profit.com.pk

So what are we doingabout the PSEsagain? Page 2

Friday, 13 April, 2012

WHAT ruling should a donoragency give a country withcrippling energy shortage,

cheap exports, expensive imports,dysfunctional tax collection machineryand hemorrhaging public sectorenterprises? There’s no novelty inADB’s annual development outlook.Yet listing Pakistan’s problems as theystand, its complicated web of debt,deficits and corruption, is a soberingreminder that minus IMF partnership,other bi- and multi-lateral agencieswill no doubt distance themselvesfrom Islamabad. And here’s the simple thesis. Persistentenergy shortage has shaved a goodthree to four percentage points off theGDP number in the last couple offiscals, hence the compromised growthrate. The bank’s prescription –investment – is no doubt the rightmedicine, but energy problems (amongother things) rule out foreign interest,while government borrowing does agood job of crowding out indigenousinitiatives. And of course, the countryneeds a business plan. Which brings usright back to energy, without which anyplan will be words on paper at best.There’s also mention of PSEs losinguntold billions with nothing to show.Yes, that too must be checked.The government’s version is a lot lessimaginative. First we inherited abroken down energy sector from theprevious government, then viciousfloods wreaked havoc on the GDPnumber. Just why these constraintsfailed to prevent the finance ministerfrom boasting ambitious targets at thelast budget, or how natural disasterskeep political appointees anchored inPSEs is, and will remain, withoutanswer. now, so close to the nextgeneral vote, it is foolish to expectmovement on anything that mightupset party cadres, so we can forgetabout checking leakages. Yet the energyproblem will pose a big question whenpeople go to the polls. For some timenow general elections far and widehave been vote-out events instead ofvote-in features. Failing to get a handleon persistent power failures, theelection is as good as lost. So somethingmight just get done there. Did the ADBmention that?

comment

AdB’s revelation

NEW DELHI

GHULAM ABBAS

‘LIFE Style Pakistan’ exhibitionthe country’s first ever megaevent in India, has opened inDelhi on Thursday with the

hope and expectation that the trade tiesbetween the two South Asian neighborswould be improved further in the interestof the people on both sides.The exhibition was formally inauguratedby Indian Minister for Commerce andIndustry Anand Sharma her at PragatiMaidan. He was accompanied byPakistani Commerce Secretary ZafarMehmood, Chief Executive TradeDevelopment Authority of Pakistan(TDAP), Speaker Sindh Assembly nisarKhohro and others. The first ‘Lifestyleexhibition was opened with over 100 topbrands and designers fromPakistanshowcasingtheir wares invariouscategories likefashion, textiles,jewellery,designer furnitureleather goods andothers.To attend theimportant event andscheduled traderelated meetings, over650 Pakistanibusinessmen havearrived here. A largenumber of Indianvisitors also seen in theexhibition showing their keen interest inthe Pakistani made ups specially lawnand other textile items.This was the first collaborative exhibitionof TDAP and India Trade PromotionOrganisation (ITPO). There has been lotof movement in trade in the last one year;the (trade) normalization process wasgoing on at various levels.A NEW CHAPTER OF TRADE TIES:

Addressingtheopeningceremonyof theevent,

Anand Sharmasaid that the present

exchange of trade delegations,exhibitions, business to businessmeetings and business forums being heldamong the businessmen of the two sideswere the result of the initiatives taken bythe two governments through the tradetalks started at secretary commerce level.“Generations have suffered by thebitter relations of the two countries andnow it is our responsibility to save thepresent and next generations throughencouraging economic integrations” hesaid adding that “we have no other

option left”. “We have opened a newchapter in the history of India andPakistan and our daughters and sonsshould not miss the opportunities oftrade and economic activities” Timehas taught us to take courageousdecisions. not only the governmentlevel but the linkages should also bestrongly developed among tradebodies, associations and chambers ofthe two countries. The current bilateralvolume of trade, he said, was howeveraround $3 billion but indirect andundocumented trade was more thanthe official and registered tradebetween the two neighbors.The two sides should also play theirrole to develop the regional tradefollowing the way other countriessuccessfully made regionalorganization like EU, ASEAn.

SECOND GATE AT WAGAHATTARI: Indian minister informed thatthe second cargo terminal of WagahAttari at Wagah Border would be openedon April 30, and the gate would bededicated to the businessmen of bothcountries. He also said that more routesshould be opened for trade between thetwo countries.ELECTRICITY IMPORT FROMINDIA: Sharma further said that a jointgroup has also been made to see thepossibilities of electricity supply toPakistan and trade in petroleum sector.He further said that Indian nationalinstitute if design and it counter part inPakistan can also start a professionalinteractions for developing more valueadded designs in the fashion industryboth sides. The same interaction andlinkages also needed in other sectors.

Building bridges with style

ISLAMABAD

AMER SIAL

In a perplexing decision the EconomicCoordination Committee of the Cabinet (ECC)on Thursday decided to allow import of300,000 tons of urea for the current Kharif

crop even though the meeting was informed that thecountry has available stocks of 3.5 million tons ascompared to estimated off take of 3.2 million tons.According to an official source, the ECC meetingheld under the chairmanship of Finance MinisterDr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh allowed import of half thequantity even though Ministry of Industries hadsought permission for importing 600,000. TheIndustries Ministry took the plea that the importwas necessitated due to gas shortages and theimported commodity could be used as inventory forRabi crop requirements later this year.The Kharif season started with an inventory of 0.85million tons and domestic production is estimated

to remain 2.7 million tons but it was subject to gasavailability. The committee was informed that forurea imports, $ 100 million Saudi Basic IndustriesCorporation (SABIC) facility was available alongwith $ 21 million non project grant aid from Japan.The source said after intervention from a ministerfrom Balochistan, the committee directed import ofat least 150,000 tons of urea from the Gwadar port.The government has already imported 1.3 milliontons of urea for Rabi crop requirements. The meeting discussed 12 summaries of theMinistry of Petroleum relating to various projectslike LPG air mix, signing of gas sale purchaseagreement (GSPA) for the Turkmenistan,Afghanistan, Pakistan, India (TAPI) gas pipelineproject and gas infrastructure developmentschemes. The source said that most of theparticipants of the meeting were unable tocomprehend the complex petroleum related issues,while the Petroleum Minister Dr. Asif Hussainrigidly stressing there approve claiming that therewas no other option other than what was proposed

by the ministry. ECC approved the signing of GSPA for TAPI gaspipeline project. The GSPA is expected to be signedon April 19 in Ashgabat. The meeting was informedthat a steering committee headed by Minister forWater and Power was working for determination ofprice of gas pipeline. The committee decided to setup a committee to determine the cost of pipeline inPakistani territory. It asked the Minister forPetroleum to make full presentation to the steeringcommittee as well as to ECC. The steeringcommittee should meet regularly, the FinanceMinister asked the members of steering committee.The source said that Minister for Ports andShipping Babar Ghouri stressed early completion ofthe TAPI project to overcome gas shortages.Discussion the summary for financing of gasinfrastructure development schemes, the committeereiterated the decision of Energy Conference heldon April 9 for putting complete ban on newconnections. The committee decided to consult theMinistry of Law on the new schemes as it waspointed out that the exploration and productionalso fell under the domain of provinces. ThePetroleum Ministry proposed to take the matter tothe Council of Common Interests for decision.The committee approved in principle the proposalregarding amending the policy guidelines on LPGAir Mix, CnG or LnG based pipeline distributionprojects undertaken by the Sui northern GasPipelines Limited and Sui Southern Gas CompanyLimited. The source said that some membersexpressed serious reservations over the massive

increase in gas price due to proposal of thePetroleum Ministry advocating calculating gasprices on weighted average. Petroleum Ministry’sproposal had said that the price was likely to goup by two percent or Rs 6 per MMBTU fromcurrent price of 309 MMBTU if 10 MMCFDsystem was started.However, a few members expressed apprehensionssaying that the weighted average formula wouldincrease the price massively, which they estimatedover 3000 percent and not by mere 30 percent asproposed by the Petroleum Ministry. The arguedthat the gas prices would increase by Rs 89MMBTU for a system of 150 MMCFD capacity.They recommended using only the domestic LPGfor the projects. The committee decided toconstituted a sub-committee comprising PetroleumMinister, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission,Secretary Finance, Secretary Economic AffairsDivision and Secretary Petroleum to furtherdeliberate on the economic costing as well as theimpact of final consumer price beforeimplementing the policy and committee willpresent the recommendation to the ECC.Regarding the summary for pursuing internationalexploration appointments by Pakistan PetroleumLimited (PPL), ECC directed the PetroleumMinistry to follow the existing procedure prescribedunder F.E. Circular no.12 of the State Bank ofPakistan. The meeting was attended by ministersfor petroleum, water and power, ports andshipping, railways, textiles and secretaries of theconcerned ministries and divisions.

AirheAds

ecc’s brain goes on a walk-aroundn Despite surplus ECC approves import of 300,000 tonnes of Urea for Kharifn Approves signing of GSPA for TAPI n Complete ban on gas connection to new schemes

chic!

g lifestyle pakistan exhibition inaugurated by Anand sharma g 0ver 650 pakistani businessmen attend 4-dayevent in delhi g touted as the jumping board towards more trade deals and mous

NEW DELHI

GHULAM ABBAS

In the post MFn regime India andPakistan are expected to formallyannounce the finalisation of a new

visa regime by next month to facilitatethe businessmen on both sides. Allarrangements and necessary thingsrelated to the business visa have inprinciple, been finalized by the twocountries and the formal announcementwas likely to be made by next monthafter approval from the concerned

authorities like theInterior Ministry ofPakistan and theHome Ministry ofIndia. This wassaid by SecretaryCommerce ZafarMahmoodwhile talkingmedia here

after the inaugural function of the four-day ‘Lifestyle Pakistan’ exhibition onThursday. After the facility, he informed,that businessmen from either countrywould get visa for more than one yearand that too for more number of cities.In reply to a query, he said that themeeting between the Interior Ministry ofPakistan and the Home Ministry ofIndia was likely to be taken place by theend of this month or in May. Talking toPakistan Today, Rajya Vardhan Kanoria,President Federation of IndianChambers of Commerce and Industrysaid that the Visa on Arrival was alsolikely to be allowed to the senior citizenssoon. As there also a pressure ongovernment to make the visa processeasy, Delhi may also consider bringsome changes in the strict visa processwhich was one of the hurdles inbusiness and trade activities betweenthe two countries. Another developmentin the business ties of the two countries,

he said would be to allow theinvestment in both countries. Positivedevelopment in this regard was alsoexpected soon, he added. Talking toPakistan Today head of TDAP, TariqPuri, said that the authority with theclosed cooperation of ITPO and FICCIhas successfully arranged the eventwhich was be attended by over 650businessmen from Pakistan. TDAP hasreciprocated the first ever Indian Showheld in Lahore this year througharranging the Life Style Pakistanexhibition where all top brands of thecountry were displayed.” We are herefor not only sale but also buy theproducts,” he said adding that thousandsof Indian visitors in the exhibition alsoproved the potential in Pakistani madeups. Though TDAP organizes over ahundred of exhibitions and businesstalks, but the Indian one was the uniqueand historic event which would pay wayto improve the bilateral trade.

And we could hAve A new visA regime pretty soon As well…

PDF Profit_Layout 1 4/13/2012 1:49 AM Page 1

news02Friday, 13 April, 2012

ISLAMABAD

AMER SIAL

POInTInG out that two mainregulations of the Securitiesand Exchange Commission ofPakistan (SECP) relating to

developing corporate governance werenot applicable on most of the Public Sec-tor enterprises (PSEs), which were ut-most required to bring them out of themassive losses being inflicted year afteryear to the exchequer.

This was stated by experts at around table meeting to deliberate on thedraft regulations for public sector com-panies, organized by the SECP, Eco-nomic Reforms Unit of the Ministry ofFinance, the Center for InternationalPrivate Enterprise (CIPE) and the Pak-istan Institute of Corporate Governance(PICG). The speakers stressed for im-parting corporate governance in PSEs,as large number of PSEs have legal pro-tection, enabling their line ministries tosupersede the Companies Ordinanceand the Code of Corporate Governancefor listed companies. The draft regula-tions for PSEs have been formulated bySECP, with the view to improve effi-ciency of the government owned enter-prises and reducing the burden onnational exchequer incurred annually tomaintain these commercial entities inoperating conditions.

Finance Minister, Dr HafeezShaikh, said that one of the most diffi-cult task was to bring all the PSEs undersimilar legal ambit. He noted that alter-ing the legal structure of these PSEs wasa serious task. It is a complicated matteras many entities were companies buthave legal protection against completeimplementation of the companies ordi-nance, some were companies but the

role of line ministry is too strong in theiraffairs whereas some like the PakistanRailways and the nHA did not evenhave any company status.

It was noted in the roundtable thatthe line ministries were resisting thechange. Finance Minister, who is alsothe chairman Cabinet Committee onRestructuring of PSEs agreed that theline ministries were still involved inshort listing and appointments of theMDs and the CEOs of these PSEs.

The line ministries are policy makersas well as the operators of these com-mercial entities- the managements areheavily influenced by bureaucrats andthe decision making is either too slow ornot in right direction to make profits, hesaid adding that the general trend is thatsomeone who is a secretary of any socialsector ministry would be operating aproduction. He said the new regulationon PSE would be the first step in break-ing the ground. He said PSEs have astructural problem, making them un-competitive in an open market scenario,as a result government has to inject fi-nances to reduce losses and eventuallythe loss making cycle continue to in-crease. The draft regulation to bring cor-porate governance in the PSEs highlightsthat entities be organised on corporatelines, where the boards would have in-dependent and professional directorswhile the chairman of the board wouldbe elected from within the board. Otherspeakers at the roundtable said that theissue of PSEs is a global trend and almostevery country has faced this problemwhen the government owned businessesbecome heavy financial burden.

Former governor SBP Dr ShamshadAkhtar said that strong regulators canresolve the problems related to misman-agement and operational flaws in the

PSEs. She highlighted the case of Tem-sek Holding Company of Singapore,which is a subsidiary of their ministry offinance, but neither the president northe government of Singapore can inter-fere in the affairs of the Temasek Hold-ing. The board is autonomous but thereis very strong accountability and auditof the company. International expertsthe participants about Finland wherePSEs accounted for major share of gov-ernment financing up to early 1980s butafter corporate restructuring more sec-tor have been opened to competitivebusinesses. It was informed that in Fin-land a maximum of one government of-ficial can be in the board of a PSE, whilethe role of politicians has been nullified,the government being the majorityshare holder makes policy decisions andsets targets the operational matters aredecided by the boards.

Chairman SECP Muhammad Alisaid that it was unrealistic for Pakistanto have situation like Singapore but withconstant up-gradation of laws wouldhelp bring more transparency and com-petition in the PSEs. Pakistan hasaround 114 PSEs and 23 of them arelisted in stock exchanges of the country,though not all the PSEs are loss makingbut only the top eight make an annualburden of Rs 300 to 400 billion on thenational exchequer, the corporate struc-turing is expected to steer out thesePSEs out of loss making cycle and en-hance the inflows if profit making PSEs.

Around 120 participants from vari-ous ministries and public sector compa-nies, including senior bureaucrats, keyexecutives, CEOs, accountants, profes-sionals and lawyers attended the round-table. During the session, highlyinteractive and detailed deliberationswere made on the draft regulations.

ISLAMABAD

STAFF REPORT

AMalaysian company,Malakoff CorporationBerhad has shared

details with the governmentto set up two power projectsincluding 1200 MW importedcoal fired project and 250MW wind power project inSindh. A delegation ofMalaysian investors, led byVice President of MalakoffCorporation BerhadMohammad Raziff Embicalled on the Minister forWater and Power, Syednaveed Qamar. Malaysianinvestors said that the

feasibility study of 1200 MWwas completed and theremaining procedure will becompleted after thenotification of feed-in tarifffor the coal power projects bythe national Electric PowerRegulatory Authority. Theyreiterated their commitmentto work with the governmentto explore investmentopportunities in otherinfrastructure projects. Theyalso expressed interest toinvest in the operation andmaintenance of the existingpublic sector thermal plants.The minister said that thefeed-in tariff for the importedcoal was likely to be finalized

next month that will furtherattract investment in thesector. The government hasalready announced on feed-intariff for wind power projects.The government is processingwind power projects on fasttrack basis and all theformalities are beingcompleted at the earliest. Hesaid the country is facingenergy shortages and thegovernment is taking all themeasures to end the crises.He directed PPIB and AEDBto facilitate the Malaysians tocomplete the proceduralrequirements for early settingup of both the projects. Thedelegation also discussedinvestment opportunities inThar coal project andexpansion policy for importedcoal fired plants.

ISLAMABAD

AMER SIAL

In a major decision the government has noti-fied enhancing the slab of electricity life lineconsumers from the current level of 50 units

to 100 units per month that will be costing the na-tional exchequer Rs 65 billion in subsidy. An offi-cial said that the decision was made in line withthe recommendations finalised at the recentlyheld energy summit. T slab for life line consumershave been increased from 50 to 100 units. Thenew slab will be effective from the next monthelectricity bills. Earlier, only the life line con-sumers using 1 to 50 units were exempted fromtariff increase and imposition of General Sales

Tax. now, the domestic consumers using upto 100units will be treated as life line consumers and willenjoy the benefit of exemption from tax and tariffincrease. The tariff rate of the consumers underthe new slab will automatically reduce and theywill get monetary benefit of about Rs 3.40 perunit. After notification of increase the units limitsfrom 1 to 100 units, about 3.4 million more con-sumers will be benefited. The lifeline consumerswill now increase to 13.7 million. An official sourcesaid the decision on applying uniform tariff forrest of the consumer slabs was being worked outwhich was approved with the consultation of theprovincial governments. He said the provincialgovernments approved the proposal even thoughthey were apprehensive about political fall out.

Malakoff! No it’snot a swear word

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

THE Lahore Chamber of Commerce andIndustry Thursday sent an SOS to theState Bank of Pakistan pleading it to

save the national economy and industry bybringing its policy rates to single digit reducingit by 250 to 300 basis points. In a statementissued here, the LCCI President Irfan QaiserSheikh said that in any country where theeconomy is facing a recession, the interestrates are brought down to stimulate growth,whereas in Pakistan it is the other way round.In the last two years interest rates in Europeand the United States have been brought downclose to Zero to save the economies fromcollapse. This is the time that interest ratesshould be brought down to single digit to spurgrowth. The LCCI President said that a cut of50 to 100 basis points would not be doing anyservice to the dwindling economy. He said thatit was very unfortunate that we have failed tolearn any lesson from the tighter monetarypolicy stance adopted by the State bank ofPakistan in the yester years.

Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that ongoingeconomic scenario shows that there is hardlyany time left for economic managers of thecountry and they all should understand thegravity of the situation that there would be nobusiness community buyer if the interest ratesare kept higher. Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that itis now before all of us that high discount rate isno more sustainable. It has been causing agreat harm to economy and would continue todo so unless and until a realist approach isadopted. The LCCI President said that theState Bank of Pakistan should understand thatits continued tighter stance is inflicting a veryheavy loss on the nation as the economy hasalready paid a very high price because of highinterest rate. The LCCI President said that he,in his meeting with the President of PakistanAsif Ali Zardari last week in Lahore, hadcategorically emphasized the need for cut inmarkup rate by reducing the banking spreadwhich is at 8% presently, the highest in theworld. also requested him to help bring downthe highest ever interest rates in the country ifthe present government was interested inseeing industrialization in the country.Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that the President ofPakistan had assured him that while evolvingall the future economic policies, the privatesector in general and the Chambers ofCommerce in particular will be taken onboard. The LCCI President reminded thepolicy makers that the private sector was theonly hope for salvaging this country from atotal economic collapse therefore a significantcut in cost of doing is direly needed.Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that in the last fewyears, the private sector had suffered set-backsbecause of higher cost of doing business.Investment in new industrial projects andexpansion in existing industry has come to astandstill. Massive flight of capital has takenplace to other countries in the region whereinvestment and business environment isfavorable and future prospects are brighter.

ISLAMABAD

APP

THE World Bank and Pakistanhave signed on Thursday,agreements of five projects for

a total amount of US$ 1.125 billion,out of which $ 35 million will beprovided as a grant. Dr. Waqar Masood Khan, SecretaryEconomic Affairs Division andRachid Benmassoud, CountryDirector of the World Bank signedthe agreements.Dr. Waqar Masood said on theoccasion that the World Bank andPakistan were solid partner and theWorld Bank has made remarkablecontribution towards the country’sdevelopment. Rachid Benmassoudsaid “We will continue our support toPakistan for the extension of itsdevelopment process and I hope thatthe government will successfullyimplement all the projects”.The major agreement that was signedwas for the fourth extension ofTarbela Hydropower Project. TheWorld Bank will provide $840million for the project to facilitate asustainable expansion in Pakistan’selectricity generation capacity. The Project will strengthen WAPDA’scapacity to develop the country’shydropower resources. The major

components include construction ofpower house and modification to thetunnel and the installation ofturbines, generators, transformersand ancillary electro mechanicalequipment. Low cost non-carbon renewableenergy of about 4,000 GWh will begenerated annually through the newproject. The average cost ofelectricity generated through theProject will be 2.49 cents/KWh. Theproject will also lay the foundationfor a subsequent fifth extension ofTarbela Hydropower capacity.Chairman, Water and PowerDevelopment Authority (WAPDA),Shakil Durrani said on the occasionthat with this project, 1,410 MWhydropower plant will be constructedon Tarbela Dam with an alreadyconstructed tunnel. He said theproject would be completed in threeyears and work on the project wouldbe started within few weeks afterformal approval of the World Bank. Punjab Irrigated AgricultureProductivity Improvement Project:The World Bank will also provide $250 million InternationalDevelopment Association (IDA) creditfor the project. The objective of theproject is to improve productivity ofwater use in irrigated agriculture. Thiswill be achieved through improved

physical delivery efficiency andirrigation practices, cropdiversification and effective applicationof inputs which will translate intogreater agriculture output per unit ofwater used. REVITALISATION OF HEALTHSERVICES IN KP: A Multi-DonorTrust Fund (MDTF) grant amountingto $ 16 million will be provided torevitalize and rehabilitate healthservices through Public-PrivatePartnership in the conflict affecteddistricts of KPK. The Project will beimplemented by the healthdepartment of KPK.FATA URBAN CENTERPROJECT: An MDTF grant of $7million will be provided to improveurban services and management inKhar and Bajaur Agency to develop aframework for urban management inFATA. FATA Secretariat willimplement the project.FATA RURAL LIVELIHOOD,COMMUNITYINFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT:An MDTF grant of $ 12 million willbe provided to improve livelihoodsand access to basic serviceinfrastructure in the Mohmand andBajuar agencies in FATA andpossible in cluster of villages insouthern agencies that are becomingaccessible and where families arebeing facilitated by the Governmentto return and re- establish theirlivelihood. Meanwhile anothersigning agreement was madebetween Italy and Pakistan in whichItaly will provide Euro 57.7 million asa soft loan for flood affected peoplein the country. The loan would beinterest free and the grace period forthe loan was set as 40 years.

dear sBp,please save ourbacksidesyours insecurely,lcci

wB gives pakistan a high five

power rAngers

oF slABs And suBsidies

sos generous gestures

g experts stress inclusion of pse undercorporate governance

g malaysian company to set up 1200mw coalfired, 250mw wind power project in sindh

consumers get a lifelineg govt increases slab limit for life line consumersg to provide rs 65 billion subsidy to life line consumers

g duo sign $1.125 billion agreement for 5 projectsg $35 million to be provided as grant

proBlem solving eXperts

so what are wedoing about thepses again?

PDF Profit_Layout 1 4/13/2012 1:49 AM Page 2

news

Friday, 13 April, 2012

03

iranian ambassador in pakistan lauds the efforts of Bisp

ISLAMABAD: The efforts of Benazir IncomeSupport Programme (BISP) in curbing poverty andserving the poor of the country are highlycommendable. The programme has not only ensuredtransparency in its affairs but also done a great job forintroducing higher standards of the service delivery.H.E Alireza Hagghighian, the Ambassador of IslamicRepublic of Iran said this during a meeting withMadame Farzana Raja, Chairperson BISP here atBISP Secretariat on Wednesday. The visitingambassador congratulated Madame Farzana Raja onreceiving Hilal-e-Imtiaz and said that this award anacknowledgement of her unprecedented service forthe nation and humanity. H.E Alireza Hagghighian,on the occasion, extended invitation to MadameFarzana Raja to visit Iran. Earlier, Madame FarzanaRaja briefed the honorable ambassador about variouscomponents of BISP. She said that the endeavors ofBISP are aimed at sustainable poverty reduction fromthe country and to improve the living standards ofmillions of its beneficiary families. Chairperson BISPsaid the transparency and effectiveness of BISP hasbeen acknowledged at global level as it has set newprecedents of service for poor segments of society forany country. PRESS RELEASE

dell launches its highest performingservers in pakistanKARACHI: Dell launched a portfolio of its highestperforming PowerEdge servers, optimized for use indemanding enterprise environments of Pakistan.Dell continues to innovate to deliver features thatare industry firsts and make the PowerEdge12thgeneration servers the company’s highestperforming, most manageable servers ever. Withthis new server series, customers ranging from smallbusinesses to hyper-scale data centers can helpmaximize efficiency by streamlining and automating

operations help achieve better business applicationperformance and business continuity. “Dell designedthe new PowerEdge servers with input gatheredfrom more than 7,700 customer interactions in 17countries across four continents,” said ShahzadKhan, Country Manager,Dell Pakistan.“Ourcustomers told us that they need end-to-endsolutions to handle the complex workload problemsthey face every day. As such, we built our newgeneration of servers, systems management andworkload solutions to address the needs of businessend users who require maximum performance to runmission-critical applications and IT departmentswhich demand more efficient, secure and reliableoperations.” PRESS RELEASE

ici dulux brightens up mayo hospital

LAHORE: On 9th April, volunteers from ICI Duluxalong with students from national College of Artsand employees from BF Bioscienes enthusiasticallyparticipated to add a splash of colour to the cancerward at Mayo Hospital. The run down cancer wardwas completely transformed when its worn out whitewalls were painted with vibrant colours which gavethe ward a complete overhaul. The infusion of colourwas intended not only to give a lift to the facility butalso to the patients and staff at the hospital; whenthe job was done and the patients saw the ward in acompletely different image brimming with life and arefreshing feeling, their spirits were uplifted andeveryone had a smile on their face. PRESS RELEASE

Kashf microfinance Bank receives socialperformance reporting silver Award

KARACHI: Kashf Microfinance Bank Limited, oneof the leading microfinance banks in Pakistan withover 160,000 customers across 27 cities has beenawarded the prestigious 2011 Social PerformanceReporting Award from MIX-MicrofinanceInformation exchange (MIX),an international

organization committed to strengthening financialinclusion and the microfinance sector by promotingtransparency. Kashf Microfinance Bank Limited isthe only microfinance bank in Pakistan to achievethis award. The award is designed to promotegreater transparency in microfinance institutions’social performance and recognizes transparency insocial performance reporting. PRESS RELEASE

samsung galaxy ‘note’ features mobile game ‘Angry Birds space’LAHORE: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a globalleader in digital media and convergence technologieshas officially partnered with renowned game-developer “Rovio” to provide the hands-onexperience of the new blockbuster mobile game -Angry Birds Space, on the latest smart-phone -Galaxy “note”. Samsung Pakistan’s ManagingDirector, Mr. John Park said; this joint endeavorpresents first-ever opportunity to play the thrilling“Angry Birds Space” game, thus enriching theofficial launch of this exciting game. The fabulousoffering was presented during the Samsung BloggerLounge - SXSW South West Conference. Samsungwill continue to innovate and bring delightfulexperiences for its smart-phone users. PRESS RELEASE

ltBA says sro-191 enforcement impossibleLAHORE: Lahore Tax Bar Association (LTBA)President Chaudhry Zahid Attique has said thatenforcement of SRO-191 is not possible withouttaking tax lawyers in to confidence. Talking to aselect group of journalists here on Wednesday, healleged that this SRO which has been notifiedsoon after the establishment of DirectorateGeneral Intelligence and Investigation (InlandRevenue), has created harassment amongst thebusiness community. He said that lawyers aresupposed to educate traders about the SRO andpave way for its enforcement but the FBR did notbother to take biggest and most importantstakeholder (tax lawyers) in to confidence prior tonotification of this order. He said that the tradersare afraid of powers of the Directorate General ofIntelligence and Investigation entrusted to itunder this SRO. In his opinion this controversialSRO was notified at a wrong time which hadmultiplied the hardships of patriotic taxpayersand FBR might not be able to achieve desiredresults. Chaudhry Zahid Attique said that thegovernment should review this step of it aswithout consultation of tax lawyers leadershipand assistance of tax bars, enforcement of this lawseemed to be impossible. STAFF REPORT

CORPORATE CORNER

Major Gainers

Company Open High Low Close Change Turnover

Nestle PakXD 4350.43 4565.00 4200.00 4420.51 70.08 167Island Textile 229.65 238.00 218.17 237.57 7.92 152Philip Morris Pak. 109.76 115.24 114.99 115.13 5.37 445Packages Limited 95.65 100.43 95.65 100.02 4.37 270,720Pak Gum & ChemXD 81.25 84.99 84.99 84.99 3.74 500

Major Losers

Sanofi-AventisSPOT 192.87 190.00 183.30 183.49 -9.38 2,301EFU General InsXD 89.32 89.90 84.86 84.91 -4.41 18,121P.S.O. 245.82 245.25 240.00 241.44 -4.38 334,601Pak Oilfields 367.93 369.00 363.00 363.73 -4.20 412,939Lucky Cement 124.34 125.24 118.50 120.48 -3.86 6,112,041

Volume Leaders

Fauji Cement 7.15 7.22 6.55 6.69 -0.46 30,143,168Jah.Sidd. Co. 20.81 20.35 19.77 19.77 -1.04 27,845,016D.G.K.Cement 41.97 41.80 39.88 39.97 -2.00 21,512,828Azgard Nine 9.86 10.10 8.90 9.08 -0.78 18,585,644Lafarge Pakistan 5.58 5.61 5.10 5.24 -0.34 17,966,654

Interbank RatesUS Dollar 90.7165UK Pound 144.5477Japanese Yen 1.1194Euro 119.0926

Dollar EastBuy Sell

US Dollar 90.70 91.30Euro 118.63 119.65Great Britain Pound 144.18 145.39Japanese Yen 1.1108 1.1200Canadian Dollar 90.14 91.40Hong Kong Dollar 11.55 11.71UAE Dirham 24.66 24.84Saudi Riyal 24.14 24.33Australian Dollar 93.58 95.81

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

THE day saw thebenchmark 100-shareindex plunged by123.22 points to

13,693.74 points against13,816.96 points of Wednesday.Ahsan Mehanti, Director at ArifHabib Investments Limited.,said that the Pakistan Stocksclosed lower on institutionalprofittaking in stocks across theboard in the quarter endearnings announcement sessionat KSE.Total numbers of Shares of 360companies were traded onThursday, and at the end of theday total 92 stocks closedhigher, total 212 are declinedwhile 56 remained flat. Theoverall value of shares tradedduring the day was Rs3.405billion.He added that the Concerns overbalance of payments pressure onPakistan economy indicated byADB Report and uncertainty inglobal stocks and commoditieskept volumes on lower side. Thetrading volumes at the ready-counter were recorded lower at3.405 million shares against5.112 million shares of theprevious day. The trading valuedecreasing to Rs 7.067 billioncompared to Rs 9.093 billion of

the previous session. Theintraday high and low,respectively, stood at 13,828.17and 13, 598.30 points. Marketcapitalization declined to 3.515trillion from 3.550 trillion.“Investors remained cautiousahead of SBP key policy rateannouncement due tomorrow.”viewed Mehanti. KSE All share-index ended the day at 9,632.68points, down 93.89 points or0.97 percent, KSE 30-indexstopped the day at 11,931.00points, decreasing 132.72 pointsor 1.10 percent while the KMI30-index slumped by 304.62points or 1.28 percent to end theday at 23, 408.38.Fauji Cement was volume leaderof the day, 30.143 million sharesand down by Rs 0.46 to close atRs 6.69 followed by JahangirSiddiqui Company, D.G.KCement, Azgard nine, LafargePakistan, Dewan Cement andDewan Salman with turnover of27.845 million, 21.512 millionand 18.585 million, 17.966million, 17.558 million and12.570 million sharesrespectively. The nestlePakistan XD and Island Textile,up Rs 70.08 and Rs 7.92, ledhighest price gainers while,Sanofi-Aventis SPOT and EFUGeneral Insurance XD, down Rs9.38 and Rs 4.41 respectively,led the losers.

Bears get too intimateg Kse 100 index takes a 123.22 point plunge

KARACHI

ISMAIL DILAWAR

DOLLAR inflows fromwhat the central banksaid multilateral donorsand lenders helped the

country’s foreign exchange reservescontinuing its northward journey.The country’s holdings of the green-back grew by $ 17 million or 0.1 per-cent during the week ending on April6, the State Bank reported Thursday.During the week under review, thecountry’s holding of the greenbackswelled to $ 16.522 billion against $16.505 billion of the previous weekthat ended on March 30. The upwardtrend in the foreign exchange is at-tributable to the central bank’s re-serves that, during the review week,rose to $ 11.865 billion, registering agrowth of 0.2 percent compared tolast week’s $ 11.837 billion. The com-mercial banks, however, ended up inthe red zone and calculated their re-serves lower at $ 4.657 billion, down$ 11 million from $ 4.668 billion of thepreceding week. According to SBPspokesperson, such up and downs inthe banks’ reserves can mostly be at-tributed to the routine deposit andwithdrawal of cash by the accountholders. Cumulatively, past three con-secutive weeks saw the banks’ dollarholdings contracting by $ 67 million.On the other hand, the central bank’sholdings of the greenback ballooned

by $ 194 million, cumulatively. Thisrelatively persistent increase in the re-serves of the State Bank reflected pos-itively on the dollar-hungry country’sforeign exchange reserves which, dur-ing last three weeks, swelled by $ 127million. The country possessed $16.395 billion on March 16, $ 16.441billion on March 23, $ 16.505 billionon March 30 and $ 16.522 billion upto April 6, the week in review. “The in-crease is because of the multilateralinflows,” Syed Wasimuddin, chiefspokesman of the State Bank, toldProfit. After hitting a record $ 18.31billion mark last year in July, thecountry’s foreign exchange reservesare staggering at the $ 16 billion levelwith official and unofficial observersciting repayments on account of ex-ports and external loans as a majordrain on Pakistan’s dollar holdings.The economic managers are alsowary of the hiking international oilprices that, as Finance Minister DrAbdul Hafeez Sheikh told an awardceremony Tuesday last, is posing amajor challenge to his resource-con-strained government. The analystsbelieve that the present democrati-cally-elected government was walk-ing on a two-edge sword that, one onhand, was testing its nerves by tak-ing harsh decisions, politically, likepassing the impact of oil price hiketo the inflation-hit masses or bracefor a possible default on the balanceof payment side.

et

Aliens control ourstock exchangeEvery third stock share isowned by a foreigner

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

DESPITE resurgence in the Europeandebt crisis, the foreigners’shareholding in Pakistan’s key stocks

remained almost unchanged during last oneyear. Where oil sector remained relativelyunaffected by foreign selling of approximately$ 62 million during calendar year 2011,excluding the Hubco deal, some profit-takinghas been observed in few banks, cement andfertilizer stocks. According to analysts atTopline Research, the foreigners remainedaggressive in Pakistan’s oil and gas sector asthey continue to own more than 500 millionshares worth $ 950 million in the OGDC andapproximately 120 million shares worth $250 million of the PPL which represent 83percent and 45 percent of free float of theOGDC and PPL, respectively. “This isprimarily due to higher oil prices and decentvolumetric growth,” said Farhan Mahmood.Similarly, the Topline analyst said, theirshareholding in PSO and POL is expected toremain almost the same. Thus out of $ 2.7billion worth of stocks that foreigners hold(as at March Dec 2011), approximately 50percent of the foreign share holding is onlyconcentrated in oil sector including whichOGDC alone contributes 35 percent.Interestingly, he said the foreigners who ownevery third Pakistani share of free-float hadbeen net buyer of $ 11 million so far incalendar year 2012. This was primarily due torecord inflows in regional markets amidimproved risk appetite and better globaleconomic data. Last year, due to depressedglobal markets, the international participantsoffloaded their possessions in Pakistanliquidating $ 123 million net in 2011 contraryto net buying of $ 526 million in 2010.However, thanks to their continued interestin the Pakistan equities, the foreigners nowhold shares valuing $ 2.7 billion as of March30 (2012) that account for 28 percent of thetotal free float. Their peak holding was $ 5.1billion, 27 percent of free float, in April 2008and lowest was $ 1 billion, 17 percent of freefloat, in March 2009.

re$erve$ ri$eKA-ching!

g Multilateral inflows jack up dollar reserves to $16.522b

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