profit.com.pk

Stocks to track earnings withan eye on Europe Page 02

Sunday, 15 April, 2012

NEW DELHI

GHULAM ABBAS

PakiStaN’S textile mad upshave received a warmwelcome in india as thethousands of visitors at life

Style Pakistan exhibition showed theirinterest in the first ever displayedPakistani products.lawn was one of the major item, beingpurchased by indians specially womenat various stalls. the lightweight lawncotton suits and kurtas in theexhibition seem to be a rage amongwomen. the stall owners and textileexporters from the country said thatthey have so far sold out majority of thedesigns so far. By Sunday they couldsale all products in Delhi.in the four days long exhibition,beside the textile made ups, the

precious and semi-precious jewellery,accessories, khussa, furniture, homefurnishings, handicrafts, textiles, andfabrics from various cities of Pakistanwere also displayed for the indianbuyers and people.as the people here are preparing clothsfor the summer seasons, the textileitems mainly lawn garments attractedthe most visitors specially women.talking to Pakistan today, Ziad

Bashir, Director of Gul ahmed textile,the leading and popular garmentretailer and export house in Pakistan,said that he was very confident of thedemand for his products inindia.“the response has been fantastic. lawncloth is very soft and light, making itperfect for this weather. Women wearthem in Pakistan all the time as theweather there is similar,” he saidthough the products of Gul ahmed

were already popular in india, theexhibition has helped to facilitate thelawn loving people here.” i am in searchof distributors and partners to make thecompany’s products available here at areasonable cost,” he said adding that hisproducts were being sold at higherprices in different stores of Delhi. thelawn cloths were mainly coming toindia via a third country or illegalroutes due to the ban on imports. anumber of women, who werepurchasing the textile items at ParagatiMaidan, said that they were alreadypurchasing Pakistani lawns from Dubaiat higher costs. “if Gul ahmed opens itsown store in Delhiwould be benefitedthe most,” a women who was holding adozens of garment suits said. anotherexhibitor at Pragati said that thoughthey have formal wear, the response forthe lawn suits has been tremendous. it

was the finest cotton, and it was goodfor casual wear. in our casual suits, too,we have embroideries, velvet patches,and other embellishments that allowdual purpose.FASHION, MUSICAL SHOW:earlier of Friday night, a fashion andmusical show was also organized bytrade Development authority ofPakistan here at taj Palace whichattracted hundreds of indians. thefashion designs, cloths of variousleading designers and companies of thecountry were exhibited in the eventwhile prominent musician Marvi andali Zafar also sung the renowned songsand cultural music.tariq puri, head of tDaP said that

the event was not only organized tomarket and show the country’s talentabroad but also to present soft imageof Pakistan.

KARACHI

ISMAIL DILAWAR

tHe taiwanese containervessel that had run agroundon Friday evening off thekarachi port had grounded

not because of the “engine failure”, areason reportedly quoted by thekarachi Port trust (kPt).ever since the media has reported thegrounding of YM North a guessinggame has started in the ports andshipping circles about the real cause ofthe ship’s mysterious grounding ataround 7pm while en route to berthsnumber 26-27 of the karachiinternational Container terminal(kiCt) where it was to offload some1553 teUs of the total 1740 twenty-equivalent units it carried.the media reports suggest that thekPt, the port operator, is trying to

give an impression that as if thegrounding was caused by an “enginefailure” and none of its pilots wereaboard or that the ship master waspiloting the vessel without theassistance of kPt’s piloting crew.also, kPt Chairman aslam Hayatconvened an urgent meeting at thekPt head office on Saturdayafternoon to ascertain the cause(s) ofand fix responsibility for thegrounding that, the shipping expertsbelieve, could be dangerous for a shipcarrying thousands of teUs ofvariable weight and size.according to well-placed sources, themeeting observed that YM North hadgone astray from the port’snavigational channel due to “mistake”of the kPt pilot.the meeting was informed that insteadof boarding and piloting the shiphimself Raja Rafique, the pilot better

known as RR, had conveyed to thecaptain, naturally ignorant of thechannel route, to bring the vessel asnearer as three nautical miles insidethe approach channel.the ship master, willy-nilly, followed

the advice and steered the vesseltowards the boat carrying Rafique onwaiting. But, the meeting was told,when the master unfolded the shipladder to the pilot the rear part of thevessel, known as “aft” in shippingcircles, grounded.“this infuriated the captain whoexchanged some hot words with thepilot,” sources privy to the meeting toldPakistan today. “i don’t recognize youas a pilot!,” they quoted the captain asshouting at the pilot.the meeting lasted for more than anhour with the participants tending toagree that the fault was lying on theirown side, means the pilot.

“Never in the history a ship evergrounded at this point of the channel,”recalled a shipping expert privy to theincident. He said the vessel had run inthe shallow waters at Buoy Number S-tin front of the oil Piers.the expert cited three major factors forthe grounding of a ship that, he said,include the low tide, engine breakdownor steering failure.“there was high tide at the time ofgrounding taking the draft above 12meters in the channel that means tidewas not an issue,” the expert said. iftide factor is not there, he said, thegrounding mostly takes place whenthere is a failure of engine or steering.“if these reasons were not involved thegrounding is beyond understanding atthis very point of the karachi port,” theexpert wondered.about the kPt pilot, a source saidRafique was a senior and therefore

experienced pilot and was less likely tohave a hand in the ship’s grounding. “ipersonally know RR. He is a coolminded person and is unlikely to havecommitted a mistake,” the sourceopined. However, while the kPtofficials led by the chairman arerunning here and there to unearth thetruth the kPt’s intelligence reportshows the taiwanese vessel asanchored at berth number 26-27 of thekiCt after, subsequently, being madeafloat with the help of at least half adozen kPt tug boats. though thereport does not show name of theshipping agent the sources identifiedthe agent as M/s iN Shipping.Reportedly, Singapore was the last portof YM North which has a loadingcapacity of 3800teUs and a grossregistered tonnage of 46,697, and bearsthe international Maritimeorganisation registration No 0415893.

Engine failure? What an utter load of drivel!g Pilot’s mistake not ‘engine failure’ sent taiwanese ship aground at Karachi port g the said pilot gets an earful from just about everyone concerned

fAbrIcAtING frIENdSHIP

GrOUNdEd!

WALKING ON SUNSHINE

ALL tHE SUrGIcALINdUStry NEEdSIS A bIt Of SUNLIGHt

SIALKOT

STAFF REPORT

Sialkot based surgicalinstrumentsmanufacturers and

exporters have stressed uponthe need of promotion of solarenergy in surgical industry ofSialkot, saying that it was thehigh time that every one shouldbe waken now to play pivotalrole in saving and flourishingSialkot’s surgical industry,which was in dire need oftechnology of up gradation aswell to meet the global tradechallenges under this Wtoregime. the surgical industry ofSialkot has a huge potential ofincreasing its exports globallyand exploring and capturing thenew international trademarkets.Chairman SiMa Jehangir Bajwatold the newsmen that morethan one century old surgicalindustry of Sialkot was in direneed of modernization andadopting the positive steps foradvanced standers ofinternational marketing andbrand developing could help tosave the surgical industry’s“titanic” from sinking. He saidthat both of these sectors (ownbrand developing andinternational marketing) stillremain ignored by the localmanufacturers and exportersdue to the alleged slackness ofgovernmental institutes meantfor promoting the trade andenhancing the national exports.Due to which this industry wasremaining far behind than thedeveloped countries’ surgicalindustries as well, he added.

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news02Sunday, 15 April, 2012

NEW YORK

REUTERS

aFteR suffering their worst twoweeks of the year, stocks willlook to quarterly to determinewhether the recent pullback

has been exhausted or more losses arejustified. alcoa inc opened the earningsseason with a bang, reporting a first-quarter profit on tuesday instead of theexpected loss. that positive surprise fore-told a trend. of the 32 companies in theS&P 500 that have reported earnings sofar, thomson Reuters data showed that75 percent - or two dozen - have beatenWall Street’s expectations.

Next week will start one of the twobusiest weeks of the quarterly earningsreporting period. about 86 companies inthe Standard & Poor’s 500 are expectedto post results, according to thomsonReuters Director’s Report.

at Friday’s close, both the Dow Jonesindustrial average and the S&P 500wrapped up their worst two-week per-centage drops since late November. theDow and the S&P each fell 2.7 percent forthe two weeks from the close on March30. “it seems like everybody’s been wait-ing for this so-called correction to poten-tially get back into the stock market,” saidkei Sasaki, managing director of listedequities at PineBridge investments inNew York, which has $67 billion in assetsunder management.

“But i’d point to the extremely highlevels of correlation within equity marketsthat we saw in 2011. that was coupled

with heightened volatility in 2011,” Sasakiadded. “even with the down moves in themarket over the past several days, thevolatility has stayed relatively subdued.

“the correlations on a moving aver-age have also stayed relatively subdued,which tells us that investors are still look-ing at the market in a fundamental waythat they haven’t for the past year. So ifearnings come in positive for the firstquarter, we think they will get rewardedfor it,” he said. among the marqueenames on next week’s earnings calendarare 10 components: intel Corp , Johnson& Johnson, Coca-Cola Co, DuPont, Mi-crosoft, the travelers Companies inc,Verizon Communications inc, americanexpress Co, General electric Co, and Mc-Donald’s Corp. Financials will be eyednext week on the heels of Friday’s resultsfrom JPMorgan Chase & Co and WellsFargo & Co with both big banks’ earningsexceeding forecasts. in the coming week,earnings are expected from the likes ofCitigroup inc , Goldman Sachs and Mor-gan Stanley.RIDING THE EURO-ZONEROLLERCOASTER: But even withearnings attracting investors’ attention,equities remain vulnerable to flare-ups inthe as the bloc continues to grapple withits debt crisis. “earnings are beating ex-pectations. outlooks still look pretty op-timistic,” said Jack ablin, chiefinvestment officer of Harris Private Bankin Chicago.

“overall pretty good news, but ittakes one lousy headline out of europe totrump the whole thing.”

equities snapped a two-day advanceon Friday, pulled lower as the rising costof insuring Spanish debt against defaultincreased concerns about europe’s fi-nancial health.

the benchmark S&P 500 rose for twoconsecutive days this week after a drop ofmore than 4 percent in the previous fivesessions - opening the possibility that eq-uities had seen the pullback many ana-lysts were expecting after the S&P 500climbed 12 percent in the first quarter.

the S&P 500 remained near its 50-day moving average, a key technical levelthat could help indicate the next direc-tion for stocks.

“technically, we were due for a cor-rection, we started that correction, andthe market will always come up with rea-sons and find excuses that fundamentallywill trigger what should happen techni-cally - and it’s happened almost per-fectly,” said Paul Mendelsohn, chiefinvestment strategist of Windham Finan-cial Services in Charlotte, Vermont.

“How far backwards we are going tofall remains to be seen - we’ve got supportat that 1,358 area, and we are playingaround the 50-day moving average area.”

on Friday, the S&P 500 closed at1,370.26.CHECKING THE ECONOMY’SVITAL SIGNS: the data will also getplenty of scrutiny next week for signalson the U.S. economy’s health after aweaker-than-expected payrolls reportduring the Good Friday holiday castdoubt on the strength of the recovery.

economic indicators due next week

include the empire State and Philadel-phia Federal Reserve’s manufacturingsurveys, retail sales for March, housingstarts and existing home sales.

“it will be interesting to see if this isthe beginning of a soft patch, if this un-employment number is a harbinger ofmore,” said Stephen Massocca, managingdirector of Wedbush Morgan in SanFrancisco.

the March nonfarm payrolls report,which was released on Good Friday whenthe cash U.S. stock market was closed,showed just 120,000 jobs added lastmonth. that figure fell far short of theforecast for 203,000 new jobs and raisedquestions about whether the recovery inthe U.S. labor market was stalling.

Sasaki of PineBridge investmentspointed out that “employment’s beenunder everybody’s watch since last Fri-day. We still continue to see improve-ment. We believe it was a hiccup but inaggregate, we think the economic recov-ery is still continuing to improve.”

But even if earnings are solid anddata shows improvement, markets couldbe susceptible to further losses if moresigns of fiscal distress in the euro zoneemerge. “You have to put europe, Spainand , on any ‘watch list’ at this point. thatmay even be more important than earn-ings,” Massocca said.

“it’s not really a liquidity issue. it’s asolvency issue, and there are a lot of po-litical whirlwinds around that, and thereare a lot of concerns that the political willto actually do something is not going tobe. We shall see.”

g deal signed with IndianSchool of business to pro-vide executive educationin Pakistan

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

THe institute of Businessadministration (iBa) (karachi)took a winning leap as it inked

down a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) with indianSchool of Business (iSB) to provideexecutive education in Pakistan.

“the MoU was signed by Dr ishrat Husain,Dean and Director iBa and DeepakChandra, Deputy Dean iSB at the iSBcampus, Hyderabad, india on Friday,” saida statement issued by the iBa here onSaturday. the collaboration bringstogether iBa, the oldest business schooloutside North america, and iSB’s Centrefor executive education, one of the largestexecutive education providers in asia, tooffer open and custom-designed coursesfor the senior management seeking swiftcareer growth in the country.iSB is recently ranked 12th among the topGlobal Business Schools and is the onlyschool in South asia which has won theprestigious association to advanceCollegiate Schools of Business (aaCSB)accreditation. this alliance is considered amajor milestone in iBa’s journey to beranked among the top100 businessschools in the world. Deepak Chandra,Deputy Dean, iSB, while addressing a wellattended press conference announced thatiBa karachi is the first Business School inemerging countries with which iSB hasentered into a partnership. He said, “Weare delighted to associate with the iBa(karachi) to provide executive educationprogrammes. this marks the beginning ofa new chapter in the history of two

distinguished business schools in theregion. the iBa and iSB are equallydedicated to develop and enhancebusiness leadership through innovativeworld class programmes in management.”Chandra further added “We are confidentthat this partnership will help generatetremendous opportunities for cross-collaboration between the two schools andsets the tone for many more futureassociations aimed at nurturing businessleaders and entrepreneurs who wouldcontribute to the growth of business andindustry in Pakistan”.

expressing his pleasure, Dr. ishratHusain, Dean and Director, iBa shared,“i am delighted to be here at Hyderabadto sign this MoU with one of the topranking Global Business schools— theindian School of Business. this start is ona modest scale but we will build up ourrelations over time as each one of the twoinstitutions gets to know the other. as along time advocate and firm believer infriendly relations between the twoneighborly countries for peace andprosperity of our people this eventrepresents a turning point.” Foreseeing

the future Dr. ishrat said, “thiscollaboration between iBa and iSB is justthe foundation of a long term broad basedrelationship in which the two institutionswill pool resources for curriculum review,faculty development, joint research &case studies, students & faculty exchangeand much more in future.” He hoped thatthe two institutions will make furtherstrides in the future that will add value tostudents, faculty and corporate sectors inthe two countries. the course offeringswould include ‘open Programmes’ orshort-duration programmes that aredriven by research, ‘Custom-DesignedProgrammes’ or specialized coursesdevised to cater to specific needs of aparticular organization as well asworkshops and seminars. to begin with,the proposed programmes would focus onfamily business, entrepreneurship,business leadership, strategy and relateddomains. this would later be expanded toinclude programmes on Public PrivatePartnership (PPP) as well. it is planned toattract participants from the privatecorporate, family businesses, publicsector corporations, governmentdepartments and nongovernmentalorganizations. these participants willreceive certificates from iSB.

PASSCO onoverdriven To start gunny bag distribution

under Wheat ProcurementDrive 2012

n Growers to get Rs 7 per 100 kgas delivery charges

n Experimentation on the cads withnew project in Mian Channu

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

PakiStaN agricultural Storageand Services Corporation(PaSSCo) is likely to startgunny bag distribution under

‘Wheat Procurement Drive 2012’ fromthe last week of the current month whileinitiate receiving wheat bags fromgrowers from May 01, 2012.the corporation has also planned not toissue gunny bags during first 10 days ofits procurement drive to any growerhaving over 12 acres of land to fullyaccommodate the small growers. ‘in thisregard we will consult the lists providedby the provincial revenue department tothe Corporation so as no small grower isdenied gunny bags,’ said an official ofthe corporation.Growers will be given Rs7 per 100kilograms as delivery charges besidesthe government announced supportprice.initially arrangements had been made toprocure 1.5 million tons of wheat but theeconomic Coordination Committee(eCC) had increased the target assignedto PaSSCo to two million tons for thecurrent year in a recently held meeting.all the arrangements, includingfinancing had been arranged and nowfinance wing of the corporation is innegotiation to arrange finances for theenhanced target and hopefully make itbefore the start of distribution of thegunny bags, official added.PaSSCo is also going to experiment anew project on pilot basis in MianChannu (khanewal Zone) where growerswho had obtained loan from the Zarai-taraqiati Bank limited (ZtBl) forsowing of wheat would be given priority.the corporation would buy their wheaton priority basis and their paymentwould be deposited with the ZtBlbranch concerned. the Bank afterdeducting its payment would deliver restof the money to the said growers. thisarrangement would ensure that thesmall farmers who rely on loaning forgrowing their crop could sell theirproduce on priority basis thus ensuringpaying back the debt as well as gettingtheir amount in time through bankingchannel.

bUSINESS bUddIES

IbA, ISbsign MoU

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news

Sunday, 15 April, 2012

03

ISLAMABAD

APP

oVeRSeaS Pakistanis remittedan amount of US $ 9,735.56million in the first nine months(July 2011- March 2012) of the

current fiscal year 2011-12 (FY12),showing an impressive growth of 21.45percent or $ 1,719.38 million whencompared with $8,016.18 million receivedduring the same period of the last fiscalyear (July-March 2011).Remittances received from all countriesof the world showed growth during thefirst nine months of the current fiscalyear, a statement of State Bank ofPakistan (SBP) said.the inflow of remittances during July-March 2012 from Saudi arabia, Uae,USa, Uk, GCC countries (includingBahrain, kuwait, Qatar and oman) andeU countries amounted to $2,655.38million, $2,140.91 million, $1,724.27million, $1,131.81 million, $1,099.39million and $273.42 million respectivelycompared with the inflow of $1,822.00million, $1,859.28million, $1,491.05million, $879.53million, $ 948.12million and $255.73million

respectively in July- March 2011. Remittances received from Norway,Switzerland, australia, Canada, Japan andother countries during the first ninemonths of the current fiscal year (July-March 2012)amounted to $710.38million as against $760.42 millionreceived in the first nine months of thelast fiscal year (July-March 2011).the monthly average remittances forJuly-March 2012 period comes out to$1,081.73 million as compared to $890.69million during the corresponding periodof the last fiscal year, registering anincrease of 21.45 percent.last month, an amount of $1,142.77million was sent home by overseasPakistanis, up by 8.54 percent, comparedwith $1,052.90 million received in thesame month of 2011.almost all of this growth in remittancesduring March, 2012 over thecorresponding period of the last fiscalyear was through banking channels.in March 2012, the inflow of remittancesfrom Saudi arabia, Uae, USa, Uk, GCCcountries (including Bahrain, kuwait,Qatar and oman) and eU countries

amounted to $329.40 million, $237.02million, $198.82 million,

$140.61 million,$130.48 million

and $28.51million

respectively compared with the inflow of$259.00 million, $232.19 million, $192.79million, $108.62 million, $128.10 millionand $35.49 million respectively in March2011.Remittances received from Norway,Switzerland, australia, Canada, Japan andother countries during March 2 2012amounted to $77.93 million as against $96.69 million received in the same month(March 2011) of the last fiscal year.the continued impressive growth inworkers’ remittances is the result of theefforts made by Pakistan Remittanceinitiative (PRi) in collaboration with otherstakeholders to facilitate both overseasPakistanis and their families back home.Since its inception, PRi has taken anumber of steps to enhance the flow ofremittances through formal channelswhich include: (a) preparation of nationalstrategies on remittances (b) taking allnecessary steps to implement the overallstrategy (c) playing the advisory role forfinancial sector in terms of preparing abusiness case, relationship building withoverseas correspondents, creatingseparate efficient remittance paymenthighways and (d) becoming a nationalfocal point for overseas Pakistanis throughround the clock call centre (021-111-222-774) with toll free lines,separate websiteetc. it may be recalled that in order toprovide an ownership structure inPakistan for remittance facilitation, theGovernment of Pakistan through StateBank of Pakistan, Ministry of overseas

Pakistanis and the Ministry of Financehad launched a joint initiative called

Pakistan Remittance initiative (PRi)in april 2009.

this initiative has beentaken to achieve the

objective of facilitating &supporting faster,

cheaper,convenient andefficient flow ofremittances.

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

IN the second phase of theofficial tour of iran, Punjabdelegation led by Senioradvisor to Chief Minister,

Senator Sardar Zulfiqar ali khankhosa visited Shiraz and heldmeeting with Hossein Sadeghabedin, Governor General of FarsProvince to discuss the prospects ofestablishing strong economicrelations between two sides. the

Governor General of Fars proposedthat there should be moreexchanges of business delegationsto establish strong trade network.Zulfiqar khosa invited GovernorGeneral Fars on behalf of the ChiefMinister Punjab to visit lahorealong with a delegation of relevantofficials and businessmen. theGovernor accepted the invitationand said that he will soon visitlahore to explore opportunities fortrade and investment. Speaking onthis occasion Senator Zulfiqar

khosa said that it was a landmarkvisit as this is the first time that anofficial delegation from Punjab hadvisited Shiraz to establish economicties between provinces of Punjaband Fars. He said both Punjab andShiraz share similar culture,literary heritage and economicconditions and there is a greatscope of business relations betweenthe two provinces.the delegation also visited ShirazChambers of Commerce & industryand held meeting with the leadingCeos of Shiraz. Zulfiqar khosa,while addressing the Ceos, invitedthem to invest in agriculture,livestock, Dairy, energy andinfrastructure sectors of Punjab.He assured the businessmen that

he will personally ensure that theyare facilitated and provided allnecessary support. He urged theiranian side to increase trade withPakistan in Meat, Wheat, Rice,oranges and Maize. He asked thePresident of Shiraz Chamber tohold a mango exhibition in themonth of June and PunjabGovernment will sendMangoes for theexhibition. He also invitedthe business communityto participate in the iranSingle Country exhibitionto be held in lahore expoCenter on 29th May 2012.Shiraz Chamber Presidentshowed his keen interest inthe exhibition and promisedthat a delegation from Shirazwill participate in theexhibition.the delegationincludesRaza ali

Gilani, MPa, Mushtaq ahmad,Secretary agriculture, HamidYaqub Sheikh, Secretary livestock& Dairy Development, Habib

Gilani, DG, PBit, MohsinBukhari, representative

of lahore Chamberof Commerce and

industry,ProfessorSaleemMazhar ofPunjabUniversityand Dr.

JunaidSarfraz of

University ofHealth Sciences.

Overseas remittances trace upward spiralg Overseas Workers’ remittances up 21.45 percent to $9.73 billion

Khosa visits Farsg fars Governor General proposes more business exchangesg Zulfiqar Khosa touts it as a landmark moment

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

CoNStRUCtioN of new damswill help Pakistan to produce50,000 mega watt of

electricity per annum besideslowering its import bill from presentRs 1563 billion to Rs 800 billiononly. it would decrease our tradedeficit also which would come downto Rs 700 billion from present Rs1400 billion, claimed agri ForumPakistan Chairman Muhammadibrahim Mughal while addressing aseminar here on Saturday. theseminar was arranged by ‘SavePakistan’ movement. He said thatthis year Pakistan imported humanfood worth Rs 463 billion while oilworth Rs 1100 billion was imported.ibrahim Mughal said that theconstruction of a single dam couldbring down our import bill whilealso provide more water forirrigation helping increase the peracre yield of crops. While theelectricity produced by this damwould be cheaper as compared to

electricity produced through dieselwhile it would also bring down theconsumption of diesel in thecountry. at present Pakistan wasconsuming 10 billion liter of dieselper annum which could bring downto 6 billion liter per annum.He said that electricity produced bythe dams would cost only Rs 2 perunit as compared to electricityproduced through diesel which costRs 12 per unit. it would also ensure24 hours availability of cheaperpower to Pakistanis, he observed.agri Forum Chairman further saidthat the country needs 45,000 megawatt of electricity by year 2025, soPakistan should start construction ofnew dams right now keeping in viewthis demand. He proposed that newdams could be constructed in jointventure with China or overseasPakistanis. it would not only controlthe trade deficit but would alsoarrest the ever increasing inflation,improve the environment and createjob opportunities for thecountrymen besides makingPakistan self-reliant, he concluded.

Agri forum viesto save Pakistang Peddles dam construction as the key to trade deficit reductiong dams would also solve the electricity predicament

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

PakiStaN industrial & tradersassociation (PiaF) whileterming the fuel adjustment

charges in the electricity bills a“robbery” and urged the PrimeMinister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani toabolish this selfmade tax immediately.in a press statement issued hereFriday, Chairman PiaF eng. Sohaillashari said that industrial sector wasalready in deep trouble due to variouschallenges including energy crisis,deteriorating law & order situation andhigh cost of doing business but insteadof taking some relief measures, NePRaand other departments were busycreate more hurdles for the businessdoing people. the PiaF Chairman saidthat continuous raises in electricitytariff were earning bad name for thegovernment besides hitting economictargets hard. He said that soon after

assuming the office, the Prime Ministerhad announced a number of projects toenhance electricity production butunfortunately the electricity situationstill the same. He said that industrialgrowth in the country was the lowest inthe region while the rate of inflationwas the highest when it was comparedwith other regional countries. Not onlythe graph of poverty was going up withevery passing day but unemploymentwas also touching the alarming levels,he added. He said that despite a strongopposition by the private sector, thegovernment adopted the path of rentalpower stations that have jacked up thecost of Pakistani products manifoldand the same are fast becominguncompetitive in the internationalmarket. He said that due to unrealisticpolicies of the present regime, a largenumber of industrial units have shiftedtheir operations to the other countrieswhile a number of industrialists wereposing for the same.

‘fuel adjustmentcharges akin to robbery’g PIAf whines about ‘self-made’ tax g reminds PM about the industry being in a mess

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