01

buSInESS

BWednesday, 17 April, 2013

KARACHI

ISMAIL DILAWAR

tHE inflow of foreign invest-ment, which analysts deemas an ultimate remedy to thedollar-hungry Pakistan’sbalance of payment woes, is

expected to remain dismal during the cur-rent financial year despite some improve-ment over last year.

For the last three years, from FY10 toFY12, the terrorism-hit country witnesseda sharp decline in the interest of offshoreinvestors to invest in Pakistan’s private,public or equity sectors.

In FY10 the crises-hit country was ableto attract foreign investment of over $2.86billion that in FY11 contracted to $1.97 bil-lion. The worst, however, was yet to comeas FY12 saw only $ 708 million flowinginto the dollar-hungry country from the off-shore accounts. The current financial year,FY13, which is due to end on June 30 thisyear, is also less likely to rid the heavily-in-

debted country’s economic mangers of theirconcerns on the balance of payment front.

The total foreign investment during thethree quarters of FY13, July-March, aggre-gated to $816.9 million. These figures areencouraging, marking an increase of $351million or 75.5 percent, if compared with$465.5 million of last year’s correspondingperiod.

Of the total, $820.7 million came asForeign Direct Investment (FDI), $198.7million as portfolio investment and nega-tive $3.8 million as Foreign Public Invest-ment. Investment under the three respectiveheads, FDI, portfolio and public invest-ment, in the country improved by 59, 339and 92 percent from last year’s $515.5 mil-lion, negative $83 million and negative $50 million.

If the month of March is any criterion,the offshore investors seemed to have doneaway with their hard-to-go perceived fearfor economic security in Pakistan.

During the month in review the inflowand outflow of FDI was, respectively,

recorded at $186 million and $68.5 millioncompared to $164 million and $124 millionof the same month in FY12.

In total, during July-MarchFY13 thecountry received FDI worth $1.59 billionwhile $969 million were divested from thecountry.

Given these unfavorable investmentfigures the cash-strapped Islamabad is per-ceived to be fast heading towards a pre-dictable economic disaster.

The central bank, in its two quarterlyreports, has expressed concern over thecountry’s fast depleting foreign exchangereserves that, up to March 29, have slid to$12.2 billion, of which only $7.12 billionbelong to the State Bank.

The State Bank has even based, partly,its monetary policy decision for next twomonths on the position of the country’s ex-ternal accounts keeping the discount rateintact at 9.5 percent.

While the economic observers foreseefor the country a huge fiscal deficit ofnearly 7 percent at home and a possible de-

fault on account of balance of payment, afresh IMF bailout package appears to be anapparent short-cut the country is likely toopt for.

A six-member Pakistani delegation, ledby Federal Finance Secretary Nasir Mah-mood Khosa if Prime Minister Khosofailed to appoint a finance minister till then,is scheduled to leave for Washington to at-tend the April 11-22 annual spring meetingsof the World Bank and IMF.

On the sidelines, the Pakistani team,also comprising Governor State Bank YasinAnwar, is expected to enter into technicaltalks with the international lenders fromIMF for a fresh bailout package that, report-edly, would range from $5 to $7.5 billion.

The Pakistani delegation would alsomeet their American friends to reconcile thedisputed war reimbursements under theCoalition Support Fund (CSF) that Islam-abad claims amounts to $2.5 billion. Wash-ington, however, dubs this figure asexaggerated and puts it at not more than $1.5 billion.

DiSmal fOreign inveStmentPUSheS PakiStan tOwarDSfreSh imf bailOUt Package

Foreign investors invest $816.9mn duringJuly-marchFy13

Of the total, $820.7 millioncame as Foreign DirectInvestment (FDI), $198.7

million as portfolio investmentand negative $3.8 million asForeign Public Investment.Investment under the three

respective heads, FDI, portfolioand public investment, in thecountry improved by 59, 339

and 92 percent from last year’s$515.5 million, negative $83million and negative $ 50m.

ISLAMABAD

AGENCIES

The newly-appointed Adviser on FinanceShahid Amjad on Tuesday assured PrimeMinister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso that inhis opinion the economic situation of thecountry is manageable and he would bringfiscal stability through efficiency and bet-ter administrative measures.

During a meeting at Prime Minister’sHouse, Amjad told Khoso that he wouldcome up with unique ideas to addresselectricity load shedding without impos-ing additional burden on the common

man. He said that a tight control on expen-diture, plugging of loopholes andbetter utilisation of resourceswould be his topmost prior-ity.

The prime ministerexpressed the confidencethat his adviser would usehis experience in stabiliz-ing Pakistan’s economicsituation.

The adviser also dis-cussed his forthcoming visit tothe US where he would hold meet-ings with the officials of the international

Monetary Fund, the World Bank and otherfinancial institutions.

FAIR gAs dIstRIButIOn:

Meanwhile, the PM hasurged the Ministry of Petro-leum and Natural Re-sources to accelerate itsefforts to explore new gasand oil resources so thatreliance on indigenous re-

sources could be increased.He also directed the

Ministry of Petroleum to comeup with a fair gas distribution plan

so that available resources could be uti-

lized optimally.The ministry officials informed the

PM that the total demand of energy in thecountry is estimated at 80 million tonnesequivalent of oil while supply was 65 mil-lion tonnes. The gap has increased be-cause of lack of exploration of new oil andgas wells and consequent inability to keeppace with the growing demand, the PMwas told.

Khoso was informed that the ministrywas now working on a plan to increase re-liance on indigenous resources by explor-ing more area for exploration and increaseproduction of oil and gas.

Finance adviser tells PM economic situation is manageable

Adviser promises unique ideas to address electricity load

shedding without putting additional

burden on consumers

PSO takes solid stepsto make supply chain self-reliant

ISLAMABAD

APP

The Pakistan State Oil (PSO) is takingsolid steps to efficiently meet the coun-try’s growing energy needs by making itsenergy supply chain self-reliant.Besides other initiatives, the company’sproject to construct oil refinery in the dis-trict Kohat- Khyber Pakhtunkhwa withhaving capacity of 40,000 Barrels Per Day(BPD) would go a long way to achievesuch ambitious goal, said the company’sspokesperson.The official said the facility being con-structed on about 400 acres of land wouldbe fully commissioned by 2016-17, whichwould secure Pakistan’s energy supplychain. The company has already signed aMemorandum of Understanding (MoU)with Government of KhyberPakhtunkhwa for establishment of a state-of-the-art oil refinery.The facility would be is being set up as apart of the new vision of the company tomake the leading public sector companyan integrated energy company and withthe determination. As per this MoU, the project will be set-up through a public private partnershipand will utilize crude oil from nearby in-digenous supply sources for production ofPOL products conforming to Euro IVstandards. The spokesperson said establishment ofthis refinery will help improve the overallavailability of POL products across thecountry as well as result in sizeable for-eign exchange savings for the nation. It shall also increase PSO’s operationalbase through diversification in the mid-stream segment and lower distributioncost in the related supply envelopes. In addition to these benefits, this refinerywill also help in creating job opportunitiesfor local populace as well as professionalsfrom various technical backgrounds. It is also expected that substantial foreigndirect investment will also take place as aresult of this project.

Olson says US toexpand trade tieswith Pakistan

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

US Ambassador Richard Olson on Tuesday

said that the United States was committed

to working with Pakistan to expand

regional and bilateral trade and people-to-

people ties.

He also said that through a commitment to

these principles, Pakistan and US could

build a relationship based on shared

interests and mutual respect.

While talking to leading civil society and

business leaders during his visit to the

provincial capital, Olson said that

expanded US-Pakistan relationship would

benefit the people of both nations.

He also discussed ways to expand the US-

Pakistan relationship for the benefit of the

people of both nations. Olson also visited

the historic Pak Tea House where he met

with interim Punjab Minister of Health

Salima Hashmi.

LAHORE/KARACHI

AGENCIES

Pakistan Industrial and traders Associ-ations Front (PIAF) on Tuesday soughtthe Chief Justice of Pakistan’s helpagainst load shedding due to which in-dustrial production has nosedived toalarmingly low levels.

In a statement, PIAF ChairmanMalik Tahir Javaid said that industrial-ists have knocked every door for theprovision of electricity to the industrialsector but unfortunately there is no letup in the power outages. He said thatthe power outages were not only de-priving the industrial workers of theirlivelihood but also causing considerablefinancial loss to the industry as a whole.

He said the two hours power cutafter every hour has brought the indus-trial wheel to a halt as the industryneeds at least eight hours regular supplyof electricity to complete processes butthe people sitting at helm are least con-cerned about it because they are gettinguninterrupted power supply both athome and at their workplace.

KCCI ExpREssEs COnCERn

OvER EIgHt-HOuR LOAd

sHEddIng nOtICE: Separately,Karachi Chamber of Commerce & In-dustry (KCCI) President MuhammadHaroon Agar has expressed concernover announcement of eight-hour loadshedding in all the industrial areas ofKarachi due to alleged drastic reductionin gas supply by the Sui-Southern GasCompany (SSGC).

Agar said that KESC’s power loadshedding of two spells of four hourseach in the morning and evening hascrippled the industrial activities in allthe seven industrial zones. He said that

in the present economic scenario, theindustries which are already facing sev-eral hardships owing to gas outages andlow gas pressure, multiplicity of taxesand high operational costs, cannot af-ford power load shedding causingheavy financial losses and further in-crease in the operational costs.

“The export-oriented industries arefatally hit by this abrupt and prolongedpower load shedding inflicting severehindrance in timely completion of ex-port orders and an upshot in the cost ofproduction,” he said.

PIAF seeks CJ’s help against power cuts

The caretaker government does not have the

mandate to negotiate with IMF. – Senator Ishaq Dar

LAHORE: The Lahore Stock Ex-change (LSE) in collaboration withSouth Asian Federation of Exchange(SAFE) held 2nd session of CampusOutreach Programme for the MBA stu-dents at Hailey College of Banking &Finance (HCBF) on Tuesday.

LSE Managing Director and ChiefExecutive Officer Aftab AhmedChaudhry was the chief guest at the

event, while Madiha Ibrahim from In-vestor Relations Department LSE ex-plained the financial products andservices and opportunities available toinvestors in Pakistan and the roles & re-sponsibilities being performed by vari-ous financial institutions.

Madiha outlined the operationalmatters of the Exchanges including list-ings, trading, corporate governance,

sensitivity of Stock Market and investorprotection.

Students were given an insightabout various investment avenues avail-able in the market and their role in theeconomic system of the country. Shealso highlighted the complex and boardfeatures of derivatives product (Futures,Options, Stock Index Futures) availablein Capital markets. APP

LSE’s financial literacy session for students

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buSInESSWednesday, 17 April, 2013

ISLAMABAD: PTCL Board Chairman Shahid

Rashid presides over the PTCL 18th Annual

General Meeting (AGM). PR

Ptcl holds 18th agm to discuss progressISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication

Company Limited (PTCL) held its 18th Annual

General Meeting (AGM) in Islamabad to apprise the

company shareholders about various ongoing

activities, results and achievements of the past

financial year as well as discussing areas of

improvement for future growth of the company. In

his opening remarks Shahid Rashid, Chairman PTCL

Board informed the shareholders that the company

has taken significant steps to synergize PTCL’s

Group resources and initiated various processes to

enhance profitability which has resulted in strong

financial performance during the period of past six

months as compared to the same period of last

year. “In order to meet our customers’ expectations

and their appetite for latest services; we are

focused to utilize our core competencies to capture

the opportunities that shall result in further growth

and development of company’s business. The

company has expanded its broadband market share

and its revenues have witnessed a remarkable

growth during the last six months. The subscriber

base of wireless broadband product range ‘EVO’ has

increased as well as the revenue from corporate

services”, said Mr. Shahid Rashid. President and

CEO PTCL, Walid Irshaid while assuring the

shareholders stated, “At PTCL, we are putting

conscientious efforts to drive diverse business

avenues and maximize our shareholders’ value in

the long term by innovation and superior customer

experience.” The shareholders were informed that

during the period under review, PTCL won the

prestigious ‘3rd Global HR Excellence Award 2012’

for its outstanding achievements and organizational

performance in HR. PR

Plan your travel to Dubaiuntil august on emiratesLAHORE: With something to offer every traveller,

whether it be soaking up the sunshine on golden

sandy beaches or fuellinga passion for shopping, a

dream getaway in Dubai is within reach on Emirates

with special package deals for travel until August.

Renowned for its iconic skyline, warm Arabian

waters, gourmet dining options and nearby desert

adventures, Dubai exceeds visitor’s expectations at

every turn. From family fun options such as water

parks, marine animals, amusement rides and parks

to sophisticated shopping, innovative restaurants

and five-star luxury, no traveller gets bored in this

cosmopolitan city. With special fares for travel to

Dubai, Emirates invites customers to experience the

best the city has to offer while not breaking the

budget. In addition, passengers will enjoy Emirates’

award-winning onboard product and service and

stay entertained with up to 1,400 channels of

programming on Emirates inflight entertainment

system, ice Digital Wide-Screen; making the

journey as memorable as the destination. PR

icPD hosts firstgraduation ceremony

KARACHI: The Institute for Career and Personal

Development hosted its first graduation ceremony on

the 13th of April, from 4 to 6 pm. Certificates of

completion of the Core Work Skills Program offered

by the Institute were handed out to the inaugural

graduating batch of 20 students. Syed Babar Ali, a

prominent industrialist and educationalist from

Lahore who is also a member of the Board of

Advisors of ICPD, was the chief guest at the event.

Muhammad Aasim, a textile engineer from Mehran

University Jamshoro, was declared the top student of

the program. The Institute for Career and Personal

Development (ICPD) is a non-profit organization

aiming to bridge the gap between an individual’s

academic life and professional career by helping

her/him develop the universal core work skills and

attitudes that are demanded by employers and are

essential for professional success. Prominent guests

at the event included Faraz Khalid Sheikh, CEO

United Foam industries, Tahir Jawaid, Senior VP

Engro, Nauman Ahmad Khan, Managing Director Al-

Moiz Industries, Anjum Anis Ansari, Group President

PepsiCo franchises and Omer Farooq Khan, CEO

Punjab Beverages. Other representatives from the

corporate and education sectors were also present. PR

easypaisa launches‘khushaal munafa’ ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s premier branchless

banking service, Easypaisa has launched Khushaal

Munafa, the first savings product on a branchless

banking platform offering monetary returns to its

Easypaisa Mobile Account customers. The launch of

Khushaal Munafa is yet another important step

towards the financial inclusion of rural and semi-

urban Pakistanis, many of whom have no choice

today but to save their funds in informal savings.

Khushaal Munafa offers Easypaisa Mobile Account

customers a profit of up to 9% on saving Rs. 2,000

or more in their Mobile Accounts. The profit offered

by Khushaal Munafa is also unique in the sense that

it is calculated on a daily basis and the profit is

transferred in the mobile accounts at the end of

each month. Khushaal Munafa is available to both

existing and new Mobile Account customers.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Roar Bjaerum, Chief

Financial Services Officer at Telenor Pakistan said,

“Savings are an integral part of financial inclusion

and Khushaal Munafa will allow Easypaisa Mobile

Account customers to absorb fluctuations in daily

income and financial shocks. This product will focus

on micro savings, reducing vulnerability of low

income families to unexpected events and promote

savings as a way to increase their opportunities to

grow and improve quality of lives.” Mr. Nadeem

Hussain, CEO and President, Tameer Micro Finance

Bank limited said: “Khushaal Munafa will help

create a financial ecosystem for the bottom of the

pyramid and empower them with the basic rights to

avail services that provide an affordable and

convenient method of integration into the world of

financial services.” PR

JS bank selects Oracle to cut costsKARACHI: JS Bank Limited, a subsidiary of

Pakistan’s most progressive financial service groups -

JS Group, has selected Oracle Exadata Database

Machine X3 to provide an integrated platform to run

its card and core banking applications, with the

objective of supporting rapid growth and enhancing

system performance. Oracle Exadata Database

Machine X3 provides the Bank with a robust, scalable

and integrated platform to support its mission critical

applications, and at the same time, reduce overall

operational costs by consolidating on an integrated

platform. “A scalable, reliable and highly available

platform capable of delivering extreme system

performance was our basic need to respond to the

growing opportunities and grow our business

rapidly,” said Imran Soomro, CIO, JS Bank. PR

Zebai lawn launched

KARACHI: Zebai Lawn is a product of Mahmood Group

is one o the largest vertically integrated textile giants of

Pakistan. Since its inception in 1935 in pre-partition

India as a leather tanner, it’s commitment as a quality

manufacturer is known world over in different business

circles. Its entry in textile manufactories in various

cotton growing areas of the country. Since then, it has

expended both in terms of quantity and quality. Having

established spinning (yarn) and weaving (cloth/Fabriq)

mills on one side, its ISO approved Quality control

measures have placed it as a top player in the mind of

its customers the world over. PR

mcb customers to getfacilities at hashoogroup’s hotels

KARACHI: MCB Limited has signed a MoU with

Hashoo Group to provide exclusive facilities to its

privileged customers at hotels across country.

According to the MOU signed by Sohail Malik Head of

Alliances MCB Bank Limited and Musharraf Riaz,

Director Sales & Marketing Hotel One (Pvt) Limited,

Hashoo Group will offer special discounted rates to

MCB Bank debit, credit and lite card holders for using

various services at Fortalice Hotel based in

Islamabad and Multan and Hotel One Islamabad,

Lahore, Faisalabad, Karachi, Hyderabad, Sialkot and

Multan. MCB customers having different cards could

get amazing discounted rates on lavish food at

different restaurants of the above hotels and can also

enjoy food, beverages and bakery items at discount

rate of 10 to 15 percent. Moreover, the card holders

could get room on 50 percent discount and can also

get 15 percent discount on every business meet-ups

at Banquet Hall of Fortalice Hotel and Hotel One. PR

CORPORATE CORNER

02

B

Major Gainers

COMPANY OPEN HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE TURNOVERWyeth Pak ltd Xd 1187.06 1199.00 1129.01 1199.00 11.94 1,350murree Brewery 210.01 220.51 213.00 220.51 10.50 19,500gillette Pak 195.00 204.75 204.75 204.75 9.75 2,000shield corporation 146.00 153.30 153.30 153.30 7.30 300mcB Bank ltd. 199.51 204.40 199.51 203.89 4.38 282,700

Major Losersunilever Food Xd 5013.41 4900.00 4800.00 4800.00 -213.41 40sanofi-aventis sPot 463.00 440.10 440.10 440.10 -22.90 100mithchellsFruit 360.05 349.99 342.05 342.05 -18.00 800Bhanero tex. 333.90 320.50 317.25 317.25 -16.65 300Philip morris Pak. 308.17 298.00 292.77 292.77 -15.40 30,400

Volume Leaders

trg Pakistan ltd. 8.01 8.60 7.90 8.32 0.31 24,005,500Pak elektron ltd. 12.04 13.04 11.41 11.60 -0.44 19,177,000maple leaf cement 17.58 18.27 17.10 17.39 -0.19 16,380,000engro corporation 134.00 135.76 129.35 130.54 -3.46 8,388,000P.i.a.c.(a) 6.12 6.85 6.01 6.66 0.54 7,217,000

Interbank Ratesusd PKr 98.3294gBP PKr 150.5619JPy PKr 1.0026euro PKr 128.5066

ForexBUY SELL

us dollar 99.20 99.45 euro 128.97 129.23 great Britain Pound 150.02 150.28 Japanese yen 0.9971 1.0075 canadian dollar 95.44 97.14 hong Kong dollar 12.49 12.72 uae dirham 26.75 27.00 saudi riyal 26.25 26.50

ISLAMABAD

AGENCIES

FEARING shortfall inrevenue collection,the government hasfurther revised therevenue collection

target to Rs 2,116 billion from ear-lier Rs 2,193 billion, reflecting ashortfall of more than Rs 77 billion.

According to reports, the Fed-eral Board of Revenue would for-mally inform the InternationalMonetary Fund in the next fewdays about revision in revenue col-lection target.

This will be the third straightdownward revision in the revenuecollection target.

First it was revised to Rs 2, 231billion for 2012-13 from earlierprojected budgetary target of Rs 2,381 billion. For the second time,the revenue collection target wasrevised downward to Rs2, 193 bil-lion.

The revenue shortfall would beone of the major concerns for fundmanagers to be raised during the re-view of the economic indicators ofPakistan scheduled for April 17 to22 in Washington.

In the first nine months, FBR

collected Rs 1,352 billion this yearas against Rs 1,259 billion over thecorresponding months of last year,showing an increase of 7.3 percent.

According to the tax official,the new target of Rs 2,116 billion isstill ambitious, but theFBR has no other op-tion but to pursueit.

H o w -ever, thetax offi-cial saidthat then e wt a r g e tw a sworkedo u twi thoutthe rev-enue im-pact of thetax amnestyschemes.

All federal taxesare way behind from theirrespective targets for the currentfiscal year, excluding collectionfrom customs duties.

If the situation remains politi-cally unstable during the post-elec-tion period, the collection of

revenue in the next two months ofthe current fiscal year would dete-riorate further.

However, the FBR is expectingthat the new government after elec-tions would announce the tax

amnesty scheme whichwould not only raise

additional rev-enue, but also

increase thetax base

to fivemilliont a x -p a y -ers.

How-ever, it

seems thatthe FBR may

not reach closer tolast year’s collection of

Rs 1,883 billion, which remainedshort by Rs 70 billion of originaltarget of Rs 1, 952 billion.

The new FBR chairman, AnsarJaved, has also taken a serious no-tice of the fall in revenue and

started marathon meetings withinthe FBR.

An official statement the otherday claimed that the performanceof large taxpayers units (LTUs) andregional tax offices (RTOs) was ex-amined, and the chief commission-ers were directed to devolvestrategies to achieve the freshly as-signed budget targets.

The chairman also directed theMember Inland Revenue Service(IRS) to immediately issue lettersto all RTOs and LTUs highlightingtheir performance and achieve-ments / shortfalls and directed thatremedial strategies be made to en-sure collection of the assigned tar-gets for the last quarter ending June30. The tax official said that FBRhad already raised around Rs16.034 billion from the regularisa-tion of the 51,000 smuggled vehi-cles. Similarly, FBR recoveredaround Rs 4.5 billion arrears fromtextile manufacturers.

“We are expecting that the newgovernment will announce anamnesty scheme for taxpayers’ reg-ularization in May,” the tax officialsaid. In case, the new governmentannounces the scheme, the revenuecollection target would be achievedeasily.

govt brings down revenuetarget to meet rs 77b shortfall

This will be the third straight downward revision in the revenue

collection target. First it was revised to Rs 2, 231 billion

for 2012-13 from earlier projected budgetary target of Rs 2, 381 billion. For the second time, the revenue

collection target was revised downward to Rs 2, 193 billion.

Power outages are not only depriving the industrial workers of

their livelihood but also causing considerable financial loss to the

industry as a whole. – PIAF Chairman Malik Tahir Javaid

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