profit.com.pk Thursday, 14 June, 2012

PreSideNt iS a SmOOth taLKer

NEW DELHI

ONLINE

The Indian economy will grow by 6.9 percent in this financial year (2012-13)notwithstanding problems like policy uncer-tainties, fiscal deficit and inflation, theWorld Bank projected, while cautioning thatdeveloping nations will have to face toughertimes, Indian media reported on Wednes-day.

"India will see growth (measured at fac-tor cost) increasing to 6.9, 7.2 and 7.4 percent in fiscal years 2012-13, 2013-14 and2014-15, respectively," the World Bank saidin the report titled 'Global EconomicProspects'.

Referring to developments in 2011, themulti-lateral lending agency said thatgrowth in India was particularly weak dueto monetary policy, stalled reforms and elec-tricity shortages. These factors, along withfiscal and inflation concerns, cut into invest-ment activity, it added.

India's economic growth rate in 2011-12slipped to a nine-year low of 6.5 per cent.The economy had expanded by 8.4 per centin the preceding two years. For the currentfiscal, the government has pegged growth at7.6 per cent. "Growth in South Asia slowedto 7.1 per cent in 2011, from 8.6 per cent in2010, as headwinds from the Euro Area cri-sis caused a steep deceleration in exports

and a reversal of portfolio inflows," the re-port said. Meanwhile, the global economy isexpected to expand 2.5 per cent this year.

According to the World Bank, develop-ing nations should prepare for a long periodof volatility in the global economy by re-em-phasising on medium term developmentstrategies.

"Developing country growth will slow toa relatively weak 5.3 per cent in 2012, beforestrengthening somewhat to 5.9 per cent in2013 and six per cent in 2014," it said.

"Growth in high-income countries willalso be weak, 1.4, 1.9 and 2.3 per cent for2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively - withGDP in the Euro Area declining 0.3 per centin 2012. Overall, global GDP is projected torise 2.5, 3 and 3.31 per cent for the same pe-riod," the report noted.

However, the World Bank pointed outthat if the situation in Europe deterioratessharply, no developing region would bespared.

Andrew Burns, lead author of the report,said that where possible, developing coun-tries need to move to reduce vulnerabilitiesby lowering short-term debt levels, cuttingbudget deficits and returning to a more neu-tral monetary policy stance.

"Doing so will provide them with moreleeway to loosen policy, should global con-ditions take a sharp turn for the worse,"Burns added.

The budget was overambitious; ohand they realise it already Page 02

ISLAMABAD

ONLINE

PRESIDENT Asif Ali Zardarihas said greater trade accessin the EU markets would en-able Pakistan to support its

economy and continue it struggleagainst the militants in an effectivemanner. He expressed these viewswhile talking to Danish Foreign Minis-ter Villy Søvndal who called on Presi-dent Asif Ali Zardari at Aiwan-e-SadrWednesday. He was accompanied byAmbassador Mr. Uffe Wolffhechel, Mr.Lars Gert Lose, Ms. Sandra JensenLandi, Mr. Lars Bredal and Ms. Bir-gitte Hansen Rojle.

Foreign Minister Hina RabbaniKhar, Defence Minister Syed NaveedQamar, Senator Sughra Imam, SpecialSecretary to the President Maj (R) Ha-roon Rashid, Acting Foreign SecretaryMs. Fouzia Sana, Additional SecretaryForeign Affairs Mr. Asif Durrani andother high ranking officials were alsopresent during the meeting from Pak-side.

Bilateral relations, enhancingtrade and economic interaction, waragainst militants and overall regionalsituation was discussed during themeeting.

President Zardari while welcomingthe Danish Foreign Minister to Pak-istan felicitated Denmark on assumingthe rotating Presidency of the Euro-pean Council for the 7th time.

He said that Pakistan wishes tobuild a broad-based substantive andlong-term equation with Denmark.The President said that we greatly ap-preciate Danish support to the democ-racy in Pakistan. He said that thepeople of Pakistan value Danish assis-tance especially at the times of naturaldisasters in the country. He said thatthere was need to further promote mu-

tual interactions at all the levels tostrengthen the existing friendly rela-tionship.

The President said that the twocountries needed to work together intranslating their friendly equation toboost trade and economic interaction.The existing bilateral trade volumedoes not commensurate with the avail-able potential, the President re-marked. The President whileemphasizing upon the need to institu-

tionalize the economic interaction pro-posed that a Joint Working Group onEconomic cooperation may be estab-lished to promote trade and economicactivities.

The President said that the successof various Danish companies runningprofitable business ventures in Pak-istan should serve to encourage otherinvestors to make their investments inPakistan and get benefit of the invest-ment friendly opportunities available

in the country. He said that energygeneration and transmission, infra-structure development, agriculture,food processing and industrial manu-facturing were some of the importantareas where the Danish businessmencould invest and get benefits. Wewould like to benefit from the Danishexpertise in the field of electricity gen-eration through wind energy, the Pres-ident said.

He also thanked the Danish gov-

ernment for its support to Pakistan ingetting Autonomous Trade Packageand inclusion of Pakistan in the GSPplus scheme. He expressed the hopethat the Autonomous Trade Packagewould be finalized and implementedsoon. The President said that greatertrade access in the EU markets wouldenable Pakistan to support its econ-omy and continue it struggle againstthe militants in an effective manner.

On Pakistan-EU relations, thePresident said that Pakistan attachesgreat importance to its partnershipwith the European Union. He said thatthe recent Parliamentary review of ourForeign Policy also underscored theneed for strengthening relationshipwith EU and enhancing it in all thespheres. He said that Summit processbetween Pakistan and EU was impor-tant for consolidating strategic rela-tionship into an institutionalizedlong-term partnership. He said that welook forward to visit of the Presidentsof the Council and the Commission forthe third Pak-EU Summit in 2013.

Discussing war against militantsand the regional situation, the Presi-dent highlighted huge sacrifices madeby Pakistan in the fight against mili-tants and said that Pakistan has anabiding interest in a peaceful, stableand prosperous Afghanistan. He saidthat we would continue to supportevery effort being made for the peaceand stability in the neighboring coun-try.

Foreign Minister Villy Søvndalthanked that President for the meetingand assured Danish Government con-tinued support to the people of Pak-istan in strengthening of democracyand stabilizing their economy. He alsoappreciated the huge sacrifices madeby the people in the war against themilitants and securing this regionfrom the menace of militancy.

g Our president successfully woos danish contingent by claiming how access to eU market would miraculously solve everything. take a bow mr President, take a bow…

Can we have those problems, please?g india to grow 6.9pc despite problems in 2012-13: World bank

ISLAMABAD

AMER SIAL

The state owned Pakistan State Oil (PSO) has intimatedto the government that from now onwards it would besupplying furnace oil on credit to the power producersonly on the written orders of the either of the ministersfor petroleum, water and power or finance, an officialsource said.

The development took place after the PSO board di-rected the management to stop supplying fuel to the in-dependent power producers (IPPs) on the verbalinstructions of the ministers. PSO’s outstanding amounthas risen to Rs 270 billion.

The state owned company used to provide fuel to thepower sector on the verbal directions of any of the threeministers. Non timely clearance of the dues created a fi-nancial crisis for the company. The board instructed themanagement to follow only the written orders of theministers, as only then they could pursue the recovery.

After the decision of the board, PSO from Tuesdaycut the daily fuel supply of 5,000 tons to Hub PowerCompany (HUBCO) to half with the warning that if thetotal bill amount was not cleared on daily basis then thesupplies will be stopped, the source said. The outstand-ing amount of HUBCO alone have amounted to over Rs100 billion.

The government, he said, has yet not given any replybut the Petroleum Ministry has supported the move ofPSO. The company has been in dire straits due to the nonpayment of fuel oil arrears by the Pakistan Electric

Power Company (PEPCO). The PSO board has advisedthe extreme step as without implementing the pay oncash basis, the crisis could not be resolved.

PSO has also decided that it will be supplying fuel topower producers only on advance payment. All thepower sector entities have been informed of the decision.This step was taken to avoid default as other than PSOno entity of the power sector was aware of the gravity ofthe situation. The company has made a very timely moveas it was aware that the government could not pressurizeit any more.

The demand will force the government to direct theinefficient DISCO to improve their recovery campaign.They have an outstanding recovery of Rs 375 billion outof which Rs 215 billion is against the government depart-ments. To improve the financial flow, Power Ministryhas stressed numerous times at source deduction of out-standing provincial and federal government dues. Min-istry of Finance is totally against the demand saying thatafter devolution was not possible without the consent ofprovinces.

Ministry of Water and Power recently received astrong rebuke from the Ministry of Finance which ad-vised it to make its own efforts for the payment of Rs 18.5billion to eight independent power producers (IPPs),which had invoked sovereign guarantees. The total lia-bilities of IPPs have increased over Rs 238 billion. Thegovernment has promised IPPs in May this year that atleast Rs 18.5 billion will be paid immediately to cleartheir due loan installments. However, despite the prom-ise no amount was released.

Zardari maSterS trade gibberiSh

PSO is a bit of a snobPSO wants ministers to give in writing to provide fuel on credit topower sector. The only thing missing was an exaggerated flick of thehair, unnecessary rolling of the eyes with a “whateverrrr” exclamation

PRO 14-06-2012_Layout 1 6/14/2012 2:00 AM Page 1

news02Thursday, 14 June, 2012

KARACHI

ZAIN ALI

The imposition of Cess of Rs.100 perMMBTU on the industries (including Cap-tive Power) in the Finance Bill 2012, as perthe amendment of Act XXI of 2011 in theGas Infrastructure Development Cess Act2011 for the second schedule is indeed ahard hitting step by the Government, ren-dering the Textile Industries cost of doingbusiness even higher, belying claims thatthere would be incentive for the Textile In-

dustry in this Budget and appears to be onemore nail in its coffin, were the feelings ofChairmen of all the Value Added TextileAssociations, here on Wednesday at a pressconference.

Rana Muhammad Mushtaq Khan,Chairman, Value Added Textile Forum &Central Chairman, Pakistan Hosiery Man-ufacturers & Exporters Association statedthat the utilities are never a tool for revenuegeneration. Utilities are essential com-modities and lifeline for citizens in generaland industry in particular. Value Added

Textile Exports of Pakistan have gonedown by 9.8% whereas exports of our com-petitors India have gone up by 23.87%,Bangladesh by 7.86%, China by 2.05%.

The growth in our exports has declinedconsiderably in comparison to our neigh-boring competing countries – Bangladesh,India and China. Given below is a compar-ison of the same:

From this it is crystal clear that any in-crease in cost of manufacturing would fur-ther lead to decline in the exports ofPakistan which would result in decline in

foreign exchange earnings; more unem-ployment; worsening law and order situa-tion and chaos.

M. Jawed Bilwani, Chairman, PakistanApparel Forum said that the Textile Indus-try, more especially the Value Added Tex-tile Industries are striving to earn sorelyneeded foreign exchange at such crucialtimes faced by the Government and as suchthe Government should make sure that ad-equate gas at competitive price is madeavailable to the Value Added Textile Indus-try instead of such frequent increase in Gas

prices. If the increased cost is added to thecost of manufacturing, ultimately cost ofgarment increases because the Gas tariff inPakistan is 183% higher than Bangladeshand now after imposition of Cess of Rs.100per MMBTU it will become 216% higherthan Bangladesh and consequently the endresult would be that Bangladesh will bequite competitive and we will be out ofcompetition in the world market.Bangladesh would greatly benefit with in-crease in their exports to such an extentthat would be disastrous for Pakistan.

aNd aS he WaS ambitiOUS… i FiNaNCed him

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

THE landmark 5th budget ofthe PPP-led government hasall the hallmark of an elec-tion year budget, providing

tax relief to individuals, companies,increase government employeesalaries, pension and enhancing thedevelopment expenditure.

Given the expansionary theme ofthe budget, the country’s financialmanagers have set an ambitious fiscaldeficit target of Rs1.1tn (4.7% of GDP),a difficult task in any year, said the an-alysts at Topline Research.

“The government is likely to over-shoot its deficit target with threats im-minent on revenue as well asexpenditure sides,” said NaumanKhan.

The analyst said the fiscal deficitwas expected to stand in a tune of5.5%-6% of GDP in FY13, assuming noarrear subsidies.

Further, the challenge of financingthe deficit would still persist in FY13.Given weak global economic outlook,uncertain Pak-US relationship andhigher debt payments, reduced sup-port from external account is expected.The onus once again laying on domes-tic sources that could keep inflationoutlook at elevated levels and interestrate downward sticky.

The government has set an ambi-tious tax revenue growth target of 24%over revised estimates (FBR revenuegrowth target of 22%) as against nom-inal GDP growth of 14% (9.5% infla-tion target and 4.3% real GDP growth).With broader tax relief to individu-als/companies, the impetus to tax col-lection primarily resides with taxauthorities drive to document theeconomy. Discouragement of Pre-sumptive tax regime (PTR) is a critical

step, in this regard, but political con-sideration would remain a key road-block in this regard. Our initialestimate suggests that tax revenue fallshort by approx. Rs75-100bn or 0.4%of GDP.

In addition, gov’t expects non taxrevenue to grow by 43% from revisedestimates.

Though, the estimates of majorcontributor i.e. SBP profits seems rea-sonable but areas of concerns emergein PTA profit (includes auction of 3Glicense) and defense services (includesreceipts from CSF). Heightened polit-ical noise in the election year would behindrance in the former, latter fate lieswithin Pak-US relationship. On thepositive front, the gov’t has increasedGIDS (Gas infrastructure Dev. Cess)from Rs8bn to Rs30bn that indicatestowards gov’t willingness to tap newrevenue generation avenues.

The gov't envisioned expendituregrowth of a mere 3%. Within subsidythe gov’t has earmarked Rs170bn fortariff differential as against revised es-timated of Rs457bn in FY12. Given 20-25% gap still persist between tariff andcost, and stalled energy sector re-

forms, we estimate tariff differential toovershoot the desired target to overRs250bn. The remedy could comefrom decline in the international oilprices that could reduce cost of elec-tricity generation.

Further, unlike previous years,curtailing the development expendi-ture to accommodate cost overruns inother expenditure seems less likelythis year. This given development ex-penditure as a potent tool for politicaltraction.

Though, mounting deficit wouldbe a problem but major challenge inFY13 comes from financing it. The re-liance would once again be on domes-tic sources similar to FY12.

The budget reveals that Rs1.1tndeficit estimated in FY12 (excludingelectricity arrears) would be 92% fi-nanced through domestic sources thathas constraint the liquidity position ofbanking channel.

Furthermore, similar scenario inFY13 and heightened chance of gov'tdependency on the central bank bor-rowing could keep long term inflationoutlook at elevated levels and thus, in-terest rates downward sticky.

the budget was overambitious;oh and they realise it already

Ogra hasalways beena little touchyabout LPgg Ogra screams bloody

murder over LPginstallations andcategorically informsPetroleum ministry thatany such move would beinstigated over their deadbody. Okay, they mightnot have said the deadbody bit, but they werereally really mad…

ISLAMABAD

ONLINE

The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority(OGRA) has opposed the plan to installLPG stations in the country and proposedthe Ministry Of Petroleum And NaturalResources to ensure availability of LPGfirst before initializing its import.Well informed sources in the Oil and GasRegulatory Authority (OGRA) told onlinethat ministry of petroleum and natural re-sources has initiated the plan to promoteLPG in the country and decided to import0.01 million LPG kits and cylinders whileOil and Gas Regulatory Authority hasshowed its reservations over the issue.Ministry has decided to import LPG cylin-ders from turkey and in this regard nego-tiations between the two countries are inprogress. Sources told that OGRA hasasked the ministry of petroleum and natu-ral resources to ensure the availability ofLPG in the system as LPG is not in largevolume to meet the demands of the gasand in future country may face shortageof LPG as likely these days of CNG.Sources further told that OGRA has pro-posed the government to ensure availabil-ity of thirty to forty thousand tons LPG inthe pipelines every time. Presence of suchquantity of LPG would facilitate to meetthe requirements in the country. Officials added that Asia is already thelargest LPG consuming market on thebasis of the market size and its poten-tial and LPG demand of the area is ex-pected to increase from 55million tonsin 2000 upto 85million tons by the endof this year.Especially, the modernization of energydemand environment is expected to causea big increase of LPG demand in house-hold and commercial part. The government has already taken stepsto reverse its CNG policy in an effort tobring CNG prices at par with POL pricesand to replace it with LPG," said the of-ficial adding that a ban had alreadybeen imposed on the import of CNG kitsand cylinders which was badly damag-ing investment.

Wall Street flatin volatile trade;JPmorgan shares upg Stocks were little changed

on Wednesday after tepideconomic data and amidpersistent uncertaintiesover europe's financial pathahead of the weekendelections in greece

NEW YORK

AGENCIES

But shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co(JPM.N) jumped as the bank's chief ex-ecutive, Jamie Dimon, defended the in-tent of the portfolio behind JPMorgan'srecent multibillion-dollar trading loss,telling lawmakers it was a genuine hedgethat would make the firm a lot of moneyif a credit crisis hit.Weighing on the market, retail sales, ex-cluding autos, fell in May to their worstlevel in two years, the latest data topoint to sluggish growth. The S&P RetailIndex .RLX lost 0.65 percent.Markets have been volatile this week,with the S&P 500 moving more than 1percent in each of the past two tradingdays, largely dictated by the events inthe euro zone. Greece elections arescheduled for Sunday, and the outcomecould mean the country embarks on apotentially destabilizing exit from theeuro zone. European shares .FTEU3were down 0.24 percent.Investors have pushed Spain's 10-yearborrowing costs to their highest levelsince the launch of the euro in 1999,adding to uncertainty over the plan tobail out the country's struggling banks."We don't know what the result of thebailout will be, nor the outcome of theelections, and that uncertainty is reallypreventing us from rallying or from sell-ing off," said Randy Frederick, directorof trading and derivatives for CharlesSchwab in Austin, Texas. "It has becomevery difficult to know how the marketwill react to anything."

ISLAMABAD

ONLINE

The government has linked the economicgrowth with recovery in the large-scalemanufacturing sector in financial year2012-13 which can capitalize upon its ex-isting idle capacity, say an official.

However, the agriculture sector alsoneeds to sustain the existing growth mo-mentum and prospective candidate to steerthe growth are wheat and rice in the majorcrops and many minor crops like fruits andchilly.

According to an official, the macroeco-nomic and political instability combinedwith natural disasters are impeding eco-nomic recovery. The economy offers room

for optimism especially when lot of idle ca-pacity is lying in the economy which meansonly small injection of investment couldreinvigorate growth momentum. Thegrowth outlook depends on industrial re-vival which in turn hinges upon energy sec-tor reforms. The affordable anduninterrupted energy supply can kick-startmuch needed momentum in the economy.

In fiscal year 2012-13 acceleration inthe growth is envisaged through improve-ment in productivity and competitiveness.Public investment though conditional cashgrants will be directed towards improve-ment of skills and entrepreneurshipthrough Entrepreneur and Youth Develop-ment Fund.

Official further said that cities will be

better managed through inclusive zoningand Urban Challenge Fund to create spacefor private investment and construction,foster domestic commerce, regional clus-ters and generate jobs. Markets will be re-formed through strengthening legal andregulatory framework to foster competi-tion.

Connectivity to people and place willbe improved starting from reforming rail-ways supported by PSDP through cashcontingent grant. On the front of gover-nance and delivery of public service, the ca-pacity of civil service will be enhancedthrough robust training and leadership &performance enhancement skills, perform-ance based remuneration and carried ad-vancement. Result Based Management

(RBM) will be introduced gradually in pub-lic institutions where funds are to be allo-cated on the basis of performance andresults.

It is pertinent to mention here that thegrowth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)for 2012-13 is targeted at 4.3 per cent withcontributions from agriculture, manufac-turing and services of 4.0 per cent, 4.1 percent and 4.6 per cent, respectively. Nomi-nal GDP is targeted to grow by 15.3 per centand GNP per capita is projected at Rs.136,885. The growth is subject to risks like de-terioration in energy availability, extremeweather fluctuations, and fiscal profligacy.The underlying assumption for inflation is9.5% per cent which is consistent to fiscalprudence and tightening.

Voila! The missing link…

g banks to finance as fiscal deficit in FY13 may soar up to 6pc

The cess imposition mystery

g govt links economic growth with recovery in industrial sector

PRO 14-06-2012_Layout 1 6/14/2012 2:00 AM Page 2

news

Thursday, 14 June, 2012

03hONeY: SeCUritY SitUatiON iN KaraChi

Qatar airways CeO voted on boardof industry body iata

BEIJING: Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer AkbarAl Baker has been voted onto the Board of Governors ofthe global aviation industry body, International AirTransport Association (IATA). Al Baker was selected byfellow airline executives attending IATA’s annual WorldAir Transport Summit in Beijing this week. His is anewly-created position to increase representation forMiddle East carriers on the revamped 10-member IATAboard. IATA is an international trade body, created over60 years ago by a group of airlines. Today, the interna-tional body represents the interests of over 240 airlinescomprising around 85 per cent of total air traffic. Lastyear at the IATA summit in Singapore, Al Baker wasvocal about the structure of IATA, its lack of trans-parency and questionable auditing processes. He alsohighlighted the lack of fair and equal representation ofairlines from the Middle East on IATA’s Board of Gov-ernors. “I have been lobbying IATA to be more transpar-ent and have a structure where it speaks on behalf of allairline members and not just for a few,” said Al Baker,speaking in China’s capital city.

Warid brings amazing Low Callrates for UK, USa and CanadaKarachI: Serving its customers to the fullest,Warid yet again brings a remarkable Internationalcalling offer. Now Warid users can make Interna-tional calls from Pakistan to UK, USA and Canada forjust Rs. 0.99+tax/min. Subscribers can avail thisamazing offer by sending SMS to 4747 by typing 'ON'and then dial 111 before the desired internationalnumber to experience the lowest calling rates coupledwith supreme voice quality.

emirates airline hosts travelagents Workshop in QuettaQUETTa: Emirates Airline held a Travel Agents Work-shop in Quetta with the objective to raise awareness aboutoptimizing the role of travel agents in the aviation sectorof Pakistan along with increasing market share and pen-etration in Baluchistan market. The event, led by the Emi-rates Sales team, was geared at engaging travel agents inaddition to introducing them to Emirates’ newest offer-ings. Through this event, Emirates intended to acknowl-edge their partners in Quetta and create greaterawareness through one-on-one interaction regarding thefunction of Emirates as their valued airline partner. Pres-ent in the workshop were Emirates representativesIftikhar Cheema, Sales Manager South Pakistan, ShirazKheraj, Senior Sales Executive, and Syed M Shoaib, Pric-ing Officer. The event was attended by 15 InternationalAir Transport Association (IATA) Agents including KozakTravel, Speedy Travels and Quetta Travels.

PtCL participates inbroadband-iPtV asia Conference 2012ISLaMaBaD: Pakistan Telecommunication CompanyLimited (PTCL) participated in the recently held “ Broad-band-IP TV Asia Conference 2012” in Kuala Lumpur, toproject its SmartTV and Broadband products and servicesto the international media and telecom community. PTCLSenior Manager IP Operations, Ather A. Baig representedhis Company at the prestigious forum, which was attendedby more than 1000 visitors, 150 internationally recognizedindustry experts & transformational players from over 62countries of Asia-Pacific region. Besides PTCL, other high-profile participating organizations included Google, NewsCorporation, Yahoo!, Motorola and NBC Universal.

Orient Centre inaugurated in Karachi

KarachI: Orient group of companies, a market leaderand award-winning innovator in consumer electronics isexpanding its network of ‘Orient Centers’ in numerouscities across Pakistan. The launch ceremony of the OrientCenter - Yousaf Plaza, Karachi was held with great enthu-siasm. Mr. Abdul Rehman Talat, Director Marketing of

Orient Group of Companies was present at the inaugura-tion ceremony said: “Orient is spreading its network ofOrient Centers nationwide so the primary mission is met,which is to be available all over Pakistan, and provide thebest customer support services to our valued customers.”

Ureminder: anotherinnovative service by UfoneKarachI: Once again Ufone has lived up to its reputa-tion of facilitating its customers with extreme value propo-sitions by launching UReminder service, one of the mostpromising VAS in the industry. This service will allow thesubscribers to set and manage reminders as and whenthey need. These reminders can be used for business orpersonal use and subscribers can chose from pre-definedreminders or set a custom reminder in their own voice.

range rover evoque launched

KarachI: The British Deputy High Commissionerand Director for UK Trade and Investment for Pak-istan, Francis Campbell along with the CEO of SigmaMotors - Col (R) Syed Zafar Uddin Ahmad, hosted thelaunch of Ranger Rover “Evoque” at the BritishDeputy High Commission in Karachi last evening. Thelaunch ceremony was attended by top business profes-sional in Pakistan, representatives of the diplomaticcorps and the media.

CORPORATE CORNER

Major Gainers

Company Open High Low Close Change Turnover

UniLever Pak 7162.50 7480.00 7249.00 7380.00 217.50 97Philip Morris Pak. 157.91 165.80 160.00 165.80 7.89 10,055Linde Pakistan Ltd 111.19 116.74 112.00 116.74 5.55 43,033Ferozsons (Lab) Ltd. 78.39 82.30 78.30 82.30 3.91 24,122Pak Gum & Chemical 115.19 118.50 118.49 118.50 3.31 249

Major Losers

Indus DyeingXD 394.98 380.00 375.24 375.99 -18.99 304Millat Tractors 478.16 490.00 468.50 472.82 -5.34 15,341Engro Corporation 107.12 109.30 101.77 102.13 -4.99 10,026,605Indus Motor Company 270.46 270.00 265.00 265.70 -4.76 6,825P.S.O. XD 239.87 241.50 234.00 235.29 -4.58 854,895

Volume Leaders

Engro Corporation 107.12 109.30 101.77 102.13 -4.99 10,026,605Bank Al-Falah 16.12 16.59 16.25 16.40 0.28 6,075,283P.T.C.L.A 13.89 14.49 13.72 13.84 -0.05 5,933,645Hub Power Company 40.22 41.00 40.00 40.77 0.55 4,721,555Jah.Sidd. Co. 14.08 14.48 13.61 13.77 -0.31 4,382,813

Interbank RatesUS Dollar 94.2847UK Pound 146.1224Japanese Yen 1.1851Euro 117.8652

Dollar EastBuy Sell

US Dollar 95.50 96.20Euro 118.32 119.52Great Britain Pound 147.36 148.82Japanese Yen 1.1850 1.1966Canadian Dollar 91.96 93.38Hong Kong Dollar 12.12 12.28UAE Dirham 25.82 26.05Saudi Riyal 25.32 25.51Australian Dollar 93.87 96.26

ISLAMABAD: The Ambassador of Bahrain, His ExcellencyMohamed Ebrahim Mohamed Abdulqader with Dr. IrfanMasud, Umer, Shahzad and Sonia on the dinner hostedby Dr.Irfan at his home.

and theydidn’t spareLahore either

LAHORE

APP

Bearish trend prevailed in LahoreStock Exchange on Wednesday as itshed 11.03 points, following the LSE-25 index opened with 3388.76 andclosed at 3377.73 points. The mar-ket's overall situation also did notcorrespond to an upward trend as itremained at 2.503 million shares toclose against previous turnover of2.689 million shares, showing adownward slide of 185,901 shares.While, out of the total 95 activescrips only 14 moved up, 59 re-mained equal and 22 shed values.Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim, SitaraChemical Industries and NishatMills Limited were Major Gainer ofthe day by recording increase in theirper share value by Re 0.75, Re 0.49and Re 0.38, respectively. EngroCorposration Limited, Adamjee In-surance Company and Muslim Com-mercial Bank Limited lost their pershare value by Rs 5.37, Rs 2.92 andRs 2.04, respectively. The VolumeLeader of the day included The Bankof Punjab Limited with 522,917share, Lafarge Pakistan Cement with501,600 shares and Soneri BankLimited with 300,000 shares.

iCCi lashes out atpower outages

ISLAMABAD

ONLINE

Expressing deep concern over pro-longed electricity load shedding,the Islamabad Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (ICCI) urgedthe Government to seriously resolvethe power crisis that are hitting allsectors of economy including tradeand industry. There is dire need toinitiate various power projects tobridge supply and demand gap as itis high time to develop all availableenergy generating resources includ-ing hydel, thermal and wind to endthe energy crisis, Asad Farid, ActingPresident ICCI made these remarksduring a meeting held at ChamberHouse. He was commenting overthe recently released economic sur-vey of FY2011-12 that indicated theestimated cost of power crisis to theeconomy which was around Rs.380billion per annum. He was con-cerned over a deteriorating electric-ity situation and stronglyemphasized upon the Governmentto give immediate attention to runthe existing units by removingfaults and providing gas to powerproducing units. ICCI President was of the view thathigh power tariff, a burden on busi-nesses and consumers, could be re-duced by utilizing the available waterresources more efficiently as thewater is the most viable and cheapestway to produce electricity.Asad Farid said that the powershortage has been one of the majorfactors that have caused Pakistan'seconomy to under perform its re-gional peers. He indicated that sud-den electricity supply cuts havenegatively impact the productionprocess as well and export of valueadded industries which was consid-ered to be a major foreign exchangeearner of Pakistan has alsorecorded a steep fall due to electric-ity load shedding. He urged theGovernment to take all possiblesteps for consistent supply of elec-tricity to industries. He said theICCI has repeatedly warned theGovernment about the massive lay-offs and industrial closures if it failsto immediately stop power outagesbut Government is not wiling to un-derstand the ground realities.

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

THE day saw the benchmark 100-shareindex decrease by 60.67 points to13,368.89 points against 13,429.56 pointsof Tuesday. Ahsan Mehanti, Director at

Arif Habib Investments Limited., said that thePakistan Stocks closed lower amid thin trade onconcerns for security situation in the city.

Total numbers of Shares of 322 companieswere traded on Wednesday, and at the end of theday total 110 stocks closed higher, total 133 are de-clined while 79 remained flat. The overall value ofshares traded during the day was Rs 3.464 billion.

The trading volumes at the ready-counter wererecorded higher at 77.658 million shares against70.704 million shares of the previous session. Thetrading value increasing to Rs 3.464 billion com-pared to Rs 2.724 billion of the previous session.The intraday high and low, respectively, stood at13,531.88 and 13, 341.23 points. Market capitaliza-tion declined to 3.415 trillion from 3.428 trillion.

Institutional support was witnessed in early ses-sion on hopes for improvement in Pak-US ties afterUS agrees to send NATO negotiators for agreementto Pakistan, viewed Mehanti. KSE All share-indexended the day at 9,422.33 points, down 38.18points or 0.40 percent, KSE 30-index stopped theday at 11,499 points, down 58.72 points or 0.51percent while the KMI 30-index slumped by 63.49points or 0.27 percent to end the day at 23,157.60.

He added that the lower global commodities,limited foreign interest and renewed concerns forallegations on judiciary played a catalyst role inbearish sentiments at KSE. Engro Corporation wasvolume leader of the day, 10.026 million shares,followed by Bank Al-Falah, P.T.C.L.A, Hub PowerCompany, Jahangir Siddiqi and Engro Foods Lim-ited with turnover of Rs 6.075 million, Rs 5.933million, Rs 4.721 million, Rs 4.382 million and Rs3.959 million shares respectively. The UniLeverPakistan and Philip Morris Pakistan, up Rs 217.50and Rs 7.89, led highest price gainers while, IndusDyeing XD and Millat Tractors, down Rs 18.99 andRs 5.34 respectively, led the losers.

Karachi bears hammeramerican bullsg a glimmer of hope apropos Pak-US tie amelioration

threatened to instigate a bull surge, but then bears remindedeveryone about the security apprehension in the city. and sothe index took a 60-point plunge

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