Pakistan Economy - News & Updates - Archive

[Neo]

PSDP allocation for agriculture sector cut by Rs 4 billion​

* Total cuts in PSDP amount to Rs 100 billion​

ISLAMABAD: Contrary to the tall claims of the present government of declaring agriculture as ‘priority sector’, an cut of Rs 4 billion (20 percent) has been recommended for different agriculture related development schemes for the year 2008-09, sources told Daily Times here on Monday.

The officials of Planning Commission in its recent meeting with ministers/divisions concerned over ‘Rationalisation of PSDP 2008-09 have recommended 30 percent cut over the PSDP. For a total of 65 different agriculture development projects, the government has allocated Rs 20.015 billion in the PSDP 2008-09. These are national importance projects and after completion, would greatly help in ensuring food security in the country. Some of the important projects among these are: ‘Livestock production and development of meat production’, ‘Prime Minister’s special initiatives for livestock’, ‘Milk collection/processing and dairy development programme’, ‘National integrated pest management’, ‘National programme for control and prevention to avian Influenza in Pakistan’, ‘Research for agriculture development programme’, ‘Aquaculture and shrimp farming’, ‘Commercialisation of tea production through public-private partnership’, ‘National commercial seed production programme’, ‘Research and development of Cotton programme’, ‘Agribusiness development and diversification project’, ‘Establishment of seed testing laboratories and rehabilitation of existing labs along with many others.

Among the total 65 development projects, 24 were declared, by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL), as high priority projects and total allocation for these in the PSDP was Rs 17.435 billion. However, a cut of Rs 2.904 billion is recommended and now allocation for these projects is Rs 14.531 billion.

In category B, (medium priority projects) included 36 projects worth Rs 2.530 billion in the PSDP 2008-09. An amount of Rs 1.070 billion cut is recommended for these projects and now the total allocation for these projects is Rs 1.459 billion.

In category C (low priority project) consist only one project, namely ‘Improvement of Agriculture Livestock Market and Marketing System’ with initial total allocation of Rs 13.400 million. The official in rationalisation PSDP meeting has cut the allocation by Rs 8.400 million and now the amount for this project is Rs 5 million. The fourth category ‘D’ included projects to be completed as early as possible or these would be wind up by December 2008. In this category there are four projects namely, ‘Introduction of sugarbeet and enhancement of sugarcane productivity’ worth Rs 35 million, ‘Operationalisation/Commissioning plant quarantine laboratory worth Rs 17.700 million’, ‘Improvement of water management of water management practices in Northern Areas worth Rs 37.783 million’, and ‘Exploitation and management of water resource for development of Peri-Urban Areas around ICT worth Rs 27.206 million’. Total allocation for these four projects was Rs 36.196 million but an amount of Rs 20.196 million cut was recommended on these projects and now actual allocation for these projects stand at Rs 16 million. Overall, the government has decided to place a 30 percent cut in 2008-09 PSDP of all ministries except education and health, as they were the priority sectors for Pakistan People’s Party-led government. The government has decided that no financing from the national exchequer would be available for projects that would face the cut.

After Rs 100 billion cut in the PSDP, its overall size would come down to Rs 441 billion from Rs 541 billion. This measure would help the government to keep the budget deficit at levels of 4.7 percent of the projected GDP for 2008-09. A senior official told this scribe on Monday that cut decision was taken due to severe financial constraints confronting the government amid political and economic instability in the country.

 

[Neo]

Saudi Arabia asks Pakistan to wait: Oil decision after presidential poll​

* Oil import bill expected to rise over $14.5 billion​

ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia has asked Pakistan to wait for its final response regarding the Saudi Oil Facility (SOF) till the election of the new president of Pakistan, sources in the Petroleum Ministry told Daily Times on Monday.

The sources said Saudi Arabia did not give a final response to a delegation led by Finance Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who also holds the charge of the Petroleum Ministry. Saudi Arabia said it was observing the current situation in Pakistan and would give a final response on the oil facility after the presidential election, they said.

The sources said that the Pakistani delegation placed two requests before the government of Saudi Arabia. One was to grant a one-year extension in the oil credit facility enabling Pakistan to import oil on deferred payments.

Import bill: The other request was for a grant to ease the financial burden on oil imports, as during the last financial year the import bill had exceeded $11 billion. Higher fuel consumption by electricity generators during power shortages had increased demand for oil.

The government has estimated that the oil import bill will surge over $14.5 billion in the current fiscal year.

The sources said the government was under tremendous pressure regarding the soaring oil bill. Besides requesting different Islamic countries to grant extension in oil credit facility, the government is also taking energy conservation measures to curtail oil import. The measures include proposals for five working days in a week and the closure of petrol pumps one day a week. The conservation measures are expected to reduce oil consumption as well as the oil import bill.

They claimed that if Pakistan were denied extension in oil credit facility, it would get a $500 million grant from Saudi Arabia to ease the oil import burden on the budget. The Saudi government had already provided $300 million to Pakistan in the month of March to meet budgetary gaps and promote macro-economic stability in the country.

Pakistan imports around 110,000 barrels of oil per day. If the two countries agree on the extension in the oil credit facility, Pakistan will receive around 40 million barrels of oil in one year from Saudi Arabia, providing foreign exchange cushion of $6 billion.

The sources claimed that the oil credit facility would benefit the government more than a loan to bridge the deficit created by the high oil import bill. They said that former governments had not spent the loans to resolve the oil crisis, and had spent them on non-development projects.

Loan: They said the government had borrowed Rs 165 billion from local commercial banks to pay differential claims to oil marketing companies.

The sources said Pakistan is also negotiating with other countries including Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Qatar to seek extension in oil credit facilities for importing oil on deferred payments.

 

[Neo]

World Bank's concessional funding up by 43 percent; ADB's risen by 4.6 percent​

ISLAMABAD (September 02 2008): World Bank's concessional funding for Pakistan has been increased by 43 per cent for 2007-08, while Asian Development Bank's has risen by a paltry 4.6 per cent. The WB concessional funding, known as International Development Assistance (IDA), linked to performance-based indicators inclusive of governance, macroeconomic indicators etc, has increased from 700 million dollars to one billion dollars.

The ADB's concecessional funding, termed Asian Development Fund (ADF), linked to similar performance-based indicators as used by the World Bank. It has risen by 30 million dollars from 640 million dollars to 670 million dollars. The lending volume of both the development financial institutions is determined by how major donors to their pool of concessional funding view their performance with respect to results and internal reforms.

Recently, several important contributors to the ADF pool, for example UK, US and Australia, have expressed strong reservations because of the lack of internal transparency and accountability within the ADB. Moreover, both the organisations claim to harmonise their performance-based lending programme.

Surprisingly, the World Bank recently said that it was not offering a policy-based lending programme to Pakistan because of our weak macroeconomic indicators, while, in marked contrast, the ADB has approved a 500 million-dollar loan for budgetary support, which is expected by the end of the month. It is not clear why such obvious discrepancies are maintained in the lending programmes of the two institutions.

The ADF allocation for Pakistan in 2005-06 was 640 million dollars for two years, but the amount was not fully utilised and 170.5 million dollars has been carried over for the next two years. Such poor utilisation of concessional funding must be investigated and appropriate measures taken to ensure that concessional funding are utilised prior to borrowing at market OCR rates, said a senior economist, requesting anonymity. Pakistan is amongst the top 10 borrowers from the World Bank, whereas in the ADB it is the second largest borrower.

 

[Neo]

Government mulling over developing special economic zones: BoI ​

ISLAMABAD (September 02 2008): Pakistan has been focusing on the improvement of infrastructure and was engaged in framing a policy for the development of special economic zones (SEZs), official in the Investment Division and Board of Investment (ID&BoI) said.

Talking to a delegation of United States Chamber of Commerce here, ID and BOI Acting Secretary Major Iqbal Ahmad (Retd) said the Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZs) would also be given the same preference and benefits as provided in case of SEZs.

The delegation led by Lieutenant General Daniel W. Christman (Retd), Senior Vice President for International Affairs, US Chamber of Commerce and Jay Collins, Chairman US Pak Business Council/CEO Public Sector Group called on the BoI Acting Secretary to discuss business opportunities in the country.

The Acting Secretary, while highlighting the geo-strategic location of Pakistan and other market dynamics, signified upon the upward trends of foreign direct investment (FDI) over the years and appreciated US investment into Pakistan being the highest ie 1.3 billion during 2007-08. Agriculture, Power, Oil and Gas exploration and manufacturing sectors have been defined as a policy case sectors of investment.

The delegates were also informed that Pakistan laid a lot of emphasis on bilateral investment treaty (BIT) with US as that would encourage more investment. Iqbal added that deliberations on BIT were in progress and the next round of dialogue is expected in near future. He said that still the existing laws of Pakistan were sound enough to give protection to foreign investment, this included existing laws for the enforcement of foreign courts and foreign arbitral awards.

Lieutenant General Christman (Retd) appreciated the information given by the Acting Secretary and showed concern on the issue of Westing House, which remained unsolved. Furthermore, he was interested to know about the methodology used by ID and BoI to market Pakistan's investment potential.

It was highlighted that ID and BoI projected Pakistan's potential through multiple advocacy tools and Pakistan's missions abroad also supported it to identify potential investors and thus providing them the information to have enough knowledge for the Pakistani Economy.

ID and BoI have appointed Honorary Investment Counsellor in different countries who are renowned businessman. In addition to that Road shows and conference in Pakistan as well as abroad play vital role to portray the positive image of Pakistan and provide a platform to understand business community to each other.

The delegation appreciated the hospitality and services extended by the ID and BoI and were impressed with the investment climate and potential in the country and assured full support from US Chamber of Commerce to bring investors into Pakistan to gain benefits. ID and BoI Acting Secretary appreciated their visit to Pakistan and assured full facilitation on the part of ID and BoI.

 

[nitesh]

Pakistan to provide land to Arab countries for farming

Pakistan to provide land to Arab countries for farming
Updated at: 1550 PST, Tuesday, September 02, 2008

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will provide agricultural land to Arab countries for overcoming the crisis of food grains.

Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, Shah Mahmood Quraishi talking to Gulf media told providing agricultural land to Saudi Arab and United Arab Emirates aimed at improving ties with the brotherly Muslim countries.

Shah Mahmood Quraishi said that Arab countries have been offered agricultural land on large scale, so that they could build up big farms. The existing government was holding talks with the Saudi government for obtaining crude worth about $6 billion on deferred payments in a bid to overcome the international price-hikes in crude, while efforts were afoot for attracting the existing petro-dollars in the Arab world for direct investments in Pakistan, he told.

 

[Neo]

Emaar Pakistan Signs Deal With Paragon​

KARACHI - Emaar Pakistan, the country-subsidiary of global property developer Emaar Properties PJSC, has awarded the piling work contract for towers in plot 7 & 8 within Crescent Bay to Paragon Construction, a leading Pakistani company.

Crescent Bay is the pioneering master-planned community being developed by Emaar Pakistan and is part of a multi-billion dollar investment by the company in the country’s real estate sector.

Saleem Butt, Chief Operating Officer, Emaar Pakistan, signed the agreement with Mr Aftab Siddique of Paragon Construction recently. As per the contract valued at over Rs2 billion, Paragon will undertake the piling work for Reef and Pearl Towers within Crescent Bay, with piling expected to be completed in six months. Work on the super structure and mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) works will start thereafter.

Butt said: “Crescent Bay is energising Karachi’s property sector as the pioneering master-planned community that brings in world-class standards in engineering and construction. ”

 

[Neo]

US pushing Pakistan to accept draft of investment treaty ​

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

ISLAMABAD: The US administration is pushing Pakistan to accept newly placed draft of Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT), which has been signed only by few backward African countries, The News has learnt.

If the conditions attached by the USA for inking BIT are the best in the world, why many developed and non-developed countries are reluctant to buy it, official sources questioned who are dealing with negotiation process in this regard.

“Actually, by inking BIT agreement with Islamabad, USA wants to pursue China and India for signing the same document with the argument that without bilateral investment treaty, there will be no investment of US companies on those destinations,” added the official sources.

With new draft of BIT, USA has so far signed this agreement with few countries such as Rwanda, Mozambique, Uruguay, El Salvador etc.

The Bush Administration is pursuing China and India for inking BIT agreement and if Islamabad moves ahead, Washington can easily sell the deal to its other neighbours.

Talks on BIT had been stalled after the Bush visit to Islamabad during 2006. After the PPP led government assumed power the US administration has decided to resume talks on BIT but schedule for holding consultative meetings has not yet been finalised.

As US government exerts pressure on Pakistan to ink BIT under its own rules of game, Pakistan showed reluctance to accommodate demands placed by the USA during the negotiations process.

The Bush Administration, the sources said, asked Islamabad to accept its version on major issues including reinvestment, arbitration mechanism, intellectual property rights, and granting MFN status.

The US authorities gave a 200-page BIT document to Pakistani counterparts in the third round of parleys for finalizing BIT.

The US is putting more pressure on grounds of violation of intellectual property rights and the government is considering to accept it in such a way that only investing companies in Pakistan can raise the issues of IPRs, the sources added.

“The BIT does not mean that Pakistan will start receiving substantial investment and the PPP government should move ahead carefully in this regard,” a senior official said and added otherwise, it could endanger Pakistan’s interest in future.

The sources said different countries want BIT with retrospective effect which means the government will provide protection to all those which were made in the past.

The sources said there is need to bring changes in the definition of investment, retroactive application, MFN treatment, and arbitration mechanism for inking deals on BIT with different countries.

According to a World Bank economist, the US tries to convince other countries for multilateralism but in its own case tries to ink trade and investment deals bilaterally in accordance with its own rules of the game.

For dispute resolution, Pakistan in the past proposed to exhaust local options first available in Pakistan. If any investor is still not satisfied then the government is proposing to approach World Bank’s institution the International Centre for Settlement of Investors Dispute (ICSID), which was established in 1965 to resolve lingering issues.

Another option is UN Commission on International Trade Laws (UNCITRAL) for referring dispute settlement, the sources added. It seems that the government is more inclined towards ICSID because it is an institutional body with clear guidelines of charges of fee in this regard.

Pakistan has so far signed 46 bilateral investment treaties with different countries. The first BIT was signed with Germany in 1959. But most of the agreements in this regard were signed without well-thought out strategy and some times it creates difficulty for the government while confronting issues with other countries.

When official spokesman of US embassy in Islamabad was contacted to get exact number of countries with which the USA signed new draft of BIT agreement so far, he said that they would have to seek this information from Washington so he could not give information just right now. But he promised to give detailed response in this regard very soon.

 

[Neo]

Will coal brighten up the future? ​

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

KARACHI: During the current acute power shortage and the exorbitant cost of imported oil, there remains an alternative for Pakistan to meet energy requirements using its most abundant, but little used, local resource: coal. Over 184 billion tonnes of coal reserves were discovered in the Tharparkar district in Sindh over 16 years ago, enough to fuel multiple power plants for years to come. However, the country imported more than $11 billion worth of oil during the last fiscal year. Meanwhile, the only coal power plant in Lakhra, already in a dilapidated condition but with a capacity of 150 megawatts (MW), was sold to a private party.

Neither the usual supply of gas nor oil is enough to meet the demand of power or industrial sectors, rendering it necessary to turn towards local coal to generate power. Despite the abundance of local coal, an American company has been allowed to construct an integrated terminal with a 1,200MW power plant project based on imported coal.

To utilise the coal deposits, the government of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is inviting foreign investments in coal power plants. As part of its efforts, the PPP organised a conference in Washington, invited letters of intents from half a dozen business groups and set up the Thar Coal and Energy Board to work as a bridge between potential investors and government functionaries.

Similar attempts to make use of coal deposits were made by the previous government, but did not materialise. In the absence of an increase in the power generation capacity, the demand continued to exceed the supply. The power shortfall has now widened to 4,000MW.

Experts warn that the political crisis and the deteriorating security situation would result in an abnormally high power tariff. According to them, the government must stop depending on foreign investors.

Abdul Basit Mehta, who represented the German firm RWE in a feasibility report on Thar coal, says that mining coal and using it for power production is an economical proposition.

“We have not been able to do anything up until now, because it was never a priority with the government,” he said, recalling that previous leaders had seesawed between thermal and hydro options to generate power.

After conducting geological survey and hydrological tests to establish that underground aquifers were enough to meet water needs, RWE proved the mining feasibility of a piece of land in Thar measuring 30 square kilometres.

A senior official of the Sindh Coal Authority told The News that the Sindh government will shortly invite international firms to carry out a detailed study of the unexplored parts of the Thar field.

“Up until now, studies have only been carried in an area of 500 square kilometres divided into six blocks,” he said. “Now, the government is looking to assess the complete reserves spread over an area of 9,000 square kilometres.” However, such a study will only mean more area is available to be leased to investors. The real issues that have hindered investment in the coal sector have yet to be addressed.

Recently, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) issued a minimum upfront tariff of 7.8 cents per kWh earlier this year, but this proved to be insufficient. Farooq Hasan, Chairman of Hasan Associates, a local energy group, says he has hired consultants to prepare a bankable study seeking a fresh tariff for its proposed 1,200MW power plant. “I am waiting for the renewal of the exploration license.” The license had expired because Hasan Associates had waited too long for the upfront tariff.

The infrastructure of the water supply is another issue. A steady supply of water is necessary for all power plants. Studies show that there is water in the underground aquifers, but its amount has not been established. Associated Group, Pakistan’s largest liquefied petroleum gas producer, which now runs Lakhra Power Plant, had also ventured into Thar, but Fasih Ahmed, a director, said that there was not enough water in the aquifers. “One solution is to build a canal all the way to where the mine is located, but this involves a lot of capital,” he said.

 

[Neo]

Pakistan seeks China’s help to develop Thar coal project ​

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has sought special cooperation from China in developing the Thar coal project keeping in view future energy challenges of the country.

Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Luo Zhaohui called on M Salman Faruqui, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission (PC) on Tuesday at his office in the PC to discuss a wide range of economic and development issues.

During the meeting, Pakistan took up the vital Thar coal project, which if materialised, could rectify all energy ills. According to a press release, the ambassador assured he will consider bringing some other Chinese company for the completion of the project. Faruqui assured the Chinese side that the government would remove all impediments related to the execution of the projects by Chinese investors.

Faruqui apprised the ambassador that the government of Pakistan plans to come up with an integrated macro stability package in the near future. For this purpose, the government needs assistance in the next six months to bring about macro stability. To achieve this, the Chinese private contractors could offer great assistance by investing in and executing the public sector development projects announced in the fiscal year 2008-09 and beyond. The Ambassador assured that he would encourage the Chinese investors to come to Pakistan and invest in various projects.

He was informed that Pakistan has already shown some good signs of economic recovery by recording 20 per cent growth in revenue collection and 15 per cent rise in remittances. Moreover, the increase in duty on the import of luxury goods will further help stabilise the economy.

Presently, the most important sector for Pakistan is the energy sector. The Ambassador was informed about the investment conference recently held in Washington on energy. Faruqui also discussed the plan for the next proposed investment conference to be held in Hong Kong in October this year. In view of exceptionally good relationships with China, he invited the Chinese private sector to participate in the conference. He hoped to get ADB and Bank of China to sponsor the conference in Hong Kong.

Deputy Chairman expressed that the PC wanted to interact and work out an integrated relationship with its Chinese counterpart through joint seminars, mutual visits, and exchange of documents to the benefit of both the countries. He briefed the Ambassador on the reorganisation of the Planning Commission so that it can focus on strategic issues in the field of development. The basic purpose behind the reform is to develop a corporate working environment in the PC to serve as a think tank with a strategic focus and global perspective at conceptual and operational levels. The Chinese Ambassador assured his country’s cooperation in all on-going and future development projects in Pakistan.

 

[Neo]

MoU signed for boosting milk production​

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

KARACHI: Livestock & Dairy Development Board (LDDB) and DeLaval Pakistan signed a memorandum of understanding to join hands for assisting and supporting dairy farmers in increasing milk production, both in terms of quality and quantity.

Dr Muhammad Afzal, Chief Executive Officer of LDDB, signed the agreement on behalf of the board while Haroon Lodhi inked the document from the DeLaval side.

Both parties agreed to jointly plan and execute practical demonstration of mechanized milking and other farm equipment at the LDDB’s selected progressive dairy farms. Joint activities would include seminars, conferences, symposia, field days and farm visits to create awareness among the farmers on use of modern techniques in dairy farming for increasing milk production.

This MoU provides an excellent platform for both the organizations to create synergies by working together and using their influence on dairy farming industry and research bodies to cooperate in the development of dairy sectors by offering the best knowledge sharing opportunities.

 

[Neo]

ADB recommends structural changes​

ISLAMABAD, Sept 2: A delegation of the Asian Development Bank headed by Jesus Felipe gave a presentation at the Planning Commission on “Competitiveness and Structural Transformation in Pakistan,” here on Tuesday.

The objective of ADB’s research programme was to understand Pakistan’s constraints to industrialise and to transform, upgrade and diversify its economy. The findings of this analysis would be incorporated into ADB’s operations in Pakistan namely, lending and policy dialogue.

Felipe underscores that economic development requires diversification, not specialisation. He said that growth accelerations were associated with structural changes in the direction of manufacturing. For rapid growth, a large manufacturing sector is essential.

The presentation highlighted the importance of sophisticated goods and underlined that countries that export more sophisticated goods, grow faster.

It was noted that Pakistan’s exports were relatively unsophisticated.

It was pointed out that services sector was the largest contributor to output growth but Pakistan has an agricultural economy for the employment structure which has low level of labour productivity. Also it has low manufacturing share compared to successful economies. All this ends at low level of export sophistication.

In order to get the firms move from the poor parts to the rich parts of the world, a country needs to change to products that use similar capabilities. It was observed that Pakistan occupied textiles and garments cluster in the product space which is tightly connected to itself, but poorly connected to the rest of the space. Moreover in Pakistan’s case, the export dynamism lagged relative to comparators in the region.

For transformation, public-private cooperation was strongly recommended. Some policy initiatives like open architecture, self-organisation, co-financing and transparency were also proposed.

Deputy Chairman Planning Commission chaired the meeting, whereas representatives of various other ministries and officials of the Planning Commission attended the presentation.

 

[Neo]

10,000 tractors for Punjab farmers​

MULTAN, Sept 2: The Punjab government has launched a green tractor scheme with an objective to promote agriculture sector and in this regard invited applications from farmers in the province.

According to agriculture sources, the government will deliver tractors to small farmers at subsidised rates and for this purpose the government will offer Rs0.2 million subsidy per tractor.

The government will deliver 10,000 tractors to peasants under the scheme.

According to assistant director agriculture Ishaq Khan Lashari, the government has fixed quota for each tehsil across the province according to its cultivated capacity. He further disclosed that the application forms are available from DDO offices for Rs250 for each form.

Tractors will be given to farmers having piece of land ranging from five acre to 25 acres. However, the defaulters of Zarai Traqqiati Bank Limited will not be provided the facility. He further maintained that tractors will be distributed among the farmers through a ballot.—APP

 

[Neo]

China assures investment in projects​

ISLAMABAD, Sept 2: Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Luo Zhaohui called on Salman Farouqui, deputy chairman Planning Commission on Tuesday and discussed a wide- range of economic and development issues.

Farouqui apprised the ambassador of the government’s plan to come up with an integrated macro-stability package in the near future. For this purpose, the government needs assistance in the next six months to bring about macro-stability, he added.

To achieve this objective the Chinese private contractors could be of great help by investing and executing the public sector development projects announced in the fiscal year 2008-09 and beyond.

The ambassador assured the official that he would encourage the Chinese investors to come to Pakistan and invest in various projects.

He was informed that Pakistan had already shown some signs of economic recovery by recording 20 per cent growth in revenue collection and 15 per cent rise in remittances. Moreover, the increase in duty on the import of luxury goods will further help stabilise the economy. Presently, the most important for Pakistan is energy sector, Mr Farouqui said. The ambassador was informed about the investment conference on energy recently held in Washington.

Mr. Farouqui also discussed the plan for the next proposed investment conference to be held in Hong Kong in October this year.

In view of exceptionally good relationships with China, he invited the Chinese private sector to participate in the conference. He hoped to get the Asian Development Bank and Bank of China to sponsor the conference in Hong Kong. The Thar coal project also came under discussion and the ambassador assured to consider bringing some other Chinese company for the completion of this project.

Mr Farouqui assured the Chinese side to remove all impediments in the way of execution of projects by the Chinese investors.

Deputy chairman Planning Commission expressed the desire to interact and work out an integrated relationship with his Chinese counterpart through joint seminars, mutual visits, and exchange of documents to the benefit of both the countries.

He briefed the ambassador on the reorganisation of the commission so that it can focus on strategic issues in the field of development.

The basic purpose behind the reforms is to develop a corporate working environment in the commission to serve as a think-tank with a strategic focus and global perspective at conceptual and operational levels.—APP

 

[Neo]

Honey worth $3.9m exported in 2007-08​

KARACHI: The country exported around $3.9 million worth of honey during 2007-08, a spokesman for honey exporters association said Monday.

Pakistan has achieved self-sufficiency in honey production and was now able to export prime quality produce at competitive prices in the global market.

World Honey production is around 1.4 million tones while six countries concentrate 50 percent of total world production.

Senior member of the trading body, Jawed A Khan urged the government to provide help to the industry so that it could further invest in the latest technology. “Pakistan produces around 50,000 tonnes honey annually,” he added.

He said Argentina occupies the third place as honey producer worldwide, after China and the United States. Its production volume represents 70 percent of South American honey, 25 percent of American honey and 6 percent of total world production.

He said an increase in the average yield of honey per colony from 5 kg to 21.5 kg had been achieved by our farmers.

He said buyers from India, China, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan has shown great interest in making deals for honey.

He said according to record, more than 241,000 colonies of honeybee in all four provinces and Azad Kashmir were working with advanced technology.

He said the European bees were first introduced some 22 years ago and after consistent efforts now it has more than 154,000 colonies being managed by 11,500 beekeepers.

Virus cannot survive in the honey due to its quality to absorb water and a 100 grams of honey contains 303 calories, he said.

The best time for beekeeping is from October to November and the spring season, however, honey could be produced throughout the year by planting some special species of plants, he added.

He said development of new bee management techniques, production and distribution of genetically superior honeybee queens are vital to achieve significant progress.

An official of the Honeybee Research Institute said the institute provided training to people in beekeeping through different courses.

He said inexperienced labour in honeybee manufacturing could cause health hazards while the department was striving for the promotion of the use of honeybees for pollination of vegetables, seeds, fodder and fruit crops for higher yield and development of a low cost comb foundation locally to replace costly imported metal sheets used by farmers.

 

[Neo]

Pakistan seeks China’s assistance for PSDP projects​

ISLAMABAD: To bring macro economic stability in near future, Pakistan seeks Chinese assistance to help Pakistan by investing and executing the Public Sector Development Projects 2008-09.

The Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan, Honorable Luo Zhaohui, assured of cooperation in a meeting with Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, M Salman Faruqui on Tuesday in the Planning Commission. Faruqui apprised the Ambassador that the government of Pakistan wanted to bring macro economic stability immediately in the country and for which the government needed some financial assistance.

Deputy Chairman said that the Chinese private contractors would provide assistance by investing and executing the public sector development projects announced in the fiscal year 2008-09. The Ambassador assured that he would encourage the Chinese investors to come to Pakistan and invest in various projects.

The ambassador was informed that Pakistan has already shown some good signs of economic recovery by recording 20 percent growth in revenue collection and 15 percent rise in remittances. Moreover, the increase in duty on the import of luxury goods would further help stabilise the economy.

The deputy chairman of Planning Commission also discussed the plan for the next proposed ‘Investment Conference’ to be held in Hong Kong in October this year. In view of exceptionally good relationships with China, he invited the Chinese private sector to participate in the conference. He hoped to convince the ADB and Bank of China to sponsor the conference in Hong Kong.

The Thar Coal Project also came under discussion and the Ambassador assured to consider bringing some other Chinese company for the completion of this project.

Faruqui assured the Chinese side to remove all impediments related to the execution of projects by the Chinese investors. Deputy Chairman expressed that Planning Commission wanted to interact and work out an integrated relationship with its Chinese counterparts through joint seminars, mutual visits, and exchange of documents to the benefit of both the countries.

He briefed the Ambassador on the reorganisation of the Planning Commission so that it could focus on strategic issues in the field of development. The basic purpose behind the reform was to develop a corporate working environment in the Planning Commission to serve as a think tank with a strategic focus and global perspective at conceptual and operational levels. The Chinese Ambassador assured his country’s cooperation in all on-going and future development projects in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, a delegation of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) headed by Jesus Felipe gave a presentation at the Planning Commission on the competitiveness and structural transformation in Pakistan. The objective of the ADB’s research programme was to understand Pakistan’s constraints to industrialise and to transform, upgrade and diversify its economy. The findings of this analysis would be incorporated into ADB’s operations in Pakistan namely, lending and policy dialogue. Felipe underscored that economic development requires diversification, not specialisation. He said that growth accelerations were associated with structural changes in the direction of manufacturing and emphasized that for rapid growth, large manufacturing sectors were essential.

The presentation highlighted the importance of sophisticated goods and underlined that countries that export more sophisticated goods, grow faster. It was noted that Pakistan’s exports were relatively unsophisticated.

It was pointed out that services sector was the largest contributor to output growth but Pakistan is an agricultural economy for the employment structure, which has low level of labor productivity. Also it has low manufacturing share compared to successful economies. All this ends at low level of export sophistication.

In order to get the firms move from the poor parts to the rich parts of the world, a country needed to convert their energies towards more production. It was observed that Pakistan occupied textiles and garments cluster in the product space, which was tightly connected to it-self, but poorly connected to the rest of the space.

Moreover in Pakistan’s case, the export dynamism lagged relative to competitors in the region. For transformation, public-private cooperation was strongly recommended and some policy initiatives like open architecture, self-organisation, co-financing and transparency were also proposed.