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Thursday, 22 November, 2012
D-8 countries agree to focus on regional blocs Let’s explore Islamic finance models SBP urges D-8 central banks to explore Islamic finance models amid global economic challenges ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT
ISLAMABAD
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STAFF REPORT
enTrAl banks of the Developing-8 countries Wednesday agreed on a “sustainable growth strategy” under which the member countries would lessen dependence on their traditional trade partners and focus on the regional blocs like the D-8. In a joint communiqué, the D-8 central banks decided that the member countries would confront mutual economic challenges through concerted measures ranging from the establishment of correspondent banking relationship and currency swap arrangements to promotion of Islamic finance models to deal with the emerging global economic challenges. The governors of central banks of D8 countries held their second meeting here with Governor State Bank of Pakistan Yaseen Anwar in the chair to achieve the objectives of increasing the block’s mutual understanding of various economic and financial sector related challenges facing them, and enhancing mutual co-operation to confront these challenges. The D-8 central banks’ governors are expected to again gather in 2014 in Turkey. Agenda of the meeting, the governors agreed Wednesday, would be the discussion on shadow banking and its related risks amongst other financial sector issues. The communiqué issued by the SBP reads as follows: Since we last met in Abuja, nigeria in July 2010, the global economy continues to face a number of challenges. external, fiscal and financial imbalances still persist, creating challenges on economic growth and employment. Global growth is projected to drop in 2012 because of weak economic activity in the US and deteriorating sovereign and banking sector developments in the euro area. As a result, real GDP growth in the emerging and developing economies is going to further slowdown. Although the impacts and related challenges may be different from country to country, and region to region, we are all united in our resolve to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth in a collaborative way. SpeCifiCally, we will: a. Formulate monetary and financial policies to support sustainable growth
Stressing the need for continued collaboration amongst the D-8 central banks, Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Yaseen Anwar Wednesday said the member countries need to explore ways to promote Islamic financing in the wake of challenging global economic landscape. While opening and chairing the 2nd meeting of central bank governors of the D-8 countries in Islamabad, Anwar said there was aneed for exploring sustainable models to promote Islamic finance in the Developing-8 (D-8) economies. He said macroeconomic policies of D8 countries must be balanced to check overheating pressures from strong recovery, high credit growth, volatile capital flows, elevated commodity prices, and renewed risk of inflation. “We must continue to rebalance our economies to sustain growth through modulating domestic consumption, increase in trade and allow capital to flow freely between emerging and developing economies in search of better returns as against investment in debt ridden advanced economies”. He noted that a sudden drop in the growth rate in 2009 immediately after the strategy in D-8 countries in the backdrop of an uncertain outlook for the global economy. b. Promote Innovative Financial Inclusion Policies. c. explore opportunities in Islamic Finance. d. establish information exchange and promote peer learning amongst D-8 central banks. SuStainable Growth StrateGy We must work together to formulate monetary and financial policies to support sustainable growth strategy for D-8 countries in the backdrop of an uncertain outlook for the global economy. The D-8 economies face a diverse set of economic challenges. Some of these are structural; others may be cyclical in nature, while others a direct consequence of the global credit crunch of 2007-08 and the recent euro area crises. However, in formulating a growth strategy to deal with these issues – and to identify areas of potential cooperation between members – it is necessary to understand these challenges better. In order to achieve this, we have agreed to collaborate and focus on: a. Developing and using monetary and financial policy tools that can buffer the domestic economy against the global slowdown by striking a balance between nurturing sustainable domestic demand and an export-led growth model. b. reduce dependency on demand from traditional trade partners by rebal-
2008 crises was perhaps the principal reason why the D-8 central bank governors in their first meeting agreed to set this meeting agenda on strengthening monetary and financial cooperation. “The global growth is projected to further drop from 3.8 percent in 2011 to about 3.3 percent in 2012. As a result, the real GDP growth in the emerging and developing economies is projected to be further slower from 6.3 percent in 2011 to 5.2 percent in 2012. Therefore, we need continued collaboration to further strengthen our economies,” he added.
There was only one central bank in each country/monetary area, and therefore, it was very logical for central banks to look beyond their national borders for advice and collaboration, he said adding that in recent years, increasing globalization has further enhanced the need for central banks’ cooperation to tackle risks due to the cross border interdependencies and to make the most of emerging opportunities. The central banks’ cooperation had been facilitated through collaborative multilateral forums such as the G20, the FSB and the meetings of the IMF, BIS and a
number of bilateral and regional initiatives for cooperation. “The enhanced role of these forums also reflects the increasingly important role that the central banks of emerging and developing economies are playing at these international forums,” said the SBP governor. Stressing the need for strengthening cooperation amongst D-8 countries, Anwar said the D-8’s secretariat must be strengthened to collect and maintain information on our economies and their interconnectedness. “This would serve the dual purpose as it would provide regular updates on the state of D-8 economies and would help us in reviewing and measuring progress of our economies on economic and financial cooperation,” he said. Anwar suggested that D-8 countries must collaborate and focus on the optimal use of monetary policy tools which are at best the first line of defence against the global crisis. The D-8 countries must collaborate on how to rebalance its growth model from export-led growth to diversifying demand through structural changes in their economies that would enable sustainable future growth and make their economies less susceptible to volatility in other financial markets, particularly by raising domestic demand and recycling more of the D-8 countries savings into investments at home.
ancing and diversifying the sources of economic growth in the domestic economies by focusing on opportunities for greater cooperation amongst regional blocs, such as the D-8. c. establish correspondent banking relationship and currency swap arrangements amongst D-8 countries to promote trade and capital flows. d. The need to bring the informal sector into the mainstream economy, and hence into the tax net, by improving the efficiency of public institutions, in order to increase fiscal space and the effectiveness of monetary management processes. e. Developing the means (such as joint research projects and professional exchanges between the member countries for capacity-building) to better understand, and learn from member countries’ experiences, on the efforts undertaken to tackle challenges that are common to the D-8 e.g. enforcing better fiscal discipline; promoting investment in infrastructure; implementation of capital standards; incentivizing banks to lend to the real sector and sustaining low and moderate levels of inflation and contributing to financial stability. finanCial inCluSion Financial inclusion will remain a top priority as it alleviates financial constraints on poor and low income households, helps them to benefit from better economic opportunities, and creates employment. We also note the effectiveness of ex-
isting policy frameworks and institutions and progress made on various innovative new approaches to financial inclusion. We reaffirm our support to promote financial inclusion in D-8 countries. In this regard, we will take important measures to advance the financial inclusion agenda. Specifically we will: a. reaffirm or formulate national financial inclusion strategies in our countries and gather support from across our governments, financial sector and other key stakeholders to build broad-based ownership of the financial inclusion agenda. b. Study policy approaches for building delivery channels and payments systems such as agent-based banking, mobile phone banking, and post office networks. c. Form a D-8 Consultative Group on Financial Inclusion (CGFI) with representation from each central bank. The CGFI will have a series of knowledge exchange exercises, consultations and produce a comprehensive document by the next D-8 Summit. iSlamiC finanCe We reviewed the progress of Islamic Finance industry in D-8 countries that has enjoyed rapid growth over the past decade primarily due to global trends and local demand for Shariah-complaint financial services. Going forward, the central banks may discuss sustainable models to promote Islamic finance in D8 countries especially in the wake of chal-
lenging global economic landscape. There is need for exploring sustainable models to promote Islamic finance in D-8 countries especially in the wake of challenging global economic landscape. The cooperation will highlight strategies for ensuring growth trajectories for Islamic finance in D-8 countries, with emphasis on home grown demand and strategies in D-8 countries, primarily promoting Islamic finance to meet latent demand for financial services due to low level of financial inclusion and lack of Shariah compliant financial solutions. In this regard, the expert group identified three major areas of cooperation i.e. development of financial instruments & markets, improving perception and enhancing awareness, and training & capacity building. establish Information exchange and Peer learning Finally, we have agreed that each of the D-8 members has their strengths in financial and monetary sector issues. In order for D-8 members to benefit from these strengths we will formalize our cooperation though the regular information exchange and work through peer learning model amongst D-8 central banks in such areas including monetary policy, banking regulations and supervision, financial inclusion and Islamic finance. We hope that the D-8 countries will join the proposed peer learning working groups and share their unique experiences.
PAKISTAN’S IMF DEBT BURDEN SHRINKS BY $2.522B WITH 7TH REPAYMENT KARACHI ISMAIL DILAWAR
In a fresh setback to the country’s depleting dollar reserves Pakistan Wednesday “successfully” repaid a seventh tranche of over $394 million to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). A central bank spokesman said Wednesday witnessed the repayment of SDr 258.4 million, which is equivalent to $394.3million, to the Fund under the 2008’s $ 11.3 billion Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) of which Pakistan has received only $ 8.3 billion. In 2008, Islamabad had sought a bailout package from the IMF to avoid a possible default on the Balance of Payment front.
“Seventh installment under IMF/SBA facility amounting to SDr 258.4 million, equivalent of US$394.3 million, has been successfully made today,” said Syed Wasimuddin, chief spokesman of the State Bank of Pakistan. With this transfer Pakistan’s repayments to the IMF since February 2012 total at $ 2.522 billion. “With payment of 7th installment on 21 november 2012, Pakistan to-date has paid SDrs 1,644 million equivalent US$ 2,522 million to IMF since Feb-2012,” said the spokesman. The dollar-hungry Pakistan would be repaying the next, 8th, installment to its lenders in the IMF after some three months at the end of February next year.
Such huge repayments have been a permanent drain on the foreign exchange reserves of the funds-starved Pakistan which is already breathing hard under heavy foreign debts which, according to official data, have swelled beyond $ 62 billion. What is alarming is the fact that the country’s dollar reserves have contracted to single digit, below $ 9 billion. The State Bank last Thursday reported that on november 9 the country’s holding of the greenback stood at $ 13.84 billion. Of this total, the central bank’s reserves amount to $ 9.24 billion while that of the commercial banks stand at $ 4.60 billion.
except worker remittances that are being received on average to the tune of $ 1 billion every month, all other indicators on Pakistan’s Balance of Payment list rest in the red zone. The analysts believe that negatives like poor inflows of foreign investment seem to be offsetting the positive impact of positives like a $258 million surplus in the country’s current account balance. This surplus, however, could only be achieved after the United States, Pakistan’s non-nato ally in the War on Terror, reimbursed $ 1.118 billion to Islamabad under the long-withheld Coalition Support Fund in early August this year. The economic observers believe that
such short-term gains were far from being enough to put Pakistan’s troubled external sector back on track. The received CSF money, the analysts view, was Pakistan’s own money and was hardly enough to repay the IMF tranches due in the months ahead.
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‘LNG import imperative for country’s economy’ ISLAMABAD
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r Asim Hussain Advisor to the Prime Minister on Petroleum and natural resources has said that lnG import is most essential to overcome the energy shortfall and it will also help in improving the economy ultimately. He said this while chairing a meeting on lnG import. The meeting was also attended by Senator Saleem H.Mandviwalla, Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Waqar Masood Khan Secretary Petroleum, Mr. Zuhair Siddiqui Managing Director Sui Southern Gas Company ltd, (SSGC) Mr. Shahid Sattar Member Planning Commission of Pakistan, Dr. riaz Mahmood Senior Joint Secretary Ministry of law, Mr. Mansoor Siddiqui Director State Bank of Pakistan, representative of the Ministry of Finance, senior officers of SSGC and Ministry of Petroleum. A briefing was given by SSGC regarding lnG Integrated Project’s request For Proposal (rFP). It was informed by SSGC that the lnG bidding process would be through two envelope system i.e. technical and Financial proposals would be sought.
Crude up in Asia on US stockpile fall SinGapore: Oil prices rose in Asian trade Wednesday on an unexpected fall in US crude stockpiles, analysts said. new York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in January rose 52 cents to $87.27 a barrel and Brent north Sea crude for January delivery added 62 cents to $110.45. The black gold received support from “the American Petroleum Institute (API) report showing a stock drawdown”, said Victor Shum, senior principal of Purvin and Gertz energy consultants in Singapore. “What’s driving it is primarily the report from the API showing a crude oil inventory draw,” he told AFP. The API data Tuesday showed US inventories falling by more than 1.9 million barrels last week, compared with analyst projections of a 900,000 barrel gain. AGENCIES
‘Gas supply to domestic consumers top priority’ ISLAMABAD APP
Advisor to the Prime Minister on Petroleum and natural resources Dr Asim Hussain has said that the supply of natural gas to domestic consumers is the top priority of the government. He said this in a meeting with parliamentarians, including MnAs engineer Khurram Dastagir Khan, Hamid Saeed Kazmi, Zahid Hamid, Mufti Ajmal Khan, Mazhar Hayat Khan, roshan-udDin Junejo, Senator Baz Muhammad and Senator Zahid Khan, who called on him to apprise him of the problems in supply of natural gas to their respective constituencies. The meeting was also attended by Managing Director and Senior Management of Sui northern Gas Pipelines ltd. The parliamentarians apprised the advisor regarding progress on gas supply schemes in their respective constituencies, on which the Advisor on Petroleum issued directives to SnGPl for expediting work. Dr. Asim Hussain informed the parliamentarians that a site office of the SnGPl was being established in the ministry’s premises to cater for public complaints and providing up-to-date information on gas supply / connection cases. Detailed discussions were held on various aspects of lnG import including quantity, bidding process, timelines, bid security and performance bond, credit structure, sovereign guarantees, evaluation of bids and Gas Sale Purchase Agreement (GSPA) terms. It may be re-called that eCC in its meeting on 7th August 2012 approved the short and long term liquefied natural Gas (lnG) Import
Framework proposed by Ministry of Petroleum & natural resources. However, eCC formed a technical group comprising Secretary Petroleum, Secretary Finance, Secretary Water & Power, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Chairman Board of Investment and Chairman State Bank of Pakistan to work further on mechanism, bidding details, guarantee matters and legal issues.
ICCI president stresses creation of direct Pakistan, Malaysia air link ISLAMABAD ONLINE
Zakaria Kamarudin, Deputy Chief executive Officer of Trade and Services Promotion Division said that bilateral trade volume of Pakistan and Malaysia could be increased by finding new avenues of opportunities and cooperation Zakaria Kamarudin and noraslan Hadi Abdul Kadir, Consulate General of Malaysia visited Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) for having a meeting with Mr.Zafar Bakhtawari, President of ICCI. Kamarudin said that Malaysia offers a dynamic and vibrant business environment to investors who intend to set up projects in the manufacturing and services sectors in Malaysia as foreign investment is considered an important source of development for a country. Thus,
Pakistan should accord high importance to encourage foreign investors by creating investment-friendly environment in the country to accelerate pace of economic progress. He said that various multi-national companies of Malaysia have established their r&D centers adjacent to industries for creating strong linkage between students and industries so that they could have complete know-how about demands of industries . He informed the meeting about export Bank of Malaysia which provides financing to Malaysian entrepreneurs as well as facilities foreign exporters. Deputy Chief executive Officer invited ICCI delegation to visit Malaysia to meet their counterparts and assured of support accordingly. He said that the negative perception of Pakistan can only be eliminated through frequent exchange of trade delegations between two countries.
Business 02 Major Gainers COMPANY Island Textile Bhanero Tex.XD Millat Tractors Ltd. Siemens Pakistan Colgate Palmolive
OPEN 687.34 226.00 558.84 740.00 1290.00
HIGH 721.70 237.30 578.00 750.00 1301.00
LOW 720.00 237.30 559.00 747.00 1300.00
CLOSE CHANGE 721.70 34.36 237.30 11.30 569.80 10.96 750.00 10.00 1300.00 10.00
TURNOVER 500 1,600 38,000 1,700 400
1400.00 550.00 315.00 152.00 123.00
1311.50 522.50 315.00 147.25 120.57
1352.50 538.91 315.00 147.38 120.57
-27.50 -11.07 -10.00 -7.62 -6.34
900 1,200 100 1,200 83,500
6.44 6.88 16.35 14.70 8.49
5.70 6.63 15.40 13.75 8.01
6.16 6.70 16.10 14.25 8.28
0.51 -0.07 0.23 0.30 0.02
36,529,000 23,695,000 12,298,500 9,255,000 9,093,500
Major Losers Bata (Pak) XD 1380.00 Indus DyeingXD 549.98 Sanofi-Aventis Pak 325.00 Murree BreweryXDXB 155.00 IGI Insurance 126.91
Volume Leaders K.E.S.C. Fauji Cement Jah.Sidd. Co. Maple Leaf Cement Azgard Nine
5.65 6.77 15.87 13.95 8.26
Interbank Rates US Dollar UK Pound Japanese Yen Euro
95.9684 152.7433 1.1679 122.6572
Dollar East BUY US Dollar Euro Great Britain Pound Japanese Yen Canadian Dollar Hong Kong Dollar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal Australian Dollar
96.40 122.64 152.45 1.1569 95.64 12.21 26.10 25.58 98.61
SELL 96.90 124.11 154.24 1.1704 97.26 12.43 26.38 25.83 101.22
Euro weakens as eurozone fails to agree Greek deal honG KonG: The euro fell in Asian trade on Wednesday and shares eased after eurozone finance chiefs said they had failed to agree on a deal to unlock the latest batch of crucial bailout cash for Greece. Ministers said in a statement at the end of talks that ended in the small hours that they would meet again next Monday “for further technical work on some elements of the package”. The news sent the euro diving from recent highs against the yen, while it also lost almost a US cent from its intra-day peak against the dollar. In afternoon trade the single currency bought $1.2747 and 104.30 yen after hitting $1.2820 and 105.07 yen before the announcement from Brussels. It had finished in new York Tuesday at $1.2818 and 104.70 yen. The dollar, which had touched a sevenmonth high of 81.97 yen in the morning, bought 81.81 yen in the afternoon. Traders were left disappointed as they had been buying the euro on expectations an agreement would be made in Brussels, while Jean-Claude Juncker, who presides over the eurogroup has said there were “good chances of an agreement”. AGENCIES
CORPORATE CORNER
KArAChi: November 2012 Karachi Kings Lions Club District-305 -S3 Pakistan is a part of Lions Club international participating with PiD Lions Malik Khuda Baksh on the occasion of Jurisdiction of houses Keys along with the Wall clocks from Karachi Kings Lions Club to the flood victims on the event of “handing Over Ceremony of 24 houses” at Thatha, Sindh. Governor Lion Tasneem Ahmed (District 305-S3)Lion ishrat Bano President of Karachi Kings Lions Club and the team members distributed clocks to the flood disasters.
include; 85-inch UHD TV, the world’s largest commercialized UHD leD TV, boasts life-like picture quality with over 8 million pixels, four times the resolution of Full HD displays. Samsung Smart TV Camera supports full HD resolution and enables Smart Interaction features such as Gesture Control and Face recognition. The 2013 Smart leD TV 7500 and 8000 Series, along with OleD TV also won Design & engineering Awards. The eX2F SMArT Compact Camera impresses everyone, with premium images, full manual control and robust wireless connectivity. The Induction range with Flex Cookzone makes cooking easier by eliminating boil-overs, automatic alerts and preset heating levels.
New Era Watches steals the limelight at Swiss embassy
Samsung wins 27 honours at the ‘CES 2013 innovations Awards’ lahore: Samsung electronics Co. ltd., a market leader and award-winning innovator, has won 27 prestigious International Consumer electronics Show (CeS) 2013 Innovations Awards. Samsung was recognized with two “Best of Innovations” awards and four “eco-Design” honors, by CeS, the world’s largest annual consumer-technology tradeshow. Over the past four years, Samsung has been honored with 117 awards, judged across 29 product categories, by a preeminent panel of industrial designers, engineers, and Media Members, who converge to honor outstanding design and cutting edge engineering. Samsung’s award winning products at CeS 2013
KaraChi: new era Watches, the sole distributor for Omega watches and jewelry in Pakistan, was a star of the Swiss Watch Fair, organized by the Swiss embassy in collaboration with the authorized Swiss watch dealers in Pakistan. Held on november 17, 2012, the Swiss Watch Fair showcased the latest designs, innovation and technology of Swiss watches. Omega , a major attraction the event with its latest collection of exclusive and chic timepieces and jewelry, attracted huge crowds and appreciation across different walks of life. On the occasion, the visitors also enjoyed Swiss delicacies like raclette and Movinpick ice cream.
Fatima Memorial hospital, inauguration ceremony Jahanara Memorial Trust sign MoU of Aman Center at iBA
lahore: Jahanara Memorial Trust (JMT) and Fatima Memorial Hospital (FMH) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate with their specific strengths and capacities to develop state of the art emergency room (er) services at FMH. This collaboration will launch Pakistan’s first fully equipped ‘er room of the Future’ compliant international standards of technological advanced high quality medical care complete with every state-of-the-art feature and facility available in the global market. The vision is to provide emergency treatment to all walk in patients, regardless of their citizenship, status or ability to pay.
KaraChi: The Inauguration Ceremony of IBACenter for entrepreneurial Development (CeD) was held at the Institute of Business Administration Karachi, this evening. This Center has been established in collaboration with the Aman foundation to promote entrepreneurship by providing state of the art facilities to young entrepreneurs at IBA. The Director CeD, Mr. ZafarSiddiqui, welcomed the esteemed guests and highlighted the importance of this center. He spoke about IBA’s strategic vision and informed the audience in detail about the center’s vision and functional areas. He also highlighted the regional collaboration with other communities to promote entrepreneurship.
iSLAMABAD: indonesian Delegation along with the President of republic of indonesia, his Excellency Dr. h. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, were warmly received by Executive Assistant Manager, Salman Saeed upon their arrival at islamabad Marriott for D-8 Summit 2012.
KArAChi: The British Deputy high Commissioner and Director UK Trade and investment, Pakistan Mr. Francis Campbell, at a reception hosted by him at his residence to introduce LSBF (London School of Business and Finance) Country head for Pakistan, Mr. Faisal Azeem.
Thursday, 22 November, 2012