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Friday, 9 November, 2012
SBP eyes outward FDI Wants it to be economy’s focus KARACHI
G
STAFF REPORT
oVERNoR State Bank of Pakistan Yaseen Anwar Thursday said Pakistan’s economy should now move away from a persisting fascination with inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as a metric of the country’s economic health. The economy, the governor said, should now, at least, give attention to the outward Foreign Direct Investment (oFDI). This he said at the 4th CEo Summit and book launching of “100 Business Leaders of Pakistan” held here at a local hotel. Anwar pointed out that FDI was investment in tangible assets in the real sector. “That means that money and capital flows through FDI are not very volatile. And it is the volatility in such flows that keeps any central banker awake at night,” said he. The governor also stressed the need for developing and implementing good governance practices to stimulate economic growth in the country. He said good corporate governance regimes cannot be underscored
more as they create an attractive investment climate necessary to maintain investors’ confidence, resulting in positive impact on the share price and creating possibilities for raising low cost capital. Leaders must be visionary to see the future trends, anticipate institutional bottlenecks, remain competitive and be able to adapt rapidly to changes, he said and added that leaders need also to take into account their corporate social responsibility so that profit seeking is balanced against the objective of social service and well being of society. Anwar observed that Pakistan’s corporate sector has survived in perhaps one of the most challenging environments and yet it has flourished. “There are challenges to expanding abroad – challenges that our companies may not have encountered previously. But I, for one, would like to see more of our corporate sector aggres-
sively targeting the regional and global market. I challenge you to dream larger than ever before,” he added. Anwar noted that the millions of Pakistanis abroad will give you an edge as you venture abroad. “They will be familiar with your brands, and with the quality of your products. They may just hold the key to giving you a foothold in international markets,” he added. He observed that the world today is passing through a turbulent phase that requires a realignment of our leadership approach to managing businesses. “Today’s business leader is faced with a multitude of challenges, both on external and internal fronts. The complexities arising in the eco-system of any business may arise in the shape of macro economic imbalances that include sagging demand, inflation, volatility in financial
markets, etc.,” he said. The Governor said: “The most significant lesson that we have learnt from recent events is the importance of fundamentals in risk management. For instance, there is a basic rule since inception of banks which says “do not put all your eggs in one basket. Had this simple rule been followed, many institutions could have avoided huge losses”. Anwar cautioned that elevating corporate governance should not be confined to banks, but commercial concerns must also do the same. “We all know the pace of globalization has accelerated, resulting in increased domestic and global economic integration,” he added. “The current breed of Pakistani CEos is the street-smart entrepreneur, who will learn to adapt to any environment. That is going to be our competitive advantage in the global market,” he noted. “Twenty years from now, I would like to hear the story of how a Pakistani corporation entered the global market, the challenges it faced and overcame, and became the first Pakistani company to be consistently featured in the Fortune Global 500 list of companies,” Anwar concluded.
Pakistan’s Liquid Foreign Reserves stand at over $14b ISLAMABAD APP
The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $ 14,100.5 million on November 2, 2012. Giving the breakup of the foreign reserves position a statement of the Central Bank said that Foreign reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan stood at $ 9,547.4 million while the net foreign reserves held by banks (other than SBP) stood at $ 4,553.1 million as on November 2,2012.
Pakistan, China ink MoU for joint marketing KARACHI APP
Heavy Industries,Taxila and Norinco -China on Thursday inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) paving way for joint marketing and sale, on private-public partnership basis, of jointly manufactured defence and commercial products. The MoU signed by Lt. Gen Ayaz Saleem Rana, Chairman, Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) and Wang Li, Vice President of Norinco, the Chinese defence firm, will enable HIT to open itself to international markets in consent with Government of Pakistan and Government of China. Secretary, Ministry of Defence Production, Lt. Gen (retd) Shahid Iqbal and Additional Secretary, Tariq Rashid Khan were also present during the signing ceremony. This MoU signed, on the sidelines of the ongoing defence exhibition,IDEAS 2012, also encompasses further strengthening of joint commercial ventures undertaken by the two. HIT established in 1974, in collaboration with Norinco China, was initially a rebuilt factory and is presently manufacturing different defence and commercial products including tanks, prime movers, trucks and so-forth. These are besides essential components of varied heavy load gadgets.
INTERNATIONAL CEO SUMMIT
‘Pakistan has its own Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Laxmi Mittal’ KARACHI STAFF REPORT
The speakers at the 4th International CEo Summit Thursday emphasized that there is immense potential and resources in Pakistan and if the resilient people are properly guided they can push the country into a developed nation as they overcame devastated floods and earthquakes within the shortest possible time. However, they said, the people could not harness the national resources because of various reasons including lack of professional approach and the ever-worsening law and order situation across the country that is inter-related with structural problems. This mess has created fear of uncertainty in all spheres of life, the speakers added. Themed as “Growth in Testing Times: Challenges & opportunities”, the summit also witnessed the launching of a book titled “100 Business Leaders of Pakistan”. The event took place under the aegis of Manager Today magazine and CEo CLUB. Those who spoke on the occasion included chief guest Yaseen Anwar Governor State Bank of Pakistan; Ijaz Nisar Founder and President The Manager Today’s & CEo CLUB; Hussain Dawood Chairman Engro Corp; Asad Umar ExPresident Engro Corp; Kamran Rizvi - Executive Director, Navitus; Atif Bajwa – President & CEo, Bank Alfalah; Sohail
Wajahat Siddiqui Chairman, Pakistan State oil; Sirajuddin Aziz – President, Habib Metropolitan Bank; Kashmala Tariq, MNA; Muhammad Zubair Motiwala, Chairman SBI; M Rafiq Uddin Mehkari – President, Askari Bank; Irfan Siddiqui - President & CEo, Meezan Bank Limited; Shireen Naqvi – Lead Trainer, Navitus; Adnan Siddiqui – Country General Manager, IBM Pakistan; Sikandar Sultan – CEo, Shan Foods (Pvt.) Ltd; Hasan A Bilgrami – CEo, Bank Islami Pakistan Ltd; Duraid Qureshi, CEo HUM Network; Shehryar Ali Taseer – CEo, Media Times Ltd; Jamshid Iqbal Cheema – Chairman, Auriga Group of Companies;
Asad Said Jaffar – Chairman & CEo, Philips Electrical Industries of Pakistan Ltd; Syed Saquib Mohyuddin – CEo, SME BSF; Usman A. Ghani – International Consultant CoNFLUENTC; Tariq M. Rangoon Wala Chairman, ICC Pakistan Chapter & Dr. Kamran Shams Executive Director Akhuwat and others. Speaking on the subject of role played by the visionary leadership in overall economic growth, Governor SBP Yaseen Anwar said the business leaders were facing challenges both internally and externally. But, he said, they cannot take good decisions internally without considering the external issues and problems.
Asad Umar, former President of Engro Corporation, said a clear vision and sense of ownership not only brings up good leaders but helps build great institutions as well. He said that institutions were beyond individuals leading the institutions and true leadership was vital to the entire socioeconomic growth of the country. Ijaz Nisar said: “We always quote success stories of western CEos but do not highlight achievements of local entrepreneurs like Sohail Wajahat Siddiqui, Kamran Rizvi, Asad Umar, Muhammad Zubair Motiwala and Yaseen Anwar.” He said Pakistan had its own local Bill
Gates, Steve Jobs and Laxmi Mittal who could turn the fate and face of the country if they were provided conducive and friendly environment for doing business. Topic of the summit were: The path to prosperity: opportunities of Business Growth in Pakistan (CEo’s Panel Discussion); Entrepreneurship: Future of Pakistan; Role of visionary Leadership in Economic Growth; Developing Human Capital as Strategic Investment; Corporate Governance for Growth – New Economic Agenda & Business Success; Developing Public–Private Partnership to Boost Economic Development; What does ‘Growth’ mean for: A new enterprise, A family business & A multinational; The tough questions: Growing where? Growing how?; Growing through people: Engagement First! And Growing with money; Getting the best bang from your buck!. The summit was termed as an ideal opportunity for building relationships with peers and colleagues who can share information, insights and inspiration that can be of vital help for the local organizations. The event also provided multiple opportunities to gather with other summit attendees in order to extend once reach and influence into the community of his/her fellow senior CEo leaders. The conference was well attended and more then 500 professionals from different cities of the country showed up in it.