profit.com.pk Wednesday, 20 June, 2012

How EU conjured up a readymade solution

Page 2

engro Is

uneasy SNGPL’s supply diversion topower sector caused that

KaraChI

staff report

The Sui northern GasPipelines Limited (SnGPL)has once again disconnectedgas supply to newmanufacturing plant of theEngro Fertilizer Limited andhas diverted it to the energy-starved power sector.“Yesterday SnGPLdisconnct3d the gas supply tothe new fertilizer plant of our100 percent ownedsubsidiary, Engro Fertilizer,”Andalib Alavi, vice presidentand secretary of EngroCorporation, informed thecompany stakeholders at thecountry’s three stockexchanges in Karachi,Islamabad and Lahore. Shesaid the SnGPL had assuredher side that it was committedto the rotational supply of gasbetween the four fertilizerplants on their network.“Consequently, Engro’s plant(along with one other) will beprovided gas first once it isrestored to the fertilizerindustry as our 30 dayssupply was not completed,”the secretary said. Referringto her June 8 letter, Alavi saidthe supplier had startedsupplying gas to its plant fromJune 10 onwards barringunforeseen circumstances.Under the SnGPL’s systemthe four fertilizer plants havebeen divided into two groupsto be supplied gas onrotational basis for 30 days ata stretch. The analysts,however, do not see anysignificant impact of the gascurtailment on Engro’soutput. “We expect thatimpact of this curtailment willnot be significant because,under new gas managementpolicy on SnGP network of30days rotational basis gasavailability,” viewedInvestCap analyst HasanRaza. He said the days of gascurtailment during the quotatime period would becompensated to maintain thetotal days of availability of 30days as per policy.

KaraChI

IsMaIL DILaWar

AMOnG the federal and provincialcapitals Lahore appears to be thecheapest city where ConsumerPrice Index (CPI) inflation wasmonitored at the lowest level of10.4 percent on YoY basis. Also,among various income groupsthose earning over Rs 35,000 a

month braced higher inflation than the over-all inflation in CPI basket during May 2012for general and food groups highest inflation.While those falling in the lowest incomegroup category, earning up to Rs 8000monthly, facing lowest price hike during themonth. Quetta, the provincial capital of

Balochistan, was marked as the most expen-sive city of the country with 12.2 percent pricehike during May FY12 against 13.9 percent ofsame month in FY11. the MoM inflation inQuetta was recorded at minus 0.2 percentagainst 0.0 percent in MayFY11. With overallYoY inflation standing in double-digit at 12.3percent against the previous 12.6 percent, thefederal capital, Islamabad, witnessed secondhighest rate of inflation, 12.0 percent, duringlast month against 12.7 percent of MayFY11.

Inflation in Karachi, the country’s com-mercial hub, was noted down yoY at 11.6 per-cent against 12.1 percent of MayFY11, but amonthly account shows that the price hike inthe metropolis increased to 1.3 percent against0.1 percent of April FY12. Same was the casein Peshawar, the provincial capital of KhyberPakhtunkhwa, where the MoM inflation in-flated from 0.3 to 0.7 percent but on YoY basisthe prices of essentials deflated to 11.0 percentfrom 12.9 percent. “(The) CPI inflation on YoYbasis in federal and provincial capitals of Pak-istan was lower than overall inflation observedduring May 2012,” observed the State Bank inits latest Inflation Monitor issued on Tuesday.

Among these five cities, the central banksaid, the lowest inflation was observed in La-hore which is 10.4 percent. While the highestinflation was observed in Quetta which is 12.2

percent, it added. The income-group-wisedata of the State Bank report shows that in-come group above Rs 35,000 has higher in-flation than the overall inflation in CPI basketduring May 2012 for general and food groups.

“The lowest income group has the lowestinflation in general, food and non-foodgroups during the month of May 2012,” itsaid. The headline CPI inflation in the countrywas recorded at 12.3 percent on YoY basis inMay 2012 as compared to 11.3 percent in theprevious month and 12.6 percent in the cor-responding month of last year. The CPI infla-tion on MoM basis is recorded at 1.1 percentin May 2012 as compared to 1.8 percent in theprevious month and 0.2 percent in the corre-sponding month of last year. The seasonallyadjusted MoM CPI inflation increased to 1.4percent in May 2012 as compared to 1.3 per-cent in the previous month.

The core inflation (trimmed) on YoY basisincreased to 11.7 percent compared to 11.0 per-cent while it was 12.1 percent in the correspon-ding month of last year. On MoM basis, the coreinflation (trimmed) recorded at 0.5 percent inMay compared to 1.3 percent in April (2012)and 0.5 percent in May 2011. The non-food,non-energy inflation measured by CPI core(nFnE) on YoY basis increased to 11.2 percentin May 2012 compared to 10.9 percent in April

2012 and 9.8 percent in May last year. The corenFnE inflation on MoM basis decreased to 0.8percent compared to 1.4 percent a month ear-lier. The rate of change in core nFnE in May2011 was 0.5 percent. The WPI inflation on YoYbasis increased to 7.1 percent in May comparedto 3.8 percent of April. During May 2011, WPIinflation was recorded at 22.3%.

The WPI inflation on MoM basis increased to2.1 percent in May compared to 1.8 percent amonth earlier. It was -1.0 percent in May 2011. TheSPI inflation on YoY basis is recorded at 10.1 per-cent in May 2012 as compared to 9.7 percent amonth earlier and 13.8 percent in correspondingmonth of the last year. SPI inflation on MoM basisis recorded at 0.5 percent in May 2012 as com-pared to 1.8 percent a month earlier and 0.1 per-cent in May 2011. The economic observers in theofficial and unofficial quarters believe that theprice hike in the poverty-stricken Pakistan wouldremain in double digit even in the FY13 owing pri-marily to the cash-strapped government’s massivebudgetary borrowings form the banking system.The central bank whereas would cater the govern-ment’s appetite for cash through the inflationarypractice of printing fresh currency notes, the com-mercial banks would also depend on the regulator,SBP, for the injection of liquidity when they wouldgo cash-scarce after investing billions in the risk-free and heavily-weighted government’s securities.

Lahore wins CPI inflationGrand Prix, Quetta crashes out

It has beenfound out thatamong the federaland provincial capitals ofPakistan Lahore has thelowest Consumer Price Indexwhile Quetta is touted as the mostexpensive city. Also if you earn morethan Rs 35,000 a month you, yes you,have to bear the brunt of inflation in thecountry. Good thing you get a pocketfulof dough every now and then ain’t it?

LCCI convince the Britishtraders that investing inPakistan is in fact aneconomic idea that JohnMaynard Keynes would beproud of. We might not haveelectricity, and haveterrorists left, right andcentre but we do have accessto Central Asian states andthe Middle East, LCCIiterated. According to latestreports none of thepersonnel associated withBirmingham Chamber ofCommerce and Industrymanaged to sleep overnight.

Lahore

staff report

Pakistan is a good destination for invest-ment as it offers an excellent platform toUK businessmen for being gateway tolandlocked Central Asian States and Mid-dle East in terms of goods and services.

These views were expressed by theLCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh, whowas leading a strong 37-member businessdelegation, while speaking at seminar on“Business Prospects in Pakistan” arrangedby Birmingham Chamber of Commerceand Industry on Tuesday.

The LCCI President said that Pakistanfor being situated in the heart of Asia is agateway for businesses looking to expandinto the Middle East and Southern AsianMarkets. He said Pakistan’s economy is setto improve substantially. Irfan Qaiser Sheikhsaid that Pakistan is open for business and

entrepreneurs and investors can play a majorrole in Pakistan’s economic recovery as thePakistan Government is committed to en-sure that the country becomes an attractivedestination for them.” The LCCI Presidentsaid that the collaboration among very dy-namic institutions for “Business Opportuni-ties in Pakistan” will go a long way inbringing much needed positive turnaroundin the economy of Pakistan. He said that theLCCI delegation which is comprised of lead-ing sectors of Pakistan like petrochemicals,pharmaceuticals, tourism, readymade gar-ments, artificial leather, leather & leatherproducts, auto-parts, agriculture compo-nents, lubricants, rice, halal meat is really in-terested to collaborate and have jointventures with UK based companies in the re-spective sectors. It is a well established factthat the UK has significant importance in theeconomy of Pakistan whether it is matter ofimports, exports, foreign direct investment,

economic cooperation and etc. UK is thegateway to Pakistani products to have accessto EU. The positive trends in growth of bilat-eral trade are the outcome of long lastingtrade links between Pakistan and UK.

“We are here to play our due role to setout certain steps to explore ways to promoteinvestment and support businesses. We be-lieve that our efforts will surely contributeto increase bilateral trade between Pakistanand UK to £2.5 billion by 2015 which is thejoint vision of Premiers of Pakistan andUK.” The LCCI President said that the En-hanced Strategic Dialogue launched by thePrime Ministers of the UK and Pakistan in2011 set a target to increase bi-lateral tradebetween the two countries to £2.5 billion by2015. With £1.9 billion worth of trade al-ready flowing between the two countries,we are on the right track to meet the target.Despite facing some tough circumstances,there are some positive indicators prevail-

ing in Pakistan as our economy is growingat around 3.5% to 4%., our exports in-creased to the record level of US$ 25 billion,law & order situation has significantly im-proved, inflation has been checked and etc.All these positives must be considered bythe UK based investors to evaluate Pakistanas a next destination for investments.

He said Telecommunications, IT, Food& Beverages, Financial Services and Edu-cation & Training do offer great opportu-nities to UK based companies but there aresome other sectors which may also prom-ise excellent returns. Energy sector hasgained altogether vital importance in theprevailing crisis of energy all over thecountry. Similarly, petrochemicals, dairy,livestock, consumer goods, pharmaceuti-cals, oil & gas exploration and etc are fewof those sectors which are yet to be fully ex-ploited considering the immense exportpotential unutilized.

‘Pakistan is a goldmine for investors’

Layout 3 pages_Layout 1 6/20/2012 7:49 AM Page 1

news02Wednesday, 20 June, 2012

aLL oVer The MILKY WaY

agenCIes

UnDER pressure from financial marketsand anxious world leaders, Europe agreedon Monday to move towards a more inte-grated banking system to stem a debt cri-sis that threatens the survival of the euro.

At a Group of 20 summit of the world’s leading industri-alized and developing economies in this Mexican resort,Germany and its big euro zone partners took the unusualstep of spelling out in detail measures to complete theeconomic and monetary union they launched to greatfanfare 13 years ago. BAILOUT FUND RAISES MONEY AT LOW RATES:The EU’s bailout fund said Tuesday it had successfullyraised 1.5 billion euros ($1.9 billion) at lower rates than itsprevious such operation, shrugging off turbulence on thebond markets. Demand for the six-month debt was high,with more than 3.0 billion euros’ worth of bids received,said Germany’s central b nk, which organised the auction.The yield, or rate of return to investors, on the paper was0.1421 percent. Last month, the yield at a similar auctionwas 0.2 percent, suggesting investors are flocking to thefund, which is backed by European powerhouse Germany.While the bond markets are punishing the likes of Spainand Italy, pushing their borrowing costs sky-high, thebailout fund the European Financial Stability Facility(EFSF) — has continued to attract solid demand.EXPECT REWORKED GREEK BAILOUT IN SUM-MER: European and IMF partners will need to re-negotiatethe terms of Greece’s bailout this summer, a senior Euro-pean Union official said Tuesday. “It is delusional to say wecannot or need not re-negotiate the Greek programme,” theofficial said on condition of anonymity ahead of talks amongeurozone finance ministers in Luxembourg on Thursday. Itwould be “stupid” to keep the memorandum as is becausethe economic environment has deteriorated inside and out-side Greece, the official said as Greek parties tried to form acoalition government after Sunday’s elections. EURO STRENGTHENS IN ASIAN TRADE: The eurorose in Asian trade on Tuesday, but gains were limited afterSpain’s borrowing costs hit a record high and optimismover Greek elections — which had sent the unit soaring —faded. The common currency was changing hands at$1.2603 and 99.54 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, up from$1.2571 and 99.45 yen in new York late Monday. The dollareased to 78.97 yen from 79.11 yen in US trading. The eurohad soared above $1.27 and 100 yen in morning Asiantrade on Monday as markets cheered a victory by pro-bailout parties in Greek elections, which were seen as a ref-erendum on the debt-hit nation’s future in the eurozone. SPAIN GOES TO MARKET AS DEBT COSTS SOAR:Spain is likely to pay record prices to borrow at debt auc-tions on Tuesday and Thursday after the Greek electionfailed to ease concerns about the future of the euro zoneand amid uncertainty over whether Madrid will need a fullsovereign bailout. The yield on Spanish 10-year bonds hit

a fresh high of above 7 percent onMonday as initial relief over thevictory of pro-bailout parties inGreece gave way to ongoingfears of deeper problems fac-ing the bloc.INVESTORS EYEINGBANKIA’S STAKE INIAG The chief executiveof International AirlinesGroup said investorswere interested in buy-ing a 12 percent stake inthe airline owned bytroubled Spanish lenderBankia. “There are in-vestors interested inreplacing Bankia, andin my opinion, it is nota question of if, butwhen they are going tosell,” Willie Walsh saidin an interview withSpanish financialnewspaper Expansionpublished on Tuesday.Bankia is under pres-sure to sell corporateshareholdings since ask-ing for a lifeline of 19 billioneuros ($24 billion), the largeststate rescue in Spain, last month. OIL MIXED IN ASIA ON EURO-ZONE WORRIES Oil was mixed in Asiaon Tuesday after eurozone worries shiftedto Spain’s surging borrowing costs, ana-lysts said. new York’s main contract, lightsweet crude for delivery in July, fell 13cents to $83.14 per barrel while Brentnorth Sea crude for August deliverygained 10 cents to $96.15. Fears that Spain would re-quire a bailout were reignited after the borrowing costson its 10-year bonds topped 7.0 percent on Monday, thehighest level since the birth of the euro in 1999.STOCKS SLIP AS EURO DEBT CRISIS FEARSFIX ON SPAIN: Asian shares edged down on Tuesdayas rising Spanish bond yields stoked fears its totteringbanking system is dragging Madrid deeper into crisis,snuffing out a relief rally that followed a win for main-stream parties in Greece’s weekend election. The euroarrested a slide to clamber back above $1.26, but re-mained a good distance off the high of $1.2748 scaledin early Asian trading on Monday, when markets werecheering a narrow victory for supporters of Greece’s in-ternational bailout deal.EURO ZONE MUST FIND OWN CRISIS SOLU-TIONS: French President Francois Hollande said on Tues-day that he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel wereboth aware that the euro zone needed to come up with itsown solutions to solve the bloc’s debt crisis rather than seekoutside help. “We can have differing points of view ... butMrs. Merkel and I know that Europe must have its own re-sponse,” he told journalists at a meeting of leaders fromG20 nations in Mexico. “It must not be given to us from theoutside.” “The IMF (International Monetary Fund) is notthere to backstop the euro zone even if it has done so forsome countries, as we saw in Greece,” he added.INDIA ANNOUNCES $10 BILLION FOR DEBT-WRACKED EUROZONE: India Tuesday announceda $10 billion contribution to the IMF’s additional $430billion financial firewall to help the debt-wracked 17-nation Eurozone so that the faltering world economy isprotected against the spread of any financial contagion.The announcement of the contribution was made by In-dian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his address atthe Plenary Session of the seventh summit of the Groupof developed and developing countries (G20) in thisMexican resort town against the backdrop of growingcalls to nations to increase contributions to the Inter-national Monetary Fund (IMF) for the bailout fund.

Apprehensions with all things Spanish, and indeed the eurozone circus, play pingpong with markets all over the world as the aftermath of G20 summit continuesto echo. Meanwhile the bottomless pit, that Greece is, expects anotherbailout gulp, Hollande says the zone must find the solution itselfand India says, hang on; we could save these baboons…

KARACHI: Zonal Chairman Pakistan readymade garments manufacturers &

exporters association Prgmea atiq a. kochra, has termed the european Union’s

decision to redesign its generalized system of Preferences for gsP Plus scheme

by increasing the minimum threshold from one to two per cent, as very positive

development for Pakistan’s economy. “this will improve the sustainability of our

manufacturing sector and will create additional business and job opportunities”,

he said. Prgmea has long maintained that getting gsP Plus is absolutely

essential for survival of our manufacturing industry, he added. according to

kochra, the modified gsP-plus rules have only improved Pakistan’s chances

qualifying for gsP Plus. now the government needs to sincerely work towards

the implementation of 27 conventions required for getting gsP Plus. these

conventions include human and labor rights, environment and good governance,

amongst others, which are particularly difficult to implement and substantiate.

even after Pakistan qualifies for gsP Plus, the government will have to

continually show improvement in its performance on these conventions,

otherwise gsP benefits can be suspended. kochra stated that we have been

advocating since long that a high level task-force should be constituted which

will comprise members from both public and private sectors in order to review

progress analyze possible obstacles / hindrances and take appropriate action to

counter any negative campaigning by our competitors. We feel that this forum is

of vital importance because we do not want to encounter the same problems as

faced on the issue of eU trade concession over 75 products, all over again.

therefore, we should not expect smooth sailing over the issue permanent duty-

free access on all our products to the eU. Besides, the eU offered this one-time

facility to Pakistan and approached Wto in october 2010 to seek a waiver on

trade preferences to islamabad on these products amounting to almost 900

million euros in import value, or 27 per cent of imports from Pakistan for a two-

year period from January 2012 to december 2013. the eU package materialized

following humanitarian appeals from the United nations. the Un estimates the

floods affected some 20 million people and 20 per cent of Pakistan’s land area,

about 160,000 square km, with 12 million people need urgent assistance.

However countries like india, Brazil, and Bangladesh and textile lobbies within

the eU had blocked the implementation of the preferential package originally

scheduled to be effective from January 2011. to get the package approved through

Wto, a well-placed source in the commerce ministry told Pakistan today that a

revised document after consulting all the member countries was submitted to the

Wto secretariat on January 20, 2012. as a result, all opposing countries dropped

their objections following the amendments made by the eU in the original

documents by introducing tariff rate quotas (trQs) on 20 products

rather than full liberalization. ZaIn aLI

EU’s redesigning of GSP plus scheme for Pakistan is a cause ofparticular excitement for PRGMEA, the zonal chairman of which wentonto to explain the rationale behind their mind-boggling ecstasy.Some of the reasons expounded do make sense; we promise…

EUROZONESOAP OPERA –TOW AFTERTHE MEXICANRENDEZVOUS

Okay we might not have

electricity but ACs and

refrigerators we do makeISLAMABAD: The Production of Air-Con-ditioners and Refrigerators increased by5.39 percent and 8.09 percent respectivelyduring the first ten months of the ongoingfiscal year (2011-12) as compared to the cor-responding period of last year. As many as180,778 air-conditioners were producedduring July-April (2011-12) against the pro-duction of 171,535 units during July-April(2010-11),according to the data of PakistanBureau of Statistics (PBS). Similarly, the

production of refrigerators increased from777,803 units last year to 840,751 units dur-ing the ongoing fiscal year, showing 8.09percent increased. However, during the pe-riod under review, the production of deep-freezers decreased by 44.34 percent bygoing down from the output of 75,303 unitslast year to 41,912 units. During the monthof April 2012, the production of air-condi-tioners increased by 10.49 percent whencompared to the production of the samemonth of the last year. The production ofair-conditioners during April 2012 wasrecorded at 32,133 units against the produc-tion of 29,082 units during April 2011. Theproduction of refrigerators increased from87,567 units during April 2011 to 103,605units during April 2012, showing surged of18.32 percent in production. app

Textile exports to go

bananas during 2012-13ISLAMABAD:The textile sector of the countryis expected to grow at higher pace during the year2012-13 mainly due to concessions given by theWorld Trade Organization (WTO) to Pakistanitextile products. “It is hoped that textile productswould be exported in huge quantity to EuropeanUnion after approval of concessions by WTO toPakistani textile products in February 2012”, saidofficial sources on Tuesday. Our exporters are ex-pected to comply with different international ob-ligations, like ISO Certifications, produce andexport quality product and ensure timely exports,the sources added. Talking about the overallgrowth, the sources added that the targeted

growthrate for indus-trial sector in 2012-13 has been set at 4.1% as awhole, for manufacturing sector 4.4%, while 3.0%and 7.5% growth rates have been fixed for LargeScale Manufacturing (LSM) and Small Scale man-ufacturing respectively. The main growing indus-tries in 2012-13 would be chemicals, automobile,pharmaceuticals, electronics, leather products,paper & boards, cement and non-metallic miner-als. During 2012-13, Rs 2,049 million are allo-cated to manufacturing sector including Rs 775million for M/o Industries, Rs 612 million for M/oProduction and Rs 227 million for Ministry ofTextile. Major manufacturing projects to be car-ried out include Establishment of Chromite Ben-eficiation Plant at Muslim Bagh, District KillaSaifullah, Balochistan (Rs 104 million); WomanBusiness Development Centre. app

‘What if one were toshut down captive power?’

ISLAMABAD: CentralChairman All Pakistan CnG

Association Ghiyas Paracha hassaid that for immediate relief fromenergy crises and power shortagethe captive power should be shutoff, as its 344 Mmcfd gas will be

transferred to power stations andproduce 1720 MW electricity.

While giving suggestions to thePrime Minister’s Energy

Committee Ghiyas Paracha saidthat Industry is getting enough gas

for processing, to stop wastage ofgas its gas load shedding should beequalized to CnG will halfway the

electricity crisis.

Layout 3 pages_Layout 1 6/20/2012 7:50 AM Page 2

A grand musical night held at Pearl Continental

RAWALPINDI: A Grand Musical night was held at thePearl Continental Hotel Rawalpindi on Sunday June 17,2012. The event was jointly organized by the Pearl conti-nental Hotel and Blaze Events and was attended by thelarge number of elites including music lovers of the Twincities. The “Multi skilled FAAKHIR Preformed on the oc-casion The Public Relations Manager Mr. Asad Shah Hotelapprised the audience of the forth coming events to be heldat the Pearl Continental Hotel Rawalpindi The GeneralManager of the Pearl Continental Hotel Thanked the au-dience for making the event a success. press reLease

KsBL HOsTs CAREER COuNsELING sEssION

ISLAMABAD: The Karachi School for Business &Leadership (KSBL), hosted a career counseling sessionat a local hotel in Karachi. The session titled “UnleashYour Potential – Choose the Right Career”, invited ac-complished business leaders from various sectors whospoke about the industry perspectives and insights, to theKSBL MBA applicants and other participants, to help theupcoming generation of professionals understand the dy-namics of these diverse industries and areas of work, andthe pre-requisites for entering these sectors. The speak-ers at the event were esteemed top executives such asLeon Menezes, General Manager HR - Shell Pakistan,Sarfaraz A. Rehman, CEO - The Dawood Foundation,Haroon Zamir Khan, General Manager/EVP Risk Man-agement – Habib Bank Ltd., and Abid Butt, CEO – E2ESupply Chain Management (Pvt.) Ltd. press reLease

NBP launches Foree Cash Remittance service from usAKarachi: national Bank of Pakistan being one of thelargest banks in Pakistan and having its offshore branches

in USA launches Cash Remittance services from UnitedStates of America. nBP has revamped their home remit-tance services from USA by offering Foree Cash and ForeeTransfer services via Pak Remit. Pak Remit is a web basedHome Remittance system at nBP new York. This serviceis available to U.S. residents for sending money to theirfamily and friends in Pakistan.

Waseela Bank, Adamjee Life sign partnership agreement

ISLAMABAD: Waseela Microfinance Bank a fully-ownedsubsidiary of Orascom Telecom Holdings, and a sister con-cern of Pakistan Mobile Communications Limited (PMCL)and Adamjee Life Assurance Co. Ltd. a member of nishatGroup, one of the leading and most diversified businessgroup in South East Asia with fixed/ current assets of overRs.300 billion (US$ 5 billion), Signed a partnership agree-ment on Monday 18th June 2012 in a ceremony at a localHotel. The ceremony was attended by the top managementsof Waseela Bank and Adamjee Life. Waseela MicrofinanceBank has been established to cater to the needs of the vastunder and unbanked market segments through simple andlow cost channels such as branchless banking agents, com-munity centers and smart branches. press reLease

Consultation to finalise social protectionbill for homebased workersLAHORE: Homenet Pakistan in collaboration withILO organized a one day Consultation with the Stake-holders for the finalization of the Social protection Billfor the Homebased Workers of Punjab today. The objec-tive of the consultation was to review the process ofHBWs policy implementation and to finalize the legisla-tion on social protection for HBWs in provincial context.The Provincial department for Labour finalized Socialprotection Bill for HBWs along with the Provincial policyfor the HBWs which was included in the Women’s em-powerment package announced by the Chief MinisterPunjab on 08 March 2012. At this moment when Punjabgovernment is taking innovative steps for women em-powerment; the Provincial Stakeholders’ consultationwas significant in highlighting the importance of the de-layed implementation on the Homebased workers policyand legislation on Social Protection. Department oflabour under the guidance of Secretary Labour himselfdeliberated and later finalized the Draft of the bill. Themembers of the Provincial council for HBWs present in

the meeting discussed the possible means and mecha-nisms for registration of HBWs in the province and pos-sible provision of social protection to the HBWs. Punjabgovernment efforts to mainstream women for empow-erment were appreciated and it was also recognized thatBeagum Zakia Shannawaz being the Chairperson of theProvincial council for HBWs took interest in providingcover to the HBWs with regard to the social protectionand development and planned revolutionary measuresfor formal and informal workers especially the Home-based women workers. press reLease

Mou signed between HEC ICM-uK, Lahore Leads universityLAHORE: Lahore Leads University has signed MoUwith the HEC recognized UK based examining bodyInstitute of Commercial Management (ICM-UK), tooffer 4-Year UK Bachelor (Hons) level qualificationin Marketing Management through its four campusesacross Lahore. M. Moazam Shahbaz naqeebi, Re-gional Director of ICM-UK, said that we aim to makeborderless recognised qualifications accessible to stu-dents even in smaller towns & cities in Pakistan andthis MoU will help achieve this goal. He further saidthat 100,000+ Graduates from ICM-UK each yearand 90% of them get employment with leading organ-izations worldwide immediately after their gradua-tion ceremony. press reLease

shaukat Tarin offers condolencesISLAMABAD: Mr. Shaukat Tarin extends his heart-felt condolence to the family of Ms. Fauzia Wahab onher sad and untimely demise. May her soul rest in eter-nal peace and may the Almighty grant her loved onesthe courage and perseverance to bear this great loss.The late Fauzia Wahab shall be long remembered bothfor her outstanding political role as well as her dedica-tion to many social causes. The rights of women andthe poor were close to her heart. She fearlessly foughtfor what she believed in and has left behind a proudlegacy of courage and dedication. press reLease

news

Wednesday, 20 June, 2012

o3

Major Gainers

Company Open High Low Close Change Turnover

Wyeth Pak Limited 850.56 859.00 859.00 859.00 8.44 40Mari Gas Company 89.99 94.20 89.50 92.91 2.92 137,987Atlas Battery Ltd. 203.68 206.00 202.75 205.85 2.17 1,203Linde Pakistan Ltd 117.48 120.00 114.02 119.58 2.10 1,902ICI PakistanSPOT 128.99 132.00 126.00 131.07 2.08 54,321

Major Losers

Rafhan Maize Prod. 3000.00 3149.00 2850.00 2861.19 -138.81 34Colgate Palmolive 950.00 903.00 903.00 903.00 -47.00 201Nestle Pakistan Ltd. 4091.64 4159.00 4015.01 4054.43 -37.21 101Siemens Pakistan 701.27 676.01 675.00 675.00 -26.27 105Mithchells Fruit 312.04 311.00 296.50 299.08 -12.96 132

Volume Leaders

Jah.Sidd. Co. 13.40 14.04 13.16 13.46 0.06 10,057,853K.E.S.C. 3.07 3.13 2.59 2.76 -0.31 7,084,950Nishat Chun Power 15.20 15.30 15.15 15.15 -0.05 5,527,605D.G.K.Cement 41.22 41.10 39.80 40.34 -0.88 5,055,295Engro Foods Ltd. 67.92 69.00 66.20 66.96 -0.96 5,032,687

Interbank RatesUS Dollar 93.7574UK Pound 146.8615Japanese Yen 1.1877Euro 118.3593

Dollar EastBuy Sell

US Dollar 94.30 95.00Euro 118.67 120.21Great Britain Pound 147.12 149.00Japanese Yen 1.1810 1.1960Canadian Dollar 91.60 93.28Hong Kong Dollar 11.98 12.17UAE Dirham 25.52 25.82Saudi Riyal 25.03 25.29Australian Dollar 94.93 97.59

CORPORATE CORNER

MuZaffarabaD: H.E Cameron Munter, The Ambassador of United

States of America to Pakistan & Mrs. Cameron Munter were

warmly received by Mr. Amir Kazi, General Manager, Pearl Continen-

tal Muzaffarabad upon their arrival at hotel. press reLease

KaraChI

staff report

PAKISTAn Stocks closed lower amidthin trade as investor remainedcautious ahead of SC judgment onspeakers ruling case against the

PM. This was viewed by Ahsan Mehanti, Di-rector at Arif Habib Investments Limited.

The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) 100-share index declined 71.14 points or 0.52 per-cent to close at 13,682.99 points as comparedto 13,754.13 points of the previous session. TheKSE 30-share index shed 44.70 points to closeat 11,852.50 points as compared with 11,897.20points. The market turnover was down to75.992 million shares after opening at 79.961million shares. The overall market capitaliza-tion declined 0.03 percent and traded Rs 3.492trillion as against Rs 3.510 trillion. Losers out-numbered gainers 77 to 181, while 75 stockswere unchanged. Mehanti added “Institutionalprofit-taking continued from early session onmacroeconomics concerns for rising currentaccount deficits despite hopes for improve-ment in Pak-US ties on resumption of nATOsupplies.” The KMI 30-share was plunged by

84.20 points to close at 23,705.78 points fromits opening at 23,789.98 points. The KSE all-share index closed with a loss of 48.55 pointsto 9,638.80 points as against 9,687.35 points.Jahangir Siddiqi Company was the volumeleader in the share market with 10.057 millionshares as it closed at Rs 13.46 after opening atRs 13.40. Karachi Electricity Supply Companytraded 7.084 million shares as it closed at Rs2.76 after opening Rs 03.07. nishat ChunPower traded 5.527 million shares as it closedat Rs 15.15 from its opening at Rs 15.20. D.G.KCement traded 5.055 million shares andclosed at Rs 40.34 as against its opening at Rs41.22. Engro Foods Limited traded 5.032 mil-lion shares as it closed at Rs 66.96 as com-pared to its opening at Rs 67.92. Mehantistated that the lower global commodities, lim-ited foreign interest played a catalyst role inbearish sentiments at KSE. On the future mar-ket, the turnover increased to 8.385 millionagainst 7.127 million shares of Monday. TheWyeth Pakistan Limited and Mari Gas Com-pany, up Rs 8.44 and Rs 2.92, led highestprice gainers while, Rafhan Maize Prod andColgate Palmolive down Rs 138.81 and Rs47.00 respectively, led the losers.

BEARs ARE MACROECONOMICCONNOIssEuRsTHEY OPENED THE HONEY JAR EARLY

Index digs up a seventy-one-point hole; As institutional profit taking takes its toll

Agri loan disbursement up byover 13pc in July-MayFY12

KaraChI

staff report

Agricultural credit disbursement by bankssurged by 13.11 percent on year-on-year basis toRs 255.027 billion in the first eleven months(July-May) of the current fiscal year (2011-12).In absolute terms, disbursement of credit to theagriculture sector increased by over Rs 29.566billion in July-May 2012 when compared withtotal disbursement of Rs 225.461 billion in thesame period of the last fiscal year. Overall creditdisbursement by five major commercial banksincluding Allied Bank, Habib Bank, MCB Bank,national Bank of Pakistan and United BankLimited stood at Rs 132.385 billion in July-May2012 compared with Rs 123.100 billiondisbursement in July-May 2011 depicting anincrease of Rs 9.285 billion or 7.54 percent.The Zarai Taraqiati Bank, the largestspecialized bank, disbursed a total of Rs 54.174billion, down by 0.34 percent when comparedwith Rs 54.359 billion disbursed in the sameperiod of the last fiscal year. The PunjabProvincial Co-operative Bank disbursed Rs6.826 billion, up 38.69 percent when comparedwith Rs 4.921 billion disbursement of last fiscalyear. The 14 domestic private banks also loaneda combined amount of Rs 51.678 billion,registering an increase of 19.96 percent againstRs 43.081 billion of last year. The fivemicrofinance banks, including Khushhali Bank,nRSP Microfinance Bank, The FirstMicrofinance Bank, Pak Oman MicrofinanceBank and Tameer Microfinance Bank disburseda total of Rs 9.963 billion in the period in review.It may be pointed out that the State Bank ofPakistan for the first time has given an indicativetarget of Rs 12.20 billion to Microfinance banksfor disbursement of credit to agriculture sectorduring the current fiscal year.

China to keep maintaining8 pct growth for next over20 years: Economist

BeIJING

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China still has huge development potential andit will maintain the eight-percent growth ratefor at least another 20 years, Justin Yifu Lin,former chief economist of the World Bank hassaid. Lin made the remarks at a seminar atPeking University Monday, his first public ap-pearance in the country after he finished afour-year tenure as World Bank chief econo-mist and senior vice president, reports Xinhuanews agency. Lin said developing countriesshould promote the growth of industrieswhere they have comparative advantages,while governments will play a key role in se-lecting and developing those industries. “Ateach given stage of development, the market isthe fundamental mechanism for effective re-source allocation, but the state needs to play aproactive, facilitating role in the move from alower stage to a higher stage,” Lin said. The 60-year-old Chinese economist will return toteaching at Peking University and is expectedto give a class in the new semester starting inSeptember, according to the university.

Mobilink tops mobilemarket share in 2012

ISLaMaBaD

app

One of the leading operator, Mobilink hastopped the cellular market share in the countrywith registration of 30.25 per cent during firstnine months of this year. Market share is nowmore balanced among the five operators withalmost insignificant changes over the year as byMarch 2012, Mobilink had market share of30.25 per cent followed by Telenor with 24.8 percent and Ufone with 19.54 per cent. Zong andWarid registered 13.24 per cent and 12.17 percent respectively, official data available with APPsaid on Tuesday. It said mobile market over theyears has become more stable due to intensecompetition. Pakistani’s cellular sector faced atough economic and business environmentduring the last year due to taxes, power crisis,security situation, extensive subscriber andnatural calamities but despite all these factors,the cellular industry managed to double itsgrowth rate from the previous fiscal year.

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