Thats true, the area has huge potential in gas and oil. There are extensive proven reserves on both side of the border, further exploration may result in new findings. Also neighboring Tajikistan and Turkmenistan hold huge reserves.
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Pakistan Economy - News & Updates - Archive
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Thats true, the area has huge potential in gas and oil. There are extensive proven reserves on both side of the border, further exploration may result in new findings. Also neighboring Tajikistan and Turkmenistan hold huge reserves.
Thursday, March 05, 2009
ISLAMABAD: The World Economic Forum on Wednesday launched the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2009 unveiling that Pakistan ranked 113 out of 130 countries.
The ranking underlines the countrys frail travel and tourism regulatory framework, low prioritisation by the government, low effectiveness of marketing and branding and a constricted perception of travel and tourism.
Last year, Pakistan ranked 111 out of 124 countries, so in reality the ranking remains stagnant. India ranked 11th in the Asian region and 62nd in the world.
The report provides a cross-country analysis of the drivers of competitiveness in travel and tourism, providing useful comparative information for making business decisions and additional value to governments wishing to improve their travel and tourism environment.
Some of the other competitive disadvantages for Pakistan include a poor tourism infrastructure such as competitive hotel rooms (119 compared to 110 last year); available ATMs accepting visa cards (111 compared to 110 last year) and prevailing security situation (132 compared to 106 last year).
Further indications that all is not fine with Pakistans tourism and travel industry can be highlighted by the fact that last year, despite many competitive disadvantages, Pakistan ranked 40th for air travel and 39th in ground transport structure, but slipped to 99th and 73rd this year.
On the flip side, Pakistan ranked well in price competitiveness in the industry mainly because of low fuel prices (36) purchasing power parity (13) and the extent of effect of taxation (42). Pakistan also ranked well in the number of heritage and cultural sites (33) and creative industries exports (27). Pakistan will, however, continue to need to focus on the sustainability of its natural environment.
The data for the Pakistan has been prepared through a combination of data from publicly available sources, international travel and tourism institutions and experts as well as results of the Executive Opinion Survey 2008 which was carried out by the Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF), the WEFs partner institution in Pakistan.
The Competitiveness Support Fund is a joint venture of the Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), established to reposition Pakistans economy on a more global footing.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF), Arthur Bayhan, said CSF was deeply engaged in issues of competitiveness and is working with the public and private sectors as well as the academia in Pakistan to improve the competitiveness global ranking of the Pakistani economy.
Bayhan, said the Executive Opinion Survey, is a major component of the Global Competitive Report that is published annually by the WEF. The survey provides the key component, which turns the report into a representative annual measure of Pakistans economic environment and its ability to achieve sustained growth.
Top executives operating in Pakistan are surveyed and their opinion is taken on Pakistans business environment in which they operate. The 2009 Executive Opinion Survey in Pakistan was launched two weeks ago and is ongoing with top executives being surveyed in seven cities in Pakistan.
According to this years Travel and Tourism Report, Switzerland, Austria and Germany retained their top rankings respectively, further consolidating the fact that they have the most attractive environments for developing the travel and tourism industry. France jumped six places to 4th and Canada went from 9th to 5th. Singapore was Asias top destination, ranking 10th. In the Middle East and Africa, the United Arab Emirates ranked first in the region and 33rd in the world, up seven places from last year.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will discuss import of oil and fertilizer on deferred payments and securitization of workers remittances during the upcoming visit of Adviser to PM on Finance, Shaukat Tareen, which is scheduled to start from March 7.
After attending high powered Wheat Procurement Supervisory committee at Ministry of Agriculture, Shaukat Tareen told Daily Times that during his visit the import of oil, fertilizer as well as securitization of workers remittances would be discussed with Saudi Authorities.
Saudi Arabia is the key donor among Friends of Pakistan and the visit of the Adviser to would help gain maximum support from Saudia during Friends of Pakistan ministerial meeting scheduled at Tokyo.
During his stay, Tareen would hold meetings with his counterpart, governor central bank and other key officials of Saudi government. Tareen would also meet President Islamic Development (ISDB), an official at finance ministry informed.
Pakistan Peoples Party led coalition government is expecting an overall $2.5 billion to $4 billion Saudi economic package including oil and fertilizer imports on deffered payments and a new agenda has been added which is securitization of workers remittances.
Pakistan is trying its level best for restoration of Saudi Oil Facility based on deferred payment arrangement to relieve pressure on foreign exchange reserves.
Under International Monetary Fund (IMF) 23 months $7.6 billion Stand By Arrangement (SBA), the government of Pakistan plans to securitize workers remittances to the tune of $800 million to boost up its foreign exchange reserves.
Pakistan, in the recent past has sought $400 million Saudi Credit facility for import of urea fertilizer from Saudi Arabia. Before the start of Rabbi 2008-09 season, the government is expecting shortfall of urea fertilizer in the country.
The hectic efforts by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MINFA) and Economic Affairs Division to get $400 million credit facility for import of urea from Saudi Fund for Development have not yet materialised.
However, after having no response from Saudi Arabia, the government diverted its energies of getting the same facility from Kuwait.
Wheat meeting: Indicating expected production level at 23 million tonnes, Tareen informed that 12 million tonnes to 13 million tonnes would be retained for consumption by the farmers themselves and some 11 million tonnes to 12 millions would be left for procurement.
He also hinted that wheat procurement target may be jacked up if found necessary to facilitate farmers.
Explaining the financing arrangement for the Wheat crop, he hinted that financing arrangement could be increased to Rs 160 billion against earlier estimates of Rs 154 billion.
He said because of fresh fiscal management measures KIBOR has come down from 16 percent to 12 percent that would help strengthen industrial units.
KARACHI: Pakistan, Turkey and Iran have agreed in principle to operate container train service from Istanbul to Islamabad via Tehran, Iran, in the first phase and a passenger train service in the second phase.
The technical details of the first phase container train service were discussed at a meeting of senior railway officials of three countries held in Tehran with Pakistan represented by General Manager Railway (Operation) Saeed Akhtar.
On return here Wednesday morning from Tehran, the Railways operation chief Saeed Akhtar told APP that tentatively it has been agreed to start this container train service from August 14.
The train, he pointed out will either start from Islamabad on August 14 or arrive Islamabad from Istanbul on the day of Independence of Pakistan.
We want to make it a ceremonial occasion to launch the container train service from Islamabad on August 14 while Turkey is pressing its launch from their end, said GM railway.
However, GM Railway said, even if it starts from Istanbul we have told them that the train should reach Islamabad on August 14.
Saeed Akhtar said that during the meeting various issues cropped up, particularly the Customs related formalities and since there was no Custom representative present in the meeting, it was decided to sort out this issue in the next meeting to be held in April in which representatives of Customs from three countries would also be invited.
Replying a question, the Railway operational chief said that Tehran has completed the track between Zahidan and Kirman and the same has been linked up with Pakistan side of railway network.
He pointed out that Turkey and Iran already have railway link up at their borders and both have freight and passenger train services.
To another question, he said, that prior to launch of the container train service, there could be problems of technical, administrative and security and these would be discussed in the April meeting.
Replying a question, he said the size of the train would depend on the availability of container business. However, he hoped that the first train would carry about 40 containers.
Saeed Akhtar pointed out that the service would be of great advantage to the business community of Pakistan, Turkey and Iran because earlier the containers used to be sent to Karachi by ship and after unloading them here used to be sent forward to respective destinations in the country either by road or rail and this was costing them quite high. app
By Tanveer Ahmed
KARACHI: Pakistan ranked 113 out of 130 countries in Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2009 released by World Economic Forum on Wednesday.
Last year Pakistan ranked 111 out of 124 countries, so in reality Pakistans ranking remains stagnant, report mentioned.
Countrys low ranking in the index underlined its frail travel and tourism regulatory framework, low prioritisation of the travel and tourism industry by the government, low effectiveness of marketing and branding and a constricted tourism perception.
Some of the other competitive disadvantages for Pakistan include a poor tourism infrastructure such as hotel rooms (119 compared to 110 last year); available ATMs accepting visa cards (111 compared to 110 last year) and the prevailing security situation (132 compared to 106 last year).
Further indications that all is not well with Pakistans tourism and travel industry can be highlighted by the fact that last year, despite many competitive disadvantages, Pakistan ranked 40th for air travel and 39th in ground transport structure, but slipped to 99th and 73rd this year respectively.
The report provides a cross-country analysis of the drivers of competitiveness in travel and tourism, providing useful comparative information for making business decisions and additional value to governments wishing to improve their travel and tourism environments.
On the flip side, Pakistan ranked well in price competitiveness in the industry mainly because of low fuel prices (36) purchasing power parity (13) and the extent of effect of taxation (42). Pakistan also ranked well in the number of heritage and cultural sites (33) and creative industries exports (27). Pakistan will, however, continue to need to focus on the sustainability of its natural environment, WEF pointed out.
According to this years Travel and Tourism Report, Switzerland, Austria and Germany retained their top rankings respectively, further consolidating the fact that they have the most attractive environments for developing the travel and tourism industry.
France jumped six places to 4th and Canada went from 9th to 5th. Singapore was Asias top destination, ranking 10th. In the Middle East and Africa, the United Arab Emirates ranked first in the region and 33rd in the world overall, up seven places from last year. India ranked 11th in the Asian region and 62nd in the world overall.
The data for the Pakistan has been prepared through a combination of data from publicly available sources, international travel and tourism institutions and experts as well as results of the Executive Opinion Survey 2008 which was carried out by the Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF), the WEFs partner institution in Pakistan.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF), Arthur Bayhan, said CSF was deeply engaged in issues of competitiveness and is working with the public and private sectors as well as the academia in Pakistan to improve the global competitiveness ranking of the country.
LAHORE: Pakistan on Wednesday reclaimed 1.2 million acre feet (MAF) of water of River Chenab, which was stopped by India during the construction of Baglihar dam, a private TV channel reported. According to the channel, Federal Water and Power Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf had presented a report in the parliament in this regard. According to the report, during the last three years Pakistan had faced an acute shortage of water due to the construction of dams by India. Pakistan demanded that India either compensate for the losses or provide the water. daily times monitor
ISLAMABAD (March 05 2009): Iran is reluctant to scale down the gas price from 78 to 70 percent of the crude oil price in the international market under Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project. Sources told Business Recorder that Pakistan in a letter addressed to Iran had requested a reduction in its offered gas price from 78 percent of crude oil price to 70 percent to make it economically feasible for Pakistan.
But Iran has shown no flexibility in its stance on the price and now the Petroleum Ministry has moved a summary to the Prime Minister for holding dialogue with Iran on the price. The dates of dialogue and venue are still to be determined, sources said.
The Advisor to Prime Minister on Petroleum and Natural Resources, Dr Asim Hussain on Wednesday informed the Prime Minister about the current status of IPI saying that the project was being delayed due to gas price issue. He informed the Premier that Iran had not shown flexibility on the gas price issue.
The advisor informed the Prime Minister that gas imported from Iran would be cheaper than furnace oil. He said that Pakistan could generate 5000 MW electricity from one billion cubic feet gas per day that could help overcome the power shortfall. However, this price will be expensive for domestic and commercial consumers of gas.
According to an analysis of pricing carried out by the Petroleum Ministry, thermal power would cost 3.51 cents/kWh generated by Iranian gas at $40 per barrel crude oil price. Whereas the furnace based power generation would cost 4.24 cents/kWh, LNG 3.51 cents/kWh, coal 4.3 cents/kWh and solar 11 cents/kWh.
The Steering Committee of the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on IPI gas pipeline project has already given mandate to the Petroleum Ministry to negotiate a formula linking price to 70 percent of global crude oil. Sources said that some members of the Steering Committee on IPI have even recommended signing a deal on the proposed gas price of 78 percent of crude oil as the country would be in dire need of energy in coming years.
The advisor also briefed the Prime Minister on matters relating to his ministry particularly the projects being undertaken for oil and gas exploration in various parts of the country. He said that Petroleum Ministry was taking measures to explore the indigenous oil and gas reserves to meet the rising demand of energy in coming years.
In the national grid system, the country is facing 3500 MW power shortage. The power shortfall will rise to 10,000 MW per day by 2020 if no addition is made to the grid. The country is currently facing 700 million cubic feet per day gas shortfall that would shoot up to two billion cubic feet per day by 2010.
KARACHI (March 05 2009): The dwindling number of foreign investors left in Pakistan must wonder whether it's worth it after militants targeted the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore. "No legal return on capital is compelling enough to risk your life," said Asad Iqbal, director of the Karachi Stock Exchange.
While Westerners know they could be targeted any time by militant groups, the attack in Lahore on sportsmen from a country regarded as a friend of Pakistan, has sent a chilling message. "The blatant audacity of this attack has shown that no-one is safe any longer in Pakistan," said Mikaeel Habib, a 31-year-old businessman in the southern city of Karachi.
"It's made me rethink about my future in Pakistan for myself and my family." Eight members of the Sri Lankan squad were wounded, but six policemen and the driver of a coach carrying match officials were killed in an attack that reaffirmed Pakistan's reputation as one of the most dangerous countries in the world.
Nuclear-armed, with a history of political instability, Pakistan is home to 170 million people, most of them Muslim, with close to a third living close to the poverty line or below. Even International Monetary Fund officials refuse to come to Pakistan to review how the government is meeting targets set when it agreed to a $7.6-billion emergency loan programme in November to stave off a balance of payments crisis.
Consultations are held in Dubai, instead. IMF officials stopped coming to Pakistan after a suicide truck bomber killed 55 people at Islamabad's Marriott hotel last September. The first tranche of $3.1 billion was released in November, and another $840 million is expected by the end of March.
Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves now stand above $10 billion, but Shaukat Tarin, adviser to the prime minister on finance, sees shortfalls ahead and the government is looking for another $4.5 billion from the IMF. In the seven months through to the end of January, net foreign investment inflow to Pakistan was $2.23 billion, nearly 13 percent below the year-ago level. Since January 1, almost $185 million of foreign portfolio investment has flowed out of the country.
POLITICAL CRISIS: Tarin gave a slightly encouraging assessment last week, predicting economic growth would recover from 2.5 percent in the fiscal year ending on June 30, a rate equivalent to full blown recession in Pakistan, and rise to 4 percent next year. He also expected inflation to average just 6 percent in 2009/10, compared with over 20 percent this year.
That raised hopes among businessmen and share market investors that the central bank could cut its discount rate from 15 percent as early as April. But the stock market is uneasy over a political crisis that has added to the woes of President Asif Ali Zardari's civilian government less than a year after it was formed.
Arch rival former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has urged street agitation after Zardari last week opted to impose central rule in Punjab, taking control of the provincial government away from Sharif's party.
"Any continuing political unease ... is going to roll back the pace of reform and response," said Zainab Jabbar, investment strategist at IGI Securities. The KSE-index is down 0.84 percent this year after a 58.3 percent fall in 2008 while the rupee has lost 1.4 percent against the dollar this year after weakening 22.1 percent last year.
Thanks to the IMF loan and falling world oil prices, Pakistan's sovereign rating was raised to CCC-plus from CCC by Standard & Poor's Rating Services in December, but that is still well into junk bond territory.
"Pakistan has a triple C rating, so one has to come to terms with the fact that we are already on the fringes on the investment spectrum," said Jabbar from IGI. "Whether we can come back to the middle tier is at present a long shot - simply because what was assumed to be a regional problem is very much an internal issue now," said Jabbar, referring to recent acts of terror.
ISLAMABAD (March 04 2009): Chairman Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), Dr Zafar Altaf, has said that the cardinal factors of China's rise amongst the comity of nations were its reliance on indigenous resources, paradigm shift of its policies, sense of devotion and hard work on the part of leadership as well as the masses.
He was sharing his views and experiences about the Chinese model with the agricultural scientists at National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) after his recent visit to China. Dr Zafar Altaf accompanied the President of Pakistan during his recent visit to China from February 18 to 25 where the President had signed a number of memoranda of understanding on behalf of the Pakistan government with the concerned Chinese organisations.
The chairman PAARC said that the Chinese economy, especially the agriculture sector has witnessed remarkable changes over the past few decades, owing to peoples participation at all levels. Dr Zafar Altaf made a detailed analysis of the Chinese economy, its breakthrough in science and technology, agriculture and industrial sectors.
He cited a number of examples where he found every one equally responsive and accountable whether a policy-maker or a layman, in China. The chairman PARC referred the Three Gorges Dam, which was in the initial stages of construction when he had visited China last.
ARTICLE (March 05 2009): Currently, cement is a 2.50 billion tons global business, and its consumption is expected to increase to 3.13 billion tons by 2015. Many countries are therefore engaged in expanding their respective cement producing capacity in a big way. For the reason of optimising economies of scale, large-size Greenfield cement plants are being installed.
World's largest cement plant located in Missouri, USA, with a capacity of producing 12,000 tons of clinker per day, or 4 million tons of cement annually, is scheduled to be commissioned in the third quarter of 2009. Following the international trend, the Pakistan Board of Investment (BOI) is promoting investments in setting up large-size cement plants, of the capacity of 10,000 ton per day capacity, a Greenfield project costing around $234 million.
Whether or not it is economically viable under local conditions the policy is being implemented by major cement producers in Pakistan, without proactive planning. The large-scale capacity expansion is being undertaken by many cement companies to capitalise on projections of high cement demand, particularly in export markets. Fauji Cement Co Ltd has recently announced construction of a new plant of 7,200 tons of clinker per day, in parallel with the existing production line.
The plant, for which state-of-the-art plant machinery is being supplied by Polysius of Germany, is scheduled to go on stream by early 2010. This will increase Fauji Cement's annual installed capacity by about three times - from existing 1.165 million tons to 3.27 million tons of cement. Lucky Cement has recently emerged as the largest cement producer in the country, with an installed capacity of 6.55 million tons of cement per annum, having recently added two cement plants of 8,400 ton per day capacity each.
DG Khan Cement, now ranked second largest, has 4.21 million tons annual capacity. The company, which operates a 10,000 ton per day cement plant, is currently implementing another capacity expansion plan, which will further enhance total installed capacity in the range of 6.32 to 7.99 million tons of cement annually by the year 2010. The third largest producer Maple Leaf Cement has an installed capacity of 3.69 million tons of cement annually.
During the last four years cement industry has witnessed remarkable increase in installed capacity-from 16.93 million tons per annum in 2003-04 to 37.16 million tons in 2007-08. Additional capacity to the level of 6% was created in 2004-05, followed by 17% in 2005-06, another 44% in 2006-07 and 23% in 2007-08. By the year 2010 total annual cement capacity is planned to be around 51 million tons.
Per capita annual consumption of cement in Pakistan is 131 kg, in comparison to world average of 273 kg. Thus, there appears to be promising potential for increased cement consumption in future, justifying the planned large capacity expansion. But the ground realities are different. Domestic cement demand remained erratic in the last five years and registered a maximum growth of 24% in 2006-07, total dispatches being 21.05 million tons.
The annual projected growth was therefore taken by the industry as 20%-30% annually. However, during the year 2007-08 there has been nominal growth of 6.47% in domestic demand, which is projected to decline further in 2008-09. The major driver for cement consumption is infrastructure and real estate development. The situation is not optimistic due to economic slowdown, drastic cut in the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) and recession in construction activities.
Thus even the 2007-08 target, of dispatching 31.2 million tons cement, could not be met, though highest ever export of cement was made during the period. This is also reflected in the fact that overall capacity utilisation was around 81% during the last three years, compared to 91% achieved in 2004-05.
Again, demand during 2008-09 is projected to be 40.6 million tons that may not be possible to achieve. During the first five months of the current fiscal year (July-November 2008) there has been a nominal growth of 3%. Total dispatches during the period were 12.40 million tons, including 7.94 million tons local dispatches registering a negative growth of 16%. Thus, capacity utilisation of industry during the period further reduced to 77%.
Likewise, future demand projections of 52.7, 60.5 and 71.1 million tons during financial years 2010, 2011 and 2012, respectively, may not prove to be realistic. Basically, these ambitious demand projections, and resultantly large capacity expansion programs, are designed to meet increasing export deficit in the region. Exports jumped from 1.51 million tons in 2005-06 to 3.19 million tons in 2006-07 and record 7.72 million tons in 2007-08.
But the surge in export market may be short-lived for Pakistani cement. Achieving export target of 10 million tons in 2008-09 does not seem to be realistic. Pakistan could export 4.733 million tons cement during the first six months of current fiscal year (July-December 2008). India has recently cancelled import orders for 25,000 tons of Pakistani cement. Indeed the demand in the region will be very strong in the wake of planned massive-scale construction.
The UAE, for example, will require around 26.2 million tons by 2011. But, at present there is slump in construction industry and real estate business in the UAE due to global recession. Will Pakistan continue to enjoy increasing market share in the UAE? Most likely, it will not be in such a momentum, as the global competitive dynamics present the scenario.
Now India, the second largest cement producer in the world, will not only meet its domestic demand fully, but regain its dominating role in regional markets too. Recently, the Indian government has imposed 12% duties on import of cement to support its indigenous industry.
India has added 30 million tons of capacity during 2007-08, at present having total annual installed capacity of 200 million tons. As the cement industry in Pakistan faces constraints of high fuel and financial costs, its product may not remain competitive in neighbouring countries, such as Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal, and African countries.
During the last two years Iran and Saudi Arabia have implemented cement capacity expansion projects and are reckoned as main source of cement supply to the Middle East in future. The local cement industry therefore needs to take corrective measures for its sustainable development, on an emergency basis, focusing on domestic market. (The writer is former Chairman of the State Engineering Corporation and member on the Board of Directors of the State Cement Corporation of Pakistan)
EDITORIAL (March 05 2009): Karachi Fish Harbour Authority (KFHA) has issued notices to the owners of seafood processing plants to build septic tanks - the first step towards ensuring compliance with European Union specifications for resumption of seafood imports from Pakistan which have been banned by EU thrice since 1999, interestingly for the same reasons. The total seafood export loss sustained by Pakistan since then runs into millions of dollars which could have been avoided by timely action by the departments concerned.
While talking to Business Recorder, the Director of Engineering Department of KFHA has identified non-construction of septic tanks at these plants as the major cause of the whole trouble, which has caused blockage of the fish harbour's overall sewerage system, resulting in extremely unhygienic conditions.
The spilling over of sewerage lines over berths of the harbour and into the channel is not only contaminating the water and endangering the marine creatures; it has also generated stink in the whole of the harbour, which has made the catch unhygienic. The KFHA has now threatened the owners of processing units that in case they fail to build septic tanks their factories will be sealed.
It will be recalled that all 11 seafood processing units were de-listed in April 2007 in the wake of a series of inspections of the Karachi Fish Harbour and processing plants by EU experts, who had identified deficiencies in the handling of EU-bound seafood exports. Further, Pakistan had voluntarily banned its seafood exports to EU in 2005 after the EU experts had pointed out lack of internationally recognised facilities, and had offered guarantees that it would improve conditions at the harbour.
But the pledge made with EU inspectors remains to be honoured, and there has been steep decline in our seafood exports, causing a huge loss to the exchequer. According to exporters, the main reason of continued EU ban is the failure of Sindh government officials, who administer the Karachi Fish Harbour, to maintain hygienic standards at par with specifications prescribed by the European Union.
The fact that the European Union has banned our seafood exports thrice since 1999, and the problem still remains un-addressed shows that there may well be more to it than meets the eye. There is clearly a need for the government to investigate the matter thoroughly in order to identify the real causes behind the prolonged foot-dragging.
The World Bank has on a number of occasions raised with the Pakistan government the issue of poor quality of its exportable food items, and warned the authorities that such slackness in maintaining the required level of hygienic standards would damage Pakistan's exports. The Bank has attributed this sad state of affairs to the absence of a coherent strategy for quality control and strong sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) management mechanisms required for maintaining the internationally accepted hygienic standards.
In fact, most of the Pakistani seafood firms are pursuing their own independent strategies in the absence of a coherent national strategy, and are in most cases adopting defensive postures to limit the damage resulting from non-compliance with the required EU standards. According to the World Bank, improving food/meat/livestock quality should be a high priority area for Pakistan in order to make its exports competitive.
The Bank has often called for evolving a regulatory framework to support Pakistan's trade objectives and obligations. However, despite effort to meet the requirements the government has been unable to resume seafood exports to the European Union, and is suffering an annual loss of about $47 million. Pakistan exported seafood worth $188 million in FY2006-07 which was down by almost 4 percent from $196 million in FY2005-06.
According to an official quoted in one of our reports, Minfa plays the role of a regulator while the objections raised by the EU relate to the government of Sindh, and the private sector stakeholders. The processing units and harbours are the responsibility of the Sindh government and the boats are privately owned. It will be recalled that the EU had also raised complaints against fishing vessels, auction halls and processing units, which still remain un-addressed.
The government should investigate the matter, fix responsibility and take the officials responsible for this huge loss to the national exchequer to task. It should also institute regulatory mechanisms with a view to preventing repetition of such slackness in maintaining seafood-processing facilities in future. Compared to the huge annual loss sustained by the national exchequer, the amount of investment required to rectify the flaws pointed by EU is negligible. Lastly, there is a need to speed up implementation of the improvement plan, KFHA has chalked out.
Friday, March 06, 2009
WASHINGTON: The Obama administration is backing a proposal initiated under former president George W Bush that would allow poor tribal regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan to sell their clothing and similar goods to US buyers tax free.
A group of lawmakers in the House of Representatives, led by Rep Chris Van Hollen, reintroduced legislation on Wednesday that would enable the president to designate Reconstruction Opportunity Zones inside the two countries from which goods could be imported duty free into the United States.
We truly share the goal of this legislation to fuel sustainable economic development and provide legitimate employment opportunities for the peoples of Afghanistan and Pakistan, said White House adviser Paul Jones at a Capitol Hill news conference.
Achieving that would send a strong message of our long-term commitment to the peace, security and prosperity of the region, said Jones, a deputy to Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The endorsement is the first of several actions the new administration is expected to take to increase stability in the region, which in recent months has seen an uptick in violence and resurgence of Taliban strongholds.
President Barack Obama already has announced that he will send 17,000 additional US troops to Afghanistan, a likely down payment on the request by ground commanders to double the US force to 60,000. The administration also is expected to back legislation by Sens John Kerry, a Democrat, and Republican Richard Lugar that would substantially increase humanitarian aid for Pakistan.
Van Hollen, an assistant to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, could not say when a vote might happen but said there was strong support among Democratic leaders to pass the bill this year.
Ambassadors from Pakistan and Afghanistan also were on hand Wednesday to lend their support.
The young people of Pakistan and Afghanistans tribal areas need to be given a choice other than employment by the Taliban, said Pakistans ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani.
Last week, the administration led a round of intensive talks with leaders from the two countries. At the State Department, Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, Holbrooke and other senior US officials met separately with a Pakistani delegation led by Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi and an Afghan delegation led by Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta.
The State Department also hosted trilateral talks with both delegations. Clinton said the three sides would continue to meet on a regular basis.
Friday, March 06, 2009
ISLAMABAD: With projection of negative growth in the construction sector during this fiscal, the cement industry can achieve export earnings of $1 billion to strengthen foreign reserves of the country, Chairman of All Pakistan Cement Manufactures Association (APCMA) Rehmat Khan, told The News in an exclusive talk.
The potential of exporting cement amounting to $1 billion when the world is facing recession can be exploited if the government extends some concession to the cement industry.
The government is too much cooperative with the industry, as it has removed 15 per cent regulatory duty on sack craft. Sack craft is used in making cement bags.
Rehmat Khan suggested withdrawing 5 per cent regulatory duty on pet coke that the industry uses as fuel. The price of pet coke, a by-product of crude oil, is less than furnace oil. However, calorific value of pet coke is better than furnace oil. If the 5 per cent duty on pet coke is withdrawn, the input cost would drop making prices of cement in the international market more competitive. Owing to this factor cement exports may swell to more than $1 billion.
Khan said: The government also needs to provide infrastructure for cement export through sea as the industry finds it difficult to get berths at the Port Qasim.
To a question, he said that the growth in cement exports during seven months of the current fiscal stands at $500 million and if the incumbent regime facilities the industry, the exports can exceed to over $1 billion in the remaining months of the fiscal.
He said even in absence of any special facilities, the cement export would be at $300 million for the remaining period of current financial year, and the total cement export would be of $800 million during 2008-09.
Rehmat Khan said that Pakistan exports two million tonnes of cement to Afghanistan, one million tonnes to Iraq, 2.9 million tonnes to Gulf countries, 1.5 million tonnes to Sudan and other African countries and some Central Asian States. He said that Afghanistan is a captive market of Pakistan.
Khan said that the domestic consumption of the cement has been 8.1 million tonnes in first seven months of the ongoing fiscal while Pakistan has exported 5.9 million tonnes to various countries including India.
Local cement off-take has plummeted as the government has abandoned at least 258 public sector development programmes.
We are banking on exports to survive, the PCMA chief said. The cement industry would overcome the losses because of drastic cut in domestic consumption if the government offers some concessions.
He pointed out that enhanced cost of bank borrowing, high taxation, shortage of electricity and gas has all combined to spell disaster for the industry.
Khan also emphasized the government to play a role to ensure that the cement export to India should not be disrupted at any cost as to whether there lies a tension between the two countries or not.
He mentioned that India has imposed non-tariff barriers on export of cement soon after the Bombay attack. The non-tariff barriers are extremely in violation of SAARC agreement.
Friday, March 06, 2009
KARACHI: The Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) along with other stakeholders is finding ways to boost software exports.
A meeting on Thursday about fact-finding and strategy to boost the IT sector in Pakistan organised by the Services Export Development Cell (SEDC), a newly formed division at TDAP observed that IT had tremendous scope globally for which joint efforts between the public and the private sector should be made to eliminate the gaps.
Pakistan Software Export Board Managing Director Talib Baloch said, Pakistan can take its due market share only after eliminating the core obstacles which include lack of a proper legal and logistic framework, security issues, financing to the local companies and means to develop and retain quality human resource.
He said the academia should be in line with the requirement and expertise needed by IT industry. In order to achieve the export target of $6 billion by 2013, he said, the country must produce half a million trained IT graduates for which curriculum development, teachers training and student orientation to the new concepts of IT is of crucial importance.
Pakistan Software Houses Association (PASHA) President Jehan Ara, said the IT companies suffered due to the global economic crunch. She expressed the need for a National Policy to drive IT at this point in time, to get rid of the hurdles.
TDAP WTO Cell Head Mujeeb Khan, elaborated the role of Services Export Development Cell, one of its major tasks being to support the IT sector in Pakistan and create market access for the local IT industry. In order to explore the potential of IT industry, TDAP Services Export Development Cell Director General Asif Ali Sheikh, elaborated the need of coordinated efforts between the government and private sector.
Participants suggested that since TDAP could facilitate exposure of the local IT industry by allocating space to position the local IT services in exhibitions both local and abroad.
Few members pointed out the need to increase the domestic consumption of IT enabled products which would in turn open avenues to increase market access globally also.
Friday, March 06, 2009
ISLAMABAD: The United Nations and donors would provide US$12.2 million to Pakistan for conducting an accurate housing and population census to begin in March this year.
The Federal Secretary, Statistics Division, Tariq Shafiq Khan, and the heads of the UNFPA, the Unifem, the Unicef, the UN Habitat, the ILO and the Unesco jointly signed the joint program component document on population census here on Thursday.
Martin Mogwanja, representative of the Unicef, Daniel B Baker of the UNFPA, Dongli Lin, country director ILO, Ms Alice Ahackelford, country program director, Unifem, Maurice Robson of the Unesco, Alvaro Rodriguez, country director, UNDP, Siamak Moghaddam, country program manager, UN Habitat, senior officials of the UN and the population welfare ministry, were also present on the occasion.
The main objective of the joint program is to assist the Government of Pakistan in adopting new technologies and approaches to conduct an accurate housing and population census in 2009.
The government and all development partners to formulate policies and program at the federal, provincial and district levels in support of poverty reduction and economic development will use the data generated.
The joint program is for a period of three years from March 1, 2009 to December 31, 2011.On this occasion, the Federal Secretary, Tariq Shafiq Khan, said: Learning from the past experiences is essential to introduce new technologies in the census process to ensure complete accuracy of data. It is this data that will help us help the people of Pakistan in an effective manner. He thanked the donor organisations for their support to Pakistan in this regard.
The UNFPA representatives, Daniel B. Baker, added: This joint Program component for the year 2009 census in Pakistan will enable the UN to provide multi-faceted assistance to the proposed activities in a coordinated manner. Baker said that the UNFPA would be contributing US$1,330,000 from its own resources for this important initiative.
The Government of Pakistan has prepared a comprehensive plan and budget for the 2009 census. The total cost of the census 2009 is US$62.1 million, $49.8 million of which is financed by government resources.
The United Nations has already pledged US$1,629,000 and is working to mobilise an additional US$10,657,440 from multi-and bilateral donors. At the request of the government, through this program, the UN has come forward to provide assistance in areas such as equipment, technical capacity building and support, and gendering of the census.
The UN joint program component for the census has been designed on the basis of experiences learned from the pervious census in Pakistan in 1998, taking into account the factors that might impede or catalyse its implementation. The UNs contribution to the government for the census will be one of the first tangible results of the UNs delivering as one strategy, for which Pakistan is one of the eight pilot countries.
Implementation of the census is the key element of the One Program strategies. The Untied Nations agencies, by working together, bring forward their comparative advantages to ensure that the census addresses all aspects of the millennium development goals.
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