Pakistan Economy - News & Updates

[Neo]

US to push for Pakistan economic support at G-8 summit​

WASHINGTON (June 25 2009): The United States will ask major industrialised nations to expand their economic support for Pakistan at this week's meeting of G-8 foreign ministers in Italy to help the South Asian anti-terror ally deal with the "enormous humanitarian challenge" to provide relief to millions of displaced people.

Under-secretary for Political Affairs William Burns will represent the US at a series of meetings on Pakistan and Afghanistan in the Italian city of Trieste from June 25-26 in advance of the G-8 summit in July.

"We'll put a particular focus at this meeting on what they can do to help Pakistan, in particular, to bolster Pakistan's civilian government and its efforts to combat Taliban and extremists," a senior State Department told journalists at a briefing about US participation in the meeting, also to be attended by Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia.

"The European Union (EU) had a conference on Pakistan I believe it'll be its first one in history - last week and came up with a significant amount of money, I think $100 million, getting us towards the goal of $500 million for Pakistan. That's an important contribution of a non-military sort, the likes of which we'll be looking to build on at the G-8 meeting," the official added.

US Special Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke and Pakistani and Afghan foreign ministers will also attend the meetings. They stressing the gigantic task Pakistan faces in looking after the internally displaced persons of Swat and other parts of north-western Malakand region, the State Department official said the world must rally behind Islamabad's effort as it is trying to address a problem of global implications.

The official noted that the Italians are convinced that this is a global problem and can only be dealt with globally. The official expected an open dialogue on the challenges that in Afghanistan and Pakistan at the meetings. "If we're all working together, and I think there's a significant amount of common interest in Pakistan in bolstering the Pakistani government and in providing more resources for its fight against the Taliban and other extremists, and for finding money.

"And I hope this meeting will help us work towards that goal for the tremendous challenge of IDPs in Pakistan. There's an enormous humanitarian challenge and the international community will need more resources to deal with that. And all of these countries coming together who have an interest in all of these same things: bolstering the government, fighting extremists, and dealing with the humanitarian situation, we hope we'll be able to co-ordinate the efforts better with a chance to talk about it."

Questioned if the US would be looking for humanitarian aid and military aid or both, the official replied: "We'll be looking for all of the ways in which countries will be able to help bolster the government and contribute towards these goals."

 

[Neo]

Raja Pervez vows to end load shedding in 2009​

Thursday, 25 Jun, 2009

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Water & Power, Raja Pervez Ashraf has reiterated again here on Thursday that load shedding would be eliminated by the end of 2009 through the combined efforts of PPIB, Pepco and other private sector investors.

He was chairing the 82nd board meeting of the Private Power & Infrastructure Board (PPIB) and reviewed the progress of private sector power projects under various stages of construction.

The Minister stated that present government has been facing many challenges since its accession to power in March 2008.

‘But the power shortfall has been the most crucial and critical challenge faced by the government,’ he said in the meeting.

The minister said that efforts were being made to add the required number of megawatts by the end of this year and for this purpose several fast and medium track power projects were under process.

The meeting was briefed on the status of fast track and rental power projects. It was informed that all the projects being processed by PPIB would be operational at their scheduled time.

It was noted that the failing to achieve targets would have a severe negative effects on the country’s economy resulting in non productivity and unemployment.

The meeting was attended by the Secretary Water and Power Shahid Rafi, Additional Secretary Ministry of Finance M. Razi Abbas, Additional Secretary Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources Muhammad Ejaz Chaudhary, Member Federal Board of Revenue Zafar ul Majeed, Chairman WAPDA Shakil Ahmad Durrani, and Managing Director PPIB Fayyaz Elahi, besides other senior government officials, and private members of the Board.

 

[Neo]

50pc cotton, paddy crops may be lost due to water shortage ​

Friday, June 26, 2009

KARACHI: Damage to more than 50 per cent production of cotton and paddy is likely this year in Sindh amid 40 per cent water shortage in the current Kharif season.

This year, Sindh has a production target of 3.25 million bales of cotton over an area of 0.5 million hectares and 2.03 million tonnes of paddy over 0.642 million hectares.

However, the water shortage has badly affected the sowing of both the crops across the province and growers have protested.

President Asif Ali Zardari was also informed about the water shortage during his recent visit to Karachi. According to reports, he ordered that the water scarcity issue should immediately be resolved and more water should be made available to the province.

The Sindh government has taken serious notice of sowing paddy in cotton exclusive districts and has stopped the practice this year. Paddy consumes more water and nothing would be left for cotton.

Nevertheless the growers in tail-end areas of Indus are worried that the target of both major crops - cotton and paddy - may not be achieved due to water shortage.

Reports said that Sindh would be given around 32,000 cusecs extra water daily but it has not satisfied the growers. Reports said that President Zardari has ordered to take other efficient way of water distribution but the growers have demanded water according to water accord of 91.

Syed Qamar u Zaman Shah, Chairman Sindh Chamber of Agriculture told The News that there was no other way to compensate Sindh than to give its water share according to the 91 water accord.

“Guddu barrage is our cash counter, we should be given our due share at that barrage,” he said. When there is no proper share given at Guddu, how it would reach to other two barrages, he asked.

Shah said that they were given water somewhere in Punjab, which could be diverted through other canals or would be pumped out. Measurement of Sindh’s share should be at Guddu barrage only, he stressed.

He said paddy needs regular supply of water besides cotton.

New variety of BT cotton requires almost double water than previous varieties. BT cotton has been sown by majority of growers, which requires at least 6 waters compared to 2 to 3 waters provided to other local varieties of cotton.

Not only these two crops would suffer from water shortage but sugarcane is also in the fields, it would also be affected along with minor crops, Shah said.

“We are lower riparian and the upper riparian are taking water as it was their kingdom,” he said.

 

[Neo]

Move to improve utilisation of ADP funds​

Friday, June 26, 2009

LAHORE: Punjab Minister for Finance, Tanveer Ashraf Kaira, has said that the provincial finance department will conduct an audit of all departments after every quarter to assess their performance in order to improve utilisation of ADP funds.

Speaking at a post-budget seminar organised by the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan (ICMAP), he said such seminars play an important role in mobilising opinions for assisting the government.

“The suggestions put forward by the accountants have usually proven useful for us. I put on record my appreciation for the assistance provided as and when required,” he added.

He said Pakistan has long been experiencing recessionary trends. “Our cash-strapped position caused by a massive debt has kept our economy at a low ebb.”

He was of the view that debt servicing eats up a whopping share of current revenues and said that a lot of funds were arranged through deficit financing, still some funds were left for development and revenue expenditures.

Kaira said there were a number of structural imbalances in the economic system which needs careful attention. In this regard, the government has been planning to implement home-grown structural reforms to revive economy.

Talking about utilisation of Annual Development Programme (ADP) funds, Kaira said there had never been 100 per cent utilisation, in fact it was around 70 per cent of the total outlay. “Now the government is expecting to utilise Rs130 billion out of total 160 billion ADP funds, which will be above 80 per cent,” he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Collector Sales Tax Syed Mahmood ul Hassan said that the national budget would go a long way towards strengthening the economy, creating job opportunities and bringing prosperity.

He especially mentioned some of the salient features of budget 2009-10. He said the present socio-economic problems demanded extra hard work from everyone.

Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Member Executive Committee, Shahzad Ahmad Khan said that job creation should have been the key priority for eliminating poverty and other problems.

Dr Khawaja Amjad Saeed argued that the budget was full of presumptive taxes and the unjust policy of relying on indirect taxation had continued over past eight years. This would affect masses and promote consumer economy, he said.

Lahore Branch Council Chairman, Muhammad Imran Afzal said Pakistan’s tax setup was more pro-rich than pro-poor. As a result, the rich paid less or no tax and the middle class were completely burdened.

 

[Neo]

Pakistan, Romania trade rises to $63m​

Friday, June 26, 2009

ISLAMABAD: Romania is Pakistan’s important trading partner within the European Union (EU), and Pak-Romania bilateral trade has increased from US$25.92 million to US$63.80 million in 2008-09.

This was stated by the Federal Minister for Commerce Makhdoom Amin Fahim, while talking to Gheorghe Margheru, Director General Asian Department of the Foreign Affairs of Romania, who, along with a six-member delegation met with him on Thursday.

Secretary Commerce Suleman Ghani and other officials of the Ministry were present on this occasion. The federal minister expressed a desire that increased interaction of businessmen and contacts on official levels would provide an opportunity to identify areas of mutual interests.

The delegation was told that Pakistan attaches greatest importance to its trade relations with the EU, which is the single largest trading partner accounting for 27pc of the county’s exports and 17pc of total imports.

The trade volume has been doubled for the last five years, the delegation was told. The visiting Director General said that like Pakistan, Romania is also located at a strategic point of the Black sea in Eastern Europe.

He talked of exploring the potentials in trade and commerce at bilateral level as well as at the EU forum. The federal minister apprised the Director General that since Romania is a member of EU “we would like meaningful support at the EU level, besides bilateral partnership”.

Pakistan’s major exports to Romania include material of animal origin, cotton fabrics and articles of textile materials, while imports include oil seeds, iron and steel manufactures and machinery.

 

[Neo]

Textile exports slip by 9.5pc​

Friday, June 26, 2009

ISLAMABAD: The overall textile exports1 of the country during July-May 2008-09 registered a downward trend decreasing by 9.5 per cent, when compared to the same period of last year (2007-08).

During the current financial year, Pakistan managed to earn only $8,724.05 million by exporting the textile goods as compared to $9,644.86 million during July-May 2007-08, said official data of the Federal Bureau of Statistics.

However, export of raw cotton during the period under review witnessed an increase of 27 per cent as about 76,357 metric tons of raw-cotton was exported worth $83.51 million as against 52,801 metric tons, of the commodity was exported to earn $6.53 during same period of 2007-08. The export of cotton yarn slipped by 15 per cent, and about 474,02 metric tons of cotton yarn was exported to earn $1,000.93m as against 509,991 metric tons totalled $1,190.8m.

The export of cotton remained on an upward track with increase of 17.71 per cent during the time under focus. Pakistan earned $14.48m by exporting 12,446 metric tons as compared to 12.51 metric tons at total cost of $12.3m by the export of cotton combed. Towel exports also observed an increasing trend as the export of the said product surged by 2 per cent during July-May 2008-09. About 153,995 metric tons of towel was exported during the eleven months of current financial year, while about 138,720 metric tons of goods was exported during the same period of last year.

 

[Neo]

Forex reserves up $126.8m​

KARACHI: Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves improved by $126.8 million during the last one week to $11.7 billion as on June 20, the State Bank of Pakistan announced on Thursday. Last week (on June 13), total liquid foreign reserves were standing at $11.6 billion, according to the central bank. Foreign reserves held by the SBP rose to $8.45 billion from $8.30 billion last week. Contrary to that, net foreign reserves held by banks (other than the SBP) fell slightly to $3.31 billion from $3.34 billion in the previous week.

 

[Neo]

65 foreign ships arrive at Gadani for breaking​

KARACHI: At least sixty-five ships have arrived at the Gadani ship-breaking yard from various countries for scrapping. More are expected to reach shortly.

According to a senior official of Customs, the ship breaking industry would flourish once again in the country with the arrival of 65 old ships. The country had not received such a large number of ships during the last two decades.

He said that it would not only provide job opportunities to thousands of workers, but would also provide a boost to the steel industry because these 65 ships would produce around 500,000 tonnes of scrap.

He said that government had received around Rs 1 billion in customs duty and income tax on import of these ships. The official said that the ship breaking industry was at its peak in the 1970s when up to 150 ships were brought to the Gadani ship-breaking yard.

However, the industry lost its charm in the 1990s when the prices of old ships increased and duty was imposed on ship breaking. He said that this led to an increase in the smuggling of scrap from Iran and Afghanistan to Pakistan. The smuggling would now come to a halt after the revival of the local ship-breaking industry, he said.

According to Pakistan Ship Breakers’ Association (PSBA) president Dewan Muhammad Rizwan Farooqui around 72 medium- and small-sized ships have anchored on the Gadani shipyard during last one year.

“Before the budget there were rumors about tax being imposed on the industry, but on the request of Balochistan chief minister no tax has been imposed on the industry,” he said, adding: “Now we are hopeful that in the next fiscal year we will be able to produce about 550,000 tonnes of steel scrap.”

He said that the ship breakers had set a target to produce around 500,000 LDT steel scrap by the end of the fiscal year as the local demand for ship billets and scrap metal had surged sharply.

Downturn in construction and engineering sectors besides decreasing international prices of raw material had reduced the demand for steel about six months ago.

Farooqui said that around 8,000 workers were earning their livelihood at Gadani dockyard and with this increase in pace of work the number of employment opportunities would increase.

PSBA president said that Pakistan’s ship breaking industry made available 152,260 LDT steel and metal scrap through dismantling of 34 ships of various sizes in 2007.

In the last 10 years, the ship-breaking industry had produced 926,067 LDT scrap by breaking up 64 vessels of different sizes. The industry had contributed Rs 3.53 billion to the national exchequer on account of taxes and duties during this period.

He said the ship-breaking industry had seen its peak in the 1980s when it was called the biggest ship breaking industry in the world. It used to provide employment to over 30,000 workers directly, while over a half million people earned their living indirectly from industries which used ship scrap as raw material. In 1985-86, the ship breaking industry helped the country in making an annual saving of Rs 1.5 billion, which would otherwise have been spent on import of iron and steel.

 

[Neo]

Earning target: Govt sets $280m IT exports target for 2009-10​

ISLAMABAD: The government set a target of $280 million earning from export of Information Technology products during the fiscal year 2009-10.

However, this amount was very low as compared to IT exports by other regional countries, according to the Annual Plan 2009-10.

For increasing the software and IT exports, besides attracting large multinational businesses in the country, local entrepreneurs and investors in large numbers should be attracted through incentives and infrastructure support.

For this purpose, development of IT incubators to establish IT companies and venture capital funds should be encouraged by providing them with ‘one-window-facilitation’ to start their business. A government-backed programme to establish IT incubators should also be designed.

To attract large international businesses, the local IT companies need to complement their expertise as well as augment their capacity through clustering as well as mergers/acquisitions on successful business propositions. Mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures with foreign software houses also help in the promotion of software development, software business and transfer of technology.

The system needs to be put in place a proper mechanism of incentives. This would enable the local companies to transform into world-class companies.

For the development of IT sector in the country, the government had allocated Rs 2.3 billion in PSDP 2009-10 for 65 projects. The PSDP earmarked for 2009-10 would further enhance the human resource development, IT industry development, e-government, infrastructure development, and would create employment opportunities in the IT sector.

For development of IT sector, the government would initiate several development schemes including.

National ICT Scholarship Programme: The target for the year was to provide foundation training to about 9,000 students. About 700 successful students from this foundation’s training would get scholarships (target for five years is 3,500 scholarships) for 4-year Bachelor’s degree programme in various national universities.

IT Training for Elected Lady Representatives (Phase-II): Approximately 1,500 elected lady councilors would benefit from this training programme. The project would be completed in March 2014.

Pakistan Software Export Board: The board plans to place 400 interns in various companies in the next year. The project will be completed in December 2009.

Pakistan Computer Bureau: The bureau plans to provide basic IT training to 3000 government employees.

IT industry development: In PSDP 2009-10, emphasis on improving the IT infrastructure would continue so that more international IT companies were attracted to do business in Pakistan alongside the domestic IT companies. In this regard, some of the important projects included in PSDP 2009-10 are:

Phase-II of standardisation of Pakistani IT industry would further strengthen the capacity of IT industry to attract international business. The target for the year was to support 50 companies to attain CMMI level 2, thirty companies CMMI level 3 and 15 companies CMMI level 5. The proposed cost of the project is Rs 290.7 million.

Next phase of strengthening of Pakistani IT industry through international certifications will offer opportunity to Pakistani companies of achieving twenty certifications of both ISO 20000 and ISO 27001. The proposed cost of the project is Rs 170 million.

IT parks construction projects consultancy for both Karachi and Lahore airports would be launched. These parks would facilitate more IT firms to establish their businesses in the country. These projects would cost the government Rs 50 million.

E-government: Machine readable passport/ machine readable visa project (MRP/MRV) Phase-II: The MRP/MRV system would be deployed at 10 RPOs and 40 foreign missions in the year 2009-10. The project would be completed in January 2011.

Replication of e-office (basic common applications) at 45 divisions of the federal government was being implemented. In the next year, e-office will be deployed at establishment, interior and health divisions.

Automation of Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) would facilitate its investors and improve public service at its business units. This would also provide value added services including ATM, Internet and mobile banking etc to the clients of CDNS in future.

Upgradation of NADRA Data Warehouse would further enhance and upgrade the existing system to cater for future needs of NADRA.

Land revenue records management system for Punjab had been revised with an increased scope to cover all 36 districts of the province and an improved implementation methodology focusing at Tehsil level instead of Kanoongoi level to improve the efficiency of land records management and facilitate the citizens to have better access to land records at an affordable cost.

Prime minister’s initiative for providing video conferencing facility for federal and provincial governments would be launched. Overall, there was a provision for providing video conferencing facility at 50 sites in the project based on high definition technology.

 

[Neo]

ADB economic transformation programme: $500 million loan accord signed​

ISLAMABAD (June 27, 2009): The government of Pakistan and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Friday signed a loan agreement for 'Accelerating Economic Transformation Program (Subprogram-2)' amounting to $500 million, which is second part of a larger program of about $1.5 billion, over a period of four years, to support Pakistan in dealing with the challenges created by the unprecedented international food and energy crisis.

The agreement was signed here in Economic Affairs Division (EAD) by EAD Secretary Farrakh Qayyum from the Pakistan side and Rune Stroem, ADB Country Director in Islamabad. The program will help the Pakistan government to remove fundamental distortions to support economic transformation and strengthen the financial sector.

The principal objectives of the program are: (i) to achieve a sustainable higher economic growth in the medium term, (ii) expand its social safety net and make it more targeted to protect the poor and vulnerable from the adverse impact of the recent global developments, (iii) adopt structural reforms to address inefficiencies in the agriculture sector, particularly with respect to wheat markets and food security policies, and (iv) take measures to address the energy crisis.

Rs 41 billion in the financial year 2008-09 was allocated for safety net cover up to $5 million to poor families. Through Benazir Income Support Program, a cash grant of Rs 2,000 is provided every alternate month to qualifying families based on a means-tested selection criterion using computerised national identity cards (CNICs). The Program is to help to empower women by paying benefits to the female head of the family who is required to have a computerised national identity card.

Formula-based scheme has been established with the introduction of market based pricing system for setting the support price for formers, taking into account the cost of production, regional prices, import export prices, domesting and global market conditions. The price of wheat for flour millers should reflect all related costs. In this way, wheat subsidies will be reduced to the minimum.

The Government has adopted the Power sector circular debt resolution plan which includes (i) confirmation of the amount of overdue debt owed by government and others; (ii) development of a financing plan showing when and how the Government will pay its debt; (iii) tariff adjustment and other measures to prevent reoccurrence of circular debt; (iv) measures that will improve finance, accountability and corporate governance of public sector entities in the power sector; and (v) implementation timetable and monitoring framework.

To strengthen the financial and operational autonomy of the Financial Market Unit (FMU), amendment has been made in the anti money laundering law to improve the financial market governance. To ensure the sustainability of these reforms and promote transparency in the implementation, Government shall provide quarterly progress to the ADB on the status of implementation to promptly and proactively address any implementation issue that may arise.

An action plan is prepared in this regard and first quarterly review mission will be held at the Federal and the Provincial level in the fist week of July 2009. Slow moving projects, which are causing cost to the government, will be reviewed to clean up the portfolio and bring the number of projects to manageable level.-PR

 

[Neo]

$7.5 billion aid package approved by US Senate​

WASHINGTON (June 26 2009): The US Senate on Wednesday approved a bill to triple civilian US aid to Pakistan, a bid to cement a long-term partnership and defeat Islamist fighters threatening the nuclear-armed ally's stability. Lawmakers unanimously approved the plan. The package provides 7.5 billion dollars in humanitarian and economic aid over five years, recommends that level for another five years, while tying US military aid to progress against extremists.

The package provides 7.5 billion dollars in humanitarian and economic aid over five years, recommends that level for another five years, while tying US military aid to progress against extremists. "This legislation marks an important step toward sustained economic and political co-operation with Pakistan," said Senator Richard Lugar, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The House of Representatives passed its version of the legislation in mid-June, and the two chambers must now work out and approve a compromise bill before President Barack Obama can sign the measure into law. "Pakistan is facing a critical moment," said Democratic Senator John Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, after lawmakers agreed to approve it without dissent. Kerry crafted the bill with Lugar.

Supporters of the measure say they hope it will convince Pakistanis who are deeply skeptical of US support and goals that Washington stands with them against Islamists over the long haul and has their best interests at heart. "Today the Senate has made a clear bipartisan commitment to replace an atmosphere of mutual distrust and lack of accountability with a broad-based, durable commitment to Pakistan and its people," said Kerry.

The measure separates civilian aid aimed at boosting education, democratic governance, and sustainable economic growth for Pakistan's 170 million people from military assistance, which would be approved on a year-to-year basis. It ties military aid to certification that Pakistan security forces are doing their utmost against al Qaeda and similar groups, and requires Pakistan to stop the Taliban from using Pakistan's territory as a base.

But it does not materially interfere in the country's political or judicial processes. It also calls for benchmarks for measuring the effectiveness of US assistance at a time when many in the US Congress are openly skeptical of the effectiveness and desirability of boosting aid to Islamabad.

It would also require Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in co-operation with Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, to craft annual reports on Pakistani security forces. Clinton would also be directed to work up a comprehensive strategy with Gates and Blair for coping with violence along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.

The Obama administration has chafed at setting conditions on economic aid to Islamabad, which the House of Representatives version does. Obama has made rooting out extremism from Afghanistan and Pakistan a major priority. US officials in the past have accused rogue elements in the Pakistani military and intelligence service of secretly abetting extremists.

The US president, Vice President Joe Biden and Clinton all co-sponsored legislation nearly identical to the Senate version when they were senators. Pakistani troops are wrapping up an almost two-month-long operation against Taliban rebels in north-west Swat valley.

They are preparing to launch a second front against feared Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud and his network along the rugged tribal belt. Worsening Taliban-linked attacks have killed almost 2,000 people in Pakistan since July 2007. Obama's national security adviser, James Jones, is slated to visit Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India to review implementation of US strategy in the region.

Earlier Wednesday Pakistani officials said US missile strikes had killed dozens of people in a tribal area controlled by Mehsud. Drone aircraft, which are only deployed by US forces in the region, hit Taliban positions on Tuesday then struck again as hundreds of people gathered for a funeral in Mehsud's north-west tribal stronghold of South Waziristan.

 

[Neo]

Government has to retire over Rs 83 billion of debt to SBP by month-end​

KARACHI (June 26 2009): The federal government has to retire over Rs 83 billion of budgetary borrowing to the central bank by the end of this month to comply with the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) one of the primary conditions of limited borrowing. The IMF has set several targets for Pakistan for uninterrupted payment of 7.6 billion dollar standby loan tranches and as per the IMF targets the country has to meet the limited government budgetary borrowing condition every quarter.

The IMF has asked Pakistan to curtail the net government borrowing from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and that overall stock of government's budgetary borrowing from the SBP should not be more than Rs 1,181 billion by the end of June this year. However, the central bank's latest statistics revealed that overall stocks of government's budgetary borrowing from SBP are largely higher than the IMF target. Stocks of government's budgetary borrowing from central bank stood at Rs 1,264.429 billion as on June 13 against the IMF target of Rs 1,181 billion for June end.

Therefore, to meet the IMF target, the federal government would compel to retire over Rs 83 billion during this month. Otherwise it may face some difficulties for receiving third tranche of IMF standby loan due in July. Pakistan's talks with International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the payment of third tranche worth 850 million dollar of standby loan are scheduled in the first week of July in Istanbul.

IMF has already linked the payment of third tranche with its conditions including limited borrowing, and Pakistan had agreed to implement some of them by June 30. Although, the federal government is forced to take huge borrowing from the banking system including the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and other banks to meet its budgetary deficit.

However, policy markers are confident that federal government would easily meet the IMF target by retiring Rs 83 billion during next few days. As previously federal government has fulfilled all IMF's conditions including limited borrowing.

For the June end quarter limited borrowing target is much lower than the March end quarter. As limited borrowing target for March end quarter was Rs 1,274 billion, which was successfully achieved by the federal government by retiring over Rs 100 billion of budgetary borrowing to the central bank in that last week of Mach 2009.

While, federal government had already met the target of limited budgetary borrowing for the December 2008, which was Rs 1,227 billion. Meanwhile, the federal government has borrowed Rs 401.621 billion from banking sector for budgetary support from July 1 to June 13, out of which some Rs 230.714 billion borrowed from SBP and remaining Rs 170.907 billion from banks.

 

[SinoIndusFriendship]

Pakistan is doing well. I'm glad there are so many Pakistan Military/Economic forums, without which the outside world would only think of Pak as a islamic terrorist desert haven located somewhere in the "middle east".

It's up to you guys to figure out a way to show the world Pakistan is so much more.

 

[Omar1984]

Construction of new Islamabad airport to be completed by end of 2011
By Iftikhar A. Khan
Saturday, 27 Jun, 2009 | 03:34 AM PST

ISLAMABAD, June 26: The National Assembly was informed on Friday that the construction work on new Islamabad International Airport will be completed by the end of 2011.

Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar told the house that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had already acquired 3,200 acres of land for the airport near Fatehjang, about 20 kilometres from Zero Point in Islamabad and 23 kilometres from Saddar in Rawalpindi.

Mr Mukhtar said the CAA was completing this project on self-finance basis and had provided over Rs5 billion in the current financial year.

Official sources said an additional 400 acres had also been acquired to build two runways for the first green-field airport in Pakistan.

There will be two 4,000-foot-long runways for largest and heaviest aircraft, though initially only one will be used for operations and the other will be retained as an emergency runway.

The project was announced in January 2005 after a 10-year delay due to political changes in the country and construction began in April 2007, when funding became available.The new airport will eventually replace the overloaded Benazir Bhutto airport at Chaklala, providing better access for the Northern Areas, NWFP, Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Azad Kashmir.

The airport will be constructed in two phases. The first will involve the construction of taxiways, aprons and other airside infrastructure, and the second will see car parking for 2,000 vehicles, a covered plaza area for 200 cars, a control tower, maintenance hangar, a 15-gate terminal with 10 remote gates, 42 immigration counters, nine baggage claim carousels, 12 X-ray machines, and also office and administration facilities.

There will also be a hotel, convention centre, duty-free shops, airside mall, business centre, food court, leisure facilities and banks at the new terminal.

The airport will have an 180,000 metre square modular terminal building which will initially be able to handle nine million passengers a year.

There will also be a cargo complex capable of handling 100,000 tons a year, four rapid-exit taxiways, a special parking area for hijacked aircraft, apron parking sufficient for the contact stands, underground cable network, parking for ground handling vehicles, secure cargo areas and major airport road infrastructure.

The design of the new terminal building will be an architecturally significant one for Pakistan, producing a national icon for the country.

The design will also be sustainable and environmentally sound with use of natural daylight for main lighting and sun shading to cut cooling costs as well as an intelligent main roof (water conservation) and an elongated driveway length front portal (better views and more light).

The terminal will also make full use of traditional Islamic geometric patterns in its design.

The modular terminal building will have a linear pier on each side and a centre pier extending out to serve the boarding gates.

The international and domestic halls will be located together under the main roof, which will be a simple trapezoid cantilevered from one of the two side piers with a cantilevered mesh screen trellis defining the exposed roof edge and attaching to a row of columns close to the ground.

The then president Pervez Musharraf had performed the groundbreaking ceremony of the $400 million modern airport project in April 2007, which he said would prove as a step forward to turn Pakistan into a major regional hub for trade, tourism and communication.


DAWN.COM | National | Construction of new Islamabad airport to be completed by end of 2011

 

[Omar1984]

New bus service for Lahorites to be launched today

Published: June 28, 2009

LAHORE - In the provincial metropolis a new bus service is being inaugurated in the City today (28th June) while an agreement is also being made with a Chinese company for getting air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned CNG buses.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif stated this after a briefing given by Chinese Company, Yunma Aircraft Manufacturing Company regarding provision of buses at Chief Minister’s Secretariat, here on Saturday. MPA Hafiz Mian Nauman, Chairman Taskforce Khawaja Ahmad Hasaan, Secretary Transport and Finance, Chairman Lahore Transport Company Tasneem Norani, DIG Traffic and concerned officers were also present on the occasion.
The Chief Minister said a comprehensive system has been evolved for provision of better transport facilities to the people in big cities of the province and for this purpose, subsidy is also being given to the operators. He asked the representatives of Chinese Company to provide and operate the buses. He said such fare should be fixed for these buses as would be affordable by the commuters. He said the company should also construct separate lanes for the buses. He said he will feel pleasure by signing a memorandum of understanding between Punjab and Chinese company for providing better transport facilities and it is best opportunity of investment for Chinese company, which will result in further expansion of cooperation between Punjab and China.
He said half of the buses being provided to Punjab should be air-conditioned. He said Punjab government would provide all possible facilities to the Chinese company. Earlier, Secretary Transport while giving details about Chinese company informed that company will provide 2000 CNG buses in different phases and an agreement is being finalised with the company in this regard. He informed that under the agreement, the company would provide 700 buses during September to December this year while 500 buses to be provided during January to June 2010.
Similarly, 500 buses would be received during July to December 2010 and 300 buses between January to March 2011. He said company would also set up five CNG stations for these buses.
Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif presided over a meeting on installation of water filtration plants under Clean Drinking Water For All Programme in Punjab sponsored mainly by the Federal Government. Federal Secretary for Special Initiatives, Shafqat Hussain Naghmi gave a detailed briefing regarding potable water project in the province.

New bus service for Lahorites to be launched today | Pakistan | News | Newspaper | Daily | English | Online