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BUSINESS Friday, 13 September, 2013
Remittances grow 7pc to $2.6bn in two months KARACHI Staff RepoRt The Pakistanis working abroad remitted over $2.637 billion during the first two months, July– August, of current fiscal year 2013‐14 (FY14). This shows a growth of 7.05 percent when compared with $2.463 billion the dollar-hungry country received during the corresponding period of last fiscal year, July- August FY13. The central bank Thursday reported that during the months under review the inflow of remittances from Saudi Arabia, UAE, USA, UK, GCC countries (including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman), and EU countries amounted to $732.50 million, $506.78 million, $448.60 million, $419.74 million, $295.59 million and $74.97 million, respectively. This was compared to the last year's inflows of $657.78 million, $505.80 million, $446.61 million, $334.06 million, $274.09 million and $63.57 million from the above destinations, respectively. The receipts from Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Japan and other countries during the first two months amounted to $159.09 million as against $181.78 million received in the first two months of last fiscal year. In August 2013, the inflows from Saudi Arabia, UAE, USA, UK, GCC countries and EU countries amounted to $321.77 million, $254.37 million, $215.54 million, $197.81 million, $134.15 million and $36.38 million, respectively. Compared with this, the country received in FY13 $308.12 million, $265.26 million, $231.31 million, $185.57 million, $133.73 million and $32.74 million, respectively, in August, 2012. The remittances received from Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Japan and other countries during the second month of the current fiscal year (August FY14) amounted to $72.86 million.
Monetary policy statement today KARACHI Staff RepoRt Governor State Bank of Pakistan Yaseen Anwar would unveil the central bank's monetary policy statement today Friday. The new discount rate for the next couple of months would be announced in a press conference due here at 5pm at the SBP, said a statement issued by the bank's chief spokesperson Umar Siddique Thursday. Previously, the central bank was widely expected to revise the current 9 percent policy rate upward at least by 50 basis points given the increasing inflationary pressures in the country. In July, the Consumer Price Index inflation clocked in 8.5 percent which the analysts believed would further escalate in the months ahead. The Karachi stocks market reacted strongly to the reports forecasting a hike in the cost of borrowing. However, the recent approval by the IMF of $6.64 billion of three-year Extended Fund Facility for dollar-hungry Pakistan changed, apparently, the scenario. The IMF, previously, was believed to have been pressuring Pakistan for bringing the monetary policy in accordance with inflation numbers. In its fresh EFF program, however, the international lender has urged Islamabad to focus on attracting foreign investment in the country. This has relieved pressure on the market sentiments where a status quo is widely being expected today in the SBP's monetary policy stance. Whether or not the State Bank behaves as per expectations, however, is yet to be seen.
In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. –Benjamin Franklin
SSGC SayS ‘No’ to RS 1b paCt to GaSify SiNDh’S towN, villaGeS? KARACHI
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aftab Channa
ITH the severe energy crisis in the country, the Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) has clearly said ‘no’ to go-ahead with an agreement worth Rs 1,100 million with the Sindh government to provide natural gas to the villages and towns, Pakistan Today has learnt. Interestingly, utility when asked to communicate the refusal in writing to the Sindh government, the authorities were reluctant to do so saying they had been asked by the top management that they would not be in a position to provide new gas connection to the villages and town citing gas shortage in the country. Normally, the Sindh government’s planning and development department signs had singed an agreement with the gas utility worth more than one billion rupees to provide sui gas to far-flung village and towns every year. This year, the Sindh’s authorities has earmarked Rs 1 billion for the gasification of villages, however, the SSGC was reluctant to keep the agreement alive, well-placed sources told Pakistan Today. The sources said the Sindh government wanted to launch schemes of village gasification, however, the gas utility had turned down the request. A number of gas schemes recommended by the elected representatives
were now being sent back as the gas utility was yet to provide the gas to the selected villages and towns since last year, sources added. “No doubt, the gas utility is playing a pivotal role in providing natural gas to industrial, commercial and domestic customers even at the times when the country is passing through a severe energy crisis. But, the refusal of the public utility regarding provision of gas to villages and towns is a sheer injustice with the poor masses”, according to source. "In view of the prevailing situation in the country, the SSGC is not in a position to undertake new development schemes in new towns and villages in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan, expecially under the Loan Agreement with Government of Sindh", sources said while quoting text of SSGC letter. Ironically, the SSGC also advised the Sindh government not to approve schemes of gas provision and the exercise must be stopped, they said, adding that the gas utility was insisting that it could not implement the policy in present energy crisis. Furthermore, sources said gas utility has so far undertaken schemes of providing gas facility to town and villages worth Rs 2,900 million under Loans from the Government of Sindh. The company has completed the schemes of 340 towns and villages at a total cost of Rs 1890 million during December 2009 to October 2011 by laying 823 kilometres of various diameters of pipelines.
CDNS to launch registered prize bonds, child protection certificates KARACHI Staff RepoRt
National Savings Director General Zafar M Sheikh on Thursday said the Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) is planning to launch two new products: registered prize bonds and children protection certificates. Talking to reporters here at regional office, Sheikh said the drafts of both the schemes have been sent to the CCP for consideration and approval. He said at present the CDNS is offering bearer prize bonds. The owner has no claim if they are lost, he said. However, ‘registered prize bonds’ will be in the name of the purchaser and no one other than the owner can claim the holdings. The prize bonds are transferable, if needed. The ‘children protection certificates’ are for a period of 7 years. The DG said he had given a unique idea of utilising the NSS as a major source of funding for nationbuilding projects as the same was being done by savings banks of Turkey, Brazil, Argentina and other South American countries.
About Motorway, he said it was a big project and seemed difficult to start considering financial constraints. However, if the option of funding the project through national savings is taken into account, the project can be materialised. He said the main objective of the NSS was to encourage people to adopt habit of saving. He said National Savings was successfully motivating people to invest in the lucrative savings schemes across the country. The saving ratio in the country has been improved from 9 percent to 13 percent. However, it should be at least 20 percent, he added. He said the Directorate was also planning to launch ‘Islamic instruments’ to attract the segment of society, which likes Ribafree investment and financing. He said the CDNS was also preparing some schemes for overseas Pakistanis. He emphasised the need for lifting ban on recruitment which was imperative to further improve CDNS services. The shortage of staff was causing immense problems in launching new projects and it has been decided to appoint some 1,200 persons after removal of the ban. The present staff is extremely overburdened, he added.
Asian stocks mixed following week's gains HONG KONG app Asian markets were mixed in early trade on Thursday as investors took a breather after a rally at the start of the week, but Tokyo suffered a mild sell-off on profit-taking and a stronger yen. Hopes that the United States and Russia will be able to make a deal that will avoid a US-led military strike on Syria provided buying support as markets await fresh trading cues. Tokyo dipped 0.29 percent by the break and Shanghai was 0.53 percent lower, while Hong Kong added 0.17 percent and Seoul rose 0.18 percent. Sydney was flat. Global markets have been buoyant over the past week following the release of strong data out of China indicating an economic slowdown has come to an end, while Japanese growth is also showing signs of perking up. Japan's Nikkei fell as investors cashed in after a more than four percent rally since Monday that was fuelled by an upward revision in April-June economic growth and Tokyo's successful bid to host the 2020 Olympics. Exporters were also sold as the yen rebounded against the dollar. The greenback, which peaked at 100.60 yen on Wednesday, suffered a sell-off. The dollar fell to 99.77 yen, compared with 99.92 yen late in New York and well off the 100.50 yen seen on Wednesday in Tokyo. The euro fetched $1.3321 and 132.68 yen against $1.3314 and 133.03 yen in US trade. Investors are hoping the United States and Russia will be able to reach a deal that will see Syria hand over its chemical weapons and avert an attack from American forces. US Secretary of State John Kerry is due to meet his Russian counterpart in Geneva as the two sides seek a diplomatic solution to the crisis, which was sparked by the Assad regime's alleged use of chemical weapons on its own civilians. Global markets were recently sent into a tailspin on expectations the US would lead a strike, which analysts feared could have led to a wider Middle East conflict. Wall Street provided a mostly positive lead, with the Dow up 0.89 percent and the S&P 500 rising 0.31 percent. However, the tech-driven Nasdaq dipped 0.11 percent, dragged down by a 5.4 percent loss for Apple as investors were left unimpressed by its latest iPhone release. Attention will now turn to Washington and next week's Federal Reserve policy meeting, where board members are expected to decide on the future of the bank's huge stimulus programme. Market consensus is that the Fed will begin to wind down the $85 billion-a-month bond-buying as the US economy shows signs of strengthening. However, a weaker-than-forecast jobs report last week has sparked speculation that the bank will only reduce its buying by about $10 billion a month.
Drug Act A mAjor hurDle to boost export, sAys ppmA KARACHI Staff RepoRt
Pakistan’s local pharmaceutical manufacturers have identified section 12 of Drug Act as a major haurdle in the boost and export of their products to other countries and have urged Government of Pakistan and Drug Regulatory Authority to harmonize laws and policies with accordance to international standards. They also demanded Drug Regulatory Authority Pakistan (DRAP) to comply with World Health aOrganization (WHO) guidelines for Global Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Framework Agreement on mutual recognition arrangement which is beneficial for industry, government and patients, the main concern. This was stated by Shaikh Kaiser Waheed and Zahid Saeed, both the former chairmen of Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) during the 9th Health Asia Seminar on “Exploring the untapped potential of export of pharmaceutical products from Pakistan” held here in expo center, Karachi by Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) and Ecommerce Gateway. Former Chairman PPMA Dr. Shaikh
Kaiser Waheed shared the growth and hurdles of pharmaceutical sector in Pakistan. He said few decades back, Pakistan made drugs were exported to un-regulated markets of the world which later on expanded to low regulated countries. Regulators of the few African countries are trained by WHO hence they have good knowledge of inspecting the standards, validations, processes of pharmaceutical products. PPMA urged the DRAP that uniform standard of inspection by the regulators of Pakistan should be adopted. Pharmaceutical industry have grown at fast pace but we have no share on share in world export market of drugs. Law like Section 12 of Drug Act is not enforced in any country even in our neighboring India. This act should be amended in accordance with international standards, he demanded. Dr. Shaikh Kaiser Waheed deplored that there is no dedicated institution in the country to produce human resource for pharmaceutical industry. Our universities are producing pharmacists who only spend two weeks internship in manufacturing units and award them degrees. Can they promote pharmaceutical industry? I have doubts about it, he was of the view. We have many other issues related to foreign exchange etc. Today’s seminar is a landmark event re-
sulted in discussion on these issues at least. This is the most important question of today that how can we tap regulated pharmaceutical market of regulated countries like Europe and USA? he underlined. He urged DRAP to establish a separate directorate or desk for one window operation to address export related issues. DRAP has received rupees 400 million from pharmaceutical industry but failed to facilitate us. There is dearth of officers in the authority which is hampering pharmaceutical industry, he noted. Former Chairman PPMA Zahid Saeed briefed the audience about the facts of local pharmaceutical industry in Pakistan. There are 688 pharmaceutical companies having 405 registered units including of 24 of multinational companies. Total pharmaceutical market size is rupees 220 billion (US$ 2.2 billion) and it is highly regulated industry having highly educated manpower. Pakistan is among the world’s 35 countries which are meeting 90 percent demand of their local drug market, he shared. North America shares 42 percent export share of global drugs economy with US$395 billions. Europe enjoys 31 percent with US$295, Japan 9 percent with US$89, AsiaPacific-Africa 10 percent with US$96 and Latin America have 8 percent market share
with US$75 in terms of money while Pakistani industry merely have share less than 0.1 percent of global export, he told. He stressed on the need to tap international export potential and suggested local manufacturers to look for at least 2 percent of market share. Talking about the hurdles in export growth he informed that operating and infrastructure cost is growing and his manufacturing unit paid 17 percent extra cost of captive energy alone. Almost 75 percent of drugs are sold at the most cheapest rates as compared with India although our cost is increased 35 percent of those manufacturing units in India, he informed. Price policy is absent here and we got no price raise for last 12 years except of hardship cases. We will have to change our approach towards these issues. On many forums we have urged government to link drug prices with CPI or State Bank inflation statistics, he urged. There is need to harmonize and focus four areas including quality, efficacy, safety and administrative data with technical requirements on GMP. The WHO guidelines for GMP should be followed and Pharmaceutical Inspections Convention Scheme Membership (PIC/S) guide to GMP for medicinal products should be focused.