Pakistan Economy - News & Updates - Archive

[Neo]

Shell offshore project suffers another setback ​

ISLAMABAD (July 30 2007): Shell Pakistan offshore project for exploration in Pakistan's deep waters suffered another setback as 'Transocean'-the rig-mounted ship-could not clear trial after maintenance. The ship was brought into deep waters in Arabian Sea early this month for trial but failed to work properly. The trial failure led to the ship's return to Singapore for proper maintenance.

The failure is going to delay the project for an indefinite period. The project has not been taking off since 2004, and now technical failure of the ship-mounted rig has made it next to impossible to happen. Sources said the rig-mounted ship, hired by the joint venture, is still not ready due to some technical problem and since the repair work is in progress the partners expect its entry in Pakistan's territorial waters by middle of August.

Will it happen? It's premature to say something with authority, but at least the joint venture partners have no other option but to build up hopes against hopes.

One of the joint venture partners told Business Recorder on Thursday that Shell Pakistan, operator of the project, has conveyed to the partners that due to some technical problem the rig-ship's movement from Singapore, where it was stationed for maintenance, had been delayed.

Earlier, Shell Pakistan had conveyed to partners that rig was arriving in Pakistan's territorial waters in the first week of July for drilling work on the offshore project.

It's forth delay in the start of the offshore project during the last two and half years. Shell Pakistan had entered in a joint venture for offshore exploration work with OGDC, PPL and Government Holdings in 2004 and the cost of the project was estimated at $ 21 million. Shell Pakistan as an operator signed an agreement with Transocean, an American services company, for supply of rig-ship.

The work on the project was to start in 2005. But, despite repeated assurances to the operators, rig availability could not be ensured. Delay costs the joint venture partners heavily as estimated expenditures went up from $ 21 million in 2005, to $ 40 million in May 2007, and still there is no sign of availability of rig-ship.

Inordinate delay is worrying the partners, which are public sector companies and can not afford further delay.

Secondly, further delay may put the project at risk as monsoon weather is around when sea becomes hostile that can make exploration work impossible due to high tide.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=598373&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

 

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Another USC expansion project recommended ​

ISLAMABAD (July 30 2007): The Planning and Development (P&D) Division recommended yet another project of Utility Stores Corporation (USC) expansion that costs Rs 1.778 billion to Ecnec, despite the fact that ministry of industries and USC, which are the sponsoring and executing agencies, failed to submit completion or progress report of a previous project of almost the similar nature.

Sources told Business Recorder that P&D at a recent meeting of the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) recommended the Rs 1.778 billion project that envisages the establishment of 22 new warehouses and opening of 5,000 stores of the USC at the union council level.

The recommendation has been accorded to the new project despite the fact the ministry of industries and the USC failed to submit any report on their previous Rs 784 million project that envisaged the establishment of 16 warehouses and 44 stores of the USC at the district/tehsil headquarter level.

Sources said the previous project was approved by Ecnec in its meeting held in November 2006. For completion of the project, Rs 388 million was released.

Apart from this amount, a working capital of Rs 396 million was raised through bank loans. But the sponsors did not submit progress report nor completion report.

They said for the new project, in which the government wants to expand the USC up to the union council level across the country, the industries ministry and the USC had been asked to raise working capital of Rs 500 million through bank loans to meet the total financing of Rs 1.778 billion.

Sources said that Rs 200 million has already been released by the Finance Division and Rs 1.078 billion would be arranged through re-adjustment in the current fiscal Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP). The demand of ministry of industries and the USC seeking total capital cost of Rs 1.778 billion has been rejected, they added.

The sponsors of the project had also been asked to provide details of the security plan along with costs finalised in consultation with Frontier Corps for security in Balochistan, the sources said, adding the security cost estimated by the sponsors is Rs 50 million in Balochistan.

According to the sources, there are general complaints regarding the quality of consumer goods being sold at the USC stores. While the USC is required to ensure the quality of goods, a fool-proof quality control mechanism needs to be evolved.

The sources said there are different proposals being discussed to ensure the quality of goods being sold at USC stores. The possibility of constituting consumer societies for effective feedback for the improvement in quality of goods on regular basis is being looked into.

Moreover, affixing date of manufacturing and date of expiry on the packs of consumer goods are also required to be introduced at all the USC stores, the sources added.

 

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New Trade Policy could help increase country's export: Zia ​

PESHAWAR (July 30 2007): Executive Member Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) and Chairman. Frontier Custom Clearing Agents, Ziaul Haq Sarhadi has expressed the hope that decisions announced in the new Trade Policy for the fiscal year 2007-08 will help in increasing export of the country.

While expressing comments over new trade policy, Zia said the announcements like formulation of long term export growth strategy, setting up of testing laboratories for increasing export of fresh fruit and vegetables, setting up of equity fund for public-private sector organisations, setting up of export skill development council and others will help a lot in increasing export of the country.

Zia Sarhadi also hailed the decisions like establishing of E-markets for promotion of SME sector, permission for import of those instruments of gem and gemological industry which were earlier banned, permission for export of semi finished carpets in view of decline in export of carpets and extending financial support for construction of quality slaughter house for exporting meat.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=598397&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

 

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Rural electrification programme ​

ISLAMABAD (July 30 2007): The National Commission for Human Development has planned to launch a project entitled 'Rural Electrification Programme' to provide electricity. Official sources said here on Sunday that it would be implemented in collaboration with alternative energy development board for the sustainable development of 400 villages in Sindh province.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=598429&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

 

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Integrated web-based system being developed ​

ISLAMABAD (July 29 2007): Ministry of Information Technology (MOIT) is in the process of providing e-services for Ministry of Population Welfare to eliminate the redundant steps of collecting the information from the districts and provincial offices of the Ministry.

Under the project, which is expected to be completed by October this year, an online integrated web-based MIS is being developed, sources at Electronic Government Directorate, MoIT said here on Saturday. The sources said all the offices of the Ministry at district, federal and provincial level would use the MIS to update the relevant set of data.

They said 12 regional training institutes across the country, (02) two population welfare training institutes, (01) one central warehouse and supplies, Karachi and (02) two research institutes will also be automated to share the relevant data with federal offices of the Ministry at Islamabad. Training of online MIS will be provided to concerned officials of districts, provincial and federal offices, they added.

Talking about the other objectives, the sources said it also aims at establishing Local Area Network (LAN) of 340 nodes with provision of 126 computers at provincial welfare departments (Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan) and district offices. Some model districts have been chosen for the project, they added.

Giving overview of the project, the sources said there are three reporting tiers of the ministry which are district population welfare offices, provincial welfare departments and Ministry of Population Welfare, Islamabad. They said grassroots level information is collected in districts offices, which gather information from respective Talukas.

Similarly, the provincial offices collect and compile the information from respective districts and submit at federal office, the sources said and added finally the data is analysed at federal ministry of population welfare, Islamabad.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=597958&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

 

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PTA to start setting up 400 telecentres in August ​

ISLAMABAD (July 30 2007): Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) would start setting up 400 telecentres in rural areas from the second week of August. The Authority has undertaken scrutiny of applications, negotiations with operators and cost factors process and is set to provide all necessary equipment next month.

In the first phase, the Authority is establishing 400 telecentres across the country with the support of telecom operators to provide the latest telecommunication and Internet facilities in rural and far-off areas.

The PTA is also in process of imparting training to individuals selected under a scheme for establishment of telecentres, an official at PTA told APP here on July 26.

He said all the necessary equipment worth Rs 50,000 like payphone, fax machine, printer and a computer would be provided free of cost to selected individuals for the establishment of telecentres.

He said those telecentres would be provided to those individuals who were unemployed with at least intermediate qualification. The females of the rural areas fulfilling the criteria would also be eligible to apply for allotment of centres.

He said individuals from only those villages/union councils were considered for the facility where total population was between 4,000 to 10,000 with non-availability of public telephone or net-cafe facility in the radius of five kilometres.

Besides basic necessary training, PTA in collaboration with Allama Iqbal Open University will provide all the relevant information including CDs and a manual to ensure day-to-day running and trouble shooting of various equipments.

Replying to a question, the official said telecom operators were extending their support to PTA for setting up these "telecentres" including PTCL (100), Mobilink (100), Ufone (50), Instaphone (15), Intel (10), Worldcall (Payphones in all Rabta Markaz).

He said PTA would also sponsor 125 such centres that would bring the total number to 400. He said a telecentres' owner could earn approximately Rs 5,000 per month, adding that National Bank had included the plan in its President Employment Scheme whereas negotiations with other financial institutions for issuing soft loans were under process.

The PTA has asked the banks to extend soft loans facility on easy terms to the individuals interested in setting up such Telecentres for the second phase.

"The response of people is satisfactory and a total of 1,105 applications were received from all over Pakistan," he said, adding that out of those, PTA short-listed 465 applications and verified the data based on population of the village, residential address, CNIC, educational certificates of the applicants and location of telecentres PTA has also signed memorandum of understanding with First Women bank to establish telecentres through funds allocated by the bank.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=598515&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

 

[Neo]

Evolving a viable pension scheme​

By Nasir Jamal

Can the Punjab’s scheme for setting up an independent pension fund and injecting into it Rs100 billion by 2016 through annual budgetary allocations for building up a resource base large enough to earn returns sufficient for pension payouts?. Can the province reduce fiscal squeeze on account of growing pension costs, create room for priority development expenditure and develop financially viable pension system that provides adequate retirement incomes?

Some are doubtful of the sustainability of the scheme – unless the government decides to raise the capital it proposes to inject in the fund to Rs250-300 billion. These doubts were voiced at a workshop organised last week by the Punjab Resource Management Programme (PRMP), which has been overseeing financial and governance reforms since 2003, in the third week of this month.

The workshop’s objective was to share the ongoing pension system reforms with the stakeholders and to discuss proposals to generate ideas and establish concerns for finalising future interventions.. It was part of a marathon three-day series of workshops organised to facilitate a Fact Finding Mission from the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-- here since mid-July--- to consult stakeholders, and to assess the impact of the financial and governance restructuring in Punjab under its $400 million programme during the last four years and develop second phase of reforms..

The province expects to obtain a low-cost financial assistance in the range of $700-1,000 million from the ADB spread over a period of three to five years to undertake second phase of fiscal and governance reforms. The exact amount of the loan is yet to be firmed up in accordance with the province’s needs for foreign funds, say the officials. .

The four areas that the government proposes to focus on during the next phase of reforms include massive restructuring of the public pension system, reform of provincial and district civil services, removal of irritants in the private sector’s growth and development of a medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF).

Restructuring of the public pension system, is just one part of the wide-ranging financial reforms being implemented for the last four years. It, however, is considered the ‘most crucial’ of the financial reforms because the ever- growing size of the pension payouts has the potential to quickly eat into the fiscal space created for priority development spending through reduction in expensive federal debt and improvements in the provincial fiscal system.

Punjab’s existing pension system, like elsewhere in the country, is fraught with issues such as, the absence of reliable documentation and data on the existing and the future pensioners and the total extent of liability, presence of ghost pensioners, and exclusion of genuine pensioners.

Pension obligations are non-contributory and the system covers around 800,000 government employees and an estimated 200,000 pensioners. The pension liabilities are paid from the province’s current revenue account because there is no funding of these payments and there are no investments to pay for them.

According to an initial estimate presented at the workshop, the Punjab government’s pension liability stood at around Rs190 billion as of June 30, 2007.

The pension obligations of the government remain a burden on its revenues and continue to squeeze fiscal space for infrastructure and social sector.

Hence the provincial government got the pension fund law passed from the legislature in March this year. The new law paves the way for the government to set up an independent pension fund to generate revenues to meet its pension liabilities outside the provincial budget.

The provincial government plans to capitalise the pension fund to the tune of Rs100 billion by 2016 so that it earns returns sufficient to pay out the pension liabilities. By the end of last fiscal year, the government had set aside Rs12 billion.

Once the fund is fully capitalised and made operational, the provincial finance managers hope that ‘it will be able to make pension an off-budget item..

But Nauman A. Cheema, an actuary by profession, feels that the establishment of an independent pension fund with a resource base of Rs100 billion and making an average 10 per cent returns per annum cannot foot the government’s pension bill.

“It is being assumed that the Rs100 billion pension fund will generate an average annual return of about 10 per cent or Rs10 billion by 2016, which should be sufficient for the pension payouts after 2016. It is a big assumption,” Cheema pointed out in his presentation on the” Issues in evaluating and managing the Punjab government’s pension liability.”

He pointed out that the approximate cash outflows in case of existing pensioners are expected to grow to Rs14.2 billion by 2017. If the increase in the cash outgrows, he maintains, owing to the active employees,( who are also added to those on account of existing pensioners) the total cash flow is projected to grow to Rs30.8 billion by 2017.

His analysis is based on the assumptions that the current strength of active employees in Punjab is about 800,000, the average pensionable salary increase is eight per cent and the rate of pension indexation is four per cent.

This simply means that the pension fund would be making even less than one-third of the amount needed by the provincial government for meeting its pension obligations in 2017 what to talk of the following years.

The returns to be generated from the Rs100 billion pension fund, Cheema said, will not be sufficient to pay out reduced liabilities if the assumptions are changed and the pensionable salary increases by five per cent rather than eight per cent and pension indexation rate is nil instead of four per cent.

Cheema warned that the capital will be eaten up quickly in case the government maintains the current target of Rs100 billion and the funding target is not raised to Rs250-300 billion. Hence, he said, it is difficult to imagine pension expense as an off-budget item owing to continuously increasing cost.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/07/30/ebr1.htm

 

[Neo]

Economy & the limping exports​

Trade policy has never been of much interest to informed analysts. Exporters are mainly concerned with tariff and tax changes. They are also keen to know the amount of public spending earmarked for the development of the export infrastructure. These, respectively, are the domains of the domineering and secretive Federal Board of Revenue and the Finance Division.

Commerce ministry is not necessarily on board, though the actions of the two announced in the budget predetermine the essentials of trade policy. What is left for the ministry is to provide some procedural endnotes and to utilise the Export Development Fund for inconsequential incentives.

Any space left is filled with lectures on social, environmental and other compliances. Planning Commission also has an export plan, but it fails to find a mention in the trade policy, serving as yet another proof of its continuing irrelevance.

This year’s policy is, however, different: Not for its content but for the explanations advanced for a dismal export performance and a massive trade deficit in 2006-07.

But first the boast, as painting things larger than life is now nearly part of the agenda of good governance. Following the statistical tricks perfected by the finance ministry’s jadoogars, the commerce minister happily announced that exports have more than doubled between 1998-99 and 2005-06 from $7.8 billion to $16.5 billion., an increase of 112 per cent.

These numbers do not mean anything unless expressed relatively to some useful aggregate. The usual suspect here is GDP. Now the government also claims a doubling of GDP during this period, which means that exports as percentage of GDP in 2005-06 were the same as in 1998-99, i.e. 12.9 per cent.

I make this comparison between these two years because the minister chose these years. But some economic official in the government might turn around to say that the comparison with 1998-99 is not legitimate because the GDP was rebased from 1999-2000. Comparison with years before 1999-2000 would be possible if the Federal Bureau of Statistics had done its duty to work the series backwards also.

Nevertheless, a comparison of the latest year 2006-07 with the base year 1999-00 does not indicate any significant improvement either. Over a seven year period, exports increased from 11.2 of GDP to 11.8 per cent of GDP, which works out at less than 0.1 percentage point of GDP per annum.

But the commerce minister wants us to feel happy that “This is the first time in the history of Pakistan that merchandise exports have crossed the barrier of $17 billion.” By the same token, it is also the first time that imports have crossed the barrier of $30 billion, in fact $30.5 billion to be precise.

In a properly contextualised way, these exports finance only 57 per cent of imports. In 1999-2000, when exports had not crossed any mentionable barrier, they financed as much as 83 per cent of the imports.

It should be obvious that the commerce minister has had to resort to special pleadings for the not very handsome trade numbers. But his analysis of how this severest of the trade balance has come about is a devastating critique of the macroeconomic policies followed since October 1999.

It also, not unlike the independent economists and observers, questions the sustainability of the GDP growth that is claimed to have taken place at an unusually high pace in the past 3-4 years.

His observation that the growth of exports has been lagging behind the high growth claimed for the economy is correct. There is a counter-claim that the growth of the economy has not been that high anyway and the claims are the handiwork of creative national accounting. Leaving that aside, the question is: if growth is not coming from exports, what are its sources.

The sources identified in the minister’s speech are the same as by many others. The main source is domestic consumption. A lot of it is cheap credit-financed; the inflationary chickens are now coming to roost. There are services, particularly telecommunications. Construction, not in the form of housing for the poor but large capital-intensive contracts resulting from public sector investment, is another source of growth.

This is not the way to sustainable growth. The commerce minister says as much: “It is a fact that higher growth levels of the economy can only be sustained by a rapid growth in exports; for example, a 7-8 per cent GDP growth is only maintainable through a 20-25 per cent annual export growth.” Such high export growth requires high manufacturing growth. But the recent GDP growth has not been driven by the manufacturing sector. Says the commerce minister: “the declining growth trend in the large scale manufacturing sector during 2006-07, from 10.7--8.8 per cent reduced our exportable surpluses.”

Finally comes the most damning indictment of the macroeconomic policies. According to the minister, these policies have made imports cheaper and exports expensive. There lies the explanation for the big hole in the balance of trade, which bothers everyone except the `Kashkol’ breakers.

The minister has now spilled the beans. His candidness must be acknowledged. Independent writers have been talking about the un-sustainability of the present growth process for quite some. There is nothing in it for the poor, the jobless, the sick, the illiterate, the children, women, Balochistan, FATA and rural areas. Like in the Titanic, the rich and the powerful are merrily dancing to the tune of “national interest,” unaware that the ship is sinking!

Dr Pervez Tahir is a former Chief Economist of Pakistan. He can be reached at perveztahir@yahoo.com.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/07/30/ebr2.htm

 

[Neo]

Large subsidies with little relief​

By M. Haider Hussain

IN the last fiscal year, federal subsidies worth Rs89 billion were budgeted but the government ended up spending Rs108 billion. This increase of Rs19 billion gives a holistic picture but digging deeper, the reality is a bit different.

It is also puzzling that of the Rs100 billion subsidies announced in the budget speech of Mr Omar Ayub Khan, only Rs89 billion can be found listed in the federal budget 2007-2008.

According to the budget-in-brief for fiscal 2008, a Rs8.1 billion subsidy has been earmarked for food. Of this, Rs280 million is for utility stores while Rs7.8 billion is for other food relief measures, including wheat and sugar import and the sale of essential food commodities in FATA and Gilgit. The much-hyped relief through utility stores is a mere 3.4 per cent of food subsidies.

Moreover, subsidy through utility stores, targeted only for sale of `atta’ (except the Ramazan package of Rs80 million), remained at Rs72 million less than the target of Rs280 million. How much of this subsidy of merely Rs208 million provided relief to the 24 per cent of the population below poverty line through utility stores remains a big question mark.

Table 1 below provides some basic facts on food subsidies. It is based on five years’ average --- 6.2 per cent of the overall subsidies. During last three years (FY2005-2007), the average share of food subsidies declined to 4.6 per cent.

Table 1 provides a quick snapshot of either less-than or higher-than targeted spending on food subsidies during the last five years. Except for FY2006 when the subsidies were Rs137 million higher, actual subsidies generally remained short of the target. Food inflation remained high and well above six per cent except for the FY2003.

If the difference between the target and the actual subsidy with food inflation is linked, it gives some interesting insights. First, compare the FY2003 and FY2004. When the shortfall in the target increases from Rs41 million to Rs200 million, food inflation rises from 2.8 per cent to six per cent.

In the similar manner, compare FY2005 and FY2006. From a shortfall of Rs23 million in FY2005, when spending on subsidies in the next fiscal overshoots the target by Rs137 million, food inflation declines significantly from 12.5 to 6.9 per cent. And again, when the government spends less than targeted amount in FY2007, food inflation increases again.

This analysis reveals that there can be some correlation between the subsidy target achievement and inflation. Although it is very difficult to establish this point without sophisticated econometric analysis, it provides a possible direction of co-movement. Table 1:

The second significant recipient of the federal government subsidies is the power sector in general, and Wapda and the KESC in particular. Each year, subsidies worth billions of rupees are provided to these two organisations. The power subsidies to these two companies are mainly on account of paying off their arrears, adjusting tariff differentials, absorbing cash shortfalls and GST as well as ad hoc subsidies. Table 2 shows their shares in overall subsidies.

On the average, these two utilities consume around 65 per cent of the overall subsidy each year. In spite of huge subsidies, electricity tariffs are still high as variable power charges average around Rs4.14 per kilowatt hour for residential consumers, around Rs6.56 for commercial consumers, and around Rs5 for industrial and bulk consumers. These variable prices are in addition to the fixed charges.

Wapda receives billions of rupees out of the federal development funds for various development projects related to dams, tube-wells, rural electrification and other relevant activities. These development funds are about 15.5 per cent of overall development budget of Rs543 billion in FY2008; a share higher than any other single ministry or division.

While the importance of these development projects cannot be denied, enjoying highest shares in both the federal subsides as well as development expenditure means that there should be minimal electricity charges as well as no load shedding, which is obviously not the case.

Another critical aspect is the subsidy provided to the KESC. In June 2005, just before its privatisation in November, subsidies were estimated to be around Rs9.6 billion. Privatisation failed to deliver efficient power supply, but subsidies to KESC kept climbing up. At the end of FY2007, KESC enjoyed subsidies worth Rs17.6 billion. A hefty Rs19.6 billion subsidy is earmarked for it in FY2008 as well. Table 2:

The food subsidies in FY2007 were short of their budgetary allocations. The subsidies to Wapda and the KESC have also decreased from 63 per cent of overall budgeted subsidies to 55.9 per cent as per revised estimates. The increase in overall subsidies from Rs89 billion budget estimates to Rs108 billion revised estimates is mainly due to the higher than targeted subsidies to oil refineries and oil marketing companies.

The revenue from petroleum development levy (PDL) is used to subsidise kerosene, diesel and light diesel oil. Refineries and oil marketing companies receive these subsidies as price differential claims due to rise in international oil prices. As a result, subsidies to these oil companies and refineries have increased to Rs25 billion in June 2007 as against the targeted Rs10 billion. Moreover, the government has provided Rs9.6 billion subsidy to textile sector for research and development support during the FY2007.

Food is not the only area that the government is supposed to provide relief to the poor consumers. However providing relief through food subsidies is not the panacea. Price hike, especially of food items, occurs mainly because of administrative or supply loopholes including excess profiting and hoarding which cannot be controlled by fiscal measures. Provision of subsidies without tightening up administrative control gives a wrong signal to hoarders and profiteers.

Continuous heavy subsidies provided to organisations such as Wapda and the KESC make them inefficient. Performance of these bodies is needed to be improved to reduce their subsidies.

The federal subsidies seem to have a very limited role to play in pro-poor welfare. The price fluctuations are purely a market phenomenon. There are some price-affecting endogenous factors for which governments can be blamed including rent-seeking, hoarding and profiteering.

The writer is an economist at the Social Policy and Development Centre.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/07/30/ebr8.htm

 

[Neo]

Devastating monsoon and disaster management​

Recent reports by newspapers and NGOs say that more than 400 people have died in Sindh and Balochistan while 586 are missing in NWFP and Azad Kashmir as a result of floods in these provinces.

Official figures also indicate that the death toll from floods stands at 340, with 180 killed in Balochistan, 120 in Sindh and 60 in NWFP. Thousands of people have been shifted to 20 camps set up in Balochistan and over 90 in Sindh, while the devastation continues.

During the last two weeks, at least 60 more villages in Sindh, most of them located in and around Dadu, have been flooded, after water traveled down waterways from Balochistan. Large-scale flooding was reported on July 16 after fresh rains further upstream.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said, 9,000 people in Balochistan and at least 22,000 in Sindh live in camps where food supplies and medicines are reaching them. However, Farooq Baloch living in Dadu but having family links in the neighbouring areas of Balochistan has claimed that, "People in Jaffarabad and Naseerabad districts on the eastern border of Balochistan have in some cases received almost no aid and diseases are spreading there. "

It is stated that floods have affected 1,400 villages in Sindh and 5,000 in Balochistan. There were 73 camps in Shahdadkot and 24 in Dadu accommodating 12,344 and 10,000 people while there are 9,000 people in 20 camps in Balochistan, Almost two million people in Balochistan and 200,000 in Sindh have been affected. 73 relief camps have been established in Shahdadkot--the most affected district of Sindh--, 44 relief camps have been set up in Balochistan.

In the provinces, hundreds of army and paramilitary forces are taking part in the relief operations. Officials say that road and train links have been totally destroyed. Thousands have taken shelter near railway stations as relief teams drop food and emergency medicines from air. Balochistan has been the worst affected with three million people marooned and thousands of others cut off from their villages,

Management failures: It is said that if Karachi was to be hit by an earthquake similar to the one in Kashmir in 2005, it may lead to deaths to 3—5 million people.

During the official briefing to the president and the prime minister, NDMA officials confessed that one of the major reason for such a large number of casualties in the Kashmir earthquake was the inefficiency in managing the disaster of such a magnitude.

Two years have already passed but the country is still far a way from achieving any such efficient planning or management system.

The Federal Flood Commission (FFC), the Emergency Relief Cell (ERC), the Pakistan Meteorological Department and the Civil Defence-- the main agencies for tackling disasters and relief management—have no solid performance to boast of in this regard. The country faces monsoon disasters for the last 60 years but only this year the government realised that there should be a plan to meet the collateral disaster of flood and rain.

The Chief Meteorologist, Shaukat Ali Awan announced last week that a comprehensive plan has been finalised to install flood warnings and radar systems in NWFP, Sindh and Balochistan. He said that the basic aim of installing the radar system was to ensure accurate prediction of rainfall duration.

A radar system has already been installed at Mangla Dam. Another radar system upgraded at Lahore and one also has been installed in Sialkot in collaboration with the Federal Flood Commission for forecasting floods in river Chenab.

Relief activism: Dealing with damages of flood and rain havoc covers a package of integrated relief delivery system which includes cluster activities, national/ international relief coordination ensuring provision of shelter cluster, camp management, water and sanitation (WATSAN), education/logistics/gender clusters and sensitive voluntarism, etc

The NDMA reported that shelter is the greatest need for Sindh and Balochistan followed by food, potable water and essential medicines. Spontaneous settlements established primarily along roadsides, however remain a concern.

Three geographical priority regions have been identified according to needs basis:-

Priority 1: Dadu and Kambar districts (Sindh);

Priority 2: Sibi, Bolan, Jhal Magsi, Naseerabad, Jaffarabad (Balochistan) and

Priority 3: Kharan and Turbat (Balochistan)

There is also a strong need to develop a networking of other organisations that are critical components of a disaster planning which includes: fire, police, health, meteorological, agricultural, irrigation, forest, transport and food departments, ambulance services, telephone and utility companies, hospitals, armed forces, coast guards and Rangers, Suparco, the nuclear regulatory body, airport/railways/seaports’ authorities, environmental/ building-control and water management authorities, besides municipal corporations, public and industry representatives, NGOs and volunteer organisations.

Though the foreign donors have pledged over $6 million for the people hit by recent rains and floods, it is basically a sustainable disaster management that can provide relief to the affected persons.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/07/30/ebr10.htm

 

[Neo]

Irritants in exports to Afghanistan​

TRADE Policy 2007-08 has little to offer to enlarge exports to Afghanistan, which will certainly make the job of country’s economic managers tougher to achieve the ambitious target of $19.2 billion for this fiscal year.

Pakistan emerged as a major trading partner of Afghanistan following major reconstruction work started there because it has geographical, ethnic and cultural advantages over competitors in trade with its neighbour..

More than 3.5 million Afghans lived in rural and urban parts of Pakistan for three decades that has made them familiar with Pakistani consumer goods.

The situation offers opportunity for more exports to the war-ravaged country which lacks enough manufacturing base to cater to its domestic demands. This is evident from export growth after 9/11. The bilateral trade climbed up from $492 million in FY 2003-04 to $1.63 billion in financial year 2005-06 mainly because of exports.

NWFP’s businessmen engaged in bilateral trade argue that the country’s exports can be increased manifold from the existing level, if the government removes what they called ‘irritants’ in exports.

Owing to these impediments they argue that exports have witnessed a decline of almost $400 million in financial year 2006-07 as compared to 2005-06. The local manufacturers are losing huge market mainly to Iranian and Indian competitors.

Liaqat Ahmad Khan, President Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), says the government claims that Pakistan is located at the doorstep of Central Asia, but in reality it has never focused on the benefits of geographical proximity to these emerging markets.

The exports to Afghanistan are on the decline mainly because of the discriminatory policies for the region.

Under the trade policy 2005-06, the federal government made abrupt procedural change to settle claims of rebate on taxes on export to Afghanistan, making it obligatory on exporters to produce imports clearance by Afghan Custom authorities across the border.

This, in Mr Khan’s view, is the major factor behind the decline in exports.

In the past exporters claiming rebate on taxes were required to produce export documents verified by the embassy/consulate of Pakistan in Afghanistan, a mode still intact for other countries.

Mr Khan says: “The new procedure has created a lot of problems for the exporters because most of the Afghan importers are reluctant to provide copies of requisite documents to Afghan Custom authorities across the border. In a number of cases relating to different exporters, where there is one importer in Afghanistan only one certificate of receipt of goods is issued by the Afghan customs, which is difficult for different exporters to claim rebate on their exports. Also, Afghan customs documents are mostly in Persian and are not verifiable, whereas in some cases the Afghan customs documents do not contain even the vehicle number.”

“We proposed to the federal government to restore the previous system in the new trade policy. But no heed was paid to our demand ,” says Mr Khan.

At present export is allowed only via land route of Torkham and Chaman border. The growing volume of trade needs better infrastructure. A part of the goods are cleared by Ghullam Khan custom station in North Waziristan.

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on December 30, 2004 notified opening of customs stations at nine different routes to facilitate trade. These include one each at Nawa Pass (Bajur Agency), Khapakh (Mohamand Agency), Terimengal (Kurram Agency), Kharlachi (Kurram Agency), Sheedano Dand (Kurram Agency), Lawara Boya Datta Khel Road (North Waziristan Agency), Angoor Ada (South Waziristan Agency), Khand Naral (South Waziristan Agency) and Arandu Pass at Chitral district.

So far, the custom authorities are unable to formalise trade on such routes because lack of facilities, poor road infrastructure and above all security concerns in the tribal belt, although informal trade is still taking place from such routes.

The commercial exporters are also unhappy over the rebate issue. They say Peshawar-based Regional Tax Office (RTO) is using delaying tactics in disposing of refund claims one way or the other, which is causing liquidity problem for them. They also complain of harassment by the tax officials through unnecessary investigative audits.

Officials in RTO, however, have a different story to tell, saying it was unusual growth in claiming rebate on taxes on export to Afghanistan that prompted them to investigate.

A senior official at RTO informed that a number of commercial exporters with the help of some tax-officials had inflicted loses worth millions of rupees to the national kitty by producing fake documents.

The RTO has recently registered FIRs against two exporters in fraud cases for collectively receiving Rs591 million as refund on bogus invoices.

The official did not agree to the contention that delays in refund claims is hindering export , saying during the first six months of the last financial year 2006-07 the value of pending refund claims was Rs700 million, which stood the same in June this year.

“This means there is no increase in the size of pending amount,” the official remarked.

In his trade policy speech, Commerce Minister Humyun Akhtar attributed the decrease of almost $400 million in export to Afghanistan to petroleum, leather and rice as flow of other consumer goods is normal. The Commerce Minister has put things under carpet for the time being.

The government has no long-term policy to develop its trade with Afghanistan and Central Asian Republics, says exporters.

Numan Wazir, President Industrialists Association Peshawar, says NWFP trade and industry is mostly focused on the consumer markets in Afghanistan, while opening of huge Central Asian markets will stimulate investment opportunities here.

The federal government should have announced a special package for the NWFP under new trade policy for promoting industrial sector by focusing on trade with Afghanistan and beyond, in various fields including marble, granite, gemstone, match , furniture, cement, pharmaceuticals and food products, Mr Wazir pleads..

In his view, freight subsidy, exemption from import duties on raw materials and machinery and tax holiday can be the lasting remedies for developing local industry and to maintaining a strong hold over Afghanistan’s markets.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/07/30/ebr12.htm

 

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Unrealised potential of software exports​

After earning over a hundred million dollars through exports of information technology and IT-enabled services (ITeS) for the first time in the last fiscal year, the government has set this year’s target at $165 million.

Pakistan’s exports of IT& ITeS (including software exports) rose to $107 million in FY07 from $73 million a year before. But this was equal to only 0.6 per cent of the total exports of $17 billion.

Since our traditional exports of textiles are not growing at the desired pace, it has become even more important to increase IT-related exports and exports of other non -traditional items.

Exporters believe that IT& ITeS exports could rise to a billion dollars by 2010 if the government and the private sector launch an effective image- building and marketing campaign

“We need to tell the world our success stories and make them believe that we are capable of meeting their requirements,” says Mr Ayub Butt, CEO of Karachi-based ZRG International. His company mainly offers the technology to run call centres within and outside Pakistan.

President of Pakistan Software Houses Association Mr Ashraf Kapadia says the country has numerous success stories to sell abroad. “How many of us know, for example, that the financial trading software handling the clients’ transactions on the New York Stock Exchange may be the one provided by MixIT, a Karachi-based company ?”

Another Karachi-based company, Etilize, says Mr Kapadia with a pride, is the largest content provider to distributors in the world including Wal-Mart.

He says that Wal-Mart and other companies are using the software developed by Etilize to offer their clients the facility to make on-line cross-company price comparisons.

Officials of Pakistan Software Export Board say exports of IT and ITeS have reached the take-off stage. “We need to increase them to at least five per cent of our total exports,” says an official adding that in this era of knowledge economy, “we cannot continue to count on just traditional sources of exports.”

Software exporters and PSEB officials say that one of the impediments to a faster growth in IT-and ITeS is that an unrealistic comparison with India demoralises Pakistani entrepreneurs. Many transactions in IT and ITeS of Pakistan remain under-reported or are even unreported at all, they say.

After taking into account all sorts of forex earnings related to IT& ITeS but not reported as such, the amount goes up to $600 million per year. Critics, however, point out that even at this level it is just 3.5 per cent of our total exports.

In the year ending in March 2007, India earned some $40 billion through exports of IT& ITeS, which was equal to a whopping 32 per cent of its total merchandise exports of $125 billion. Now the country is aiming to increase these non-traditional exports to $60 billion by 2010.

But president of Pakistan Software Houses Association, Mr Ashraf Kapadia says that it is not appropriate to draw a parallel between Pakistan’s and India’s foreign exchange earnings.

“The PSEB has conducted a thorough exercise which shows that if the two countries use the same standards of calculating foreign exchange earnings through IT& ITeS, Pakistan’s would be not less than $2 billion against India’s $40 billion,” he said.

He however reckons that comparisons aside, the country needs to accelerate its exports of IT& IT-enabled services adding that the country has enough potential to do this.

“But the number one problem is our country’s image abroad. We need to show the world that despite all the problems that we have, business environment in Pakistan is excellent and foreigners can easily frequent our major cities.”

Giving an example he said a US-based client of his own company (Systems Ltd.) was reluctant to visit Pakistan for five long years, citing his concern about various issues here. “But finally when he visited Lahore land, saw for himself that there was nothing to scare foreign businessmen, and he made four successive visits ever since.”

Officials of PSEB admit this and say that the board is building a true image of Pakistan by holding international events here and participating in the ones held in other parts of the world.

They mention signing of an agreement in Islamabad with the Microsoft in March this year adding that the visit of Microsoft executives would send a positive signal abroad and help others overcome inhibitions about Pakistan.

The agreement is aimed at seeking the Microsoft expertise in making Pakistan more competitive in the international market for software and IT-related services.

Under the agreement Microsoft would also help Pakistan develop and maintain a pool of human resources.

Currently there are 110,000 IT professionals and according to PSEB estimates over 10,000 of them are engaged in exports-oriented activities.

“But a large number of professionals are still required to sustain growth,” says Mr Ashraf Kapadia citing scarcity of human resources as number two problem facing the IT industry. “We need to develop many more institutes of higher learning in IT and encourage the youth to choose IT as a career.”

Executives of software houses say that in addition to having larger number of IT professionals they need to groom fresh IT graduates into highly skilled workforce well-versed with the most advanced practical knowledge. Sadly this is not happening on a wide scale.

The lack of adequate number of IT professionals can be gauged from the fact that 94 per cent of the total 1042 IT companies registered with PSEB are located only in three cities namely Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.

PSEB officials say that export-oriented activities in IT& IteS cannot take place in other cities unless there are enough IT professionals available in those places as well.

That even the available IT professionals need advance training is evident from the fact that the share of software consultancy services is only one fifth of the total IT& ITeS exports. Software consultants are regarded as the most skilled workforce capable of providing real-time solution to complex IT-related jobs.

However, the country is making some progress exclusively in the field of software exports that rose to $73 million in FY07 from $46 million a year before.

Experts say whereas there is little scope for increasing exports of software consultancy, tremendous scope exists for boosting software exports as well as business process outsourcing or BPO. Pakistan has so far not made any big progress in BPO which is regarded as main revenue earner in IT& ITeS. In the last fiscal year India earned $8.4 billion through BPO, which was more than one fifth of its overall $40 billion exports of IT& ITeS.

Executives of software houses say that before 9/11 Pakistan had started claiming a small share of the global BPO business in the form of medical transcription that had gained immediate currency in the country.

But after the September 11, 2001 terror strike on American soil followed by the US-led attack on Afghanistan, medical transcription business slowed down. And the global companies that were eyeing Pakistan as a destination of business process outsourcing moved towards other countries, most notably India. Unlike software development which requires involvement of skilled professionals, the work sought under BPO could be done by semi skilled people. “You don’t even need people well-versed with English. You need youngsters who can read and write English and can spend time both on computers and on manual entry books,” says the head of a software house.

Airlines and shipping companies, large consumer business houses and companies engaged in mortgage, healthcare, engineering and accounting outsource their back-office jobs and call centre operations to offshore companies providing cheaper services. Given the volume of these jobs, award of BPO also creates a lot of jobs in the recipient countries, notably in its sub-urban areas.

IT companies located in major cities can get BPO-related jobs done at the places brimming with young jobless people. In each of these centres they will need to recruit only a handful of fully skilled professionals to guide and groom the raw talent. Experts say that website building is also an area where Pakistan can earn sizable foreign exchange provided it can get huge volumes of business in hand.—Mohiuddin Aazim

http://www.dawn.com/2007/07/30/ebr13.htm

 

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Stubborn food inflation​

THE government has appointed a four-member ministerial committee to look into the issue of food inflation and bring it down through strict administrative measures and by removing the gap between demand and supply.

"This was the decision of the ECC to have this committee control food inflation by taking some special initiatives", said Prime Minister's Adviser on Finance Dr Salman Shah.

Dr Shah, who is also one of the members of the committee, said that a decision had been taken to lower food inflation by curbing smuggling, especially of wheat, prevent hoarding and banning export of any major item that was causing increase in food inflation. "On top of it, this time there will be a severe administrative action to achieve our objectives", Dr Shah said.

He did not believe that the new committee would be a failure like the previous committees and other provincial bodies in controlling food inflation and was meant only to appease the anger of the common man.

"This time we mean business, and you will find no relaxation in our resolve to check the menace of inflation".

When reminded that some people sitting in the cabinet were allegedly responsible for food inflation particularly of wheat and sugar, Dr Shah said there was need of a "dynamic process" to resolve the issue by taking timely action against anybody who is involved in price hike.

"This committee would constantly monitor the food supply situation and whenever it finds undue export of any commodity, it will recommend a ban or a 15-20 per cent export duty to cut food inflation which, of course, is causing problems and an embarrassment to the government every now and then", he said.

Currently wheat prices were very low here as compared to its prices in other countries, forcing businessmen to start its export. "But now there will be thorough check, and unless there is an adequate quantity of surplus wheat available, its export will not be allowed, he said.

He admitted that smuggling was a serious crime but it could not be controlled overnight. He also conceded that vested interests sitting both inside and outside the government were responsible for smuggling wheat and other commodities.

"We have been failing in taking timely action and this is a real issue which will now be seriously looked into".

The core inflation, he said, was still below the target at 5.3 per cent but it is the food inflation which was above the target and causing problems to price stabilisation. In June food inflation was 0.2 per cent and if it continues to be in the range of 0.2 to 0.3 per cent, it might get stabilised and help the government in ensuring certain check in prices.

The major problem, he believes, is the supply side shocks, and if the oil prices remained at $78 per barrel, it will be a serious issue. The oil prices needed to be stabilised in the international market so that its negative impact could be avoided by the developing countries like Pakistan.

However, some people within the government did not believe that any new initiative or mechanism would work to control both the inflation and the food inflation. They said that there was no real 'will' on the part of the government to address the issue with the result it gets compounded every day adding to people’s problems.

A concerned official said there was need to address the issue of inflation and food inflation on "permanent basis" and not through "ad hoc measures". The policy of allowing import of any item, whose prices are high in the country, is a temporary solution. The real solution lies in increasing its production, he added.

The real issue is the increase in productivity on which the government was not paying any attention, despite having institutions like Parc, which failed to perform its duties in terms of proposing real crop substitutions and changing pattern for various verities of pulses. Why there is still a failure in finding out high-yield varieties of crops, he asked.

Similarly, why there is a failure in seed multiplication and if the public sector cannot do any thing then this is a high time to transfer the job to the private sector, he advised. He regretted that the high officials did not take into account the advice of their subordinates and planned things considering the interests of the sitting ministers and the influential landed gentry.

"The government promised last year to provide adequate funds to increase livestock production but it was not done", the official said.

About inflation, he said, the money supply had not been restricted due to which the government had failed in achieving its target. And now it did not seem that 6.5 per cent inflation target set for 2007-08 could be achieved as the government would once again borrow more than its requirements from the banks. The current target of borrowing Rs130 billion from the banks would not be met, he predicted. "Last year the government borrowed the double of its target - Rs250 billion which created problems in money supply situation", the official said.

Prominent economist and the former director of Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), Dr A.R, Kamal, said that the issue of inflation and food inflation cannot be resolved by appointing committees and other bodies.

Unless the government improves the supply side situation, which was a real problem, the food inflation would not be controlled.

Likewise, money supply situation was another matter of concern and it could not be addressed as long the government kept on borrowing without any justification against its own targets. He too was of the view that hoarders, smugglers and profiteers were needed to be checked without caring for the consequences. Only then there could be some respite for the public, he added.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/07/30/ebr17.htm

 

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External sector: trends and challenges​

The balance of payments surplus increased to $3.5 billion in the last fiscal year from $1.3 billion a year before. And this happened amidst a record current account deficit of $7 billion.

Apparently, it is quite an achievement. But maintaining this level of BOP surplus might become too difficult during the current fiscal year. The reason is that the huge surplus of over ten billion dollars in the financial account that offset the current account deficit last year may not be obtained easily this year.

In FY07 the financial account surplus expanded to $10.1 billion from $5.8 billion in FY06 as foreign direct investment including privatisation proceeds rose to $5.1 billion from $3.5 billion and foreign portfolio investment shot up to about $3.3 billion from $964 million. (Of this private portfolio investment was $1.82 billion and public portfolio investment $1.47 billion).

The government is preparing to launch GDRs of National Bank and issue Eurobond at an appropriate time. Last year, it had raised $738 million through GDRs of Oil & Gas Development Company besides issuing a $750 million Eurobond.

How the politics in an election year and security situation after Lal-Msjid operation would impact the plans for raising portfolio investment is anybody’s guess.

The same can be said about generating enough foreign private portfolio investment this year which, in FY07, rose to $1.8 billion including $650 million GDRs of United Bank Ltd.

Whereas it seems doubtful if large inflows of FDI and portfolio investment would be available in this fiscal year to offset the current account deficit, the deficit itself might expand further.

The government has set the trade deficit target for this fiscal year at $12.8 billion, down from the actual deficit of $13.5 billion in the last year. The targets for imports and exports have been fixed at $32 billion and $19.2 billion respectively. But as international oil prices move up and domestic demand for fuel remains strong, it seems too difficult to contain imports at $32 billion, only five per cent above the actual imports last year.

What else might make it difficult to keep imports bill in check are high international prices of many imported food items including edible oil and milk powder and non-food items like iron and steel.

And achieving the exports target of $19.2 billion, up 13 per cent over FY07 exports is not feasible particularly in view of a sluggish performance of textiles, high inflation and tight monetary policy.

So, the trade deficit this year might exceed the target. The services account deficit, which stood above $4 billion in the last fiscal year might also increase. And remittances from overseas Pakistanis, which are expected to rise 20 per cent or so, would not be of great help to keep current account deficit low.

As Pakistan’s external sector grows in volume becoming increasingly significant in relation to GDP growth, the country requires having a long-term strategy for dealing with the external sector imbalances. Debts are also mounting. The larger foreign exchange outflows in debt servicing are exerting pressure on the balance of payments. In nine months of the last fiscal year, Pakistan had to dish out $2.2 billion for external debt servicing and it also got $1.1 billion of servicing rescheduled or rolled over.

In case of non-debt creating inflows like FDI, the repatriation of profit and dividend cause a draw down on the foreign exchange resources. In eleven months of the last fiscal year $762 million were remitted abroad on this account. Right now this kind of outflow is not creating much of a problem because foreign investors are also re-investing part of their earning which amounted $668 million dollars in nine months of last fiscal. But that is happening mostly in the sectors, which are witnessing a fast expansion now, like telecommunication.

But a few years down the road, when the expansion euphoria would subside, the volumes of reinvestment would decline and repatriation of profit and dividends would be higher than what they are today.

Reserves: As the balance of payments showed a sizable surplus in the last fiscal year, it led to a build-up in foreign exchange reserves and kept the rupee stabl.

Foreign exchange reserves rose by about $2.5 billion to $15.6 billion in FY07 from $13.1 billion in FY06. And the rupee lost only 0.3 per cent of its value against the dollar in the inter-bank market.

Whereas in FY06 the reserves were enough to finance 46 per cent of total import bill, in FY07 their adequacy to cover the import bill also rose to 51 per cent.

The rupee has so far remained stable during the current fiscal year but bankers fear that it might weaken for two reasons in due course of time.

They reckon that the external sector may not remain as sound and unlike in the past years, the central bank may not strengthen the rupee through net sales of foreign exchange to banks.

Inflation: In the new fiscal year, keeping inflation at 6.5 per cent also seems a real hard challenge, as the post-budget inflationary pressures indicate. Inflationary pressures are particularly visible in prices of food items.

Despite all the government efforts to contain price-hike, food inflation in the last fiscal year advanced at an average rate of 10.3 per cent, against 6.9 per cent a year before.

Advisor to the Ministry of Finance Dr Ashfaque Khan has said publicly that two million tonnes of wheat is lying with the hoarders. He has revealed that the hoarders have the audacity to park their trucks loaded with wheat even at petrol pumps and in the open areas.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/07/30/ebr18.htm

 

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Investors asked to set up IT venture capital fund ​

ISLAMABAD (July 31 2007): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Monday urged Pakistani investors to establish a venture capital fund for the Pakistan IT industry to promote an innovative and knowledge based economy in the country. Presiding over a high level meeting on the establishment of the fund at the PM's House.

The Prime Minister said the establishment of the fund would lead to creation of jobs, growth of IT sector and training and awareness among the stakeholders. He said the fund should be managed by professional managers and the government would play the role of an enabler and facilitator for the creation of innovation by the private sector.

He said that Pakistani IT institutions and universities were producing world class IT experts and there was a need to capitalise this potential. He said the large pool of IT professionals with the capacity to provide IT solutions should encourage both the local and foreign companies to benefit from this resource.

Earlier, Managing Director, Pakistan Software Export Board, Yousaf Hussain informed the meeting that the IT industry of Pakistan exceeded $2.2 billion during the financial year 2005-06 with over 1000 world class leading IT companies.

He said currently Pakistan had 50 percent annual export growth and the country was growing as an offshore outsourcing center in South Asia. Asad Jamal, Chairman, E-Planet Ventures said his company was planning to start its operation in Pakistan during the current year.

E-Planet is the pioneer in global venture capital and is considered as a model since 1999, he added. Umair Khan of the Entrepreneurs Fund-III (TEFs) also made a presentation on IT sector in Pakistan and said there was a huge scope in this field and Pakistan could capitalise the opportunity to cater for the requirements of the whole region especially GCC countries.

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance, Dr Salman Shah, Minister of State for IT and Telecommunication Ishaq Khan Khakwani, bankers, businessmen and senior officials attended the meeting.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=598578&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=