Pakistan Economy - News & Updates - Archive

[Neo]

Crisis not to affect economic growth, says Salman​

KARACHI, Nov 27: Federal Finance Minister Dr Salman Shah has said that Pakistan will continue to register growth despite recent political developments and its fallout on the country.

He was speaking at a luncheon meeting hosted in his honor by members of the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Karachi, a representative body for foreign investors in the country.

Dr Shah discussed investment outlook for Pakistan in the coming years and described it as very positive.

He highlighted the achievements of the government, which he said made great progress under the leadership of President Musharraf.

The finance minister stressed that the country was able to attract huge amount of investment over the past few years due to which the foreign reserves stood at record levels of about $14 billion.

He assured the members that recent economic growth which the country had witnessed in the recent past would continue and that the government was “very keen on continuation of economic activity.”

“Consumer economy has brought boom in the country and the future outlook is positive and the rural economy is now ready to take off in a big way,” said Dr Shah.

Pakistan is considered as third largest growing economy in the Asia Pacific region, he added.

Zubyr Soomro, President of the OICCI, appreciated the efforts made by the government in attracting foreign investment in the country and also highlighted the fact that it was only possible due to consistency in economic polices.

He commented that all political parties wishing to contest the forthcoming elections should go to people with their agenda for the economy as this would help long-term investment prospects.

He added that the Overseas Chamber would be happy to host interactive sessions for political leadership wishing to interact with member companies on economic issues.

OICCI is the oldest Chamber of Commerce of Pakistan. The Chambers’ primary function is to promote commercial, industrial and financial interests of foreign investors engaged in Pakistan.

The OICCI has 171 members, representing all major sectors of economy. A recent survey conducted by KPMG indicated that the OICCI membership contributes over 14pc of the GNP of Pakistan and approximately 32pc of the GDP of the manufacturing sector. Between them, they contribute 33pc of the total tax revenue of the government, and directly employ approximately 100,000 people.

Crisis not to affect economic growth, says Salman -DAWN - Business; November 28, 2007

 

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Wind power generation: Letters of Intent issued to 93 firms​

* AEDB, IRSA to hold meeting of advisory committee on December 4

ISLAMABAD: Letters of Intent (LoIs) have been issued by the government to 93 local and foreign firms for power generation using wind energy. This is hoped to help meet the country’s growing power demand, Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) officials said Tuesday during a meeting with the caretaker federal minister for power and water, Tariq Hameed.

The minister had held two separate meetings with AEDB officials and the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) officials to seek briefings regarding ongoing and upcoming projects.

AEDB officials told the minister that five investors had applied for licenses to set up such facilities at Gharo-Keti Bandar in Sindh where the AEDB had identified the potential of around 50,000 MW, sources told Daily Times. Licenses were issued to (among others) Green Tower, New Park Energy, Tenega, Win Power and Miligro. The licenses of Zephyr Power, Zolyu Energy and Beacon Energy are under process. Moreover, land has been allotted to 15 companies so that each of them could establish plants for 50 mega watts each, the minister was told.

Officials said that the major thrust of the AEDB was to assist investors in meeting the increasing power demand. The country has been facing a power crisis, and the galloping demand-supply gap had resulted in frequent breakdowns, hurting not only domestic consumers but also the industry. Officials further said that the generation potential was based on three-year wind data gathered at Gharo-Keti Bandar by the Meteorological Department.

The AEDB, after conducting an extensive analysis of the data, got four 50-metre-high wind-measuring masts installed by private sector. The AEDB and the Sindh government are now working in close co-ordination for the identification and allotment of land in the wind corridor. In another meeting, IRSA officials told the minister that a meeting of the advisory committee would be held on December 3. During this meeting, all provinces are expected to present their water plan for the Rabi season.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

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Telecom sector employment crosses one million: PTA​

KARACHI: About one million job opportunities have been created since liberalization of the telecom sector in 2003; the mobile companies alone had over 9,500 employees in 2006/07, annual report of Pakistan Telecommuni-cation Authority (PTA) revealed.

Telecom sector has about 84,000 employees directly on their payroll in 2006-07, the report said adding the sector has vast linkages with all other sectors where it is producing large employment opportunities such as civil work for installation of towers, support service providers, airtime, SIM and hand set retailers, employment in fixed line and network equipment suppliers.

According to the industry analysts, telecommunication is the only sector, which has is showing a positive and healthy competition. Analysts are predicting that there is still a great potential in this sector.

The telecommunications sector in Pakistan has undergone a considerable transformation following the award of two new mobile licenses, FLL and WLL licenses and privatization of PTCL. Stiff competition among operators to grab the market share has compelled operators to roll out their infrastructure rapidly, which has created huge employment opportunities.

Deloitte has estimated that so far about 212,000 employment opportunities have been generated countrywide only by the mobile sector. A study conducted by TEACH has estimated that cellular mobile sector has generated about 743,025 employment opportunities, which included direct, indirect and induced employment in linked sectors of the economy. Study further revealed that about 260,000 employment opportunities have been generated by other segments of the telecom sector including WLL, LDI, card payphones and other new players.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[Introvert]

Pakistan and Mauritius sign Preferential Trade Agreement
Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Mauritius have decided to accord each other preferential status effective November 30, 2007, under the bilateral Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA).

According to a press release, the PTA applies to a large number of products traded between the two countries. The Mauritian market has a good potential for Pakistani exports and can also serve as a gateway to the entire African region. The PTA will therefore ensure that Pakistani products have an edge over the products of other countries in the Mauritian market.

In order to put the Pakistan-Mauritius PTA in operation from November 30,2007, the Pakistan government has issued an SRO (No. 1151(I)/2007) in which a 50 percent Margin of Preference of existing tariff rates has been granted to 64 products, including flowers, fruits, tea, sugar, sea food and soap. This Margin of Preference shall increase to 100 percent from November 30, 2008. Similarly, the Margin of Preference ranging from 35 percent to 50 percent and a tariff rate quota ranging from 200,000 to 300,000 pieces has been granted on 66 textile made up items.

Mauritius has offered a Margin of Preference ranging from 15 percent to 30 percent for the first year of the PTA on 102 Pakistan Customs Tariff lines which includes products such as flowers, fruits, cereals, tobacco items, salt, marble, carpets, bed linen, textile furnishing articles, electrical machinery and microwave ovens. This Margin of Preference will increase to the range of 50 percent to 100 percent from November 30, 2008.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

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TAP ministerial meeting postponed ​

ISLAMABAD (November 28 2007): It was yet another setback to Pakistan as due to the current political turmoil the delegates have regretted to visit Pakistan to attend the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) ministerial meeting, which was scheduled for November 27-28 here.

This left no other option for Pakistan but to postpone the meeting till some more appropriate time. A senior official told Business Recorder on Tuesday that the revised schedule for TAP ministerial meeting would be announced only when the Asian Development Bank (ADB) would co-ordinate with the member countries and get assurance from them for participation.

Not a single word was said, officially, about the postponement of the meeting or indicating the country which regretted to send the delegates to Pakistan for the meeting. But the new development sent a wave of shock to Islamabad.

The officials of the Ministry of Petroleum (MoP) were not aware of the new development till November 26. They were informed at the eleventh hour that due to unavailability of some delegates the meeting had been postponed.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) informed the officials that the next meeting would be scheduled after coordinating with the member countries of the project. ADB is co-ordinator for TAP gas line project, which has not witnessed any substantial progress despite several meetings in the capitals of the member countries during the last several years.

In the past, security in Afghanistan and gas reserves at the field from where Turkmenistan is supposed to supply gas for the project had been major question marks. ADB despite showing keenness in the project could not help the parties make any substantial progress. They also made extraordinary efforts to invite India for the project as observer.

Officials in Islamabad are not sure whether TAP ministerial meeting will ever materialise to help Pakistan get additional source of gas for meeting its growing energy demand. However, they can not back out from it simply for one reason to keep TAP meeting as an option for importing gas.

The political uncertainty has cost Pakistan in terms of economics very dearly. A number of official and unofficial delegates have declined to travel to Pakistan during the last few months. Just a few days back the delegates of Indian oil minister had regretted to travel to Pakistan for an official visit.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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Smeda, Tusdec to expand cooperation for SME sector ​

LAHORE (November 28 2007): The Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (SMEDA) and Technology Up-gradation and Skill Development Company, (TUSDEC) have decided to expand mutual co-operation to fill in the gap of technology and technical skills in SME sector.

Smeda Chief Executive Officer Shahid Rashid and his Tusdec counterpart, Suhael Ahmed, met here on Tuesday at Smeda head office to exchange information on the projects run by their organisations for developing modern technology and innovation in various sectors of SMEs.

Both organisations exchanged presentations on their running projects and identified the areas of mutual co-operation between Smeda and Tusdec and also agreed to draft a memorandum of understanding to shape the scope of mutual co-operation.

They also agreed to hold more joint meetings in future to strengthen the professional collaboration between SMEDA and Tusdec to enhance technological competitiveness of the SME sector.

Briefing on Smeda's development projects Rashid said TEVTA had agreed to provide a piece of land in Shahdra near Lahore to build a foundry services centre. Smeda General Managers Sultan Tiwana, Syed Iqbal Anwar Kidwai and Muhammad Jamil Afaqi were also present.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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Economic prospects remain strong despite political noise: Shamshad ​

KARACHI (November 27 2007): State Bank of Pakistan Governor Dr Shamshad Akhtar has said that the country's economic prospects have remained strong despite the political noise in the country, recent turmoil in the international financial markets, and the growing challenges in international economic and financial markets, besides upsurge in oil prices.

However, inflationary pressures could rise, since fiscal imperatives now demand for government to pass through the impact of the recent oil prices that reached close to $100 per barrel in the international markets, she added.

Addressing the business community on 'Pakistan's Economic Outlook and Perspectives' at the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry here on Monday, she said that economy of Pakistan was continuing to perform well, and Pakistan's financial market had, by and large, remained insulated from the financial market turmoil as it did not have exposure to mortgage or other asset-backed securities.

"Resilience of the country's economy due to underlying financial health and strong macroeconomic fundamentals helped Pakistan to remain 'untouched' by external shocks like US subprime mortgage markets crisis, depreciation of dollar, and rising international oil prices," she said.

However, she added that the external sector, which has thus far been manageable, could see some spillover impact of the US slowdown if it turned out to be more severe. Dr Akhtar pointed out that some emerging trends could have implications for economic outcome of the current 2007-08 fiscal year.

She said that the State Bank's policy measures had undoubtedly been able to more directly impact the core inflation and evidence in FY06 and FY07 had shown that monetary policy had paid dividends in bringing down core inflation. She added that higher inflation expectations have become self-fulfilling as they have impacted wage setting and pricing decisions now.

The SBP Governor said that inflation currently is a global phenomenon and is driven largely by commodity price trends both in energy and food. She said the inflationary pressures could rise, since fiscal imperatives now demand for Government to pass through the impact of the recent oil prices that reached close to $100 per barrel in the international markets.

"But for the tight monetary policy that curbed demand pressures and kept core and headline inflation in check, inflationary trends would have been more significant in Pakistan," she added.

She said that dollar/rupee exchange rate continued to be market-determined, and any market intervention is always aimed at moderating the rate of change or diluting any excessive volatility in the exchange rate, rather than establishing any level for it. The SBP as a policy does not target any specific exchange rate level, and the rate is driven by prevailing demand and supply conditions, she added.

She said that the State Bank has been facilitating both export and long-term refinancing and the outstanding funds provided by SBP and banks to exporters at 7.5 percent reached Rs 132 billion as on November 3, 2007, which is higher than last year's trend.

She said the SBP has honoured applications for around Rs 6.8 billion LTF-EOP contracted prior to July 2007 and at the same time, it announced the implementation of 3 percent interest rate subsidy for spinning sector and continued to pay R&D support expeditiously which has now reached Rs 25 billion on a cumulative basis since its introduction and SBP disposed off almost 270,000 cases of it.

The scheme for Long Term Financing Facility will be operationalised in January 2008 as soon as the details of its workings have been well understood by the commercial banks.

She said on production side, growth is likely to be impacted by setback to two major crops ie cotton and rice as they were hit by pest attacks and other problems. However, part of the agriculture crop shortfalls could be offset by higher than expected other crops.

For instance, sugarcane harvest is likely to touch new high level of 62.3 million tons--up by 13.5 percent relative to last year. Both local manufacturers and the Government need to take measures to improve competitiveness of domestic goods, the Governor said.

She added that ensuring quality through innovation, skill development and technological up-gradation, reducing costs through scale, diversifying product-line in line with the market demand, and achieving self-sufficiency in raw materials etc were some of the areas where entrepreneurs needed to concentrate. Adversities in production sectors are, however, likely to be offset by continued buoyant performance of services sector which accounts for over half of value-added of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), she said.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

[Neo]

July-October 2008: 26 percent rise in services sector trade deficit ​

KARACHI (November 29 2007): Services sector trade deficit has widened by 26 percent, reaching $2 billion during the first four months (July-October) of current fiscal year mainly due to high payments on account of transportation, travel and government services, besides decline in the services sector exports.

The State Bank on Wednesday said that the country's services sector trade performance has been very discouraging, as overall exports stood at $897.46 million against imports of $2.994 billion, depicting a deficit of $2.09 billion during July-October 2007. Services sector deficit during this period was $438 million, or 26 percent, higher than $1.65 billion of July-October of last fiscal year.

Heavy payments on account of transportation, travel services, insurance, technical fee, royalties and government sector were the major contributors in the services trade deficit, economists said. They said that declining exports of services sector also was matter concern, and policy makers should take some steps to check the reason of poor performance in the exports.

Services sector exports during this period declined by 13 percent, to $897 million, from $1.02 billion, while imports of services sector went up by 12 percent to $2.99 billion from $2.68 billion. Only transportation sector contributed around $718 million in overall deficit faced by services sector, analysts said.

Pakistan does not have any shipping line except one flag carrier Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC). Therefore, both exporters and importers are compelled to hire international shipping lines, they said. "We are expecting that during the current fiscal year the country would face a deficit of over $5 billion in services sector trade account, as increasing shipping lines freights have to further mount the services deficit," they added.

Services deficit stood at $561.667 million during October 2007 as compared to $267.742 million of October 2006, depicting an increased of $109 percent. During October 2007 exports amounted to $240.255 million, while imports reached $801.922 million.

The country earned $361 million on account of transportation services, $86 million from travel, communication $48 million, construction $12 million, insurance $11 million and $44 million from financial sector during July-October.

In addition, $42 million payments were received on account of computer and information sector, royalties and licence fee $9 million, cultural services $0.868 million and other business services earning $116.5 million.

Transportation payments stood at $1.07 billion, travel $453 million, communication $24 million, construction $15 million, insurance $64 million, financial sector $32 million and computer and information sector payments $48 million.

Royalties and licence fee payments reached $47 million, cultural services $0.454 million, government services $150 million and other business services payment at $1.07 billion. The country faced a deficit of $4.125 billion in service trade mainly due to high payments on transportation, construction, financial, computers services and royalties during fiscal year 2007.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

[Neo]

EU lifts ban on PIA ​

BRUSSELS (November 29 2007): The European Union (EU) on Wednesday completely lifted a ban on Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) from flying in the 27-nation bloc after the airline addressed the safety concerns of the European Union. The European Commission said it had removed PIA and Blue Wing Airlines of Surinam from the bloc's blacklist of banned carriers.

"This latest revision (of the list) shows that when airlines take rapid and sound corrective action to comply with safety standards, they can be withdrawn from the list quickly," Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot said in a statement. The Commission had previously lifted its ban on some of PIA's aircraft. In March, the EU executive banned most of the airline's fleet, citing concerns about maintenance and the age of some aircraft, especially its Boeing 747s and Airbus 310s.

The EU executive said there remained serious safety deficiencies related to other carriers on the list, including TAAG Angola Airlines, Mahan Air and Ukrainian Mediterranean Airlines, despite some progress. "A decision to withdraw these airlines from the community list would, at this stage, be premature," it said in the statement.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

[Neo]

Pakistan gains three places in HDI ranking ​

ISLAMABAD (November 29 2007): The United Nations Human Development Report launched on Wednesday, here showed that Pakistan gained three places in rank jumping to 136th from previous estimated 139th in 2004 with its Human Development Index (HDI) rising by 0.007.

However, it still presents a grim picture about Pakistan showing it 136th among out of 177 countries and areas though with a slight improvement. Its HDI would have been 0.544 for 2004 value, had the updates been available at the time of compiling the last report.

In terms of Human Poverty Index (HPI), Pakistan stands at 77th position among 108 developing countries for which the index has been calculated while Gender Development Index (GDI) value for Pakistan is 95.3 percent.

Out of 156 countries with both HDI and GDI value, 151 countries have a better ratio than Pakistan as in Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM), the country ranks 82nd out of 93 countries with a value of 0.377. For India, 156 countries and for Bangladesh 107 countries have better ratio than these two. In comparison presented in report, India and Bangladesh stand at 128th and 140th respectively with 62nd and 93rd in HDI and HPI.

Giving overview of the report, Alvero Rodriguez, Country Director UNDP Pakistan said, as a result of past Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions and other Green House Gases (GHGs), the world in now on course of future climate change. He said Human Development Report (HDR) identifies around 2C unavoidable temperature increase, with irreversible and dangerous climate change impacts.

"We have less than a decade to change course and start living within a sustainable global carbon budget identified at 14.5 gigatonnes of CO2 per annum for the remainder of the 21st century," he said quoting the report's findings.

"Currently emissions are running at twice of this level, if this trend continues, the carbon budget will be set for expiry during the 2030s, setting in motion a process that can lead to temperature increase by 5C or above by the end of century - roughly similar to temperature changes since last ice age (10,000 years ago)," Alvero said.

He said high-income OECD countries meanwhile lead the league of "CO2 transgressors" with just 15 percent of the world's population accounting for half of emissions and the other half by 85 percent of the population.

"If the entire world emits like high-income OECD countries - an average of 13.2 tonne CO2 per person - we would be emitting six times our sustainable carbon budget," he added. Alvero, however appreciated Pakistan for efforts to fight global warming. "Pakistan is doing well. It is moving in right direction," he observed.

With 2.4 percent of world population, Pakistan accounts for 0.4 percent of global emissions - an average of eight tonnes of CO2 per person. Pakistan has signed and ratified Kyoto Protocol and as non-annex-1 party to Protocol, Pakistan is not bound by specific targets for Greenhouse Gases emissions.

"Pakistan is the only country which has formulated Prime Minister's Committee on Climate Change in 2004. We are concentrating on climate change's impact on water and agriculture," said Dr Ashfaq, President Academy of Sciences.

"Water and food security are emerging challenges for Pakistan," he said and regretted that none of Pakistan's universities have a climate change faculty. "We are also yet to excel in modelling and simulation for the new energy technologies." He said population increase had depleted resources over the years and today countries in region need to develop their own energy and climate control models.

"We are vulnerable. Our glaciers are melting," he said and noted, China and India's contribution as significant in climate change. He sought co-operation from the UNDP, IUCN, international organisations, local NGOs and other players for controlling CO2 emissions and that of media for sensitising people to mitigate GHGs emissions.

Assistant Resident Representative UNDP, Arif Alauddin urged immediate measures and said, "the opportunity window of for avoiding the most damaging climate change impacts is fast closing." "As the world has financial resources and technological capability, so what is required, is a sense of urgency, human solidarity and collective interest," Arif said.

He said Climate Change challenges us to reflect on social justice and human rights across countries and generation. "It challenges political leaders and people in the rich countries to acknowledge their responsibility to the problem and initiate early cuts in HGHs emissions." "We must take urgent action to adapt to Climate Change," he added.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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KESC to start 75 megawatts power generation in December ​

KARACHI (November 29 2007): Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC), for the first time after 11 years, will start generating 75 MW of electricity on its own by the middle of December 2007.

A meeting held under the chairmanship of Sindh Governor Dr Ishrat-ul-Ibad at Governor House on Wednesday was informed that work was in progress to further improve the power supply situation during next summer as compared to the past year.

Caretaker Chief Minister, former Justice Abdul Qadir Halepota also attended the meeting. The meeting reviewed the present power supply situation and KESC chief Lieutenant General Syed Mohammed Amjad (retd) apprised the meeting about power supply position and future improvement plans.

The Governor called for removing all bottlenecks in the way of power supply and ensuring its immediate and uninterrupted provision to city's residential areas and also keeping the street lights alighted. He directed that street lights installed from Sohrab Goth to Surjani Town be made operational at the earliest and stressed on supply of electricity in the projects of Malir and Lyari Development Authorities on priority basis. The meeting was informed that 12 new Grid Stations are under construction while, besides 75 mw KESC's own power generation, the DHA's 80 mw power generation project will also be operational in December.

It was pointed out that after overhauling of Bin Qasim Plant, the problem of shortage of 200 mw will also be overcome to a great extent and work in this regard is expected to be completed next month.

The KESC authorities thanked Governor Dr Ishrat-ul-Ibad and city Nazim Mustafa Kamal for their co-operation and said that particularly the problems faced during this summer couuld be controlled through thi Co-operation. Home Minister, Brigadier Akhtar Zamin (retd), Chief Secretary Fazlur Rehman, City Nazim Mustafa Kamal and KESC's senior officials attended the meeting.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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Work on $200 million IT Tower to start soon, says Kamal ​

KARACHI (November 29 2007): City Nazim Mustafa Kamal on Wednesday said the construction work of 47-storey IT Tower in the vicinity of Civic Center at a cost of $200 million would start within few weeks. Around 40,000 youth would get employment in the IT Tower.

Which would be the country's tallest building and would have 10,000 call centers of which 6,000 have been booked so far, the Nazim stated this, in his address, to a "Technology Showcase" event held at a local hotel.

The event was organised by the Inbox Business Technologies (IBT), an end-to-end technology solutions company, to highlight various technology-related initiatives taken by the City District Government Karachi (CDGK).

Chief Guest Mustafa Kamal described the importance of using technology to make administration of the city easier and, for the betterment of its citizens.

He said a full-scale Enterprise Resource Planning Application, Health Management and Information System (HMIS) has been introduced at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH), city's largest public sector hospital, to ensure the availability of improved patient-care and better administrative controls.

Mustafa Kamal noted how the implementation of HMIS at ASH had increased transparency, reduced pilferage, and increased accountability of the hospital staff for the benefit of patients.

He also stressed the need for the importance of transparency at public sector hospitals through an effective reporting system. "The system would prevent misuse of medical supplies issued to the hospital, so that the truly needy could be able to get the required medicines," he added. Praising the work on Citizen Complaint Management and Information System (CCMIS), the City Nazim termed it a unique system world over.

He said using the CCMIS the citizens of Karachi are able to directly register their complaints related to KWSB, KESC and KMC etc at the city's Call Center 1339. The calls are monitored and logged by the vigilant, efficient and well-educated staffers who have been employed from the private sector to ensure timely actions on complaints, he added.

Kamal surveying progress on the Wireless Video Security and Surveillance System (WVSSS) said by using the system, live video feed from the cameras installed along the two signal-free corridors would be viewed from a central location in the city.

He said the WVSSS would help detect and prevent traffic congestion and minimise suspicious activities and street crimes in the vicinity. Elaborating the Land Management System (LMS), a land lease-related document repository,

Kamal told the seminar that how the system would help citizens identify any ambiguities in ownership of real estate, and prevent fraudulent activities and property-related disputes.

Ghias Khan, Chief Executive Officer, IBT elaborated upon usage of the HMIS to uplift the health sector with better administration of hospitals and efficient utilisation of hospital resources. "Using HMIS, world-standard healthcare best practices can be introduced in public and private sector hospitals in Pakistan," he said.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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Telecom sector: deregulation attracts record investment, says Soomro ​

ISLAMABAD (November 29 2007): Caretaker Prime Minister Mohammadmian Soomro has said that as a result of government's policies of deregulation, privatisation and liberalisation the telecom sector has attracted record investments.

The telecom sector, he said, has become a major employer of skilled jobs as its exponential growth has resulted in creation of thousands of jobs. The Prime Minister said this while talking to the CEO, PTCL Walid Irshad, who called on him here at the Prime Minister's Secretariat on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister said that systematic and sustained implementation and management efforts by the government has totally transformed and modernised the telecom sector. It is not often realised, he added, that access to telecom services gives a sense of pride and confidence to the people as it provides instant connectivity across the country and the world.

Prime Minister said people are the major beneficiaries of the telecom sector's success story as majority of the people have access to improved telecom services at substantially reduced tariffs.

The public now has the choice of multiple telephone service providers at competitive rates, he added. He said telecom is among the fastest growing sectors of the economy.

The country has 67 million phones including cellular and fixed lines and the teledensity has increased from 4 percent in 2003 to 46 percent in 2007. Walid Irshad said the economic stability achieved by Pakistan has created a conducive atmosphere for investment.

He said efforts are underway to transform PTCL into a world class company and it will bring expansion in areas of fixed lines, cellular phones, broad band, domestic and long distance calls.

Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]

 

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Online banking growing, faulty network stays major impediment ​

Thursday, November 29, 2007

KARACHI: Banking sources have affirmed that most of bank branches would become online by the end of current fiscal year.

In the first quarter of 2007-08 the number of Real Time Online Branches (RTOB) in the country increased to 4,444 out of total 7,796 bank branches.

“Though online banking is growing with a satisfactory pace but frequent power failure and inefficient telecommunication network are still considered as major impediments in growth of e-banking in the country,” the banking sources said.

According to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) figures the e-banking transactions during first quarter of current fiscal grew by 7.5 percent to 30.1 million in terms volume and by 9.6 percent to Rs3.4 trillion in terms of value respectively.

The total number of active cards increased by 11.9 percent to 6.5 million. Credit cards recorded decline of 4.4 percent to 1.6 million, while debit cards witnessed growth of 18.7 percent and stood at 4.7 million and ATM cards reached 0.158 million registering 17.7 percent growth over the previous quarter.

Total number of ATMs as of Q1 FY07-08 reached 2,470, depicting an increase of 7.7 percent over the previous quarter.

RTOB recorded 6.3 percent increase in the number of branches compared with the previous quarter. As of Q1 FY07-08, number of Point of Sale (POS) terminals available to customers was 50,004 reflecting a growth of 7.9 percent over the previous quarter.

Total number of ATM transactions increased by 11.2 percent in Q1 FY07-08 and stood at 16.0 million, whereas the amount of such transactions was Rs.104.1 billion; showing a growth of 18.1 percent over the previous quarter.

The number of Real Time Online Banking (RTOB) transactions grew to 9.1 million, reflecting an increase of 1.4 percent as compared to the previous quarter. The value of transactions through RTOB recorded during this quarter was Rs.3.2 trillion showing an increase of 9.4 percent over the previous quarter.

The number of transactions on other e-banking channels (POS, Internet & Call Center/IVR, and Mobile) recorded during the quarter under review was 5.0 million, reflecting a growth of 7.7 percent over the previous quarter. The value of such transactions was Rs.27.6 billion; reflecting an increase of 9.5 percent over the previous quarter.

The use of electronic channels is consistently growing as contribution to electronic transactions increased by 26.1 percent in number terms and 8.5 percent in value terms of total retail transactions, as compared to 14.9 percent and 8.8 percent respectively in the previous quarter.

But contrary to SBP figures some banking customers told a different picture regarding attitude and lack of efficiency of banks.

Malik Ahmed Khan, a customer told The News that that despite charging a handsome amount in terms of e-transaction fee the banks were shilly- shally regarding e-transactions due to these being more prone to risk as compared to paper deals.

He said that he had to transfer certain amount to his business partner immediately in Punjab but most of the banks excused to execute this e-transaction on the same day. Another customer Hasan Ali said that most of the time he found online system of the banks faulty or non functional, which may cause embarrassment for the clients.

In addition, Rizwan Ahmed a user of ATM card said that he withdrew Rs5000 from his account through ATM card but ATM machine deducted Rs10,000 wrongly, and he was able to get back this amount after 20 days of hectic efforts.

Online banking growing, faulty network stays major impediment

 

[Neo]

Govt’s reform agenda to boost investment: PM ​

Thursday, November 29, 2007

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Prime Minister Muhammadmian Soomro Wednesday said the caretaker government would continue its journey on the path of reforms agenda to further boost the economic activities in the country.

He was talking to the delegation of investors led by Ramzan Sheikh, Chief Executive Midland Husnain Pakistan Ltd and representatives of Abraaj Capital, who called on him here. The Prime Minister said Pakistan has emerged as a preferred destination for investments and added the total foreign investments, has touched record level of $8.5 billion, which shows the confidence of the foreign investors in our economic policies.

He said now Pakistan stands on a solid footing and has strong fundamentals as well as substantive structural reforms to attract more investments in days to come. Several sectors represent attractive investment opportunities including telecom, IT, financial services, engineering, agri business and real estate, he added.

Giving an overview of Pakistan’s economy, the Prime Minister said the country maintained a solid economic pace in 2006-07 and achieved 7 per cent growth. The magnitude of growth that Pakistan has achieved during the previous five years has positioned Pakistan as one of the fast growing economies in Asia, he said.

The Prime Minister appreciated the interest shown by the Abraaj Capital in further investment at the Royal Palm Golf Course in Lahore and assured them of every possible support in this regard.

The Prime Minister was apprised by the delegation that Abraaj is planning to invest approximately $50-100 million in the expansion of Royal Palm project. The delegation expressed confidence in Pakistan’s economy, which they said is based on strong fundamentals that would attract more foreign investment.

Govt’s reform agenda to boost investment: PM