Wednesday, 14 November,2012

LAHORE

APP

PRIME Minister Raja PervaizAshraf said on Tuesday thatcountry’s progress and pros-perity hinges on well-being ofthe business community and

the government is making all-out efforts toensure enabling environment for the tradeand industry.

Addressing the business tycoons at La-hore Chamber of Commerce and Industryhere, the Prime Minister said, “If businessprospers, the country will automatically beon the track to economic growth.” ActingPunjab Governor, Rana Muhammad Iqbal,Federal Finance Minister, Dr Abdul HafeezSheikh, Federal Minister for Kashmir Af-fairs, Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo, Fed-eral Commerce Secretary Munir Qureshi,FBR Chairman, Ali Arshad Hakeem, LCCIPresident, Farooq Iftikhar and other-officebearers as well as a large number of indus-trialists, businessmen and traders were alsopresent. The prime minister said the PPP-led government was ready to implement alldoable proposals on any sort of issue/projectby the business community without any letand hindrance, because it believed in privatesector’s growth.

The government and the private sectorwere on the same page to rid the country of

economic ills being faced today, he added.The Prime Minister said the govern-

ment was working on a number of alternateenergy resources including coal and solarpower. He said the solar energy projectswere not that inexpensive as being por-trayed, however, with the passage of timethe solar panels would be in easy access ofthe consumers.

Raja Pervaiz said that on the advice ofDr Samar Mubarik Mund, the governmentgave instant response to Thar Coal gasifica-tion, as a number of such projects was wellunderway.

He, however, made it clear these proj-ects entails a lot of many things including

power generation stations and transmissionlines for their connectivity with the nationalgrid that would definitely take time to trickleits effects down to the common man.

The Prime Minister said the govern-ment was also focusing on the hydel compo-nent of the electricity and had expeditedwork on all ongoing hydel projects as well asthose on the drawing board.

If all the federating units develop a con-sensus on Kala Bagh Dam today, the govern-ment would initiate construction of the damimmediately, he maintained. The PrimeMinister said that it was not only Pakistanbut many other countries including India,Middle East, Bangladesh, Bhutan and other

SAARC countries were also facing the de-mand and supply issue of the electricity. Healso announced to take LCCI as member inthe Energy Crisis Committee under his(Prime Minister) chairmanship.

He said the government has also resetits priorities by laying greater focus on im-proving law and order situation, fulfill thegas and electricity requirements of the busi-ness and industry, equitable electricity load-shedding and promotion of private sector.

“We believe in our people, particularlythe businessmen and industrialists that to-gether we will steer the country out of pre-vailing challenges,” he added.

With regard to trade with India, thePrime Minister said that government wascommitted to facilitate the business commu-nity, adding, the government was watchingthe entire development on the subject andthe Pak business community’s interestswould not be compromised.

Raja Pervez said the government, andindustry and business community were notopponents but basically, “We are one, andour destination is only and only the devel-opment of Pakistan and well-being of herpeople. We have to promote this aspect thatall institutions- Supreme Court, ArmedForces, Parliament, media and businesscommunity- are ours.”

The prime minister said that despite allodds, the PPP-led coalition government

manage effectively to promote the democ-racy as well as implement 75 percent of its(PPP) manifesto by achieving fiscal target;bringing down the inflation rate to a singledigit, while the GDP was also all around inagriculture and manufacturing sectors.

Earlier, highlighting the economic steps,the Federal Finance Minister Dr. AbdulHafeez Sheikh said that despite being a po-litical government, it had stabilized electric-ity tariff; deregulated the petroleum pricesand rationalized the gas prices, besides, re-ducing the government expenditures up to7 percent annually.

The federal government, he added, hadstrengthened the provinces by giving themfiscal and resources autonomy, and theprovinces received Rs 5000 billion, while, anadditional amount of Rs 1000 billion wasalso given to provinces under the changedNational Finance Commission.

Dr. Hafeez said the federal taxes showedup to Rs 350 billion more revenue collectionduring last fiscal year, adding, the nationaltax deficit could be eliminated with the co-operation of provincial governments.

Under the new tax reforms, he said, thefederal government had abolished Regula-tory Duty on 392 out of the total 397 items,while, Federal Excise Duty (FED) was eitherabolished or brought down to half on vari-ous items and the FED would completely beabolished within next two years.

‘Whatever is doable, shall be done’Addressing entrepreneurs at LCCI, PM discussed all things fiscal

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

With continuous curtailment and gov-ernment’s considerations to allocate gasto other sectors ahead of the generalelections, the market analysts foresee thefertilizer business of Engro Corporationto remain affected.

After evaluating various gas scenar-ios, the analysts at Topline Researchhave concluded that Engro Corporation’searnings would range from Rs 5 to Rs9per share in next couple of years (2013-2014).

Where other businesses like food,power and terminal would continue toperform, the fertilizer business would re-main in losses at least till 2014 impactingthe overall profitability of one of thelargest conglomerate of Pakistan.

“Hence given unpredictability ofcash flows in next few years, we have val-ued fertilizer business on net realizablemethod,” said Topline analyst FarhanMahmood.

For Engro, the analyst said, gas sup-

plies would remain a concern at least fornext two years. Among various long-term options proposed, the constructionof a dedicated pipeline to Engro wouldtake at least two years, assuming 0.5kmof pipeline is constructed each day, afterthe final approval of the project.

“Our understanding suggests thatthe construction of the pipeline would bestarted at different locations from eachgas field,” Farhan said.

In the proposed scheme, he said, thenew plant was likely to get gas from Kun-nar Pasakhi, near Hyderabad, which hasa distance of 300km from Dharki wherethe new Enven plant is located.

Moreover, some portion of gas fromReti Maru, located near Ghotki, was alsolikely to supply gas to Enven. “In such ascenario, we believe the full operationsare expected to commence somewhere inmid of 2015,” said the analyst. Farhansays a hope that can restore gas toEngro’s new plant for few months wasthe change in the current political set up.

“In case PPP-led coalition govern-ment does not come to power in the up-

coming election, chances are high thatdecent quantity of gas could be allocatedto Enven,” he said.

In this case also, the formation ofgovernment and allocation of ministrieswould take another nine months.“Thereafter, negotiations would be heldand that is why we don’t expect any sub-stantial gas allocation in the calendaryear 2013.”

The analyst said despite variousshor-term options being discussed in-cluding diversion of idle gas from Gudduto Even and gas supplies on rotationalbasis, gas availability to both the plants,old and Enven, was highly unlikely.

“This is due to growing gas demand-supply gap in upcoming winter and gov-ernment’s top priority to supply gas topower units in the run-up to elections inorder to overcome load shedding,” hesaid.

In such a scenario, Farhan said, onlyEnven might be seen, which is currentlyoperating on Mari gas network, contin-uing its production in 2013 while oldplant to remain suspended.

KARACHI

ISMAIL DILAWAR

Having all other heads rested in the red zoneon the current account list, the federal gov-ernment seems currently to have focusedmore on the ever-burgeoning worker remit-tances that are peaking to record highs re-cently. Having crossed the historic $ 12billion mark during FY11, the remittancessent back home by overseas Pakistanismarked another month-on-month record lastmonth in October (2012) by seeing recorddollar inflows worth $1.365 billion in a singlemonth. National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), oneof the major contributors in the remittancebasket with 11 percent share, is all out to ma-terialize the real $ 20-25 billion potential ofPakistan in terms of foreign remittances.

Tuesday saw the bank officials meetingK. Abdul Baiz, Chairman Puttalam UrbanCouncil of Sri Lanka, here at a local hotel.

Baiz along with a delegation visited Pakistanon the invitation of KMC Administrator fordeliberation on proposed Karachi-PuttalamSister City Arrangements. Led by Khalid BinShaheen, Senior Executive Vice Presidentand Group Chief and Chairman of NBP’s Ex-change Companies Wing, the NBP side wasrepresented among others by FarooqAhmed, senior vice president/wing head,Ahmed Naseem, vice president, and Shah-baz Ahmed Khan, wing head assistant VP.

According to NBP officials, in lastmonth’s record remittances the bank’s con-tribution stood at $ 136 million. And thatduring January-October (CY2012), the NBPhad counted its remittance receipts at $ 1.1billion with the figure moving further north-ward. “Remittances have been the secondlifeline after export proceeds, but since theexports are now subdued the remittanceshave clinched almost the Number 1 posi-tion,” said Shaheen.

It was since 2009 with the formation ofPakistan Remittance Initiative (PRI), hesaid, the government was focusing more onthis head. Without elaborating, Shaheensaid the government was facing many chal-lenges in this regard.

“NBP has increased its remittance con-tribution from 5-6 percent in 2007-08 to thecurrent 11 percent,” said the NBP official.

He said the NBP had made the largestnumber of tie-ups with international entitiesfor the receipt of remittances through formal

channels. “We have done 30 to 35 tie-upswith organizations across the globe,” he saidadding that “Improved services havebrought a sort of cultural change at the NBPwhich is visited by over 2 million peopleevery year for carrying out some 2.2 milliontransactions.” Shaheen said the bank hadplaced stickers in its branches promptingand enabling the customers to lodge theircomplaints with the NBP or even the StateBank in case they are poor-served.

Another NBP official Ahmed Naseemlauded the Ministry of Overseas Pakistan forsending abroad last year the highest numberof Pakistanis, some 0.7 million, who, he said,would increase the volume of remittances bysending back home foreign exchange.

Farooq Ahmed, senior vice president,said the total official number of Pakistanisworking overseas was 7 million, but thenumber was much more than what was un-documented by the government. “It may be

around 20 million Pakistanis workinglegally and illegally abroad,” he opined.

On the occasion, Puttalam Urban Coun-cil Chairman K. Abdul Baiz said his side waskeen to promote bilateral trade on provincialand local level. Pakistani textile, he said, hada great appeal for the female Sri LankanMuslims. Abdul Baiz said Islamic bankinghad become very popular among the Mus-lim population of his country. “The Muslimbusinessmen in Sri Lanka are very reli-gious,” he said.

Baiz pledged to convey the message tohis higher ups, when Shaheen expressed thewill to explore new avenues on the trade andremittances front. The NBP also plans toopen its branch in Colombo, the federal cap-ital of Sri Lanka. Baiz, however, urged thePakistani side to think beyond Colombowhile setting up such ventures as there wasa huge potential in other cities also to betapped in banking sector.

NBP EyEs sri LaNka for sharE hikE iN rEmittaNcEs

Engro has gas troublesFertiliser business of Engro to remain in loss due to gas curtailment

ISLAMABAD

ONLINE

Federal Minister for Finance and RevenueDr.Abdul Hafeez Sheikh has said that the in-cumbent government has given Rs.1400 bil-lion on electricity subsidies in last four andhalf years. Addressing at the 28th AnnualGeneral Meeting and Conference organizedby Pakistan Society of Development Eco-nomics here on Tuesday, Dr.Abdul Hafeez

Sheikh said the government was pursuingregional balance in development focusingon Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and Feder-ally Administered Tribels Areas (FATA)where special projects have been launchedto improve the socio-economic conditions ofthe people. He said that after 7th NFCaward the provinces have been given moreresources to improve the socio-economicconditions of the people as the governmenthad provided Rs.5000 billion to theprovinces which will help them to managetheir affairs whereas under the changed for-mula of NFC, additional Rs.1000 billonwere given to the province in the last twoyears. He said Rs. 260 billion were also dis-tributed among 3 million poor families inthe country.

“People who are not paying their duetaxes will be brought under tax net andthose people who are already paying theirtaxes are being facilitated by reducing taxburden on them,” finance minister said. Hesaid during ongoing financial year 2012-13the government will give special focus onexpanding income tax base whereas in lasttwo years focused was given on sales tax andhad brought about many changes in theoverall taxation system.

Incumbent govt has given Rs 1,400 bnelectricity subsidies: Dr Hafeez Sheikh

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02

Wednesday, 14 November, 2012

Major Gainers

COMPANY OPEN HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE TURNOVERBata (Pak) XD 1319.50 1385.45 1385.45 1385.45 65.95 50Island TextileXD 512.93 538.57 538.57 538.57 25.64 200Indus DyeingXD 517.63 539.00 491.75 539.00 21.37 5,000Wyeth Pak Limited 931.00 950.00 925.00 950.00 19.00 100Pak.Int.Cont. SD 154.87 162.61 156.10 162.61 7.74 15,100

Major LosersBata (Pak) XD 1319.50 1385.45 1385.45 1385.45 65.95 50Island TextileXD 512.93 538.57 538.57 538.57 25.64 200Indus DyeingXD 517.63 539.00 491.75 539.00 21.37 5,000Wyeth Pak Limited 931.00 950.00 925.00 950.00 19.00 100Pak.Int.Cont. SD 154.87 162.61 156.10 162.61 7.74 15,100

Volume Leaders

Jah.Sidd. Co. 16.14 17.05 15.85 16.45 0.31 35,777,000Fauji Cement 6.64 6.75 6.50 6.52 -0.12 13,073,500Azgard Nine 7.59 7.75 7.25 7.33 -0.26 9,759,000Lotte PakPTA 7.00 7.26 7.00 7.07 0.07 8,932,000JS Investments 9.59 9.64 9.08 9.13 -0.46 7,032,500

Interbank RatesUS Dollar 95.9535UK Pound 152.4413Japanese Yen 1.2102Euro 121.7170

Dollar EastBUY SELL

US Dollar 95.90 96.40Euro 120.67 122.78Great Britain Pound 150.79 153.39Japanese Yen 1.1909 1.2113Canadian Dollar 94.50 96.64Hong Kong Dollar 12.17 12.40UAE Dirham 25.90 26.32Saudi Riyal 25.29 25.68Australian Dollar 98.67 101.83

Business

Qatar Airways begins

historic 787 week

dOha: Qatar Airways has unveiled a new videoshowing the making of its first Boeing 787 Dream-liner just days before the aircraft’s scheduled de-livery to the Doha-based airline.The dramatic three-minute footage shows the air-craft being assembled and painted at Boeing’s 787production line in Seattle before being rolled outfor test flights. The video can be viewed on the air-line’s Facebook site, facebook.com/qatarairwaysand is also posted on You Tube. Qatar Airways isthe Middle East launch customer of the 787 with60 aircraft on order. The first is due to be deliv-ered this week making its maiden journey fromSeattle to Doha, capital of the State of Qatar.Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said thataside from aviation enthusiasts, the video wouldappeal to people of different ages and interests.“This is a fascinating insight into the world of avi-ation and promises to be an eye opener for manypeople as they see the assembly of our first Boeing787, the world’s most advanced passenger air-craft,” he said. “Special cameras and technologyhave been used to film the video over manymonths as our aircraft is assembled in Seattle,painted and rolled out of Boeing’s production line.This is an historic week as we officially take deliv-ery of our first 787 and prepare to fly it home toDoha for what truly will be a moment of pride andjoy for all those associated with the newest aircraftto join our fleet.”

KARACHI: Thai Airways organised “Thai Face of the

Season” contest at Dolman Mall, Mr.Haroon Agar

President KCCI along with Mr. Polapat Neelabhamorn GM

Pakistan Thai Airways Pakistan inaugurate the event.

Etihad Airways offers

deals for November

KaraChI: Etihad Airways, the National airline ofthe United Arab Emirates, is offering a special dis-count for travelers flying in the month of November.In Economy Class, Customers can fly at an amaz-ingly low fare to destinations in Europe and Africafrom Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar.This special fare is available on tickets purchasedtill 18 th November only. After buying the ticket,you can avail it till the 31 st of December, 2013. Eti-had today offers more than 75 popular destinationsaround the world, operating 23 weekly flights fromPakistan, which include daily flights from Karachi,Lahore and Islamabad along with weekly two flightsfrom Peshawar via Abu Dhabi to the world.

McDonald’s celebrates

World Tourism Day

LahOrE: McDonald’s Pakistan joined hands withPakistan’s tourism industry in celebrating WorldTourism Day on September 27 in a befitting man-ner. It partnered with the Tourism DevelopmentCorporation of Punjab (TDCP) to sponsor a Pho-tography and Painting Contest on the occasion. Ho-tels and restaurants play an important role in thepromotion of both domestic and foreign tourismeverywhere in the world. Occupying a prominentposition in Pakistan’s restaurant industry, McDon-ald’s Pakistan has always been taking keen interestin patronizing and sponsoring healthy lifestyle andrecreation activities in the country to make surethat acts according to its business values regardingcorporate social responsibility.

Wateen Telecom CEO participatesin Forbes Global CEO Summit

LahOrE: Wateen Telecom, Pakistan’s leadingconverged communications provider, was recentlyinvited to participate in the prestigious ForbesGlobal CEO conference, held recently in Dubai,from 21st-23rd October 2012. The Forbes GlobalCEO Summit takes place annually and aims at cre-ating an opportunity for global leaders to meet,engage in business and discuss visions for a sus-tainable future. The summit, which concludedsuccessfully in Dubai, gathered some 400 global

CEOs, tycoons, entrepreneurs, up-and-comers,capitalists and thought leaders to discuss the lat-est trends and innovations that would drive theglobal economy in 2013 and beyond.

India intends to learn from the

experiences of BISP: Nitish Kumar

ISLaMaBad: Benazir Income Support Pro-gramme (BISP) is a commendable initiative aimingat poverty alleviation and women empowerment.Various interventions including those in healthand education sector have been introduced to up-lift the living standards of underprivileged seg-ments of society. India wants to learn from theexperiences and success of BISP. These were theviews expressed by Mr. Nitish Kumar, Chief Minis-ter of Indian province Bihar during a meeting withFederal Minister and Chairperson BISP MadameFarzana Raja here on Tuesday.

Habib Metropolitan Bank earns

top global recognition from IFC

KaraChI: Habib Metropolitan Bank was re-cently awarded by International Finance Corpora-tion (IFC) – a member of World Bank Group attheir 5th Annual Bank Partners Meeting in Dubai,as the “BEST GTFP ISSUING BANK FOR SOUTH-SOUTH TRADE”. Habib Metro, one of the largesttrade finance banks, has the distinction of beingthe first bank in the world to have undertaken thetransaction under the Global Trade Finance Pro-gram (GTFP) of IFC and only the second bank ofthe world to sign the agreement with IFC in 2005.Mr. Aamir Dar, Head of Financial Institutions atHabib Metropolitan Bank received the awardcertificate from Ms. Georgina Baker, Director ofGlobal Trade & Supply Chain Solutions at IFC,recently in Dubai.

President felicitates foreign

minister, foreign office

ISLaMaBad: President Asif Ali Zardari has felici-tated Foreign Minister Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar andthe Foreign Office on the election of Pakistan today asmember of the Human Rights Council of the UnitedNations. Pakistan has been elected for a three yearterm to the United Nations Human Rights Council,an intergovernmental body within the UN system bysecuring 171 votes out of the total 191 votes in theelection held today in New York. Congratulating For-eign Minister Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar, the Presidentsaid that the election of Pakistan demonstrated thetrust and confidence of the international communityin Pakistan as much as it was recognition of efforts forthe promotion of human rights in the country.

Pakistan Fashion Week

LOndOn: After two success Hits, Pakistan FashionWeek3 is about to kick start in the city of fashion,glamour and romance LONDON. The Fashion weekis going to begin on the 16th Nov to 18th November2012 at The Great “Connaught Rooms” London. Athree days event of PFW3 will feature 35 designersfrom Pakistan as well as some international design-ers. It is going to leave a thrilling impact as the Pak-istan’s most talented and electrifying Designers areall listed to showcase their creations on PFW3. Somebig names are ready to endorse the ramp.

LG enhances Smart Hotel TV lineup

LahOrE: LG Electronics (LG) today announcedthe latest models in its Pro:Centric® Smart HotelTV series designed for the hospitality industry.Pro:Centric is LG’s solution for hoteliers that al-lows them to easily customize the in room experi-ence, providing a convenient way to interface withinteractive program guides and internet data feedsand connects customers to hotel services in andoutside the guest rooms.

CORPORATE CORNER

Trade deficit shrinks,exports rise, importsfall in four months

ISLAMABAD

APP

The country’s trade deficit decreased by6.79 per cent, with exports witnessinggrowth of 4.98 per cent and imports de-creasing by 0.54 per cent during the firstfour months of the current fiscal year(2012-13), showing a positive developmentin trade balance.The overall exports from the country in-creased from US$7.814 billion in July-Octo-ber (2011-12) to US$8.203 billion duringJuly-October (2012-13), according to thedata of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).The imports during the period under reviewwere recorded at US$14.643 billion againstthose of US$14.723 billion during last year,showing negative growth of 0.54 per cent,the data revealed.Based on the figures, the overall tradedeficit during the period was recorded atUS$6.440 billion against that of US$6.909billion last year, showing a negative growthof 6.79 per cent.Meanwhile, during October 2012 the ex-ports grew by 7.23 per cent while importsincreased by 5.07 per cent as compared tothose during the same month of last year.The exports during October 2012 wererecorded at US$2.016 per cent against thoseof US$1.880 billion in October 2011 whilethe imports stood at US$3.790 billionagainst those of US$3.607 last year.As compared to US$ 2.219 billion in Sep-tember 2012, the exports during October2012 decreased by 9.15 per cent.

LAHORE

APP

BEARISH trend prevailed in La-hore Stock Exchange on Tuesdayas it shed 34.80 points, followingthe LSE-25 index opened with3967.37 and closed at 3932.57

points. The market’s overall situation also didnot correspond to an upward trend as it re-mained at 1.904 million shares to close againstprevious turnover of 3.506 million shares,showing a downward move of 1.602 millionshares. While, out of the total 96 active scrips

11 moved up, 32 shed values and 53 rem-ined equal.

Pakistan Reinsurance Company, EngroCorporation Limited and Adamjee InsuranceCompany were Major Gainer of the day byrecording increase in their per share value byRe 1.00, Re 0.65 and Re 0.31 respectively.

Muslim Commercial Bank Limited, Pak-istan Petroleum Limited and Treet CorporationLimited lost their per share value by Rs 3.14, Rs2.40 and Rs 1.50 respectively.

The Volume Leader of the day included NIBBank Limited with 217,000 shares, Byco Petro-leum Pakistan with 203,000 shares and FirstFID Leas. (Nishat) with 200,000 shares.ISE-10 wItnESSES BEarISh trEnd:

Islamabad Stock Exchange witnessed bearish

trend here on Tuesday as the ISE-10 index wasdown by 39.36 points to close at 3,194.80points in today’s trading.

A total of 102,500 shares were traded,which were up by 79,800 shares when com-pared with previous day’s trading of 22,700shares.

Out of 124 companies, share prices of 54companies recorded increase, share prices of 70companies registered decrease while that ofzero company remained stable.

The share prices of Fazal Textile increasedby Rs 6.00 per share, while the share prices ofMCB decreased by Rs 3.04 per share.

First Fidelity Leasing Modaraba, SilkBankand Nishat Mills remained the top trading com-panies in Tuesday’s trading with 200,000,75,000 and 4,000 shares respectively.

LSE, ISE bearwith lossesLSE loses 35 points, ISE sheds 40

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