profit.com.pk

About time we kicked in somemoney in agriculture Page 02

Monday, 23 April, 2012

KUNWAR KHULDUNE SHAHID

WIth Washington upping theante on sanctions on Iran,barter has been a populartopic of discussion on the

tehran drawing board. oil export is thespine of Iranian economy and the butt ofUs manoeuvre, hence a lot of theaforementioned barter has involved theproverbial black gold. Iran has recentlyoffered China and India – its leading oilpurchasers – oil in exchange for goodsother than their local currencies likewheat, soybean meal and other consumerproducts. Even Uruguay has offered Iranrice in exchange for oil, since Iran hasalways been a major importer of rice fromthe south American country, while theformer could do with some oil for theirever inflating industrial needs.Now, while Pakistan might not beinvolved in oil exchanges as such, PsmA(Pakistan sugar mills Association)chairman Javed Kayani, has conjured upthe idea of barter trade for ureaprocurement against sugar. Kayani hassent a letter to Federal Finance ministerAbdul hafeez sheikh, saying that the300,000 tonnes of urea already approvedfrom Iran can be procured against barterof sugar. this in turn would save a lot ofprecious foreign exchange. Kayani furtherstated the international price of sugarcould “almost buy double thequantity of urea”. Andtherefore, pressing theaccelerator on further ureaprocurement and taking it upa few notches to around800,000 tonnes of urea. thisnumber could then be exchangedfor around 400,000 tonnes ofsugar.While the sugar exchange, isunder discussion the wordis that we have alreadytabled a wheat offer as apart of a barter deal.shafqat hussain Nagmi,managing Director ofPakistan Agriculturalstorage and servicesCorporation (PAssCo)recently stated that Pakistanhas offered one milliontonnes of wheat and will getfertilisers and iron ore inreturn.shafqathussainsaid thatPakistan would begetting around600,000 tonnes of ureaand 200,000 tonnes ofiron ore – 30,000 ofwhich is said to be lumpore while the remainingfraction is said to beconstituted by fine iron ore.the latter would be ofparticular interest for thePakistan steel mills.this particular discussionwas first put on thenegotiation table duringIranian President mahmoudAhmadinejad’s meeting withPresident Asif Ali Zardari inFebruary. the presidents

wanted to take the mutual trade toaround $10 billion, which could easily beachieved by barter trade.Rice is another ingredient that has beenthrown in the Iran-Pakistan tradecauldron in the past. When Iran’s deputytrade minister Abbas Ghobadi heldmeetings with business magnates andgovernment officials, he expoundedIranian interest in importing 200,000 ofPakistani rice, as asserted by water andpower minister Naveed Qamar. Just like Iranian sanctions have hurtIran’s trade numbers with just aboutevery single country you could think of,the Islamabad-tehran trade has alsometamorphosed into repentant remnantsof the once decent numbers. It once stoodat $ 1.2 billion in 2009-10, and last yearfell to merely $450 million. Barter tradewould be an apposite way of postinghigher numbers for both the nations thatare suffering in one form or the other dueto skewed American policies. the $10billion trade touted in February by thepresidents of Iran and Pakistan mightseem akin to a leaf out of mythology asthings stand, but both the nations cantake a massive leap by using the wheat-urea barter and than mull over othergoods along the same lines.And then there is the small matter of theIran-Pakistan pipeline as well. It seemsboth Pakistan and Iran would need eachother’s support for a while now as far as

digging themselves out of the fiscalquagmire is concerned. the

intentions are there, theframework is there it’s only amatter of implementation

now.

Pak-Iran barter

is a no-brainer

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

A lmost every day manyauto parts consignments arearriving from China,thailand and other

countries at different ports inPakistan but the government’srevenue on these imports is stillnegligible due to misdeclaration ofthese parts during clearance atcustoms and loopholes in importpolicy. According to sources,Pakistan loses approximately Rs. 10billion every year in terms of importduties and taxes as many importersare involved in malpractice inconnivance with incompetent andcorrupt staff at customs areexploiting the loopholes in importpolicy to misdeclare the importedgoods. sources said that CustomRuling 329 of import policy is a listin which duties on 70% parts aredefined and 30% are mentioned as‘others’ while the duty structure isbased on weight rather than thevalue of these auto parts and is aslow as Us$ 2.48/kg on most partseven if their value is high, such asdiggis (Car trunks).sources said that the importers veryintelligently cheat the authorities bymisdeclaring few parts in othercategories, saving applicable duties.

For example, they said that shockabsorbers are being made locallyand should be imported under ItP8010 category if needed, paying50% punitive duty on it but someimporters are importing it underItP 8090 paying 15% less duty.“It seems that either the relevantstaff is not aware about the rulesand clearing such parts underwrong category or is involved insome form of corruption,” sourcesclaimed. sources said that it is veryeasy to mis declare / under invoiceas most of the clearing agents playssmartly and take benefit of currentcustom laws very easily. Forinstance, they said that an importerdeclared car luggage (DIGGI) as 2kg only instead of 20 kg, and thedeclared value of that car luggagewas only Us$ 4.96 which almostequals to Rs 450 only. “RealisticallyRs 450 is not even the cost ofpackaging (board box) or woodencages which is mandatory to packany kind of parts and it shows thatto clear in KGs without anydiscrimination of make, model andcc is done with closed eyes bycustom concerns,” the sourcesadded. on top of it if genuine partsare being imported, it is also veryeasy to evade duties by removinggenuine logos from packaging anddeclaring those as replacement

parts which have lesser duty and noone from custom really checks thatwhat kind of parts are beingcleared. “the solution is to consideroEm FoB value and take referencevalues from there to ensure thatwhatever parts are being importedinto Pakistan should not be misdeclared,” sources suggested.sources said that this is the righttime that Ruling 329 isreconsidered by custom valuation toreview declared value of auto partsand take all stakeholders on board(traders, oEms, localmanufacturers) to eliminateloopholes in the policy.“Almost all types of auto spare partsranging from critical engine andtransmission parts such as rings,pistons, gas kits, maintenance partslike oil filter, air filter are beingimported through sea inastonishing quantities andmisdeclaration is causing losses ofbillions of rupees to governmentand the government should put astrict check on such practices,”sources added.this would not only help thegovernment to increase therevenue generation but wouldalso enable legal businesses toexpand, generating morerevenues and employmentopportunities for the countrymen.

g Both Tehran and Islamabad need each other to dragthemselves out of their respective economic quagmires

TOWARDS ZERO

GOVT’S REVENUE ON AUTO PART IMPORTS IS

PAKISTAN LOSES 10 BILLION ANNUALLY IN TERMS OF IMPORT DUTIES, TAXESINTENTIONAL MUDDLE UP OF CATEGORIES SAVES APPLICABLE DUES FOR IMPORTERSCLEARING AGENTS MISUSING CUSTOM LAWSCUSTOM RULING 329 TO BE RECONSIDERED

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news02Monday, 23 April, 2012

MARK ROE, JOãO PAULO VAScONcELLOS

BRAZIlIAN President DilmaRousseff’s visit last week toWashington, DC, offers anoccasion to consider how

some once-poor countries havebroken out of poverty, as Brazil has.Development institutions like theWorld Bank have advocatedimproving business law as beingessential to success. Are they right?such thinking goes back at least as faras max Weber’s argument that aneffective business environment requiresa legal structure as predictable as aclock. Investors, it is thought, needclear rules and effective courts. securityof contract and strong mechanisms thatprotect investors are, in this view,foundational for finance, which in turnfuels economic growth. If a potentialfinancier is unsure of being repaid, heor she will not invest, firms will notgrow, and economic development willstall. Rules and institutions come first;real economic development follows.But, compelling as this logic seems,Brazil’s rise does not confirm it:financial and economic growth was notpreceded by – or even accompanied by– fundamental improvements in courtsand contracts.

Growth is unmistakable: Brazil’sfinancial markets have expandedrobustly, with stock-marketcapitalization rising from 35% of GDPin 2000 to 74% in 2010. In the eightyears prior to 2004, only six companieswent public; in the eight years since,138 have. last year, Brazil overtook theUnited Kingdom – often seen as anexemplar of contractual security – asthe world’s sixth-largest economy.And yet legal change was not central inBrazil’s success. Brazilian courts werereputed in 2000 to handle investors’lawsuits slowly and poorly, and theyare reputed to handle them slowly andpoorly today. Even basic elements ofbusiness organization – like limitingpublic shareholders’ obligation forcorporate debts – are said by Brazilianlegal experts, such as Bruno salama, toremain an open question, with allshareholders potentially exposed,especially in labor and tax lawsuits.If courts are not protecting investors, issomething else? New, important stock-exchange rules have strengthenedoutside investors’ confidence, thoughonly for new companies. For legalscholars, most prominently ColumbiaUniversity’s John Coffee, stockexchanges have historically been thefirst step toward protecting investors.An analysis by Ronald Gilson, henry

hansmann, and mariana Pargendler ofBrazil’s Novo mercado – the stockexchange’s special voluntary listingsegment, which provides strongprotections for investors in newly listedcompanies – supports this view.But stock exchanges have limits,particularly in Brazil. In the absence ofreliable courts, they cannot sue toenforce their rules. their only recourseis to push recalcitrant firms off theexchange. the Novo mercado dealtwith this problem by subjectingdisputes involving its newly-listedcompanies to arbitration. Commercialarbitration – and courts’ obligations toenforce the arbitrators’ decisions – canassure investors, even if the courtsgenerally do not.But arbitration – which has yet to bedeeply tested for resolving disputes onthe Novo mercado – does not seem tobe the linchpin of Brazil’s recentsuccess. After all, its institutionalinnovations apply only to the new Novomercado-listed companies, and not tothe bulk of the Brazilian economy’s bigfirms, which are listed on the stockexchange’s main segment, and thusremain stuck with the old rules, oldinstitutions, and anineffective courtsystem.two other key changes, one obviousand one surprising, were more essential

to Brazil’s financial development.the obvious change is that economic-growth opportunities mushroomed,owing to greater monetary stability,disinflation, and natural-resourcewealth. Better macroeconomic policyled to faster GDP growth, whichrequired financing and motivated someinsiders to forego perniciousmaneuvering that would scare awaynew outside investors.Growth plausibly drove financialdevelopment as much as, or morethan, institutional development did.While public and private enforcementwill need to improve if Brazil’seconomy is to move to the next level,dramatic legal improvement has notunderpinned Brazil’s overall financialdevelopment so far.the second change is both less obviousand more important: the politicalstability that came with the election in2002 of President luiz Inácio lula dasilva. the surprise here is that lula, aformer labor leader who had been onthe far left, was widely opposed, if notdespised, in business and financialcircles. how, then, did his victory helpto fuel the financial growth of thesubsequent decade?Despite his past, lula promised not todisrupt Brazilian corporate capitalism,running with a market-oriented vicepresident. Why he did so is difficult todetermine: quite plausibly, somecombination of lula’s realism, hisreaction to stock-market declinesattributed to his chances of being

elected, and campaign donations was atwork.once elected, lula governed from thepragmatic left, continuing the prioradministration’s core policies. true,Brazil still has a “hard” left, and somein lula’s own party are comfortablewith, say, Cuba’s Castro brothers andVenezuelan President hugo Chávez.But a consensus had emerged in Brazilthat a left party could neither win norgovern with hard-left ideas, and lula’spresidency did not challenge this view.the consensus may have reflected thesuccess of lula’s predecessor, Fernandohenrique Cardoso, the relative successof privatization and liberal marketeconomies around the world, and thegrowth of Brazil’s middle class.Whatever the case, for key leaders ofthe Brazilian left, including Rousseff,capitalism became part of the solution,not the fundamental problem.Investors take all kinds of risks. thebiggest are not always the legal ones onwhich the World Bank and developmentagencies have focused; rather, they arethe business risks of a company thatfails or a polity that implodes. Ifbusiness conditions are auspicious andthere is a strong consensus in favor ofliberal capitalism as the polity’s coreeconomic principle, financial marketscan develop and reluctantly absorb risksstemming from the legal system’sdefects. Institutional improvementshelp, but they can come later.

Courtesy: Project Syndicate

How Brazil broke loose

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

PAKIstAN has been ranked as oneof the least spending countries asfar as agriculture research is con-cerned, which deprives farmers of

higher productivity benefits besides increas-ing his or her cost of production signifi-cantly. “Instead of investing on research andinnovation, Pakistan’s agriculture sector isfocused on increased use of inputs, includ-ing fertilisers, pesticides and water, whichled to stagnation in productivity,” said Drmubarik Ali, Chief Executive Punjab Agri-culture Research Board (PARB). he wasspeaking at a consultative meeting withmembers of the Agricultural Journalists’ As-sociation (AJA) here on saturday.

our agriculture production is not pick-ing up and we have to import billion of ru-pees worth of pulses, fruit and vegetablesevery year, he said. Citing the example of re-gional countries, Dr Ali underlined that Pak-istan had the lowest spending on agricultureresearch among almost all the world key na-tions and it was too on declining trend.

he pointed out that the country washardly investing 0.25 to 0.29 per cent ofits agriculture GDP on research and de-velopment (R&D), whereas India was in-

vesting 0.4 per cent, Bangladesh 0.35 percent, China 0.6 per cent and Japan 2.5 percent of respective agriculture GDP. on theother hand, developed world was invest-ing 2-3 per cent of its agriculture GDP onR&D, he added.

PRAB chief further highlighted that in-appropriate use of funds; obsolete researchinfrastructure; little or no commercialisa-tion and lack of innovation among scien-tists were a few other impedimentsaffecting agriculture growth in the country.the root cause of the problems include lit-tle investment on research, inappropriateinvestment, lack of coordinated planning,lack of monitoring & evaluation, focused onroutine, rather than problem-solving re-search, little Incentive to be Innovative andlast but not the least little commercialisa-tion of research,” he elaborated.

on the one hand, he indicated, Pak-istan was on the lowest side when it cameto invest in R&D, while on the other hand,a major chunk of investment—around 85per cent went to administrative expendi-tures, like salaries, transport and mainte-nance of research facilities.

CEo PARB appreciated the role ofhigher Education Commission (hEC) andPunjab government for revamping the edu-cation and research facilities in the country.

however, he said, after the passage of 18thConstitutional Amendment, the hEC rolehad been marginalised, which resulted inthat educational and research instituteswere again being neglected. Grants now hadbeen reduced, ultimately affecting researchwork, he maintained.

highlighting the significance of R&D,Dr Ali said, “these are scientists and re-search institutes’ efforts that the country isproducing nearly five times more grainswhen it is compared with the levels of pre-partition. It is the fruit of research that percapita consumption of food products has in-creased 15 to 20 per cent, while spending onfood has dropped from 85 per cent to 65 percent during last several decades.

speaking about the initiatives taken bythe PARB, Dr mubarak pointed out thatthough the board had been revamped in2007, but it had to spend initial two yearsin making rules and regulations. however,now it had been working effectively and ef-ficiently and had received 372 research pro-posals, out of which 65 had been approvedby the technical working group after rigor-ous deliberations.

to overcome research related prob-lems, he observed, PARB is now poised toplan, coordinate, fund, monitor, and com-mercialise specific agriculture research

outputs in Punjab, the biggest agrarianeconomy of country.

he told that audience including repre-sentatives of educational institutions andfarmers that revamping of agriculture re-search had resulted in focused, result-ori-ented work with greater coordinationamong various institutions.

talking about strategy of PARB, he said,focus is being diverted to high priority re-search with the involvement of stakeholdersbesides funding projects on competitivebasis. he added that effective research mon-itoring and commercialisation of researchoutputs are being ensured besides offeringlucrative incentives to scientists. Efforts arealso being made to enhance internationalcollaboration and increasing capacity build-ing of various agriculture research stationsthrough greater spending on infrastructure.

he said breakthrough has been made indeveloping ClCV resistant cotton varietiesat experiment level and its field trials arebeing initiated. he added that various ap-proaches had been employed to overcomeproblem of ClCV, which has emerged asone of the potent threats to this cash crop.Issues such as control of Bacterial leafBlight-BlB for paddy, major progress inbran oil extraction, citrus waxing throughindigenous resources, first ever propagation

of date palm by tissue culture, successfulolive propagation & value addition tech-nique and productivity enhancement of buf-falo through efficient management alsohighlighted on the occasion.

Prof. Dr. talat Naseer Pasha, Vice-Chancellor, University of Veterinary andAnimal sciences (UVAs) said researchwork in education institutions was nowbeing better coordinated and expeditedfollowing setting up of PARB. he addedthat special attention now also been givento livestock and dairy sector. he expressedthat hope that such efforts would help inaddressing one of the key issues of ouragriculture sector in most efficient way.

Dr. tariq Bucha, President, Farmers As-sociates Pakistan (FAP) stressed the need ofincreasing interaction between scientistsand farmers. he added that farmers, beingultimate beneficiary of research, should befully involved in identifying research projectbesides creating linkages at grassroots level.

safraz Khan, Vice President KissanBoard Pakistan (KBP) said small farmers,being biggest shareholder in farming anddairy sector should be given priority whileinitiating research work. he said variousaspects of agriculture research should beproperly discussed with representatives offarmer organisation.

g Pakistan ranked as one of the ‘least spending’ countries as far as agriculture research is concerned g PARB CEO discusses all things agriculture with AJA

About time we kicked in some money in agricultureAGRI-MISERS

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news

Monday, 23 April, 2012

03

Pak Datacom Ltd wins MAP CorporateExcellence Award 2011

ISLAMABAD: Pak Datacom ltd. (PDl) Pakistan’sleading ICt solution provider honored by manage-ment Association of Pakistan (mAP) for CorporateExcellence in the telecom sector for the year 2011.the emblem of admiration was awarded at a cere-mony held in Karachi on April 10, 2012 by Financeminister, Dr. Abdul hafeez sheikh. PDl outclassedits competitors in the telecom sector for high levelmanagement practices and techniques. salmanmalik, managing Director & CEo PDl said, “I amgrateful to mAP for recognizing the hard work andpassion of our management and employees in set-ting itself apart amongst ICt companies in Pakistanto win this prestigious award. this award is also achallenge for all of us at PDl to remain committedtowards our strive for outstanding performance andgood corporate governance,” he added.

President Zardari distributes tractorsduring visit to Okara

OKARA: President of Pakistan mr. Asif Ali Zardaridistributed tractors keys to farmers during his visitto Village Wasaw Wala tehsil Depalpur Districtokara. While distributing tractors keys to the farm-ers President appreciated National Bank of Pak-istan’s efforts in facilitating agricultural growth inthe country. mr. Qamar hussain, President Na-tional Bank of Pakistan was also present on the oc-casion where he ensured Bank’s all out support forthe agricultural sector of the country. he said thatNBP has come up with innovative products for thefarmers and the idea is to extend maximum supportto the all important agricultural base of the country.

Qatar Airways announces fabulous 3-day global sale

DOHA: Qatar Airways will tomorrow (April 17)launch an amazing three-day global sale to morethan 100 destinations worldwide. Passengers fromDoha and around the world can avail the specialfares taking advantage of up to 25% off both Econ-omy and Business Class prices. the round-trip faresare inclusive of all taxes and surcharges. the 72-hour sale booking window opens at midnight 0001hrs (local time in each market) on tuesday April 17and ends on thursday April 19 at 2359 hrs (localtime in each market). Passengers can choose from adiverse range of more than 100 business and leisuredestinations served by Qatar Airways, includingCape town, New York, sao Paulo, Bangkok, Athens,singapore, Istanbul, maldives, Delhi, Goa, munich,stockholm, Copenhagen, Casablanca and mel-bourne via the airline’s Doha hub. the specials arefor travel until June 6 and tickets can be booked on-line at www.qatarairways.com, through Qatar Air-ways’ reservation offices or travel agents. QatarAirways Chief Executive officer Akbar Al Baker saidthe airline’s global sale was an attractive offer ex-pected to generate huge interest worldwide. “For

those planning to visit family or friends or just keenon a getaway break, Qatar Airways is offering thesevalue fares to over 100 destinations we fly to acrossEurope, middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, NorthAmerica and south America,” he said. “We are verypleased to offer these great savings to our loyal cus-tomers, and to those travelling with us for the firsttime. the promotional offers are not only appealing,but the large number of destinations available isalso extremely attractive. “2011 was a big year forQatar Airways and 2012 is going to be even biggeras we introduce more destinations to our interna-tional network and increased capacity on existingroutes to give our customers a wide array of travelchoices. Qatar Airways currently operates a modernfleet of 108 aircraft to 113 key business and leisuredestinations worldwide. last year was a landmark12 months for Qatar Airways, which inducted 15new destinations to its network, and won the cov-eted skytrax Airline of the Year Award. As part of its2012 expansion programme, Qatar Airwayslaunches flights to a further 11 destinations – Zagreb(Croatia) from may 9; Perth (Australia) from July 3and others cities during the year, including mom-basa (Kenya), Zanzibar (tanzania), helsinki (Fin-land), Gassim (saudi Arabia), Belgrade (serbia),Erbil (Iraq), Baghdad (Iraq), Kilimanjaro (tanza-nia) and Yangon (myanmar). In February, the car-rier launched services to the Azerbaijan capital Bakuand Georgia’s capital city of tbilisi, and last monthbegan flights to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda in EastAfrica.

PTCL launches tree plantation campaign on Earth Day 2012

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan telecommunicationCompany limited (PtCl), the country’s largestand only integrated telecom service provider,commemorated the international Earth Day2012 by kicking off a tree plantation campaignat its headquarters in Islamabad. In a gracefulceremony attended by PtCl officials and em-ployees, senior Executive Vice President hR,syed mazhar hussain launched the tree planta-tion campaign by planting a ‘Blue Pine’ saplingin the central gardens of the PtCl hQs build-ing. As part of this campaign, PtCl is planting200 tree saplings in its hQs grounds as well asPtCl residential colonies spread across Islam-abad. “PtCl has made significant strides this pastyear to reduce its carbon footprint by encourag-ing a paperless environment and using recycledmaterial for its products,” said mr. hussain onthe occasion. “We are firmly committed to sus-tainability, and this tree plantation campaign isyet another step in our ongoing efforts to pre-serve and protect our precious environment forfuture generations.”In 2009 United Nations designated April 22 as

‘ International mother Earth Day ’. It is com-memorated annually in more than 175 countriesto increase awareness and appreciation of theEarth’s natural environment.

CORPORATE CORNER

WASHINGTONREUTERS

lEADING world economies onFriday pledged $430 billion innew funding for theInternational monetary Fund,

more than doubling its lending power ina bid to protect the global economy fromthe euro-zone debt crisis.the promised funds from the Group of20 advanced and emerging economiesaim to ensure the ImF can responddecisively should the debt problems thathave engulfed three euro zone countriesspread and threaten a fragile globalrecovery. “this is extremely important,necessary, an expression of collectiveresolve,” ImF managing DirectorChristine lagarde said. “Given theincrease that has just taken place, we arenorth of a trillion dollars actually. so Iwas a bit mesmerized by the amount.”the $1 trillion figure includes both theImF’s existing and newly won resources,as well as loans already committed. theImF would be able to use its increasedfirepower to help any country or regionin need. But Europe’s crisis was thedriving force behind the push for morefunds, though officials and investorsalike said it merely buys time for Europeto undertake more economic reforms.Greece, Ireland and Portugal have alreadyreceived bailouts. Investors now areworried that Italy and spain, the eurozone’s third and fourth biggest economies,will fail to bring down their debt burdensquickly enough to satisfy financialmarkets and be forced to follow the samepath. the ImF traditionally has provided

aid to struggling emerging marketnations, but the euro zone debt crisis hasmade big industrial economies a newfocus. And emerging economies, whichhave been pressing for a greater say at theImF, joined in pledging additional funds.In a central bank statement, China said it“will not be absent from the table” ofincreasing funds for the ImF, but it didnot specify any amount.GRAVEST ECONOMIC THREAET:

Worries about the debt crisis havedominated talks among finance officialsin Washington this week for the semi-annual meetings of the ImF and theWorld Bank, with spain facing specialscrutiny. the ImF has warned the crisispresents the gravest risk to globaleconomic expansion, though the G20said in its statement that the threat of amajor blowup has started to recede. theImF estimated in January it would need$600 billion in fresh funds, but lagardelowered that figure to $400 billion,saying actions Europe had taken to quellthe crisis had cut the risk.In foreign currency markets, investorswelcomed the G20 move, giving a boostto the euro, which has enjoyed its bestweek since February.But in a sign investors lack confidencethat a big ImF war chest can draw a lineunder the region’s problems, bothspanish and Italian bonds faced pressureon Friday. the yield on spain’s 10-yearbond topped 6 percent before retreating..David Keeble, global head of interest ratestrategy at Credit Agricole Corp., said theexpansion of the ImF’s coffers was only astart in resolving the euro zone crisis.“the $430 billion is a nice enough size.

I’m guessing that they’ll get a few billionmore, although the market will no doubtcome to the conclusion that no number isbig enough,” he said.Indeed, ImF officials said the new fundswould only buy time for Europe tocontinue difficult economic reforms.tensions over whether Europeancountries are sufficiently committed tomaking deep and painful cuts to theirbudget deficits or whether EuropeanUnion policymakers have dug deeplyenough into their own pockets haveplagued G20 talks over financialresources. lagarde defended Europe’sactions to date, saying its package offiscal, financial and monetary measurestaken in recent months were “sufficient.”however, the head of the ImF’s steeringcommittee, the singapore finance

minister tharman shanmugaratnam,was more cautious. “Whether Europehas done enough to build up its firewalldepends really on its reforms,” he said,speaking alongside lagarde. “If itsreforms lose credibility, if its reformslose momentum, then quite frankly thefirewall is not enough. so it dependsentirely on the commitment to reform.”Not all G20 members were committingnew funds. the United states has said ithas already done enough by providingdollar liquidity for European banks andCanada has said Europe needs to domore to erect a financial firewall,although it did not close the doorcompletely. “Circumstances couldchange,” Canadian Finance minister JimFlaherty said.EMERGING MARKETS: Emerging

markets won assurances from theirG20 partners that their growingeconomic clout would be rewarded overtime with greater voting power in theImF, known as quotas - an issue thatwas central to winning their support.“We conditioned the money to thecompletion of the ImF’s quota reformso that emerging countries have largerrepresentation - that was accepted,”Brazilian Finance minister Guidomantega said after the G20 meeting.While the BRICs group of leadingemerging nations - which also includesRussia, India, China and south Africa -have agreed to provide more money,the exact amount each country will chipin was not announced. the issue nowgoes to the G20 leaders’ summit in losCabos, mexico, in June.the BRICs countries are especiallyfrustrated that the United states isstalling over implementing a 2010 votingreform deal, which would reduceEurope’s dominance on the ImF boardand give China the No. 3 position.Danish Finance minister margretheVestage said the European Union wouldgo ahead and give up two ImF boardseats later this year as planned.the G20 communique reaffirmedmembers would redistribute ImF powerby the october meeting, and stick toplans to revisit voting shares next year.this action would recognize that theworld economy has changedsubstantially in view of strong growth indynamic emerging markets, thecommunique said, meaning thatemerging economies should have greaterclout at the ImF.

KARACH: Chairman Consumers Association ofPakistan Kaukab Iqbal Singing the MoU for RoadSafety with Farooq Azam Asst. Inspector GeneralNational Highways & Motorway Police, on thisoccasion DIG. Jehanzib Khan, SSP Farhan Baig,Chairman Punjab Region CAP Arif Ansari, AdvocateMain Irfan Akram, Dr. Iftikhar Hussain, Waheed Daar,Ghazali Akther, Nasir Iqbal & Muhammad Yaseen isalso seen in the picture. PRESS RELEASE

G20 doubles IMF’s war chest amid fears on Europe

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