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Bull stampede lifts indexup 225pts Page 03

Wednesday, 21 March, 2012

KARACHI

ISMAIL DILAWAR

THE country’s fragile economyis, whereas, showing signs of amodest improvement on theback of positives in agriculture

and services sectors, the central bank isforeseeing in Pakistan some seriouschallenges to macroeconomic stabilitystemming from the external sector andcontinued weaknesses on the fiscal side.“Half way into FY12, the economy isshowing signs of a modestimprovement,” said the State bank inits second quarterly report for july-December FY12 issued on Tuesday.Referring to preliminary data, the banksaid the commodity producing sector,especially agriculture, was doing betterthan expected while the services sectoralso seemed well-placed to gain fromrobust retail trade activities,transportation and increasedprofitability of the banking sector.The ample availability of key staplecrops and less than anticipated supplydisruptions due to floods played a keyrole in containing inflationary pressuresduring the period under review.However, the benefits of productivitygains to farmers are being eroded by thedwindling price of their produce and theincreased cost of inputs, especially that offertilizer. “accordingly, farm income isexpected to be lower than last year.”Despite these positives, the SbP warned,risks to macro-economic stability had,nevertheless, increased in the crises-hitcountry. Specifically, the SbP said, theposition of the external sector weakenedat a rate faster than expected and that thefall in financial and capital inflows exertedpressure both on the banks’ foreignexchange reserves as well as the rupee.“This, along with the pickup ingovernment borrowing from SbP,

complicated liquidity management,” thebank noted with concern.Finally, it said, the energy shortagescontinued to plague productionactivities, especially in the industrial sector.Giving a future outlook, the centralbank said the economy was expected togrow in the range of three to fourpercent during FY12. Within aggregatedemand, there has been almost noimprovement in the investmentcomponent, despite the reduction in thecost of borrowing, following the cut inSbP’s policy rate.Loans to private sector businessesexpanded only by 3.5 percent in H1-FY12,with fixed investment loans seeing a netretirement of Rs 8.5 billion, the bank said.“The low demand for fixed investmentloans is largely due to persistent energyshortages, the unfavorable law and ordersituation, and excess capacity in theindustrial sector,” the bank said. amid lowdemand, the working capital loans hadincreased by Rs 99.5 billion during H1FY12compared to last year’s Rs 131.3. The SbPsaid the government had to purchase378,000 tons of sugar through TCP to helpsugar mills, which were unable to offloadtheir stocks from last year, retire some oftheir bank borrowings. The inflationaryoutlook had improved slightly on account ofsupply side factors (food) and FY12 wasexpected to see inflation fall within therange of 11.0 to 12.0 percent, with a biastowards the lower boundary. “More thanhalf of the commodities in the CPI basketare still posting double-digit inflation,” thebank said. about the fiscal deficit, the SbPsaid despite seeing the gap on lower levelduring H1-FY12, containment of the overalldeficit at the revised target of 4.7 percentwould be challenging for the government.“Quarterly data for previous years hasshown that the deficit remainsrelatively higher in the second half of

the year,” it said. adding theachievement of the revised fiscal deficitwas dependant on the realization ofenvisaged surpluses from provincialgovernments (which are likely to belower than expected), the non-taxrevenues (depending on inflows into theCoalition Support Fund) and theauction of 3G licenses and strict controlover expenditures. The burden offinancing this deficit, the State banksaid, would fall on the banking system,specifically on commercial banks.“Other than growing concerns about thesupply of loan-able funds for the privatesector, renewed government borrowingfrom SbP entails rising inflationaryexpectations in the economy,” it added.Terming the composition of governmentborrowing, which accumulated at Rs391.0 billion and has tilted towardsinflationary financing, as of a greaterconcern, the SbP said the governmentwas unable to meet its self-imposedquarterly limit of zero net budgetaryborrowing from SbP. On the externalfront, although the current accountdeficit was expected to be in the range of1.5 to 2.5 percent of the GDP, there wasan upward bias to this prediction. “Giventhe fall in financial and capital inflows,funding this modest current accountdeficit could be challenging,” it saidadding the market players wereincreasingly concerned about whetherthe envisaged foreign inflows wouldmaterialize in time. This, together withthe scheduled repayment of IMF loans,amounting to $ 1.1 billion, during thesecond half may draw down the SbP’sforeign exchange reserves.Data for consolidated fiscal operationsindicates a deficit of 2.5 percent of GDPfor H1-FY12. The good news is that thiscame primarily from the revenue side;FbR tax collections reached Rs 840.1billion during H1-FY12, showing a YoY

growth of 27.1 percent.Moreover, SbP profits of Rs 104.0billion contributed significantly non-taxrevenues. nevertheless, it is importantto note that financing this containedfiscal deficit in H1-FY12 was challengingas compared to H1-FY11.The slowdown in foreign exchangeinflows has also raised concerns aboutcountry’s balance of payments.Specifically, Q2-FY12 data shows thatthe overall external account deficit hasincreased to $ 1.0 billion compared to $0.8 billion in the first quarter of theyear. “The composition of the boPreveals that the current account deficithas widened to $ 2.2 billion against analmost nil balance during H1-FY11,”said the State bank.Counting $ 6.3 billion workerremittances the only positive on the list,the bank said all other components ofthe current account deteriorated duringthe review period. The import billincreased on account of higherinternational oil prices and the importof fertilizer which accounted for 60percent of the increase. On the otherhand, export growth has slowed to 3.9percent compared to 18.9 percentduring the first half of the previousyear. The financial and capital accountsposted a deficit of $ 0.4 billion duringQ2-FY12. Hence, the SbP’s dollarreserves saw a reduction of $ 1.9 billionduring H1-FY12 to $ 12.9 billion. Thisdecline in reserves was accompanied bya depreciating Pak Rupee, which lost4.4 percent of its value during the firsthalf of the year, said the bank.“Despite these weaknesses, the size ofthe current account deficit should notbe a major source of concern, givenPakistan’s history. The real challenge isfinancing the current account deficit, asboth debt and non-debt inflows havedeclined,” the State bank said.

Challenges on external, fiscal sidehaunting macroeconomic stability

KARACHI

GHULAM ABBAS

THE process of tradenormalisation with India willnot affect the imports of teafrom the neighbouring country

as the item has already been allowed fortrade. However, the imports from newDelhi are likely to be increased by around8 percent this year due to the drought inafrican region and halt in imports frombangladesh. Talking to Pakistan Today,Muhammad Hanif janoo, Chairman,Pakistan Tea association (PTa) said thatthe country this year was likely to importtea worth $ 30 million from India ascompared to registered trade of $ 25- $ 27million last year. a high powereddelegation led by PTa was also going tovisit India on april 9 to enhance the tradein this sector, he said adding that, themajor shift of imports of the highlyconsumed item was not to be made asIndian tea, as compared to Kenyanproduct, was not qualitative. The

members of the delegation would meetleading exports of tea in India besideshaving formal talks with the concernedofficials of Tea Development board ofIndia in Calcutta.However, he denied that the trade

normalisation process between the twoSouth asian neighbors was going toenhance the imports of tea from Delhi asthe import was going on since 1876.besides, the consumption in India hasalready been increased during the last few

years. India exports less quantity of tea ascompared to other exporters of the productto Pakistan including Kenya, Sri Lanka andVietnam and China, due to the domesticconsumption of over 80 percent of totalproduction. according to him, the importsfrom bangladesh have also almost beenhalted due to the huge consumption in thetea producing country. Pakistan’s share ofimports of tea from Dhaka has been shiftedto Vietnam and India. He said that therewas no hindrance in official trade of teabetween the two countries and the kitchenitem was not being imported via thirdcountry, however the Kenyan Tea has beenreported to be mixed with Indian tea inthird countries by the profiteers illegally. Inreply to a query he said that there was nohalt or reduction in smuggling of tea fromafghanistan which was still at over 40percent of the total import of Pakistan.Sources claimed that the import of tea fromIndia has started increasing during the lastfew years. according to official data teaimports from new Delhi was increased by17 percent in financial year 2010-2011.

Currently according to sources, theIndian exporters were also trying to takePakistani market as an alternative of theIranian one after the payment issuedominated in the trade with Iranfollowing the uS economic sanctions onTehran. according to statistic providedby Pakistan Tea association (PTa),almost 21812072 kilogram of tea worth$27.198 million has been imported fromthe neighboring country during thefinancial year 2011 as compared to8265419 kg of tea worth $15.529 millionduring the fiscal year 2010 making anenhanced share of 17.12 percent inPakistani market.besides, though theover all imports of tea from Kenya, themajor tea exporting country to Pakistan,has improved as Islamabad has imported70032621 kg black tea of worth$204.785 million during 2010-2011 ascompared to 58039771 kg tea of worth$175.158 million in 2009-2010, itsshares in the total import of Pakistan hasreduced to 55 percent as compared to 60percent recorded in FY 2010.

Govt for SaP’s inclusion in PunjabSeed council

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

Punjab government hasno objection onincluding Seed

association of Pakistan (SaP)as member/observer of thePunjab Seed Council.nevertheless, a final decisionin this regard will be taken inthe next meeting of theprovincial seed council, saidthe Punjab Minister foragriculture Malik ahmad aliaulakh here on Tuesday.aulakh was meeting therepresentatives of the Seedassociation of Pakistan (SaP)in Punjab agriculturalResearch board (PaRb). Themeeting was also attended bythe Punjab Seed CouncilManaging Director altaf aizadKhan, Chairman SaP Shahzadali Malik, Director Generalagriculture (Extension) Dr.anjum ali and DirectorGeneral (agri Research) Drnoor ul Islam. addressing theparticipants, Punjabagriculture Minister said that700 seed companies approvedby the Federal SeedCertification and RegistrationDepartment are working in thecountry out of which 600 areregistered in Punjab province.However, he regretted that ifall the legal requirements arefulfilled then only around 200companies were working asper law. The Minister stressedthe need for kicking out blacksheep in seed business so asthe growers could get qualitycertified seeds on cheaperrates. He said that the Punjabgovernment was taking all outsteps to resolve the issuesfaced by the growers. Heclaimed the credit of goodproduction in all the cropsincluding cotton, wheat, rice,potatoes and others sayingthat it is a proof of pro-farmerpolicies of the presentprovincial government.

SBP JulY-DEcEmBEr quartErlY rEPort

g Economy to grow in range of three to 4 pc during FY12 g SBP’s dollar reserves dip by $ 1.9b devaluing rupee by 4.4pc g Inflation to remainbetween 11 and 12pc g Govt borrowing from SBP complicates liquidity management g Energy shortages plague industrial production

8pc hike in tea imports from India likely

PRO 21-03-2012_Layout 1 3/21/2012 12:19 AM Page 1

news02Wednesday, 21 March, 2012

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

EVERY two seconds, an area offorest the size of a footballfield is clear-cut by illegalloggers around the globe. a

new World bank report released onTuesday shows how countries caneffectively fight illegal logging throughthe criminal justice system, punishorganised crime and trace andconfiscate illegal logging profits. Thereport, justice for Forests: ImprovingCriminal justice Efforts to CombatIllegal Logging, says that to be effective,law enforcement needs to look past low-level criminals and look at where theprofits from illegal logging go. byfollowing the money trail, and usingtools developed in more than 170countries to go after dirty money,‘criminal justice can pursue criminalorganisations engaged in large-scaleillegal logging and confiscate ill-gottengains. The World bank estimates thatillegal logging in some countriesaccounts for as much as 90 per cent of

all logging and generates approximatelyuS$10–15 billion annually in criminalproceeds. Mostly controlled byorganised crime, this money is untaxedand is used to pay corrupt governmentofficials at all levels. The new reportprovides policy and operationalrecommendations for policy makersand forestry and law enforcementactors to integrate illegal logging intocriminal justice strategies, fosterinternational and domestic cooperationamong policy makers, law enforcementauthorities and other key stakeholders,and make better use of financialintelligence. “We need to fightorganised crime in illegal logging theway we go after gangsters selling drugsor racketeering,” said jean Pesme,Manager of the World bank FinancialMarket Integrity team that helpscountries implement effective legal andoperational frameworks to combat illicitfinancial flows. Despite compellingevidence showing that illegal logging isa global epidemic, most forest crimes goundetected, unreported, or are ignored.In addition, estimates of criminal

proceeds generated by forest crimes donot capture their enormousenvironmental, economic and societalcosts— biodiversity threats, increasedcarbon emissions and underminedlivelihoods of rural peoples, withorganised crime profiting at theexpense of the poor. Preventive actionsagainst illegal logging are critical. Wealso know that they are insufficient,saidMagda Lovei, Sector Manager at theWorld bank. ―When implemented, therecommendations of this publicationcan have a strong deterrent effect thathas been missing in many actions takenagainst illegal loggers. Organised crimenetworks behind large scale illegallogging have links to corruption at thehighest levels of government. Theinvestigation of forest crimes is madeeven more complex by theinternational dimension of theseoperations. Recognising thesechallenges, this study calls for lawenforcement actions that are focusedon the ―masterminds behind thesenetworks—and the corrupt officialswho enable and protect them.

ISLAMABAD

STAFF REPORT

W hile assuring that it would considerproviding greater market access toPakistani products; australia has showninterest to revise the current bilateral

trade agreement and a bilateral investment treatyto promote bilateral trade between the twocountries. This interest was shown at the thirdmeeting of Pakistan-australia joint TradeCommittee (jTC) which was held in Canberra onMarch 20. Pakistani delegation was led bySecretary Commerce Zafar Mahmood, which alsoincluded Chief Executive of Trade Developmentauthority of Pakistan Tariq Puri and HighCommissioner of Pakistan abdul Malik abdullah.australian side was led by Deputy SecretaryDepartment of Foreign affairs and Trade (DFaT)Paul Grigson and included senior officials ofDFaT, Treasury, biosecurity australia, ausaIDand ausTrade. after taking cognizance ofenormous economic challenges faced by Pakistandue to the devastating floods of last twoconsecutive years and because of its frontline rolein war against terrorism, jTC discussed ways forexpansion of cooperation in multifaceted fieldsincluding grant of greater access to Pakistaniproducts to australian market, promotion ofaustralian joint ventures and enhancedinvestment, capacity building of Pakistani

professionals and expertise in diverse sectors withparticular emphasis in agricultural sector like post-harvest value addition, dairy products, livestock,water management, and training of trainers.The meeting was informed that australia hasrecently completed the risk assessment processesfor import of Pakistani mangoes and would beconsidering similar processes for its apples, citrusfruit and fisheries. australia has significantlyincreased its development assistance to Pakistan inthe recent years. The meeting acknowledged thesuccess of Pakistan-australia agriculture SectorLinkages Programme. The cooperation in theeducation sector, especially grant of higher numberof scholarships also came under consideration. ThejTC considered the conclusion of a number ofproposed agreements like signing of a new Mou onrevision of present bilateral trade agreement and abilateral investment treaty.Pakistan-australia jTC was established under thebilateral trade agreement of 1990, to oversee andfoster ever stronger commercial and economiclinks between the two countries. The previousmeetings were held alternatively in australia andPakistan in 2006 and 2010. a range of proposals toboost the two-way trade and investment were alsodiscussed at the meeting. The meeting alsoreviewed progress on the decisions taken at theprevious meetings. It was agreed that time boundtargets would be set for making progress on all thetrade and economic matters of mutual interest.

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

c HaIRMan all Pakistan Textile Millsassociation (aPTMa) Mohsin aziz hasurged the government to ensureuninterrupted power supply to textile

industry during the final of asia Cup on March 22unlike March 18 cricket match of Pakistan andIndia, causing an estimated $15 million loss totextile industry due to 10 hours long electricityshutdown of industry on independent andgrouped feeders. He lamented that putting offelectricity supply to industry to entertain cricketfans speaks volumes about government’s prioritytowards industrial development of the country. Chairman aPTMa said the entertainment isthough an important segment of a healthy societybut having it at the cost of industrial production isnot understandable. according to him, power supply to the textileindustry remained suspended countrywide for 10hours on Sunday due to a pool match betweencricket teams of India and Pakistan. Thegovernment had desired uninterrupted powersupply during cricket match. accordingly, thepower authorities suspended power supply toindustrial units countrywide. Chairman aPTMa said the textile industry was

already underperforming due to unprecedentedenergy crisis in the country since november 2007,leading to 40% capacity closure with a contractionof exports by 15-20% apprehended to be at $12billion instead of $16 billion achieved in thepreceding year. Mohsin criticized the economic managers fortheir indifferent attitude towards industrialgrowth of the country. Eventually, all efforts toattain market access from the European unionprove useless in the face of non-serious attitude ofgovernment policy makers, he deplored and saidthat market access can only be availed if exportsurplus is available with industry out 365 days ayear production cycle. He said the government should make clearwhether it was serious in giving priority to thetextile industry or not, as all concerns put forwardby the State bank of Pakistan in its periodicreports on sluggish economic output becomemeaningless when power supply to industry issuspended for unproductive activities. Chairman aPTMa has expressed fears that thetextile millers would be left with no option but toclose down their businesses if this non-serioustrend of continues. The government should givepriority to industry on entertainment, asentertainment with empty stomachs is a bane notboon for any society on earth, he concluded.

cricket match or industrial production?g chairman aPtma questions govt’s priorities g Wants uninterrupted power supply to industries during asia cup final

Pak, australia to revise bilateral trade g australia interested in importing mangoes, apples, citrus and fisheries

ISLAMABAD

STAFF REPORT

THE Securities and ExchangeCommission of Pakistan (SECP) haspenalized a number of companies and

their managements and statutory auditors fornon-compliance with the corporate laws andapplicable accounting standards duringFebruary 2012. The commission has alsosanctioned two onsite inspections of books,records and papers in view of the un-authorized disposal of fixed assets,non-submission of annual and quarterlyaccounts and material qualifications raised bythe statutory auditors. Such inspections areconducted on a routine basis as fact findingexercises under section 231 of the CompaniesOrdinance, 1984 to ascertain the state ofaffairs of the companies. a statement issuedby SECP said that its EnforcementDepartment passed 29 orders and initiated 36show cause proceedings against directors andauditors of listed and non-listed companies.These enforcement actions mainly pertainedto the violation of the takeover law;companies issue of capital rules; un-authorized inter-corporate financing; late ornon-submission of quarterly accounts; non-preparation and submission of consolidatedfinancial statements; misstatements infinancial statements and other reports; non-appointment of independent share registrar;un-authorized utilization of security depositsand provident fund; mis-utilization of powersby directors and improper issue, circulation orpublication of balance sheet or profit-and-lossaccounts. The department also resolved 16investor complaints during the month, whichmainly related to non-receipt of dividendwarrants, disposal of fractional shares,

delay/non-transfer of shares, and issue ofduplicate shares. The statutory auditors offour listed companies who had failed to act inconformity with the statutory framework werepenalized and warned to discharge, in future,their responsibilities with due care andprofessionalism to give an independent andobjective opinion on financial statements. Theauditors are required to give an opinion onthe true state of affairs of the companies;however, the audit reports issued by theseauditors had failed to bring out the materialfacts. The directors of a listed companywere penalized for the omission of materialinformation. a creditor of the company hadimposed a restriction on payment ofdividend to the shareholders without itsprior permission. The restriction on therights of the shareholders was neverdisclosed in any of the annual accounts ofthe company since the time of itsimposition. Proceedings were finalizedagainst the directors of a listed company forexceeding their powers by holding themeeting of the board in the absence of theprescribed quorum. The company’s storagetanks were sold to a private companyowned by its directors, however, threeinterested directors, in spite of being legallyrestrained to approve the transaction,failed to refrain from participating in themeeting of the board convened to considerthe matter. Proceedings, for misstatementof fact, against the directors of a privatecompany were finalised where theunaudited accounts for the years 2008 to2010 had been presented as audited. TheSECP issued a direction that duly auditedaccounts be filed within three months fromthe date of the order in addition topenalising the directors.

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

THE Lahore Chamber of Commerceand Industry has called for early es-tablishment of Export Processing

Zone (EPZ) in Lahore as it is one of thelargest industrial cities in the country andcould contribute to jack up exports in a bigway. The LCCI President Irfan QaiserSheikh was talking Chairman, Export Pro-cessing Zone authority (EPZa) Tariq Has-

san during his visit to the Lahore Chamberof Commerce & Industry on Tuesday. LCCIformer Senior Vice President Sohail Lasharialso attended the meeting. The LCCI Pres-ident said that it was very unfortunate thatexcept EPZ in Karachi, the other EPZs haveneither succeeded in generating the desiredlevel of economic activities nor attracted theinvestors to venture in these sites. IrfanQaiser Sheikh said that it has been observedthat there are security issues as well as widegaps in the facilities promised and finally

delivered by EPZa. He said that EPZaneeds to be more professional while focus-ing on result oriented approach. The LCCIPresident said that the EPZa consumes afair amount of share from the federalbudget in order to function in such a man-ner that local as well as foreign investorsare motivated to invest in EPZs so that theexports from Pakistan could be increasedas the country at the moment was in direneed of foreign exchange and the EPZaneeds to be proactive.

PESHAWAR

STAFF REPORT

THE Lucky Cement Limited, Pakistan’slargest cement producer, having its ce-ment plants in Karachi and DarraPezu,

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), intends to sell ad-ditional electricity to the electric supply compa-nies of KPK Province through its Plant in DarraPezu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK). accordingto company official, Lucky Cement is in negoti-ations with the Peshawar Electric Supply Com-pany (PESCO) for selling 15 to 20 MW of power,which could help overcoming the severe powercrisis in Lakki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan,the surrounding areas of Lucky Cement’s Plant.The Lucky Cement has its own power generationunits at both the production facilities of Karachi

and Pezu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. These powergeneration units are capable of producingaround 175 Mega Watts of electricity all togetherand since 2010 both the plants have installedstate-of-the-art Waste Heat Recovery (WHR)systems that are contributing an additional 22MW of electricity converted out of the wastedheat it captures and reuses to produce energy.Lucky Cement, with the ability and capacity tocontribute to the energy needs of the country, ismuch willing to sell the excess electricity to theGovernment of KPK. according to the sources,the decision to purchase electricity from LuckyCement lies with PESCO as the cement companyhas readily available power to sell. This alsodemonstrates that there are ways to resolve thecurrent energy crisis in the country, if the Gov-ernment is seriously willing to resolve the same.

SEcP acts against directors and auditorsof companies for breaches of law

lucky vies to sell additional electricity

lahore needs an Export Processing Zone, claims lccI

PRO 21-03-2012_Layout 1 3/21/2012 12:19 AM Page 2

HEc awards ‘W4’ category to university of central Punjab (ucP)ISLAMABAD: The Higher Education Commission(HEC) of Pakistan has awarded “W4” category touniversity of Central Punjab. W4 is the highest uni-versity ranking. “W4” category is awarded to onlythose universities who have improved their criteriaover time and have far superior academic, financialand physical infrastructure. PRESS RELEASE

Jawad amin Khan appointed coordinator to president aJKISLAMABAD: The president of azad jammu andKashmir, Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan, has ap-pointed jawad amin Khan, the managing directorof ZaFa Group as his coordinator for business com-munity. This appointment was made on Monday,March 19, 2012 vide presidential notification no.796-72/2012. This honorary position has been be-stowed upon him for ‘his valuable contributions tothe Kashmiri community living in Karachi.” Mr.jawad amin Khan, apart from being the head of oneof the largest and most prestigious pharmaceuticalcompanies of Pakistan, is an eminent professionaland industrialist who has been representing Pak-istan and the business community at various fo-rums. His contributions to the development ofbusiness in general and pharmaceutical industry inPakistan in particular are well known and it is ex-pected that he will help in making valuable contri-bution in his new role. PRESS RELEASE

lG’s Glasses-Free cinema 3D monitorcertified by underwriters laboratoriesLAHORE/SEOUL: LG Electronics’ (LG) glasses-free CInEMa 3D monitor, the D2500, became theworld’s first glasses-free 3D monitor to be certifiedby uL, (underwriters Laboratories) for productsafety, strengthening LG’s leadership in the glasses-free 3D product segment. The certification was offi-cially presented to LG at last week’s ConsumerElectronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. “Our glasses-free CInEMa 3D monitors will continue to lead LG

in the glasses-free 3D market,” said Havis Kwon,President and CEO of LG Home Entertainment Com-pany. “We will strengthen our glasses-free 3D prod-uct line-up to further distance ourselves from thecompetition.” D2500 also received the Certificate ofValidation on five different types of tests conductedby uL, ncluding those for 2D Color Characteristic,3D Color Characteristic, 3D Contrast, 3D Crosstalkand 3D Vertical Viewing angle. uL is internationallyrenowned for its product quality and safety certifica-tions of electronics products. PRESS RELEASE

Emirates adds fifth daily frequency to KarachiKARACHI: Emirates, one of the world’s fastestgrowing airlines, has strengthened its commitmentto Pakistan by announcing the addition of a fifthdaily flight to and from the city of Karachi. Effectiveaugust 1, 2012, the airline will be operating to jin-nah International airport in Karachi five times aday. This move reinforces Emirates’ presence in thePakistani landscape and provides passengers withmore flexibility and options when traveling to Dubaiand beyond to the rest of the world. Commenting onthis development, badr abbas, Vice President Pak-istan & afghanistan, said: “This is very excitingnews for us as Karachi was the inaugural destinationof Emirates airline when the airline began opera-tions in 1985. Today we are proud to have an-nounced a fifth daily flight to Karachi in a move tobetter serve our Pakistani passengers andstrengthen the historic relationship between Pak-istan and uaE. We hope to continue on this path byfurther expanding our services in Pakistan and aregrateful to all the relevant government and aviationauthorities for making this possible.” PRESS RELEASE

Schneider Electric to support flood victims in Pakistan LAHORE: Schneider Electric, the global specialistin Energy Management, and its Foundation con-tribute generously towards the uplift of flood af-fected areas across Pakistan, by supporting aprofessional training programme with The HunarFoundation. This agreement was signed through a

special event organized in Karachi. The HunarFoundation is a vocational training centre that im-parts vocational training. So far 96 students fromthe first two batches of THF have qualified from theTrade Testing board (Sindh) in five technical tradesincluding Electrical Installation, Mechanical Fitting& Plant Maintenance, Fabrication Welding &Pipework, Refrigeration & airconditioning Me-chanic and Plumbing. an impressive number of stu-dents have also qualified from City & Guilds (uK).They are the first set of students in Pakistan whohave successfully obtained an international certifi-cation in vocational training from the first THF cen-tre located in Karachi. PRESS RELEASE

airblue receives Best Pakistani airlineaward - Flying higher than ever

KARACHI: Consumers Choice awards are heldevery year by the Consumers association of Pakistanto appreciate and reward organizations that providethe best quality services to their customers. CaPaims to defend and promote the interests of Pak-istani consumers as purchasers or users of goods andservices. This year airblue is proud to have receivedan award titled best Pakistani airline. Receiving theaward on behalf of airblue on this prestigious occa-sion, Director airport Operations airblue, Mr. SYEDaRMaan YEHIa . said: It is an occasion to be proudof and an honour to be recognized in the eyes of air-blue’s passengers as the best airline in Pakistan.This achievement shall make us strive to provideeven better flying experience to our customers. Wewill continue to work hard and always provide ourcustomers service par excellence. PRESS RELEASE

range Hospitality’s al rawdatain residencesproject to be managed by Shaza Hotels KARACHI: Range Hospitality – a progressive Dubaibased real estate developer with a successful trackrecord, has invested in the religious tourism sector inthe holy city of Karbala, Iraq. Range Hospitality’s alRawdatain Residences hotel project in Karbala, Iraqis successfully underway. This 12-storey hotel projectwas launched by Range Hospitality during august,2010. Headquartered in Dubai and with regional of-fices across the region, Range Hospitality has alreadysold a substantial part of the al Rawdatain Residences.This property offers Shariah compliant fractional own-ership and is expected to be completed by the end of2013. by 2015 Range Hospitality aims to operate both3-Star and 4-Star hotels in najaf. The developer hasalready received a number of inquiries from regionalpartners to consider joint ventures in Medina. Thegroup also intends to develop and operate a series ofhotels in Mecca to cater to the needs of the entire Mus-lim audience. Shafaat Hashmi, business DevelopmentDirector for Pakistan, said: “The group always looksfor potential markets and we found that Iraq offers avery favorable foreign investment environment mak-ing it a lucrative market for investment. Thus findinga gap in luxury accommodation across all spectrums,we went ahead with this large development to cater toover 20 million pilgrims who visit Karbala every year,and face acute shortage of residences. STAFF REPORT

news

Wednesday, 21 March, 2012

03

KARACHI: Eighth PFBA Awards (L-R) Saeed Allawalla,Jamil Hamdani, Dominque Simon, H.E. Philppe Theibund(Ambassador of France to Pakistan) and Ziad Bashir,Director Gul Ahmed Textiles. PRESS RELEASE

CORPORATE CORNER

Major Gainers

Company Open High Low Close Change Turnover

UniLever Pak LtdXD 5548.00 5825.00 5450.25 5817.78 269.78 2,104 Nestle PakXD 4222.17 4433.00 4242.00 4402.61 180.44 874 Rafhan MaizeXD 2685.00 2775.00 2685.00 2774.57 89.57 97 Millat TractorsXD 479.56 490.00 480.00 488.31 8.75 11,318 Mithchells Fruit 166.92 175.26 166.92 75.26 8.34 769

Major Losers

Unilever Food XD 1830.50 1751.00 1751.00 1751.00 -79.5 0 55 Pak Gum & ChemSPOT 82.02 81.25 78.25 79.16 2.86 2,200 Pak Tobacco Co. 56.00 53.23 53.20 53.20 -2.80 40,020 Exide (PAK) 179.20 179.00 176.00 176.41 -2.79 1,759 Atlas Battery Ltd. 194.63 193.00 192.25 192.29 -2.34 1,528

Volume Leaders

Jah.Sidd. Co. 17.39 18.39 16.39 17.96 0.57 43,532,996 D.G.K.Cement 30.30 31.81 30.35 31.81 1.51 15,301,635 JS Bank Ltd 5.82 6.82 5.71 6.78 0.96 13,893,989 Lafarge Pakistan 3.59 3.93 3.51 3.88 0.29 13,478,493 JS Bank Ltd 10.29 10.75 9.29 10.41 0.12 11,274,608

Interbank RatesUS Dollar 90.7304UK Pound 143.9075Japanese Yen 1.0823Euro 119.6825

Dollar EastBuy Sell

US Dollar 90.70 91.20 Euro 119.16 120.47 Great Britain Pound 142.98 144.53 Japanese Yen 1.0762 1.0877 Canadian Dollar 90.31 91.79 Hong Kong Dollar 11.51 11.70 UAE Dirham 24.58 24.82 Saudi Riyal 24.06 24.31Australian Dollar 94.07 96.52

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

THE bulls kept dominatingKarachi stocks market onTuesday with benchmark,KSE 100-share index sky-

rocketing to 13,303 points andgaining 225.61 points.

The day saw the index closingup by 1.73 percent at 13,303.33points against 13,077.72 pointsof Monday. KSE100 index wit-nessed a sharp bounce back of225pts from a crucial. The mar-ket needs strong turnover forcontinue upsurge, said abdulazeem, an analyst at InvestCap.On Tuesday, the trading volumesat the ready-counter wererecorded lower at 247.813 mil-lion shares against 256.860 mil-lion shares of the previous day.The trading value too surged toRs 5.140 billion compared to Rs

4.528 billion of the previous ses-sion. The intraday high and low,respectively, stood at 13,320.16and 13,046.79 points.

He added that support level of13,043pts. a strong buying interestfrom the investors supported themarket. The market capitalizationgrew modestly and increased to Rs3.428 trillion from Rs 3.381 trilliona day earlier. Of the total 362traded scrips, 175 gained, 98 lostand 89 finished as unchanged.

azeem said, “The index climb-ing above the pivot will reflect fol-low through buying which couldhelp the index to further gain to-wards 13,500pts levels.”

The free-float KSE-30 indexalso gained 183.23 points to closeat 11,740.43 points against the pre-vious 11,557.20 points. jahangirSiddiqui Company was the day’svolume leader counting its tradedshares at 43.532 million with theopening and closing rates,

respectively, standing at Rs 17.39and Rs 17.96. On the future mar-ket, the turnover increased re-markably by over 6 million sharesto 13.410 million against 11.109million shares of Monday.

The uniLever Pakistan LimitedXD and nestle Pakistan XD, up Rs269.78 and Rs 180.44, led highestprice gainers while, unilever FoodXD and Pak Gum & Chem SPOT,down Rs 79.50 and Rs 2.86 respec-tively, led the losers.-

Bull stampede lifts index up 225pts

LAHORE

NAUMAN TASLEEM

CHIEF Executive Officers (CEOs) ofPower Distribution Companies (DIS-COs) participated in the concludingceremony of a high-level workshop for

the senior human resource management of DIS-COs. The workshop was organized by the uSaIDPower Distribution Program. The three-year longuSaID Power Distribution Program’s mission isto reduce energy losses, increase revenue, im-prove customer service, and transform distribu-tion companies to efficient utilities.

The five-day’s workshop was designed by thesenior faculty members of Lahore university ofManagement Sciences for the uSaID Power Distri-bution Program. a detailed Learning needs assess-

ment (Lna) was conducted in 2011 to assess theneeds for improvement in DISCO human resourcemanagement. The first phase of workshop was con-ducted in january 2012 followed by the concludingsession held on March 19-20, 2012. Senior humanresource management from IESCO (Islamabad),PESCO (Peshawar), MEPCO (Multan), GEPCO(Gujranwala), FESCO (Faisalabad), LESCO (La-hore), HESCO (Hyderabad), QESCO (Quetta), andSEPCO (Sukkur) attended the workshop.

“DISCOs play a key role in ensuring a smoothand uninterrupted delivery of power to residen-tial, commercial, and industrial customers. With-out an efficiently operating human resourcesystem of DISCOs, the consumers cannot receivethe quality services they need.” said Craig Van-Develde, Chief of Party of uSaID’s Power Distri-bution Program on the occasion. “Effective

organizations around the world give high priorityto human resource management and use innova-tive HR management techniques to help preparetheir employees through the process so that theyunderstand why the company needs to imple-ment key policies and improvements.” uSaIDPower Distribution Program is a three-year,uSaID-funded program aimed at working jointlywith government-owned electric power distribu-tion companies in Pakistan to improve their per-formance in terms of reduction in losses,improvement in revenues and customer services,and to bring them to a level of well-run utilitiesas in other progressive countries. Through thisprogram the united States Government providesassistance and support to the Government ofPakistan in its efforts to reform the power sectorand to end the current energy crisis.

uSaID helps DIScos on institutional capacity, development

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