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E-paper Profit 10th April, 2013
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01
BUSINESS
BWednesday, 10 April, 2013
Increasing petroleum imports are eating up precious foreign
exchange reserves therefore we must boost efficient use of
natural gas. — Minister for Petroleum Sohail Wajahat Siddiqui
SC reserves verdict
on SEC chairman’s
inductionISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on
Tuesday reserved its decision
regarding the appointment of the
chairman Security and Exchange
Commission for two weeks. A two-
member bench led by Justice Jawwad
S Khawaja resumed the hearing of the
case on Tuesday. Afnan Karim Kundi,
representing the applicant, said in his
arguments that the prime minister
took the decision in spite of opposition
by the Senate’s standing committee.
Moreover 247 officers were bypassed
as the appointment was made without
advertising in the media. The
defendant’s lawyer Salman Akram Raja
told the court that necessary rules and
regulation were followed in the
appointment of his client. ONLINE
Fruits exports rises
1.82 pc in 8 months
of FY13 ISLAMABAD: The fruits exports of
the country increased by 1.82 percent
during first eight months of current
fiscal year (2012-13). The exports of
fruits during the period July-February
(2012-13) were recorded at $276.159
million against the exports of
$271.233 million during same period
of last year. According to data of
Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS),
the fruits exports on month on month
basis also increased by 3.02 percent
during February 2013 against same
period of last year whereas when
compared to January 2013, the fruits
exports decreased by 21.3 percent.
The fruits worth of $54.7 million were
exported during February 2013
whereas its volume remained $53.1
million and $69.51 million during
February, 2012 and January 2013
respectively. Similarly the vegetables
exports from the country during July-
February (2013-12) surged by 51.08
percent against same period of last
year. APP
LAHORE
STAFF REPORT
THE Lahore High Court (LHC)on Tuesday allowed State Bankof Pakistan (SBP) Deputy Gov-ernor Ashraf Wathra to continuehis job, which he had been
barred from continuing last Thursday.During the hearing of a petition moved
against the appointment, the counsel of theElection Commission of Pakistan said thecommission had no objection over the ap-pointment as it was an administrative mat-ter of the central bank. On this, the LHCallowed Wathra to continue his job asdeputy governor of the SBP.
On Thursday, Justice Syed MansoorAli Shah restrained Wathra from workingas the deputy SBP governor while hearinga petition seeking implementation of Ar-
ticles 62 and 63 of the Constitution inorder to stop ineligible candidates fromcontesting upcoming polls andchallenging all appoint-ments made by federaland provincial gov-ernments in viola-tion of a banimposed by Elec-tion Commissionof Pakistan.
In his re-marks, JusticeShah had ob-served, “These arepre-election riggingtechniques.” He alsoexpressed wonder at theimpugned appointment afterconstitutional directions issued bythe ECP.
The SBP’s counsel argued that thebank had nothing to do with the
appointment as
the formerprime minister being law-
ful authority made the appointment. He
sought time to file a reply on the matterand requested the court to adjourn hearing
till Monday. However, he withdrew hisrequest when the judge remarked
that the suspension of deputygovernor would continue tillnext hearing.
Contesting the petition tothe extent of implementationof Articles 62 and 63 of theConstitution, the ECP counselargued that almost 20 per centscrutiny of nomination papershad been completed and the
proceedings of the instant casecould delay the election.
Rejecting the argument, Jus-tice Shah observed, “There is no
harm if scrutiny process gets delayedbut no ineligible person should be allowedto sit in the assemblies.”
KARACHI
STAFF REPORT
Experts have emphasised the need for in-troducing more independent power produc-ers (IPPS) to curb hour-long unannouncedpower outages in the country.
Speakers expressed these views at the6th International Power Conference andExhibition on Emerging Energy Mix forSustainable Power Generation. The SindhYouth Affairs Department and NationalForum for Environment and Health(NFEH) organised the event. “The inde-pendent power producers (IPPs) can gen-erate more energy with more efficiency ascompared to public sector, however, gov-ernment’s facilities and encouragement isrequired in this regard,” they added.
Abbas Sajid, Renewable Energy Asso-ciation of Pakistan (REAP) chairman, said
that his organisation was imparting trainingto people in power sector and striving forovercoming power shortages and findingits alternative solutions.
He stressed the need to boost renew-able energy production in the country. “Weas a nation should come up with concretemeasures to foster power generation forsocio-economic uplift,” he said.
Abdullah Yusuf, IPPs Advisory Coun-cil chairman, said that the power shortagehad become a big issue as the country’spopulation had increased at a high pace. Hesaid it is the need of the hour that effectivesteps should be taken to produce alterna-tive power like wind and solar energy.
He said that power producers were fac-ing several problems like high cost of gen-eration, governance issue, fuel adjustment,adding that the government should provideincentive to IPPs for generating power inpeace. India, China and Russia are generat-ing huge quantity of alternative energy butPakistan is still lagging behind in this regard.
“The coal power generation in thecountry should be boosted as it is cheap.There is also need to revise NEPRA tariff,while subsidies and bill collection issuesare also hitting power sector hard,” he said.Whole system should be restructured toboost power sector, he added.
He called for creation of energy min-istry to resolve power crisis and other is-sues amicably. He said that privatisation ofDiscos and Gencos was also mandatory asthe government could not tackle all issuesitself. “We should rehabilitate Gencos forpower conservation. It is private sectorwhich is boosting production but not thepublic sector,” he added.
Nasim A Khan, Osmani Associates ex-ecutive director, said wind energy was notbeing utilised despite it has more potential.
He stressed the need to install more windand other alternative energy projects acrossPakistan.
Umer Yaqoob said financing was amajor hurdle in energy projects installa-tion. There was need to launch power proj-ects on public private partnership basis, headded. Sindh Youth Affairs Minister Ha-roon Farooqui said there was need to en-courage youth because they were theimportant segment of the society whoplayed a major role in development. He as-
sured full cooperation for boosting alterna-tive energy sector.
Zubair Malik, president FPCCI, saidthat electricity was very important for de-velopment, adding that steps should betaken to generate alternative energy to meetpower needs of the country.
Current debt, governance, price adjust-ment and other issues facing power sectorbe addressed on priority basis, he said. It isprivate sector that is doing business effec-tively as compared to government. Hecalled for providing power supply to indus-tries for their sustainability and economicstability of the country. “We will not allowindustries shift,” he said.
Earlier, in his welcome address, NFEHchief Naeem Qureshi thanked the guestsand highlighted the energy updates role inpower sector. He said that energy updatesraises awareness about new power genera-tion trends and also raises issues facing thepower sector. He stressed the need forshifting to alternative energy projects forsocio-economic uplift of the country. Be-sides, Secretary Youth Affairs DepartmentSindh Naila Wajid also spoke on the occa-sion. On the occasion, awards were pre-sented to Hamdard University and otherorganisations for presenting best projectsfor alternative energy.
INTRODUCE MORE IPPS TO CURB POWER OUTAGES: MOOT
LHC lifts the bar of Wathra fromworking as SBP deputy governor
IPPS ADVISORY COUNCILHEAD SAYS IT’S NEED OFHOUR TO TAKE EFFECTIVESTEPS TO PRODUCEALTERNATIVE POWER
KARACHI: Haroon Farooqui, minister for youth affairs and sports, Naila
Wajid, secretary youth affairs, and Mr and Mrs Naeem Qureshi at the
International Power Generation Conference 2013 on Tuesday. STAFF PHOTO
KARACHI
APP
FPCCI is keen to hold a single-countryexhibition in Moscow and will send ahigh-level trade delegation there to pro-vide opportunities to Pakistani ex-porters to expand the volume of thecountry’s exports to Russia.
This was stated by Federation of Pak-istan Chambers of Commerce and Indus-try (FPCCI) President Zubair AhmedMalik at a meeting with Trade Represen-tative of the Russian Federation, Yury Ko-zlov. The Russian representative paid acourtesy call on Ahmed along with hisfour member team. The FPCCI presidentsaid Russia is a great potential market forPakistani products which needs to be ex-plored sufficiently. Both the sides ex-changed views on the bilateral economicrelations. They were not satisfied with thepresent volume of trade which they saiddoes not reflect a true picture of the 50-year friendship between the two countries.
Malik re-affirmed, “Russia will beour potential market during the currentyear and FPCCI will use all its resourcesto penetrate the Russian market.”
He emphasised that the national
Chambers of both countries should in-tensify their interaction and activate thePakistan-Russia Joint Business Councilformed by both National Chambers for
exploring the market potentials. Malikalso suggested Russian Representative toplay an instrumental role in organising aPak-Russia Joint Business Councilmeeting at the earliest for the private sec-tor of both the countries. He said furtherthat both the business communities couldformulate necessary recommendationsfor the promotion of bilateral trade andthe same could be presented in the JointMinisterial Commission (JMC), he said.
Malik said that the current volume ofbilateral trade between the two countriesis $542 million which is in favour of Pak-istan, but does not match in any way withthe potentials of the two countries. Malikalso emphasised the need for joint ventureinvestment in various fields, particularlyin power sector projects, exploration ofcoal and other mineral resources, hydro-electric power, ship-building, high-techmachinery, infrastructure, transport, ironand steel and railways, construction.
He suggested that both countriesshould join hands in economic activitieswithout any external pressure. PakistanSteel Mills is a symbol of friendship be-tween the two countries but after its es-tablishment no more mega project hasbeen undertaken by Russia in Pakistan.
Financialproblems mountpressure on PSO
ISLAMABAD
APP
The public sector oil marketing company –Pakistan State Oil (PSO) – is grappling withfinancial problems with whoppingreceivables of over Rs 126 billion fromvarious entities, necessitating solid steps bythe government to resolve the issue.The company spokesman said the PSO thatplayed a crucial role in maintaining smoothfuel supply across the country was facingliquidity problems because of the circulardebt, however, the official added it is goingahead successfully with its goals. Theofficial said despite receivables of over Rs126.803 billion against various entities, thePSO had ensured uninterrupted fuel supplywith adequate fuel stocks. The spokespersonsaid the PSO’s receivables as on April 09,among others included Rs 46.347 billionfrom WAPDA, Rs 53.093 billion fromHUBCO, Rs 10.670 billion from KAPCO,Rs 1.552 billion from PIA, Rs 12.064 billionfrom KESC, Rs 1.146 from IPP and Rs 1.303billion from the Pakistan Railways.According to experts, delay or non-paymentof these dues might mount pressure and givetough time to the PSO to pay Rs 34.837billion to the refineries and Rs 73.518 billionto the international suppliers.
FPCCI keen to hold singlecountry exhibition in Moscow
YURY KOZLOVTRADE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Russia gives 25 percentconcession to
Pakistani exporters on their products.
Election Commission of
Pakistan says thecommission has noobjection over theappointment as it
was an administrativematter of the Central Bank
FPCCI President Zubair Ahmed Malik
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BUSINESSWednesday, 10 April, 2013
Dawlance introducesDouble French Door (DFD)refrigeratorLAHORE: Dawlance, the no. 1 home appliances
brand in Pakistan today launched the world’s
largest Direct Cool refrigerator, Double French Door.
Dawlance is well known for providing reliable home
appliance solutions to its consumers and the new
Direct Cool Refrigerator range i.e. Double French
Door (DFD) & Top Mount (TM) is a new addition to
the family. Adding to its stylish exterior, this range
is equipped with durable stainless steel interior,
pillar-less design that can even store extra large
items and H-Zone technology to keep food fresher
for longer. Speaking at the launch, Hasan Jameel,
head of sales, Dawlance said, “The new Dawlance
DFD is in a class of its own and by introducing this
WORLD’s LARGEST DC RANGE; The Company is
contributing its bit in making PAKISTAN PROUD.
Dawlance always aspires to fulfil the need of the
consumers and the inspiration behind the world’s
largest Direct Cool Refrigerator was to fulfil the
need for bigger and better refrigeration. Each and
every feature of this range has been specially
designed in line with our consumer preferences and
the modern technology therefore the patents for
innovative features like easy door technology,
exclusive designs and H-Zone technology have
been applied”. PRESS RELEASE
BNU, Royal Society of Arts
and The Samosa present
Pakistan CallingLAHORE: On April 8, Royal Society of Arts (RSA)
and The Samosa’s project “Pakistan Calling” was
launched. For the first time Filmmakers from
Pakistan from two esteemed institutions were
hand-picked by RSA and The Samosa to represent
stories from Pakistan in Europe. The Department of
Theatre Film and Television, Beaconhouse National
University is one of the two chosen institutions for
a long-term partnership which will develop into a
touring Film Festival. Pakistan Calling is a platform
for films showing links between civil and cultural
organizations and communities in Pakistan and the
UK. These films explore some of the many pressing
social problems faced by Pakistan and shine a light
on, and support, some of the inspiring stories of
people and organizations tackling these issues.
Pakistan Calling aims to build community trust in
UK, and to support the creativity and energy of the
British Pakistani diasporas and others working
between Britain and Pakistan. This is a unique
platform to create a dialogue with the global
community from an indigenously Pakistani
perspective. The platform will host a plethora of
new films uploaded on a monthly basis by
emerging Pakistani filmmakers for an entire year
which will be archived and select movies will be
featured on the tour. PRESS RELEASE
PakWheels winning
it all…
LAHORE: PakWheels.com, Pakistan’s no.1
automobile portal was honored with “Excellence in
IT Enabled Services” byTeradata at the 11th Annual
Tera Data IT excellence awards ceremony
held at Islamabad on Sunday. It was the first time
that PakWheels.com has participated in these
awards. Teradata National IT Excellence Awards are
the most prestigious IT awards in Pakistan since
their launch in 2000. These awards have now
become an integral part of the IT industry
recognizing various professionals associated with
the field of Information Technology (IT) – be it ,
researchers, electronic and print media journalists,
university students, exporters, educationalists,
pioneers in the disciplines of IT and achievers.
Since its launch in 2003, PakWheels.com has
simplified car buying and selling in Pakistan. It
empowers the Pakistani car consumer to make
informed car buying decisions with exhaustive and
unbiased information on cars through expert
reviews, comparisons, detailed specifications and
other tools to help consumers choose the right
vehicle for their needs. Earlier this year, the
website was further simplified to enhance the user
experience and provide easier navigation. Insights
from user behavior on the site were used to
improve the website’s homepage thereby, making
navigation easier and more functional. Design and
navigational changes made simplify a user’s
research for favourite cars and also provide an
amazing user experience. The new website, warmly
welcomed by the users, is the first of many
endeavours to come this year to simplify car buying
for Pakistan buyers. PRESS RELEASE
Pepsi signs deal with
Johnny RocketsKARACHI: Pepsico has always tried to provide the
best of its products to bring smiles on faces and the
company has always been an integral part of food
business in Pakistan, Jahanzeb Qayum Khan,
Country Manager Beverages, Pepsico said here on
Monday. Jahanzeb Khan was addressing a
ceremony organized here by Pepsico International.
During the ceremony an agreement was
signedbetween Pepsi and Johnny Rockets whereas
Pepsi will be the exclusive beverage partner for the
world renowned restaurant brand. Abdul Wahab -
Chairman Bandhani Group of Companies, Mr.
Monavar K. Ahmad – CEO and Mr. Abid Shah –
Group Coordinator. Whereas, Mr. Jahanzeb Qayum
Khan, Mr. Yaser Ghani, Ms. Romana Aziz Khan , Mr.
Mohammad Khosa, Mr. Adnan Abbasi and Mr. Awais
Amin were also present there at the occasion.
PepsiCo will provide beverages for all Johnny
Rockets’ outlets in Pakistan. Romana A. Khan,
PepsiCo Director said at the occasion, “Providing
our customers with the best in class beverages
remains PepsiCo’s key focus.”
Monavar K. Ahmad, Chief Executive Officer,
revealed, “Johnny Rockets is known worldwide to
deliver great experience in terms of burgers,
shakes and overall customer experience. We are
confident that Johnny Rockets will be a distinct
addition in the Pakistan food Industry”. Hamdan
International is the Franchisee in Pakistan for Johnny
Rockets, an international chain of themed American
restaurants, whose concept is to create a classic
American restaurant atmosphere. Famous for its
burgers and shakes, the staff at some locations is
also known for its singing and dancing every half-
hour. The making of a smiley face with ketchup on
the paper plate that’s served with French fries is a
Johnny Rockets trademark that creates smiles every
day on millions of faces worldwide. PRESS RELEASE
Mobilink introduces
‘Twitter Zero’ to PakistanLAHORE: Mobilink has launched ‘Twitter Zero’ as
means of enhancing the benefits of mobile internet
services for its subscribers. This service is launched
free of any internet changes for mobile internet
users usingmobile.twitter.com through their native
internet browser or opera mini on their handsets.
Twitter Zero is launched by Mobilink in collaboration
with Twitter to offer its subscribers the power of
connectivity and real-time sharing on Twitter. The
service will benefit a large number of users as
Twitter has 1.9 million users across Pakistan. As
Pakistan’s premier mobile network, Mobilink aims
to keep its subscribers at par with global trends
and happenings. This partnership with Twitter is yet
another step towards creating mobile internet
savvy users connected to the world in real time.
Farid Ahmed, Vice President Marketing, Mobilink
highlighted “Mobilink has always been at the
forefront of promoting the constructive use of
Social Media. With the introduction of ‘Twitter Zero’
Mobilink aims to give unlimited and free of cost
access to subscribers of Twitter with the strength of
Mobilink’s seamless mobile internet. The
elimination of any mobile internet charges will
increase the benefit this offer extends to our mobile
internet users.’ PRESS RELEASE
CORPORATE CORNER
02
B
No shortage of natural resources in
Pakistan. — Federal Minister for
Industries Ahsan Ashraf Sheikh
Major Gainers
COMPANY OPEN HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE TURNOVERUnilever Food SPOT 4648.00 4880.40 4648.00 4880.40 232.40 40Rafhan Maize XD 3979.50 4178.47 4178.47 4178.47 198.97 20Bata (Pak) XD 1575.00 1653.75 1599.00 1653.75 78.75 2,500Wyeth Pak Ltd XD 1031.94 1083.53 1070.00 1083.53 51.59 550Sapphire Textile 263.00 275.00 275.00 275.00 12.00 100
Major LosersColgate Palmolive 2050.00 2000.00 1999.00 1999.00 -51.00 100Shezan Inter. 452.00 430.00 429.40 429.40 -22.60 400Sunrays Textile 230.00 220.00 218.50 219.25 -10.75 1,000Exide (PAK) 376.00 371.00 367.00 370.19 -5.81 1,200Clariant PaK. XD 259.99 259.99 254.00 254.48 -5.51 5,700
Volume Leaders
Engro Corporation 136.30 142.62 137.10 142.06 5.76 15,183,300Wateen Telecom Ltd 4.35 4.69 4.40 4.46 0.11 10,798,500Maple Leaf Cement 19.05 19.75 19.15 19.32 0.27 8,149,000Pak Elektron Ltd. 10.05 11.05 9.95 10.05 0.00 5,773,500Lafarge Pakistan 6.90 7.12 6.92 6.99 0.09 5,751,000
Interbank RatesUSD PKR 98.4100GBP PKR 150.7543JPY PKR 0.9946EURO PKR 128.3955
ForexBUY SELL
UK Pound Sterling 148.5 149.5Euro 125.75 126.25Australian Dollar 102.35 102.55US Dollar 98.80 99.05Canadian Dollar 96.4 96.65China Yuan 13.5 14Japanese Yen 1.0084 1.0189Saudi Riyal 26.15 26.4UAE Dirham 26.5 26.75
Asia’s future prosperityrequires major changein energy use: ADB
ISLAMABAD
APP
ASIA is moving along a dan-gerously unsustainableenergy path that will re-sult in environmentaldisaster and a gaping
divide in energy access betweenrich and poor unless the regiondramatically changes course, saysa new Asian Development Bank(ADB) report.
Asia’s Energy Challenge, the spe-cial theme chapter in ADB’s Asian Devel-opment Outlook 2013 (ADO 2013) releasedTuesday, highlights the complex balancing act theregion faces to deliver energy to all its citizens whilescaling back its reliance on fossil fuels.
If by 2035 Asia merely expands energy accesswithout fundamentally changing the way it con-
sumes, the report predicts the region’s oil consump-tion will double, natural gas consumption will triple,and coal consumption will rise a whopping 81 per-cent, with costly and devastating environmental im-pacts. Asia’s limited indigenous energy resourcespresent an additional challenge. With only 9 percentof proven global oil reserves, the region is currentlyon track to almost triple oil imports by 2035, ren-dering it significantly more vulnerable to externalsupply shocks. In Asia, 1.8 billion people still relyon wood and other traditional fuel as their primaryenergy source, it adds. Since modern energy access
is essential for their social and economic ad-vancement, Asia must find the political
will and innovation to scrap outdatedpolicies and recalibrate its energymix. For one, policymakers willneed to replace general fuel sub-sidies that artificially lower thecost of power and impose hugefiscal burdens with targeted subsi-
dies for the poor. The report suggests eliminating
wasteful subsidies worldwide wouldalso lower CO2 emissions by 2.6 billion
tons in 2035. Carefully designed support for re-newable energy technologies should be stepped up.Next generation wind, solar and biofuel technolo-gies, which are expected to be more cost competi-tive than current options and do not compete withfood crops, offer potential solutions.
ISLAMABAD: Hassan Domki, federal minister for food security, being briefed by Pakistan Oil Seed
Development Board Managing Director Syed Nashir Ali during his visit to the Board office. STAFF PHOTO
US, Pakistani
scientists working
to protect cotton
from disease
ISLAMABAD
STAFF REPORT
Last week, a high-level delegation of UScotton scientists visited Pakistan toreview progress and plan new strategieswith Pakistani counterparts to fight thecotton leaf curl virus (CLCV), adevastating disease that affects cottonyields in Pakistan and caused the loss ofan estimated 1.5 million bales or 15percent of this year’s total harvest, saysa press release issued here by USembassy. The team visited labs inLahore and Faisalabad and observedexperimental disease-resistant cottonbreeds grown in greenhouses providedby the US Department of Agriculture(USDA). The visit is part of a multi-yearcollaboration with Pakistani scientists todevelop CLCV resistant seed. Thiscooperation is a prime example of thework the US does to enhance theproductivity of Pakistan’s agriculturalsector, especially for small farmers. DrBrian Scheffler, USDA’s lead scientist inthe Cotton Productivity EnhancementProgramme (CPEP), was impressed withthe progress that Pakistani counterpartsat the National Agriculture ResearchInstitute (NARC), the University ofPunjab Institute of AgriculturalSciences, the Central Cotton Institute inMultan and Sakarand.
REPORT SUGGESTSELIMINATING WASTEFULSUBSIDIES WORLDWIDE WILLALSO LOWER CO2 EMISSION BY2.6 BILLION TONNES IN 2035
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