ship agentsassociation ,transportersend riftKARACHI: After a marathon

meeting late on Monday night,

Karachi Port Trust (KPT) Chairman

Jawed Hanif Khan amicably resolved

the dispute between the Pakistan

Ship Agents Association and

transporters over the levy of

charges. This was stated by a

spokesman of the KPT on Tuesday.

He said that in view of the

emerging dispute between shipping

companies and the transporters, a

meeting was called by the KPT

Chairman at the Head Office on

Monday night. The meeting was

attended by Pakistan Ship Agents

Association members and

transporters, apart from the

operations team of Karachi Port

Trust. The spokesman said that the

purpose of the meeting was to

resolve the dispute and the efforts

of KPT led by Chairman KPT. He said

that it was decided among the

participants of the meeting that

from 6th February 2013 onward

Pakistan Ship Agent Association

members will start collection of

empty Lading Order/Lading Order

(LO/LO) charges at their offices and

no cash transaction will be carried

over by transporters at the

terminals. With regards to the

export empty LO/LO charges, it was

discussed and demanded that

LO/LO charges will be taken by the

shipping companies at the time of

issuance of Bill of Lading.

The shipping agent representatives

were of the opinion that they

require proper authorisation from

their members and for this matter

they opined with confidence that

the matter can be resolved.

Moreover, it was decided that the

understanding reached here will be

applicable on fresh import / export

containers from 6th February

2013. APP

British regulators will have the power to split up

banks that fail to separate risky trading activity

from retail banking – George Osborne

01

BUSINESS

BWednesday, 6 February, 2013

MUNICH

NNI

about 120 sports goods manufacturersand exporters, mainly from Sialkot par-ticipated in the world’s largest trade fairof sports goods, ISPo-2013 in Munich,Germany that ended on tuesday.

Pakistan trade Development author-ity (tDaP) sponsored and extended sup-port to new exhibitors from Sialkotunder its policy to encourage new en-trants in the field of export of Pakistanigoods said a press release received fromBerlin.

Pakistan ambassador to Germanyabdul Basit visited Pakistan Pavilion inthe exhibition and met the Pakistani ex-hibitors. While exchanging views withthem about the business opportunitiesthat such trade fairs provide, the ambas-sador said that the quality and the widerange of products displayed by Pakistaniexhibitors reflected how business com-munity was making its efforts to keep theeconomy of Pakistan going despite manydifficulties that cropped up in the wakeof afghanistan crises.

Earlier, the ambassador held a meet-ing with the Exhibition Group Director ofMesse International (the Company that

organizes ISPo every year) MarkusHefter and discussed with him organisa-tional arrangements of the world’s largesttrade fair. Hefter informed that Pakistanwas one of the most important countriesthat have been participating in ISPosince 1970, the year ISPo was set up.

the ambassador said Pakistan is oneof the leading countries that had beenproducing and exporting quality sportsgoods to all international brands in thesector. Pakistan Pavilion should be givenspecial treatment by the ISPo manage-ment in terms of space allocation andcountry promotion, he added. Hefter saidthat this year a photo exhibition show-casing Pakistan’s landscape, its cultureand people has also been organised topromote the country.

the ambassador also underscoredthe need of conducting capacity buildingand training programmes for new en-trants. In response, Hefter said the MesseMunich has launched a free online sem-inar to educate the new exhibitors onhow to develop a company profile, or-ganisation and submission of documents,and on other business related issues. Pak-istan’s Honorary Consul in Munich Dr.Pantelis Christian Poetis also accompa-nied the ambassador during the meeting

and visit to the Pakistan Pavilion in theExhibition. ISPo represents Interna-tional Sports Business Network and is a

major event for sports goods manufactur-ers and suppliers all across the world. Itprovides a convenient meeting ground

for some of the world’s most popularsporting brands and helps in the promo-tion of new entrants in the market.

ISPO-2013 showcases Pakistani exhibitors

ISLAMABAD

AGENCIES

Total public debt roseby a whopping 18.4 per-cent by the end of June2012 compared to theyear before with realgrowth of debt (7.9 per-

cent) greater than the real growth of rev-enues (3.9 percent), Debt Policy statement2012-13 revealed. the document notes thatpublic debt stood at 4.9 times of govern-ment revenues at the end of the last fiscalyear. Ideally, the document added, thisratio should be 3.5 times or lower.

While in earlier years public debt stockaccounted for almost the same burden fromdomestic and external sources, the presentgovernment has relied increasingly on do-mestic debt owing to “non-availability ofsufficient external financing.” thus do-mestic borrowings inched from 50.5 per-cent in 2008-09 to 60.3 percent of total

public debt at the end of 2011-12.Pakistan’s fiscal deficit has shown sig-

nificant variation, the document furthernoted, from original budgetary targets. Fis-cal deficit in 2011-12 recorded 6.6. percentof Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (ex-cluding one-off payment of Rs 391 billion)against 6 percent (excluding one-off pay-ment of Rs 120 billion) in 2010-11. thehigher fiscal deficit added to the publicdebt and preempted a major chunk of rev-enue to service it in 2011-12, nearly 40percent of total revenues were thus con-sumed in debt servicing against a ratio of38 percent in 2010-11.

the government consolidated Rs 391or 1.9 percent into public debt in 2011-12against the outstanding previous year’ssubsidies related to the food and energysectors due to which the public debt toGDP exceeded the threshold (60 percent)and stood at 61.3 percent of GDP.

Public debt servicing consumed nearly39.9 percent of total revenues in 2011-12

against a ratio of 38 percent last fiscal year.out of the total, domestic debt servicingstood at Rs 821 billion against the bud-geted estimate of Rs 715 billion.

Borrowing from the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) accounted for 11.1percent of Pakistan’s External Debt and li-abilities (EDl). as of June 2012 the EDlwas recorded at $65.8 billion and repre-sented a decrease of $0.5 billion in com-parison with the previous year due torepayment of IMF loans and appreciationof the US dollar against other major cur-rencies. as a percentage of GDP in dollarterms, EDl stock fell by 300 basis pointsin 2011-12 compared to the year before.

the report added that during the firstquarter of the current year an increase of$726 million in public and publicly guar-anteed debt aggregated to $ 47.1 billion.Multilateral and bilateral loans showed acumulative increase of $703 million duringthe first three months of 2012-13 and theIMF outstanding dues declined by $ 333

million in the first quarter. External debtservicing as a percentage of foreign ex-change earnings stood at 12.7 percent atthe end of 2011-12 compared to 11.4 per-cent the year before. a generally accept-able threshold is EDl: servicing to remainbelow 20 percent of FEE, the documentadded. But with hefty payments againstIMF expected during the next two yearsthis indicator, the report added, would rise.

the documents further indicated thatthe soundness of Pakistan’s debt positionremains higher than the internationally ac-cepted thresholds. total public debt levelsaround 3.5 times and debt servicing below30 percent of the government revenue aregenerally believed to be within the boundsof sustainability. the government is mak-ing concerted efforts to increase revenuesand rationalise current expenditure to re-duce the debt burden and improve the debtcarrying capacity of the country to financethe growth and development needs, thedocument concluded.

KARACHI: Netty Jetty Bridge jammed after resumption of activity following the end of a strike called by Goods Transport Association.

Public debt rises by awhoPPing 18.4 Percent

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Migrating businessmen drained out around

Rs 300 billion from Karachi due to the law and order

situation – All Karachi Tajir Ittehad Chirman Atiq MirBUSINESSWednesday, 6 February, 2013

02

B

LAHORE

APP

SaaRC Chamber of Com-merce and Industry Presi-dent Vikramgit SinghSahney on tuesday saidthat as a consequence ofconstrained bilateral rela-

tions, there has been very little trade be-tween Pakistan and India since inception.

He expressed these views while dis-cussing the present state of affairs on tele-phone with SaaRC Chamber ofCommerce and Industry Pakistan chapterVice President and veteran trade leaderIftikhar ali Malik.

He said, “We have abundant resources,both human and natural, possess enrichedand fertile land tracts but people of bothcountries suffered due to failure to fullyutilise indigenous resources optimally.”Vikramgit said it was in the vital interest ofpeople of the subcontinent and their gov-ernments to fully ensure lasting peace in theregion through promotion of trade besidesaddressing core issues.

He said there was a vast scope of closecooperation between the two countries inthe fields of agriculture, health, education,engineering, transfer of technological ex-pertise, use of cheaper raw material to helpboost industrial competitiveness with a spe-cial focus on alleviating poverty in the re-

gion.He said that currently official trade was

about $2 billion per year which could be 5to 10 times larger directly through the bi-laterally legalised procedure instead of athird country.

to a question, he said that there wereconstraints of economic integration whichincluded high tariff rates and non-tariff bar-riers, and inadequate infrastructure fortrade. He said that constraints on visa andcumbersome procedures of payments andcustoms clearance further limit the scope oftrade.

Iftikhar ali Malik suggested that bothcountries had to take initiatives to improverelations and promote bilateral trade. Hesuggested that to create a level playing fieldand a win-win situation, a bilateral invest-ment treaty should be finalised to fully fa-cilitate a two-way flow of foreign directinvestment between the two countries.

He emphasised that the media shouldalso play a positive role in restoring mutualtrust and confidence at grass-roots levelwhich was a key to mutual growth and eco-nomic prosperity for the overall bettermentof people of the region.

Malik said, “We are also working onthe same lines, which is the manifesto ofSaaRC CCI and an all-out effort is beingmade to boost economic ties among allSaaRC member countries, especially be-tween India and Pakistan.”

‘constrained bilateral relationsbehind less indo-Pak trade’

HONG KONG

AGENCIES

asian markets tumbled on tuesday,bringing a recent rally to a judderinghalt, as Wall Street and European shareswere hit by political concerns in Spainand Italy.

the euro also slumped as Spain’sprime minister was forced to deny cor-ruption claims, while former Italian pre-mier Silvio Berlusconi vowed to throwa spanner in the works of a governmentausterity drive as his party showed solidgains in polls ahead of a general elec-tion.

tokyo shares dived 1.90 percent, or213.43 points, to 11,046.92, while Seoulslipped 0.77 percent, or 15.03 points, to1,938.18 and Sydney shed 0.51 percent,or 24.8 points, to 4,882.7. Hong Kongtumbled 2.27 percent, or 536.48 points,to 23,148.53.

Shanghai reversed morning lossesand ended up 0.20 percent, or 4.98points, at 2,433.13 after the Chinese cen-tral bank injected a huge amount of cashinto the market to satisfy pre-lunar NewYear holiday demand from traders.

the losses come after several mar-kets approached highs not seen for sev-eral months as confidence slowly

returns, thanks to an easing of the euro-zone debt crisis and a pick-up in the USand Chinese economies.

However, dealers suffered a blow onMonday when Spanish Prime MinisterMariano Rajoy came under pressure tostep down as he becomes engulfed in acorruption scandal.

Rajoy has dismissed claims bySpain’s El Pais newspaper that he andother ruling party officials channelleddonations into secret payments.

the news sent the Spanish cost ofborrowing surging, reviving worriesabout Madrid’s ability to access the debtmarket to keep functioning.

Berlusconi meanwhile said he wouldrefund the money Italians have had topay for an unpopular property tax if hiscoalition, headed by his protege an-gelino alfano, wins a February 24-25election.

Berlusconi, who would take the roleof finance minister in a new government,abolished the real estate tax in 2008 butit was reinstated last year as part ofPrime Minister Mario Monti’s austeritybudget in Italy.

the news out of Europe hit the euro,which tumbled in New York late onMonday to $1.3503 and 124.28 yen,from $1.3626 and 126.26 yen earlier in

the day in asia.In tuesday afternoon tokyo forex

trade, the euro fetched $1.3485 and124.52 yen.

the dollar bought 92.33 yen com-pared with 92.11 yen in New York lateon Monday.

the australian dollar eased toUS$1.0409 from US$1.0444 after thecountry’s central bank held interest rateson hold at 3.0 percent.

on Wall Street the Dow, whichended near a record high on Friday,dropped 0.93 percent on Monday, whilethe S&P 500 fell 1.15 percent and theNasdaq slipped 1.51 percent.

In Europe there were heavy losseson all the main indexes Monday, withlondon’s FtSE 100, Frankfurt’s DaXand the Paris CaC diving between 1.6percent and 3.00 percent. Madrid tum-bled 3.77 percent and Milan slumped4.50 percent. on tuesday the marketswere mixed.

oil prices eased in asia. New York’smain contract, light sweet crude for de-livery in March dropped 15 cents to$96.02 a barrel in the afternoon andBrent North Sea crude for March shed37 cents to $115.23.

Gold was at $1,678.01 at 1040 GMtcompared with $1,665.40 late Monday.

Asian markets mostly lower on new Europe fears

PPl posts rs 11.02b profitin last quarter

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Petroleum Limited

(PPL) has announced profit of Rs 11.2

billion for the last quarter ended on

December 31 2012, registering an increase

of 7.19 percent when compared with Rs

10.23 billion in the corresponding period of

last year.

Besides, the PPL has announced the interim

cash dividend at Rs 5.00 per share or 50

percent on fully paid ordinary shares for the

year ending June 30, 2013 and in addition,

Rs 3.00 per share or 30 percent on fully

paid Convertible Preference Shares.

In this regard, the company has approved

transfer of an amount of Rs 5.00 billion to

dividend equalisation reserve from un-

appropriated profits to maintain dividend

declarations.

Moreover, the Earning Per Share (EPS) also

witnessed a enhancement to Rs 6.71 in the

last quarter of 2012 from Rs 6.22 in the last

quarter of 2011.

The rise in the net profit of the company

was due to an increase in net sale by 13.70

percent and a decrease in other operating

expenses by 16.27 percent during the

period under view.

However, the net sales stood at Rs 26.20

billion in the last quarter of the year against

Rs 22.60 billion in the same period of last

year.

The operating expenses recorded Rs 0.88

billion against Rs.1.05 billion last year

during the period under view.

Apart from this, comparing the results of

the second half of 2012 with the same

period of last year, the profit of the

company stood at Rs 22.32 billion,

registering an increase of 9.87 percent

against Rs 20.11 billion. APP

Pew demands focus onwomen’s chambersISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Economy Watch

(PEW) on Tuesday said new rules framed to

create chambers for women, small traders

and cottage industry should be flexible

enough to attract the business community.

Some clauses in the Trade Organisation Bill

2013 approved by the joint committee of the

National Assembly and Senate Standing

Committees on Commerce recently will only

benefit the business community if it is widely

accepted, it said. The current set of rules

may prove unappealing for majority of

businessmen leaving the whole exercise

counterproductive, said PEW President Dr

Murtaza Mughal. The legislation for setting up

business chambers in every district of the

country will only benefit millions of small

traders and businesswomen if conditions are

relaxed, he said. Dr Mughal said the

condition of 150 members for a chamber and

100 members for women’s chambers having

a valid National Tax Number (NTN) would be

difficult to meet in some small districts. ONlINE

dell going private in $24 billion move

NEW YORK: Dell has reached a deal to go

private, the company has announced.

Shareholders will receive some $13.65 per

share in a $24 billion deal, the New York

Times reports, which marks a 25% premium

over Dell’s January share price. The

privatization deal with Microsoft and private

equity company Silver Lake Partners is the

biggest since the financial crisis, the Wall

Street Journal notes. Once the biggest PC

maker on the planet, the struggling Dell is

now third; the move comes as founder and

CEO Michael Dell hopes to retool his company.

The deal incorporates Michael Dell’s own 16%

stake, some $700 million from his investment

company, $1 billion from Silver Lake, and a $2

billion Microsoft investment. AGENCIES

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