Pakistan Economy - News & Updates - Archive

[Owais]

KSE index gains 152 points

KARACHI (July 12 2006): Trimming in share values allowed several punters and players to execute fresh deals in choice scrips, helping the index to rebound sharply. The KSE-100 Index closed at 9,656 levels up 152 points from the previous closing of 9,504. Volumes in the ready market were 130 million shares compared to 127 million shares recorded yesterday.

However volumes in the future market were 64 million shares against 65 million shares recorded in previous trading session. The index opened on a negative note recovering soon after to touch its high at 9681. This was followed by another brief recessionary period whereby the market fell by almost 100 points from its peak making an intra-day low of 9438.

Buying prevailed in the market predominantly due to an oversold situation. Major activity took place in the banking, E&P and cement scrips. NBP, BOP and FABL reacted belatedly on NIT's dividend pay out and surged by Rs 7.75, Rs 2.15 and Rs 1.2 respectively. E&P sector also recovered where OGDC took the lead and contributed 25 points towards the market's climb.

Ahsan Mehanti, chief executive officer at Shahzad Chamdia Securities said that tremendous decline in share values prompted some fresh buying from financial institutions and leading investors.

Upcoming results hold promise of a handsome rally, confusion related to National Standing Committee outcome that if done away hurriedly would boost the sentiment. The values are attractive and PE is also cheaper, the market men needs comfortable environment to play long.

Hasnain Asghar from Aziz Fidahusein said that the value temptation allowed the index to find support after weak and low volume opening. Although turnover stayed low through out the session presence of support in main stocks invited an across the board buying interest towards the end.

Technically index will continue to find support around 9550-9557 while over head resistance stays at 9770-9777, rumours regarding the ongoing inquiry of March 05 crisis can however disallow the market to stabilise, it is therefore recommended to focus on main stocks likely to come up with healthy pay outs for both trading and placements.

Reduction of number of participants have led to a decrease in turnover, with institutions following the sentiment index is not likely to register an adventurous move, profit taking with a view to reduce cost is therefore not a bad option, while trading positions should not be kept for more that three sessions as the built in nervousness is likely to stay for a while.

Rabia Hussain from JS said that throughout the day market remained range bound with low volumes but activity was seen near the end of the trading session when bargain hunters entered the market and availed the opportunity. Market made an intra day high of 177 points. Mainly buying was seen in DGKC, Lucky Cement, MCB and National Bank. Major gainers were MCB closing at Rs 217.50 up Rs 9.90 and NBP closing at 223.00 up Rs 7.75. Today out of 317 stocks traded 159 closed on positive note.

 

[Owais]

Equities move both ways on LSE

LAHORE (July 12 2006): Equities moved both the ways on the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) but finally settled in the positive zone amid ascending transaction volume mainly on account of institutional interest in selective shares.

The LSE-25 index improved by 89.34 points, closing at 4194.33 against 4104.99 of Monday while trading turnover increased to 30.549 million shares as compared to 26.975 million shares traded a day earlier. Shares of oil, gas, banking and cement sectors helped market recover its earlier losses while Kapco remained under pressure.

The market which opened on a depressed note remained uncertain due to lacking interest on the part of investors and institutions. However, during last trading hours, the market started improving its position due to institutional buying which helped market closure in plus column. The ongoing SECP-brokerage tussle forced the investors to stay away from the buying course. The institutions, particularly National Investment Trust (NIT) came forward to support the market and pushed the market upward.

The experts accounted the redemption from some mutual funds for the bearish move, said Ahmad Nabeel of Invest and Finance Securities while commenting on the market sentiments. There was resentment among the investors and brokers against the SECP investigation regarding March-crisis. What would it (SECP) dig out of the investigation and would it be able to compensate those who had suffered substantial losses, they questioned.

Nabeel was of the view that SECP should introduce long-term policies, otherwise new experiments would lead the market downward. The cement sector still seems to be good to yield margin to the investors because the Indian or Chinese cement has no threat to the local companies. Indian companies are running their units on 90-percent capacity against 85-percent of local companies.

He further said that oil sector is overall good for investment except Pak Oil Field whose book value may face loss on equity basis under the International Accounting Standard-28. However, its earning on enhanced capital is likely to stay at Rs 33, he said, adding that cement and oil sector would play vital role in market sentiments.

Advancing stocks were ahead of declining ones as out of a total of 94 active issues, 42 companies registered gains, 2 went down while 50 stayed glued to their previous levels. MCB Bank appreciated its value by Rs 12.75, National Bank gained Rs 9.40 while Pak Oil Field and PPL were up by Rs 8.00 and Rs 5.50, respectively. In the minus column, Kapco lost Rs 0.45.

National Bank was the market leader whose 5.130 million shares changed hands followed by Fauji Cement Company with total transaction of 4.868 million shares.

 

[Owais]

ISE index stages recovery

ISLAMABAD (July 12 2006): Equities recovered under the lead of hot favourite at the Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE) where bulls snatched the floor from the bears amid increase in index. ISE Ten index showed a recovery of 38.22 points, as the ten index moved from 2,428.38 to 2,466.60 points.

Total 109 companies participated in buying and selling activity. Majority of stocks (71) closed in positive territory, 38 showed minus signs, whereas zero companies remained pegged to their previous levels.

The turnover of OGDCL was 34,800 shares as compared to previous volume of 78,700 shares. The volume of Pakistan Petroleum was 18,800 shares as compared to previous turnover of 41,900 shares. The volume of Su Northern Gas was 6000 shares.

 

[Neo]

RAWALPINDI (July 12 2006): President General Pervez Musharraf has reiterated his resolve to overcome the prevailing energy crises by taking all possible measures on war-footing. The President called upon both national and multinational entrepreneurs to come forward and provide support to government efforts in overcoming the energy crises.

He was talking to a delegation comprising representatives of national and international power companies who called on him. The members of the delegation offered various solutions to the prevailing energy crisis in the country and discussed various emergency power supply projects with the President for ensuring supply of power in the country in emergency situations.

The President said that the government was well aware of the energy requirements and was striving to reduce the gap between the demand and supply of energy resources. He said that the government would welcome the private sector to meet the rapidly increasing energy requirements of the country. The delegation comprised David Wolter of Wolters Power International, John Canpaion of Alftom Power Rental, and Iqbal Z Ahmed of Associated Group.

 

[Neo]

WASHINGTON (July 12 2006): Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri on Monday evening said in his meetings with senior US officials, he expressed gratitude of Pakistan in respect of F16s, which has been notified to Congress. "This deal will go through," he said.

"It is quite a big package. It is between 4 and 5 billion dollars, details of which are being worked out." Responding to a newsman's query, Kasuri said the US administration "have been very positive, and they have notified to Congress. Some 36 aircraft are available: 18 new, and with an option to buy another 18 new aircraft; 26 old ones were part of this notification. They have to locate those, and they will have to be upgraded also".

"We are interested in a certain number of aircraft," he said without specifying, and added it covers munitions also valuing 4.3 million dollars. He said midlife upgradation is called for our existing fleet of 34 F16s. He stated that before the October 8 earthquake struck, "we were looking for a much larger package, we reduced the number."

The US is, however, prepared to sale "as many as we want".

The Foreign Minister disclosed that "now, we are working the financing arrangement. This is what we have been discussing today. We need some sort of financing arrangements, which we are discussing.

We are paying, what we need is financing arrangement, and this is what we need to look at and our finance people and the US side would be looking at". It is a government-to-government level discussion, he said. "So, we will work out on a lot of details. We are looking for the best financing arrangement for these aircraft."

"We explained that we had an earthquake and a lot of expenses have gone into that, and we need a more favourable arrangements for payment and we will be discussing the modes of payment," he said, adding "we discussed it with Secretary of State and National Security Advisor".

In the Congress, there is plurality of views, so there could be some objecting voices, may be, but he said that his impression is that it would get through. In his meetings with senior officials, he said, he gathered that they do not expect any hitches, though Congress has different people having their own points of view. "I think, they don't expect any difficulty in getting it through the Congress."

 

[Neo]

SIALKOT (July 12 2006): Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority is finalising necessary arrangements for the establishment of a full-fledged Institute of Surgical Technology costing Rs 180 million in Sialkot.

The official sources told Business Recorder here on Tuesday that the step was being taken for tracking the surgical industry on modern manufacturing lines.

The establishment of the proposed institute in this export-oriented city will help the industry in advancement and modernisation of surgical industry and supportive increasing the export. Besides, it will produce technical manpower in the field, which is direly needed at this juncture helping the capacity building of the industry.

The surgical industry is manufacturing about 100 million instruments annually besides the industry is also manufacturing disposable instruments, which constitutes 60 percent of exports and reusable instruments ie 40 percent of the exports.

The surgical industry represents manufacturers and exporters of surgical instruments, dental instruments, veterinary, pedicure and manicure items, tailor scissors, barber scissors and beauty saloon instruments.

The objective of setting up institute of surgical technology to develop the skill of young people as a qualified surgical instrument mechanic as well as to enable the manufacturers and exporters engaged with the industry to improve the standard of surgical instruments.

The step would not only help reduce unemployment graph but also supportive in increasing the overall production of surgical units as well as help in increasing the export volume.

There are about 1,200 small and medium surgical units functioning in and close to Sialkot and according a rough estimate more than 60,000 worker were engaged with the industry.

The Pakistani surgical instruments are most economical in the world coupled with unconditional guarantee of finest quality and world-renowned companies of surgical instruments are entering into joint ventures with Pakistani companies.

The world market for surgical instruments is over US 30 billion and Pakistan's exports currently stand with US 183 million dollars annually, sources revealed.

The surgical manufacturers and exporters were making strenuous efforts for improving the marketing and exploring new venues especially non-traditional markets aimed at doubling the surgical instruments exports, sources added.

 

[Neo]

ISLAMABAD, July 11: Minister for Industries, Production and Special Initiatives Jahangir Khan Tareen said on Tuesday the establishment of Pakistan Stone Development Company (Pasdec) was indeed a great step forward. It will set up marble cities in the country.

President Musharraf has extended unprecedented support to this initiative and his personal interest has made this company functional so soon, Tareen stated while chairing the first broad meeting of the Pasdec.

Secretary Industries Kamran Rasool, chief executive Smeda Shahab Khawaja, and chief executive PIDC Abdul Bari Khan also attended the meeting, says a press release.

The minister said that as running the affairs of the company would be a great responsibility, a professional organisation manned by competent professionals should be in place for the purpose.

As the focus of Pasdec would be on the NWFP and Balochistan, the company should first set up its outposts in these two provinces, said the minister.

He further said that the establishment of this company would go a long way in developing marble and granite sector in the country. The Pasdec will set up new Marble cities in Islamabad, Noshera and Karachi.

The Pasdec in its first board meeting elected Ehsanullah Khan, an entrepreneur from the NWFP, as its chairman, while Farrukh Munir, Abdul Hameed Sheikh, Faiz-ur-Rehman, Sikandar Jogezai, Farooq Rehmatullah, Kamran Rasool, Shahab Khawaja and Abdul Bari Khan will be members.

Sultan Tiwana, GM Smeda will serve as its secretary. Different committees were also formed to run the company's affairs.

 

[Neo]

Published: July 12, 2006


Najam Ali, who oversees $380 million in Pakistani stocks and bonds at Abamco and has brought investors double the return of the benchmark stock index, likens his investment strategy to cricket, his favorite sport.

"A really good game is not a one- day match but a five-day test match," said Ali, who manages the biggest private-sector fund in the south Asian nation and has a television by his desk just for watching cricket. "You have to be patient and you have to pick your moments."

You also need to be prepared to lose at times. Pakistan's stock market is the region's most erratic. In the last 12 months, it had the biggest price swings in Asia and was twice as volatile as the Morgan Stanley Capital International Emerging Markets Index. Ali says he should have sold more starting in April amid a rout in shares of developing countries.

Still, his buy-and-hold strategy has paid off. His stake in Pakistan International Container Terminal, operator of a container shipping facility in Karachi, almost quadrupled in the 12 months ended June 30. Shares of Adamjee Insurance, a general insurance company, more than doubled in the period.

The 3.45 billion-rupee, or $57 million, Unit Trust of Pakistan Aggressive Asset Allocation Fund, Ali's biggest open-end fund, returned 73 percent in the period. It outperformed the 34 percent return, including reinvested dividends, of the Karachi Stock Exchange 100 Index.

The Karachi 100 has slumped 19 percent from a record on April 17. The index climbed 54 percent in 2005, making it Asia's best performer after South Korea's Kospi index. It's 4 percent higher this year. The Karachi index recorded volatility of 32 percent in the year ended June 30 compared with 16 percent for the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Volatility measures stock-price swings.

"The Pakistan market has given us superb returns no matter which way we look at it," said Ali, who was an executive director at the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan before he took the helm at Abamco in 2004.

Ali runs six open-end and three closed- end funds open to both domestic and overseas investors. His top five holdings as of March 31 were Faysal Bank, Pakistan International Container Terminal, Pakistan Telecommunications, Attock Petroleum and Adamjee Insurance.

There are 47 mutual funds in Pakistan overseeing 168 billion rupees. That is the equivalent of about 6 percent of the 2.6 trillion rupees sitting in the nation's bank deposits, according to the Mutual Funds Association of Pakistan, which Ali also heads.

Less than 0.1 percent of the nation's 160 million people invest in mutual funds. The number of investors rose 19 percent to 182,663 in the 12 months ended March 31 from a year earlier, according to the association.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said in a May 22 interview that the $118 billion economy would expand at an annual pace of as much as 8 percent over the next five years. The economy grew an estimated 6.6 percent last fiscal year and 8.6 percent in the year ended June 30, 2005, the fastest pace in two decades.

The government said last month it planned to sell shares in state-owned companies on global markets to acquaint Pakistan with international investors, finance the deficit and repay $35 billion of overseas debt.

"The volatility of Pakistan is on the high side among the emerging- market universe," said John Pollen, head of emerging-market stocks at Pioneer Investments Management in Dublin. "Excessive stock sales will have a damping effect on prices."

Najam Ali, who oversees $380 million in Pakistani stocks and bonds at Abamco and has brought investors double the return of the benchmark stock index, likens his investment strategy to cricket, his favorite sport.

"A really good game is not a one- day match but a five-day test match," said Ali, who manages the biggest private-sector fund in the south Asian nation and has a television by his desk just for watching cricket. "You have to be patient and you have to pick your moments."

You also need to be prepared to lose at times. Pakistan's stock market is the region's most erratic. In the last 12 months, it had the biggest price swings in Asia and was twice as volatile as the Morgan Stanley Capital International Emerging Markets Index. Ali says he should have sold more starting in April amid a rout in shares of developing countries.

Still, his buy-and-hold strategy has paid off. His stake in Pakistan International Container Terminal, operator of a container shipping facility in Karachi, almost quadrupled in the 12 months ended June 30. Shares of Adamjee Insurance, a general insurance company, more than doubled in the period.

The 3.45 billion-rupee, or $57 million, Unit Trust of Pakistan Aggressive Asset Allocation Fund, Ali's biggest open-end fund, returned 73 percent in the period. It outperformed the 34 percent return, including reinvested dividends, of the Karachi Stock Exchange 100 Index.

The Karachi 100 has slumped 19 percent from a record on April 17. The index climbed 54 percent in 2005, making it Asia's best performer after South Korea's Kospi index. It's 4 percent higher this year. The Karachi index recorded volatility of 32 percent in the year ended June 30 compared with 16 percent for the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Volatility measures stock-price swings.

"The Pakistan market has given us superb returns no matter which way we look at it," said Ali, who was an executive director at the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan before he took the helm at Abamco in 2004.

Ali runs six open-end and three closed- end funds open to both domestic and overseas investors. His top five holdings as of March 31 were Faysal Bank, Pakistan International Container Terminal, Pakistan Telecommunications, Attock Petroleum and Adamjee Insurance.

There are 47 mutual funds in Pakistan overseeing 168 billion rupees. That is the equivalent of about 6 percent of the 2.6 trillion rupees sitting in the nation's bank deposits, according to the Mutual Funds Association of Pakistan, which Ali also heads.

Less than 0.1 percent of the nation's 160 million people invest in mutual funds. The number of investors rose 19 percent to 182,663 in the 12 months ended March 31 from a year earlier, according to the association.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said in a May 22 interview that the $118 billion economy would expand at an annual pace of as much as 8 percent over the next five years. The economy grew an estimated 6.6 percent last fiscal year and 8.6 percent in the year ended June 30, 2005, the fastest pace in two decades.

The government said last month it planned to sell shares in state-owned companies on global markets to acquaint Pakistan with international investors, finance the deficit and repay $35 billion of overseas debt.

"The volatility of Pakistan is on the high side among the emerging- market universe," said John Pollen, head of emerging-market stocks at Pioneer Investments Management in Dublin. "Excessive stock sales will have a damping effect on prices."

 

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WASHINGTON, July 11: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice underscored the importance of establishing an economic link between Central Asia and India through Pakistan and Afghanistan when she met Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, the State Department said.

Briefing journalists on Monday’s meeting between Mr Kasuri and Ms Rice, the department’s spokesman said both the countries “have an interest in building up those economic ties from Central Asia down through Afghanistan and Pakistan into India” and Ms Rice and Mr Kasuri “talked about the importance of developing that economic infrastructure”.

Spokesman Sean McCormack said both Pakistan and Afghanistan also understand that for “realizing the full potential of this economic integration,” they must continue their common fight against terrorism.

The spokesman indicated that the Rice-Kasuri meeting primarily focused on growing tension between Kabul and Islamabad which is affecting the global war on terrorism.

Secretary Rice briefed Mr Kasuri on her recent meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and told him that both Afghanistan and Pakistan have a shared interest in the stability and security and also in economic prosperity of each other, Mr McCormack said.

He said the US was working with Pakistan and Afghanistan to address their security concerns “on trilateral basis,” endorsing the Pakistani position that all issues concerning the war on terror should be discussed in a trilateral forum.

Asked if Ms Rice agrees that Afghanistan and Pakistan should not discuss their differences publicly, Mr McCormack said: “Certainly, we would encourage them, if they have any differences, to work them out and try to resolve them before they become a matter of public discussion.”

He, however, acknowledged that Mr Kasuri and Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta were “ministers in their own right and they are going to speak their mind in public”.

 

[Neo]

Tuesday July 11, 2006

ISLAMABAD: US Ambassador to Pakistan Ryan C. Crocker announced Monday additional support for the Marble and Granite sector working group to build a training center to increase the capacities of its workforce.
US Ambassador to Pakistan Ryan C. Crocker announced this while visiting representatives of the industry-wide Marble and Granite sector working group. The Ambassador Crocker was in Peshawar to inaugurate the opening of the new USAID office in Peshawar to manage programs in FATA and NWFP. This region has strong economic potential and is becoming a focal area for US Pakistan development.

He said that now, the industry suffers from inefficient mining techniques which waste resources and do not allow for high quality marble and granite to e produced. As a result, much of the marble and granite produced in Pakistan is not competitively priced.

The ambassador expressed high hopes for the development of the marble and granite industry in order to directly improve the quality of life of the thousands of people working in the industry in FATA. He said that " US is working to ensure that the FATA region develops through a range of activities that stimulate economic growth especially through provision of better training and worker health services.

The ambassador also congratulated the marble and granite industry on uniting together to develop a comprehensive and feasible strategy under USAID support.

Over the past years, the marble and granite SWOG supported by USAID has developed a comprehensive strategy that they presented to President Musharraf. This meeting resulted in $33 million in support from the President for the development of model quarries and the setting up the ’Square Block’ company, so named because with upgraded equipment the industry will be producing square block of granite and marble instead of the irregular shapes it produced before.

SWOG strategy details a plan to reduce wastage from 85 percent to 57 percent and increase product quality. Industry revenues should be increased from the current $ 40 million to $ 2.6 billion by 2015. if this happens, more than 20,000 jobs would be created in FATA and NWFP.

The working group, which is funded by the US Agency for International Development, is upgrading facilities to make the sector more competitive in the domestic and international markets.

The ambassador’s visit with members of marble and granite cluster took place at a marble plant in Hayatabad, Peshawar at the border of Khyber Agency.

Chief Executive Officer, small and medium Enterprise Development Authority Shahab Khawaja also participated in the event and spoke to the businessman.

 

[Neo]

Wednesday July 12, 2006

RAWALPINDI - US Ambassador to Pakistan Ryan C. Crocker has said that Pakistan and United States enjoy deep strategic relations, share common positions on various regional and international issues and the understanding and relations between the two states was strengthening.

Addressing an award signing ceremony of US State Department initiative of providing English language course for non-elite youth here at Sir Syed Public School for Girls and Boys Tipu Road on Tuesday, US Ambassador said that Pakistan was not only the key ally of United States on international war on terror and drugs but the two states were working with the firm commitment in improving education standards in this part of the world and the overall development in the region.


The US $ 55,067 English Access Micro Scholarship Programme contract was inked between the Principal of the school Ms Khalida Parveen and US Ambassador Ryan C Crocker.


Giving details about the programme US Ambassador said,” The programme will not only enhance English language abilities of the participants on a personal level, it will also enable them to participate more successfully in the job market which values communication skills.”


Ryan C. Crocker said that they were working in close coordination with the government of Pakistan to improve the education standards especially in the backward areas of the country.


He said that they have opened some 65 schools in the Tribal Areas to enable the children in these remote areas access to quality education. Under the Full-Bright Scholarship Programme hundreds of Pakistan students were benefiting every year he said and added that United States was already contributing around US $ 200 million dollars to the Federal education budget of the country.


US Ambassador to Pakistan also expressed deep grief and shock over the plane crash near Multan in which some 45 precious lives were lost and said that he had also lost one of his close friend Muhammad Naseer Ahmad Khan Vice-Chancellor of Bahuddin Zakria University in the tragic incident.


The English Access Micro Scholarship Programme is a US State Department initiative for non-elite youth in over 40 countries around the world.


Under this programme the Sir Syed Public students will attend a two-hour English teaching class, five days a week, after regular school hours.


The first access programme in Pakistan was started in 2004 in Lahore and in 2005 in Karachi and Peshawar.After the success of this programme it has been renewed in Lahore with new projects being started in Rawalpindi, Multan and Gawadar.

 

[Neo]

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

KARACHI: Pakistan’s headline annual inflation rate accelerated in June from May, official data issued on Tuesday showed.

The consumer price index was up 7.65 percent on the year, compared with a 7.12 percent rise in May, data compiled by the state-run Federal Bureau of Statistics showed. The heavily weighted food and beverages component of the consumer price index rose 7.78% on the year in June, compared with a 5.59% increase in May.

That component has a weighting of more than 40% in the index.

House rents - another important component of the CPI - rose 7.90% on year in June, compared with an 8.31% increase in May.

In the last fiscal year that ended June 30, consumer prices rose an average 7.92%, less than 9.28% a year earlier.

“June’s inflation data show that inflationary pressures beginning to re-strengthen, which is a cause for concern,” said Asif Qureshi, head of research at Invisor Securities.

Analysts, and attributed the rise to increases in domestic energy and food prices.

The data showed that the government has been to able to keep the inflation below the targeted 8.0% in the last fiscal year.

“Although the government is able to meet the target, keeping inflation at the targeted 6.5% this year will be a tough task,” Qureshi added. Since July last year, the Pakistan government has been allowing duty-free imports of essential items such as sugar and other commodities to improve supply-side situation and reduce domestic prices.

In the fiscal 2006-07 federal budget announced last month, the government has also announced various administrative measures to check domestic prices of essential items. It included providing a PKR12.30 billion subsidy on the import of fertilizers and urea, PKR2.5 billion on lentils, PKR5.16 billion on importing sugar, PKR2 billion on the sale of wheat at reduced prices and PKR720 million on the import of cement. dow jones newswires.

 

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KARACHI: The import of coal is on the rise in the country because of growing demand of the cement industry since it switched its plants from fuel oil to coal to reduce the cost of production.

The cement industry is expected to consume 2.8 million tonnes of coal in 2006. The industry used 1.78 million tonnes in 2004 and 2.2 million tonnes in 2005.

Pakistan imports coal mainly from Indonesia, South Africa and China. It has also imported coal from Australia and Russia, but only in little quantities.

Pakistan has coal reserves of around 178 billion tonnes. Coal reserves in Thar alone are estimated at 175 billion tonnes. Pakistan produces 3.2 million tonnes of coal every year, but mostly it is of inferior quality. Miners have to go 500-1,000 feet deep, which increases the cost of production. The cost also rises because of manual labour, which is usually short. There is little use of machinery in coal mining in the country.

There are three countries in the world having reserves sufficient for next 250 years. These are Pakistan, India and China. But the coal Pakistan produces is of low quality, which has high sulphur content. Besides, the moisture is also high in coal because of which it can be used in power plants, but not cement factories.

Local suppliers of coal are unreliable for cement-makers as they usually fail to deliver the commodity within agreed time. Since cement-makers are pursuing capacity expansion, the consumption of coal in cement plants is likely to rise to 4.5 million tonnes in 2008.

Najeeb Balagamwala, a leading importer of coal for cement industries, said a coal washing plant was being set up in Dhabeji at a cost of Rs50 million with a capacity of purifying 2,000 tonnes per day.

Local coal and imported coal of cheap quality will be washed in this plant, which is expected to be operational by September this year. Work on setting up the plant, which had been imported from the UK, had begun in February.

The increasing dependence of cement plants on imported coal has necessitated the establishment of coal washing plants to produce coal of specific standard, meeting the requirements of cement plants.

The coal washing plant would provide coal with less impurities, reducing the production cost of cement industry. Cement makers have to use expensive imported coal because the locally available coal does not meet their requirement.

The local coal lacks the capability of producing required level of heat and has higher level of sulphur content as compared to imported coal.

Coal is the cheapest source of thermal energy used in industrial sector. It has the potential to replace other expensive fuels such as furnace oil. Cement industry was the first sector to switch over from oil to coal.

 

[Neo]

Wednesday July 12, 2006

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has claimed that Pakistan has been made a stable country in terms of economy that’s why no one will cast evil eye on our country.
"National kitty has been filled and IMF has also been bid adieu. Rulers in the past used to begging money to run the affairs of the country," Shaukat Aziz told these while addressing National Population Convention in coincidence with International Population Day here Tuesday.

Minister for population Chaudhry Shahbaz Hussain also spoke on the occasion.

"The fact is that once President Musharraf has assumed the power, the country has been put on track to economic and social development. The country is heading towards stability," he claimed.

"Upto $13 billion dollars are reserved in national exchequer. Every year overseas Pakistanis are sending $4 billion in shape of remittances. The sitting government has filled the empty exchequer and now the flow of development will be diverted to masses," he added.

He promised that special programmes were being chalked out for youths to explore more job opportunities for them. "We will not deprive youth," he remarked.

He rued that population growth had touched the figure of 153. 54 figure adding that ministry of population was playing significant role to tame the rapidly growing population.

Speaking on the occasion, the population minister informed that government message to control growing population was reaching to every citizen, which bear fruitful outcome.

 

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KARACHI (July 13 2006): Outstanding balances in Special Convertible Rupee Accounts (SCRAs), a vehicle used to facilitate portfolio investment in Pakistan, during FY06 (July 2005-June 2006) ended up $358 million higher than the level achieved on June 30, 2005.

As always, the largest amount was brought in by US investors who, during FY06, added another $260 million to the level reached on June 30, 2005. Other major players included UK whose balances stood enhanced by $37 million, far less than USA. Hong Kong sprang up as the third positioner, bringing in fresh funds worth $29 million during FY06 and had been excelling UK on some occasions during the course of the year.

The next high balances were enjoyed by Bahrain with inflow of fresh funds amounting to $21.6 million. Other positive inflows ($4 million to $10 million) during FY06 were recorded in the case of Switzerland (up $9.8 million after adjusting outflows from net inflows of $20 million during June alone), followed by Singapore (up $5 million including $2.6 million received during June alone), Kuwait (up $4.6 million) and UAE (up $4 million after adjusting outflows from net inflows of $4.8 million during June alone though during the course of the year sometimes its inflows were second only to USA). Still minor inflows (negligible to $3 million) came in from Sri Lanka ($1.2 million), Guernsey ($0.4 million) and Qatar (less than even $0.1 million).

The largest withdrawals from these accounts, amounting to well over $6 million, occurred in the case of BV Island. Of these, withdrawals worth about $3 million took place during June 2006 alone. During most of the year, Saudi Arabia also withdrew some $4 million once during though otherwise it did not disturb much its accounts.

The only other major withdrawal occurred in the case of Japan--some $2 million--including $0.2 million in June this year. Other minor withdrawals took place in the case of Germany (down $1.5 million) followed by Luxembourg ($0.5 million), Liberia ($0.3 million) and Oman ($0.2 million). Philippines, France and Netherlands also withdrew negligible amounts.

In all, investors from some 20 countries remained relatively more active either by way of bringing in more fresh funds or by way of withdrawing from existing balances. Saudi Arabia was less active, while Bahamas did not disturb its account during FY06.

It is expected that portfolio investment, which stood at $313 million (including USA's $293 million) during July-May FY06 (compared with $141 million including USA's $31 million during July-May FY05) would end up higher, close to some $355 million, by the end of June 2006. Data would become available some time in the first week of August.