Tuesday, 13 November, 2012

ISLAMABAD

APP

President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday urgedthe national pharmaceutical industry to ac-quire international standards of quality con-trol and make the label “Made in Pakistan”a symbol of pride for the country.

Addressing a signing ceremony here atthe Aiwan-e-Sadr to make the Drug Regula-tory Authority Bill into a law, the Presidentsaid that the act would ensure availability ofsafe and quality medical services at afford-able prices to the people.

He said that the law would help preventthe sale of fake, sub-standard and non-reg-istered medicines and stop hoarding by cre-ating an autonomous drug regulatoryauthority.

The President gave his assent to the billat the special ceremony, which was attendedamong others by Minister for National Reg-ulations and Services Dr. Firdous AshiqAwan, federal cabinet members, parliamen-tarians and representatives of the pharma-ceutical companies.

President Zardari said that ShaheedZulfikar Ali Bhutto promulgated the firstDrug Act of 1976. The credit goes to this

coalition government to establish for firsttime the Drug Regulatory Authority (DRA)in the country like the developed countries,he added. He said that the DRA would en-sure protection of the interests of the peopleand the pharma industry. He said that theindustry had grown over the past decadesand now it was time to take the next step inthe technology.

The President stressed the need tobroaden base for research and developmentand said that bio-technology was the engineof growth of the present century.

“Our pharma industry needs to harnessthis technology and the academia needs towork closely with the industry to ensuretimely infusion of related knowledge.”

He stressed on the pharma industry tofocus on acquiring international standardsof quality control and called for adoptingcorporate culture within the regulatory sys-tem. The President called for expanding thescope of pharma exports and making newadvancements in the area.

He congratulated the Parliament and allpolitical parties and said that the unani-mous adoption of the Drug Regulatory Au-thority Bill was a sign of wisdom andmaturity of the Parliament and all political

parties. He said that all the provincial as-semblies and governments deserved to becommended for agreeing to permit the fed-eration make the important legislation forthe benefit of all. It is a measure of their po-litical maturity, he added.

The President said with the availabilityof cheap labour, necessary skills and otheropportunities, there was no reason Pak-istan’s pharmaceutical companies could notmake their presence felt in the internationalmarkets. He complimented Dr. FirdousAshiq Awan and her team, especially Dr.Suhail Siddiqui, for their commitment anduntiring efforts towards materializing suchan important legislation. The President alsodistributed certificates among various phar-maceutical companies that achieved distinc-tion in various pharma related fields. Laterbriefing the media persons, spokesperson tothe President

Senator Farhatullah Babar said that aconscious and deliberate effort was madeduring the past several months to involve allthe stakeholders in the finalization of theDrug Regulation Authority Bill.

He said that the Pharmaceutical Associ-ation, the Pharma Bureau and the PakistanChemists and Druggists Association in ad-

dition to the standing committees of the Na-tional Assembly and Senate were includedin the broad-based consultation and dia-logue process to arrive at a consensus.

Minister for National Regulations andServices Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan, in herspeech, said that the DRA had been de-signed along the lines of such bodies in ad-vanced countries like the US and Canada toprotect the interests of the patients, thepharma industry and officials working in theauthority.

She said that the pharma industry in thecountry had grown over the past decades,

from just a few manufacturing units at thetime of independence, to over 600 well de-veloped units.

She said that the PPP leadership sup-ported the underpriveliged by bridging thegap between the rich and the poor and pro-vision of quality drugs at affordable rateswas part of the manifesto of the PPP in the2008 general election.

Dr Firdous said that the governmentwas working on a strategy for the Drug Pric-ing Policy, the Policy of Import and Exportof Drugs, and low markup on export ofdrugs financing.

President fills a prescription for pharma industryUrges it to strive for excellence

ISLAMABAD

APP

THE average inflation rateis projected to stay in sin-gle-digit during the cur-rent fiscal year (2012-13),indicating better eco-

nomic conditions, increased consumerconfidence, and reduction in prices forcountry’s people.

“Overall in the current year (July2012 to June 2013) the average inflationis expected to be in single-digits,” Advi-sor and Spokesman to Finance Min-istry, Rana Assad Amin told APP.

Consolidating his statement, he saidthat lowest-ever prices rise wasrecorded during last few months, show-ing a sign of stabilization of prices in themarket and a much-awaited relief forthe people and businessmen of thecountry.

“Price increase in food and non-food items has been slowing down forthe past many months and in October2012 price increase was at its slowestpace since January 2008,” he added.

He attributed this achievement togovernment’s efforts in monitoring

prices, ensuring continued supply ofessential items, and tightly controlledeconomic policy.

In the past, reductions in price in-crease have resulted in decrease in in-terest on bank loans while averageinterest rates have reduced from a highof 15% in 2008 to 10% in October 2012.

“This means that for the sameamount of loan, businesses are paying50% less interest as compared to 2008which is an encouragement for busi-nesses to increase their production andreduce their borrowing costs.”

The falling trend in price rise di-verted investors to invest in equities ofPakistani businesses adding as of 2 No-vember 2012, the Stock Exchange wastrading at an all-time high of 16,000 +points.

“This is the amount of investmentthat has never seen before in the historyof Pakistan - demonstrating confidenceof Pakistani people on the economy,” headded.

Advisor to Ministry of Finance,Rana Asad Amin said that when thepresent government came to power in2008, the economy was displaying adismal picture, due to multiple externaland internal shocks of extreme nature.

Average price rise in August 2008was 25% as compared to August 2007

whereas on average items costing Rs100in August 2007 were sold for Rs125 byAugust 2008.

“The rapid price increase was a di-rect result of record high internationaloil prices and record borrowings by theprevious government,” he added.

He said that imprudent economicpolicies of the previous government re-sulted in an economic bubble-burst andwhere the country had to suffer a tradedeficit of around $15 billion, whichdrastically depleted foreign reservesand forced the incumbent governmentto seek International Monetary Fund(IMF) assistance.

In October 2012, the average foodprices have increased by 5.8% as com-pared to October 2011 while overall

(combining food and non-food items),the price increase was 7.7% as com-pared to October 2011.

Average inflation in 2008-09 wasaround 17% as compared to 2007-08that was reduced to 11% in 2011-12when compared against 2010-11 whichwas 13.7 %.

The price thus reduced in 2011-12despite unprecedented floods of

July/August 2011 that resulted inloss of agriculture produce and dis-rupted supply at a massive scale.

In the current year, consistent dropinflation is witnessed as it has reducedto single digits in July, August, Septem-ber and October at 9.6%, 9.1%, 8.8%,and 7.7%.

On average in the first four months

of this year (July-October) inflation hasbeen recorded at 8.8% as compared to11.3% in the same period last year.

In these four months food inflationwas 7.3% as compared to 12.9% lastyear, while non-food inflation was 9.7%as compared to 10.3% in the same pe-riod last year.

Similarly, sensitive price index (of53 items) has reduced to 7.6% in thefirst four months of this year, as com-pared to 9.6% last year. The prices inthe wholesale (measured throughwhole-price index (WPI)) have reducedfrom 17.8% last year to 7.6% in the firstfour months of this year.

This demonstrates availability ofample supply of commodities availableat the stage of wholesale, and warrantsto further reduction in inflation in thecoming months.

The core-inflation is also witnessingreduction since July of this year as itwas 11.3%, 10.8%, 10.4%, and 10.8% inJuly, August, September and Octoberrespectively.

A comparison of 53 essential eatingitems, suggest that the number of itemsin which prices have decreased or re-mained same, have been much morethan the items in which price increasehas been witnessed.

In September 2012, the inflation(CPI) in India was 9.7%, Bangladesh7.4% and Sri Lanka 9.1%.

He said that all developing coun-tries that depend on imported oil, in-cluding Pakistan were facing price rise.

ISLAMABAD

APP

The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for theweek ended on November 8, for the lowestincome group up to Rs.8,000, registereddecrease of 0.13 per cent as compared tothe previous week.

The SPI for the week under review inthe above mentioned group was recordedat 181.77 points against 182.01 points reg-istered in the previous week, according toprovisional figures of Pakistan Bureau ofStatistics (PBS). The weekly SPI has beencomputed with base 2007-2008=100, cov-ering 17 urban centers and 53 essentialitems for all income groups and combined.

The SPI for the combined group de-creased by 0.15 per cent as it declined from187.58 points in the previous week to

187.29 points in the week under review.As compared to the corresponding

week of last year, the SPI for the combinedgroup in the week under review witnessedincrease of 4.52 percent. As compared tothe last week, the SPI for the incomegroups from Rs.8001-12,000, 12,001-18,000, 18001-35,000 and aboveRs.35,000 decreased by 0.14 percent, 0.16percent, 0.16 and 0.15 percent respectively.

During the week under review aver-age prices of 7 items registered decrease,while that of 17 items increase with the re-maining 29 items’ prices unchanged. Theitems which recorded decrease in theiraverage prices during the week under re-view included tomatoes, onions, red chill-ies (powder), chicken live (farm),vegetable ghee (loose), potatoes, moongpulse (washed).

The items which registered increase intheir prices included gur, egg hen (farm),wheat, sugar, wheat flour (bag), tea(packet), bananas, LPG( 11 kg cylinder),firewood, masoor pulse (washed), geor-gette, washing soap, mash pulse (washed),energy savor, mustard oil, rice basmati(broken) and garlic. The items with nochange in their average prices during theweek under review included rice (irri-6),bread (plain), beef, mutton, milk (fresh),curd, milk (powdered), cooking oil (tin),vegetable ghee (tin), gram pulse (washed),salt powdered (loose), cooked beef, cookeddal tea (prepared), cigarettes, long cloth,shirting, lawn, sandal (gents), chappal(gents), sandal (ladies), electric charges,gas charges (upto 100m3), kerosene oil,match box, petrol, diesel, telephone localcall and bath soap.

MFBs asked toexpand access tofinancial services

ISLAMABAD

APP

Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Pak-istan (SBP) Kazi Abdul Muktadir on Mon-day asked the microfinance banks (MFBs)to take advantage of a favourable marketenvironment by investing in innovativetechnologies and products in order to growtheir businesses and expand access to finan-cial services in the country.Speaking as a chief guest at the commerciallaunch of Branchless Banking by WaseelaMicrofinance Bank here, the SBP DeputyGovernor stressed upon SBP’s broader goalto provide inclusive financial services to thepoor and low income groups.“I firmly believe that microfinance andbranchless banking are complementary toeach other, and together they will bring theadvantages of inclusiveness, convenience,ubiquity, and efficiency as Pakistan offersthe best regulatory framework and industryinfrastructure for microfinance,” he added.Abdul Muktadir said that the World Bank’sConsultative Group to Assist the Poor(CGAP), in one of its studies had also recog-nized Pakistan as one of the fastest growingbranchless banking markets in the world,and a laboratory of innovation.

Doc to inaugurateeconomists’ moot

ISLAMABAD

APP

Finance Minister Dr.Abdul Hafeez Shaikhwill inaugurate the three-day 28th AnnualGeneral Meeting and Conference of thePakistan Society of Development Econo-mists (PSDE) here at local Hotel today.According to a statement of the PSDE is-sued here on Monday, its annual moot is ex-pected attendance of more than 500economists, researchers, policy-makers andstudents of economics, senior governmentofficials. The theme of this year’s meeting is“Economic Reforms for Productivity, Inno-vation and Growth”. The meeting will beinaugurated by Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh,Federal Minster for Finance and highlightthe economic vision of present governmentfor the welfare of the people and prosperityof the country. Dr Rashid Amjad, Vice-Chancellor Pakistan Society of Develop-ment Economics (PIDE) and President,PSDE, will give the Presidential Address onthe conference theme.

‘Inflation will stick to single-digit this year’Weekly inflation takes a plunge

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Tuesday, 13 November, 2012

Major Gainers

COMPANY OPEN HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE TURNOVERUnilever Food 3600.00 3780.00 3780.00 3780.00 180.00 20Island TextileXD 488.51 512.93 512.93 512.93 24.42 200National FoodsXD 279.74 293.72 277.51 293.72 13.98 43,000Pak.Int.Cont. SD 147.50 154.87 149.90 154.87 7.37 41,800Sunrays TextileXD 113.40 119.07 119.07 119.07 5.67 500

Major LosersExide (PAK) 330.00 320.10 317.00 317.00 -13.00 1,000Sitara ChemicalXD 183.74 180.00 175.99 177.00 -6.74 40,700Atlas Battery Ltd. 231.03 228.00 224.00 224.83 -6.20 1,400Bata (Pak) XD 1325.00 1380.00 1259.00 1319.50 -5.50 300Pak Gum & Chemical 153.89 157.00 147.05 149.17 -4.72 7,800

Volume Leaders

JS Bank Ltd 5.91 6.60 5.99 6.45 0.54 17,502,000Azgard Nine 7.05 7.86 7.30 7.59 0.54 17,365,000Fauji Cement 6.53 6.79 6.49 6.64 0.11 11,490,000Jah.Sidd. Co. 15.14 16.14 15.71 16.14 1.00 11,419,500D.G.K.CementXD 52.65 53.44 52.31 53.25 0.60 7,317,500

Interbank RatesUS Dollar 95.9258UK Pound 152.4644Japanese Yen 1.2077Euro 121.8929

Dollar EastBUY SELL

US Dollar 96.00 96.50Euro 120.64 122.79Great Britain Pound 150.63 153.28Japanese Yen 1.1909 1.2118Canadian Dollar 94.62 96.79Hong Kong Dollar 12.17 12.41UAE Dirham 25.90 26.33Saudi Riyal 25.29 25.69Australian Dollar 98.57 101.76

Business

KARACHI: Indus Motor Company Limited (IMC) has

successfully completed production of 500,000 vehicles in

Pakistan. The event was celebrated by a ribbon-cutting

ceremony performed at the Indus Motors plant. (L-R) Mr

M Okimoto, Director Technical, IMC, Mr Farhad Zulfiqar,

Vice Chairman HOH, Guest of Honor Mr Funo, EVP, TMC,

Chief Guest Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Mr Ali S Habib,

Chairman, IMC, Mr Shimizu, Chairman, TTC, Mr K Hyodo,

VC, IMC and Mr Parvez Ghias, CEO, IMC

Bonanza: Styling winter with exquisite,

sophisticated and elegant designs

KARACHI: Bonanza Garments introduced theirFall/winter collection 2012 in 5 different designs with2 color ways each, accompanied by exclusive embroi-dered fronts, motifs & Borders, ornamented by exqui-site crochet laces in the highest quality Pure Wool,Silk, Khaddar and Cambric at the launch of their4200 Square Feet Outlet at Dolmen City Mall,Clifton.Along with the fall/winter collection the outletdisplays “Designer Series Limited Edition Winter Col-lection” and signature styled Sweaters in pure Lamb’swool, Cashmere & Merino, Coats and overcoats inwool and cashmere blend to keep you warm through-out this winter! Established in 1976 with a handful ofmachines, Bonanza has successfully earned the trustand confidence of all its consumers, employees, com-munities and well wishers through Quality product,innovation, beautiful designs and accessibility.

WASHINGTON:Tara Uzra Dawood, President of Dawood

Global Foundation and Founder of LA DIESFUND, spoke on

“Supporting women entrepreneurs around the world:

challenges and opportunities” at the World Bank’s Finance

and Private Sector Development Forum (

http://go.worldbank.org/P6YREZ3I10) in Washington, DC.

Warid drops international

call rates for 31 countriesKARACHI: Warid Telecom today announces the dis-counted call rates for International calling for 31 coun-

tries with call rate of just 48 paisas/20 Sec for 16 desti-nations while 1.50/20 sec for 15 destinations. BothWarid prepaid and postpaid customers can subscribethis offer by sending SMS ‘ON’ to 4343. The detailed listof destinations is available at waridtel.com . Warid userscan also share International MMS with their friends andrelatives in 175 countries all around the globe.

KARACHI: November 12, 2012: Pakistan State Oil organized a

CNG safety awareness drive at PSO CNG stations. The

objective of this campaign is to raise public awareness

regarding CNG safety requirements and

installation/maintenance of CNG cylinders and kits. On this

occasion, Mr Khalid Mehmood, General Manager, Gaseous

Fuels-PSO is seen interacting with a customer.

Net income of Al Baraka

Banking Group rises by 10%

MANAMA: The Bahrain based leading Islamicbanking group, Al Baraka Banking Group B.S.C(ABG) announced that it has achieved a net income ofUS$ 183 million in the first nine months of 2012, anincrease of 10% on the net income achieved in thefirst nine months of 2011. Similarly, statement of fi-nancial positions witnessed good increases. Total as-sets increased by 7%, investments and financingportfolio by 13%, deposits by 7% and total equity by7% as at the end of September 2012 as compared withthe end of December 2011. These results affirm thecontinuation of the Group’s excellent financial per-formance based on the prudent business strategies,by which, the Group was able to overcome the nega-tive effects of global and regional economic and politi-cal conditions and to further expanding of business,branch network and to enter new markets.

LONDON:Hashoo Foundation Founder Sadruddin Hashwani;

Synergos’ Founder and Chair, Peggy Dulany and Hashoo

Foundation Chairperson, Sarah Hashwani at the University for

a Night event in London.

KARACHI: Consul General of Malaysia in Karachi’s wife Hidia

Muin providing tips to Pakistan celebrity chef Saadat Siddiqi

in preparing Malaysian prawnsambal in grand finale of 20

episode cooking show Malaysian Palm Oil- Mood for Food,

which was organized by Malaysian Palm Oil Council along

with collaboration with local TV channels at Rumah. Pakistan

is the second largest importer of Malaysian Palm Oil which is

of Malaysian 80 percent export to Pakistan. In 2011, Pakistan

imported palm oil of worth $ 2 billion dollar from Malaysia.

LAHORE: Brig (R) Imran Malik shares his views with the

audience during a seminar on the Balochistan unrest held at

UMT, Lahore. Also seen on stage Abid H K Shirwani, Director

External Affairs, Dr Abdul Hameed, Dean, School of Social

Sciences and Humanities, and Brig (R) Farooq Hameed Khan.

Brighto Paints introduces

new branch in Lahore

LAHORE: Recently, 5th Branch of “BrightoAll Color Studio” was inaugurated in ModelTown K- Block, Lahore. Sahibzada Saif-ur-Rehman President Model Town Society andKhawaja Ijaz Ahmad Sikka Chairman BrightoPaints were the chief guests on this occasion.Whereas, Khawaja Khurrum Shehzad Sikka Di-rector Production & Operation, Khawaja ZainIjaz Sikka Director Sales and All Color, SajidHussain General Manager Marketing, UmerUbaid Brand Manager, Ahmad Chattah Na-tional Sales Manager along with Higher Au-thority Officers and people from differentfields of life also participated.

‘Bolo Pakistan Offer’ Pakistan’s

lowest daily charges for 24hrs calls

ISLAMABAD: Ufone one of the leading cellular op-erators in the country recently launched Pakistan’slowest daily charges call offer.The telecom industry seems to be the only sectorwhere the customers are truly benefiting and gettingvalue for money. Ufone customers will soon be reap-ing advantages of unlimited calls, 24hrs a day on allon net calls. The offer will help customers bettermanage their expenses.

LAHORE: Head of HHP and IT Samsung Pakistan, Mr. Roy

chang receiving the souvenir from President Punjab Olympic

Association Syed Shahid Ali at Samsung 5th inter Schools

and Colleges Games.

ChenOne launches LaAtrium

LAHORE: ChenOne Group has brought forward an-other recreational affluence with the grand launch ofits restaurant LaAtrium in Lahore. The restaurant hasbeen put up adjacent to the ChenOne Gulberg Storein the metropolis. According to an official sourceChenOne has substantiated the idea of healthy andhygienic cuisine in a perfectly unruffled ambience.

ISLAMABAD: PTCL Senior Executive Vice President (SEVP)

Business Zone Central, Jamal Abdalla Salim Hussain Al

Suwaidi at the inauguration ceremony of PTCL distributor,

Smartel Communications’ premises. PTCL General Manager

Commercial-Central; Awais Javaid and CEO Smartel,

Muhammad Zafar Iqbal can also be seen in the picture.

CORPORATE CORNER

Auto sales down32% in 4MFY13

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

The sales of car, including LCVs, vansand jeeps, declined by 32 percent to39,938 units during 4MFY13 comparedto 58,801 units in the same period inFY12.October saw the car sales contractingfurther to the 16-months low to 9,397units, which are down three percentfrom last month and 38 percent fromlast October.“We attribute subdued sales to termina-tion of ‘Coure’, ‘Alto’ and taxi scheme inaddition to large inflow of importedCBUs impacting locally assembledcars,” viewed Topline analyst ZeeshanAfzal. Amongst individual companies,Pak Suzuki (PSMC) sales declined by 35percent to 22,753 units as against34,877 units sold in the same periodlast year.During the review month, the com-pany’s sales stood at 5,094 units down40 percent from 8,462 unit in the samemonth last year while have declined by16 percent from 6,042 units last month.Similarly, during 4MFY13, IndusMotor (INDU) sales declined to 11,003units, 38 percent down compared tosame period last year. However, onmonthly basis, INDU car sales pickedup to 2,704 units in October, up 28percent MoM. “Rise in sales is attribut-able to 22 percent MoM growth in‘Corrola’ sales to 2,155 units and 57percent MoM growth in ‘Hilux’ to 549units,” said Afzal.

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

THE Pakistanis working abroad re-mitted a historic $1.365 billion dur-ing the month of October, reportedthe central bank Monday. This, theState Bank said, registered a

“tremendous jump” of $347.23 million or 34.11percent compared to $1.017 billion the country hadreceived during the same month last year.

“The continued growth in remittances is theresult of the efforts made by Pakistan RemittanceInitiative (PRI) in collaboration with other stake-holders to facilitate both Overseas Pakistanis andtheir families back home,” said the regulator.

The previous highest amount remitted in a sin-gle month by overseas Pakistanis was recorded inAugust 2011 when they sent home $1.310 billion,the bank recalled. The remittances received fromall countries of the world showed an impressivegrowth during last month, it said.

In October, the inflow of remittances fromSaudi Arabia, UAE, USA, UK, GCC countries (in-cluding Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman) and EUcountries amounted to $347.52 million, $293.74million, $217.56 million, $197.18 million, $163.37million and $37.48 million, respectively.

The corresponding month in 2011 had seen arespective inflow of $291.20 million, $216.50 mil-lion, $167.60 million, $117.56 million, $131.54 mil-lion and $28.08 million. The remittances receivedfrom Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Canada,Japan and other countries during the fourth monthof FY13 was recorded at $108.25 million as against$65.39 million received last year.

An year-on-year account shows that the over-seas Pakistanis remitted over $4.964 billion duringthe first four months (July–Oct) of the current fis-cal year, showing a growth of 15.04 percent or$649.14 million compared with $4.315 billion re-ceived during the corresponding period of FY13.

The inflow of remittances in July‐ October,2012 from Saudi Arabia, UAE, USA, UK, GCCcountries and EU countries amounted to $1.308billion, $1.046 billion, $841.28 million, $697.33million, $559.51 million and $134.53 million, re-spectively. This was compared to last year’s inflowsof $1.145 billion, $963.12 million, $795.35 million,$486.92 million, $486.15 million and $129.81 mil-lion from the same destinations in July-Oct 2011.

The remittances received from Norway,Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Japan and othercountries during the review period was counted as$ 376.12 million as against $308.34 million re-ceived last year. The monthly average remittancesfor July-Oct 2012 period comes out to $1.241 bil-lion as compared to $1.078 billion during the cor-responding period of the last fiscal year.

Attributing growth in remittances to PRI, theSBP said since its inception, the Initiative had takena number of steps to enhance dollar inflows throughformal channels which include: (a) preparation ofnational strategies on remittances (b) taking all nec-essary steps to implement the overall strategy (c)playing the advisory role for financial sector in termsof preparing a business case, relationship buildingwith overseas correspondents, creating separate ef-ficient remittance payment highways and (d) be-coming a national focal point for overseas Pakistanisthrough round the clock call centre (021-111-222-774) with toll free lines, separate web site etc.

Remittances swell beyond record$1.365 billion month-on-month

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