Pakistan Economy - News & Updates - Archive

[Owais]

UAE to invest to set up refinery at Karachi


ISLAMABAD: The UAE is all set to invest US $ six billion to set up refinery at Karachi Export Processing Zone.

Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foreign Minister of UAE informed Zahid Hamid Federal Minister for Privatization and Investment during a meeting here.

Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foreign Minister of UAE assured full support of UAE government to further promote the private sector and UAE government investment in Pakistan in the fields of energy and real estate sectors.

Earlier, while giving an over view of Pakistan's economic picture,Zahid Hamid Federal Minister for Privatization and Investment informed the visiting dignitary that due to the consistency and continuity of economic reforms and policies based on three pillars of deregulation, liberalization and privatization, Pakistan has become a safe haven for investors from allover the world.


http://geo.tv/geonews/details.asp?id=7449&param=3

 

[Neo]

Prime Minister takes steps to meet unprecedented power demand

ISLAMABAD (June 15 2007): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Thursday chaired a high-level meeting to review the unprecedented power demand in the country as a result of high economic growth and increased consumption in all sectors of the economy.

He took several decisions to reduce the gap between the demand and supply of power in the country. The prime minister approved Nepra's decision to allow any captive power plant (having surplus power) up to 50MW generation capacity to sell power to buyers at mutually agreed rates.

He also decided that approximately 200-250MW would be added to the National Transmission System. Shaukat Aziz asked for immediate availability of 21MMCFD of gas for the existing power plants of KESC enabling additional generation of 100MW of electricity.

He directed Wapda to lease 100MW power plants on fast track basis and to explore further leasing capacity. The prime minister further directed to strictly implement National Power Conversation Policy to enable availability of additional 600MW.

Shaukat Aziz allowed Wapda to replace its old power plants installed at Guddu with the state-of-the-art power plants, which would increase power generation up to 300MW in future.

Earlier, the Wapda Chairman informed the prime minister that the demand of electricity had increased by 15 to 20 percent as compared to last year and the initial projections for the years were estimated at 7.5 percent to 8 percent. The minister for water and power apprised the prime minister that the demand and supply situation would improve due to increased inflow of water in dams thus resulting in increased hydel power generation by 500MW to 600MW within the next 10 days.

Two new power plants have been added to the Wapda's generation and distribution system of which the first plant with a capacity of 130MW has been made operational while the other plant with capacity of 136MW will be operational by the end of this month.

As regard the situation in Karachi, the Prime Minister was informed that KESC was establishing a power plant with the generation capacity of 220MW in Karachi to augment the power resources. The ground breaking is planned within this week for which the machinery has started arriving in Karachi.

It was also decided in the meeting that the Minister for Water and Power would monitor the demand and supply situation of power on a daily basis and keep the prime minister and other stakeholders informed about it.

The meeting also reviewed the ongoing Independent Power Producers in public and private sectors to meet the growing power demand. The prime minister directed that the plants must meet the target date of commissioning to add power supply to the system. He said any delay was likely to aggravate the situation and would not be tolerated.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=577686&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

 

[Neo]

Rs 150 billion allocated to ADP

LAHORE (June 15 2007): The Punjab government has allocated Rs 150 billion to Annual Development Programme (ADP) in the budget 2007-08, which is 50 percent higher as compared to last year's.

The financing of the ADP includes provincial contribution of Rs 142 billion as against budgetary estimates of Rs 91.123 billion and revised estimates of Rs 128.236 billion of 2006-07; and foreign assistance of Rs 7.943 billion against Rs 8.876 billion budget estimates of last year.

It included the core provincial development programme of Rs 93 billion, special programmes of Rs 40 billion, Rs 3 billion for development of Katchi Abadis and the district development programme of Rs 14 billion. The salient features include full funding for projects to be completed; 66 percent funding for ongoing projects, and 34 percent for new projects; 46 percent of 3,290 schemes will be completed.

Special focus has also been laid on development of Southern Punjab ie 12 percent edge in allocations, funding for foreign-aided and mega projects as per plan/requirement with concentration on services and urban sectors.

Emphasis has also been laid on social sectors, that is, education, health, water supply and sanitation (48 percent), rural areas (64 percent), infrastructure investment (35 percent) and allocation to pro-poor sector comes to 8 percent.

The government's primary focus is on provision of quality education in the province and the government will achieve it through education-related millennium development goals (MDGs) by 2015.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=577721&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

 

[Neo]

TEC to produce skilled manpower

SUKKUR: State Minister for Industries, Production and Special Initiatives, Sardar Ali Nawaz Khan Mahar has said that Pakistan should produce one million skilled work force annually.

He said this while talking a delegation of the Technical Education Commission (TEC) here on Thursday.

The Minister asked TEC to submit a comprehensive programme for technical education and vocational training system to produce 1 million skilled workers annually by 2010. The plan would be submitted in six weeks.

He said presently there was a widening gap between industry and training institutes, due to the inability of training institutes to keep up with new technologies.

He said there was no balance between supply and demand of skilled workers and the government has initiated short, medium and long term training programmes to produce high quality skilled manpower in priority areas.

He asked TEC to take immediate steps to identify local and global demands and initiate need-based training programmes to bridge the skills gap for local consumption.

The Minister also asked TEC to “maintain gender balance, ensure quality of training programmes, hire experts from both local and foreign markets as trainers, use the facilities of existing public and private sector institutions and strengthen capacity of existing public sector institutions.”

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=60544

 

[Neo]

Singapore IT firms vying to invest in Pakistan

KARACHI: Several Singaporean information technology (IT) companies have shown interest to invest here.

This was stated by adviser to the Sindh Chief Minister for Information Technology, Muhammad Noman Saigal, here on Thursday.

He said the IT projects in Sindh are fast coming on the ground and pointed out that this has generated a great deal of interest among internationally renowned companies as to come up with investments in this sector.

He was of the view that investment in the IT and telecom sectors would be to the tune of billions of dollars.

Saigal informed, that up to 30 Singaporean companies have shown interest to invest.

He said owing to the policies being pursued by the President, Pervez Musharaff and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz; a great deal of progress has been made in the realms of information technology.

It may be pointed out that Saigal recently attended a seminar in Singapore. The topic of the moot was “ICT demand opportunities in Pakistan.”

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=60545

 

[Neo]

Friday, June 15, 2007

Pakistan has better telecom regulatory environment

ISLAMABAD: The first Telecom Regulatory Environment (TRE) Survey conducted in five Asian countries including Pakistan by a Sri Lanka based independent telecom research organization, LIRNEasia reveals that Pakistan has a better regulatory environment for mobile telecommunication as compared to India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Philippines.

These results were presented in a workshop on “Assessment of Telecom Regulatory Environments” organized by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). The workshop was inaugurated by Chairman PTA Maj. Gen. (Retd) Shahzada Alam Malik.

In his inaugural address, the Chairman PTA said that independent researchers like GSMA & LIRNEasia are names that motivate the telecom regulators to perform even better every time. PTA has provided a level playing field to all operators during the course of liberalization. Now, there is competition in every telecom service segment in Pakistan, that includes fixed telephony, mobile telephony, payphones, internet and other value-added services, he added.

He said that the total teledensity of the country reached 43.44 percent in May 2007, which was just 12 percent in June 2005. On an average approximately 2.3 million subscribers are being added on mobile networks each month in Pakistan, which is an exemplary growth in relation to the population of any country in Asian region. He said that mobile penetration has reached 37.6 percent of the population at the end of April 2007. Total mobile subscribers at the end of May 2007 crossed the 60.8 million mark. He said that during the first three quarters of 2006-07, the telecom sector attracted $1.4 billion in investment. Telecom sector of Pakistan is growing at an astounding pace and surpassing all forecasts over the last few years, he added.

The results of the 2006 TRE survey, carried out in India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Philippines and Sri Lanka as part of a multi-component study, provide a useful diagnostic tool for assessing regulatory efficacy. Overall, Pakistan scored particularly well on market entry and on the management of scarce resources (spectrum) in mobile sector.

Pakistan’s performance was particularly impressive because it is the country with the lowest per capita gross national income in the set. Pakistan scored higher than India on four out of the six dimensions in the mobile sector, with India being significantly ahead in tariff regulation, the study disclosed. On the fixed sector TRE assessments, the Philippines topped the ratings, and Pakistan came in third, marginally behind India. However, Pakistan scored better than India on four of the six dimensions on fixed sector: management of scarce resources, interconnection, regulation of anticompetitive practices, and universal service.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\06\15\story_15-6-2007_pg5_9

 

[Neo]

Friday, June 15, 2007

‘Mineral deposits’ use to boost economy’

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Amanullah Khan Jadoon has directed the Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP) to gear up efforts for the speedy exploration of Pakistan’s mineral resources to help boost national economy.

He expressed these views while presiding over a high level meeting to review the progress and action plan to accelerate the pace of development activities in the mineral sector.

The minister said that the government would encourage and facilitate local and foreign investment in the mining of coal, copper gold, metallic and non-metallic deposits and setting up of a steel mill at Kalabagh in district, Mianwalai.

The government has chalked out an ambitious plan to produce 20,000 MW electricity using coal deposits by 2016 and all-out efforts were being made in this regard. He said that as a result of government’s investor-friendly policies, the mineral sector had witnessed a tremendous growth during the last seven years unprecedented in the history of the country, he added.

He said that utilisation of hi-tech and updated skills were pre-requisite to enhance the rates of success in the exploration of mineral resources.

The minister said that the GSP should be equipped with modern facilities to train the geo-scientists and mineral experts in order to face the emerging challenges in a befitting manner.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\06\15\story_15-6-2007_pg5_11

 

[Neo]

Friday, June 15, 2007

Telecom sector: Pakistan ahead of regional countries​

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has a better regulatory environment for mobile telecommunication than India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, reveals a press release issued on Thursday.

This has been revealed in the results of the first Telecom Regulatory Environment (TRE) Survey conducted in five Asian countries including Pakistan by Sri Lanka based independent telecom research organisation LIRNEasia.

These results were presented in a ‘Workshop on Assessment of Telecom Regulatory Environments’ organised by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) in a local hotel. The workshop was inaugurated by Chairman PTA Major General (retd) Shahzada Alam Malik and was attended by senior executives of telecom sector, PTA officers and academicians.

Speaking on the occasion, the chairman PTA said that independent researchers like GSMA and LIRNEasia are few names that motivate the regulators to perform even better every time. The survey that has been conducted by LIRNEasia will give us insight on our performance reflected in different areas of tele-use in the country. He said that PTA has provided level playing field to all operators during the course of liberalisation. Now, there is competition in every telecom service segment in Pakistan, including fixed telephony, mobile cellular, payphones, Internet and other value added services.

He said that the total tele-density reached 43.44 percent in May 2007, which was just 12 percent in June 2005. On average approximately 2.3 million subscribers are being added on cellular mobile networks each month in Pakistan, which is an exemplary growth in relation to the population of any country in Asian region.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\06\15\story_15-6-2007_pg5_19

 

[Neo]

Friday, June 15, 2007

Lahore needs Rs 13 billion ADP to maintain ’90s lifestyle​

LAHORE: The city requires at least Rs 13 billion for its Annual Development Programme (ADP) to maintain the standard of life enjoyed by Lahoris in 1992-93, said a City District Government Lahore (CDGL) official involved in the city development plans. The official said that the standard of basic facilities in Lahore was rapidly deteriorating. He said the ADP allocations announced by the government fell far below the money required for maintaining the level of standard enjoyed in the early nineties. He said that Lahore’s share from the Rs 14 billion allocated for local governments in province would be not more than Rs 1 billion. He said that in the previous budget, Lahore had received on Rs 421 million out of the Rs 12 billion provincial development budget. He said that it remain below the Rs 1 billion mark even if it is doubled in this budget. The official said that the provincial government decided the allocation of funds for districts on the basis of 25 ‘multiple collector’ indicators including population, standard of education, health facilities, civic facilities such as provision of clean drinking water and sanitation etc. He said that after the meagre Rs 421 million allocation for Lahore in the budget of 2006-07, the district nazim had written to the chief minister about the minimum requirement of the city. He said that the CM had then ordered for another Rs 6.5 billion for the city. He said that the district nazim would have to plead his case strongly before the government again to receive a large share for the provincial capital. mansab dogar

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\06\15\story_15-6-2007_pg7_37

 

[Neo]

Doubling of investment shows strong UAE-Pakistan ties
By M. A. Qudoos​

15 June 2007

DUBAI — The UAE decision to double its investments in Pakistan to $26 billion this fiscal year reflect the strong relations enjoyed by the two countries whose foundations were laid down by the late Shaikh Zayed.

This was stated by Pakistan Ambassador to the UAE Ahsanullah Khan at a Press conference in Dubai yesterday attended also by Consul General Abdul Hameed and Press Councellor Dr Zafar Iqbal.

The decision on investments was announced at a meeting of the Pakistan-UAE Joint Ministerial Commission in Islamabad this week. The UAE delegation was led by Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The ambassador elaborated that the sectors selected for investment include petrochemicals, food and agriculture, IT, banking and insurance, real estate and pharmaceuticals.

The UAE decided to construct an oil refinery at Khalifa point in Balochistan with 200,000bpd output for Pakistan's needs and exports to the UAE customers that will create new jobs. In addition, several MoUs and protocols were signed. He said that Abu Dhabi has agreed to renew a soft loan of $265 million to Pakistan for the construction of dams. It was also agreed that the commission will meet on a regular basis and a meeting of the Joint Economic Commission will also take place soon.

Khan said that the highlight of Shaikh Abdullah's visit was his meeting with President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in which he expressed UAE's tremendous confidence in Pakistan and its leadership.

Shaikh Abdullah also conveyed warm greetings from the UAE leadership to Gen. Musharraf, stating that the UAE looks up to and admires the wise leadership of President Musharraf and stressed that stability is vital to Pakistan, specially for foreign investments, to the UAE, the region and to the Muslim Ummah, the ambassador said.

He said that the president was briefed by Shaikh Abdullah on his recent visit to the US with General Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, interaction with the US leadership and their support to Pakistan.

Budget

Khan said that the new budget was poor-friendly. He said Pakistan was fourth fastest growing economy of Asia and 10.2 million jobs were created in past five years which has led to drop in workers going abroad for work.

He said that remittances by Pakistanis in the UAE increased by 41 per cent in the outgoing fiscal year and the target for new fiscal 2007-08 has been fixed at $800 million.

Judiciary

Khan said that the government has filed its affidavits in the chief justice case which provide the other picture of the story. He said that while it was being said that home telephones of the chief justice were cut, the affidavits show that 300 calls were made and received from the phone, including by political leaders residing abroad. "We have unfortunately allowed a judicial matter to be politicised which is damaging the country's interests," he said. Stating that the media was never as free as today with 40 TV channels, he advised the Press to play a responsible role so that the vested interests cannot emotionalise and politicise the issues.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/Display...ntinent_June577.xml&section=subcontinent&col=

 

[Neo]

July-May remittances reach record high ​

KARACHI (June 16 2007): The remittances from overseas Pakistanis' reached a record level of $4.988 billion during eleven months (July-May) of the current fiscal year (2006-07) showing an increase of $851.85 million, or 20.59 percent, over $4.136 billion of the corresponding period of last fiscal year (2005-06).

This amount, of $4,988.10 million, includes $2.57 million received through encashment and profit earned on Foreign Exchange Bearer Certificates (FEBCs) and Foreign Currency Bearer Certificates (FCBCs).

According to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan, during May 2007, Pakistani workers remitted the highest so far amount of $537.98 million in a single month, against $506.57 million remitted in May, 2006, depicting an increase of $31.41 million, or 6.20 percent.

The previous highest amount remitted in a single month was $520.24 million in March 2007. The remittances respectively from USA, Saudi Arabia, UAE, GCC countries (including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman), UK and EU countries amounted to $1,319.47 million, $927.09 million, $771.10 million, $689.17 million, $392.59 million and $136.53 million, as compared to $1,119.34 million, $670.93 million, $635.54 million, $537.39 million, $400.00 million and $109.92 million in the same period of last fiscal year.

Remittances received from Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Japan and other countries amounted to $749.58 million as compared to $652.03 million in the corresponding period of last fiscal year, showing an increase of $97.55 million, or 14.96 percent.

The monthly average of remittances for the period July-May 2007 comes to $453.46 million as compared to $376.02 million during the same period of last fiscal year, registering an increase of 20.59 percent. The inflow of remittances from most of the countries increased last month as compared to May, 2006.

According to breakup, remittances in May 2007 from USA, Saudi Arabia, UAE, GCC countries (including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman), UK and EU countries amounted to $143.35 million, $99.49 million, $97.59 million, $79.29 million, $37.99 million and $13.45 million, respectively as compared to the corresponding receipts from the respective countries during May, 2006 ie $124.56 million, $86.29 million, $79.70 million, $60.09 million, $53.60 million and $12.86 million.

Remittances received from Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Japan and other countries during May, 2007 amounted to $66.49 million as compared to $89.18 million during May, 2006.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=578053&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

 

[Neo]

US provides $200 million support to PSDP ​

RAWALPINDI (June 16 2007): The United States would provide another instalment of 200 million dollars (Rs 12.4 billion) as direct budget support to Pakistan's federal Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for the 2007-08 financial year.

An agreement was signed here on Friday by Minister of State for Economic Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar, Secretary for Economic Affairs M. Akram Malik and US Charge d'Affaires Peter W. Bodde and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) mission Director Anne Aarnes on behalf of their respective governments.

The budget support was in addition to financial support provided to other social sectors and the agreement was for the third of five annual 200 million-dollar instalments of US economic assistance over five years (2005-09) to support Pakistan's investment in human capital.

Based on Pakistan's current budget, this assistance will provide Rs 3.9 billion for education, rupees four billion for health, Rs 1.3 billion for clean drinking water and Rs 3.1 billion for earthquake affected areas' reconstruction in coming years.

Speaking on the occasion, Hina Rabbani said the amount would be used to fund health, education, water and sanitation programmes. Besides, it would be utilised in the Federal government's budget and for rebuilding efforts of communities devastated by the October 2005 earthquake.

Hina Rabbani appreciated the budgetary assistance, and said the US was the strong partner of Pakistan in bilateral assistance. Commenting on the economy of the country, she said Pakistan's economy had come a long way sustaining economic growth, adding that the budget of the current fiscal year was reflective of this fact.

She said the education funds would be allocated to social sector projects, adding that health funds would be utilised to fight HIV/AIDs and tuberculosis, provide assistance to family planning and reproductive health, maternal and child health, while clean water assistance would benefit people throughout Pakistan.

She said 50 million dollars (Rs 3.1 billion) had been earmarked under the Landless Compensations Policy for October 2005 earthquake affected areas for purchase of land and construction of houses for 24,000 households, adding that one million-dollar (Rs 62.15 million) would be allocated towards a Trust Fund.

Speaking on the occasion, W. Bodde said the US government was proud of working with the government of Pakistan in improving the living standards of its citizens.

"Providing improved health services, creating economic and educational opportunities, supporting better governance and ensuring basic human security for all Pakistanis is fundamental in building a solid, sustainable foundation for Pakistan's continued development," Bodde added.

He said that 2007 financial year's economic support funds would help the government of Pakistan to meet the needs of its people by increasing its investment in education, healthcare, clean drinking water and earthquake reconstruction.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=578064&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

 

[Neo]

Budget-2007-08: Rs 198.4 million allocated for 14 job generating projects ​

ISLAMABAD (June 16 2007): An amount of Rs 198.4 million has been allocated in the budget 2007-08 for 14 employment generating projects, including new initiatives, a report of Planning Commission revealed.

In 2006-07, an allocation of Rs 1136.8 million was made in PSDP (public sector development programme) for 12 projects, which was reduced in the 3rd Quarter Review of PSDP to Rs 634.8 million, whereas against the release of Rs 103.61 million up to 3rd quarter, Rs 62.76 million were utilised.

Population of the country is estimated at 159.3 million as on June 30, 2007. Labour force survey 2005-06, shows that 81.49 million or 51.2 percent are males and 77.8 million or 48.8 percent are females. Out of the total population, 51.3 million are in labour force out of which males constitute 41 million or 80 percent whereas females are 10.3 million or 20 percent. Almost 48.2 million people are employed while 3.2 million are unemployed. The government has decided to continue some of the ongoing employment sector projects in FY 2007-08 that were started in the last fiscal.

The project of 'Training of Trainers for Skill Development', costing Rs 12.3 million aims at imparting training in computer operation, radio assembling and repair, dress making and electrician.

The other projects are 'labour market requirements and analysis system' that costs Rs 9.1 million, 'policy planning cell' with a cost of Rs 14 million, and the 'computerisation of the data of outgoing emigrants and returning migrants' with a cost of Rs 25.3 million. All these projects are aimed at exploring new job opportunities for the unemployed ones.

As the eradication of unemployment stands high on economic agenda of the government, the current growth of GDP in the coming fiscal years can generate employment opportunities.

In this respect, Medium Term Development Framework (MTDF) 2005-2010 projects would increase 6.97 million jobs from 43.15 million in 2004-05 to 50.12 million in 2009-10. As per the labour force estimates of 2005-06, the employed labour force stands at 46.94 million, thus 3.18 million jobs need to be created in the next four years to achieve the MTDF targets.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=578140&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

 

[Neo]

Pakistani poverty level lower than India ​

ISLAMABAD (June 16 2007): The number of poor is 73.6 percent of the total population in Pakistan, on the basis of two-dollar a day purchasing power parity (PPP), which is less than India's 80 percent, claimed Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan, advisor to Finance Ministry.

Addressing a post-budget seminar, organised by Press Information Department (PID) at a local hotel on Friday, he said that the 'PPP' formula was prepared by international financial institutions to ascertain the poverty position across the world. Initially, the 'PPP' was based on one-dollar-a-day and, on the basis of initial formula, poverty in Pakistan currently stands at 17 percent of the population.

He said that Pakistan was one of emerging economies in Asia. "Today, Pakistan is clubbed with high-growth countries, like China, India and Vietnam," he said.

Soon after the speeches of other speakers, the participants raised questions on government's failure to ensure electricity supply across the country. Dr Ashfaque defended power load shedding by saying that high economic growth had actually destabilised the demand and supply position.

The power demand was projected to grow by just 3 percent in early 1990s. In late 1990s, the new projections were given and it was stated that power demand would grow by around 6 percent. However, the GDP growth at more than 7 percent for five consecutive years had pushed the power demand by over and above the government projections. This was one of the major factors due to which the country has been facing power shortage for the last year, said the advisor as he was not ready to accept that the government was actually responsible for the present power crisis.

The advisor seemed clueless when a participant of the seminar said that farmers would operate the tube-wells when electricity is available. The power load shedding has actually deprived the farmers of availing government facility of providing electricity to agriculture tube-wells on subsidised rates.

Coming back to 2007-08 budget, he said that certain things, happening during last two years or so, had really surprised the economic managers of the country. The investment has reached 23 percent of the GDP in the current fiscal year, which has been really surprising, he said.

He said that the government had some more money and, therefore, it had increased spending on poor in the 2007-08 budget. Budget is actually the continuation of the economic policies. This year, the government had more money and it decided to give relief to the common man. He said that utility stores outlets would be set up in each tehsil of the country.

Tanveer Ali Agha, Secretary, Finance, said that Pakistan was out of vicious cycle. "Pakistan is the fastest growing economies in Asia. Mere economic growth, however, is insufficient and the government requires formulation of policies so that more and more people take benefit of this growth. The budget 2007-08 is a good step in that direction," he said.

He said that if CBR was able to achieve the revenue target during next fiscal year, the tax-to-GDP ratio would reach 10.3 percent. Dr Abdul Qayyum of Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (Pide) called for proper revival of Monetary & Fiscal Policy Board (MFPB).

"After the revival of the Board, which is inactive, in my view, would give guidelines to the government on containing inflation that is becoming bigger and bigger challenge for the government," he said.

He said that the 2007- 08 budget was inclined to welfare, as additional tax burden in the new budget goes to around Rs 70 billion, while the relief package is of around Rs 100 billion.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=578117&currPageNo=2&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

 

[Neo]

Major initiative launched to promote SME sector ​

LAHORE (June 16 2007): With an indicative amount of Rs 13 billion and implementation plan has been chalked out to support various SME projects which would prove to be a major breakthrough in the development of SMEs in the country. Shahid Rashid, the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Small and Medium Development Authority (Smeda) stated this in a statement issued here on Friday.

He said SMEs were the engine of growth of Pakistan's economy and a number of measures that have been announced in the current federal budget will widely translate into the benefits for the SME sector. These include reduction & elimination of duty on the priority sectors picked by Smeda for fast track development regarding gems & jewellery, furniture, marble and granite, horticulture and surgical equipment/medical devices and footwear industry, he said.

Besides, a number of other steps either to facilitate SMEs directly or to promote documentation and transparency in the sector and remove market distortions have been announced, he added. Referring to the reduction in the rate of taxation and tax slab applicable on retailers, he hoped that it would benefit small enterprises and encourage formalisation of businesses besides widening the tax net.

Reduction in duty on football bladders and glass bangles will benefit SMEs in the two clusters. Even indirect measures like tube-well subsidy of 25 percent payable on electricity charges and subsidy on fertiliser will benefit farmers and will thereby reduce cost of input for the agriculture-based industry, mostly SMEs, he added.

Shahid Rashid observed that efforts has also been made to reduce the regulatory burden on SMEs by simplification of documentary requirements such as CNIC to be used for identification purpose as an alternate where NTN is not obtained. In addition to this, the development programme in the federal budget 2007-08 contains projects worth around 1 billion, as CFCs to be established in different SME clusters to provide design, product development, training, prototype development facilities for SMEs, he added. He disagreed with the general perception about the federal budget that it was not supportive of SME sector.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=578163&currPageNo=2&query=&search=&term=&supDate=