9 percent to 6.5 percent and increased the growth target of services sector from 6.7 percent to 7.3 percent for the next fiscal year 2008-09, a senior official told Daily Times Wednesday.

National Economic Council (NEC), headed by Prime Minister, Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, is scheduled to meet on June 2, 2008 and would approve Macroeconomic Framework for the next fiscal year 2008-09.

Elaborating the impact of the increase in growth target of the services sector, the official informed that services sector’s enhanced growth would mean no increase in physical out put in the country and only increase in wages and profitability in this sector.

No increase in physical out put would also result in miss match in demand and supply and this would result in higher than projected inflation of 8 percent for the next fiscal year 2008-09.

The official was of the view that the growth in services sector suits the mature economies and not the emerging economies like Pakistan. Although the growth in services sector in last few years helped the government to show handsome growth but also resulted in growth in demand and high inflation due to negative growth in commodity sectors.

Emerging economy like Pakistan can only sustain its growth through continuous growth in agriculture and manufacturing sectors. These sectors not only ensure food security through availability of essential food items on affordable prices but also create job opportunities and help the country enhance its exports for foreign exchange earnings.

The official said that lowering LSM growth would mean that real sectors like agriculture and manufacturing sectors would not grow substantially and there would be no chance of economic revival in the next fiscal year.

“Reduced LSM target also projects that current energy shortages would continue and there would be no major increase in the power availability leading to lower growth in large-scale manufacturing,” he added.

Low out put in the LSM would also impact negatively the export sector and it would not be able to perform well as it is totally dependant on availability of exportable surplus in manufacturing sector. Low production in LSM would also result in keeping trade deficit at un-sustainable level.

Earlier, the Planning Commission had proposed to the Annual Plan Coordination Committee (APCC) meeting held on May 23-24, 2008 manufacturing sector to grow by 8.5 percent. Within the Manufacturing sector its was projected that the large-scale manufacturing to grow by 9 percent and small-scale manufacturing by 8 percent. These assumptions were based on growth in cement 23.7 percent, motor tyres 16 percent, trucks 28.5 percent, air conditioners 26 percent, petroleum products 10.4 percent and motor tubes 11.4 percent. “These projections were based on an expectation that energy shortages will subside to a certain extent and export competitiveness will improve through appropriate incentives and policy measures,” said the official.

Under the macro-economic framework 2008-09 the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth has been targeted at 6.5 percent, while last year it was targeted as 7.2 percent and actual growth has been estimated at 5.78 percent. The proposed 6.5 percent GDP growth in fiscal year 2008-09 will be achieved by the contribution of three major sectors with growth rates of agriculture 4 percent, manufacturing 8.5 percent, and that of services sector 7.3 percent in the next fiscal year.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

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‘UK-Pakistan trade relations getting stronger’​

LONDON: The outgoing Pakistan High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Dr Maleeha Lodhi has said trade relations between the two countries were strong and strengthening day by day.

Britain and Pakistan have always enjoyed good trade relations and UK is currently its third largest trading partner, she said at a farewell reception hosted in her honour by the Pakistan-Britain Trade and Investment Forum at Asia House Tuesday evening.

She said UK enjoys 8.7 per cent share of the Pakistani market in terms of manufacturing goods exported to her country and Britain is also listed as the fourth largest investor.

Dr Lodhi reiterated that Pakistan, despite the challenges it was facing, remains ideal country for investment opportunities. She noted that presently 80 UK companies were doing business in Pakistan and Britain was her country’s largest trading partner within the European Union.

She said the government is seeking to increase investment in infrastructure and with a population of 160 million consumers, it offers ideal market for the overseas entrepreneurs.

However, Dr Lodhi said like the rest of the world, Pakistan was confronted with issues relating to finance, food and the rising cost of fuel which is impacting the national economy while enumerating both the challenges Pakistan faced as well as the opportunities it was leveraging to effect what she called a strategic turnaround.

Pakistan’s envoy said that sustaining poverty reduction and economic growth over the long run will be tough but it can be done.

Dr Lodhi said Pakistan’s greatest economic challenge is to distribute the gains of high growth equitably to people and deprived regions through poverty alleviation, employment generation and development of human capital.

She complimented the role played by BPTIF in strengthening trade and commercial ties between the two countries and said its part had been crucial. However, she urged the forum to engage more closely with the UK-based Pakistan business community especially the small and medium enterprises. She also stressed on attracting the third generation British-Pakistanis who have excelled in the field of IT and financial services and said there exists extraordinary talent of such persons.

The outgoing envoy praised the role of the Asia House in projecting Pakistan and mentioned a number of events organised at the centre spotlighting the South Asian country. app

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[Neo]

Sindh may allocate Rs 2.5bn to improve mining practices​

KARACHI: Sindh government has proposed to allocate Rs 2.5 billion for introducing advanced mining practices in the province, a top official told Daily Times.

Official source in the Sindh Mines and Miners Department told that the department has designed a strategy to streamline all coal-based power projects including the mining of other minerals in the province to utilise the reserves efficiently.

The major issues related to mining operations are regularization, environmental management, financial arrangements and taxation, technical assistance for mine development, training needs, occupational health and safety.

“In order to formulate and implement policy guidelines for such operations, strong partnerships between all stakeholders namely government, private sector, host communities and non-governmental organisations are essential,” official opined.

Such partnerships would be an effective tool in looking at small scale mining operations where economic returns are far greater than the adverse effects with a balance between environment management and exploitation of non-renewable resources, official further explained.

He told that the department has suggested provincial cabinet to allocate Rs 300 million in the upcoming fiscal budget to initiate this project at the earliest in the province.

Sindh Mines and Mineral Department has also proposed cabinet to establish a training institute, specifically in the field of mechanizing, mining and coal-based power generation in collaboration with foreign institutions.

In this regard, department has designed various schemes and sought allocation of Rs 600 million for this project aimed at generating high skilled manpower for mining of minerals and coal-based power projects.

“There is a need of skilled workforce for coal based power generating projects in various fields and the required professionals do not exist in Sindh as well as other provinces of the country,” he pointed out.

He added that the country should rely on self-sufficiency in human capital and provide job opportunities to the citizen in specialised fields rather than hiring foreing professionals in coal and mining field.

According to official, the department has proposed Rs 200 million for the establishment of training institution in the next budget.

All the proposed projects have planned to accomplish the target in next three to five years and would provide meaningful support to the government’s strategies for the development of its coal reserves in the future, he told and added that these training schemes will be supervised through Directorate General Mines and Minerals Department after formally approved by the cabinet.

The department also seeks approval of the government to provide in-house training programmes for fresh graduates of the province in order to meet the shortage of qualified professionals and sought Rs 100 million under this project.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[Neo]

PIA incurring Rs 1.5bn losses a month​

* Defence secretary says privatisation of national airline can relieve burden on exchequer​

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is suffering from Rs 1.5 billion losses per month, Defence Secretary Kamran Rasool said on Wednesday.

Briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Defence and Defence Production at Parliament House, he said the government was still not considering privatising PIA, despite massive losses to the national exchequer. He stressed that privatisation was a viable option to deal with the PIA situation. Senator Nisar Memon chaired the meeting, which was attended by senators Kamran Murtaza, Naeem Hussain Chattha, Saadia Abbasi and Asif Jatoi.

In response to Rasool’s concerns, PIA Managing Director (MD) Ijaz Haroon told the committee that a business plan was being prepared that would allow the national airline to “break even” by 2010. He said the number of directors had been reduced from 12 to eight, while the number of general managers had been brought down to 47 from 63. Contract employees hired by the previous administration have also been sacked, he added.

Senator Memon ordered the PIA administration to formulate a written plan to regenerate PIA’s finances by June 30, saying they should present the same to the committee during a meeting scheduled for the end of July. He also asked the PIA MD to present a report on the salaries and perks of former PIA chairmen.

Senator Jatoi, meanwhile, raised several technical issues dealing with PIA’s service quality. Haroon assured him that PIA was working hard to provide quality service to its customer, and said PIA had requested the Information Ministry to allow them to broadcast Indian songs and movies during flights to accommodate customers.

During proceedings the PIA MD informed the committee that airfares for Haj and Umra would be increased due to a boost in fuel prices. He said a comparative study of Haj and Umra fares from India, Bangladesh and Malaysia had been conducted, adding that Pakistan’s fares would be lower than theirs.

Haroon also told the committee that the Fokker aircraft crash in Multan in 2006 was caused by a technical fault in one of the engines, which had caught fire. He said the crewmembers had forgotten to raise the landing gear while trying to put out the fire.

The two factors had resulted in the disaster. He said the families of the victims of the crash had been compensated with Rs 2 million each, adding that four had refused to take compensation and had taken the case to court. The proceedings were ongoing, he added.

Senator Memon, as chairman, took strong exception to the absence of the Defence minister and PIA Chairman Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar, who had promised to appear before the committee and had demanded the postponement of the meeting schedule in April.

He said that the minister, who is also an ex-officio member of the committee, should explain in writing why he did not attend the proceedings, APP reported.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[Neo]

Stocks 4.4 percent down on rumour that Musharraf has quit ​

KARACHI (May 29 2008): Rumours about President Musharraf's "resignation" and some brokers' inability to address margin calls on Wednesday led to cause aggressive selling on Karachi Stock Exchange where KSE-100 index witnessed a heavy decline of 567.27 points, closing at 12,254.98 points level from Tuesday's 12,822.25 points.

The KSE-30 index lost 749.35 points and settled at 14,395.11 points level. The market witnessed some buying in the initial hours and the index did make a visit to the positive territory to hit 12,926.26 points intra-day high level, up by 104 points. However, it could not continue this positive trend due to panic selling, which pushed the index into negative zone to reach 12,231.53 points intra-day low level, down by 590.72 points.

Trading remained thin and the ready market volume declined to 187.807 million shares as compared to 263.767 million shares traded a day earlier. The futures market turnover decreased to 56.187 million shares against 83.882 million shares of Tuesday.

The overall market capitalisation declined by Rs 170 billion to Rs 3.783 trillion. Trading took place in 359 scrips, out of which 292 scrips closed in negative and only 56 scrips closed positive while the value of 11 scrips remained unchanged. NIB Bank was the overall volume leader of the day with 10.021 million shares however lost Rs 1.00 to close at Rs 12.00. Bank Al Falah and NBP declined by Rs 2.37 and Rs 8.48 to close at Rs 45.13 and Rs 161.27 respectively.

TRG Pakistan decreased by Rs 0.80 to close at Rs 6.65. OGDC lost Rs 6.48 to close at Rs 123.27. Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim declined by Rs 1.70 to close at Rs 32.43. Arif Habib Sec closed at Rs 156.28, down by Rs 8.22. Pak Reinsurance lost Rs 4.52 to close at Rs 85.92. Bosicor Pakistan decreased by Rs 0.93 to close at Rs 13.05. Fauji Cement declined by Rs 0.99 to close at Rs 10.20.

Hinopak Motor and Al Ghazi Tractor were the highest gainers and gained Rs 8.00 and Rs 7.51 to close at Rs 548.00 and Rs 255.00 respectively while AKD Capital Limited and Nestle Pakistan were the highest losers and lost Rs 53.34 and Rs 50.00 to close at Rs 1013.65 to close at Rs 1350.00 respectively.

Hasnain Asghar Ali at Aziz Fidahusein Securities said that the value buying did emerge initially and the index made a visit to the positive territory. However, the recent statements by US senators admitting some mistakes certainly gave birth to rumours about President Musharraf's resignation.

Such rumours certainly invited aggressive selling. Intensity increased following rumours that inability of some brokers to address to the margin calls either by their brokers or bankers led to forced selling by the respective financers.

The hefty selling forced the buyers to pull back their buying limits. Absence of buyers in no time forced massive erosion. Liquidity crunch forced the leverage players to stay on sidelines and at on time, from there, almost all main board stocks hit the bottom lock.

With the government's stance still unclear on capital gain tax adding to the misery were the conflicting statements on the issues hardly related to the economic and social health of the citizens. This left the participants with no option but to wait. Low local confidence was shattered after the rupee left its ground and the reserves started depleting.

But even after all these hue and cry the authorities still have other issues on priority. "Technically, although index continues to stay in an oversold region, we desperately need something quite concrete to trigger short covering in order to allow index to stage a come back and determine a bottom", he added.

Reuters add: Shares fell nearly 4.5 percent to close at a nine-month low on Wednesday as investors nervous about the political and economic outlook sold their holdings, dealers said. The KSE-index has lost 13 percent since the beginning of the year and is 22 percent lower than a life high set on April 21.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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Defence secretary hints at privatisation of PIA ​

ISLAMABAD (May 29 2008): The government has no immediate plans to privatise loss-making Pakistan International Airline (PIA), but it can happen if the trend continues, a top official says, triggering more doubts about the future of the national flag carrier.

"There is no such thing on the agenda right now, but the bottom line is that all options are open," Defence Secretary Kamran Rasool told a Senate panel here on Wednesday. "The PIA is making heavy losses. They are huge. I am not sure how long the government can support it," said the top boss of the Defence Ministry that also controls the airline.

The statement came after the new PIA management told the committee that its accumulative losses had so far surged to Rs 42 billion. PIA Managing Director Captain Muhammad Ijaz Haroon said the PIA had been making Rs 1.5 billion loss a month during the ongoing financial year.

Rasool said the sell-off of the PIA had been discussed in some high level meetings, including that of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet during the previous regime. He did not, however, explain why the plan could not get through these decision-making bodies at the time when the PIA losses were rising unbridled.

Ijaz Haroon did admit that transforming the airline into a profitable entity was an uphill task, but hoped the measures the new management had taken recently would help reduce losses to at least half of the current level.

These steps, he explained, included cutting jobs at senior level positions, making such changes in flight schedules that they helped save fuel and some other actions. But, the top manager said, he and his team became helpless when it came to high international oil price that accounted for close to half of the airline expenditures.

PREFERENCE TO PIA The PIA Managing Director complained that an official body, tasked to control the flow of traffic at airports, did not prefer the national flag carrier and instead give foreign airlines, especially from the Gulf opportunities to steal much of the business.

Such favours, he said, were given to Gulf and Emirates airlines in the form of letting them land at airports in all major cities at the time best suited to them. The PIA was often denied landing at airports most of the time, Haroon added.

Then committee decided to summon the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) authorities for the next meeting to review the policy. The panel also recommended to the government to review the policy of selecting members for PIA board of directors and include parliamentarians and experts in it. Earlier, the meeting regretted the absence of Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar, and asked him to explain the reason in writing.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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Budget size to be increased by 15 percent: projections presented to prime minister ​

ISLAMABAD (May 29 2008): In the first high level meeting on Wednesday, the government economic managers presented to Prime Minister, Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, firm-up budgetary projections showing 15 percent increase in budget size and revenue collection to take them to Rs 2.25 trillion from Rs 1.874 trillion and Rs 1.12 trillion against revised target of Rs 990 billion respectively for 2008-09.

The meeting was informed that fiscal deficit target for the next year would be 4.9 percent against 6.5 percent of 2007-08. Sources said the budget makers gave the Prime Minister a detailed presentation on next year's budget to apprise him of the work done so far and take his advice in finalising them for the National Economic Council (NEC) for approval. Before taking the budgetary projections to the Prime Minister, the Economic Advisory Council (EAD) gave its view-point on it in a meeting chaired by finance minister, Syed Naveed Qamar.

The EAC proposed that the federal government should make some structural changes to make the provinces active in generating revenue from potential areas, besides focusing on tapping the agriculture sector potential to generate more revenue in 2008-09 to make more funds available for the developmental projects.

It also suggested to remove deemed duty with a fixed profit margin for the refineries to project the interest of all petroleum sector stakeholders.

The council suggested the government to bring real estate business in the tax net by imposing 4 to 5 times tax on enhanced value. It was also for imposing capital gain tax on share trading.

This is for the first time that the issue of taxing real estate and share trading is being given due consideration. It's objective would be to broaden tax base and help the FBR get ambitious projected revenue collection target.

The IMF and World Bank had in separate meetings with the government officials held in Islamabad during the last one week or so asked to bring the real estate business and share trading into tax net to generate more revenue and cut down fiscal deficit down to meet the target. These two international donors want Pakistan to bring fiscal deficit down to 4.2 or 4.3 percent by the end of 2008-09.

The Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) size could not be finalised due to controversial views of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and Planning Commission. These two key government departments were told that the controversy over PSDP size will now be sorted out by the Prime Minister probably in a couple of days and they will be informed accordingly.

The Prime Minister asked the budget makers to provide relief to the poorest of the poor who are facing back breaking hardship due to high food inflation and shortage of power and other essential goods is the real objective of the elected government. He said that the government is committed to making a sizeable allocation in the budget for direct income support to the poorest and vulnerable groups.

The government is likely to link availability of research and development (R&D) funds with value addition to make this facility available for practically active parties.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

[Neo]

Siemens offers to improve infrastructure in Sindh ​

KARACHI (May 29 2008): Siemens Pakistan Engineering has offered to work closely with Sindh government for betterment of infrastructure. The offer was made by Siemens Pakistan Managing Director Sohail Wajahat Siddiqui during a visit by Sindh Industries Minister Rauf Siddiqui.

A statement on Wednesday said that the Minister was given a briefing on the capabilities of Siemens. Later, Rauf went round the industrial complex of Siemens Pakistan. The Minister said that he was impressed by the capabilities and solutions Siemens has to offer. He further said that the government would make full use of these for the betterment of the people.

Sohail said that Siemens was offering answers in the fields of healthcare, energy and industry with special emphasis on providing one-window solutions for mega cities. He said that Siemens has been in the subcontinent since 1860 and is well aware of the requirements in this part of the world. He also offered to work closely with the government for the betterment of the infrastructure of the province.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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Australia pledges $8.5 million for WFP in Fata and Balochistan ​

PESHAWAR (May 29 2008): The government of Australia will provide US $8.5 million to World Food Programme (WFP) in support of its programme in Federally-Administered Tribal Area (Fata) of NWFP and Balochistan. In this connection, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the Australian High Commission and WFP Country Representative here on Wednesday in a ceremony at 6the Governor's House.

NWFP Governor Owais Ahmad Ghani chaired the ceremony. Australian High Commissioner Ms Zorica McCarthy and WFP Representative Wolfgang Herbinger signed the memorandum. Fata Additional Chief Secretary Habibullah Khan, Secretary to Governor Arbab Muhammad Arif and Director Projects Fata Dr Fakhr-e-Alam also attended the ceremony besides WFP officials.

Speaking on the occasion, the governor appreciated the generous support and help from the Australian government for the WFP programs in Fata, saying that it would directly benefit the children and poor families in tribal areas. "The situation in tribal area is such that needs a lot of support from the global community and we are very appreciative of this support", he added.

The governor particularly thanked the Australian government for its participation in the WFP program in Fata and assured that Pakistan will continue its role in improving the security environment in the region and the globe.

Australian envoy Ms Zorica McCarthy said that the Australian government accords high priority to both meeting humanitarian needs and supporting the Government of Pakistan, and is pleased to respond to an urgent request from the World Food Programme and the Government of Pakistan. The border areas, she said, have suffered from years of insecurity and lack of development opportunities.

"Enhancing economic development opportunities and improving access to quality health and education services is crucial to reversing this situation," said Ms McCarthy. WFP Pakistan Country Director Wolfgang Herbinger thanked the government of Australia for the generous support to the programmes in Fata and Balochistan. "With this contribution of Australia, the WFP will be able to purchase over 5,000 tonnes of nutritious food for poor people living in these areas," said the representative of the WFP.

Balochistan and Fata are amongst the most impoverished and food-insecured regions of Pakistan. The decline in rainfall over the past decade has reduced agricultural income and employment opportunities. This contribution will help address severe food shortages and improve access to health and education services and livelihood opportunities in these areas. The WFP has started its two-year programme in Fata and parts of Balochistan.

The project will assist tens of thousands of poor parents through provision of a can of edible oil for each month their children attend primary school. Food incentives will also be used to encourage participation in pre-natal and primary health care activities while infants and nursing mothers from food insecure households will be provided with nutritious blended foods.

Australia will provide an estimated Aus. $25 million in development assistance to Pakistan in 2007-08 and plans to significantly increase its aid program in future years. WFP's operations in Fata and Balochistan have also received generous donations from the Government of Canada in cash and the Government of Pakistan in kind.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

[sohailbutt]

LPG price up by Rs15 to 20 per cylinder​

KARACHI: Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) prices have registered an increase of Rs15 to Rs20 per cylinder.

Chairman LPG Distributors Association, Hadi Khan told Geo News on Thursday that the new per kilogram price of LPG will go up by Rs1.50 to Rs20.

He said the LPG producers had withdrawn Rs3000 to Rs4000 per tonne rebate they allowed to the marketing companies.

LPG price up by Rs15 to 20 per cylinder - GEO.tv

 

[sohailbutt]

Foreign exchange reserves down by $373.4 million ​

KARACHI: The declining trend of foreign exchange reserves continued during the last week with reserves registering a decrease of 373.4 million dollars.

The foreign exchange reserves stood at 11.51 billion dollars after the above decline, according to State Bank of Pakistan.

SBP holds 9.61 billion dollars while commercial banks 2.45 billion dollars.

The country’s foreign reserves are witnessing decrease because of soaring international oil prices, said economic experts.

Foreign exchange reserves down by $373.4 million - GEO.tv

 

[sohailbutt]

KSE Board of directors meet Zardari​

KARACHI: A delegation of members of the Karachi Stock Exchange’s Board of directors had held a meeting with Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari here.

During the meeting, measures were discussed so as to contain the bearish trend of KSE, increase investors’ confidence and tax regulations.

KSE Board of directors meet Zardari - GEO.tv