Pakistan Economy - News & Updates - Archive

[Neo]

Cement exports up by 60 percent​

KARACHI (March 03 2009): Cement exports grew by 60 percent to 6.83 million tons during eight months (Jul-Feb) of current 2008-09 fiscal year against 4.26 million tons of last year due to easy and cheapest availability of raw material and rising international demand, industry sources said. They said that rising regional cement demand pushed the country's cement export to this level.

However, they said that overall cement exports growth witnessed slight decline, as export to India had almost halted due to imposition of 12 percent duty by Indian authorities. Cement export growth was 65 percent during the first seven months of current fiscal year, they added.

Cement exports during February 2009 increased by 19 percent to 0.937 million tons against 0.645 million tons of February 2008. However, domestic slow construction activity disturbed local sales of cement, which is constantly on decline.

Local cement sales declined by 15 percent to 12.27 million tons during the first eight months of current fiscal year as compared to 14.43 million tons of the corresponding period of last fiscal year, showing a decline of 2.16 million tons. Month-wise local cement dispatches declined by 19 percent to 1.49 million tons during February 2009 over the dispatches of 1.84 million tons in February 2008.

The declining trend in local dispatches is also hurting the overall growth of cement, which declined to 2.16 percent during the first eight months. Overall dispatches, including export and local sales, stood at 19.1 million tons during July-February 2009 as against 18.7 million tons during the corresponding period of last fiscal year.

 

[Neo]

Pakistan ranks 127th in global IT​

GENEVA (March 03 2009): North European countries and South Korea have the most advanced telecoms and computer development in the world, the UN's telecommunications agency said Monday. Sweden came on top of the International Telecommunications Union's latest five yearly index on computer development, followed by South Korea, which gained two places, Denmark, the Netherlands, Iceland and Norway.

All of the 154 countries managed to improve their rating in 2007 - the most recent year for which statistics for all communications categories are available - with the exception of 117th placed Myanmar, the table showed. The improvements were largely down to greater access - the availability of technology and infrastructure.

But use, which is often tied to education or skills and individual wealth, was progressing at a much slower rate, the ITU said. The top 20 was dominated by high income countries in Europe, North America and Asia in a largely unchanged pattern over 2002.

Poor countries remain at the lower end of the table with limited access to infrastructure for fixed or mobile telecoms networks, Internet and broadband, according to the ITU. But they are the world's biggest cellphone users.

Several developing or emerging countries, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, China and Vietnam, were among the most dynamic areas of overall IT growth. Pakistan in 127th place was the fastest growing after it registered almost no computer access or usage five years earlier, the ITU said. By 2007, eight percent of households had computers and Internet penetration reached 10.7 percent.

 

[Neo]

Road linkages to boost Pakistan, Kazakhstan economies: minister​

ISLAMABAD (March 03 2009): Federal Minister for Communication, Dr Arbab Alamgir Khan, has said that establishing road linkages between Pakistan and Kazakhstan would immensely benefit the economy of both the countries. He said this in his meeting with the Ambassador of Kazakhstan H E Bakhytbek Shabarbaye where they discussed the ways to enhance trade and transport relations between the two countries.

He further said that the present government wanted to establish a more close and cordial relationship with Kazakhstan. He said that Benazir Bhutto was the first Pakistani leader who visited Kazakhstan. He said that the present government wanted to take the vision of the great leader forward and expand the trade activities between Pakistan and Kazakhstan.

He said that the government was working on a plan to establish a world class road infrastructure. He said that our aim was to link the Gawadar and Karachi ports with the neighbouring countries through Highways and Motorways. He informed that Lowari Tunnel project was near to completion, which would give Pakistan a short and easy access with Tajikistan and other Central Asia republics.

He said that under Chairman National Highway Authority (NHA), a delegation would soon visit Kazakhstan and hoped that people related to road and transport industry in Kazakhstan could come here and explore new possibilities of investment in Pakistan.

He said that visa rules between two countries needed to be made more relaxed to give people a chance to have greater interaction with each other that would ultimately result in greater understanding between the two governments. The Ambassador thanked and said that his government shared Pakistan's efforts for better relationship between the two countries. He formally invited the minister for the first ACD Ministerial Transport Forum to be held in Astana in April, which was happily accepted.

 

[s90]

FBR reports 21 pc increase in 8-month tax collection

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) in a statement said tax collection in the eight months ended Feb. 28, climbed by 21 per cent to Rs706.4 billion compared with Rs585.3 billion in the corresponding period last year.

 

[UnitedPak]

Road linkages to boost Pakistan, Kazakhstan economies: minister​

ISLAMABAD (March 03 2009): Federal Minister for Communication, Dr Arbab Alamgir Khan, has said that establishing road linkages between Pakistan and Kazakhstan would immensely benefit the economy of both the countries. He said this in his meeting with the Ambassador of Kazakhstan H E Bakhytbek Shabarbaye where they discussed the ways to enhance trade and transport relations between the two countries.

He further said that the present government wanted to establish a more close and cordial relationship with Kazakhstan. He said that Benazir Bhutto was the first Pakistani leader who visited Kazakhstan. He said that the present government wanted to take the vision of the great leader forward and expand the trade activities between Pakistan and Kazakhstan.

He said that the government was working on a plan to establish a world class road infrastructure. He said that our aim was to link the Gawadar and Karachi ports with the neighbouring countries through Highways and Motorways. He informed that Lowari Tunnel project was near to completion, which would give Pakistan a short and easy access with Tajikistan and other Central Asia republics.

He said that under Chairman National Highway Authority (NHA), a delegation would soon visit Kazakhstan and hoped that people related to road and transport industry in Kazakhstan could come here and explore new possibilities of investment in Pakistan.

He said that visa rules between two countries needed to be made more relaxed to give people a chance to have greater interaction with each other that would ultimately result in greater understanding between the two governments. The Ambassador thanked and said that his government shared Pakistan's efforts for better relationship between the two countries. He formally invited the minister for the first ACD Ministerial Transport Forum to be held in Astana in April, which was happily accepted.

Encouraging Support: Kyrgyzstan to build power transmission infrastructure

ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan, Nurlan Aitmurzaev has requested Pakistan’s corporate sector participation in building power transmission infrastructure between Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan to facilitate the export of power to Pakistan.

Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani met the outgoing ambassador of Kyrgyzstan here on Tuesday to give a farewell call. PM said that Pakistan desires to enhance its bilateral ties with Kyrgyzstan particularly in trade, economics and cultural fields.

The PM said Pakistan would consider importing electricity from Kyrgyzstan through Afghanistan in collaboration with the World Bank under Central Asia – South Asia Regional Electricity Market (CASAREM) initiative.

He hoped that the ongoing negotiations in this regard would soon reach fruition. The prime minister called on Kyrgyzstan for better implementation at the quadrilateral Pakistan-China-Kyrgystan agreement for traffic in transit to raise the present volume of bilateral trade between the two countries. He told the Kyrgyz envoy that the government of Pakistan was examining his country’s requests for dedicated facilities at Gwadar and allotment of a plot in Islamabad for the construction of embassy premises.

The Kyrgyz ambassador thanked the prime minister for government of Pakistan’s support to him in discharge of his duties during his tenure in Islamabad and briefed him on his efforts to bring the two countries closer. He requested that Pakistan’s corporate sector should be encouraged to participate in joint ventures and invest particularly in power generation and transmission sectors of Kyrgyzstan. The Kyrgyz envoy informed the PM that out of the two hydro-electric generation projects, one will be completed in December this year whereas the second one being constructed with 50 percent Russian equity needs participation of investors from other countries for its early completion. On completion of these projects Kyrgyzstan would be able to supply power to Pakistan. staff report

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

Ties with CARs are growing, and these nations are increasingly showing interest in Gwadar. More transport and energy links should be top priority.

So far Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are looking favourable towards Gwadar. Tajikistan will most certainly join our list because of geographic location.
Turkmenistan might be leaning towards Chabahar but we cant be sure until they say for certain. It should be noted that American think tanks interested in the resources in Caspian sea always show Turkmenistan using the Pakistani port for exports. They might even use both.

We also have Western China

 

[TOPGUN]

Inshallah may Pakistan grow & may Allah look down upon us & save us from the prob's and hardships we have been facing and are facing ! may the future be more peaceful with the name of Allah & his guidence!

 

[Neo]

Rs706bn revenue netted in 8 months ​

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue collected Rs75.98 billion in February, facing a shortfall of Rs11 billion compared to a target of Rs87 billion, shows the board’s official data.

In the first eight months (July-Feb) of fiscal year 2008-09, the FBR collected Rs706 billion and the Board would have to collect Rs594 billion in the last four months for achieving the target of Rs1,300 billion. This meant the FBR will have to collect around Rs150 billion each month from March to June to meet the target.

In February, tax collection stood at Rs75.985 billion compared to Rs72.766 billion in the same month last year, registering a growth of 4.4 per cent.

Earlier, the government had revised upward tax collection target to Rs1,360 billion in November 2008 while finalising an agreement with the International Monetary Fund for a $7.6 billion Standby Arrangement (SBA). Now the revenue collection target has been revised downward to Rs1,300 billion.

Interestingly, two press releases were issued on Tuesday giving different figures for tax collection in eight months. After a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee, the finance ministry issued a press release giving tax collection figure of Rs702 billion for July-Feb 2008-09. However, data released by the FBR put tax collection at Rs706 billion.

When FBR Member Fiscal Research Mumtaz Rizvi was contacted for comments, he explained that revenue collection figures were presented to the finance ministry’s Advisory Wing two days ago which were tabled before the ECC. “You know that provisional figures increase after every passing day and today the collection stands at Rs706 billion,” he said.

To another query about the possibility of achieving the target of Rs1,300 billion, he said “the revenue target is still achievable if we made wholehearted efforts.”

Referring to adverse circumstances like load-shedding, massive decline in prices of petroleum products, import of other goods and declining nominal growth, he said the performance of the FBR was not much bad in the current scenario.

According to provisional revenue collection figures released by the FBR, it collected Rs706.46 billion in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, an increase of 20.7 per cent compared to collection of Rs585.3 billion in the corresponding period of last year.

In Feb, collection of direct taxes came to Rs25 billion compared to Rs25.018 billion in the same month last year, indicating a negative growth of 0.1 per cent.

Sales tax collection went up to Rs33.385 billion in Feb compared to Rs28.839 billion last year, an increase of 15.8 per cent. Collection of excise duty increased 5.1 per cent to Rs8.100 billion in Feb compared to Rs7.710 billion.

Customs duty collection in Feb stood at Rs9.500 billion compared to Rs11 billion last year, falling by 15.2 per cent. —MH

 

[Neo]

WAPDA aims to produce 20,000MW hydropower ​

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

LAHORE: The Water and Power Development Authority is on target to increase hydro-electric power generation three times from current 6,500 megawatts to over 20,000MW by 2017 which would bring hydropower generation on a par with thermal electricity.

WAPDA Chairman Shakeel Durrani stated this in an exclusive talk with The News. He said the projects which would be completed during that period included 969MW Neelum-Jhelum project, 4,500MW Diamer-Basha, 4,710MW Bunji and 3,700MW Dasu. Barring Neelum-Jhelum, he added, all these projects would be located on different sites of River Indus. In addition, about 1,000MW would be added to Tarbela by installing new turbines on one of its tunnels.

“It is imperative for Pakistan to exploit its hydro-electric power generation potential as it is the cheapest source of power. WAPDA has speeded up this process which will go a long way in bringing cost of electricity to a reasonable level.”

He hoped hydro-electric generation, if accompanied with expected exploitation of coal potential, would substantially reduce dependence on gas and furnace oil and bring down power generation cost.

“Arranging finances for hydro-electric generation is relatively easy as multilateral agencies give positive signals to hydro-electric projects because they are environment-friendly and commercially viable. Investment in these projects can be recovered in a short period,” he said.

Durrani said financial resources required for $2.1bn Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project had been arranged. WAPDA would generate $1 billion from 10 paisa per unit surcharge on consumers which has been allowed to it for seven years. Besides that, $750 million financing has been promised by the Islamic Development Bank, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi funds and the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries. China would arrange the balance of $448 million in the form of supplier credit.

He said a residential colony and offices for the contractor and consultants of Neelum-Jhelum project were almost complete, adding work on two tunnels had started. “The Chinese are also imparting on-job training for constructing tunnels to Pakistani engineers.”

Durrani said WAPDA would need $11.3 billion for construction of Diamer-Basha dam, including $3.5 billion mark-up which would accumulate during the construction of the project. The amount, he added, would be payable in installments after the dam became operational.

The payments would pose no problem as the dam would generate its own resources. “Actual amount needed to complete the dam is $8 billion.”

The WAPDA chairman said the Asian Development Bank had agreed in principle to be the major financier of the project, adding the Islamic Development Bank and financial institutions in the Middle East had shown interest to provide the balance amount. Pakistan government and WAPDA, he added, would provide funds worth $1 billion for land acquisition, establishment of nine model villages for displaced people and for construction of new highways as some part of the present highway would come under water. Moreover, $3 billion would be arranged as supplier credit.

“The response of financiers of hydro-electric projects is encouraging.”

WAPDA was undertaking one mega hydro-electric project every year, he said, adding work on Neelum-Jhelum project started last year.

Construction work on Basha dam would begin this year while Tarbela extension project would start next year.

 

[Neo]

Exports could hit $40bn: minister ​

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

KARACHI: Minister for Textile Industry Farooq Saeed Khan is confident that in near future the country’s cotton crop would be utilised in value addition and exports would reach $40 billion.

Khan inaugurated the seventh edition of the ‘International Machinery Exhibition of Garment & Textile Technology, Megatech Pakistan 2009,’ at the Karachi Expo Centre on Tuesday.

He said the government is trying to keep up the textile industry and introducing new technology for it. Khan said the government is aware of the issues being faced by the industry. The government would cooperate in every way possible to revamp the troubled industry including sectors such as spinning, weaving, processing and value addition. Khan said the government had already started work to rectify the issues in these sectors. He further said the economy is totally dependent on the textile industry as exports from this sector make up 60 per cent of total shipments from the country.

The minister said of the total $17 billion worth of exports, the textile sector contributes more than $10 billion. Khan said the textile sector contributes 10 per cent to the total GDP whereas it is also employing 39 per cent of the labour force being connected to the textile industry in one way or the other. The minister reminded that during the period of textile quota, the country mostly exported thread-cum-cloth and the exports had not exceeded $4 billion. Khan voiced that after the quota system got over with, the country had the chance to concentrate more on the value addition and keeping this in mind, the government had decided to establish a garment city in Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad.

He admitted that the industry is facing many problems such as frequent power outages, gas load- shedding, inflation and lack of technology and infrastructure but assured that all these problems would be controlled soon.

Khan shared that the government had initiated a programme in which 40,000 unskilled labours would be trained.

“In this regard, the training has already commenced in Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad and even sectors like weaving and processing have been taken into consideration,” he expressed.

Regarding R&D subsidies, the minister commented that Pakistan’s main competitors were India, Bangladesh and China and the government had taken steps to increase the exports by providing higher R&D support. He stated Rs40 billion had already been given to the textile industry.

He further said the State Bank of Pakistan had also been issued orders to accept R&D claims till June 30, 2009 from all those applicants who had failed to apply for these claims earlier.

Khan said all the local banks had also been issued circulars in this regard. He requested all the businessmen to submit their R&D claim applications as soon as possible for them to be processed. Textile Commissioner Idrees Ahmed explained that induction of modern machinery and technology is essential for manufacturers to maintain a competitive edge in the current economic turmoil. Director Textile Research and Innovation Centre and Chairman ATC, Abdul Majeed stressed the increasing role of technical textiles in the international arena.

 

[Neo]

Encouraging Support: Kyrgyzstan to build power transmission infrastructure​

ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan, Nurlan Aitmurzaev has requested Pakistan’s corporate sector participation in building power transmission infrastructure between Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan to facilitate the export of power to Pakistan.

Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani met the outgoing ambassador of Kyrgyzstan here on Tuesday to give a farewell call. PM said that Pakistan desires to enhance its bilateral ties with Kyrgyzstan particularly in trade, economics and cultural fields.

The PM said Pakistan would consider importing electricity from Kyrgyzstan through Afghanistan in collaboration with the World Bank under Central Asia – South Asia Regional Electricity Market (CASAREM) initiative.

He hoped that the ongoing negotiations in this regard would soon reach fruition. The prime minister called on Kyrgyzstan for better implementation at the quadrilateral Pakistan-China-Kyrgystan agreement for traffic in transit to raise the present volume of bilateral trade between the two countries. He told the Kyrgyz envoy that the government of Pakistan was examining his country’s requests for dedicated facilities at Gwadar and allotment of a plot in Islamabad for the construction of embassy premises.

The Kyrgyz ambassador thanked the prime minister for government of Pakistan’s support to him in discharge of his duties during his tenure in Islamabad and briefed him on his efforts to bring the two countries closer. He requested that Pakistan’s corporate sector should be encouraged to participate in joint ventures and invest particularly in power generation and transmission sectors of Kyrgyzstan. The Kyrgyz envoy informed the PM that out of the two hydro-electric generation projects, one will be completed in December this year whereas the second one being constructed with 50 percent Russian equity needs participation of investors from other countries for its early completion. On completion of these projects Kyrgyzstan would be able to supply power to Pakistan.

 

[Neo]

Circular debt swells to Rs 180 billion​

ISLAMABAD (March 03 2009): The circular debt rose from Rs 159 billion in January 2009 to Rs 180 billion by the end of February, belying the claims by the government that it was focusing on reducing the debt. However this is not a violation of the Letter of Intent (LoI) submitted to the International Monetary Fund. The public sector entities in petroleum and gas sectors are facing financial crunch due to rising circular debt.

Sources told Business Recorder that Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDC) is owed Rs 48.254 billion, Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) Rs 24.670 billion, Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) Rs 7.955 billion, Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) Rs 9.332 billion, and Rs 5.400 billion is owed to Mari Gas Company Limited (MGCL).

PSO is the major fuel supplier that is facing circular debt problems. It is to recover Rs 84.2 billion including Rs 77.1 billion from different clients and Rs 7.088 as price differential claims (PDC) from the government on petroleum products. PSO is also to pay Rs 73.717 billion dues to oil refineries. The major clients of these public sector entities are the independent power producers (IPPs), Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) and Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco). The government is set to clear the circular debt by June this year as per the LoI.

PSO is to receive Rs 8.354 billion from Pepco, Rs 44.3 billion from Hubco, Rs 21.210 billion from Kapco, and Rs 3.302 billion from PIA. PSO is to pay Rs 40.072 billion to Parco, Rs 10.845 billion to PRL, Rs 8.7 billion to NRL, Rs 13.2 billion to ARL and Rs 900 million to Bosicor.

Due to financial crunch, PSO is mainly depending on direct oil imports rather than on oil refineries which are keeping all funds as past payments. PSO is providing oil to Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on cash payment, sources said.

They said that the two gas utilities--SNGPL and SSGC--are facing problems in paying dues to gas production companies followed by non-payment of dues from the power sector. These companies have approached the Petroleum Ministry for intervention to make payment by the power sector. In return, Petroleum Ministry has raised the issue with Finance Ministry. These utilities have served several notices for disconnection of gas supply to their clients but power sector has failed so far to make payment due to circular debt problems.

The government has planned to float term finance certificates (TFCs) of Rs 98 billion to help Pepco to retire circular debt. The government was to issue TFCs by the end of February but it is still awaited. The issuance of TFCs was supposed to clear 50 percent of the circular debt by the end of last month. The delay in issuance of TFCs is resulting in further accumulation of circular debt, sources added.

 

[Neo]

Pakistan wants to enhance ties with Kyrgyzstan​

ISLAMABAD (March 04 2009): Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that Pakistan desires to enhance its bilateral ties with Kyrgyzstan particularly in the trade, economics and cultural fields. He was talking to the outgoing Ambassador of the Kyrgyzstan, Nurlan Aitmurzaev who paid a farewell call on him at the Prime Minister House on Tuesday.

The Prime Minister said that Pakistan would consider importing electricity from Kyrgyzstan through Afghanistan in collaboration with the World Bank under Central Asia - South Asia Regional Electricity Market (CASAREM) initiative. He told the Kyrgyz envoy that the government of Pakistan was examining his country's requests for dedicated facilities at Gwadar and allotment of a plot in Islamabad for the construction of Embassy premises. The Kyrgyz Ambassador thanked the Prime Minister for Government of Pakistan's support for him in discharge of his duties during his tenure in Islamabad.-PR

 

[Neo]

Work resumes on $5bn refinery in Balochistan​

Thursday, 05 Mar, 2009

The $5 billion refinery with 250,000 barrels per day capacity was originally planned for Balochistan’s port town of Gwadar. However, apparently due to political reasons, the project was later moved to Hub. - Reuters/File photo.​

RIYADH: The Abu Dhabi/Pakistan joint venture partners on the Baluchistan refinery have returned to work on the $5 billion project after it was temporarily put on hold in January 2009, the reliable Middle East Economic Digest (MEED) reported.

A source close to the project told MEED that the project, in which Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Company (Ipic) holds a 74 per cent stake and Pakistan-Arab Refinery Company the other 36 per cent, is ‘back on track’ but that there is no certainty that progress will be sustained due to issues in Pakistan.

Once complete, the plant will have capacity of 200,000-300,000 barrels a day. At least three companies submitted bids in early October to Ipic for the front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract on the project, including Veco, Stone & Webster, and Australia’s WorleyParsons.

The joint venture has yet to award a contract with any of these firms. The joint venture is unsure when a winning bidder will be announced.

Earlier in January Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Company (Ipic) said it will delay or postpone an investment plan for the construction of a refinery in insurgency-hit Balochistan province of Pakistan, one of its mega projects widely publicized, citing ‘procedural anomaly.’ The project was announced several years ago with its inauguration set for 2007, but has been delayed for various technical reasons.

While announcing the delay, the Ipic Managing Director Khadem Al Qubaisi then had told the press: ‘Unfortunately what happened was that many actions that came from Pakistan really disappointed us as shareholders. Because of that we are little bit delaying or postponing this project until we sort out major and fundamental issues.’ However, at least some of the things appear to have been sorted out in the meantime.

The $5 billion refinery with 250,000 barrels per day capacity was originally planned for Balochistan’s port town of Gwadar. However, apparently due to political reasons, the project was later moved to Hub.

 

[ejaz007]

Oil, gas exploration sites in Bannu, Tank and DI Khan

PESHAWAR: NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani was informed on Wednesday that a number of potential sites had been identified for oil and gas exploration in Bannu, Tank and DI Khan Frontier Regions (FRs) under a Source Rock Mapping and Investigation Project, costing Rs 39.852 million, said an official release issued here.

The governor was given a presentation on the project at Governor’s House here. The project is aimed at having a technical and professional approach for conducting systematic oil and gas exploration in tribal areas. National Centre for Excellence in Geology, University of Peshawar is executing the project in collaboration with FATA Development Authority (FDA) under an agreement signed between them in August 2008. Principal coordinator of the project Dr Fazal Rabbi Khan gave the presentation attended by governor and FDA officials. The meeting was informed that in the first year of the project, data collection and compilation would be carried out. staff report

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[Omar1984]

^ I dont know if its a rumor or if its actually true but a friend of mine told me that FATA and neighboring Afghanistan are believed to be rich in gas but its unexplored....he said thats one of the reasons US is in Afghanistan.