International Baradei returns to Egypt, joins protest See on Page 12 Isb, Kabul agree to co-run peace drive See on Page 12 Perform or quit, Sharif tells govt See on Page 12 *Crude Oil (brent)$/bbl 98.81 *Crude Oil (WTI)$/bbl 87.18 *Cotton $/lb 171.08 *Gold $/ozs 1,336.60 *Silver $/ozs 27.60 Malaysian Palm $ 1,208 GOLD (NCEL) PKR 37,088 KHI Cotton 40Kg PKR 11,360 Yearly(Jul, 2010 up to 26-Jan-2011) Monthly(Dec, 2010 up to-26-Jan-2011) Daily (26-Jan-2011) Total Portfolio Invest (21 Jan-2010) 196.44 1.05 0.37 3065 0.40 -1.32 2.16 -2.11 0.17 0.10 0.60 SCRA(U.S $ in million) Portfolio Investment FIPI (27-Jan-2011) Local Companies (27-Jan-2011) Banks / DFI (27-Jan-2011) Mutual Funds (27-Jan-2011) NBFC (27-Jan-2011) Local Investors (27-Jan-2011) Other Organization (27-Jan-2011) (U.S $ in million) NCCPL GDR update Commodities Forex Reserves (22-Jan-11) Inflation CPI% (Jul 10-Dec 10) Exports (Jul 10-Dec 10) Imports (Jul 10-Dec 10) Trade Balance (Jul 10-Dec 10) Current A/C (Jul 10- Dec 10) Remittances (Jul 10 - Dec 10) Foreign Invest (Jul 10-Dec 10) Revenue (Jul 10 Dec 10) Foreign Debt (Sep 10) Domestic Debt (Nov 10) Repatriated Profit (Jul- Dec 10) LSM Growth (Nov 10) GDP Growth FY10E Per Capita Income FY10 Population $17.30bn 14.61% $10.98bn $19.13bn $(8.15)bn $26mn $5.29bn $1.05bn Rs 638bn $58.41bn Rs 5348.6bn $323.6mn -4.69% 4.10% $1,051 175mn Economic Indicators Symbols MCB (1 GDR= 2 Shares) OGDC (1 GDR= 10 Shares) UBL (1 GDR= 4 Shares) LUCK (1 GDR= 4 Shares) HUBC (1 GDR= 25 Shares) $.Price 2.60 19.32 2.00 1.70 11.48 PKR/Shares 111.52 165.73 42.89 36.46 39.39 T-Bills (3 Mths) T-Bills (6 Mths) T-Bills (12 Mths) Discount Rate Kibor (1 Mth) Kibor (3 Mths) Kibor (6 Mths) Kibor ( 9 Mths) Kibor (1Yr) P.I.B ( 3 Yrs) P.I.B (5 Yrs) P.I.B (10 Yrs) P.I.B (15 Yrs) P.I.B (20 Yrs) P.I.B (30 Yrs) 26-Jan-2011 26-Jan-2011 26-Jan-2011 29-Nov-2010 27-Jan-2011 27-Jan-2011 27-Jan-2011 27-Jan-2011 27-Jan-2011 27-Jan-2011 27-Jan-2011 27-Jan-2011 27-Jan-2011 27-Jan-2011 27-Jan-2011 13.67% 13.71% 13.88% 14.00% 13.55% 13.78% 13.89% 14.23% 14.32% 14.19% 14.22% 14.22% 14.62% 14.81% 14.98% Money Market Update Symbols Buy (Rs) Sell (Rs) Australian $ 84.80 85.80 Canadian $ 85.00 86.00 Danish Krone 14.00 14.70 Euro 116.00 117.00 Hong Kong $ 10.90 11.00 Japanese Yen 1.031 1.057 Saudi Riyal 22.90 23.05 Singapore $ 66.70 67.70 Swedish Korona 12.00 12.10 Swiss Franc 85.90 86.50 U.A.E Dirham 23.30 23.60 UK Pound 136.00 137.00 US $ 86.00 86.50 Open Mkt Currency Rates Symbols Buying Selling TT Clean TT & OD Australian $ 85.39 85.59 Canadian $ 86.22 86.42 Danish Krone 15.77 15.81 Euro 117.52 117.79 Hong Kong $ 11.01 11.04 Japanese Yen 1.044 1.046 Saudi Riyal 22.87 22.92 Singapore $ 67.04 67.20 Swedish Korona 13.29 13.32 Swiss Franc 90.90 91.11 U.A.E Dirham 23.35 23.40 UK Pound 136.48 136.80 US $ 85.78 85.97 Inter-Bank Currency Rates Subscribe now Tel: 92-21-5311893-6 Fax: 92-21-5388428 Email: editor@ thefinancialdaily.com www.thefinancialdaily.com CITIES MAX-TEMP MIN ISLAMABAD 21°C 1°C KARACHI 26°C 10°C LAHORE 22°C 4°C FAISALABAD 22°C 4°C QUETTA 16°C -5°C RAWALPINDI 20°C 2°C Weather Forecast Index Close Change KSE 100 12,477.00 6.34 Nikkei 225 10,478.66 76.76 Hang Seng 23,779.62 63.62 Sensex 30 18,684.43 285.02 ADX 2,659.04 9.62 SSE COMP. 2,749.15 40.34 FTSE 100 5,993.52 24.31 *Dow Jones 11,996.64 11.20 Global Indices ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Thursday told the Supreme Court in its report on the Hajj scandal that proofs have been found regarding involvement of Minister of State for Religious Affairs Shagufta Jamani in cor- ruption and contacts among ex- minister for Religious Affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi and the accused of Hajj scandal, Ahmed Faiz and Rao Shakil. A seven-member larger bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry heard the case. When the hearing started the Attorney General told the court that Javed Leghari has been appointed Additional DIG FIA and he will have all the inquiry powers. Javed Leghari presented the report about the inquiry con- ducted so far in the case in which it has been stated that evidences have been found about involvement of Shagufta Jamani in the Hajj corruption case and further investigation in this regard is in progress. The report further stated that proofs have been found about contacts among Hamid Saeed Kazmi and the accused of Hajj scandal, Ahmed Faiz and Rao Shakil, former DG Hajj. The FIA official told the court that an FIA team is in Saudi Arabia to arrest Ahmed Faiz and it has been told not to return till the accused is arrest- ed. Javed Leghari also presented the statement of Zain Sukhera, See # 14 Page 11 Evidence points finger at Kazmi Corruption in Hajj arrangements ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs, Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said on Thursday that the government is planning to formulate a com- prehensive economic growth strategy soon to benefit the people. He stated this while address- ing the participants of a growth policy seminar here at local hotel on Thursday. The seminar was jointly organized by Planning Commission and Department for International Development (DFID-UK). Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Dr Nadeem-ul Haq and officials of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs also attended the seminar. Professor Alan Winters, one of the UK Government's Chief Economists on the occasion also delivered a lecture on the topic "growth policy". Dr Hafeez said it is the prior- ity of the government that ben- efits of its policies should reach to all segment of the society specially the poor for the socio economic prosperity of the country. He said that new growth strategy would also help improve competitiveness, pro- mote investment based on innovation and entrepreneur- ship and better exploit the potentials of country's large domestic market. He added the government wanted to pass on the benefit of its policies to all people not the "chosen few." He said that the government is also facilitating the private sector as the engine of the eco- nomic growth to achieve this objective. He said it is not the job of the government to do businesses but its job is to make policies and regulations which promote business activities and econom- ic growth for the prosperity of the country. He added that the govern- ment has initiated prudent eco- nomic policies for the prosperi- ty of the country. The Minister for Finance See # 13 Page 11 Shaikh pledges pro-poor plans ‘Govt preparing economic growth strategies’ ISLAMABAD: National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has approved a reduction of 58 paisa per unit in rates of electricity. The deci- sion to this effect was taken dur- ing a meeting here Thursday. The summary notification to this effect has been sent to Federal Government for final approval. According to Nepra the reduc- tion has been made under the monthly fuel adjustment formu- la, which would be implement- ed from the month of December. The consumers would be get- ting relief in the bills of this month. The reduction would be applicable to all consumers with the exception of life line con- sumers. Meanwhile, a spokesman of the ministry of water and power said Thursday that government has taken all possible steps in power tariff reduction and provided maxi- mum relief of Rs2.67 per unit to the consumers during last five month. Spokesman said, under the monthly fuel price adjustment, 33 paisa per unit, were reduced for the month of August, 36- paisa per unit for the month of September and 32-paisa for the month of October, Rs1.8 per unit for the month of November and 58-paisa has been reduced for the month of December 2010. The reduction in the per unit prices during the last four months (August-November) under the monthly adjustment has already been passed on to the consumers and the relief for the month of December will be given in the forthcoming elec- tricity bills. Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said that the government has itself bore the burden and not raised power tar- iff keeping in view the econom- ic difficulties of the consumers and tried its best to provide relief in terms of fuel prices adjustments. -Agencies Nepra proposes 58paisa/unit cut Tariff down Rs2.67/unit in last 5mth SC tells Senators not to talk Rekodiq on telly-shows ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry Thursday asked senators who were party to the proceedings on award of Rekodiq copper and gold mining project in Balochistan, to desist from commenting over the issue on TV programmes. Chief Justice verbally issued instruction after Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, counsel for a respon- dent company, appeared and said that contempt notices should also be issued to certain senators appearing on TV pro- grammes and commenting on an issue pending for adjudication. He told the bench that it would be unfair to conduct pro- ceedings since no one had pro- duced chronology of facts. Earlier, the bench directed Chief Secretary Balochistan Ahmad Bakhsh Lehri and Advocate General Salahuddin Mengal to produce on Friday (today) all the relevant record of the contracts over Rekodiq from 1993 to 2007. A four-judge bench compris- ing Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali, Justice See # 15 Page 11 Special Correspondent/ Agencies ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Gilani has appreciated US Government's confidence in the Pakistan's economic system and hoped that other donor coun- tries will also follow the suit as his government had put in place the third party verification and beneficiaries' assessment as well as for public disclosure of programme performance in order to increase donor and public trust in the utilisation of the foreign assistance. He was talking to a US dele- gation led by David Lipton, Senior Advisor to the US President at the PM House here on Thursday. Prime Minister said that while the government of Pakistan was implementing the IMF pro- gramme in the interest of the country, the US influence would be crucial for the dis- bursement of the next IMF tranche in March this year to help his government prepare for the next fiscal year's Budget. Prime Minister added that while the government was working hard to improve inter- nal controls for transparency, the concerns should not become a pretext for withholding or stopping the much needed sup- port, which has already been pledged by the donors to Pakistan. In this context he added that the floods affectees cannot be made to wait for their early rehabilitation. He said that as far as the gov- ernment of Pakistan was con- cerned, it had already drastical- ly cut its development and non- development expenditure to divert the resources for provid- ing succour and relief to the flood victims. Prime Minister said that his government was committed to introduce and implement eco- nomic reforms. The RGST and flood tax measures had already been introduced and passed through the Senate and intensive consul- tations were now being held with the major political parties of the country to build the national consensus for their passage through the National Assembly. Prime Minister said that the political dialogue has been initi- ated over other national chal- lenges like governance, institu- tion building and security situa- tion of the country. Prime Minister underlined that despite Pakistan's current economic difficulties, his gov- ernment will remain steadfast in its commitment to war against terror. Prime Minister highlighted the positive trend in the nation- al economy as a result of steps taken by his government like substantial increase in exports, record home remittances and all time high foreign exchange reserves, which he said, were reflective of the sound econom- ic fundamentals of the country. David Lipton commended the Prime Minister for clearly See # 11 Page 11 US help sought for IMF tranche US Advisor to Obama calls on Gilani LAHEJ: LAHEJ: Protesters march during an anti-government demonstration in Radfan, a district in the southern Yemeni province of Lahej. Reuters US citizen kills three persons in Lhr LAHORE: A US national opened fire at civilians, allegedly robbers, on Thursday afternoon and killed three peo- ple, police said. The incident occurred in Qartaba Chowk when the for- eigner allegedly opened fire on self-defense; as a result, three injured have succumbed to injuries in the hospital. According to details, Steve David, having American nationality, opened fire at two persons riding a motorcycle on a busy road here. David was said to have told police that those two guys were trying to rob him and in his defense he shot them. After the shooting, David, driving rashly, tried to escape the spot and on the way hit many other motorcyclists and rickshaws. One bike rider was killed and many others injured. Police said that pistols were recovered from the deceased. Police arrested the American national and shifted him to dis- trict police station. After the incident several peoples came out on road, protesting against the act and chanting slogan against America. Police have also con- fiscated a pistol with live bul- lets and three mobile phones from him. Police officer Rana Faisal said David has claimed that he works for the US con- sulate in Lahore while US counsel in Lahore also con- firmed. Taking serious notice of the incident, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif sought a comprehensive report from the authorities concerned. - Agencies Aamir Abidi KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) released lend- ing and deposit rates of the banking system for the month of December 2010. Banking spreads were up 26bps to 7.61 per cent YoY compared with 7.35 per cent in December 2009. The main reason of increase in spread remained higher liq- uidity in market which result- ed into lower cost of deposit, as it decreased by 23bps YoY to 5.91 per cent while they were 6.14 per cent in December 2009, however, lending cost rose 3bps on year- ly basis to 13.52 per cent from 13.49 per cent in same period last year. On the other hand, spread on month on month basis surged 7bps where they were 7.54 per cent in November 2010. Cost of deposits increased by 3bps at 5.91 per cent while they were 5.88 per cent in previous month, likewise, lending cost up by 10bps on monthly basis to 13.52 per cent. On the other hand, average spread during the outgoing year remained almost flat at 7.46 per cent in CY10 versus 7.47 per cent in CY09. Dec spreads surge 26bps Year-on-Year See on Page 12 Forex reserves up at $17.3bn Staff Reporter KARACHI: Pakistan's total liquid foreign exchange reserves increased to $17.3001 billion, said a statement from State Bank of Pakistan here Thursday. On January 22, 2011 the for- eign reserves held by State Bank amounted to $13.7391 billion. Whereas, net foreign reserves held by banks other than SBP were at $3.561 billion. PM hails US trust on Pak economic system Says planning economic framework for growth Ghulam Raza Rajani KARACHI: The recent rise in the international crude oil prices in January, 2011 is expected to adversely affect domestic Gross Refinery Margins (GRMs). With petroleum product prices for January 2011 are already fixed by Ogra, industry GRMs during the ongoing month is likely to be around - $2.3 per barrel compared with - $1.2 per barrel in December 2010. On the back of relatively chilly winters this time, particu- larly in eurozone, the bench- mark crude oil prices i.e. WTI and Brent saw their prices remained above $90 per barrel for most of the January 2011. Interestingly, Arab Light crude oil prices rose sharply than the other crudes to average $93.7 per barrel, up 4.4 per cent on MoM. This has adversely affected industry GRMs since product prices have already been fixed during January 2011 by Ogra. As per analyst of Topline Securities, company-wise GRMs indicate that only ATRL margins to remain green, while GRMs of NRL and PRL which were negative during December 2010 are expected to remain in red-zone in January as well. As per estimates, GRMs of ATRL is expected to be around $1.5 per barrel while NRL and PRL likely to be -$3.5 per bar- rel and -$5 per barrels. This includes the impact of removal of incidental charges See # 12 Page 11 Refiners margins seen green in Feb Margins remain under pressure in Jan Karachi, Friday, January 28, 2011, Safar-ul-Muzaffar 23, Price Rs12 Pages 12 President pledges equality for Fata Yemen joins Egypt, Tunisia drive against dictatorship
Transcript
International
Baradei returns to Egypt, joins protest See on Page 12
Isb, Kabul agree to co-run peace drive See on Page 12
ISLAMABAD: The FederalInvestigation Agency (FIA) onThursday told the SupremeCourt in its report on the Hajjscandal that proofs have beenfound regarding involvement ofMinister of State for ReligiousAffairs Shagufta Jamani in cor-ruption and contacts among ex-minister for Religious AffairsHamid Saeed Kazmi and theaccused of Hajj scandal,Ahmed Faiz and Rao Shakil.
A seven-member largerbench of the Supreme Courtheaded by Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry heardthe case.
When the hearing started theAttorney General told the courtthat Javed Leghari has beenappointed Additional DIG FIAand he will have all the inquirypowers.
Javed Leghari presented thereport about the inquiry con-ducted so far in the case inwhich it has been stated thatevidences have been foundabout involvement of ShaguftaJamani in the Hajj corruptioncase and further investigationin this regard is in progress.
The report further stated thatproofs have been found aboutcontacts among Hamid SaeedKazmi and the accused of Hajjscandal, Ahmed Faiz and RaoShakil, former DG Hajj.
The FIA official told the courtthat an FIA team is in SaudiArabia to arrest Ahmed Faizand it has been told not toreturn till the accused is arrest-ed.
Javed Leghari also presentedthe statement of Zain Sukhera,
See # 14 Page 11
Evidence pointsfinger at Kazmi
Corruption in Hajj arrangements
ISLAMABAD: FederalMinister for Finance andEconomic Affairs, Dr AbdulHafeez Shaikh said onThursday that the governmentis planning to formulate a com-prehensive economic growthstrategy soon to benefit thepeople.
He stated this while address-ing the participants of a growthpolicy seminar here at localhotel on Thursday.
The seminar was jointlyorganized by PlanningCommission and Departmentfor International Development(DFID-UK).
Deputy Chairman PlanningCommission, Dr Nadeem-ulHaq and officials of theMinistry of Finance and
Economic Affairs also attendedthe seminar.
Professor Alan Winters, oneof the UK Government's ChiefEconomists on the occasionalso delivered a lecture on thetopic "growth policy".
Dr Hafeez said it is the prior-ity of the government that ben-efits of its policies should reachto all segment of the societyspecially the poor for the socioeconomic prosperity of thecountry.
He said that new growthstrategy would also helpimprove competitiveness, pro-mote investment based oninnovation and entrepreneur-ship and better exploit thepotentials of country's largedomestic market.
He added the governmentwanted to pass on the benefit ofits policies to all people not the"chosen few."
He said that the governmentis also facilitating the privatesector as the engine of the eco-nomic growth to achieve thisobjective.
He said it is not the job of thegovernment to do businessesbut its job is to make policiesand regulations which promotebusiness activities and econom-ic growth for the prosperity ofthe country.
He added that the govern-ment has initiated prudent eco-nomic policies for the prosperi-ty of the country.
The Minister for Finance See # 13 Page 11
Shaikh pledgespro-poor plans
‘Govt preparing economic growth strategies’
ISLAMABAD: NationalElectric Power RegulatoryAuthority (Nepra) has approveda reduction of 58 paisa per unitin rates of electricity. The deci-sion to this effect was taken dur-ing a meeting here Thursday.
The summary notification tothis effect has been sent toFederal Government for finalapproval.
According to Nepra the reduc-tion has been made under themonthly fuel adjustment formu-la, which would be implement-ed from the month of December.
The consumers would be get-ting relief in the bills of thismonth. The reduction would beapplicable to all consumers withthe exception of life line con-sumers. Meanwhile, aspokesman of the ministry ofwater and power said Thursdaythat government has taken allpossible steps in power tariffreduction and provided maxi-mum relief of Rs2.67 per unit tothe consumers during last five
month.Spokesman said, under the
monthly fuel price adjustment,33 paisa per unit, were reducedfor the month of August, 36-paisa per unit for the month ofSeptember and 32-paisa for themonth of October, Rs1.8 perunit for the month of Novemberand 58-paisa has been reducedfor the month of December2010.
The reduction in the per unitprices during the last fourmonths (August-November)under the monthly adjustmenthas already been passed on tothe consumers and the relief forthe month of December will begiven in the forthcoming elec-tricity bills. Minister RajaPervaiz Ashraf said that thegovernment has itself bore theburden and not raised power tar-iff keeping in view the econom-ic difficulties of the consumersand tried its best to providerelief in terms of fuel pricesadjustments. -Agencies
Nepra proposes58paisa/unit cut
Tariff down Rs2.67/unit in last 5mthSC tellsSenators
not to talkRekodiq ontelly-shows
ISLAMABAD: Chief Justiceof Pakistan IftikharMuhammad ChaudhryThursday asked senators whowere party to the proceedingson award of Rekodiq copperand gold mining project inBalochistan, to desist fromcommenting over the issue onTV programmes.
Chief Justice verbally issuedinstruction after Abdul HafeezPirzada, counsel for a respon-dent company, appeared andsaid that contempt noticesshould also be issued to certainsenators appearing on TV pro-grammes and commenting on anissue pending for adjudication.
He told the bench that itwould be unfair to conduct pro-ceedings since no one had pro-duced chronology of facts.
Earlier, the bench directedChief Secretary BalochistanAhmad Bakhsh Lehri andAdvocate General SalahuddinMengal to produce on Friday(today) all the relevant recordof the contracts over Rekodiqfrom 1993 to 2007.
A four-judge bench compris-ing Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry, JusticeMuhammad Sair Ali, Justice
See # 15 Page 11
Special Correspondent/Agencies
ISLAMABAD: Prime MinisterGilani has appreciated USGovernment's confidence in thePakistan's economic system andhoped that other donor coun-tries will also follow the suit ashis government had put in placethe third party verification andbeneficiaries' assessment aswell as for public disclosure ofprogramme performance inorder to increase donor andpublic trust in the utilisation ofthe foreign assistance.
He was talking to a US dele-gation led by David Lipton,Senior Advisor to the USPresident at the PM House hereon Thursday.
Prime Minister said that whilethe government of Pakistan wasimplementing the IMF pro-gramme in the interest of thecountry, the US influencewould be crucial for the dis-bursement of the next IMFtranche in March this year tohelp his government prepare for
the next fiscal year's Budget.Prime Minister added that
while the government wasworking hard to improve inter-nal controls for transparency,the concerns should not becomea pretext for withholding orstopping the much needed sup-port, which has already beenpledged by the donors toPakistan.
In this context he added thatthe floods affectees cannot bemade to wait for their earlyrehabilitation.
He said that as far as the gov-ernment of Pakistan was con-cerned, it had already drastical-ly cut its development and non-development expenditure todivert the resources for provid-ing succour and relief to theflood victims.
Prime Minister said that hisgovernment was committed tointroduce and implement eco-nomic reforms.
The RGST and flood taxmeasures had already beenintroduced and passed throughthe Senate and intensive consul-
tations were now being heldwith the major political partiesof the country to build thenational consensus for theirpassage through the NationalAssembly.
Prime Minister said that thepolitical dialogue has been initi-ated over other national chal-lenges like governance, institu-tion building and security situa-tion of the country.
Prime Minister underlinedthat despite Pakistan's currenteconomic difficulties, his gov-ernment will remain steadfast inits commitment to war againstterror.
Prime Minister highlightedthe positive trend in the nation-al economy as a result of stepstaken by his government likesubstantial increase in exports,record home remittances and alltime high foreign exchangereserves, which he said, werereflective of the sound econom-ic fundamentals of the country.
David Lipton commended thePrime Minister for clearly
See # 11 Page 11
US help soughtfor IMF tranche
US Advisor to Obama calls on Gilani
LAHEJ:LAHEJ: Protesters march during an anti-government demonstration in Radfan, a district
in the southern Yemeni province of Lahej. Reuters
US citizenkills three
personsin Lhr
LAHORE: A US nationalopened fire at civilians,allegedly robbers, on Thursdayafternoon and killed three peo-ple, police said.
The incident occurred inQartaba Chowk when the for-eigner allegedly opened fire onself-defense; as a result, threeinjured have succumbed toinjuries in the hospital.
According to details, SteveDavid, having Americannationality, opened fire at twopersons riding a motorcycle ona busy road here. David wassaid to have told police thatthose two guys were trying torob him and in his defense heshot them.
After the shooting, David,driving rashly, tried to escapethe spot and on the way hitmany other motorcyclists andrickshaws. One bike rider waskilled and many others injured.
Police said that pistols wererecovered from the deceased.
Police arrested the Americannational and shifted him to dis-trict police station.
After the incident severalpeoples came out on road,protesting against the act andchanting slogan againstAmerica. Police have also con-fiscated a pistol with live bul-lets and three mobile phonesfrom him. Police officer RanaFaisal said David has claimedthat he works for the US con-sulate in Lahore while UScounsel in Lahore also con-firmed. Taking serious noticeof the incident, Punjab ChiefMinister Shahbaz Sharif soughta comprehensive report fromthe authorities concerned. -Agencies
Aamir Abidi
KARACHI: State Bank ofPakistan (SBP) released lend-ing and deposit rates of thebanking system for the monthof December 2010.
Banking spreads were up26bps to 7.61 per cent YoYcompared with 7.35 per cent inDecember 2009.
The main reason of increasein spread remained higher liq-uidity in market which result-ed into lower cost of deposit,as it decreased by 23bps YoYto 5.91 per cent while theywere 6.14 per cent inDecember 2009, however,
lending cost rose 3bps on year-ly basis to 13.52 per cent from13.49 per cent in same periodlast year.
On the other hand, spread onmonth on month basis surged7bps where they were 7.54 percent in November 2010.
Cost of deposits increased by3bps at 5.91 per cent while theywere 5.88 per cent in previousmonth, likewise, lending costup by 10bps on monthly basisto 13.52 per cent.
On the other hand, averagespread during the outgoing yearremained almost flat at 7.46 percent in CY10 versus 7.47 percent in CY09.
Dec spreads surge26bps Year-on-Year
See on Page 12
Forexreserves up
at $17.3bnStaff Reporter
KARACHI: Pakistan's totalliquid foreign exchangereserves increased to $17.3001billion, said a statement fromState Bank of Pakistan hereThursday.
On January 22, 2011 the for-eign reserves held by StateBank amounted to $13.7391billion.
Whereas, net foreign reservesheld by banks other than SBPwere at $3.561 billion.
PM hails US trust on Pak economic systemSays planning economic framework for growth
Ghulam Raza Rajani
KARACHI: The recent rise inthe international crude oilprices in January, 2011 isexpected to adversely affectdomestic Gross RefineryMargins (GRMs).
With petroleum productprices for January 2011 arealready fixed by Ogra, industryGRMs during the ongoingmonth is likely to be around -$2.3 per barrel compared with -$1.2 per barrel in December2010.
On the back of relativelychilly winters this time, particu-larly in eurozone, the bench-mark crude oil prices i.e. WTIand Brent saw their pricesremained above $90 per barrelfor most of the January 2011.
Interestingly, Arab Light
crude oil prices rose sharplythan the other crudes to average$93.7 per barrel, up 4.4 per centon MoM.
This has adversely affectedindustry GRMs since productprices have already been fixedduring January 2011 by Ogra.
As per analyst of ToplineSecurities, company-wiseGRMs indicate that only ATRLmargins to remain green, whileGRMs of NRL and PRL whichwere negative during December2010 are expected to remain inred-zone in January as well.
As per estimates, GRMs ofATRL is expected to be around$1.5 per barrel while NRL andPRL likely to be -$3.5 per bar-rel and -$5 per barrels.
This includes the impact ofremoval of incidental charges
Yemen joins Egypt, Tunisia drive against dictatorship
2 Friday, January 28, 2011
Staff Correspondent
LAHORE: If high growthrates have to be achieved,the government needs topromote private sector,entrepreneurship, and glob-ally connected communities.
This was stated by LCCIActing President SheikhMohammad Arshad whileaddressing a 32-memberunder-training officers' del-egation of Pakistan Instituteof Trade and Developmentduring their visit to theLahore Chamber ofCommerce and Industry.LCCI Executive CommitteeMember Mian Zahid Javaidand Chaudhry Wajid Alialso spoke on the occasion.
Sheikh MohammadArshad said that the failure
to actively promote entre-preneurs have resulted ineconomic decline.However, a little focusedand sector-specific atten-tion on the part of the gov-ernment could do miraclefor the economy.
He said the oft-repeatedmantra of bad governancecould be countered, if thegovernment functionariesperform their duties hon-estly and diligently. Hesaid that the economic sta-bility will not come on itsown rather it is tied intogood governance.
The LCCI ActingPresident stressed the needfor tightening of belts atofficial levels to wear offthe impact of ongoing eco-nomic crisis.
Govt must promoteprivate sector:LCCI
To achieve growth targets
KARACHI: Federationof Pakistan Chambers ofCommerce and Industry(FPCCI) leadership hascalled upon the politicalparties to avoid holdingdemonstrations and rallieson busy roads of the city,especially during workinghours.
Such political activitiesbadly disrupt routine pub-lic life and cause a big lossto trade and industry inand around the metropolis,said Vice PresidentFPCCI, S.Khalid Tawab.Other business leadersalso endorsed his opinion.
In a meeting with a dele-gation of Jamaat-i-Islamiled by its SecretaryGeneral Liaquat Balochhere at Federation Houseon Wednesday, FPCCIVice- Presidents KhalidTawab and DawoodUsman Jakhura empha-sised that all political andreligious parties shouldplay their role in maintain-ing peace and harmony inthe country particularly in
the city. Deterioration oflaw and order creates seri-ous problems for the peo-ple and damages the eco-nomic activities.
"Because of law andorder problem, our foreignbuyers are shy to visitPakistan," they asserted.
Khalid Tawab said thepolitical parties shouldcome up with a unanimousmap and a set of policiesabout the country's econo-my which should be effec-tive for at least next 10years. This would helpbuild the confidence oflocal and foreign business-men, they said.
The FPCCI leaderssaid the business com-munity of the countrywanted the support of allnational political partiesin campaigning for solu-tion of the problems andresolution of irritantsconfronting trade andindustry. SecretaryGeneral of Jamaat- i-Islami Liaquat Balochassured FPCCI leaders
of all possible coopera-tion and support.
He said JI is very clearthat industrial growth isthe only answer to allproblems of the country.
The nation can over-come the present chal-lenges to the country bymaking honest and target-ed efforts based on avision.
He said Jamaat- i-Islamiin continuity of its policywould be striving forpeace and security to lifeand property of the peopleespecially in Karachi andthe country in general. JIleadership would not hesi-tate to go to any party toachieve the purpose, headded.
JI delegation includedSenator Farid Paracha,Senator MuhammadIbrahim, former MNAMuhammad HussainMehnati, former MNAAssadullah Bhutto, formersenior minister KhyberPakhtunkhwa provinceSiraj-ul-Haq.-APP
Business leaders pleato keep rallies off roads
Staff Reporter
KARACHI: In an effort toeradicate misuse of antibi-otics and heighten aware-ness of the importance ofaccurate and effective diag-nosis of infectious diseases,a seminar focusing on'Rational use of antibioticsat primary care setting' wasorganised Thursday by theIndus Hospital in collabora-tion with the InfectiousDiseases Society ofPakistan (IDSP).
Attended by health-careexperts from a diverse spec-trum of disciplines includ-ing clinicians and primarycare physicians, the seminarwas addressed by Dr. AltafAhmed, ClinicalMicrobiologist, DirectorLaboratory Services, IndusHospital, Dr. NaseemSalahuddin, Head ofInfectious Diseases, IndusHospital and Dr. Afia Zafar,Professor of Microbiology,the Aga Khan University
Hospital.Emphasizing on the need
for rational use of antibioticsin Pakistan, Dr. Altaf revealedthat infectious diseasesremain a major source ofmorbidity and mortality inPakistan where there is notenough reliance on evidencebased diagnostic methodsfocusing on laboratory testingfor prevention, diagnosis andtreatment of infectious dis-eases. "There is a dire need inthe country for evidencebased treatment methods inresource limited health-carefacilities and communitybased clinics where there istoo much reliance on guess-work and an absence of rele-vant clinical trials."
Highlighting the need foraccurate diagnosis whenapproaching patients withfever, Dr. NaseemSalahuddin mentioned thatalthough fever is the mostprominent symptom ofinfections, it is also by farand large misunderstood
and mismanaged by clinicalpractitioners.
"The most important wayto diagnose the cause offever is by taking a thor-ough clinical history fromthe patient, studying itsassociated experiencedsymptoms and performing acareful clinical examinationon the patient. Tests andspecific medicines, if need-ed, may be ordered aftercareful consideration.Doctors need to really startlistening to their patients,instead of prescribing testsand medicines randomlythat are not only expensiveand unnecessary, but verymisleading and harmful inthe overall patient manage-ment," she maintained.
Sharing her views on theuse of antibiotics in primarycare settings, Dr. Afia Zafaradvocated rational use ofantibiotics in the communi-ty to avoid developmentantimicrobial resistance inbacteria.
Health experts warn onmisuse of antibiotics
ISLAMABAD: Membersof the ruling and opposi-tion parties in NationalAssembly said that themajor reason of poverty,unemployment and highcrime rate in the country isinflation. Middle class sec-tion has vanished becauseof the deteriorated econo-my.
National Assembly ses-sion was held here inParliament House onThursday where parlia-mentarians were of theview that rulers have toface the music if they didnot control the inflation.
Rana Tanveer Hussainsaid while participating inthe discussion on adjourn-ment motion that flood ofprice hike should bestopped and if the trendremained the same, cir-cumstances will rapidlymove towards uprising.
He demanded that cabi-
net must be right sized andincrease in membersnational assembly up to342 by the Musharraf mustalso be checked as postenlargement of parliament,expenditures have grown.
Raja Asad criticised thegovernment's policies andsecond-rated them. He saidif a dam was constructedinstead of spending Rs70billions on Benazir IncomeSupport Program (BISP)that would have betterserved the nation. Countryneeds long-term planning,but government is notunderstanding the tender-ness of the situation as gapbetween rich and poor hasswollen.
Khalida Mansoor saidgood governance doesexist in country, differentcrises emerge on intermit-tent basis. Government hasno control over prices as noeffective policy exists, she
added.Raza Hayat Hiraj of
PML-Q said commodityprices are sky high andinflation has affected thepeople of all classes.Agriculture sector of theeconomy is linked with allsectors and if it is ignoredfurther, 70 percent of therevenue will demolish.
PML-N's Sheikh AftabAhmed said middle classsection of the society hasdiminished, only poor andrich sections are left, whichis the main reason ofmounting crimes. He alsosaid Pakistan Railways,PIA, Steel Mills and othercorporations are running indeficits, he pointed.
MQM's Sheikh Salah-ud-Din said inflation is themajor reason of poverty,crimes and unemployment.Masses want their prob-lems solved, but case is dif-ferent, he added.-Online
This was a long standingdemand of Pakistan and itwill play an important role torevive and stabilizePakistan's economy, he saidwhile talking to SajjadKarim, Member EuropeanParliament, who called onhim in the Parliament Houseon Monday.
The Deputy Speaker saidthat recent flood had playedhavoc in the country. He saidthat the floods had badlyaffected all the fourprovinces including AJK andGilgit-Balistan and dislocat-ed more than 20 million peo-ple and devastated infrastruc-ture at a massive scale.
he Deputy Speaker saidthat floods have badly dam-aged agriculture sector andmillion acres of agricultureland had been destroyed andstanding crops of worth ofbillion of dollars have beenruined.-APP
Kundi hailsEU decision
Anti dumping duty
Dr Baigseeks PM's interventionKARACHI: Dr MirzaIkhtiar Baig, FederalAdvisor on Textiles in a let-ter, has requested PrimeMinister Yousuf RazaGilani to urgently interveneand speak to the TurkishPrime Minster to excludePakistan for the impositionof anti dumping duty on theimport of Pakistani fabricand garments to Turkey.
Dr Baig also spoken toSecretary Commerce ZafarMehmood and requestedhim to urgently send a dele-gation to Turkey includingCEO TDAP Tariq IqbalPuri to take up this issuewith Turkish authoritiesbefore their Council ofMinisters meeting on Jan28. Hassan Eken, PresidentTurkey-Pak BusinessCouncil has also written aletter to Turkish PrimeMinister in support ofPakistan on this issue.
Dr Baig has also taken upthis matter with TurkishMinister for Trade, ZaferCaglayan advising him thatimposition of the anti dump-ing duty will seriously affectour efforts to increase bilat-eral trade to US$2 billionper annum, a target set bythe Turkish Prime Ministerand President.- NNI
Goodsworth
millionsgutted in city
KARACHI: Goods worth
millions of rupees were
burnt to ashes in fire in
two markets of Karachi's
important commercial
area. Suspecting sabotage,
the police have registered
a case and are investigat-
ing.
According to details, a
fire suddenly broke out in
a spare parts shop in Rafiq
Plaza on M.A. Jinnah
Road and a commercial
market in Preedy Street on
the midnight of
Wednesday and Thursday.
The fire intensified rapidly
and engulfed many neigh-
boring shops as well. The
fire brigade rushed to the
scene and managed to con-
trol the fire after hectic
efforts.
No one was hurt in the
fire, but goods worth mil-
lions were burnt to ashes
in the incidents.
EDO Municipal Services
said that 24 fire brigades, 2
water bowsers and chemi-
cals were used to extin-
guish the fire. According
to police, initial reports
suggest that fire was a
result of short circuit.
However, proofs negate
this theory. The initial
report of the incident has
been filed in Preedy police
station.
Police said that the fire
could be a result of some
sabotage as it is strange
that how could two fires
simultaneously engulf two
markets.
It is worth mentioning
here that the shop keepers
of the area are facing
demands of 'bhatta' and
they have also been
receiving death threats, in
case they don't pay.-Online
PR staffprotests
privatisationplan
LAHORE: PakistanRailways (PR) employeeson Thursday protestedagainst the government'sprivatization plan inLahore. They also threat-ened to suspend all trains ifthe plan was not aborted.
According to a privateTV channel, a large rally ofPR workers protested infront of the DS office inLahore. President ofRailway Prem Union andex- MNA Hafiz SalmanButt led the protest rally.
The protesting employeesrepeatedly chanted passionateslogans against PR authoritiesand the government; theytorched tires and blocked aroad near the DS office.-Online
BQATIcondemns
KESCemployees'restoration
KARACHI: The BinQasim Association ofTrade and Industry(BQATI) has condemnedthe decision to reinstateKESC employees despitethe need to make its opera-tions more cost-efficient,and the belligerent andunlawful behavior of thedismissed employees.
In a statement, MianMuhammad Ahmed,BQATI Patron-in-Chief,said that government's insis-tence upon KESC to rein-state the employees, whohad earlier rejected a reason-able voluntary severanceoffer, would send the wrongmessage to the world as thegovernment is already understrong pressure to reducepower subsidy from itsglobal lenders.-NNI
KARACHI: Federal Minister of Finance, Dr Abdul HafeezShaikh recently visited the Overseas Investors Chamber of
Commerce and Industry. Seen in the picture are (from left toright) Dr Nadeem Ul Haque, Deputy Chairman - Planning
Commission; Ms Ameena Saiyid OBE, President OICCI; DrAbdul Hafeez Shaikh, Minister of Finance and Naved A.
Khan, Vice-president OICCI.-Staff Photo
LAHORE: The GSA of Thai Cargo Pakistan recently hosted farewell dinner to
Thongchai Ungkasareeruk, outgoing General Manager Lahore and to welcome new
GM Lahore. Group photo shows (L-R) Amorn Kasornsiricharoen (Finance
Manager), Satit Dumrerng (New General Manager Lahore), Thongchai
Tungkasareeruk (General Manager Lahore) Arif Suleman (CEO GSA-Cargo
Pakistan), Polapat Neelabhamorn (Country Manager - Pakistan) and Mohsin
KARACHI: The Deputy High Commissioner of Bangladesh Ruhul Siddiqui hosted a
dinner at his residence to auction three paintings donated by Foreign Secretary of
Bangladesh Mohammed Mijarul Quayes, for flood victims in Karachi as a goodwill
gesture. Rs3,40,000 were collected from the auction.-Staff Photo
KARACHI: Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah holding a meeting with China Kingho Group at CM House. -Online
TV PROGRAMMES
FRIDAY
Time Programmes
7:00 News
8:00 News
9:05 Subah Savere Maya ke Sath
11:00 News
11:30 Hal Kya Hai (Rpt)
12:00 News
13:10 Newsbeat (Rpt)
14:10 Tonight With Jasmeen (Rpt)
15:00 News
16:00 News
17:30 Samaa Metro
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22:03 Awam Ki Awaz
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Rising poverty, high crimes
Market access to Pak products
Etihad’sAbu Dhabipromotion
ISLAMABAD : EtihadAirways has designated2011 as "the year of AbuDhabi" with the launch ofits "essential Abu Dhabi"destination marketing cam-paign. Designed to enhanceAbu Dhabi's place as a toptourist and MICE destina-tion, the campaign will seeEtihad unveil a number ofexciting promotional activi-ties across the globe.
For the first time, all themajor tourism operators inthe emirate of Abu Dhabihave come together underone showcase umbrella topromote the very best UAE'scapital has to offer.- NNI
BD paintings auctioned for flood victimsTFD Report
KARACHI: The Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh Mohammed Mijarul Quayes, donatedthree paintings of Mahmudul Haque, one of the top contemporary painters of Bangladeshfor the flood victims. The auction of the three paintings was held followed by dinner atBangladesh house hosted by the Deputy High Commissioner. Ruhul Siddiqui. In his shortspeech Deputy High Commissioner said that Bangladesh Foreign Secretary MohammedMijarul Quayes, during his recent official tour of Pakistan last year had visited some ofthe relief camps for the flood victims in Karachi, as a goodwill gesture from him, heannounced to donate the sale proceeds of three paintings of Mahmudul Haque, a promi-nent painters of Bangladesh, three prominent businessmen Majyd Aziz, Wahab Jaffer andHussain Quassim, take part in auction and Rs3,40,000.
MUMBAI: Indian rupeeended marginally stronger, butoff the day's high amid choppytrade, as a sharp rise in the euroagainst majors in late trade out-weighed weak local shares andstrong demand for dollars fromoil importers.
But, sentiment remainedbearish for most of the dayafter rating agency Standard &Poor's downgraded Japan 'slong-term sovereign debt rat-ing. "The rupee started to slipmore after the downgrade ofJapan. There was also strongdemand for the dollar from oilimporters," said Rohan Naik,head of foreign exchange trad-ing at Standard Chartered Bankin Mumbai.
"There was massive US dol-lar sell-off in very late trade.That resulted in the last minutepull back of the rupee," said adealer at a private bank.
The partially convertiblerupee ended at 45.57/58 perdollar, 0.3 per cent strongerthan its 45.69/71 close onTuesday. It moved in a band of45.5350-45.6750 intra-day.
The market was closed onWednesday for a national holi-day. Oil importers were buyingthe greenback at around 45.60-
45.65 level, dealers said.Foreign funds were net sell-
ers of over $755 million worthof shares this year untilTuesday, pushing the rupeedown 1.8 per cent. Last year,investments had reached arecord $29.3 billion helping therupee gain 4.1 per cent.
One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contractswere quoted at 45.85, weakerthan the onshore spot rate,when the local foreignexchange market closed. In thecurrency futures market, themost traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the NationalStock Exchange, the MCX-SXand the United Stock Exchangeclosed at 45.81, 45.8075 and45.80, with the total traded vol-ume on the three exchanges at$563 million. -Reuters
Indian rupee inchesup, but outlook weak
3Friday, January 28, 2011
Currencies Rate
Karachi: The following are the London Inter-Bank Offered Rates (LIBOR).
British Members Association Interest Settlement Rates.
AT 11:00 LONDON TIME 27/01/2011
A USD GBP CAD EUR JPY
O/N 0.23563 0.55688 0.94667 0.97500 SN 0.10063
1WK 0.25375 0.57063 0.99667 0.86000 0.10850
2WK 0.25656 0.57438 1.03583 0.84625 0.11313
1MO 0.26000 0.59875 1.08500 0.82375 0.12563
2MO 0.28313 0.65750 1.14833 0.87938 0.15125
3MO 0.30438 0.77500 1.22167 1.00000 0.18875
4MO 0.34500 0.85563 1.29000 1.06000 0.24313
5MO 0.40125 0.95938 1.34333 1.14125 0.30000
6MO 0.45469 1.07375 1.41833 1.23313 0.34625
7MO 0.50813 1.15225 1.49500 1.28438 0.39500
8MO 0.56000 1.23625 1.57083 1.34375 0.44188
9MO 0.61625 1.31813 1.63750 1.39563 0.48750
10MO 0.66781 1.39563 1.72333 1.44313 0.51438
11MO 0.72219 1.46375 1.80500 1.49375 0.54125
12MO 0.78125 1.53125 1.89667 1.54500 0.56750
Countries Selling Buying BuyingTT & OD TT Clean OD/T.CHQ
Bank of England February 10, 2011 March 5, 2009 0.50%
Bank of Japan February 14, 2011 December 19, 2008 0.10%
Swiss National Bank March 17, 2011 March 12, 2009 0.25%
The Reserve Bank of Australia February 1, 2011 November 2, 2010 4.75%
Federal Reserve n/a December 16, 2008 0.25%
European Central Bank n/a May 7, 2009 1%
Major Central Banks Overview
Division of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP)KARACHI, January 27,2011 Treasury Management Division of National Bank ofPakistan (NBP) Monday issued the following Exchange rates:
Revaluation RatesTreasury Bills / PIBs / FIBs Holding Applicable for January 27, 2011
NEW YORK: The yen slid against boththe dollar and the euro on Thursday afterStandard & Poor's cut Japan's long-termdebt rating, a move that raised questionsabout the risks of downgrades for otherdeveloped economies.
Although Japan's fiscal troubles are wellknown, analysts said the downgrade calledinto question the yen's status as a safe-haven currency, boosting the appeal of thedollar and the likes of the Swiss franc.
S&P, in downgrading Japan to a ratingof AA-minus, said the country's govern-ment lacked a coherent plan to tackle itsmounting debt.
So far, analysts say Japan's situation isunlike that of other nations, though at thevery least it has raised questions andsharpened the risk focus of sovereignwealth funds and other investors thatmight view the yen as a safe-haven curren-
cy. The dollar was up 0.7 per cent at 82.90yen after rising more than 1 per cent to83.22 on electronic trading platform EBS.
"It is reason-able to expectthat the Japanesedowngrade willraise concernsover the sover-eign rating of theUS," saidV a s i l e i o sGkionakis, macro strategist at FulcrumAsset Management LLP in London, whichoversees $900 million in assets.
Gkionakis, however, downplayed therisks to at least the United States, pointingout that US gross domestic product is fore-cast to accelerate while Japan's will likelymoderate. In addition, Japan's debt-to-GDP ratio is twice as high as that of the
United States.And though deficits in both countries are
large, the United States's is expected to
improve more than Japan's, Gkionakissaid. Against the yen, the euro rose to114.02 yen, its strongest since Nov. 22, uparound 1 per cent on the day.
Other currencies may also be betterplaced, particularly the Swiss franc, whichmay now be the favored safe-haven cur-rency. It hit a high around 88.13 yen, itsstrongest since last April.
The euro was also boosted on Thursdayby remarks by a European Central Bankpolicy maker, Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, whowarned that an expected rise in importedgoods inflation cannot be ignored, sup-porting the view that euro-zone rates couldrise sooner than later.
The euro rose to $1.3760 on EBS, itsstrongest since Nov. 22, keeping intact astrong uptrend from a four-month lowbelow $1.29 hit earlier in the month. Itlater eased to $1.3729, up 0.1 per cent onthe day. The euro pierced resistancearound $1.3740, the 61.8 per centretracement of its two-month declineuntil early January. Technical analystssaid a daily close above that would addto the positive tone. The next target isthe Nov. 22 high of $1.3786, and someanalysts say a break of this could promptmore gains towards $1.40. -Reuters
Yen slides as S&P downgradesJapan’s long-term debt
SHANGHAI: China's yuanclosed almost unchangedagainst the dollar on Thursdayas activity started to thin aheadof the week-long Lunar NewYear holiday which begins nextWednesday.
The People's Bank of Chinaset the mid-point at a recordhigh for the third straight daybut let it rise only slightly fromWednesday's fixing, signallingthe government may be morewilling to allow the yuan toappreciate but only at a meas-ured pace, traders said.
"Some traders from otherprovinces have left for thebreak," said a trader at aChinese bank in Shanghai."Most market players believethe yuan will not move muchbefore the holiday."
The yuan has jumped 26 percent on the dollar since andincluding its landmark revalua-tion in July 2005.
Still, some US lawmakersplan to reintroduce China cur-rency legislation that was over-whelmingly approved last yearby the House of Representativebut failed to become law, con-gressional aides said onWednesday.
The legislation will clear theway for the CommerceDepartment to treat underval-ued currency as a subsidyunder US trade law. That willallow companies, on a case-by-case basis, to seek higher coun-tervailing duties againstimports from China that com-pete with US production.
Spot yuan closed at 6.5820against the dollar comparedwith 6.5819 at Wednesday'sclose. It has now risen 3.71 percent to the dollar since its mid-June depegging.
It touched an intraday low of6.5844 and a high of 6.5818, justshy of 6.5808 hit on Monday --its highest intraday trading levelsince China let the yuan be pub-licly trade in 1994. Traders saidthey expected the yuan to contin-ue trading narrowly in the nearterm, awaiting fresh signals fromthe PBOC.
Offshore, benchmark one-year dollar/yuan non-deliver-able forwards were bid at6.4460 late on Thursday, upfrom 6.4380 at Wednesday'sclose. Their implied yuanappreciation in a year's timefell to 2.20 per cent from 2.33per cent. -Reuters
Yuan flat vs USD;holiday mood sets in
LONDON: Sterling rose againstthe dollar on Thursday, drawingsupport from expectations theBank of England could raiseinterest rates by mid-year andunderpinned by a broad dollarweakness.
The pound also jumpedagainst the yen, which was sold-off after ratings agency Standard& Poor's cut Japan's sovereigndebt rating by one notch to AA
minus. Sterling has found support
after minutes of the Bank ofEngland's (BOE) January meet-ing on Wednesday showed BoEpolicymaker Martin Wealejoined Andrew Sentance in vot-ing for a 25 basis point rate risefrom a record low 0.5 per cent.
Analysts said the additionalvote to raise rates promptedinvestors to price in the risinglikelihood of an increase in com-ing months. However, some saidweakness in the UK economy,highlighted by news this weekof a shock contraction in grossdomestic product late last year,
would cap the pound's gains.Sterling was up 0.26 per cent
on the day at $1.5939, havingclimbed to a to a session high of$1.5991 and tripping buy stopsfollowing its break through$1.5945 earlier in the session.
Implied interest rate futuresbased on overnight index swapswere pricing in a roughly 45 percent chance of a 25 basis pointrate rise by May, unchanged
from late on Wednesday.Against the yen, the pound
jumped more than 1 per cent onthe day to a session high of132.68 yen.
The euro was steady on theday at 86.17 pence, havingretreated from a 2 1/2-monthhigh of 86.72 pence hit onWednesday as traders bookedprofits from the single Europeancurrency's rally so far thismonth.
Sterling saw little reaction todata showing a slowdown inBritish retail sales this monthand a fall in UK house prices. -Reuters
Sterling firm on ratehike expectations
SINGAPORE: The Philippinepeso and the Indian rupee roseon Thursday, as dealers boughtback the currencies near recentlows on speculation the worstof an inflation-driven selloff inthe assets of those countrieswas nearly over.
Uncertainty remained,though, about whether com-modity prices will resume anuptrend and further complicatethe job of policymakers, tryingto lessen the blow of climbingfood and fuel prices.
"The inflation worries arestill there but a lot has beenpriced in already," said SubodhKumar, an assistant vice presi-dent, covering currencies andinterest rates, at Citigroup inSingapore.
The price of oil is one of the
key factors for the direction ofemerging Asian currencies. Ifcrude climbs back above $90 abarrel, then the rebound in cur-rencies like the rupee couldstall, Kumar said.
Peso gained 0.4 per centagainst the dollar as dealerscovered short positions afterdollar/peso broke below a sup-port level.
Local shares rose and a sell-off in the Philippine bills sub-sided, proving more support tothe local currency.
The dollar/peso fell to44.150 from previous close of44.445.
"(There is) possible stop-lossselling after dollar/peso broke44.30," said a European bankdealer in Manila. "Right now Iam not seeing any reason for
dollar/peso to go higher and wecould see a test of 44.00."
The level 44.30 is a pivotpoint having served as a goodresistance to the dollar's riseearlier. A break below thislevel neutralises the immediatebullish outlook for the dollar.
The won rose for a fourthconsecutive session as foreigninvestors kept buying localstocks and exporters continuedto be on the bid.
Goldman Sachs expected thewon's appreciation of 8 percent against the dollar over sixmonths to reduce inflation inSouth Korea by 0.7 percentagepoints, saying foreignexchange rates have moreimpact on consumer pricesthan imported foods and fuelprices. -Reuters
Asian currencies
Peso, won rise;inflation fears ease
SYDNEY/WELLINGTON: The Australiandollar was robbed of early gains on Thursdayafter news of a new tax to pay for flood damagewas seen further lessening the need for higherinterest rates in coming months.
The New Zealand dollar fared better after theReserve Bank of New Zealand said rates therewere still likely to rise over the next couple ofyears, though it would wait for concrete signs ofrecovery before moving.
The Aussie dollar slipped to $0.9960 from anearly high of $1.0002, to stand little changed onthe day. The kiwi held up at $0.7722, after risingfrom around $0.7650, and gained on the Aussieto NZ$1.2890.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard saidthe new income tax would last for a year andraise A$1.8 billion to pay for rebuilding afterdevastating floods. "The levy will put even morestrain on households' disposable incomes, whichalready are under pressure from higher interest
rates, and rising food, utility, and petrol prices,"noted Helen Kevans, an economist at JPMorgan.
"Setting monetary policy, therefore, will beincreasingly challenging for the RBA, but wemaintain that the tightening cycle will resumethis year, even though the floods probably havedelayed the next rate move."
Investors had already pushed out the likelytiming of any hike following surprisingly benigninflation figures out this week. Now, interbankfutures as far out as November all firmed as theyfurther pared the probability of a move.
The market has 23 basis points of tighteningpriced in for the next 12 months, compared to 35basis points at the start of this week.
The RBA holds its monthly policy meeting onTuesday and is almost certain to keep rates at4.75 per cent as it assesses the impact of thefloods. The central bank also releases its quarter-ly statement on monetary policy on Friday. -Reuters
Aussie dollar dampenedby flood tax; NZ$ firm
Swiss francticks down
ZURICH: The Swiss franctraded slightly lower versus theeuro and the dollar onThursday after the US FederalReserve said it would continueto support the economic recov-ery, thus encouraging investorsto opt for riskier assets.
The Swiss franc, consideredas a safe-haven currency, hadrisen strongly over the pastyear as investors worried aboutthe stability of the Europeansingle currency weakened by adebt crisis in the euro-zone.
The Swiss magazineWeltwoche on Thursdayreprinted a speech from PhilippHildebrand from last week, inwhich the Swiss National Bankchairman said the franc'sstrength was a big burden forexporters but overall the econ-omy was still in robust shape.
"The mood today is relative-ly positive. Asian stock mar-kets are up and risk aversion isnot very present. This environ-ment does not support theSwiss franc," Commerzbankanalyst You-Na Park said.
The Swissie was down 0.1per cent against the euro com-pared to the New York close at1.2928 per euro and fell 0.2 percent against the dollar at0.9435 per dollar at 0748GMT. -Reuters
Downgrade raises questions about other rich nations
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The time’shotfooting The present coalition government led by
PPP will complete three years next month.The time has come to take into account thefailures and achievements. Though, it istrue that over the year global economy alsowitnessed downturn but has hardly anything common to that. On the politicalfront it has not been a smooth ride andfriendly opposition didn't contribute toensure good governance, despite PublicAccounts Committee being headed byleader of the opposition. Though, the oppo-sition, at one stag, particularly PML-Nenjoying majority didn't bring no-trust'move and insisted if any other party makesthe move it would be fully supported. Inmost probability it was a face saving to saythe least it didn't topple PPP government sothat in case a similar situation arises infuture PPP should also abstain from mak-ing such a move.
It is feared sooner or later public mayresort to violent demonstrations or eveninitiate civil disobedience. At present thecountry is enduring the worst energy crisis.POL prices are on the rise, though the lasthike was withdrawn it is feared that theincrease to be announced on February 1would be even higher and it will not be pos-sible for the government to withdraw it.And before that the central bank wouldhave announced 50 basis point increase, atleast. Experts don't rule out hike in interestrate by one percent. The only positive pointis that government borrowing from the cen-tral bank is on the decline but borrowingfrom the commercial banks is on the rise.
On top of all price of almost every com-modity from flour to vegetables and fromedible oil to eggs are on the rise. It seemsthat the infrastructure responsible formonitoring prices in the retail market doesnot exist or are also doing the same whichothers are doing, suffering from the mostcontentious disease of not following goodgovernance.
The latest reports indicate that Sindhmay face serious food crisis over the nextfew months. In Karachi prices of essentialitems are already skyrocketing and essen-tial items also disappear from the marketthe situation may turn what Chad andNigeria have experienced lately or peoplemay try to emulate what Tunisians didlately. Many experts had warned that sec-tarian and linguistic riots may lead toanarchy, which fortunately did not hap-pen. However, if prices of food itemsbecome sky high and these also disappearfrom the markets, maintaining peace andtranquility will become almost impossi-ble.
4Friday, January 28, 2011
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief: Amir A. Ashary
Editor: Shakil H. Jafri
Executive Editor: Manzar Naqvi
Honorary Advisory Board
Haseeb Khan, FCA
Asim Abbas Ashary, CPA
Akhtar M. Zaidi, FCA
Dr. A. Hadi Shahid, FCA
Muhammad Arif
S. Muneer Hussain Rizvi
Khurram Shehzad, CFA
Prof. Zakaria Sajid (KU)
Zahid Bukhari SVP HBL (retd)
Ismat Sabir
Head office
111-C, Jami Commercial Street 11, Phase VII, DHA KarachiTelephone: 92-21-35311893-6 Fax: 92-21-35388428
Over last few years the criteria forassessing the failure or otherwiseof the states have changed margin-
ally but the most important among themcontinues to be valid even now - the col-lapse of the institutions of democracy. Thefacts about Indian society as revealed by aformer Governor of Tamil NaduMaharashtra are quite sufficient to dis-cern, why India is a failed state. The cruxof the analysis is reflected for a commonreader.
If some visitors to India from foreigncountries go by the scenes on TV channelsand by to the reports in our newspapers,they may return home convinced thatIndia is already in danger of becoming afailed state. In a survey conducted by theWashington-based Foreign Policy aboutfour years ago, India ranked 97th in thelist of 146 countries in the failed StatesIndex. India, though its institutions ofdemocracy have not undergone such dev-astating distortions as in many otherdeveloping' countries, has the additionalvulnera-bility of being surrounded bymany failed states (Pakistan ranked 9thplace, Afghanistan 10th, Burma 18th,Bangladesh 19th and Nepal 25th). Sincethe institutions of democracy are function-ing, though with varying degrees of effi-ciency, India has earned the reputation ofbeing one of the successful democraciesof the world. However, certain disturbingfeatures have appeared in the working ofcertain institutions which make one feel
doubtful about their survival in goodhealth. While it may be difficult to assessthe vulnerability of these institutions andthe democratic practices in India, one caneasily identify two factors which shouldcause concern about India's survival ingood health as a state.
The first and foremost is the all perva-sive corruption in practically every sectorof activity, public or private. The chargesof corruption against those responsible forholding the Commonwealth Games inDelhi in October 2010 is a disgracefulindicator of the extent to which corruptionhas spread in India. In the early years ofIndependence, India was ruled by a set ofadministrators and legislators who were-trained in the Gandhian values of treatingpublic office as an office of trust to servethe people. However, with the rise of anew generation of rulers and legislators,corruption has come to be tolerated as anessential evil in our country. Public officeshave always provided ample opportunitiesto the corrupt to enrich themselves in theshort period of their occupying seats ofpower. This is quite apparent if we glancethrough the declaration of assets by candi-dates for election to the legislatures. Thosewhose assets were nominal just four orfive years ago, have unabashedly shownlarge increases in their assets and no ques-tions have been asked as to how they wereable to perform the wonders of multiply-ing their assets. The reason is obvious.Most corrupt people who have succeededin misusing their seats of power to enrichthemselves know that no one will "cast the
first stone" as everyone is guilty of thesame offence.
The tragedy of the rapid spread of cor-ruption is indeed acute when we find thattoday even senior public servants who areexpected to be responsible for checkingcorruption have no shame in satisfyingtheir greed for money by themselvesbecoming corrupt. The government hasreserved for itself the right to grant ordeny permission to prosecute corrupt offi-cials and thereby provide protection to thecorrupt whenever it chooses to do so. Aninteresting feature of people's attitude tocorruption is that they are shocked whennews of corruption breaks but very soonforget that eternal vigilance is the price anation has to pay for good governance, asit is the case with liberty.
Just two years ago, newspapers pub-lished a surprising fact that India was ontop of the list of depositors of blackmoney in Swiss banks and that if our gov-ernment requested for the list, the Swissbanks could provide the information.According to the bank's estimate, Indianshave $1,456 billion in Swiss banks, whichis more money than what the rest of theworld has put together in these banks.Nobody appears to be losing sleep overthese huge dishonest deposits. The Secondfactor which has the potential of draggingIndia to the path of failed states is theabsence of a clear policy on the part of thegovernment on how to deal with Maoistterror. Unfortunately, successive govern-ments at the Centre and in the states havebeen quite confused in their thinking as to
what has to be done to meet this danger tointernal security. To begin with, the threatto internal security was treated as a nui-sance when violence by Maoist groupsstarted on' a small-scale in three states,namely Andhra Pradesh, Bihar andJharkhand. Later, more states came to beaffected by this menace - they wereMadhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh,Maharashtra, West Bengal, Orissa andChhattisgarh. Now it .has spread toKerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka andUttaranchal. Whenever the question ofMaoist terror is discussed in the legisla-ture, it is common to see members of theCabinet expressing sharp differencesabout the strategy. In the past, PrimeMinisters took very serious objection toany member of the Cabinet expressinghis/her views on what should or shouldnot be done after a definite policy hadbeen adopted by the Cabinet. But todayno such discipline is being followed.
Failure to take decisions in time has beenthe cause of avoidable delays in severalgovernment projects. The Maoists expectthat if they hold out longer, governmentwill one day come around to acceptingtheir terms, including non-surrender ofarms. Decisions on important issues likedealing with Maoist terror certainly requirediscussions to know the views of the peo-ple but there has to be a limit for such dis-cussions and talks. Otherwise, decisionswhen taken about issues like Maoist vio-lence may prove to be the proverbial causefor failures on the part of the government,namely too little and too late.
India: A Failed State
Revolution in Pakistan isclaimed to be again round thecorner. Every Pakistani politi-cian is defining this term of rev-olution according to his or herown perceptions. Political his-tory of Pakistan has shown anumber of times, judicious useof this terminology with verysuperficial understanding of itsliteral or actual meaning.Governments have been claim-ing high for benefits in pipelineafter their so called revolution-ary changes, and at the sametime same changes are said tobe detrimental to the State ofPakistan by the opposition. Thegame of cat and mouse is onsince the demise of actual lead-ership of Pakistan.
This all said and done doesn'tmean that there has been norevolutionary change in thesociety of Pakistan. With the
incursions of many ills in oursociety indeed there are somepositive signs of movement inright direction as well. One ofthose positives is advent of avibrant, listened and activemedia of Pakistan. This alsodoes not mean that that the saidchange is a drawback lesspreposition as State and mediaare daggers drawn since theirvery existence side by side,even in the civilized societiesof west. This confrontation hasthe elements of both positivityand negativity in it. Point hereis not to dwell upon the differ-ence between hard core profes-sional journalism and the com-mercial compulsions of it, butto draw maximum benefits outof this ray of hope i.e. Vibrancyof Media.
Media presently is doing anexcellent job to expose the dis-
honest, arrogant and incapableleadership of this country; nextstep to the revolution is not far,but requires a determined effortby perception vendors. It's asour fact that, Pakistan isalways governed by a govern-ment, which is elected by total30 - 35per cent of eligible vot-ers, compared to 65per cent and63per cent in US and India.Some parts of the world alsoobserve compulsory vote lawin their country like Australiaand Malta where the vote cast-ing percentage reaches 95percent. Practically speaking, theonly way to revolution in ourenvironment is to get these65per cent of Pakistani eligiblevoters moved to the polling sta-tions. This is also statisticallyproved that the 65per cent (NonMovers) bears an overwhelm-ing majority of sensible and
educated masses. What we callin Urdu "Sonay pey Sohaga" is,that despite of their zeroinvolvement in the sacred affairof elections, they are mostactive, brutal and look to bemost concerned people aboutthe politics of the country. Thisdefinitely goes in positively forthe ruling elite of Pakistan, asstatus quo with 35per cent vot-ers is the only option. Thisoption efficiently caters fortheir supremacy in the politicaldynamics of the country that towith a cost effect of one plate of'Biryani' to the voter on pollingday. Is this not antagonizing forthose 65per cent enjoying holi-day on the same very day? It istheir fate which is decided on aplate of Biryani for the nextfive years.
One of the so many solutionswith Media, to break the polit-
ical stalemate of the country isto launch a massive electioneducation campaign on print,electronic and cyber media.The target audience should becarefully analyzed, before set-ting off for the mission. We areagain around two years fromthe General Elections of thecountry. Media mastermindscan achieve this nation some-thing which it could not do soin 62 years of life. Special doc-umentaries, talk shows andnews of vote casting percent-age in contemporary world canbecome main feature of thesaid campaign. Media if wantto feel it's real strength, it has tomake this nation move to thepolling stations for electing anhonest, real and dynamic lead-ership, which definitely existswithin us.Jawad Raza Khan, Karachi
Until this month, EgyptianPresident Hosni Mubarakcould take for granted that
30 years' hold on power would beextended without fuss when he ora chosen successor, perhaps hisson, was easily re-elected inSeptember.
But Tunisia's popular uprisingand now two days of Egyptiancopycat protests have torn up thewell-worn script.
The sudden outbreak of demon-strations across Egypt by mostlyyoung people trying to repeatTunisia's overthrow of its presi-dent have tested the powerfulsecurity forces in a country that isa political bellwether for the Arabworld.
Suddenly a decades-old emer-gency law is no longer snuffingout street protests.
And Internet activism is nolonger the hobby of a chatteringclass that timidly criticises thestate in private, but a vehicle thathas mobilised thousands to coor-dinated protests in cities acrossEgypt.
Any sign that labour uniondemands for cheaper food andhigher wages are combining withmiddle-class calls for greater
democracy may indeed test thecredentials of the 82-year-oldMubarak as the man to hold Egypttogether for six more years, or tousher in a successor in the shapeof his son Gamal.
"Mubarak never experiencedthis level of public anger and sucha rejection of his legitimacy in 30years of power," said political ana-lyst Issandr El Amrani. "Thislooks quite bad for him."
Father and son both deny thatGamal is being groomed for thejob, but the Egyptian street doesnot believe them.
"Gamal, tell your father thatEgyptians hate you," protesterswere yelling in Cairo onWednesday.
Amrani said the protests "prob-ably suggest that Gamal is lesslikely to be the (ruling party) can-didate in this year's election".
Officials from Egypt's rulingparty have said repeatedly thatHosni Mubarak himself is theirnatural candidate and, apart fromGamal, there are no obvious alter-natives.
NOT TUNISIABut there are plenty of reasons
why Egypt might not go the wayof Tunisia.
Its Western allies, led by theUnited States, probably want toavoid adding to political uncer-tainty in a country of 80 millionpeople by abandoning Mubarak.Egypt's peaceful relationship withIsrael is, for them, one bulwark ofstability in a region unsettled notonly by events in Tunisia but alsoby Hezbollah's dramatic powergrab in Lebanon.
Nevertheless, White Housespokesman Robert Gibbs declinedwhen asked on Wednesday tooffer explicit support forMubarak, saying Egypt remaineda "close and important ally."
Egyptians are freer to criticisetheir leaders than the Tunisianswho were demonstrating againstone of the world's toughest policestates, with one of the worstrecords on free speech.
"Mubarak has allowed for aminimum of opposition voicewithin the government or withincivil society, and that has in effectdivided the opposition," saidGeoff Porter, risk consultant atGDP Consulting.
Political activism in Egypt isweak. An estimated one fifth of itspeople live in poverty and that hasmade them less inclined to
demonstrate and risk losing the lit-tle they have.
Poorer Cairo districts lack basicservices and the capital suffersrampant congestion and pollution.In 2008, a rockfall killed over 100people in a crowded Cairo shanty-town.
Egypt's armed forces are seen asloyal to Mubarak, a former gener-al, while it was the military'sreported decision to withdrawsupport from Ben Ali that mayhave triggered his departure.
CYNICALBut many Egyptians are cynical
about their leaders.Their suspicions seemed to be
confirmed in November whenparliamentary elections, certifiedfree and fair by the government,were condemned by rights andopposition groups as rigged toensure a crushing victory forMubarak's party.
Gamal Mubarak, who is head ofpolicy at the National DemocraticParty (NDP), has spent severalyears trying to drum up supportfor a government programmedesigned to stimulate the econo-my and create jobs.
But he appears to enjoy littlepopularity among ordinary
Egyptians, who are suspicious ofhis close ties to a wealthy businesselite that many say is above thelaw -- a complaint levelled byTunisians at the business clan ofBen Ali's wife.
"If real reforms do not takeplace within the ruling regime ... Ithink there will be hurdles on theroad. This applies to any presiden-tial candidate," said Nabil AbdelFattah, political analyst at the al-Ahram Centre for Political andStrategic Studies.
He said reforms would need toaddress political parties, govern-ment ties with business, socialprogrammes and the media.
One option for the governmentnow would be to offer conces-sions to the protesters' demands inan attempt to take the wind out oftheir sails.
"There's a certain logic that saysthe regime should perhaps dosomething to appease the public,like changing the interior minis-ter," said Amrani.
"The problem is HosniMubarak has ruled Egypt the wayhe wanted to for 30 years now. Hedoes not seem like a man whochanges his way of doing thingseasily."-Reuters
No Tunis in Egypt
Media: Move the Non Movers
In Federal Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, it has been decidedto allow import of used cars which will, eventually, bring downrising trend of prices of locally manufactured vehicles. Cabinethas approved the recommendations of the EconomicCoordination Committee (ECC), the decision which was earlierreverted by Prime Minister.
On Dec 8, last year import of used cars was approved on the rec-ommendation of ECC, but the decision was taken back later, caus-ing blockade of billions of car importers who had booked cars forimport. Realizing the gravity of the situation, the ECC again pro-posed import of used cars to control the cartel of new car manu-facturers and the cabinet endorsed it. Allowing import of used cars(maximum 5 years old) will definitely break the cartel of new carmanufacturers and ease the market. Pakistan's four largest carmanufacturers have total capacity of producing 350,000 cars (800to 1600cc) annually, whereas, total market needs are around500,000 cars annually. This gap will be bridged by import of usedcars and the menace of "own" will also be removed from business.
IFTIKHAR SHAHEEN MIRZA, ISLAMABAD
A good decision!The suggestion of Altaf Hussain that Martial
Law may be imposed in Punjab has broughtaround much uproar which I fail to understandas Altaf Hussain is the leader who has largestfollowing in Pakistan. MQM is the mostorganised, disciplined, and democratic politi-cal party with set system of command and con-trol. The way it follows the commands as wellas footprints of its leader is beyond compari-son. The economic bloom, network of high-ways, overheads and underpasses speaks vol-umes of how moderation has been brought tocity. Altaf Hussain's farsightedness and sagac-ity has helped country many times to come outof serious political crisis. It is he, who blewthe honk and forced government to reducepetroleum prices. His ethical invitation to"some patriotic General" to come forward tosave the country created waves but he was
innocent. I am a great admirer of AltafHussain, his policies, his followers who caneasily see from their abode what is happeningin every house of Punjab. Presently, we are fac-ing myriad challenges like, war on terror, ener-gy crisis, water shortage, gas outages, electrici-ty shortfall, unemployment etc. a situationwhich calls for a national leader fully equippedwith outstanding courage, farsightedness,down-to-earth attitude. I request Altaf Hussainto come back to Pakistan immediately and takethe reigns of opposition in his hands. Thenation wants his presence here so that the wors-ening conditions of country could be improved.His knowledge, ability, valor, is matchless. Heis a leader second to none. Please Altaf Bhaicome back to Pakistan and save us from theuntold atrocities of politicians.
Iftikhar Shaheen Mirza, Islamabad
Martial Law in Punjab!
FERTILISER000 tonnesUrea Offtake (Jan to Nov 10) 5,463Urea Offtake (Nov 10) 845Urea Price (Rs/50 kg) 870DAP Offtake (Jan to Nov 09) 121DAP Offtake (Nov 10) 152DAP Price (Rs/50 kg) 3,137
AUTOMOBILE ASSEMBLERPAK SUZUKI MOTORUnitsProduction (July 10 to Nov 10) 33,929
Sales (July 10 to Nov 10) 32,092
Production (Nov 10) 7,087
Sales (Nov 10) 6,813
INDUS MOTOR COProduction (July 10 to Nov 10) 20,987
Sales (July 10 to Nov 10) 20,375
Production (Nov 10) 3,974
Sales (Nov 10) 3,753
HONDA ATLAS CARProduction (July 10 to Nov 10)6,626
Sales (July 10 to Nov 10) 6,247
Production (Nov 10) 1,145
Sales (Nov 10) 1,075
DEWAN FAROOQ MOTORSProduction (July 10 to Nov 10) 186
Sales (July 10 to Nov 10) 70
Production (Nov 10) 0
Sales (Nov 10) 0
BANKING SECTORScheduled bank (Rs in mn)Deposit (December 3,10) 4,824,464
Advances (December 3,10) 3,050,639
Investments (December 3,10) 1,916,917
Spread (October 10) 7.49%
OIL MARKETING CO(000 tons)MS (Jul 10 to Nov 10) 932
MS (Nov 10) 186
Kerosene (Jul 10 to Nov 10) 66
Kerosene (Nov 10) 12
JP (Jul 10 to Nov 10) 589
JP (Nov 10) 124
HSD (Jul 10 to Nov 10) 2,792
HSD (Nov 10) 612
LDO (Jul 10 to Nov 10)) 26
LDO (Nov 10) 4
Fuel Oil (Jul 10 to Nov 10) 3,641
Fuel Oil (Nov 10) 572
Others (Jul 10 to Nov 10) 3
Others (Nov 10) 1
PRICES (Ex-Refinery) RsMS (1 Dec 10) 45.15
MS (1 Nov 10) 44.53
MS % Chg 1.39%
Kerosene (1 Dec 10) 52.04
Kerosene (1 Nov 10) 51.25
Kerosene % Chg 1.54%
JP-1 (1 Dec 10) 52.27
JP-1 (1 Nov 10) 51.48
JP-1 % Chg 1.53%
HSD (1 Dec 10) 55.20
HSD (1 Nov 10) 54.24
HSD % Chg 1.77%
LDO (1 Dec 10) 50.52
LDO (1 Nov 10) 49.51
LDO % Chg 2.04%
Fuel Oil (1 Dec 10) 43,019
Fuel Oil (1 Nov 10) 42,046
Sector Updates
Symbol Close Vol (mn)LOTPTA 15.41 24.92 ANL 11.95 17.95 FFC 153.66 7.27 FFBL 40.70 7.06 KASBB 1.51 3.96
Symbol Close ChangeNESTLE 3,150.01 148.11
SHEZ 167.53 7.96
IDYM 226.32 7.76
FZTM 411.36 7.43
RMPL 2,281.00 6.73
Symbol Close ChangeCOLG 977.47 -29.51UPFL 1,160.00 -8ILTM 120.00 -5HINO 125.73 -3.98ISIL 72.34 -3.73
Plus 133Minus 188Unchanged 61
Top 5 Volume Leaders
Major Losers
Major Gainers
KSE-100 Index
LSE-25 Index
ISE-10 Index
Active Issues
Friday, January 28, 2011 5
Dhiyan
Outlook is bullish where we would see a result-based rallyprovided that economic situation remains stable. Thus there's alikelihood that index can touch 13,000 level in the comingweeks. Investors are advised to wait for the monetary policyannouncement and after that they can invest in fertiliser and oilstocks. If the key discount rate is raised by more than 50bps bythe central bank then would see a negative reaction from themarket. There would be profit-taking today.
Mohsin Adhi, Director Alfa Adhi Securities
Hamad Aslam, Head of Research BMA CapitalMarket would witness a gradual correction in the coming days.
However a rally is likely in those selective stocks which are to announce
better than expected corporate results. As far as monetary policy is con-
cerned, a 50bps increase in interest rate has already been incorporated, but
market would react accordingly on any deviation other than 50 bps.
Investors can invest in FFC, ENGRO, and APL while for trading portfo-
lio PSO is good. Market would see some correction today.
PROFIT MEANS CORRECTION
Opening 12,483.34
Closing 12,477.00
Change 6.34
% Change 0.05
Turnover (mn) 112.37
Opening 3,846.44
Closing 3,829.41
Change 17.03
% Change 0.44
Turnover (mn) 5.44
Opening 3,088.12
Closing 3,077.41
Change 10.71
% Change 0.35
Turnover (mn) 0.09
Ahmed Siddique
KARACHI: Fauji FertiliserCompany (FFC) Thursdayposted 25 per cent growth innet profit for the year endedDecember 31 2010.
The net reached Rs11.03 bil-lion compared to Rs8.82 billionin the same period last year(2009).
Moreover, earning per sharestood at Rs16.25 in CY10against Rs13 in the same perioda year earlier.
Company also announced itsfourth cash dividend of Rs3.5per share in addition to threeinterim dividends of Rs9.5 pershare. This brings the cumula-tive dividend to Rs13/share for
CY10. On top of that company fur-
ther boosted the investors byrecommendation of 25 per centbonus share as well.
As far aw the nitty-gritty isconcerned FFC's sales revenuegrew by 24.1 per cent toRs44.87 billion in CY10 asagainst Rs36.16 billion inCY09. In comparison the costof sales increased at a slightlylower pace --rising 23.4 percent to Rs25.31billion inCY10. That's why gross profitsurged by 25 per cent toRs19.56 billion as againstRs15.65 billion in CY09 --translating into a surge of30bps in its gross margin to43.6 per cent in CY10.
FFC profits surge25pc to Rs11.03bn
DPS of Rs3.5/share; bonus 25pc
Nawaz Ali
KARACHI: Shares ended withmarginal losses at the KarachiStock Exchange (KSE) onThursday.
The reason was low investorparticipation as they preferredto book profits ahead of mone-tary policy announcement onJan 29.
The benchmark KSE 100-Index ended at 12,477 pointsafter losing 6 points, KSE 30-Index fell by 42 points andKSE All Share index was downby 4 points to close at 12,174
and 8,646 points respectively."As the market awaits the
monetary policy due this week,investors booked profits onThursday", said MujtabaBarakzai, equity dealer at JSGlobal Capital.
Trading activities began on apositive note with 16 pluspoints, thereafter market wit-nessed some mixed activitiesthroughout the day with indexmoving on both sides between12,557 points (+ve 74) and12,455 points (-ve 28).Volumes also stayed low asinvestors were mainly on the
sidelines waiting for theannouncement of monetarypolicy on Saturday.
The State Bank of Pakistan(SBP) is due to announce mon-etary policy for the next twomonths on Jan 29 and analystsexpect at least a 50bps increasein interest rate. It is worth men-tioning that in the last monetarypolicy announcement inNovember central bank hadraised the discount rate by 50bps to 14 per cent.
Results season is also inswing where Fauji FertilizerCompany announced a profit
after tax of Rs11 billion with anEPS Rs16.25. The companyannounced a 35 per cent finalcash dividend and a 25 per centbonus.
"Despite handsome payout byFFC its share price went downas it was already built into theshare price", said Samar Iqbal,equity dealer at ToplineSecurities.
Investor participationremained on the lower side as112.3 million shares traded dur-ing the day which is 27 millionless as compared to a turnoverof 139.3 million shares on
Wednesday.Activities of the offshore
investors too remained limit-ed where according toNCCPL data they did a netbuying of $0.39 million onThursday.
Lotte Pakistan stood as thevolume leader with 24.92 mil-lion shares followed by AzgardNine with 17.95 million sharesand Fauji Fertilizer Companywith 7.27 million shares.
Out of total 382 activeissues; 188 declined and 133advanced while 61 issuesremained unchanged.
Khi shares flat ahead of MPS
HONG KONG/SHANGHAI:Chinese shares rose for a sec-ond day on Thursday asShanghai's main stock indexbounced off of a key chart sup-port and gains in commodity-related and telecom countersoffset weakness in property.
Property shares underper-formed after China announcedfresh steps to cool the realestate market. The sector sub-index fell 1.5 per cent.
But gains in Shanghai failedto lift the Hong Kong market,which closed in the red despiteearlier gains as a pick-up inshort-selling activity suggestedinvestors were looking to sellinto any strength. The HangSeng fell 0.3 per cent.
Cyclical plays such as ship-pers, mining companies andenergy firms rose as commodi-ty prices made a comebackafter US Federal Reserve poli-
cymakers voted unanimously tomaintain a $600 billion bond-buying plan to fuel an econom-ic recovery.
Shanghai's key stock indexclosed up 1.5 per cent to2,738.1 after finding supportbetween the 2,655 to 2,700range, where a gap had openedup in October 2010.
This range is widely seen bymarket players as a level for theindex to hold and a breachcould open the way for a deep-er slide that will hit otherregional markets, said analysts.
Chinese markets will beclosed for a week fromFebruary 2 for the Lunar NewYear holiday.
The index is down 2.1 percent this year and is NorthAsia's worst performing majormarket as a shortage of fundsin the financial system andfears over tightening hobbled
any chances of a sustainedrebound.
"The reason for today's rise isthat the index has fallen toomuch over the past severaldays," said Wang Aochao, asenior analyst at UOB KayHian in Shanghai.
"But we don't think it is a realrebound for the index as thereare many uncertainties."
Gemdale , the most activestock on the Shanghai market,dropped 3.5 per cent, whileShenzhen-listed China Vanke ,the country's biggest developer,lost 2.5per cent.
Offsetting that weaknesswere strong gains in small-capswhich attracted speculativeinterest for a second day andnonferrous metals firms aftercopper prices rose.
Jiangxi Copper Co rose 3.8per cent, while Yunnan Copperwas up 5.4 per cent.-Reuters
China mkts rebound;HK rally fades out
MUMBAI: Indian shares fell1.5 per cent on Thursday totheir lowest close in four-and-a-half months as rising borrow-ing costs dampened the outlookfor companies, while improvedprospects elsewhere lured for-eign funds away.
Financials led the declineweighed down by expectationsfor another rate increase in thenext two months after theReserve Bank of India (RBI)raised rates on Tuesday for theseventh time in a year to coolinflation pressures.
Foreign institutionalinvestors, which had been themainstay of the market in 2010,have pulled out $849 million sofar in January and the bench-mark index is poised to post itsbiggest monthly fall in morethan two years.
Top utility vehicle makerMahindra & Mahindra dropped4.9 per cent, its biggest single-day fall in more than eightmonths, after Goldman Sachsdowngraded the stock to "sell"from "buy", saying it has his-torically moved in line with thedemand cycle, and looks likelyto correct with moderation indemand growth.
The 30-share BSE index shed285.02 points to 18,684.43, its
lowest close since Sept. 8,2010. Twenty-eight of its com-ponents ended in the red. In thebroader market, almost twoshares declined for every sharethat advanced on relatively lowvolume of 249 million shares.
The 50-share Nifty or NSEindex shed 1.5 per cent andclosed below its 200-day mov-ing average at 5,604.30 points.
"It was a follow-up to whathappened on Tuesday. After theRBI's 25 basis point hike, peo-ple expect more to come," saidNeeraj Dewan, director ofQuantum Securities.
The BSE benchmark is downnearly 9 per cent this month,which if maintained till the endof January would make it thebiggest monthly fall sinceOctober 2008. In 2010, the indexhad gained 17.4 per cent on theback of record foreign fundinvestment of $29.3 billion.
While India's central bankhas been tightening policy, theUS Federal Reserve said onWednesday it was in no rush tocut short its rescue of the USeconomy, saying high unem-ployment still justified its$600 billion bond-buying planeven though the economy hasshown some signs of improve-ment.-Reuters
Indian shares fall to4-½-mth closing low
TOKYO: Japan's Nikkei aver-age gained 0.7 per cent onThursday, recouping the previ-ous day's losses as upbeat USearnings brightened sentimentahead of Japanese corporateresults.
Stronger-than expected USnew-home sales and PresidentBarack Obama's call for lowercorporate taxes spurred hopesfor higher profits and a sus-tained recovery in the worldeconomy, also helping theNikkei and other indices acrossAsia post gains.
Japan's earnings season waskicking into higher gear onThursday with printer and cam-era maker Canon Inc, gamemaker Nintendo Co Ltd andJapan's largest personal com-puter firm, NEC Corp,announcing October-Decemberearnings after the market'sclose.
High-tech and commodityshares led the advance after US
network technology firmJuniper Networks' quarterlysales beat market expectationsand metal processor AlleghenyTechnologies Inc forecaststronger sales in 2011.
"Strong US shares are help-ing support Japanese stocks butsince Japanese companies arenow entering their peak earn-ings period the market is a bitnervous," said NagayukiYamagishi, a strategist atMitsubishi UFJ MorganStanley Securities.
The benchmark Nikkei endedthe day up 0.7 per cent or 76.76points at 10,478.66, with tech-nical sentiment brighteningslightly after it broke throughits 25-day moving average,now at 10,415.
The broader Topix index rose0.8 per cent to 929.66.
Volume picked up from theprevious day, with 2 billionshares changing hands on the
See # 10 Page 11
Nikkei regains ongood US earnings
Seoul sharesup 0.2pc;foreign
buying helpsSEOUL: Seoul shares endedup 0.2 per cent on Thursday,mere points shy of an earlierrecord closing high, buoyed bysolid foreign buying and robustgains in crude refiners includ-ing S-Oil
The Korea Composite StockPrice Index (KOSPI) ended up0.22 per cent at 2,115.01 points,after earlier setting a new all-time intraday high of 2,121.06points.
"Despite some volatilities at theindex's current level, market envi-ronment is pretty solid. Assurancethat the US Federal Reserve willmaintain its supportive stance onthe economy buoyed buyingappetite particularly," said HanBeom-ho, a market analyst atShinhan Investment Corp.
The US Federal Reserveshowed on Wednesday that itwas in no rush to cut short itsrescue of the US economy.
"However, the market willface resistance as it nears 2,200points, as investors adjust, sen-timentally, to higher valuationre-ratings at that level," KimHyoung-ryoul, a market analystat NH Investment & Securitiessaid, adding the KOSPI at 2,200points will offer an overall priceearnings multiple of 11.
The KOSPI's 12-month for-ward PE stands at around 10,which is still notably lower thanTaiwan's 13.5 and Asia Ex-Japan's 12.6, StarMine datashowed. However, its 60-dayrelative strength index (RSI) ataround 65 was approaching theoverbought mark of 70.
Foreign investors were buy-ers of a net 352.7 billion won($316.3 million) worth ofstocks, the biggest foreign netbuying amount in three weeksand picking up shares for athird consecutive session.
Trading turnover stood at 7.2trillion won compared with aver-age daily trading turnover thismonth of 7.6 trillion won. -Reuters
US stocks mid-day
Wall Stends near
29-mth highNEW YORK: US stock index-es held near 29-month highs onThursday as buyers took theircues from companies reportingstrong results, like Caterpillar,but the short-term technicalpicture suggested big gains aregoing to be hard to muster.
Netflix also supported themarket, but results from majorcompanies such as AT&T andProcter & Gamble disappointed.
The S&P 500 faces technicalresistance near 1,300, an areathat saw a cluster of closing andsession highs during August2008. Technical analysts arealso looking at the 12,000 markon the Dow as a possible selltrigger after eight weeks ofgains by the blue-chip average.
Caterpillar shares rose 0.5 percent to $96.26 after it reporteda stronger-than-expected quar-terly profit.
Movie rental companyNetflix Inc soared to a lifetimehigh of $211.30 and electronicstest equipment maker TeradyneInc jumped 10.9 per cent to$16.22. Both posted resultsWednesday after the close.
"There's a lot of individual stockmovements, but things seem to becanceling out," said GiriCherukuri, head trader atOakBrook Investments LLC inIsle, Illinois. "We have a largenumber of earnings and the marketis processing those one by one."
Shares of Dow componentsAT&T and P&G fell as theirprofits slid from the year-agoperiod, and AT&T's wirelesssubscriber growth came inbelow consensus. AT&Tdropped 3 per cent to $27.88,while P&G lost 2.6 per cent to$64.38.
The Dow Jones industrialaverage shed 1.97 points, or0.02 per cent, to 11,983.47. TheStandard & Poor's 500 dipped0.79 point, or 0.06 per cent, to1,295.84. The NasdaqComposite gained 5.10 points,or 0.19 per cent, to 2,744.60.
Thomson Reuters datashowed 71 per cent of the S&P500 companies that havereported earnings so far havebeaten estimates.
Qualcomm Inc helped lift theNasdaq, rising 5.2 per cent to$54.57 a day after it raised itsoutlook for second-quarter andfull-year revenue.
See # 9 Page 11
Mostly up as foreign investors return
South East Asian stocks
European shares edge higher, led by banks
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Company Period Div/Bon/Right PAT (Rs in mn) EPS(Rs)
United Bank Ltd 59.09 68.25 67.85 69.25 69.85 68.85
WorldCall Tele 45.38 2.65 2.55 2.80 2.90 2.75
Company RSI 1st 2nd 1st 2nd Pivot
(14-day) Support Resistance
TECHNICAL LEVELS
Pakistan Cables Limited 28-Jan 10:30
Honda Atlas Cars (Pakistan) Ltd 28-Jan 11:00
Attock Petroleum Limited 28-Jan -
Pakistan Oilfields Limited 28-Jan -
Century Paper & Board Mills Ltd 28-Jan 10:30
Sanghar Sugar Mills Ltd 28-Jan 11:30
Noon Sugar Mills Ltd 28-Jan 11:30
J.K Spinning Mills Ltd 28-Jan 10:00
Khairpur Sugar Mills Ltd 28-Jan 3:00
Baba Farid Sugar Mills Ltd 28-Jan 11:00
Shakarganj Mills Limited 28-Jan 11:00
Tariq Glass Industries Ltd 28-Jan 11:00
Habib Sugar Mills Ltd 29-Jan 1:00
Colony Sugar Mills Ltd 29-Jan 11:30
Sakrand Sugar Mills Ltd 29-Jan 4:00
Exide Pakistan Ltd 29-Jan 3:00
Quetta Textile Mills Ltd 29-Jan 1:00
Clariant Pakistan Limited 31-Jan 11:00
Al-Abbas Sugar Mills Ltd 31-Jan 5:00
Merit Packaging Limited 31-Jan 3:30
BOARD MEETINGS
Company Date Time
Kazakhstan eyessecond Islamic bank
Salameh urges betterindexing of Islamic banks
Friday, January 28, 2011 8
Staff Reporter
KARACHI: ACCA Pakistanhas awarded Silver ApprovedEmployer status to TameerMicrofinance Bank Limited(TMBL) during an exclusiveceremony held at the headoffice of Tameer Bank Ltd inthe presence of leadership ofboth organisations.
ACCA Approved EmployerAward is a validation of TameerBank's commitment to enablingFinance and Accountingtrainees in their organisations to
attain paramount of accountingskills and knowledge duringtheir on job training. It is also aseal of their relentless commit-ment towards adopting bestpractices in financial manage-ment, regulation and reporting.
While awarding the SilverApproved EmployerCertificate, Arif Masud Mirza,Head of ACCA Pakistan com-mented, "The value propositionof ACCA is the high qualityqualification which is a hall-mark of ethical accountingpractices and superior financial
acumen of ACCA trainees andmembers. We are confident thatall our employer partners willbenefit greatly from it."
Expressing appreciation forACCA, Nadeem Hussain, CEOand President, Tameer Bank,said, "We at Tameer Bank high-ly value ACCA qualificationand are obliged to have ACCAtrainees and members workingat our organization and com-mend their contributiontowards honing internal auditprocesses and reporting func-tions."
ZTBL to lend for latestagricultural practicesISLAMABAD: Zarai TaraqiatiBank Ltd (ZTBL) is poised todevelop agriculture and allevi-ate rural poverty by enhancingagri-loans for modern farmpractices in the country.
This was stated by PresidentZTBL Zaka Ashraf in a meetingwith farmers of Sindh. He wason a visit to new district ofBenazirabad in Sindh provinceand met with the farmers andbank's executives, said a pressrelease issued here.
Zaka Ashraf said thatAgriculture was the mainstayof economy and ZTBL wasplaying pivotal role to financeentire value added chain of
agriculture sector for rapid eco-nomic growth and its sustain-ability.
"The bank has increased itsagriculture lending coupledwith innovative technology,which would help in increasingfield per acre production andsmall farmer's income", saidZaka Ashraf.
He said that in line with thevision of the President for theuplift of small farmers and agri-culture through farm mechani-sation, ZTBL has been assignedthe task to turn around the agri-culture sector through ruraldevelopment and improvesmall farmers' lot.
The representatives of farm-ers from Sindh apprised theZTBL President about theirproblems needing immediateattention.
Zaka instructed the Bank'sofficials to extend full coopera-tion to the farmers and said thatall complaints or grievancesmust be addressed promptly.
He advised that any leniencyor willful negligence by thebank officials will be dealt withstrictly.
Zaka along with bank's offi-cials also visited districtBenazirabad to review thepotential areas of agricultureinvestment there.-APP
ACCA bestows a laurel on TMBL
SHANGHAI: People walk out of ATM booths of a branch of China's banking giant Industrial and
Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) in Shanghai.-Reuters
Al Baraka comesto SMEs fundingKARACHI: The Union ofSmall and Medium Enterprises(UNISAME) held a meetingwith Al Baraka Bank (Pakistan)Ltd for financing under Islamicmode for SMEs.
President UNISAME ZulfikarThaver welcomed MaqsoodAhmed Credit Manager AlBaraka Bank and his team andrequested financing facilitiesfor plant and equipments, rawmaterials, commercial vehiclesand commercial property forSMEs on best terms underMusharaka, Mudaraba,Murahaba and Ijara.
Maqsood Ahmed offered tofinance the SMEs for both shortterm and long term financing
facilities and said that AlBaraka can design and offer tai-lored plans for the entrepre-neurs according to their needsand requirements and in thiscan offer funded and non-fund-ed facilities and services forestablishment of inland or for-eign letter of credits for theimport of raw material or pur-chase of indigenous materialfor production or packing oftheir brands.
Speaking on financing ofcommercial property for shops,factories and warehouses, hesaid that Al Baraka can financeunder diminishing Musharakawhereby the borrower can repayin three to ten years along with
a grace period comprising of sixto twelve months subject tonature of business to allow suf-ficient time to the entrepreneurto establish the business to startearning.
Al Baraka officials also dis-cussed financing of renewableenergy systems for SME unitson project financing basis. Hesaid that Islamic financing isabsolutely interest free and notbased on compound mark upand is transparent in the sensethat the agreed profit amount isdetermined and the borrower isnot burdened to pay otheramounts such as default markup or overdue charges.-Agencies
Dubai IslamicBank names
Al-GebaliCFO
DUBAI: Dubai Islamic Bank(DIB), the Gulf Arab emirate'sthird-largest bank by marketvalue, named Ahmed Fathy Al-Gebali, as chief financial offi-cer, in the bank's latest top-management appointment.
Al-Gebali was previouslychief financial officer atKuwait's Boubyan Bank andhas held senior positions atGlobal Investment House, GulfInvestment House and KuwaitFinancial Center, a statementfrom Dubai Islamic said.
DIB's previous CFOMohamed Al Sharif was namedchief executive officer of thebank's investment banking unit,DIB Capital, in October lastyear.
The lender appointed twodeputy chief executives lastmonth as it sets its growth strat-egy, which includes opening 10new branches in 2011.
In September, Dubai IslamicBank raised its stake in troubledIslamic lender Tamweel to57.33 percent, effectively ren-dering the mortgage lender asubsidiary of the bank, in amove that was expected to helprevive lending in Dubai's prop-erty market. -Reuters
Rs6.6bnreach NBP
under PMFRfor year 2010ISLAMABAD: The NationalBank of Pakistan (NBP) hasreceived donations worthRs6,601,973,652 from acrossthe country under "PrimeMinister Flood Relief Fund(PMFR) 2010" till mid January.
According to NBP data, thehighest amount ofRs6,489,951,467 was collectedin Federal Capital followed bySindh province from where thebank received donationsamounting Rs69,229,103.
NBP received donationsworth Rs35,595,478 fromPunjab, Rs2,228,323 fromKhyber Pakhtunkhwa, andRs867,421 from Balochistan.
Similarly, donations ofRs4,052,860 were receivedfrom Azad Jammu and Kashmirand Rs49,000 from Gilgit-Baltistan.
The Amount includes NBPcontribution for Rs50 million.
Donors can still deposit dona-tions in any branch of NBPthroughout Pakistan.-APP
Branch headshonoured forcustomer carein remittancesKARACHI: In light of remit-tance services rendered andattaining maximum customersatisfaction, top six banks nom-inated individuals forCertificates of Performance forthe year 2010.
These certificates were dis-tributed by the DeputyGovernor of the State Bank ofPakistan, Kamran Shehzad at atwo-day workshop on PaymentSystems for Home RemittanceBusiness, recently.
The recipients of the certifi-cates were MohammadRafiqullah (ABL), Ch.Muhammad Anwar (HBL),Tariq Mahmood (Bank ofPunjab), Anwar Abbassi(NBP), Syed Danish Mehdi(MCB), Tariq Javed andMuhammad Amir Malik whojointly received the certificatefor UBL. -Agencies
Staff Correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Citi and theCiti Foundation have joinedhands with the PakistanMicrofinance Network tolaunch Phase II of their floodrelief efforts. Citi, the CitiFoundation and Citi Alumnihave contributed over $425,000towards the recent flooding dis-aster in the country.
As part of Citi Pakistan'sPhase II flood relief efforts,they have launched a'Microfinance and DisasterManagement Capacity BuildingProgramme' for the microfi-nance industry with thePakistan MicrofinanceNetwork. Through these pro-grammes Citi, the CitiFoundation and PMN willimpact almost 2 millionmicroentrepreneurs in Pakistan
in the aftermath of the floods.As part of this programme
launch, Citi and PMN havealready conducted a workshopon post-flood products. Anotherworkshop with senior MF andbanking experts will be held inApril on risk management dur-ing disasters. The programmewill conclude with publishing ajoint MicroNote on best prac-tices for disaster management
in developing countries.Citi and the Citi Foundation
enjoy a longstanding relation-ship with the PMN and havecollaborated on a number ofmicrofinance capacity buildingprojects in the past. This yearconcludes the 3 year CitiFoundation-PMN MicrofinanceCapacity Building Programme,which was based on an over$650,000 grant from the CitiFoundation.
Citi’s ‘microcare’going extra mile
Flood Rehabilitation
ISLAMABAD: EMC, theworld leader in informationinfrastructure solutions, hasannounced that it has signed aMemorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) withMCB Bank Limited, one of theleading banks of Pakistan witha deposit base of over Rs422billion and total assets overRs539 billion, to market tech-nology solutions to the bankranging from storage, enter-prise content management, ITinfrastructure management,automation, and RSA informa-tion security software.
The MoU will allow EMC tomake technology recommen-dations that will help the bankmake the necessary changes inits technology infrastructure inorder to support ongoing datagrowth, and eventually towardsthe private cloud in order tomeet their business objectives.
MCB is building an infra-structure to help it improve itsgrowth strategy and quality ofservice and deliver next gener-ation financial services. Oneaspect of the IT infrastructureis designed to increase dataavailability with an integratedEMC solution that includes athree-site EMC® Symmetrix®VMAX® storage array withEMC's industry-leadingSRDF®/Star (SymmetrixRemote Data Facility) businesscontinuance software. EMCSymmetrix VMAX systemswill be deployed at MCB's pri-mary site to run a number ofmission-critical applications.
These core banking systemswill also be replicated toVMAX arrays at two othersites using SRDF/Star. Theclosest site is designed to pro-vide rapid recovery after a dis-aster event, and data will alsobe replicated to a third site toprotect against local geograph-ical disaster. This solution wasselected by the Bank for itsanticipated zero data loss overdistance, high levels of dataavailability, high performance,accuracy and reliability, whileenhancing the IT infrastructureefficiency level, reducing costsand enabling operational flexi-bility.
"With a large customer baseand numerous branches nation-wide, our customers' satisfac-tion remains our number onepriority. MCB is investing inmodern technologies and scala-ble fault tolerant architecturesfor improved service qualityand sustained businessgrowth," said Sajid Awan,Chief Information Officer ofMCB.
"The choice of EMC's indus-try-leading technology cameafter thorough consideration ofthe quality and reliability of itssolutions and the commitmentof the EMC team to help ustransform our informationinfrastructure in a way that willenable us to be the leadingfinancial services provider inPakistan, partnering with ourcustomers for a more prosper-ous and secure future," he con-tinued.-NNI
MCBactionsfor zero
data loss
State Bankorganisesworkshop
PESHAWAR: The State Bank ofPakistan Peshawar in collabora-tion with Pakistan RemittanceInitiative (PRI) organised a work-shop on "Home and RemittanceBusiness Roles andResponsibilities" here.
The PRI is a joint initiative ofthe State Bank of Pakistan,Ministry of Overseas Pakistanisand Ministry of Finance. Morethan 100 participants comprisingbranch managers of remittancerich areas of the KhyberPakhtunkhwa (KP), regionalheads of banks and bank officersdealing in foreign exchangeattended the workshop.
Home remittance is the secondlargest source of foreignexchange for the country. Owingto its importance for the econo-my, it is expected from the bank-ing industry to give priority to thisbusiness area. The role and com-mitment shown by the industry inthe recent past, under the auspicesof PRI and SBP, to improve uponthe remittance services is highlycommendable as evidenced bythe steady growth of remittances.
It is pertinent to mention herethat at the moment remittancescoming to Pakistan has the high-est growth rate in the world. Theparticipants of the workshopshared views on the issue and seta draft of recommendations forfurther action in the field.-APP
HDFCIndia Q3net beats
expectationsMUMBAI: HDFC Bank Ltd,India's No 3 lender, beat ana-lysts' estimates with a 33 percent rise in quarterly profit onThursday, helped by higher feeincome and greater demandfor loans.
Bigger rivals State Bank ofIndia and ICICI Bank had alsobeat market expectations withan improvement in asset quali-ty in an economy growing at8.5 per cent, but rising interestrates is a concern for the sec-tor.
India's central bank raisedinterest rates on Tuesday by aquarter of a percentage pointto clamp down on resurgentinflation, and spurred expecta-tions it would raise rates againin coming months to checkprice pressures.
Shares in HDFC Bank endeddown 1.7 per cent at 2,052.15rupees before the results wereannounced, in the mainMumbai market that fell 1.5per cent. Rivals State Bank fellnearly 1 per cent, while ICICIBank closed 2.1 per centlower.
The bank, also listed in NewYork, said its net profit in thefiscal third-quarter ended Dec.31 rose to 10.88 billion rupees($239 million) from 8.19 bil-lion rupees in the year agoperiod.
Net interest income rose 25per cent to 27.77 billionrupees. A Reuters poll hadforecast net profit at 10.6 bil-lion rupees on net interestincome of 26.7 billion rupees.
HDFC Bank said its grossadvances grew 33 per cent to1.61 trillion rupees as of end-December. Net interest mar-gin, a key gauge of profitabili-ty, was at 4.2 per cent in thequarter, little changed from thepreceding quarter.
Shares in HDFC Bank,which the market values at $22billion, jumped 38 per cent in2010, more than a 33-per-centrise in the banking sectorindex and a 17-per cent gainin the benchmark index($1=45.6 Indian rupees).-Reuters
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysianpalm oil futures rebounded onThursday from one-week lowshit the previous day, buoyed byglobal commodities markets andstronger demand ahead of LunarNew Year.
"Malaysia palm oil trackedfirmer overseas soyoil, but therewill be some short-coveringgoing on before (Lunar) NewYear," said a trader with foreignbrokerage in Kuala Lumpur."Production for this monthmight remain low, but overseasdemand could recover after thefestival."
The benchmark April crudepalm oil contract on the BursaMalaysia Derivatives exchange
ended up 0.4 per cent at 3,685ringgit ($1,208) a tonne. Overalltraded volume were 25,648 lotsof 25 tonnes each, compared tothe usual 15,500 lots.
Seasonal monsoon rainsdragged Malaysian palm oilproduction to a five monthlows the previous month andtraders expect yields to fall fur-ther in the next two months asheavy rains affect output quali-ty. But concerns over weaker
production may be offset bypossibility of a slower demandfrom China due to the Chinesegovernment's move to freezecooking oil prices for the firstquarter.
US soyoil for March deliveryedged lower in Asian tradehours after gaining earlier in theday, while the most active Sept.2011 soyoil contract on China'sDalian Commodity Exchangerose 1.2 per cent. -Reuters
Palm oil rebounds onglobal supply snags
9Friday, January 28, 2011
POLYPROPYLENE(PP) LINEAR LOW (LL)
Cash & Settlement 1310 1250
December (3rd Wednesday) 1310 1250
January (3rd Wednesday) 1310 1255
LONDON METAL EXCHANGE (PLASTIC)
LME Official Prices, US$ per tonne for January 26 2011
LME Official Prices, US$ per tonne for January 26 2011
ALUMINIUM ALUMINIUM COPPER LEAD NICKEL TIN ZINC NASAAC
LONDON: Brent crude oilreached its biggest premium overUS oil for two years on Thursdayas high inventories weighed onUS crude, while Brent remainedsupported by tight supplies andinvestors' momentum bets.
Brent briefly leapt more than$1 on the day following a largerthan expected jump in the USweekly jobless claims but by1404 GMT it hadslipped back andwas up just 67cents on the day to$98.58. The premi-um of Brent to UScrude was at$11.68, after earliertouching $11.89,its highest since January 2009.
"Brent is racing away towards$100 a barrel like there is notomorrow, and the Brent premi-um to WTI (US crude futures)continues to widen to anunprecedented level," saidOlivier Jakob, an analyst atPetromatrix. US benchmarkcrude oil for March delivery wasdown 29 cents to $87.04.
James Zhang, an energy ana-lyst at Standard BankCommodities, said in a note thathe expected the tug of war
between US crude and Brent tocontinue. "The latest US DOEinventory report confirmed thatUS inventories have started theirseasonal build-up, which shouldcontinue until June, which islikely to weigh on the market,"he said.
According to the weekly reporton Wednesday from the EnergyInformation Administration,
stocks at the Cushing, Oklahomaterminal rose by 862,000 barrelsweek-on-week due to a fall inrefinery utilisation and risingimports.
Overall US crude inventoriesrose more than expected in theweek to Jan. 21, up 4.84 millionbarrels, compared with a forecastfor 1.2 million in a Reuters ana-lyst poll.
"In the week before we saw abig increase too. It seems thathigh prices are now impactingdemand," said Christophe Barret,
global oil analyst at CreditAgricole Corporate &Investment Bank.
Investors and analysts alsoattributed the wide spread to acombination of tight supply inBrent and betting that the risingtrend in oil prices seen since latelast year will continue.
"It's partly fundamentals-driv-en and partly market-driven, as
the momentumchasers havebeen followingBrent, but UScrude invento-ries are alsomore extend-ed," saidGavyn Davies,
chairman of Fulcrum AssetManagement, a UK-based hedgefund manager.
The US weekly jobless claimscame in slightly higher thanexpected, up 51,000 to 454,000in the week to Jan. 22, ahead ofthe consensus forecast.
"It does show that the recoveryis growing in fits and starts," saidPeter Tuz, president of ChaseInvestment Counsel in the US"The market was looking for animproving trend, but we didn'tget it." -Reuters
Brent spread over UScrude hits new 2-yr high
Europeanvegetableoil prices
ROTTERDAM: The follow-ing were the Thursday'sRotterdam vegetable oil price'sat 22:00 PST.
SOYOIL: EU degummedeuro tonne fob exmill Mar11985.00+10.00, Apr11985.00+10.00, May11/Jul11990.00+10.00, Aug11/Oct11995.00+10.00.
Note: Traded Volume reflects the trades from 06:00 pm of previous day to 06:00 pm of current day
Tokyo rubberclimbs on
Shanghai rallyTOKYO: Key Tokyo rubberfutures rose nearly 4 per centon Thursday as a rally inShanghai rubber futuresencouraged investors to buyback the commodity after themarket hit a near two-week lowthe day before on profit-taking.
The benchmark rubber con-tract on the Tokyo CommodityExchange for July delivery,which debuted on Wednesday,settled at 467.3, up 10.1 yen or2.2 per cent at 457.2 yen. Itrose as high as 474.8 yen, up17.6 yen or 3.8 per cent.
The most active rubber con-tract on the Shanghai futuresexchange for May deliverclosed at 40,550 yuan ($6,162)per tonne on Thursday, up fromWednesday's 39,280 yuan. Thecontract rose as high as 40,830yuan, just below a record highof 41,200 yuan hit on Monday.Volume stood at 630,734 lots.
"The rally in Shanghaifutures to above 40,000 yuanafter yesterday's fall drewJapanese investors back to themarket," said an analyst at aJapanese securities firm. "IfTOCOM climbs to a fresh highabove Monday's level, it is setto top 500 yen," he said, addingthat players, while taking prof-its, were steadily boosting longpositions and few appeared tobe making losses. -Reuters
BEIJING - CHINA: Farmers work in a greenhouse in a farm at Shenjiaying village, in Beijing's
Yanqing County. -Reuters
NEW YORK: US cottonfutures finished up the dailylimit Wednesday on anotherround of speculative and fundbuying as players eyed releaseof a government sales report togauge demand for the fiber,analysts said.
The cotton market hasjumped almost 20 per centsince the middle of January,fueled by robust prices in topconsumer China although theChinese are stepping away forthe Lunar New Year festivitieswhich get going next month.
The key March cotton con-tract on ICE Futures US rosethe 5.00 cent limit to close at$1.6683 per lb, short of the
new record high at $1.6789 seton Tuesday. The low for thesession was at $1.6081.
Total volume stood at 17,100lots, about 5 per cent below the30-day norm, ThomsonReuters preliminary datashowed. 'It's more of the same-- spec and fund buying,' saidSharon Johnson, senior cottonanalyst at brokerage PensonFutures in Atlanta, Georgia.
She said a touch of mill buy-ing also piled into the marketfrom laggard mills picking upsome fiber.
The market derived no inspi-ration from Chinese cottonprices. The key September cot-ton futures on the Zhengzhou
Commodity Exchange was lastdone at 31,510 yuan per tonne,down 115 yuan on the day.
Analysts said the market waslooking toward the USAgriculture Department'sweekly export sales report toget an accurate picture ofdemand for cotton at this time.
Cotton brokers estimate totalUS cotton sales between200,000 to 300,000 runningbales (RBs, 500-lbs each),against sales in last week'sreport of 457,500 RBs.
After the sales report, themarket's attention should turntoward a report on potentialUS 2011 cotton plantings. -Reuters
US cotton ends dailylimit up in average trade
LONDON: Copper rose onThursday and tin hit a recordhigh on tightening supplies, butcopper's gains looked fragilenear-term as a holidayapproached in top metals con-sumer China.
Tin hit a record high of$29,300 a tonne, propelled bytightening supply in majorexporter Indonesia. Heavy rainsand floods caused by the La Ninaweather anomaly have hit tinminers there in recent months,squeezing supply.
"The supply demand positiondoes look pretty strong we'veseen a good bounce back in tinconsumption," said Peter Kettle,manager of statistics and marketstudies, at UK-based consultingfirm ITRI." There's not muchsupply coming on stream."
Copper for three-month deliv-ery on the London MetalExchange ended at $9,441 atonne from Wednesday's last bidof $9,325 a tonne. Tin wasuntraded but last bid at $29,075from $28,625.
Investors have worried thelikelihood that China wouldtighten monetary policy to reinin inflation could limit itsdemand for metals. Nonetheless,analysts remained confidentChinese demand would remainsupportive for base metals.
"I don't buy into the story thatfurther Chinese tightening isgoing to significantly negativelyimpact copper demand," DavidWilson, an analyst at SocieteGenerale, said.
China's Lunar New Year holi-days also start next week. Chinaaccounts for nearly 40 per cent
of global copper consumptionestimated at around 21 milliontonnes for this year.
Comments by the US FederalReserve also boosted sentiment,analysts said. The Fed showedon Wednesday it was in no rush
to cut short its rescue of the USeconomy, saying high unem-ployment still justified its $600billion bond-buying plan eventhough the economy had shownsome signs of improvement.
Stocks of copper in LMEwarehouses continued a recentclimb that has dented investorsconfidence in the demand out-look, last rising 2,575 tonnes to397,275 tonnes.
Aluminium ended at $2,427 atonne from $2,387 and zinc wasat $2,260 a tonne fromWednesday's last bid of $2,278.Nickel was at $26,495 a tonnefrom $26,500. It earlier hit itshighest since April at $26,862.
Lead ended at $2,420 a tonnefrom $2,376. -Reuters
Copper up, tin atrecord on supply woes
Sugar near30-yr high;Cocoa firm
LONDON: Sugar futures probednear a 30-year high on Thursday asan EU body said it would approveextra imports, while cocoa hit aone-year peak after a call for anexport ban in Ivory Coast fuelledconcerns about supply.
Coffee futures were littlechanged near multi-year peaks,with support from a weak dollarand underlying supply tightness.
Sugar futures also rose onuncertainty over whether Russiawould bring forward an importduty cut, and questions over howmuch "open general licence"sugar India would export in2010/11.
The March raw sugar contracton ICE climbed 0.60 cents or 1.8per cent to 33.73 cents per lb at1523 GMT, below its 30-yearpeak of $34.77 a lb, touched onDec. 29. London's March whitesugar futures rose $12.90 or 1.6per cent to $812.00 per tonne.
Cocoa futures on ICE scaledtheir latest one-year peak onThursday, in a fourth straight dayof gains since a call for a month-long export ban in top growerIvory Coast ignited concernsabout the global cocoa supply.
ICE second-month cocoagained $17 or 0.5 per cent to$3,355 at 1529 GMT, its highestsince January 2010, fuelled bynews that sales of cocoa beansand products from Ivory Coasthad virtually stopped, whilesmuggling picked up.
London's May cocoa contractrose 3 pounds or 0.1 per cent to2,182 pounds per tonne,approaching Monday's six-monthhigh of 2,269 pounds a tonne.
Coffee also benefited from thedollar's fresh two-month lowagainst the euro on views thateuro-zone rates could rise fasterthan US rates.
ICE March arabicas tradeddown 0.7 cent or 0.3 per cent at$2.3680 per lb at 1532 GMT,below its Jan. 12 high of $2.4450a lb. Liffe March robusta coffeewas down $4 or 0.2 per cent at$2,092 per tonne. -Reuters
LONDON: Gold fell more than2 per cent on Thursday asinvestor appetite for the metalwaned and on growing expecta-tions for rising interest rates thatwould ultimately make bullion aless attractive investment.
A raft of positive economicdata from the United States andmore hawkish signals fromsome other central bank offi-cials have sparked speculationthat certain major economieswould move to raise interestrates sooner than previouslythought.
Spot gold prices fell as low as$1,316.21 an ounce, their weak-est since Oct. 22, and were at$1,320.60 at 1634 GMT, against$1,346.36 late in New York onWednesday. US gold futures forFebruary delivery slid $15.10 to$1,317.90.
Holdings of gold in the SPDRGold Trust, the world's largestgold-backed exchange tradedfund, were unchanged afterrecording their biggest everone-day fall on Tuesday.
ETF Securities' London-listedgold fund saw outflows worthnearly 65,000 ounces onThursday and has seen metalleave the fund every week sincethe start of the year.
"Though the Fed's firm com-mitment to buy $600 billion ofbonds is a bullish factor for bul-lion, preferences for riskierassets like stocks and high inter-est rate currencies has alsoincreased on the back of this,"said Pradeep Unni, an analyst atRichcomm Global Services.
"This seems to be dampeninggains in gold. In the mediumterm to long term, gold's direc-tion is northward biased. Data inthe coming week should give usfurther clues on the underlyingstrength in US economy."
Among other precious metals,silver was bid at $26.80 anounce against $27.59. Datashowed holdings in the largestsilver ETF, the iShares SilverTrust, fell to 10,447.70 tonneson Wednesday from 10,478.08tonnes.
ETF selling has helped pres-sure silver prices more than 11per cent so far this month, tak-ing the gold:silver ratio -- thenumber of silver ounces neededto buy an ounce of gold -- to itshighest since late Novemberthis month.
Platinum was at $1,788.99 anounce against $1,810.50, whilepalladium was at $801.72against $812.50. -Reuters
Gold slides to 3-mthlow as investment stalls
Indian sugarweakens
MUMBAI: Indian spot sugarprices fell on Thursday as themarkets were flooded withnon-levy stocks to be sold bythe month-end, while futuresrose on bargain-buying, dealersand analysts said.
The Indian governmentreleased 1.7 million tonnes ofnon-levy sugar to be sold bymillers this month, up from 1.5million tonnes in December.
"It will be difficult for mills tosell allocated quota for January.Some carry forward will remainthere for February from thismonth's quota," said a memberof Bombay Sugar MerchantsAssociation (BSMA). Non-levy, or free-sale sugar, is soldby millers in the open market,but the quantity each mill cansell is fixed by the federal gov-ernment on a monthly basis.
In Kolhapur, a key market intop producing Maharashtrastate, the most traded S-varietyfell 0.59 per cent to 2,700rupees ($59.2) per 100 kg. Themost-traded M-grade sugarcontract for February deliveryNSMG1 on India's NationalCommodity and DerivativesExchange (NCDEX) ended up0.8 per cent at 2,767 rupees per100 kg. -Reuters
Shanghai copper gainsShanghai's most active April
copper futures contract rose1.3 per cent to 71,700 yuan atonne. The Shanghai FuturesExchange will provisionallyraise trading margins andintraday limits for all contractsaround the Lunar New Yearholiday, to lower trading risk.
The exchange said on itswebsite that margin require-ments on copper, aluminium,wire rod, gold and fuel oil con-tracts will be increased to 11per cent, from 10 per cent cur-rently, effective at the close ofbusiness on Jan. 31.
US weekly jobless claims rise more than expected
10Friday, January 28, 2011
Keisuke and Tadanari attend training sessionfor Asian Cup soccer tournament
It was afriendlymatch,
says AamirISLAMABAD: Pakistan'spacer Mohammad Aamir sus-pended for alleged involve-ment in spot-fixing has saidthat the match he played inRawalpindi was a friendlymatch and was not organisedby the Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) adding that I did notintend to violate the suspen-sion.
Amir said he wasn't aware ofthe ban's extent and thought hecould play matches not organ-ised by the PCB.
"The PCB wasn't involved atall. I thought I could play," hewas quoted as saying byblogs.bettor.com.
Amir's statement comes onthe reports that theInternational Cricket Council(ICC) has asked an explana-tion from the PCB over theincident.
The ICC's code of conductbars a suspended player fromtaking part in any matchorganised by his or her coun-try's cricket board or any of itaffiliated units.-Agencies
MELBOURNE: China's Li Na willface off Belgian triple Grand Slam-winner Kim Clijsters in Final after ahistoric win against world numberone Caroline Wozniacki 3-6, 7-5, 6-3in the Australian Open semifinals onThursday to become the first Asianwoman to reach a Grand Slam final.
Now Li becomes first Chinese play-er into Grand Slam final.
Li courageously saved a matchpoint before clawing her way backinto the encounter, her second straightAustralian Open semi-final, dashingWozniacki's hopes of winning a maid-en major title.
Coincided Li Na succeed, Belgian
triple Grand Slam-winner KimClijsters hit top form on Thursday asshe thrashed Russian world numbertwo Vera Zvonareva to reach theAustralian Open final.
The third seed advanced to her sec-ond Melbourne final, after losing in2004, with an impressive 6-3, 6-3 winin just 1hr 13min.
The US Open champion said sheplayed her best tennis of the tourna-ment. In 2004, Clijsters was runner-up to countrywoman Justine Henin,who announced her retirement
overnight after an elbow injury.But the result meant more frustra-
tion for Zvonareva, who was a beatenfinalist at the previous two GrandSlam finals, including September'sUS Open loss to Clijsters.
The 28-year-old Li from Wuhannow has a golden opportunity to bringhome China's first Grand Slam sin-gles title, which would be expected toignite the sport's popularity in thegiant Asian country.
Li, China's number one, fought backfrom a poor start where she madeerror after error to give Wozniackieasy points, to gradually overhaul heryounger opponent in hot conditions
on Rod Laver Arena.When asked what had inspired her
gritty fightback, the crowd favouritelaughingly replied: "Prize money",adding that her husband-coach JiangShan's snoring had disturbed hersleep.
The 20-year-old Wozniacki hadgone into the tournament having tofend off accusations that she wasn't adeserving world number one becauseshe is yet to win a Grand Slam.
But for the first set-and-a-half, asshe systematically picked apart Li's
game and broke down the Chineseplayer's fierce forehand, she lookedevery bit the world's best player.
However, just when Li looked downand out, she cut down her error rateand began to find her range with hergroundstrokes, before overwhelminga tiring Wozniacki to set up a finalagainst either Kim Clijsters or VeraZvonareva.
By reaching the semis Li wasalready assured of returning to the top10, after becoming the first Chineseplayer to crack the elite group follow-ing last year's semifinal, when shewas beaten by eventual championSerena Williams.
The trailblazing Li, China's firstWTA champion, also remains unbeat-en in 2011 after winning this month'sSydney International, when sheshocked three-time US Open winnerClijsters in the final.
But victory had looked out of reachfor the out-of-sorts Li during the firstset, as the far steadier Wozniackichased everything down and kept thepressure right on her opponent.
Aided by Li's 17 unforced errors,Wozniacki broke the Chinese numberone twice to close out the opening setin 39 minutes.
Li was broken but struck back at 4-3to get the set back on serve, only to bebroken again to leave Wozniacki serv-ing for a place in her second GrandSlam final, after the 2009 US Open.
But on Wozniacki's match point, Lifired a blistering forehand down theline and then broke back, and brokeagain to level the match.
Both women appeared fatigued bythe hot conditions but it was Li whocracked first at 1-1 in the third as theerrors came back into her game.
Li was anguished to be broken earlyin the seesawing deciding set, yellingin frustration at Jiang, but with bothplayers struggling to hold serve theChinese clinched it on her first matchpoint as Wozniacki's forehand wentlong.
Zvonareva, 26, got off to a perfect
start when she broke Clijsters in theopening game, but from there on theBelgian dominated.
The Russian struggled on her firstserve early in the match and a wildsmash in the ninth game helpedClijsters close out the set.
Zvonareva had two break points inthe eighth game to level the set, butpushed two shots just wide to enableClijsters to scramble out of trouble.
Her spirit was broken and theBelgian needed just one match pointin the Russian's next service game toseal the win.
MEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONNovak Djokovic once again mas-
tered defending champion RogerFederer to reach the final of theAustralian Open on Thursday.
Djokovic will showdown with AndyMurray or David Ferrer in Final.
The resurgent Serbian third seedwore down Federer 7-6 (7/3), 7-5, 6-4in three hours to repeat his semifinalwin over the Swiss great in the 2008Australian Open on the way to win-ning his lone Grand Slam title.
It will be the first Grand Slam with-out Rafael Nadal or Federer since the2008 Australian final.
With world number one Nadal out
of the tournament amid doubts overhis fitness and now Federer beaten,Djokovic's triumph may have sig-nalled a changing of the guard at thetop of men's tennis.
It was Djokovic's third win overFederer in a Grand Slam semifinal,and he now leads the Swiss great 3-2in their encounters at the majors.
The world number three repeatedhis classic straight-sets win overFederer in the semifinals inMelbourne three years ago, when hewent on to beat Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final for hismaiden Grand Slam title.
Djokovic continued his terrific form
at the tournament and has dropped justone set leading into Sunday's final
Djokovic opened shakily with twodouble faults before holding, asFederer looked looked stronger onserve as the first set went into atiebreaker.
But Federer played a poor tiebreakwith a couple of backhand misses andDjokovic took the set on the first ofhis four set points in 57 minutes.
The Serb was fired up by his earlyadvantage and broke Federer in thethird game of the second set when aFederer backhand was long.-Agencies
It’s the showdown
WELLINGTON: From beingdropped for the ODI series inBangladesh last October,Martin Guptill is now an inte-gral part of the New Zealandteam. He opened the innings inall three formats during theongoing series against Pakistanand, in the last six months, hastransitioned from being some-one struggling to find a place inthe team to a key cog in the set-up.
Guptill began 2010 with 189against Bangladesh in theHamilton Test. He made 91against them in the third ODIin Christchurch but his formfell away after that knock. Hescored only 85 runs in the five-match Chappell-Hadlee seriesand a solitary half-century inthe two Tests that followedagainst Australia. His form
slumped further in the tri-nation tournament in SriLanka, where he made just 11runs from three games, whichincluded two ducks. He wasdropped for the tour ofBangladesh and was picked inthe New Zealand A squad fortheir trip to Zimbabwe instead.
"It was extremely difficult,"Guptill told NZPA. "You feellike everything is runningagainst you, whether it be on oroff the field. You beat yourselfup inside, trying to get thatconfidence, and it just doesn'twork. You've got to try and stayas confident as possible andhopefully the results comefrom that. I just went back andhad a look at what I was doingwell and what I wasn't, and juststarted doing the little thingsright."-Reuters
Martin Guptillcherishes new role
KARACHI: TAG Heuer is proud to announcethat four-time World Champion Alain Prost is re-joining the prestigious dream team of TAG HeuerBrand Ambassadors. The French motor-racinglegend, will play a prominent role alongsideVodafone McLaren Mercedes stars LewisHamilton and Jenson Button for the Swiss watchbrand's "150 Years of Motor-Racing" celebrationsin 2011.
"It is great to be back!" said Prost after winningon Sunday December 5th at Val Thorens / FrenchAlps the 1st Race of the ''Trophée Andros'' IceChampionship.
"I've been a friend of TAG Heuer since my ear-liest days in F1 and we have worked very closelywhen I drove for McLaren. It's a privilege and anhonor to be back by being associated with Lewisand Jenson to commemorate their 150 year-longcontribution to motor-sports'' mentioned AlainProst. Alain Prost was wearing TAG Heuer colorsand chronographs when he won three of his fourFIA Formula One World championships forMcLaren in the late 80s. The second most prolificwinner in F1 history, Prost took a total of 51 vic-tories, 33 pole positions, 41 best laps and 106podiums in 199 races between 1980 and 1993.-PR
Alain Prost rejoins Dream Team ofTAG Heuer Brand Ambassadors
DUBAI: A venue inspectionteam of International CricketCouncil (ICC) Thursday trans-ferred the world cup matchfrom Eden Gardens Kolkatawhich was scheduled onFebruary 27.
The expert report deter-mined that Eden Gardenswould not be ready within anacceptable time frame to hostthe India v England ICCCricket World Cup match.
A venue inspection teamwhich included theTournament Director, mem-bers of the Central OrganisingCommitte (COC) and the ICC,have Thursday reported on thereadiness of five outstandingvenues scheduled to hostmatches in the ICC CricketWorld Cup 2011.
Following the inspectiontour, the three Sri Lanka ven-ues - Colombo, Hambantotaand Pallekele - as well as
Wankhede Stadium inMumbai have been approvedsubject to minor finishingwork being completed withinspecified time frames notexceeding 14 days, says apress release.
Of particular concern wasthe fact that host venue obli-gations in relation to cricketoperations, media, broadcastand sponsorship facilitieswere not finalized and/or con-firmed by the venue.
The ICC Chief ExecutiveHaroon Lorgat informed theBoard of Control for Cricketin India (BCCI) of the deci-sion and, as host, the BCCIwill now consider an alternatevenue for approval by theICC.
Mr Lorgat said: "All venueshad ample time in which toprepare for world cup match-es. We had been understand-ing and had provided exten-
sions to the deadline dates butunfortunately we are now at apoint where we must carefullymanage our risks.
"The COC had providedvenues with a deadline of 30November 2010 to completeall construction work and thento be match-ready by 31December 2010. An extensionwas granted by the ICC forfive venues, which were againinspected over the past week.Sadly, Eden Gardens inKolkata was unable to meetthe final deadline date of 25January 2011.
"Regrettably, Eden Gardenshas not made sufficientprogress to justify the level ofconfidence required to con-firm that the venue would beready in good time. This wasno easy decision to take andwhile it is most unfortunate, itis absolutely necessary," saidLorgat.Reuters
ICC transfersWC matchesfrom Kolkata
Haiderurges
govt toprovide jobsISLAMABAD: Governmentshould provide jobs to the goldmedalists of Paralympics asthey need encouragement likethe other gold medalists, saidan athelete Haider Ali whowon gold medal in long jumpat Asian Para Games in Chinalast year.
"Different departments ofthe country propose jobs tobest players of games and wetoo should be treated the sameway," he said while talking toAPP here.
Haider's colleague MudassirBaig, bagged gold medal in400 metre race whileMuhammad Awais won silvermedal in javelin.
He said governmentannounced attractive incen-tives for Pakistan hockey teamand other winning players justwithin week of their achieve-ments but ignored them.-APP
I'll definitelybe fine for
WC from thestart: SwannADELAIDE: England off-spinner Graeme Swann, whohas been ruled out of the ODIseries against Australian due toa back injury, is confident thathe will be fit for the upcomingWorld Cup in the Indian sub-continent.
Swann suffered a severeback spasm that made walk-ing, sitting down and evenstanding up extremelypainful.He already had a kneeinjury, which had kept him outof action since January16."I've had a bad back foryears and, every now andagain, it gives me problems.But I know from previousexperience that I'll definitelybe fine for the World Cup fromthe start," he said.
"It happened when I was get-ting changed in Hobart. I bentdown and felt a twinge, therewas nothing more to it thanthat. It's improved already, butwould not be 100 per centright to play in any of theremaining one-dayers.""It wasdecided it was best if I wenthome so I could rest, recover,spend some time with (wife)Sarah and get back into train-ing," he added.-Online
Li Na vs Kim Clijsters in women’s final
Federer, Nadal knocked out of event
Australian Open Tennis Championship
LAHORE: A view of a cricket match played between the teams of Wahdat RoadCollege and Ravi College at Ravi Club during PCB Inter Regional Women
Cricket Tournament Lahore District at Lahore Kinnaird College for Women.-Online
Zimbabwe’sErvine leaves
WC squadHARARE: Allrounder SeanErvine pulled out ofZimbabwe`s squad for personalreasons, dealing the team`sWorld Cup hopes a majorblow.Ervine quit EnglishCounty side Hampshire twoweeks ago to play forZimbabwe for the first time inseven years, but he intended toreturn to Britain. His youngerbrother Craig remained in theWorld Cup squad.Sean Ervinewas replaced by TinotendaMawoyo, an opening batsmanand wicketkeeper who receivedtwo one-day international capsagainst Bangladesh in 2006.
Zimbabwe head selectorAlistair Campbell said he wassaddened by Ervine`s with-drawal."Zimbabwe Cricket wasvery excited about Sean comingback into the setup.-Reuters
11Friday, January 28, 2011
International & Continuation
CONTINUATION
Snow boostsUS jobless
claims,durables
mixedWASHINGTON: New USclaims for jobless benefitssurged last week as snow-storms in some parts of thecountry kept workers at home,but the underlying trend point-ed to an only gradual labormarket improvement.
Initial claims for state unem-ployment benefits jumped51,000 to a seasonally adjusted454,000, the highest since lateOctober, the Labor Departmentsaid on Thursday. That was thelargest weekly increase sinceSeptember 2005. The riseexceeded economists' expecta-tions for a slight gain to405,000.
A Labor Department officialsaid four states had reported anincrease in claims that was dueto snow. In addition, he said,seasonal volatility also affectedthe data.
Still, the four-week movingaverage of unemploymentclaims -- a better measure ofunderlying trends, rose 15,750to 428,750 last week, implyinga gradual labor market recov-ery that could compel theFederal Reserve to complete its$600 billion bond buying pro-gram aimed at bolstering theeconomy.
"I'll buy that it can be blamedon the weather. But it doesshow that the recovery is grow-ing in fits and starts," said PeterTuz, president at ChaseInvestment Counsel inCharlottesville, Virginia.
A separate report from theCommerce Departmentshowed a nearly 100 per centdrop in civilian aircraft ordersled to orders for long-lastingmanufactured goods dropping2.5 per cent in December. -Reuters
FRANKFURT/BOLOGNA:Rises in imported goods pricescarry an inflationary threat,European Central Bank policy-maker Lorenzo Bini Smaghisaid on Thursday, adding torecent hawkish comments fromthe ECB and pushing up theeuro and Bund yields.
Some ECB policymakershave sounded increasinglyaggressive on inflation over thelast month after euro zone datashowed it jumped to 2.2 per centin December, the first time intwo years it has topped theECB's preferred level of justunder 2 per cent.
Bini Smaghi, one of the ECB'ssix-member executive board,became the latest bank memberto underline the problem in aspeech in Bologna, warning thatsharper price rises in Asian andother emerging economies'goods could push up broadereuro zone inflation unlessdomestic prices were controlled.
"To avoid the second-roundeffects, it is necessary for thedynamics of costs and prices inadvanced countries, includingthose in the euro area, to be sig-nificantly more contained thanthose of emerging countries," hesaid in his speech.
The euro hit fresh two-monthhighs against the dollar and yenand two-year Bund yields hittheir highest since October 2009after Bini Smaghi's comments.
Financial markets havebrought forward when theyexpect the ECB to start hikingrates from their current 1 percent record low in recent weeksfollowing the ECB change intone, with economists polled byReuters seeing the bank waitinguntil Q4.
ECB President Jean-ClaudeTrichet said at the weekend thatthe ECB was paying close atten-tion to rising oil and commodityprices because of the possibleknock-on price effects.
On Thursday he said the ECBhas delivered price stability andwill continue to do so over thenext 10 years.
Separately, the ECB's latestbank lending survey publishedon Thursday showed that banksexpect demand for loans to con-tinue to pick up in the comingmonths, a sign that the recentrebound in the euro zone econo-my is beginning to fuel arenewed hunger for credit.
The data was not all goodnews, however. Banks stillexpect to impose slightly stricterlending rules on firms, con-sumers and house buyers in thefirst quarter of the year overall,despite keeping them steady inQ4.
On top of that, only a net 1 percent of banks expect higherdemand for mortgage loans, anarea of lending seen by someeconomists as a leading indica-tor of overall trends.
"Euro area banks expect avery slight further tightening, innet terms, of credit standards forall categories of loans in the firstquarter of 2011," the ECB sur-vey said.
Analysts said that althoughthe data supported signs that theeuro zone economy will contin-ue to pick up, it was unlikely tobe enough to push the ECBtowards an earlier rate hike thanhad previously been expected.
"This (lending data) bodeswell for the broadening of theeuro area recovery," saidUniCredit chief euro zone econ-
omist Marco Valli. "However, this is unlikely to
be enough for the ECB to seri-ously start considering a ratehike soon. The ECB tighteningcycle should begin only towardsyear-end," he added.
CHALLENGES Inflation picked up in four
German states in January, otherfigures on Thursday showed, inan early sign that consumerprices in the broader euro zonemay be rising fast enough toraise concerns for the ECB.
Trichet and his colleaguesface an increasingly complexpolicy dilemma as they weighfast rising prices in euro zonesweetspots like Germanyagainst the recession and bank-ing sector fears facing debt-strained members such asGreece, Ireland and Portugal.
Bini Smaghi said the eurozone and the ECB faced a num-ber of major challenges in theperiod ahead.
ECB lending support heldproblems whichever way youlooked at it, he said. Keeping itin place for too long could cre-ate dependency and prolongproblems in the region's bankingsector, while removing it tooquickly was likely to lead toproblems for the troubled partsof the banking system.
"An abrupt withdrawal of theliquidity support measurescould cause excessive or toorapid adjustments by financialinstitutions," Bini Smaghi said.
"Sound financial institutionsmight have to sell significantparts of their assets in a relative-ly short time. This, in turn, couldlead to an excessive depressionof prices of financial assets."-Reuters
ECB warns of pricepressure as loan
demand rises TOKYO: Standard & Poor'scut Japan's credit rating onThursday for the first timesince 2002, saying Tokyolacked a plan to deal with itsmounting debt, in a warningthat will rattle other heavilyindebted rich nations.
The agency reduced Japan'slong-term sovereign debt ratingby one notch to AA minus, threelevels below the highest possi-ble rating. It said Japan's fast-ageing population, persistentdeflation and the loss of thecoalition's upper house majorityhad compounded the govern-ment's fiscal challenge.
Politicians and credit ratingsagencies have been warning foryears that Japan needs to lowerits public debt, by far the worstamong rich nations at double thesize of its $5 trillion economy,but progress has proved elusive.
The ratings cut is a forcefulreminder of the fragile finan-cial state some rich nations arein following the global creditcrisis.
The US budget deficit isexpected to blow out to a record$1.5 trillion this year and debtworries in Europe have alreadyprompted financial rescues ofGreece and Ireland.
Japanese Prime MinisterNaoto Kan has made tax andsocial security reform top prior-ities and the S&P downgradeadds pressure on him to gal-vanise a divided parliament.
Julian Jessop, chief interna-tional economist at CapitalEconomics in London,warned of the consequences ifTokyo failed to get its fiscalhouse in order.
"If it looks like making a mess
of this, further downgrades willsurely follow. Given the size ofJapan's economy and the currentsensitivity of global financialmarkets to sovereign debt con-cerns, the impact would be feltworldwide," he said.
"It supports our fear that 2011could be the year when Japan'sdire fiscal position finallyimpacts markets both at homeand internationally."
The yen and Japanese govern-ment bond prices fell and thecredit default swaps spread onJapan widened after theannouncement.
But markets in the past havenot worried too much about thecountry's high debt because it iswell serviced by ample domes-tic savings and few foreigninvestors hold Japanese govern-ment bonds (JGBs).
However, Japan's society isageing quickly, so social welfarecosts will take up an increasingproportion of the budget in theabsence of reforms, which S&Psaid reduces Japan's alreadyweak fiscal flexibility.
S&P's downgrade leaves itscredit rating on Japan one notchbelow both Fitch and Moody'sand on a par with countriesincluding China and SaudiArabia. The new level is onenotch below Spain.
"The downgrade reflects ourappraisal that Japan's govern-ment debt ratios -- alreadyamong the highest for rated sov-ereigns -- will continue to risefurther than we envisagedbefore the global economicrecession hit the country andwill peak only in the mid-2020s," S&P said in a statement.
"In our opinion, the
Democratic Party of Japan-ledgovernment lacks a coherentstrategy to address these nega-tive aspects of the country's debtdynamics, in part due to thecoalition having lost its majorityin the upper house of parliamentlast summer."
Analysts say a Japanese debtdefault is unlikely because ofJapanese household assets ofsome 1,400 trillion yen, whichat three times the size of eco-nomic output provide ahealthy pool of savings to fundthe borrowing.
"Japan's public finance prob-lems are a long-fuse issue. Thedowngrade doesn't mean a crisisis imminent. It signals increasedvulnerability," said TimCondon, head of research inAsia for ING Financial Marketsin Singapore.
"Foreigners don't buyJapanese government bonds sothe crisis risk comes fromJapan's death-spiral demograph-ics. The downgrade is bad forG3 government debt because itspotlights their weak publicfinances."
Japan's debt has been grow-ing for years as it tried to revivethe economy after a propertybubble burst in the early 1990s,while other developed coun-tries are tackling massive pub-lic debt built up during theglobal financial crisis.
Debt markets have punishedfiscally weak countries inEurope, which led to thebailouts of Greece and Irelandand even raised questions aboutthe future of the euro currency.Fears of contagion have putboth Portugal and Spain in thespotlight.-Reuters
S&P cuts Japancredit rating;
warns rich world
State Minister Samsam Bukhari told the house that the cableoperators are violating the ban imposed on Indian channels byPemra. He said that code of conduct has been given to all TVchannels because we do not want to impose ban on these chan-nels, as PPP's government is democratic government.
Speaker Fehmida Mirza has said that the journalists coming toParliament for coverage are part of Parliament and giving them allfacilities is our duty. -Online
Continued from page 12No #1
The President expressed the hope that the federal government willhelp the provincial government in the implementation of a specialpackage for the area and that Kala Dhaka will no longer remain a lessdeveloped area and will soon become the advanced and developedpart of the province. The ceremony was attended among others byGovernor KP Awais Ahmad Ghani, Chief Minister KP Amir HaiderKhan Hoti, Deputy Speaker National Assembly Faisal Karim Kundi,federal ministers, provincial ministers, members of Parliament, eldersof the area and other government officials. -Agencies
Continued from page 12No #2
He said, "We understand the culture and people of each other'scountry. Therefore, cooperation between the two countries can playimportant role in promoting peace in the region."
Replying to a question regarding a trilateral meeting amongPakistan, Afghanistan and the United States in Washington, Qureshisaid that it would open a new chapter of political process.
Highlighting the importance of regional and international consul-tation to find a peaceful solution to the Afghan problem, Qureshisaid that efforts being made by Turkey in this regard could beignored. The trilateral summits organized by Turkey helped bringPakistan and Afghanistan closer. Referring to the importance of thetrilateral meeting being held in Washington, both the foreign minis-ters agreed that international cooperation was necessary for econom-ic development in Afghanistan. Qureshi said that the internationalassistance was also necessary in Afghanistan for the developmentprojects, including completion of road and rail network andTurkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline.
To a question on the process of reintegration and reconciliation,Zalmay Rassoul said that those militants and Taliban leaders, whohad respect for the constitution of Afghanistan, human rights, andwomen-rights, could become part of the reconciliation process onsome terms and conditions. He said that the reconciliation processwas very difficult.-Agencies
Continued from page 12No #3
The CJ observed that the culture of nepotism should end andappointment should be made as per merit and sought list of FIAand OSD officials. The statement of Zain Sukhera was read in thecourt in which he admitted that he met with Rao Shakeel in SaudiArabia in 2010 while Abdul Qadir Gilani was his class fellow inAitcheson College. On this, Chief Justice Chaudhry observed thatthe investigation seemed wanting as links are not cleared yet.
Justice Javed Iqbal maintained that it seemed as if facts arebeing ignored due to some influence. -NNI
Continued from page 12No #4
He has created a wave of support from reformists, but insists hewould not run in this year's presidential election unless restric-tions on who is eligible to contest are lifted and far reaching polit-ical reforms are introduced. ElBaradei's homecoming could pro-vide a much needed figure for protesters to rally around as theycontinue to press for change, but there have been persistent ques-tions about the depth of his commitment to bringing change.
ElBaradei, according to his detractors, spends too much timeaway from Egypt and may be lacking a thorough understanding oflife in Egypt because of the decades he has lived abroad, first asan Egyptian diplomat and later with the United Nations.
The unrest of the past two days continued Thursday to take itstoll on the country's economy. Trading halted on the stockexchange after the market plunged 6.25 per cent in 15 minutes onThursday morning.-Agencies
Continued from page 12No #5
Sources told Online that provincial secretaries adopted thestance we are ready to adopt the ministries and its departmentsunder the 18th amendment and we would also take on all the proj-ects that are being carried out by these ministries, however wewould not accommodate the federal employees as still theemployees of ministries devolved in the first phase are not yetaccommodated. On this the committee decided to send the affect-ed employees to surplus pool. Talking to media after the meetingRaza Rabbani said that no employee of the ministries that havebeen devolved would be unemployed. He said that the committeeis carrying out its work in amicable way and the provinces areready to accept the responsibilities of ministries that are to bedevolved in second phase. He said that an important meeting offederal and provincial bureaucracy with regard of devolution ofministries has been summoned for Monday. -Agencies
Continued from page 12No #6
Air Chief Marshal said that he is proud of police because theyperform duties very well. Meanwhile, he further said that 9 JF-17Thunder jets are in final phase and manufacturing. There are 21JF-17 jets in the fleet of PAF. He said that PAF would continueexercises with foreign countries. -Agencies
Continued from page 12No #7
The minister informed the House that they have reached theconsensus on the proposed amendment and the government hasno objection over it. Chaudhry Saud Majeed proposed amend-ment in the clause-2 of the bill and said that boiler engineer hasto produce fitness certificate duly signed by recognised doctorafter 60 years for continuing his job. The statement and objectsand reasons of the bill said that the bill seeks to amend clause(e) of section 6 of the Boiler and Pressure Vessels Ordinance,2002 to enable the Boiler Engineers who possess good healthduly certified by a recognised physicians to renegotiate theircontract with their employers for seeking fresh employmentafter attaining the age of sixty years. -Agencies
Continued from page 12No #8
Initial jobless claims surged to 454,000 in the latest week, risingto the highest level since late October, the government said.
In other economic news, new orders for US manufactured goodsfell unexpectedly in December and contracts for pending homeresales rose faster than expected in December.-Reuters
Continued from page 5No #9
Tokyo Stock Exchange's main board, slightly below last week'saverage of 2.15 billion shares.
Some market players said that after aggressively adding laggardbanking and property stocks, foreign investors, who now accountfor over 60 per cent of the Tokyo market, were picking up high-tech shares. One of them, industrial robot maker Fanuc Ltd,surged 4.6 per cent to 13,250 yen in heavy trade after the factoryrobot maker said its net profit for the October-December quartermore than doubled from a year earlier to 30.8 billion yen ($375million) on strong demand in China, but left its full year forecastunchanged.-Reuters
Continued from page 5No #10
communicating the message to the rest of the world that his gov-ernment was not undertaking the reforms because the donor com-munity so wanted but was doing it in the long term interest ofPakistan's economy. He stated that US recognised the governmentof Pakistan's efforts to overcome security and economic chal-lenges and agreed with the Prime Minister that any economicstrategy can only be palatable for the people in a democratic sys-tem when embedded into a political strategy.
He appreciated that Government of Pakistan in true democratictraditions was doing its utmost to take all the political stakehold-ers in the country on board through the process of consultationsfor the introduction of much needed economic reforms in thecountry. He further stated that the success of the political consul-tation process in the country and signs of improving economy
Continued from page 1No #11
recently done by the government, he added. Going forward in February 2011, with internationalcrude oil prices expected to remain stable, we expect domestic GRMs to pull back into green, asdomestic petroleum prices are expected to be increased by 6-8 per cent inline with rise of interna-tional petroleum prices. Assuming crude oil prices to remain at current levels during February, 2011,we believe GRMs to turn green in February 2011. Under prevailing conventions, the monthlydomestic petroleum prices are set based on average international oil product prices during the pre-ceding month. Hence with prices of diesel and HSFO, two major refinery products, are up 4.0 percent-5 per cent MoM during January 2010, this would improve GRMs in February 2011.
However, the company-wise GRMs analysis shows that ATRL would be the major beneficiary inFebruary with GRMs of $5.0 per barrel while PRL's GRMs are expected to remain in negative zone.NRL and PRL GRMs are expected at $0.5/bbl and -$0.6/bbl, respectively.
Continued from page 1No #12
expressed the hope that during current financial year the exports of the country would cross $22billion. He also stressed the need for adopting long term result oriented policies for the economicgrowth and prosperity of the country. In his lecture Professor Alan Winters stressed the need for theinextricable link between economic growth and poverty reduction.
He said that economic growth and poverty reduction go hand in hand, getting more people in thejobs lift them out of poverty and creates more consumers, driving more production and demand forservices. He added that as more people in work helps increase tax returns, allowing the governmentto improve everyone's living standards by investing in schools, hospitals and other infrastructure. Healso called for promoting both male and female education for the economic development ofPakistan. He said that Pakistan has talent and potential for economic growth and there is vast mineof latent talent and productivity which needs to be developed and tapped.
Minister for Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and Deputy Chairman Planning Commission DrNadeem-ul Haq thanked the visiting UK professor to Pakistan and his lecture on growth policy tobenefit the policymakers and development experts.-Agencies
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central figure of the scandal, in the court in which he (Sukhera) has stated that PM's son AbdulQadir Gilani is his childhood friend while he met Rao Shakil in July 2010. He said the PM's sonbrought a new model bullet-proof vehicle from Dubai. He said the allegations of Imran Shah werewrong as he did not bring any vehicle from abroad.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry in his remarks said that blame game would not be allowed andaction would be taken if these allegations were not proved. He said Zain Sukhera's statement clari-fies everything. He said investigation should be made about the loss of passport from Sukhera.Justice Javed Iqbal in his remarks said the FIA report seems incomplete. He said it seems manythings are left under pressure. He said the court should be informed if the investigators were facingany hindrance. The lawyer for former minister Azam Swati told the court that transfer orders ofPakistani envoy in Saudi Arabia have been issued. Chief Justice said the court has nothing to do withthis matter and will not issue any stay order in this regard.
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Ghulam Rabbani and Justice Khalil-ur Rehman Ramday resumed hearing of the case. The benchdirected them to settle the issue of prospecting license by BHP, a mining company. To Raza Kazim'sarguments, counsel for Maulana Abdul Haq Baloch, a petitioner, over award of contract, JusticeKhalil-ur Rehman Ramday remarked that no party could sell its shares to third party without gover-nor's approval. Justice Ramday observed it was intriguing that a company drilled about 20,000 metersbefore obtaining prospecting license. He said under Mining Rules 1970, a company had to look forprospects of minerals after obtaining a prospective license. He said the company was not a nationaland the rules did not allow foreign companies. Advocate general told that Balochistan DevelopmentAuthority had moved an application on their behalf. The Chief Justice observed that it would be ille-gal mining act without having a license. The bench adjourned further hearing till Friday. -APP
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would attract international community's support to Pakistan.He assured the Prime Minister that US administration will remain engaged with Pakistan in con-
fronting the two major challenges to Pakistan's economy i.e. budget and power deficit.He said that he was looking forward to Pakistan-US Energy Dialogue later in the day to fast track
the energy projects being funded under the Kerry Lugar Assistance Programme and for reviewingthe electricity demand and supply situation in the country on remedial measures.
Minister for Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Minister for Petroleum Syed Naveed Qamar,Minister for Water & Power Raja Pervez Ashraf, Minister of State for Finance & Economic AffairsHina Rabbani Khar, Senator Syeda Sughra Imam, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission DrNadeem-ul Haq, US Ambassador Cameron Munter, and other senior officials were also present inthe meeting. Meanwhile talking to a British delegation led by Professor Alan Winter, ChiefEconomist for the UK Department for International Development at his chamber in the ParliamentHouse, PM said Government is formulating a new economic frame-work to put Pakistan on a trajec-tory of sustainable economic growth and development. In this connection, he added, the Governmentis going to take its coalition partners and opposition into confidence for introducing a consensuallong-term national economic strategy. He observed that any new strategy can only be successful ifit is backed by a broad-based consensus. Furthermore, Prime Minister Gilani instructed the min-istries and divisions to post full information on their websites in order to keep the citizens abreast oftheir working and projects.
Printed & Published by Amir Abbas Ashary at DRC Printing Press for Data Research Communication (PVT) LTD, 111-C, Jami Commercial Phase VII, DHA Karachi.
Ministries Shift
Employeesto be sent tosurplus poolISLAMABAD: ParliamentaryCommission for implementationof 18th amendment has decidedto send the employees ofdevolved ministries to surpluspool after the refusal byprovinces to accommodate them.
Meeting of the ParliamentaryCommission chaired by SenatorRaza Rabbani was held atParliament House on Thursdayin which chief secretaries of thefour provinces were also present.
Matters related to devolutionof ministers in the second phaseand future of federal employeeswas discussed in length.
The five ministries that are tobe devolved in 2nd phaseinclude ministry of tourism,ministry of social welfare andspecial education, culture, edu-cation and health. These min-istries would be devolved to theprovinces in February, 2011.
See # 6, Page 11
Sacrificeswould notgo waste:PAF head
ISLAMABAD: Air ChiefMarshal Rao Qamar Salmansaid Thursday that the cancer ofterrorism would be eliminatedfrom the country at any cost.
Talking to media after attend-ing the Islamabad Police pass-ing out ceremony, Air ChiefMarshal said that Police andPAF are standing shoulder toshoulder with Pakistan Army inwar against terrorism.
He said that 45 F-16 jets arebeing upgraded in Turkeywhile PAF would set up newsquadrons of the jets in March.
He said that the martyrdomsrendered by the police wouldnot go waste added maintenanceof law and order in the cities isresponsibility of the police andour police are standing by withPak-Army in this connection.
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Lower Housepasses Boiler
Vessels BillISLAMABAD: NationalAssembly Thursday whileincorporating amendmentproposed by Opposition inclause-2 of the bill unani-mously passed the Boiler andPressure Vessels(Amendment) Bill 2009.
Minister for Industries andProduction Mir Hazar KhanBijarani had moved the Bill toamend the Boiler and PressureVessels Ordinance 2002 (TheBoilers and Pressure VesselsAmendment Bill 2009) in theHouse on Wednesday.
However, the DeputySpeaker Faisal Karim Kundihas deferred the bill for fur-ther consultation.
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Ministriestransfer to beend by June,
NA toldISLAMABAD: FederalMinister Syed Khurshid Shahhas said that process of shiftingof ministries to the provincesunder 18th amendment wouldbe completed by 30th June.
Responding to a question ofSalahuddin during questionhour in National Assembly hereon Thursday, federal ministersaid that process of the shiftingministries to the provinceswould be completed till 30thJune 2011, added it was decid-ed in the Cabinet's meetingheld on 1st December 2010 thatthe office buildings of the shift-ed ministries, furniture andtransport would also be shiftedto provinces.
State Minister on Informationand Broadcasting SyedSamsam Bukhari told theNational Assembly that mediahas got freedom but it shouldshow responsible role.
Answering to question raisedby Abdul Rasheed, NawabzadaGhazanfar Gull replied thatCDA has invested Rs1.15 bil-lion in stock exchange in 2007-08 and 2008-09 and now afterselling shares worth of Rs249million it has reduced toRs1261 million.
Answering to question raisedby Hameed Hayat Rokhry,Advisor of Cabinet Divisionsaid that uniform rates of CNGcannot be fixed all over thecountry.
The CNG prices have beenfixed Rs57 per kg in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan andPotohar region while CNGrates in Sindh and Punjab hasbecome Rs57 per kg with ratioof 950 BTU.
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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan andAfghanistan on Thursday agreed toestablish a joint commission as part oftheir efforts to enhance mutual consul-tation process to fight the menace ofterrorism and move forward for peaceand security in the region.
It was decided at a meeting ofForeign Minister Shah MehmoodQureshi and his Afghan counterpartZalmay Rassoul at Foreign Officehere.
The commission will have officialsfrom the foreign offices, military andintelligence of the two countries togive impetus to the on-going engage-ment process and promote understand-ing for peace and security in theregion.
Addressing a joint news conferencealong with his Afghan counterpart,
Foreign Minister Shah MehmoodQureshi said, "The process of consulta-tion between the two countries hashelped build trust and a relationship toachieve our shared objectives."
Qureshi reiterated Pakistan's com-mitment to eradicate terrorism.
The Foreign Minister said, "We arewriting a new chapter in Pak-Afghanrelations."
He said, "We discussed the entiregamut of bilateral relations, includingupcoming trilateral summit inWashington."
Qureshi said that Afghan-PakistanTransit Trade agreement was also dis-cussed in the meeting and Pakistanreaffirmed the commitment for itsimplementation in letter and spirit.
He said that the two sides also agreedto establish a process of consultation
between the Planning Commission ofPakistan and the Afghan Ministry ofEconomy to work out mutually benefi-cial projects to enhance socioeconom-ic conditions of their people.
Describing his talks with Pakistanicounterpart as positive and produc-tive, the Afghan Foreign Minister saidthat the engagement process wouldfurther strengthen bilateral relationsand help achieve the objective peacein the region.
Qureshi said there had been a quali-tative change in the bilateral relationsof the two brotherly countries andhoped that mutual consultations wouldfurther improve them. He said both thesides discussed in detail the prospectsof the forthcoming trilateral meetingbeing held in Washington next month.
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Isb, Kabul agree toco-run peace drive
Says govt willbring far-flungareas into mainstream
ISLAMABAD: President Asif AliZardari Thursday reiterated firm resolveof the government to bring the far-flungareas of the country into the mainstreamof national life, and said that governmenthas decided for reforms in tribal areas thatincluded Political Parties Act to the tribalareas and suitable amendments to theFrontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) inaccordance with the wishes of the peopleof tribal areas which will be implementedas soon as the security situations in the
tribal areas improve.The President said this while addressing
the gathering during a signing ceremonyof changing the status of Kala Dhaka ofKhyber-Pakhtunkhwa from a ProvinciallyAdministered Tribal Area (PATA) to thatof a settled area here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.
President congratulated the people ofKala Dhaka on the fulfillment of theirdesire for changing the status of KalaDhaka from a Provincially AdministeredTribal Area (PATA) to that of a settled areaand said that democracy is all about hon-oring the wishes of the people.
"If the people of Kala Dhaka want tochange the status of their area for attract-ing better facilities they have every right
to demand and be given the new status" ,he said.
Spokesperson to the PresidentFarhatullah Babar said that the Presidentcomplimented the Governor and the gov-ernment of KP for having initiated theprocess of changing the status of KalaDhaka in accordance with the wishes ofthe people of the area.
President said that we believe in the pol-itics of consensus and would take allstakeholders on board. It was through con-sensus that the government restored the1973 Constitution and gave the new NFCAward and increased the share of theprovinces in it, he said added we will con-tinue this policy of consensus and make
progress.The President while commenting on the
problems faced by the country said chal-lenges are so huge that no single party orany single institution can solve on theirown. "We can best resolve our problemsthrough collective action that is based onconsensus. This is the political philosophyof the PPP and this is what we will pur-sue."
The spokesperson said that the Presidenturged both the federal and provincial gov-ernment to take special interest in theuplift and development of Kala Dhaka andsaid that there should be a special develop-ment package for Kala Dhaka.
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President vows equality for Fata
ISLAMABAD: PML-N Chief MianNawaz Sharif has categorically empha-sised that either the government shouldimplement the 10-point agenda or beready to pack up and go home.
In an interview with a private TVchannel, Nawaz Sharif said that theagenda is not to form his own govern-ment but has been formulated for thebest of national interest. He said that theagenda would be implemented even ifwe have to hold midterm elections.
Nawaz Sharif said that if the govern-ment fails to implement this agendathan it would have to go home and
another government would completethe agenda.
He said for a change either midtermelection would be held or oppositionparties inside the national assemblywould form a government together tofulfill this agenda.
He said we have no desire to becomea commander for implementation ofthis agenda.
"Our only purpose is to implementthe agenda irrespective of who does it,"he said, added if govt fails to fulfill itspromises in 45-day then we wouldannounce our strategy. -NNI
10-point agenda
Perform or quit, Sharif tells govt
ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court ofPakistan Thursday directed theAttorney General to contact the gov-ernment for removal of contractualofficials while hearing the Hajj corrup-tion case.
A seven-judge special bench, headedby Chief Justice Iftikhar MohammadChaudhry, had taken notice of aplethora of complaints about corrup-tion and irregularities in Hajj arrange-ments, a private TV reported.
Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)
has informed the apex court that con-tacts of former religious affair ministerHamid Saeed Kazmi have been pro-vided with the accused Ahmed Faizand Rao Shakeel in Hajj scandal.
The Attorney General produced list ofcontractual police officials includingSalahuddin Khattak, Waseem Ahmed,Tariq Jameel, Khurram Gulzar, NadirHussain Khosa, Din MuhammadBaloch, Lt Col (Retd) Farman Ali, MianAkhtar Hayat and Asghar Muhammad.
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Govt told to endcontractual jobs
CAIRO: Egyptian activists are stag-ing demonstrations for a third day inthe capital Cairo and at least one othercity, keeping up the momentum of thelargest anti-government protests inyears.
Media saw scores of protesters out-side the downtown Cairo offices ofEgypt's lawyers' union, which hasbeen one of the flashpoints of thisweek's unrest calling for the ouster oflongtime President Hosni Mubarak.
About 100 people were also protest-ing outside police headquarters in thecity of Suez east of Cairo, another hotspot.
Egyptian pro-reform advocate andNobel peace laureate MohamedElBaradei returned home Thursday totake part in the anti-governmentprotests gripping his country.
A spokesman for the pro-reformleader, Abdul-Rahman Samir, saidElBaradei was expected to joinprotests planned for after Fridayprayers across the country.
ElBaradei, the former head of theUN nuclear watchdog, has emerged asa prime challenger to President HosniMubarak's regime since he firstreturned home last year.
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Baradei returns toEgypt, joins protest
ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi shakes hand with hisAfghan counterpart Zalmay Rassoul before their meeting.-APP
