Profit E-paper 13rd April, 2012

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So what are we doing about the PSEs again?

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profit.com.pk

Friday, 13 April, 2012

chic!

Building bridges with style lifestyle pakistan exhibition inaugurated by Anand sharma 0ver 650 pakistani businessmen attend 4-day event in delhi g touted as the jumping board towards more trade deals and mous g

g

NEW DELHI

‘L

GHULAM ABBAS

IFE Style Pakistan’ exhibition the country’s first ever mega event in India, has opened in Delhi on Thursday with the hope and expectation that the trade ties between the two South Asian neighbors would be improved further in the interest of the people on both sides.

The exhibition was formally inaugurated

by Indian Minister for Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma her at Pragati Maidan. He was accompanied by Pakistani Commerce Secretary Zafar Mehmood, Chief Executive Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), Speaker Sindh Assembly nisar Khohro and others. The first ‘Lifestyle exhibition was opened with over 100 top brands and designers from Pakistan showcasing their wares in various categories like fashion, textiles, jewellery, designer furniture leather goods and others.

To attend the important event and scheduled trade related meetings, over 650 Pakistani businessmen have arrived here. A large number of Indian visitors also seen in the exhibition showing their keen interest in the Pakistani made ups specially lawn and other textile items.

This was the first collaborative exhibition of TDAP and India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO). There has been lot of movement in trade in the last one year; the (trade) normalization process was going on at various levels.

A NEW CHAPTER OF TRADE TIES:

And we could hAve A new visA regime pretty soon As well…

NEW DELHI GHULAM ABBAS

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n the post MFn regime India and Pakistan are expected to formally announce the finalisation of a new visa regime by next month to facilitate the businessmen on both sides. All arrangements and necessary things related to the business visa have in principle, been finalized by the two countries and the formal announcement was likely to be made by next month after approval from the concerned authorities like the Interior Ministry of Pakistan and the Home Ministry of India. This was said by Secretary Commerce Zafar Mahmood while talking media here Addressing the opening ceremony of the event, Anand Sharma said that the present exchange of trade delegations, exhibitions, business to business meetings and business forums being held among the businessmen of the two sides were the result of the initiatives taken by the two governments through the trade talks started at secretary commerce level.

“Generations have suffered by the bitter relations of the two countries and now it is our responsibility to save the present and next generations through encouraging economic integrations” he said adding that “we have no other

after the inaugural function of the fourday ‘Lifestyle Pakistan’ exhibition on Thursday. After the facility, he informed, that businessmen from either country would get visa for more than one year and that too for more number of cities.

In reply to a query, he said that the meeting between the Interior Ministry of Pakistan and the Home Ministry of India was likely to be taken place by the end of this month or in May. Talking to Pakistan Today, Rajya Vardhan Kanoria, President Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry said that the Visa on Arrival was also likely to be allowed to the senior citizens soon. As there also a pressure on government to make the visa process easy, Delhi may also consider bring some changes in the strict visa process which was one of the hurdles in business and trade activities between the two countries. Another development in the business ties of the two countries,

he said would be to allow the investment in both countries. Positive development in this regard was also expected soon, he added. Talking to Pakistan Today head of TDAP, Tariq Puri, said that the authority with the closed cooperation of ITPO and FICCI has successfully arranged the event which was be attended by over 650 businessmen from Pakistan. TDAP has reciprocated the first ever Indian Show held in Lahore this year through arranging the Life Style Pakistan exhibition where all top brands of the country were displayed.” We are here for not only sale but also buy the products,” he said adding that thousands of Indian visitors in the exhibition also proved the potential in Pakistani made ups. Though TDAP organizes over a hundred of exhibitions and business talks, but the Indian one was the unique and historic event which would pay way to improve the bilateral trade.

option left”. “We have opened a new chapter in the history of India and Pakistan and our daughters and sons should not miss the opportunities of trade and economic activities” Time has taught us to take courageous decisions. not only the government level but the linkages should also be strongly developed among trade bodies, associations and chambers of the two countries. The current bilateral volume of trade, he said, was however around $3 billion but indirect and undocumented trade was more than the official and registered trade between the two neighbors.

The two sides should also play their role to develop the regional trade following the way other countries successfully made regional organization like EU, ASEAn.

SECOND GATE AT WAGAH ATTARI: Indian minister informed that the second cargo terminal of Wagah Attari at Wagah Border would be opened on April 30, and the gate would be dedicated to the businessmen of both countries. He also said that more routes should be opened for trade between the two countries.

ELECTRICITY IMPORT FROM INDIA: Sharma further said that a joint group has also been made to see the possibilities of electricity supply to Pakistan and trade in petroleum sector.

He further said that Indian national institute if design and it counter part in Pakistan can also start a professional interactions for developing more value added designs in the fashion industry both sides. The same interaction and linkages also needed in other sectors.

AirheAds

ecc’s brain goes on a walk-around Despite surplus ECC approves import of 300,000 tonnes of Urea for Kharif n Approves signing of GSPA for TAPI n Complete ban on gas connection to new schemes n

ISLAMABAD AMER SIAL

I

n a perplexing decision the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet (ECC) on Thursday decided to allow import of 300,000 tons of urea for the current Kharif crop even though the meeting was informed that the country has available stocks of 3.5 million tons as compared to estimated off take of 3.2 million tons.

According to an official source, the ECC meeting held under the chairmanship of Finance Minister Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh allowed import of half the quantity even though Ministry of Industries had sought permission for importing 600,000. The Industries Ministry took the plea that the import was necessitated due to gas shortages and the imported commodity could be used as inventory for Rabi crop requirements later this year.

The Kharif season started with an inventory of 0.85 million tons and domestic production is estimated

to remain 2.7 million tons but it was subject to gas availability. The committee was informed that for urea imports, $ 100 million Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) facility was available along with $ 21 million non project grant aid from Japan.

The source said after intervention from a minister from Balochistan, the committee directed import of at least 150,000 tons of urea from the Gwadar port.

The government has already imported 1.3 million tons of urea for Rabi crop requirements.

The meeting discussed 12 summaries of the Ministry of Petroleum relating to various projects like LPG air mix, signing of gas sale purchase agreement (GSPA) for the Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India (TAPI) gas pipeline project and gas infrastructure development schemes. The source said that most of the participants of the meeting were unable to comprehend the complex petroleum related issues, while the Petroleum Minister Dr. Asif Hussain rigidly stressing there approve claiming that there was no other option other than what was proposed

by the ministry.

ECC approved the signing of GSPA for TAPI gas pipeline project. The GSPA is expected to be signed on April 19 in Ashgabat. The meeting was informed that a steering committee headed by Minister for Water and Power was working for determination of price of gas pipeline. The committee decided to set up a committee to determine the cost of pipeline in Pakistani territory. It asked the Minister for Petroleum to make full presentation to the steering committee as well as to ECC. The steering committee should meet regularly, the Finance Minister asked the members of steering committee.

The source said that Minister for Ports and Shipping Babar Ghouri stressed early completion of the TAPI project to overcome gas shortages.

Discussion the summary for financing of gas infrastructure development schemes, the committee reiterated the decision of Energy Conference held on April 9 for putting complete ban on new connections. The committee decided to consult the Ministry of Law on the new schemes as it was pointed out that the exploration and production also fell under the domain of provinces. The Petroleum Ministry proposed to take the matter to the Council of Common Interests for decision.

The committee approved in principle the proposal regarding amending the policy guidelines on LPG Air Mix, CnG or LnG based pipeline distribution projects undertaken by the Sui northern Gas Pipelines Limited and Sui Southern Gas Company Limited. The source said that some members expressed serious reservations over the massive

comment

AdB’s revelation

W

HAT ruling should a donor agency give a country with crippling energy shortage, cheap exports, expensive imports, dysfunctional tax collection machinery and hemorrhaging public sector enterprises? There’s no novelty in ADB’s annual development outlook.

Yet listing Pakistan’s problems as they stand, its complicated web of debt, deficits and corruption, is a sobering reminder that minus IMF partnership, other bi- and multi-lateral agencies will no doubt distance themselves from Islamabad.

And here’s the simple thesis. Persistent energy shortage has shaved a good three to four percentage points off the GDP number in the last couple of fiscals, hence the compromised growth rate. The bank’s prescription – investment – is no doubt the right medicine, but energy problems (among other things) rule out foreign interest, while government borrowing does a good job of crowding out indigenous initiatives. And of course, the country needs a business plan. Which brings us right back to energy, without which any plan will be words on paper at best.

There’s also mention of PSEs losing untold billions with nothing to show.

Yes, that too must be checked.

The government’s version is a lot less imaginative. First we inherited a broken down energy sector from the previous government, then vicious floods wreaked havoc on the GDP number. Just why these constraints failed to prevent the finance minister from boasting ambitious targets at the last budget, or how natural disasters keep political appointees anchored in PSEs is, and will remain, without answer. now, so close to the next general vote, it is foolish to expect movement on anything that might upset party cadres, so we can forget about checking leakages. Yet the energy problem will pose a big question when people go to the polls. For some time now general elections far and wide have been vote-out events instead of vote-in features. Failing to get a handle on persistent power failures, the election is as good as lost. So something might just get done there. Did the ADB mention that?

increase in gas price due to proposal of the Petroleum Ministry advocating calculating gas prices on weighted average. Petroleum Ministry’s proposal had said that the price was likely to go up by two percent or Rs 6 per MMBTU from current price of 309 MMBTU if 10 MMCFD system was started.

However, a few members expressed apprehensions saying that the weighted average formula would increase the price massively, which they estimated over 3000 percent and not by mere 30 percent as proposed by the Petroleum Ministry. The argued that the gas prices would increase by Rs 89 MMBTU for a system of 150 MMCFD capacity.

They recommended using only the domestic LPG for the projects. The committee decided to constituted a sub-committee comprising Petroleum Minister, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Secretary Finance, Secretary Economic Affairs Division and Secretary Petroleum to further deliberate on the economic costing as well as the impact of final consumer price before implementing the policy and committee will present the recommendation to the ECC. Regarding the summary for pursuing international exploration appointments by Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), ECC directed the Petroleum Ministry to follow the existing procedure prescribed under F.E. Circular no.12 of the State Bank of Pakistan. The meeting was attended by ministers for petroleum, water and power, ports and shipping, railways, textiles and secretaries of the concerned ministries and divisions.

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Friday, 13 April, 2012

news

proBlem solving eXperts

power rAngers

so what are we doing about the pses again?

Malakoff! No it’s not a swear word malaysian company to set up 1200mw coal fired, 250mw wind power project in sindh g

experts stress inclusion of pse under corporate governance g

ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

ISLAMABAD

P

AMER SIAL

OInTInG out that two main regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) relating to developing corporate governance were not applicable on most of the Public Sector enterprises (PSEs), which were utmost required to bring them out of the massive losses being inflicted year after year to the exchequer.

This was stated by experts at a round table meeting to deliberate on the draft regulations for public sector companies, organized by the SECP, Economic Reforms Unit of the Ministry of Finance, the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) and the Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance (PICG). The speakers stressed for imparting corporate governance in PSEs, as large number of PSEs have legal protection, enabling their line ministries to supersede the Companies Ordinance and the Code of Corporate Governance for listed companies. The draft regulations for PSEs have been formulated by SECP, with the view to improve efficiency of the government owned enterprises and reducing the burden on national exchequer incurred annually to maintain these commercial entities in operating conditions.

Finance Minister, Dr Hafeez Shaikh, said that one of the most difficult task was to bring all the PSEs under similar legal ambit. He noted that altering the legal structure of these PSEs was a serious task. It is a complicated matter as many entities were companies but have legal protection against complete implementation of the companies ordinance, some were companies but the

role of line ministry is too strong in their affairs whereas some like the Pakistan Railways and the nHA did not even have any company status.

It was noted in the roundtable that the line ministries were resisting the change. Finance Minister, who is also the chairman Cabinet Committee on Restructuring of PSEs agreed that the line ministries were still involved in short listing and appointments of the MDs and the CEOs of these PSEs. The line ministries are policy makers as well as the operators of these commercial entities- the managements are heavily influenced by bureaucrats and the decision making is either too slow or not in right direction to make profits, he said adding that the general trend is that someone who is a secretary of any social sector ministry would be operating a production. He said the new regulation on PSE would be the first step in breaking the ground. He said PSEs have a structural problem, making them uncompetitive in an open market scenario, as a result government has to inject finances to reduce losses and eventually the loss making cycle continue to increase. The draft regulation to bring corporate governance in the PSEs highlights that entities be organised on corporate lines, where the boards would have independent and professional directors while the chairman of the board would be elected from within the board. Other speakers at the roundtable said that the issue of PSEs is a global trend and almost every country has faced this problem when the government owned businesses become heavy financial burden.

Former governor SBP Dr Shamshad Akhtar said that strong regulators can resolve the problems related to mismanagement and operational flaws in the

sos

dear sBp, please save our backsides yours insecurely, lcci LAHORE STAFF REPORT

T

HE Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry Thursday sent an SOS to the State Bank of Pakistan pleading it to save the national economy and industry by bringing its policy rates to single digit reducing it by 250 to 300 basis points. In a statement issued here, the LCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that in any country where the economy is facing a recession, the interest rates are brought down to stimulate growth, whereas in Pakistan it is the other way round.

In the last two years interest rates in Europe and the United States have been brought down close to Zero to save the economies from collapse. This is the time that interest rates should be brought down to single digit to spur growth. The LCCI President said that a cut of 50 to 100 basis points would not be doing any service to the dwindling economy. He said that it was very unfortunate that we have failed to learn any lesson from the tighter monetary policy stance adopted by the State bank of Pakistan in the yester years.

A

Malaysian company, Malakoff Corporation Berhad has shared details with the government to set up two power projects including 1200 MW imported coal fired project and 250 MW wind power project in Sindh. A delegation of Malaysian investors, led by Vice President of Malakoff Corporation Berhad Mohammad Raziff Embi called on the Minister for Water and Power, Syed naveed Qamar. Malaysian investors said that the

PSEs. She highlighted the case of Temsek Holding Company of Singapore, which is a subsidiary of their ministry of finance, but neither the president nor the government of Singapore can interfere in the affairs of the Temasek Holding. The board is autonomous but there is very strong accountability and audit of the company. International experts the participants about Finland where PSEs accounted for major share of government financing up to early 1980s but after corporate restructuring more sector have been opened to competitive businesses. It was informed that in Finland a maximum of one government official can be in the board of a PSE, while the role of politicians has been nullified, the government being the majority share holder makes policy decisions and sets targets the operational matters are decided by the boards.

Chairman SECP Muhammad Ali said that it was unrealistic for Pakistan to have situation like Singapore but with constant up-gradation of laws would help bring more transparency and competition in the PSEs. Pakistan has around 114 PSEs and 23 of them are listed in stock exchanges of the country, though not all the PSEs are loss making but only the top eight make an annual burden of Rs 300 to 400 billion on the national exchequer, the corporate structuring is expected to steer out these PSEs out of loss making cycle and enhance the inflows if profit making PSEs. Around 120 participants from various ministries and public sector companies, including senior bureaucrats, key executives, CEOs, accountants, professionals and lawyers attended the roundtable. During the session, highly interactive and detailed deliberations were made on the draft regulations.

Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that ongoing economic scenario shows that there is hardly any time left for economic managers of the country and they all should understand the gravity of the situation that there would be no business community buyer if the interest rates are kept higher. Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that it is now before all of us that high discount rate is no more sustainable. It has been causing a great harm to economy and would continue to do so unless and until a realist approach is adopted. The LCCI President said that the State Bank of Pakistan should understand that its continued tighter stance is inflicting a very heavy loss on the nation as the economy has already paid a very high price because of high interest rate. The LCCI President said that he, in his meeting with the President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari last week in Lahore, had categorically emphasized the need for cut in markup rate by reducing the banking spread which is at 8% presently, the highest in the world. also requested him to help bring down the highest ever interest rates in the country if the present government was interested in seeing industrialization in the country.

Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that the President of Pakistan had assured him that while evolving all the future economic policies, the private sector in general and the Chambers of Commerce in particular will be taken on board. The LCCI President reminded the policy makers that the private sector was the only hope for salvaging this country from a total economic collapse therefore a significant cut in cost of doing is direly needed.

Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that in the last few years, the private sector had suffered set-backs because of higher cost of doing business.

Investment in new industrial projects and expansion in existing industry has come to a standstill. Massive flight of capital has taken place to other countries in the region where investment and business environment is favorable and future prospects are brighter.

feasibility study of 1200 MW was completed and the remaining procedure will be completed after the notification of feed-in tariff for the coal power projects by the national Electric Power Regulatory Authority. They reiterated their commitment to work with the government to explore investment opportunities in other infrastructure projects. They also expressed interest to invest in the operation and maintenance of the existing public sector thermal plants.

The minister said that the feed-in tariff for the imported coal was likely to be finalized

oF slABs And suBsidies

consumers get a lifeline govt increases slab limit for life line consumers g to provide rs 65 billion subsidy to life line consumers g

ISLAMABAD AMER SIAL

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n a major decision the government has notified enhancing the slab of electricity life line consumers from the current level of 50 units to 100 units per month that will be costing the national exchequer Rs 65 billion in subsidy. An official said that the decision was made in line with the recommendations finalised at the recently held energy summit. T slab for life line consumers have been increased from 50 to 100 units. The new slab will be effective from the next month electricity bills. Earlier, only the life line consumers using 1 to 50 units were exempted from tariff increase and imposition of General Sales

Tax. now, the domestic consumers using upto 100 units will be treated as life line consumers and will enjoy the benefit of exemption from tax and tariff increase. The tariff rate of the consumers under the new slab will automatically reduce and they will get monetary benefit of about Rs 3.40 per unit. After notification of increase the units limits from 1 to 100 units, about 3.4 million more consumers will be benefited. The lifeline consumers will now increase to 13.7 million. An official source said the decision on applying uniform tariff for rest of the consumer slabs was being worked out which was approved with the consultation of the provincial governments. He said the provincial governments approved the proposal even though they were apprehensive about political fall out.

generous gestures

wB gives pakistan a high five duo sign $1.125 billion agreement for 5 projects g $35 million to be provided as grant g

ISLAMABAD APP

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next month that will further attract investment in the sector. The government has already announced on feed-in tariff for wind power projects.

The government is processing wind power projects on fast track basis and all the formalities are being completed at the earliest. He said the country is facing energy shortages and the government is taking all the measures to end the crises.

He directed PPIB and AEDB to facilitate the Malaysians to complete the procedural requirements for early setting up of both the projects. The delegation also discussed investment opportunities in Thar coal project and expansion policy for imported coal fired plants.

HE World Bank and Pakistan have signed on Thursday, agreements of five projects for a total amount of US$ 1.125 billion, out of which $ 35 million will be provided as a grant.

Dr. Waqar Masood Khan, Secretary Economic Affairs Division and Rachid Benmassoud, Country Director of the World Bank signed the agreements.

Dr. Waqar Masood said on the occasion that the World Bank and Pakistan were solid partner and the World Bank has made remarkable contribution towards the country’s development. Rachid Benmassoud said “We will continue our support to Pakistan for the extension of its development process and I hope that the government will successfully implement all the projects”.

The major agreement that was signed was for the fourth extension of Tarbela Hydropower Project. The World Bank will provide $840 million for the project to facilitate a sustainable expansion in Pakistan’s electricity generation capacity.

The Project will strengthen WAPDA’s capacity to develop the country’s hydropower resources. The major

components include construction of power house and modification to the tunnel and the installation of turbines, generators, transformers and ancillary electro mechanical equipment.

Low cost non-carbon renewable energy of about 4,000 GWh will be generated annually through the new project. The average cost of electricity generated through the Project will be 2.49 cents/KWh. The project will also lay the foundation for a subsequent fifth extension of Tarbela Hydropower capacity.

Chairman, Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), Shakil Durrani said on the occasion that with this project, 1,410 MW hydropower plant will be constructed on Tarbela Dam with an already constructed tunnel. He said the project would be completed in three years and work on the project would be started within few weeks after formal approval of the World Bank.

Punjab Irrigated Agriculture Productivity Improvement Project: The World Bank will also provide $ 250 million International Development Association (IDA) credit for the project. The objective of the project is to improve productivity of water use in irrigated agriculture. This will be achieved through improved

physical delivery efficiency and irrigation practices, crop diversification and effective application of inputs which will translate into greater agriculture output per unit of water used.

REVITALISATION OF HEALTH SERVICES IN KP: A Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) grant amounting to $ 16 million will be provided to revitalize and rehabilitate health services through Public-Private Partnership in the conflict affected districts of KPK. The Project will be implemented by the health department of KPK. FATA URBAN CENTER PROJECT: An MDTF grant of $7 million will be provided to improve urban services and management in Khar and Bajaur Agency to develop a framework for urban management in FATA. FATA Secretariat will implement the project.

FATA RURAL LIVELIHOOD, COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT: An MDTF grant of $ 12 million will be provided to improve livelihoods and access to basic service infrastructure in the Mohmand and Bajuar agencies in FATA and possible in cluster of villages in southern agencies that are becoming accessible and where families are being facilitated by the Government to return and re- establish their livelihood. Meanwhile another signing agreement was made between Italy and Pakistan in which Italy will provide Euro 57.7 million as a soft loan for flood affected people in the country. The loan would be interest free and the grace period for the loan was set as 40 years.

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news KA-ching!

re$erve$ ri$e g

Bears get too intimate g

Kse 100 index takes a 123.22 point plunge

Multilateral inflows jack up dollar reserves to $16.522b KARACHI

D

ISMAIL DILAWAR

OLLAR inflows from what the central bank said multilateral donors and lenders helped the country’s foreign exchange reserves continuing its northward journey.

The country’s holdings of the greenback grew by $ 17 million or 0.1 percent during the week ending on April 6, the State Bank reported Thursday.

During the week under review, the country’s holding of the greenback swelled to $ 16.522 billion against $ 16.505 billion of the previous week that ended on March 30. The upward trend in the foreign exchange is attributable to the central bank’s reserves that, during the review week, rose to $ 11.865 billion, registering a growth of 0.2 percent compared to last week’s $ 11.837 billion. The commercial banks, however, ended up in the red zone and calculated their reserves lower at $ 4.657 billion, down $ 11 million from $ 4.668 billion of the preceding week. According to SBP spokesperson, such up and downs in the banks’ reserves can mostly be attributed to the routine deposit and withdrawal of cash by the account holders. Cumulatively, past three consecutive weeks saw the banks’ dollar holdings contracting by $ 67 million.

On the other hand, the central bank’s holdings of the greenback ballooned

by $ 194 million, cumulatively. This relatively persistent increase in the reserves of the State Bank reflected positively on the dollar-hungry country’s foreign exchange reserves which, during last three weeks, swelled by $ 127 million. The country possessed $ 16.395 billion on March 16, $ 16.441 billion on March 23, $ 16.505 billion on March 30 and $ 16.522 billion up to April 6, the week in review. “The increase is because of the multilateral inflows,” Syed Wasimuddin, chief spokesman of the State Bank, told Profit. After hitting a record $ 18.31 billion mark last year in July, the country’s foreign exchange reserves are staggering at the $ 16 billion level with official and unofficial observers citing repayments on account of exports and external loans as a major drain on Pakistan’s dollar holdings.

The economic managers are also wary of the hiking international oil prices that, as Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh told an award ceremony Tuesday last, is posing a major challenge to his resource-constrained government. The analysts believe that the present democratically-elected government was walking on a two-edge sword that, one on hand, was testing its nerves by taking harsh decisions, politically, like passing the impact of oil price hike to the inflation-hit masses or brace for a possible default on the balance of payment side.

KARACHI

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STAFF REPORT

HE day saw the benchmark 100-share index plunged by 123.22 points to 13,693.74 points against 13,816.96 points of Wednesday.

Ahsan Mehanti, Director at Arif Habib Investments Limited., said that the Pakistan Stocks closed lower on institutional profittaking in stocks across the board in the quarter end earnings announcement session at KSE. Total numbers of Shares of 360 companies were traded on Thursday, and at the end of the day total 92 stocks closed higher, total 212 are declined while 56 remained flat. The overall value of shares traded during the day was Rs3.405 billion.

He added that the Concerns over balance of payments pressure on Pakistan economy indicated by ADB Report and uncertainty in global stocks and commodities kept volumes on lower side. The trading volumes at the readycounter were recorded lower at 3.405 million shares against 5.112 million shares of the previous day. The trading value decreasing to Rs 7.067 billion compared to Rs 9.093 billion of

the previous session. The intraday high and low, respectively, stood at 13,828.17 and 13, 598.30 points. Market capitalization declined to 3.515 trillion from 3.550 trillion.

“Investors remained cautious ahead of SBP key policy rate announcement due tomorrow.” viewed Mehanti. KSE All shareindex ended the day at 9,632.68 points, down 93.89 points or 0.97 percent, KSE 30-index stopped the day at 11,931.00 points, decreasing 132.72 points or 1.10 percent while the KMI 30-index slumped by 304.62 points or 1.28 percent to end the day at 23, 408.38.

Fauji Cement was volume leader of the day, 30.143 million shares and down by Rs 0.46 to close at Rs 6.69 followed by Jahangir Siddiqui Company, D.G.K Cement, Azgard nine, Lafarge Pakistan, Dewan Cement and Dewan Salman with turnover of 27.845 million, 21.512 million and 18.585 million, 17.966 million, 17.558 million and 12.570 million shares respectively. The nestle Pakistan XD and Island Textile, up Rs 70.08 and Rs 7.92, led highest price gainers while, Sanofi-Aventis SPOT and EFU General Insurance XD, down Rs 9.38 and Rs 4.41 respectively, led the losers.

Major Gainers Company

Open

High

Low

Close

Change

Nestle PakXD Island Textile Philip Morris Pak. Packages Limited Pak Gum & ChemXD

4350.43 229.65 109.76 95.65 81.25

4565.00 238.00 115.24 100.43 84.99

4200.00 218.17 114.99 95.65 84.99

4420.51 237.57 115.13 100.02 84.99

70.08 167 7.92 152 5.37 445 4.37 270,720 3.74 500

Major Losers Sanofi-AventisSPOT EFU General InsXD P.S.O. Pak Oilfields Lucky Cement

192.87 89.32 245.82 367.93 124.34

dell launches its highest performing servers in pakistan KARACHI: Dell launched a portfolio of its highest performing PowerEdge servers, optimized for use in demanding enterprise environments of Pakistan.

Dell continues to innovate to deliver features that are industry firsts and make the PowerEdge 12thgeneration servers the company’s highest performing, most manageable servers ever. With this new server series, customers ranging from small businesses to hyper-scale data centers can help maximize efficiency by streamlining and automating

183.30 84.86 240.00 363.00 118.50

183.49 84.91 241.44 363.73 120.48

7.22 20.35 41.80 10.10 5.61

6.55 19.77 39.88 8.90 5.10

6.69 19.77 39.97 9.08 5.24

-9.38 2,301 -4.41 18,121 -4.38 334,601 -4.20 412,939 -3.86 6,112,041

Fauji Cement Jah.Sidd. Co. D.G.K.Cement Azgard Nine Lafarge Pakistan

7.15 20.81 41.97 9.86 5.58

-0.46 30,143,168 -1.04 27,845,016 -2.00 21,512,828 -0.78 18,585,644 -0.34 17,966,654

Interbank Rates US Dollar UK Pound Japanese Yen Euro

90.7165 144.5477 1.1194 119.0926

Dollar East US Dollar Euro Great Britain Pound Japanese Yen Canadian Dollar Hong Kong Dollar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal Australian Dollar

Buy

Sell

90.70 118.63 144.18 1.1108 90.14 11.55 24.66 24.14 93.58

91.30 119.65 145.39 1.1200 91.40 11.71 24.84 24.33 95.81

et operations help achieve better business application performance and business continuity. “Dell designed the new PowerEdge servers with input gathered from more than 7,700 customer interactions in 17 countries across four continents,” said Shahzad Khan, Country Manager,Dell Pakistan.“Our customers told us that they need end-to-end solutions to handle the complex workload problems they face every day. As such, we built our new generation of servers, systems management and workload solutions to address the needs of business end users who require maximum performance to run mission-critical applications and IT departments which demand more efficient, secure and reliable operations.” PRESS RELEASE

ici dulux brightens up mayo hospital ISLAMABAD: The efforts of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) in curbing poverty and serving the poor of the country are highly commendable. The programme has not only ensured transparency in its affairs but also done a great job for introducing higher standards of the service delivery.

H.E Alireza Hagghighian, the Ambassador of Islamic Republic of Iran said this during a meeting with Madame Farzana Raja, Chairperson BISP here at BISP Secretariat on Wednesday. The visiting ambassador congratulated Madame Farzana Raja on receiving Hilal-e-Imtiaz and said that this award an acknowledgement of her unprecedented service for the nation and humanity. H.E Alireza Hagghighian, on the occasion, extended invitation to Madame Farzana Raja to visit Iran. Earlier, Madame Farzana Raja briefed the honorable ambassador about various components of BISP. She said that the endeavors of BISP are aimed at sustainable poverty reduction from the country and to improve the living standards of millions of its beneficiary families. Chairperson BISP said the transparency and effectiveness of BISP has been acknowledged at global level as it has set new precedents of service for poor segments of society for any country. PRESS RELEASE

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CORPORATE CORNER iranian ambassador in pakistan lauds the efforts of Bisp

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organization committed to strengthening financial inclusion and the microfinance sector by promoting transparency. Kashf Microfinance Bank Limited is the only microfinance bank in Pakistan to achieve this award. The award is designed to promote greater transparency in microfinance institutions’ social performance and recognizes transparency in social performance reporting. PRESS RELEASE

samsung galaxy ‘note’ features mobile game ‘Angry Birds space’ LAHORE: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a global leader in digital media and convergence technologies has officially partnered with renowned gamedeveloper “Rovio” to provide the hands-on experience of the new blockbuster mobile game Angry Birds Space, on the latest smart-phone Galaxy “note”. Samsung Pakistan’s Managing Director, Mr. John Park said; this joint endeavor presents first-ever opportunity to play the thrilling “Angry Birds Space” game, thus enriching the official launch of this exciting game. The fabulous offering was presented during the Samsung Blogger Lounge - SXSW South West Conference. Samsung will continue to innovate and bring delightful experiences for its smart-phone users. PRESS RELEASE

ltBA says sro-191 enforcement impossible LAHORE: On 9th April, volunteers from ICI Dulux along with students from national College of Arts and employees from BF Bioscienes enthusiastically participated to add a splash of colour to the cancer ward at Mayo Hospital. The run down cancer ward was completely transformed when its worn out white walls were painted with vibrant colours which gave the ward a complete overhaul. The infusion of colour was intended not only to give a lift to the facility but also to the patients and staff at the hospital; when the job was done and the patients saw the ward in a completely different image brimming with life and a refreshing feeling, their spirits were uplifted and everyone had a smile on their face. PRESS RELEASE

Kashf microfinance Bank receives social performance reporting silver Award KARACHI: Kashf Microfinance Bank Limited, one of the leading microfinance banks in Pakistan with over 160,000 customers across 27 cities has been awarded the prestigious 2011 Social Performance Reporting Award from MIX-Microfinance Information exchange (MIX),an international

LAHORE: Lahore Tax Bar Association (LTBA) President Chaudhry Zahid Attique has said that enforcement of SRO-191 is not possible without taking tax lawyers in to confidence. Talking to a select group of journalists here on Wednesday, he alleged that this SRO which has been notified soon after the establishment of Directorate General Intelligence and Investigation (Inland Revenue), has created harassment amongst the business community. He said that lawyers are supposed to educate traders about the SRO and pave way for its enforcement but the FBR did not bother to take biggest and most important stakeholder (tax lawyers) in to confidence prior to notification of this order. He said that the traders are afraid of powers of the Directorate General of Intelligence and Investigation entrusted to it under this SRO. In his opinion this controversial SRO was notified at a wrong time which had multiplied the hardships of patriotic taxpayers and FBR might not be able to achieve desired results. Chaudhry Zahid Attique said that the government should review this step of it as without consultation of tax lawyers leadership and assistance of tax bars, enforcement of this law seemed to be impossible. STAFF REPORT

Aliens control our stock exchange Every third stock share is owned by a foreigner KARACHI STAFF REPORT

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ESPITE resurgence in the European debt crisis, the foreigners’ shareholding in Pakistan’s key stocks remained almost unchanged during last one year. Where oil sector remained relatively unaffected by foreign selling of approximately $ 62 million during calendar year 2011, excluding the Hubco deal, some profit-taking has been observed in few banks, cement and fertilizer stocks. According to analysts at Topline Research, the foreigners remained aggressive in Pakistan’s oil and gas sector as they continue to own more than 500 million shares worth $ 950 million in the OGDC and approximately 120 million shares worth $ 250 million of the PPL which represent 83 percent and 45 percent of free float of the OGDC and PPL, respectively. “This is primarily due to higher oil prices and decent volumetric growth,” said Farhan Mahmood.

Similarly, the Topline analyst said, their shareholding in PSO and POL is expected to remain almost the same. Thus out of $ 2.7 billion worth of stocks that foreigners hold (as at March Dec 2011), approximately 50 percent of the foreign share holding is only concentrated in oil sector including which OGDC alone contributes 35 percent.

Interestingly, he said the foreigners who own every third Pakistani share of free-float had been net buyer of $ 11 million so far in calendar year 2012. This was primarily due to record inflows in regional markets amid improved risk appetite and better global economic data. Last year, due to depressed global markets, the international participants offloaded their possessions in Pakistan liquidating $ 123 million net in 2011 contrary to net buying of $ 526 million in 2010.

However, thanks to their continued interest in the Pakistan equities, the foreigners now hold shares valuing $ 2.7 billion as of March 30 (2012) that account for 28 percent of the total free float. Their peak holding was $ 5.1 billion, 27 percent of free float, in April 2008 and lowest was $ 1 billion, 17 percent of free float, in March 2009.