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Tuesday, 4 December, 2012
SECP notifies draft regulations for insurance firms KARACHI STAFF REPORT
Cement conjures double digits at home; exports to India dip KARACHI STAFF REPORT
T
HE decline in the cement exports to India continues unabated where the uptake of Pakistani cement reduced by 38.50 percent during the first five months of the current fiscal year, 2012-2013. During JulyNov 2011 last year, Pakistan exported 298,214 tons of cement to India which reduced to 183,387 tons this year. Although cement sector posted a healthy export growth of 11.71 percent in November 2012,India was the only exporting destination where exports declined in November as well.Pakistan exported 45,096 tons of cement to India in November 2011 which declined alarmingly to only 25,207 tons in November 2012. The cement sector of Pakistan otherwise showed healthy growth in the month of November, as for the first time this fiscal, both domestic consumption and cement exports posted double digit growth, on year to year basis. Total cement dispatches at 2.649 million tons during the month of November were, however, lower than dispatch of 2.766 million tons, a month earlier. However, when compared to November 2011 when the total cement dispatches were 2.255 million tons, the sales in the month of November 2012 were higher by 19.63%. Traditionally, cement dispatches in October are higher than in November. The market analysts term the current domestic market situation encouraging as during past five months of this fiscal, the local consumption has increased in four months and declined only in August by 3.41 percent. The local uptake of the commodity increased in two months out of five during this fiscal by over 19 percent. The first time it posted over 19 percent growth was in September 2012 and the second time in November 2012. The overall growth in local dispatches during the first 5 months of this fiscal was 6.78 percent. The cement exports from South zone during July-Nov 2011 were 0.986 million tons that declined in July-Nov 2012 to 0.837 million tons depicting an overall reduction of 15.06 percent. The cement exports from North zone declined nominally by 0.64 percent during this period to 2.804 million tons from 2.823 million tons in the first five months of this fiscal.
ISLAMABAD ONLINE
Pakistan and Austria have decided to expand existing bilateral trade and investment relations. The delegation of both countries held bilateral political consultations in Vienna. The Pakistan delegation was led by Ms. Ayesha Riyaz, Additional Secretary (Europe & FoDP), Ministry of Foreign Affairs while the Austrian Delegation was led by Ms. Gabriele Meon-Tschurtz, Head of the Asia Division at the Austrian Ministry for European & International Affairs. The friendly relations between Pakistan and Austria span over more than five decades. Austria, a member of both the EU and the OECD, is an economically developed Western-European nation, hosting the thirdlargest UN Headquarters in Vienna. Diplomatic relations between Pakistan and Austria were established in 1956. Ever since then both the countries have been en-
Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has notified draft of accounting rules and regulations for the Life and nonLife Insurance companies. The drafted revised Accounting Formats and regulations for published financial statements and regulatory returns by insurance entities have been notified in the official gazette ofPakistan to elicit public and stakeholders comments. By issuing these accounting formats and regulations, the SECP, as the apex regulator, aimed to protect the interests of policyholders and promote the sound devel-
opment of the insurance industry. The existing SEC [Insurance] Rules 2002, annexed with it were the Accounting Regulations & its Formats were introduced by the SECP in 2002. Since the issuance of these rules, almost a decade ago, there have been remarkable developments and changes in the International Reporting Standards (IFRSs) by International Accounting Standards Board. Accordingly, at the behest of the SECP, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) reconstituted the Insurance Sub-
Fahim talks up potential trade numbers with Korea ISLAMABAD
Committee. The Committee comprised of industry experts, senior partners of chartered accountant firms, and representatives from the Insurance Division of the SECP and technical experts from the ICAP. The mandate given by the Commission was to review the current accounting regulations and formats in respect of conventional Life and Non-life Insurers by taking into consideration the International Standards. The Committee was also to address the concerns of the industry in relation to IFRS 4. The underlying objective of IFRS 4 was
Rate-cut of 50-100bps likely as inflation dips to 6.9% KARACHI
ONLINE
STAFF REPORT
Senior Federal Minister for Commerce Makhdoom Amin Fahim said that volume of trade between Pakistan and Korea needs significant increase. In a statement prior to leaving for three days visit to Korea he cited that current visit would strengthen business and commercial interaction between the public and private sector of both countries. He further said the business communities of both the counties need to be sensitized about the available business opportunities. He also said both countries should organize regular trade exhibition of potential products which would explore trade options between two countries. While telling about current trade between two countries the Federal Minister said that Pakistan – Korea volume of trade, which was in the region of US $ 845.18 million in the year 2006-07 reached all time high with effort of current government amounting to US$ 1.189 billion showing an increase of 40%. He also mentioned that Pakistan exports registered 17% increase in 2011-12 as compared to 2006-07.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation in the country during the month of November was recorded further downward at the lowest level of its revised based at 6.9 percent as against 7.7 percent in October. “The number is far below the market consensus which was expecting it in the range of 7.5-8 percent,” said Topline analyst Nauman Khan. On MoM basis, inflation stood at –ve 0.4 percent as against 0.4 percent last month, while the average inflation in 5MFY13 stood at 8.4 percent versus 10.2 percent in the same period last year.
“Though, we still await how individual heads contributed to subdued number but we believe subdued food inflation would be the chief contributor on account of post Eid phenomena,” said Khan. The soft inflation number heightened the chance of average FY13 inflation to fall well below the government expectation of 9.5 percent, even after incorporating in high MoM inflation in 2H. “We maintain our view that soft inflation numbers could allow the room for the central bank to continue the process of monetary easing and we expect another 50-100bps cut in the policy rate in the upcoming monetary policy schedule due in second week of December,” said the analyst. He said his conviction to the idea also comes from the central bank’s recent focus on growth dynamics which was also highlighted in the recent SBP governor’s interview.
Fiscal bonding in Vienna Pakistan, Austria agree to boost bilateral relations
joying cordial relations. During the Bilateral Consultations, the two sides took stock of the current status of bilateral relations including political ties,
to achieve global harmonization of the diverse accounting disclosures and practices in the insurance industry. After in-depth deliberations, the SECP notified the draft rules and regulation format for public consultation. Only those comments and suggestions shall be considered and incorporated which are found viable and in the spirit of law thereafter the final rules and regulations shall be announced. It is envisaged that the revised set of accounting rules and regulations shall bring in more transparency, establish enhanced disclosures requirements that would be useful in decision-making by present and potential policyholders, investors, lenders, etc.
economic cooperation, trade and investment, collaboration in the field of education and science & technology, and cultural and parliamentary exchanges. Both sides
emphasised the need to enhance higher level political contacts, including parliamentary exchanges, to further intensify the existing bilateral relations.
They noted that there has been a steady growth in the bilateral trade volume over the past years, and agreed to undertake suitable measure to sustain this positive trend. The two sides also agreed to convene the 5th session of the PakistanAustria Joint Working Group on Trade and Economic Cooperation at an early date. The Additional Secretary briefed the Austrian side in detail on the investment opportunities in the country. Both the sides noted with satisfaction that OMV, an Austrian oil and gas company, has one of its largest overseas investments in Pakistan. They agreed to strengthen interaction between their respective business communities to further expand the existing trade and investment relations. The two sides exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual interest including the situation in Afghanistan and counterterrorism.