Minister for talks with transporters to end strike

KARACHI  - Provincial Minister for Transport Mumtaz Jakhrani has directed the Secretary Transport to convene a meeting of goods transporters immediately and resolve their issues to end the strike.
   According to a handout issued here on Sunday, taking notice of the strike called by goods transporters, the Minister asked the officials concerned to resolve the complaints of the transporters related to Sindh Government with the consultation of their representatives.
   It may be mentioned here that trade activities of the country is suffering huge financial losses due to strike by  goods transporters which entered fifth day on Sunday, resulting in piling up of import and export shipments at the ports.  The transporters are demanding to abort the decision to impose Income Tax and provide  protection to their vees on roads.
According to traders, the strike has inflicted losses of up to $200 million and fruits and vegetables were rotting, as the strike has resulted in piling up of export shipments and outbound cargo at Karachi port and Port Qasim. Similarly, goods of millions of rupees were also stuck in factories owing to the truckers’ complete strike.
The goods transporters are demanding the reversal of the decision to increase income tax and action against the frequent incidents of extortion and kidnappings.

Pakistan to become 11th biggest economy soon: Dar

ISLAMABAD  - Federal Minister for Finance, Muhammad Ishaq Dar expressed the hope that Pakistan would soon become 11th the biggest economy due to comprehensive measures taken by the government.
Talking to a private TV channel, he said that international economic rating agencies were expressing positive outlook of country’s economy. Dar said that PML-N government had inherited $9 billion loan from previous regimes, which had to be returned.
He was of the view that government had taken loans from International Monetary Fund to pay the installments for saving the country from becoming a defaulter.
He said that Pakistan loan was Rs2,946 billion rupees till 1999, but in previous regimes it piled up to more than Rs. 12,000 billion.
Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif was committed to put the country in right direction, he said and added that budget was made according to the economic agenda of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N).
The minister said that PML-N government was adhering to the policy of austerity as Prime Minister’s discretionary funds were stopped and bout 40 percent expenditures of Prime Minister’s House were also reduced in this regard.
Electricity tariff was not increased in the last 15 months by previsou regimes to get political benefits, he said adding that electricity prices had direct impact on price hike.
Dar said that government had ensured the payment of circular debt amounting to 503 billion rupees to overcome energy crisis. About 1700 MW electricity was included in the national grid station, he added.
Responding a question, he said that on the direction of the PM, the government was giving subsidy of billion rupees to the domestic users of electricity, saying that users of 200 units were exempted from new raise in price of electricity.
The minister said that Prime Minister had stressed American leadership to provide access to its markets for boosting trade and economic activities. He said that investment activities in the country would provide employment opportunities to the people.
The Minister said that government was providing subsidy amounting to Rs. 175 billion on diesel.
To another question, Ishaq Dar said that country’s economy was heading towards recovery, adding that during previous month prices of 33 basic commodities were sustained, prices of 7 items were reduced while increase was witnessed in prices of 13 items.
To another question, he said that about 8500 MW electricity would be included in national grid station during the next year as government was working on mega power projects.
He said that construction of two mega water sector development projects including Dasu and Diamir Bhasha Dams would help overcome energy crisis and water shortage in the country.

PTA’s campaign to curb grey traffic continues

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA), in its continued efforts to curb grey traffic, has blocked more than 200,000 Inernet Protocl (IP) addreses, 1382 mobile SIMs and 3160 phones/devices through their International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers during last one month.
The grey monitoring system has been operational since early October 2013 and has the capability to automatically block such IPs those are not in the PTA’s white list.
In this connection, a high level meeting was chaired by chairman PTA to review the progress of grey traffic monitoring system. Furthermore, after the installation of Grey Traffic monitoring equipment, as per the directions of Grey Traffic Monitoring Committee, PTA has conducted an extensive audit of the white list IPs.  Now white listing of IPs is being done after a very stringent check and a strict SOP has been made in this regard. As a result the IP white list has been rationalized and reduced from 51000 to 10,360.
In addition to this, PTA has launched a 24/7 complaint center. Complainants can lodge their complaints through email (complaint@pta.gov.pk), toll free phone (080055055), fax (051-2878127) and free sms (668) wherein they can report numbers in case any local number appears when receiving an international call. Through this facility 1944 complaints have been received till date. The numbers reported are not only blocked, but are also analyzed for legal action.
In a recent case, grey traffic was detected by PTA and on further analysis it was established that a LDI (Long Distance and International) operator M/s Wise Communication (Pvt) Ltd. was involved in grey traffic. A joint raid was conducted by PTA and FIA and illegal terminating equipment was confiscated and culprits apprehended.
As per initial estimates, a total of 11 million minutes per month were being illegally brought into Pakistan by Wise Communication (Pvt) Ltd. In another two successful raids conducted in Karachi, PTA along with FIA confiscated nine (09) gateways.

Punjab chambers, trade bodies representatives meet CM, Dar

LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday convened a meeting of the representatives of the business community including presidents of all the chambers in Punjab and chairmen of trade and industry associations.
CM Shahbaz Sharif, speaking at the MoUs signing ceremony among Punjab chambers of commerce & industry, appreciated the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry for establishing internationally recognized Mediation Center at its premises and enhancing its scope to other chambers of Punjab.
LCCI president Engineer Sohail Lashari inked MoUs on behalf of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry while Tariq Bilal, President Gujrat Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Sohail Bin Rashees, President Faisalabad Chamber, Dr. Sarfraz Bashir, President Sialkot Chamber, Dr. Shimial Dawood, President Rawalpindi Chamber and Nauman Salahuddin represented Gujranwala Chamber.
The Chief Minister Punjab said that the establishment of Mediation Center would go a long way in strengthening of a mechanism of out of court settlement of disputes in the province of Punjab. He said that the International Finance Corporation and Department for International Development (DFID) have taken a step in right direction that would help increase foreign investment in Pakistan.
Shahbaz Sharif said that Punjab government would extend every possible help to Lahore Chamber of Commerce for strengthening the mechanism of mediation in the province and necessary legislation would be done soon to give legal cover to the process.
Speaking on the occasion, MNA Pervez Malik said that the LCCI Mediation Center would enable the business community to get their disputes resolved in shortest possible time.
LCCI President Engineer Sohail Lashari shared with the audience that LCCI is the first and only Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Pakistan that has a panel of more than 40 internationally accredited mediators having diverse professional backgrounds who are trained by the Center for Effective Dispute Resolution, United Kingdom.
Qualified mediators are readily available at LCCI Business Dispute Resolution Center to help disputing parties settle general contract disputes and relating to trade and tax in particular. 

President LCCI acknowledged the role of trained and registered mediators towards effective dispute resolution.
Ross Forgousan said that the availability of mediation services as being provided by qualified mediators at LCCI Business Dispute Resolution Center would contribute to improving investment climate and will serve as a good signal for foreign and local companies to increase their business activities and create jobs.
Meanwhile, Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry president thanked the Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Chief Minister Shahabaz Sharif for accepting a number of its demands including simplification of tax return forms and abolition of gas pass for manufacturing units.
He said that the government decision to make Income Tax Return Form single page from the next financial year would further strengthen government efforts aimed at bringing more people into the tax net besides putting an end to rampant corruption.

Energy, better law & order must to benefit from GSP+

LAHORE - The value-added textile industry has lauded the government for achieving the favourable support from EU’s International Trade Committee which has approved the duty-free status for Pakistan, leading to boost the exports of the value-added textile sector and create job opportunities.
The industry representatives urged the government to fulfill energy needs of the textile industry, besides controlling law and order, as the two issues have been hitting hard the Punjab-based value-added industry and GSP Plus status will be of no use in present circumstances.
Besides improving law and order, controlling terrorism and providing non-stop gas and electricity supply, the government will have to relax import policy to empower value-added textile industry to get the maximum benefit from GSP Plus Status, as the country has no raw material except cotton, they noted.  They lamented that Pakistan could utilise only three textile categories out of total 73 types relaxed by the EU countries for duty-free import from Pakistan in 2013.
With strict import policies in Pakistan, the local garment industry is not fully prepared to take advantage of duty-free access to the EU market under GSP Plus status mainly due to shortage of raw material, they added.
Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association NZ Senior Vice Chairman, Jawwad A Chaudhry, appreciated the efforts of PM Nawaz Sharif, Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif, Governor Ch Sarwar, State Minister for Commerce and Textile Industry Khurram Dastgir and Commerce Secretary Qasim Niaz for effective and successful diplomatic initiatives.
PRGMEA leader urged the European Parliament’s plenary session meeting during second week of December, 2013 to finally pass the resolution in favour of Pakistan which is a frontline state and ally of the US and EU in its fight against terrorism.
He said exporters from various industries in Pakistan are expecting the GSP Plus access to European markets, which promise huge potential for multiplying the country’s current exports and appealed to the authorities to comply with all the requirements of GSP Plus.
He also pointed out the condition that the export market share of any product should not exceed the 6% ceiling of import of European Union. He disclosed that most of the textile items included in the list of GSP plus items have already crossed the 6% ceiling set by the GSP plus condition.
He expressed his disappointment over the FBR delaying tactics, as no company has get refund for 2 percent sales tax on purchases of raw material for export since Feb 2013 while refund claims of billions of rupees of 2010 are also pending yet.
He said that revenue generation through taxes is not a good approach by keeping the value-added textile industry hostage.

20m kids in ME to get polio vaccine after Syria outbreak

GENEVA - The UN has launched the largest-ever polio vaccination campaign in the Middle East, aiming to immunise more than 20 million children in seven countries amid an outbreak of the crippling virus in war-torn Syria, officials said on Friday.
“The polio outbreak in Syria is not just a tragedy for children; it is an urgent alarm - and a crucial opportunity to reach all under-immunised children wherever they are,” Peter Crowley, who heads the UN children’s agency’s polio division, said in a statement.
The World Health Organisation last week confirmed the polio outbreak in Syria, which had been free of the disease since 1999.
The highly infectious disease affects mainly children under five and can cause paralysis in a matter of hours. Some cases can be fatal.
“In a region that had not seen polio for nearly a decade, in the last 12 months poliovirus has been detected in sewage samples from Egypt, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” WHO and UNICEF said in a joint statement.
“It has so far left 10 children paralysed, and poses a risk of paralysis to hundreds of thousands of children across the region,” they stressed, pointing out that Syria has seen its immunisation rate plummet from more than 90 percent before the conflict began in March 2011 to 68 percent today.
The whole region will now face an intense vaccination push over the next six months, and will be on heightened alert to spot cases that may have been missed, they said.
More than 650,000 children in Syria, including 116,000 in the strife-torn northeastern Deir Ezzor province where the polio outbreak was confirmed last week, had already received emergency vaccinations, UNICEF and the WHO said.
A new campaign aims to vaccinate 1.6 million children in Syria against polio, measles, mumps and rubella, while Jordan plans to immunise 3.5 million across the country, the UN agencies said, adding that some 18,800 kids had received vaccines in Jordan’s Zaatari refugee camp in recent days.
In Iraq, a vaccination campaign has started in the west of the country, with another pending in the Kurdistan region, while Lebanon plans to launch a nationwide vaccination push this week and Turkey and Egypt by the middle of the month.
Thanks to a global drive against polio, the virus is now endemic in just three countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria.
“Preliminary evidence indicates that the poliovirus is of Pakistani origin and is similar to the strain detected in Egypt, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” Friday’s statement said.

GSP Plus status to help generate jobs

LAHORE/Karachi - Terming market access under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP Plus) a great achievement for the country, Governor Punjab Ch Muhammad Sarwar has said that it will help in providing jobs to youth besides earning foreign exchange for the country. 
He was addressing 2nd regional seminar on “Corporate Social Responsibility – A Promise of Rural Development and Service Delivery” organised by National Forum for Environment and Health (NFEH) in collaboration with Oil & Gas Development Company (OGDC), Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and Human Development Foundation (HDF), here at a local hotel on Friday.
The Governor recalled that there had been stiff resistance from various countries about giving access to products from Pakistan. Several EU states have raised issues about terrorism, women and workers rights. However, we told them that over 50,000 people sacrificed their lives during ongoing war on terrorism. The overall financial impact of this war has been calculated at $80 billion. We tried to convince them that market access was immensely important for country like Pakistan. The jobs created as a result of this market opening would help in provision of employment opportunities to the youth and women.
Governor said he was not so hopeful about getting access under GPS Plus. However, we managed a win with a margin of one vote.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers & Exporters Association has greatly lauded the decision of European Union Parliament’s International Trade Committee to grant GSP plus to Pakistan.
In a joint statement Shahzad Azam Khan, Central Chairman, M. Jawed Bilwani, Chairman, Pakistan Apparel Forum; Kamran Chandna, Chairman, PAKSEA and Khwaja M. Usman, Chairman, PCFA hoped that this would boost the exports of the value-added textile sector and create job opportunities.
They urged the European Parliament’s plenary session meeting during second week of December, 2013 to finally pass the resolution in favour of Pakistan which is a frontline state and ally of the US and EU in its fight against terrorism.
However they said that it was important to note that the GSP plus status if granted in the European Parliament’s plenary session to be held on December 10, 2013 would require our Government to implement all the 27 international conventions on human rights, labor standard, environment and good governance as well as carry out complete homework in the matter, otherwise Pakistan will be a great loser like in the case of Duty Free Access for 75 items.
As far as GSP plus is concerned, they said, it was important to consider the condition that the export market share of any product should not exceed the 6pc ceiling of import of European Union. They further pointed out that most of the textile items included in the list of GSP plus items have already crossed the 6pc ceiling set by the GSP plus condition.
They said exporters from various industries in Pakistan are expecting the GSP Plus access to European markets, which promise huge potential for multiplying the country’s current exports and appealed to the concerned authorities to be vary and strictly comply with all the requirements of GSP Plus.

FBR asked to verify used vehicles import records

LAHORE - The Pakistan Association of Automotive Parts Accessories Manufacturers, while seeking investigation of used cars scam unearthed by the FIA, has asked the authorities to verify the record of all vehicles imported after relaxation of used car import policy in Dec 2010, as used-car dealers are grossly misusing the import policy concessions.
PAAPAM Chairman Usman Malik pointed out that used car dealers are abusing the auto import policy, which is meant only for expatriate Pakistanis, by importing huge quantities of used vehicles through manipulation of documents of Pakistanis returning from abroad.
He also lauded the recent used car scam unearthed by the Federal Investigation Agency. Describing details of the scam, he said that an FIR was lodged on the basis of a written complaint by a passenger regarding misuse of his passport by an agent dealing with the issuance of visa, alleging that the Customs clearing agent had imported a vehicle on his passport fraudulently under the personal baggage scheme without the passenger’s knowledge. The investigation agency scrutinized immigration database, finding it to be forged and concluded that the clearing agent had committed a fraud with the complainant, whose passport was used for the issuance of fake visa. The FIA officials also nominated six officials of the Model Custom Collectorate Appraisement West in the FIR through the interim charge-sheet.
Usman Malik said that the FIA should also investigate unsold stocks at used car dealerships, verify their ownership details, scrutinize immigration database and the entry / exit stamps affixed on the passports.
“All these malpractices are critically hurting the local auto parts manufacturers and their volumes/profit margins have been eroded by such illegal imports, while, on the other hand, used car dealers are reaping bumper profits from the abuse of import policy order.”
PAAPAM Senior Vice Chairman, Aslam Rayaz, said that, as per Import Policy Order 2012-15, minimum stay abroad for import of personal baggage shall be 180 days within the last seven months preceding the date of application and minimum stay abroad requirement for gifting a vehicle or importing under transfer of residence shall be at least 700 days during the past three years. A vehicle may be gifted only to a family member normally resident in Pakistan.
He added that, unfortunately this policy is being massively abused by used car dealers, which is now confirmed by the written complaint filed by a passenger regarding misuse of his passport by an agent dealing with the issuance of visa, who had fraudulently imported a vehicle on his passport under the personal baggage scheme without the passenger’s knowledge.

KSE gains 375 points on GSP Plus decision

KARACHI - Pakistan stocks closed bullish on Wednesday amid higher trades after EU approval on duty free access on textiles under GSP Plus status from Jan 1, 2014. Strong earning outlook on textile, fertilizers, oil and banking sectors played a catalyst role in bullish activity.
The equity market started on a positive note and KSE-100 index continued to climb and the benchmark increased by 374.51 points or 1.64 percent and closed at end of the day at 23165.21 points as compared to 22790.70 points previous day. Renewed foreign interest, easing concerns amid political consensus on negotiations with TTP on peace process, expected approval of ECC on gas allocation to ailing fertilizer plants through OGDC fields and OMC margin issues impacted the sentiments despite unrest in the city, stated analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib.
The KSE-All share index also climbed to 217.10 points or 1.30 percent at end of the day and closed at 16855.00 points as compared to 16637.90 points, KSE-30 index increased by 319.39 points or 1.84 percent and closed at 17695.18 points, while KMI-30 index also showed upward trend by 747.29 points or 1.94 percent and closed at 39273.47 points. High and low were 23221.08 and 22790.70 respectively.
Equity expert Samar Iqbal stated that after a gap of 6-week Karachi market index crosses 23,000 mark on renewed buying by local and foreigners.  Value traded also crossed Rs.8b after one and a half month due to positive news flows on textile, telecom and fertilizer sectors. PTC with more than 21m shares traded gained on news that Government seriously working on controlling gray trafficking.
Textile stocks NCL and NML closed upper limit due to GSP status given to Pakistan. PSO also closed at upper limit in hope that oil margin will soon be revised up.
Researchers said the local oil marketing sector suggests that OMCs (Oil Marketing Companies) sales have reached 7.1m ton in 4MFY14, up 9pc versus 6.5m tons sold in the same period last year.
Volumetric sales of FO (Furnace oil) and Mogas (Motor Gasoline) grew by 13pc and 8pc, respectively, while HSD (high speed diesel) sales rose by 4pc. Growth in FO sales was backed by better supply of fuel to IPPs while Mogas sales are up due to extended absence of cheap alternative fuel (CNG).
PSO 4MFY14 sales increased by 6pc to 4.5m tons vs. 4.3m tons sold in the same period last year. Better sales numbers are led by 11pc increase in FO volumes while HSD sales went down by 7pc. The company in their analyst briefing held on October 30, 2013, stated that HSD sales were down due to floods which led to slowdown in economic activity.
Analyst Asad I. Siddiqui said fast depleting forex reserves, rising CPI and monetary tightening have off beamed much of the investors’ excitements which emerged on new govt and peaked at the time of IMF bailout package. Now the major concerns amongst investors include meeting IMF targets, depleting forex reserves, fate of Pak rupee and SBP stance on discount rate.

Country hopeful for GSP+

LAHORE  -  The country has achieved a milestone leading towards the GSP Plus status for its textile and clothing industry in the EU, as the International Trade Committee of EU has approved the duty free status for Pakistan with a majority vote.
Industry experts and representatives of business community expressed the hope that the matter will be put forward to the EU Parliament on 10th December for granting duty free market access to Pakistani exports under the Generalized System of Preference (GSP) Plus status with effect from January 1, 2014. “There are 90 per cent chances that Pakistan along with nine other under-developed countries will be granted this status,” a textile industry stakeholder told The Nation on condition of anonymity. He said that this approval is preliminary and Pakistan had got 17 votes out of 30 while 12 votes were cast against Pakistan in the International Trade Committee of the EU. So, we are not 100 percent sure to win the votes of whole EU parliament, he added.  All Pakistan Textile Mills Association Punjab Chairman SM Tanvir observed that achieving this favourable support from the International Trade Committee of EU is a big achievement of the govt of Pakistan and has lauded the effective diplomatic initiatives of the govt. Chairman APTMA Punjab said it is a great opportunity for the textile industry of Pakistan to manufacture and produce exportable surplus to realize maximum benefits.
He has urged the govt to fulfill energy needs of the textile industry to ensure level playing field against competitors by operating without break to produce export surplus. APTMA has envisioned doubling textile exports from $13b to $26b in four years, which will create employment  and increase production of the textile.
The LCCI also welcomed the EU Parliament’s International Trade Committee move to grant duty free market access to Pakistan that would help give considerable boost to exports and create new jobs. LCCI President Sohail Lashari said that approval of GSP Plus status by European Parliamentary Committee has proved all international conventions relating to human and labour rights, environment and good governance have been implemented by the Pakistan to the satis­­faction of EU Parliament.
“The EU Parliament is considering the GSP Plus status for 10 developing countries in all and is granted to those countries that ratify and implement international conventions.”
He said that exporters from various industries in Pakistan were anxiously hoping for access to European markets, which promises huge potential for multiplying the country’s current exports.
He said that grant of European Union’s GSP+ to Pakistan will create a million jobs for Pakistani youth and boost exports by $500 million. He said that the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been raising the issue for the last many years and today is an historic day for Pakistan’s business community.
This is a great opportunity that needs to be tapped up to its true potential, he added.
He expressed the optimism that the European Parliament in its meeting scheduled for December 10, 2013 would finally grant the status.
EU Parliament’s International Trade Committee had voted 17-12-1 in favour of Pakistan’s inclusion in GSP Plus countries.

Bosan calls for updating irrigation system

ISLAMABAD  - Water is one of the key of natural resources. It is the most critical input for sustained agricultural productivity, economic development and environmental protection. Higher water productivity with efficient use is vital for the development of sustainable agriculture, which only can lead to poverty alleviation through increased agricultural productivity and profitability, enhanced food security and large-scale employment generation.
This was stated by Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research (NFS&R) Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan here at National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) Islamabad while addressing the scientists, engineers, technologists and extension experts on the occasion of inaugural session of two-day international workshop and meeting on Watershed Rehabilitation and Irrigation Improvement in Pakistan. The meeting and workshop was organized by PARC in collaboration with ICARDA, USDA and other national organizations.
Bosan said availability of water in the wake of growing population and urbanization has become one of the largest constraints in the development of the country to meet its agricultural, domestic as well as industrial requirements.
Minister said the gap between water demand and supply is increasing day by day. Based on current population growth rate, it is estimated that there would be about 50% shortage of water by 2025. In spite of huge gap between water demand and supply, the overall irrigation efficiency in the country is generally less than 40%He said the present government has thus focused on agricultural growth by introducing farmer friendly policies, enhancing farm profitability and ensuring competitiveness amongst various food crops. The government aims at providing food at affordable prices which is a pre-requisite for fighting malnutrition.
He said he is delighted to know that as a result of United States Government’s Afganistan-Pakistan-US Trilateral initiative taken during 2009, United Stated Department of Agriculture (USDA) sponsored the project on watershed rehabilitation and irrigation improvement in Pakistan to be completed in three years with a total cost of $2.83 million.
 The ICARDA is implementing the project in collaboration with the national partners to disseminate promising land and water management technologies to the farmers to help improve land, water and crop productivity.
Agriculture Counselor US Embassy in Pakistan Mr. Clay Hamilton and Dr. Otto Bonzalez (USDA) also highlighted the various aspects of this programme and ensured their full support for this programme. On this occasion, Dr. Muhammad Ashraf presented project overview and key achievements made under this programme.

CNG sector ready to import LNG

Body shows its conditional support to link CNG price with petrol rates

ISLAMABAD  - In a bid to control swelling gas crisis of the country, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) sector has now expressed its willingness to bring Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to meet the growing demands and also gave conditional consent to increase the price of commodity by 17 per cent of petrol’s.
These revelations were made during a seminar organised by All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA), which was held here on Monday in a hotel to discuss in details the ways and measures to control ongoing gas crisis of the country. Representatives of CNG industry, officials of petroleum and natural resources ministry were in attendance along with people of different walks of life.
The CNG association while expressing her readiness to bring imported LNG to country has also shown its conditional support to link the price of CNG with petrol price to meet the increasing demands of natural gas.
Minister for petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi while speaking on the occasion said that CNG is useful for the country and luckily half of the country’s vehicles are running on CNG fuel. However, solution to problems of the CNG sector pertain to provision of uninterrupted gas is only the imported gas. Similarly, LNG import can resolve gas crisis of the country as national exchequer is facing $2million annual loss due to absence of import of LNG.
Highlighting the shortage of natural gas to meet the burgeoning demands of natural gas of various categories of natural gas consumers, petroleum minister said, “We can lit our stoves only with locally produced gas as country is faced with acute gas shortage.” He also said that country’s gas crisis has become so intensified that today local production can only satisfy the demands of domestic consumers and after lighting domestic stove no gas is left to meet the demands of rest of any single consumers.  “Due to courts and media, today no body seems ready to take a decision pertain to import of LNG to the country,” he said, adding, “Undue delay in the import of LNG has caused unbearable damages to the country’s economy, which has now reached at the verge of devastation.”
During the course of speech, Shahid tried his level best to satisfy the CNG sector that the incumbent regime is not against the CNG sector by saying that the PML-N government would give more incentives to the CNG industry and is set to increase the volume of business with the CNG sector.
Expressing his opinion with regard to natural gas import projects, the minister for petroleum and natural gas Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project would not affect the CNG sector and Iranian gas is cheaper in comparison with the price of imported LNG. He, however, deplored over a report of an organisation that has declared the IP gasline project a reason to devastate country’s economy and said, “Sincerity of such people with our beloved homeland is in doubts. He also said that price of Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas project would be $1 cheaper than to IP gas price.
Speaking on the occasion Chairman APCNGA Ghiyab Abdullah Paracha announced that CNG sector is ready to import LNG to the country to meet soaring gas demands of CNG sector. He said the entire CNG sector would find uninterrupted natural gas with 400mmcfd-imported LNG and there would be no gas holiday or suspension on any single day of a week. He, however, demanded of the government to bring imported LNG to the country for CNG sector use by giving an exemption from general sales tax (GST) to the imported LNG and a CNG policy as well to run the entire sector smoothly.
Dispelling the impression that CNG sector is allegedly involve in gas theft, Ghiyas Paracaha said that the government should appoint police on CNG filling stations while gas theft is going on only because of alleged connivance of the officials of gas utilities. He also said that the CNG is an alternate fuel for approximately 3.5 vehicles usually run on petrol or diesel.  So far, above 4.5 billion investment has been made in country’s CNG sector by the investors, he added.
Ghiyas has bitterly criticised the measures and ways taken by the outgoing PPP-led coalition government to run the CNG industry and also said, “Today country is facing acute financial and social crisis only due to the wrong policies of previous regime.” Besides, Parcaha has also expressed concerns over Rs4/kg increase in gas price due to hike in the power tariff, which, the oil and gas regulatory authority (Ogra) had, however, not allowed them to collect it from the CNG consumers.

(Reuters) - The European Central Bank won't cut its main refinancing rate this week, euro money market traders said in a Reuters poll, even though inflation in the bloc has fallen to its lowest level in almost four years.

(Reuters) - The European Central Bank won't cut its main refinancing rate this week, euro money market traders said in a Reuters poll, even though inflation in the bloc has fallen to its lowest level in almost four years.

Although a sharp moderation in the headline flash inflation figures released last week raised speculation of a rate cut, all but one of the 23 traders polled by Reuters expect the ECB to remain on hold when they meet on Thursday.

"They will save the last ammunition and will want to see if we really have weaker figures in the future," one euro money market trader said.

However, traders say falling liquidity in the currency bloc is more of a concern.

Indeed, excess liquidity, cash beyond what lenders need to cover day-to-day operations, was around 175 billion euros on Monday, levels last seen in late 2011 before the twin long-term refinancing operations (LTROs) from the ECB of over one trillion euros.

A separate Reuters poll last month showed the central bank is all set to flush money markets again with their long term cheap loans early next year. <ECB/INT>

Even Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny told CIBC last week that the central bank would provide more liquidity by the time cheap long-term loans it made in late 2011 and early 2012 expire.

Excess liquidity has taken a hit since January when banks had the first opportunity to repay those loans early and have returned over a third so far.

The poll showed banks will repay 2.5 billion euros ($3.4 billion) of the first three-year crisis loans and the same of the second next week. That is less than half the combined 10.65 billion euros they will return this week.

The regular survey of 25 traders showed the ECB is expected to allot 90 billion euros at its weekly refinancing operation, similar to the 89.3 billion euros maturing this week.

GUIDE TO EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK ANNOUNCEMENTS

ANNOUNCEMENTS ON ECB OPEN MARKET OPERATIONS

ECB WEBSITE www.ecb.int

($1 = 0.7414 euros)

(Reporting by Ashrith Doddi; Polling by Sarmista Sen; Editing by Toby Chopra)

Pakistan inflation rate rises to 9.08 per cent

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's annual inflation rate rose to 9.08 per cent in October from 7.39 per cent in September, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics said on Friday.

On a month-on-month basis, prices rose 1.97 per cent. The average annual inflation rate in July-October was 8.32 per cent.

Pakistani stocks end lower; rupee weakens

KARACHI: Pakistan’s main stock exchange closed lower on Monday, with the benchmark 100-share index of the Karachi Stock Exchange falling 1.20 per cent or 271.26 points to 22,377.83.

Investors preferred to trim their positions in expectation of rising tensions between Pakistan and the US after the drone attack which killed Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud.

Market players feel that if tensions continue to rise, it will affect Pakistan’s balance of payments and the local currency, dealers said.

DG Khan Cement Co Ltd fell 2.86 per cent to 68.60 rupees while Engro Corporation Ltd was down 2.09 per cent to 121.15 rupees.

The rupee ended weaker at 106.98/107.05 against the dollar, compared to Friday’s close of 106.84/106.90.

Overnight rates in the money market rose to 8.25 per cent from Friday’s close of 7.00 per cent.

Delay in support price decision to create severe wheat crisis

ISLAMABAD - Announcement of new support price of wheat which, if delayed, may cause a crisis as farmers will not increase the sowing area if its support price is not increased in time.
The sources said that at this time if the support price was not increased as an incentive for the farmers, the wheat-cultivation area might decrease that ultimately would create the food crisis in the country and the government would have to import around a million tons wheat to meet the demand.
Wheat support price is generally announced before the start of its sowing season. It is to encourage them for the excessive sowing of the commodity. When the country faced a serious wheat crisis in the start of the PPP rule, the same strategy was adopted by the then rulers and the wheat crisis ended after one year.
The country is again heading towards a serious wheat crisis. Last year the wheat sowing area decreased up to 7 percent, resulting in the import of 300,000 tons of wheat from Russia at the rate of Rs 1,400 per 40 kilogram whereas the support price was Rs 1,200 per 40kg that was offered to the farmers in the start of the season.
The sources said that this year if the wheat production did not achieve the target of 26 million tons, there would be no choice for the government but to import at least 1 million tons of wheat at a higher price.
Farmers’ representative organisations say the price should be set at Rs 1,500 per 40kg otherwise the country would not be able to produce sufficient wheat. They are of the view that due to a big increase in the input costs, the farmers do not find any profit in wheat by selling it at the price of Rs 1,200 per 40 kg.
Presently, the commodity is being sold at the rate of Rs 1,350 per 40 kg in the open market, but farmers are not beneficiaries of that price as they have already sold their commodity at the price of Rs 1,200 per 40kg, the rate offered by the government as the support price last year.
If the government does not increase the support price this year, the rate will rise even then, but the farmers in that case will not be able to benefit from it while traders will have the opportunity to exploit the growers. On the other side, the government would also suffer in terms of foreign exchange loss that it will have to spend on the import of wheat.

Power outages duration surges across the country

ISLAMABAD  - No let-up in power outages as power shortfall on Sunday again mounted to 3,200MW, adding to the miseries of common man already bearing hours long power loadshedding coupled with high power tariff, The Nation has learnt reliably.
Since there is no respite in sight to end the energy woes of the country, the duration of unannounced power outages in cities and villages across the country has again surged due to increase in the power shortfall.
Sources in water and power ministry told that the electricity generation stands at 13,800 megawatt while the demand is 17,000 megawatt.
In this way, power shortfall stands at 3,200mw. At present, hydel power generation is 5500mw, thermal 1965mw while electricity production through Independent Power Producers (IPPs) recorded at 6335mw on Sunday.
People across the country are facing sever power cuts while the whole country reels under cold wave following rains and snowfall on high peaks with the start of November. Unscheduled frequent loadshedding and longer outages of electricity have paralysed the businesses, industry and civic life.
There is hardly any day when people get full electricity supply. Haphazard outages and lack of public information have appeared the hallmarks of the water and power ministry. Even, the incumbent regime could not control the increasing power outages, which, however, has so far badly devastated the routine life of countrymen. More, power load shedding is going in and on across the country.
Rural areas were facing load shedding for over 11 hours while urban areas were suffering up to eight hours of power cuts. Long and unannounced phases of load shedding had made the lives of people miserable as prolonged outages resulted in shortage of drinking water supply in several areas of the country. The citizens have criticised the government for failure to overcome the power crisis even in winter.

Cotton produce in 9 districts fall

MULTAN  - Cotton produce decreased in nine districts out of 21 cotton producing districts of the country, the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association said on Sunday.
According to a PCGA press release, the decrease from 4.62 to 37.30 per cent was noticed by November 1. A major decrease in cotton production was observed in Kasur district. Increase in cotton production from 4.67 to 125.59 per cent was also recorded in 12 districts. District Sangharr of Sindh remained at top by producing 1,288,383 cotton bales while Khanewal remained second with 549,016 bales and Bahawalnagar with 503,700 bales.
The PCGA report also noticed 18.83 per cent increase in the overall production of cotton in Sindh.

Dar reviews progress of ongoing financial assignments

ISLAMABAD  - The Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar held meetings separately with the Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Tariq Bajwa, Governor State Bank of Pakistan Yasin Anwar and senior officials of the Ministry of Finance to review the progress at the Finance Ministry here this afternoon.
The Chairman FBR informed the Finance Minister that there was no let up in the efforts of the FBR for achieving the revenue target of Rs 2475 billion set out by the government. Bajwa also informed the Finance Minister about the notices issued to new income tax payers as part of the campaign to increase the number of assesses by identifying new asesees. The Finance Minister expressed the confidence that FBR would continue its efforts to collect taxes and facilitate the tax payers in filing their returns.
In a separate meeting with the Governor State Bank of Pakistan the Finance Minister reviewed the Foreign Exchange reserves and the Balance of Payment position. He directed the Governor SBP to redouble efforts to increase inflows as per plan.
The Finance Minister also chaired a high level meeting which was attended by senior officials of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Privatisation Commission, Ministry of Commerce, Board of Investment. Income support plan and senior officials of Ministry of finance.
The Secretary Petroleum informed the Finance Minister that 260mmcfd gas would be added to the system by December 2013 which would be dedicated for the power sector.
The officials of BoI gave various proposals to further improve the investment climate in the country and improve business environment. The Finance Minister directed the Secretary Income Support Programme to streamline the process of release of funds so that maximum number of families can benefit from the programme.

ACCA makes inroads in Pakistan

ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) is the global body for professional accountants, which aims to offer business-relevant qualifications to people who want to seek a rewarding career in accountancy, finance and management. The body supports its members and students throughout their careers, providing services through a network of 83 offices and active centres around the world. Realising the important roles accountants play in private and public sectors, the body emphasises their role as advocates of sound business practices, champions of sustainable business development and identifiers of value drivers which lead to high-performing organisations. ACCA also focuses on professional values, ethics, and governance and deliver value-added services through 57 global accountancy partnerships, working closely with multinational and small entities to promote global standards and support. The body also uses its expertise and experience to work with governments, donor agencies and professional bodies such as the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) to develop the global accountancy profession and to advance the public interest.
Haroon Ahmad Jan, the head of Lahore region (from Rahim Yar Khan to Jhelum), explains how this body is working in Pakistan and assisting its stakeholders – students, ACCA members, employers, universities and other all the institutions related to ACCA education – and what are the steps he has taken in the region to make this body more helpful. It is pertinent to mention that ACCA in Pakistan is the second largest market outside the UK.
Talking about the services being provided to students and professionals, he said he has a team of professionals working with him. “My marketing team remains in contact with students especially the high achievers and helps them in securing good jobs. We are about to celebrate the high achievers ceremony. About seventeen students from this region have secured good positions and two of them have secured global positions, which mean they have competed with almost 424,000 students in the world and the rest have secured nationwide positions. We will celebrate their achievements.
“Similarly I have a business development manager which looks after employers’ relationships. So when it is about the employment of these individuals, who have passed out and completed their education, my business development manager goes out and employment engagements take place.
“The third element is that our relationship manager for learning providers. All the institutions that are offering tuition for ACCA like SKANS, PAC, CFE, CAPS in approved institutions and the others in the market which offer learner providers simply, the business manager for learning provider engage with them and make sure different aspects like their teaching quality, related facilities, health and safety environment at their campuses, all should be up to the mark. In short there is a strict criterion that these organisations have to meet every year in order to remain approved,” he explained.
Mr Haroon is also putting his efforts to spread this international level of qualification so that maximum students from Pakistan could get benefit from it. For that he has signed MoUs with many government and private universities. “Recently, we have also started working with major universities across this region and its major objective is to teach the broader based skills to maximum students related to finance education. ACCA is a qualification which has international footprints. The skills that ACCA teaches to its students are applicable internationally. And they are broad based skills that are applicable in the core finance function. For example if there are organisations which wanted to do their sales forecasting. This is not a core finance function but this requires a high level of analytical skills which ACCA imparts to its students and therefore they are able to fit in this role as well. So a broad based qualification ACCA is therefore very relevant to the business currently. So I worked with many universities who are giving B.Com, M.Com qualifications and we are trying to align these qualifications with ACCA, which is an international education. We advise these universities to align these qualifications with ACCA so that their students can benefit the broader based elements rather than having the skills of a particular type applicable only to finance core function. In this way they can also get exemption in ACCA.
“For that ACCA have signed MoUs with many universities in the region like Bahauddin Zakariya University, International University of Bahawalpur, Punjab University particularly the Hailey College of Commerce. There are also some public sector universities and some reputable private institution in the pipeline through which we can add value to this finance education, he briefed.
Casting light on the important role that qualified accountants play in any organisation he said, “Finance function is changing very rapidly and becoming a very broad based diverse function. It finds its applications in activities like production, marketing and sales, in fact in all other parts of the business. For example accountants have a vital function in production. They help the company in making every product cost efficient and giving the maximum profit margin. Through internal controls and different measures they are able to bring cost efficiency. Similarly in the marketing and sales function, through their market knowledge and experience they are able to tell the best market price of the product. Similarly, accountants have the knowledge of overall business and its performance as well. They can advise how to gain maximum in high period and also in low growth period they are able to advise how to neutralise the risk factor. It is how accounting and finance function is evolving. In order to perform all these rolls the modern accountants have to broader skilled based qualification.
“In a research conducted by ACCA by 500 CFOs of different companies in the different part of the world, 80 percent of them said that they would want the new professionals to have broad based finance and accounting skill set. This is how the function is changing. Now the qualification like ACCA has ten competency areas which would address all these roles which I talked about. It will build all these abilities in those individuals who are undertaking this qualification. This qualification has been designed keeping in mind the businesses requirement and the employment sector, he maintained.
Mentioning about the scholarships and the help which ACCA is providing to deserving students he said that almost Rs 3 million was given to the deserving students in form of scholarship in MoUs which ACCA signed with different universities. Besides, he said, “there is Simpson Scholarship to reward talented students across the globe and for the last many years one or two scholarships are obtained by Pakistani students.
This is meritorious scholarship but Pakistani students are so talented that they get this scholarship by competing internationally.”  He also said that his body ask to learner provider institution to keep their tuition fee at affordable level and there are examples that these institution wave off up to 70 percent tuition fee if any outstanding student deserves.
Lastly he talked about the female accountants and said that their number in Pakistan is very low. “There is gender imbalance in the field of accountancy and ACCA is making efforts to encourage the female students to come to this profession. “In Singapore there are more than 50 percent female accountants whereas in Pakistan the ratio is only 12 percent. This is a profession in which female could easily adjust and there is also demand for female accountants in the market,” he said. He was optimist that in near future there would be increase in female accountants.