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BUSINESS

BFriday, 17 May, 2013

FEG to be scrapped in favour of 10th five-year plan

MONITORING DESK

Dissention amongst the top ranks of econo-mists in the country has led the caretakergovernment to call for scrapping of the Plan-ning Commission’s Framework for Eco-nomic Growth (FEG), in favour of the 10thFive-Year Economic Plan. According to de-tails, The FEG had been prepared by formerPlanning Commission deputy chairman DrNadeemul Haq, who was recently dismissedfrom his post by the caretaker govt.When Dr Haq became the deputy chairman,the Planning Commission had been prepar-ing the 10th Plan for 2010-15, which he or-dered to shelve. In its place, he hadprovided his own strategies for economicdevelopment. The FEG was later approvedby the National Economic Council, thecountry’s highest economic decision-mak-ing body. However, the FEG was never im-plemented and lacked broader acceptance.The 10th Five-Year Plan is a draft docu-ment put together by the current finance ad-viser’s brother, Dr Rashid Amjad, in thelatter’s capacity as acting chief economist atthat time. Dr Rashid was relieved of his du-ties when Dr Haq took over as deputy chair-man of the Planning Commission.Differences between the Plan and the FEGThe main focus of the Five-Year Plan(2010-15) was on increasing investment ineducation and health and to improve livingstandards. The Plan had also promised tousher in an era of development in parts ofthe country that had remained underdevel-oped thus far. FEG’s strategy on the otherhand was based on sustained reforms thatwould build an efficient and knowledgeablegovernance structure, and create markets indesirable and well-connected locations.

Global demand for goldjewellery up by 12% ISLAMABAD: Global demand for goldjewellery witnessed a 12 percent increaseduring the first quarter (January-March) ofthe year 2013. According to the latestWorld Gold Council Gold Demand Trendsreport, total jewellery demand was up by 12percent year-on-year, in the first quarter of2013, driven by main Asian markets. Thereport said in the United States, demandshowed a significant increase of 6 percentfor the first time since 2005. The reports onthe period from January-March, 2013, showa market driven by diverse global demandand an appetite for owning gold jewellerythat continues to grow. APP

NEWS DESK

CHINESE police de-stroyed £21 million ofcounterfeit designergoods on Thursday ina lavish publicity stuntaimed at showing the

world they are cracking down on the ille-gal trade. Fake wine, cigarettes, handbagsand cosmetics were all thrown on a fire inGuiyang, southwest China’s GuizhouProvince.

But authorities have a long way to go- a recent UN report revealed a staggering75 percent of all fake goods seized world-wide from 2008 to 2010 were primarilyfrom China.

The World Customs Organisation alsosaid the booming industry accounts forsome two percent of world trade despiteit being considered a ‘soft’ form of crime.

The UN report stated that counterfeitgoods accounted for one third of the or-ganised crime in East Asia and the Pacificis worth approximately $ 90 billion.

Most counterfeits fall into four cate-gories: CDs and DVDs; accessories,watches and footwear; tobacco products;and textiles.

Counterfeit commerce over the Inter-net has soared in the past couple of years,turning what had been an irritant to busi-nesses into a serious competitive threat.

Last year an entire city in China liter-ally shut up shop when nearly all of itsstores closed after it was falsely reportedthat officials were planning a clampdown

on the sale of counterfeit products.Officials in Shenyang city were

forced to beg store owners to reopen after95 percent of shops remained closed.

The online rumour sparked fears thatthe local council needed to get more rev-enue and had ordered taxmen to comedown hard on shop owners.

Western countries have often com-plained China is woefully behind in its ef-fort to stamp out the trade, although it hasstarted to crack down.

In November police arrested 73 peo-ple suspected of manufacturing and sell-ing almost 1 million fake luxury bags inChina.

The Ministry of Public Security saidpolice seized more than 20,000 fake LouisVuitton, Hermes and Coach bags andclosed 37 sites where the forgery ringmade or sold the bags.

Police said the ring sold more than960,000 bags and exported many to theUnited States and Middle East.

The ministry said police in southernGuangdong province uncovered the for-gery ring in January 2012 and that Chi-nese agents worked with US customs andimmigration officials in the case.

It said authorities seized assets worth5 billion Yuan (£52million), including un-sold counterfeit goods, production equip-ment and bank accounts.

Another series of raids took place inJuly 2012 across 190 cities - the productsseized were valued at £117 million.

More than 2,000 people were arrestedand 1,100 facilities were destroyed.

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

Arif Naqvi, Founder and Group Chief Ex-ecutive of The Abraaj Group, has receivedthe 2013 Oslo Business for Peace Award ata ceremony at the Oslo City Hall, Norway.Naqvi is the first Pakistani national and thefirst chief executive from the global privateequity industry to receive this award. Theaward was presented to Naqvi by the Gov-erning Mayor of Oslo Stian Berger Røs-land, and the Business for PeaceFoundation Chairman Per L Saxegaard.

The Oslo Business for Peace Awardis one of the highest forms of recogni-tion given to global business leaders forfostering peace and stability through

creating shared values between busi-ness and society.

The search for honorees is a joint ef-fort undertaken between the InternationalChamber of Commerce (ICC), the UnitedNations Development Program (UNDP)and the Oslo-based Business for PeaceFoundation. The 2013 Award Committeeconsists of Nobel Peace and EconomicsPrize Laureates: Professor MuhammadYunus, winner of the Nobel prize forpeace in 2006; and Professor Michael ASpence, winner of the Nobel prize in eco-nomics in 2001.

Naqvi has been chosen as an honoreebecause of his work in promoting a stake-holder culture and his strong convictionthat the relationship between business and

society - just like the relationship betweenbusiness and finance - should be both mu-tually beneficial and value accretive.

Commenting on receiving the award,Mr Naqvi said, “It is an honour to havebeen chosen as a recipient of this award.Previous honorees, as well as this year’s re-cipients, include global leaders in respon-sible, sustainable and ethical businesspractices and I am humbled to be amongsttheir company and to be part of theirachievements. We all have a duty to con-duct and manage our businesses to thehighest possible standards. My colleaguesand I have always believed that a sustain-able investment approach focusing onstakeholders as well as shareholders cancreate social benefits alongside strong fi-nancial returns. Engaging with communi-ties is a core part of our approach wheninvesting in growth markets since manyoutcomes rely on collaboration betweenmultiple stakeholders - specifically busi-ness, government and civil society.”

Chinese police destroy £ 21m of counterfeit designer goods

Arif Naqvi gets 2013 Oslo Business For Peace AwardNaqvi is the first PakistaNi NatioNal to receive this award from the BusiNess for Peace fouNdatioN

KARACHI

APP

Karachi Chamber of Commerce and In-dustry (KCCI) President MuhammadHaroon Agar stressed that Pak-istan should focus on sign-ing preferential andfree trade agree-ments with asmany countries aspossible. For in-creased exportsof the country,he said, it wouldbe imperative topromote regionaltrade by encourag-ing exports to Indiaand other SAARCcountries, ASEAN coun-tries, the Central Asian Re-publics, China, Middle East and NorthAfrica, Iran and Eurasian region. TheKCCI President was exchanging viewswith the World Bank’s Consultant onTrade and Finance Sadia Khan during

her visit to KCCI, said a press release byKCCI. Agar recommended setting upsector-specific export promotion coun-cils and export-import (EXIM) bank inPakistan. “This is very much required

for promoting and developing ex-ports of the country,” he

said. Trade Develop-ment Authority of

Pakistan (TDAP)should create di-rect linkages withs t a k e h o l d e r s ,local and abroad,to materialise re-sources towards

the pursuit of aquantum leap in ex-

ports. For successfulexport promotion it is

vital that the product sup-ply chain is strengthened spe-

cially to add value, Agar added. TheKCCI chief said enhancing industriali-sation and exports is the only answer tothe revival and strengthening of the na-tional economy. Due to energy crisis

and high cost of manufacturing, our ex-port oriented industry is facing issuescompeting, he said. Export figures arenot truly aligned with the existing exportpotential, he said. He proposed that theincoming government should appointExports Attaches at Pakistan’s foreignmissions, responsible for disseminatinguseful information regarding local com-panies, buyers’ demand and supplytrends besides organising exhibitionsand fairs to help exporters tap new mar-kets all over the world. The WorldBank’s Consultant on Trade and FinanceSadia Khan recognised the role of KCCIin socio-economic development of Pak-istan and promotion of commerce andindustry. She sought KCCI’s input toidentify issues and challenges for tradersto access trade finance facilities from fi-nancial institutions, to gauge demand forworking capital and common meansemployed to address demand from bothinformal and formal channels. She alsosought views on the notion that accessto finance from formal sector is by largethe factor hindering export trade.

Pakistan needs to sign free tradepacts with countries: KCCI chief

PASSCO purchases over600,000 MT of wheatLAHORE: Pakistan Agriculture Storageand Services Corporation (PASSCO) pur-chased more than 600,000 metric tonnes(MT) wheat in the current season.Distribution of `Bardana’ (empty bags)continues at wheat procurement centres ofPASSCO in various parts of the countryunder a fair and transparent policy, manag-ing director Maj Gen Tauqeer Ahmed saidon Thursday after visiting various wheatprocurement centres.Strict vigilance was being done by our offi-cers nominated for the task, he said.He said during his recent visit wheat grow-ers from various zones had expressed con-fidence in the transparent procurementpolicy of PASSCO.He further said he had issued instructionsto field officers to strictly follow the crite-ria laid down under the wheat procurementpolicy 2013. “We want to ensure that farm-ers get due return of their produce andavoid all types of discounts they have toface by the hands of middlemen,” he said.“Stability in the price of wheat is our primeobject to protect interests of farmers,” hesaid. He said presence of PASSCO in themarket to procure wheat from farmers wasa solid reason behind stability of wheatprices. APP

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BUSINESSFriday, 17 May, 2013

ABL Asset Managementappoints MCB FinancialServices as trustee forABL Islamic Stock Fund

KARACHI: In a ceremony held at the head office of

ABL Asset Management Company Ltd., a Trust Deed

was signed between ABL Asset Management

Company Limited (ABL AMC) and MCB Financial

Service (MCB FSL), whereby ABL AMC appointed

MCB FSL as trustee for their upcoming ABL Islamic

Stock Fund. Mr Farid A. Khan, CEO ABL AMC, and

Mr. Khawaja Anwar Hussain, CEO MCB FSL, signed

the agreement. ABL Asset Management Company

Ltd. (ABL AMC) is a wholly owned subsidiary of

Allied Bank Limited (ABL) and is currently rated

AM2- by JCR-VIS which denotes “high management

quality”. The company is managing over Rs. 20

billion of retail and institutional funds and is ranked

amongst the largest fund management company in

Pakistan. ABL Islamic Stock Fund is a shariah

complaint, open-end fund which will provide

investors an attractive opportunity to tap the

enormous potential of Pakistan’s equity markets

and earn halal profits. The fund will be launched by

end of May 2013 and will be available at all

branches of Allied Bank and ABL AMC. ABL Islamic

Stock Fund will be managed by ABL AMC under the

guidance of Mufti Irshad Ahmed. After the

successful launch of ABL Islamic Income Fund, this

will be the second Islamic fund in ABL AMC’s

portfolio. The firm already manages the highly

successful ABL Stock Fund, which delivered an

annual return of 45.3% (as at 15th May 2013). PR

WWF and SNGPL joinhands for environmentaleducation campaignLAHORE: World Wide Fund for Nature – Pakistan

(WWF-Pakistan), in partnership with Sui Northern

Gas Pipelines LTD (SNGPL), held an

environmental education activity at a local school

here on Thursday. The activity was conducted

under the “Spellathon” campaign of WWF-

Pakistan, in which children from schools across

Pakistan learn about issues such as

sustainability, environment, species and water

and sanitation and then compete in a spelling

competition. This year’s campaign theme is

“Energy Conservation”, which goes beyond the

general concept of electricity being the only

energy source. Officials from SNGPL conducted

an awareness raising session for students, which

was followed by a prize distribution ceremony.

Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Jawad Ashraf,

Senior Media Consultant for SNGPL said, “usually

people perceive only electricity as an energy

conservation issue. We are creating awareness

about the fact that it is also important for us all

to conserve natural gas, which is important for

home and industrial use.” SNGPL officials found

the children to be receptive of the message. PR

FWBL and SLIC inkagreement

ISLAMABAD: First Women Bank Ltd. (FWBL)

and State Life Insurance Corporation (SLIC)

have entered into a strategic partnership to sell

insurance products under Bancassurance. First

Women Bank Ltd. is the only bank for women in

the country has a network of 41 branches in 24

cities of Pakistan while SLIC is the largest life

insurance Corporation operating in Pakistan,

having 65% market share. It also operates in

Gulf countries. The agreement was signed by

Mrs. Shafqat Sultana President First Women

Bank Ltd. and Mr. Irfan Baloch –GM

Bancassurance SLIC at a ceremony held at State

Life Head Office. GBA Services, SLIC’s exclusive

Third Party Administrators (TPA) for

Bancassurance will provide technical,

marketing/advertising support including state of

the art online POS System for instant coverage

to FWBL customers, new product development,

and staff training. PR

Etihad Airways maidenAmsterdam flight takes offKARACHI: The inaugural flight of Etihad Airways,

the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has

taken off for the Netherlands’ capital, Amsterdam.

Flight EY77, carrying the KL code of Dutch national

carrier, KLM, departed Abu Dhabi airport on

schedule at 9.30am local time today, Wednesday 15

May. The launch of the service is another important

development in the strategic partnership between

Etihad Airways and KLM. First announced in

October 2012, the partnership involves the two

airlines codesharing on multiple routes across each

other’s networks. The new daily service between

Abu Dhabi and Amsterdam complements KLM’s

flights on that route, which carries Etihad Airways’

EY code, ensuring the two airlines will offer a

combined double daily service from the summer.

Passengers can now have direct access to

Amsterdam via Abu Dhabi from Pakistan with 31

weekly flights, daily from Karachi, Lahore,

Islamabad and twice a week from Peshawar. PR

Net Income of Al BarakaBanking Group jumps by15% to $66 million

MANAMA: The Bahrain based leading Islamic

banking group, Al Baraka Banking Group B.S.C

(ABG) announced that its net income increased by

15% and total operating income by 16% in the first

quarter of 2013 compared to the same period of

2012. Similarly, statement of financial positions

witnessed moderate increases. Total assets

increased by 2%, total deposits including equity of

investment accountholders by 2% while total

financing and investments remained unchanged at

the end of March 2013 as compared with the end of

December 2012. The Group results in the first

quarter of 2013 confirms once again the successful

business strategies carried out by the Group and its

units subsidiaries, based on the diversification of

products and services offered to different customer

segments, with emphasis on quality and

competitiveness, as well as the geographical

expansion of the branch network, and improve the

human and operational environment. The financial

statements of the Group for the first quarter of

2013 showed that the continued improvement of

business environment reflected positively on

income, with total operating income of US$ 233

million in the first quarter of 2013, an increase of

16% over same period in 2012. After deducting all

operating expenses, net operating income

amounted US$ 116 million in first quarter of 2013,

which represents an increase of 18% compared to

the net operating income during the first quarter of

2012. The net income amounted to US$ 66 in first

quarter of 2013 compared to US$ 57 million in first

quarter of 2012, which reflects an increase of 15%.

This increase was achieved despite the increases in

the operating expenses of the Group on account of

further expansion in the branch network and

enhancements in IT infrastructure and human

resources. The net income attributable to parent’s

shareholders reached US$ 37 million, which

represent an increase of 13% comparing to the

same period last year. The total assets of the Group

amounted to US$ 19.5 billion as at the end of

March 2013, an increase of 2% over the

comparative figure as at the end of 2012. Financing

and investments portfolio amounted to US$

14.3billion as at the end of March 2013,

maintaining its same level as the end of December

2012. Customer deposit and other accounts and

equity of investment accountholders have

witnessed an increase of 2% from US$ 16.4 billion

at the end of December 2012 to US$ 16.7 billion at

the end of March 2013, which indicates continued

customer confidence and loyalty to the Group.

Commenting on these results, Sheikh Saleh Abdullah

Kamel, Chairman of Al Baraka Banking Group, said

“The political and economic implications continued in

a number of Arab countries during the first quarter

of 2013, while the efforts to treat the sovereign debt

crisis in Euro zone continued internationally. These

createdcautious business environment for banks in

the world, including the Arab banks, although they

well distanced themselves from the toxic assets

globally. Therefore, we are proud with the good

results achieved by ABG during the first quarter of

2013, which reflects the Group’s commitment to the

true Islamic banking model and prudential business

strategies, which enabled it to deal wisely with

these conditions and to continue expanding in the

business.” PR

CORPORATE CORNER

02

B

Major Gainers

COMPANY OPEN HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE TURNOVERGillette Pak 324.75 340.00 339.00 340.00 15.25 2,500Pak services 252.00 263.90 263.50 263.90 11.90 600mithchellsfruit 375.00 384.00 375.00 384.00 9.00 400salfi textile 161.00 169.00 161.00 169.00 8.00 3,000linde Pakistan 168.26 175.00 168.26 175.00 6.74 8,000

Major LosersNestle Pak. Xd 6900.00 6700.00 6600.00 6650.00 -250.00 60island textile 635.00 606.00 605.00 606.00 -29.00 200shezan inter. 628.26 605.00 596.85 600.28 -27.98 700Bata (Pak) 1767.01 1855.00 1685.00 1740.50 -26.51 500wyeth Pak ltd 1488.83 1499.00 1440.00 1469.50 -19.33 100

Volume Leaders

Japan Power 3.02 3.97 3.31 3.48 0.46 35,644,500southern electric 2.57 3.57 3.10 3.18 0.61 34,174,500B.o.Punjab Xr 11.80 11.79 10.91 11.00 -0.80 15,547,000P.i.a.c.(a) 6.12 6.82 6.12 6.75 0.63 14,223,500NiB Bank limited 2.44 2.67 2.45 2.51 0.07 11,811,000

Interbank Ratesusd Pkr 98.5269GBP Pkr 149.9875JPY Pkr 0.9611euro Pkr 126.8337

ForexBUY SELL

us dollar 99.80 100.05 euro 127.24 127.48 Great Britain Pound 151.10 151.35 Japanese Yen 0.9622 0.9722 canadian dollar 96.72 98.42 hong kong dollar 12.59 12.83 uae dirham 26.98 27.23 saudi riyal 26.48 26.73

ISLAMABAD

APP

REFRIGERATORS anddeep freezers production inthe country during the lastnine months of the currentfinancial year registered anincrease of

7.99 percent and 1.17 per-cent, respectively. Duringthe period from July-March2012-13, 804,965 units ofrefrigerators were producedas compared to 745,421units produced in the corre-sponding period of the lastfinancial year.

According data of Pak-istan Bureau of Statistics(PBS), in the month ofMarch 2013, 94,934 refrig-erators were produced ascompared to 96,909 refriger-ators produced in the samemonth of the last financialyear. Meanwhile, deepfreezers’ productionrecorded a 1.17 percent in-crease as about 36,059 deepfreezers were produced dur-ing the last nine months of

the current financial year as compared to36,482 units produced in the same period oflast year. However, air conditioners’ and elec-tric bulbs’ production decreased by 19.85 per-cent and 6.22 percent, respectively, as 122,742air conditioners were produced during the lastnine months as compared to 155,3143 unitsproduced in the same period of last year.

On a month-on-month (MoM)basis, air conditioners’ pro-duction witnessed a 12.80percent increase. In March,2013 43,236 air condition-ers were produced against38,331 units produced inthe same period last year,PBS data revealed.

Per the data 122,742electric bulbs were pro-duced in the last ninemonths of the current fi-nancial year as against153,134 bulbs produced inthe same period of lastyear. During the periodunder review, electric fans’production increased by0.79 percent as about1,292,077 fans produced ascompared to 1,281,965fans produced in July-March 2011-12.

Refrigerators, deepfreezers productionup by 7.99 %, 1.17 %

Service trade deficit narrows 81% in 3 quartersISLAMABAD: Pakistan services trade deficitnarrowed by 80.99 percent during the first threequarters of the current fiscal year as exportssurged by over 36.94 percent with imports show-ing negative growth of 4.33 percentThe overall services’ exports from the countrywere recorded at $5.336 billion during July-March (2012-13) against exports of $3.896 bil-lion during July-March (2011-12), showinggrowth of 36.94 percent, according to data ofPakistan Bureau of Statistic (PBS).On the other hand, the imports of services intothe country during the first three quarters of thecurrent year decreased by 4.33 percent by goingdown from last years imports of $ 5.994 billionto $5.735 billion, the data revealed.Based on this data, the overall trade deficit dur-ing the period under review was recorded at $0.398 billion against the deficit of 2.097 billionduring last year, showing a negative growth of80.99 billion.However on a year-on-year (YoY) basis, servicesexports from the country decreased by 2.91 per-cent in March 2013 as against the same month oflast year.Exports of services during March 2013 stood at$0.440 billion against exports of $0.454 billionduring March 2012.On the other hand, imports of services into thecountry witnessed nominal increase of 0.28 per-cent, going up from $0.667 billion during March2012 to $0.668 billion in March 2013, the PBSdata revealed.On a month-on-month (MoM) basis, exports aswell as imports of services increased by 33.10percent and 22.50 percent, respectively, duringMarch 2013 against February 2013. According tothe PBS data, exports of services during Febru-ary 2013 were recorded at $0.331 billion whereasimports stood at $0.546 billion. APP

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