Friday, 18 January, 2013

KARACHI

iSMAil DilAWAR

First half of the current fiscal year has of-fered the country’s dollar-hungry eco-nomic managers some relief on thecurrent account balance front that endedup in a surplus of $ 250 million duringJuly-DecFY13.

This surplus was against a huge deficitof $ 2.426 billion the country braved in itscurrent account during the correspondentperiod of last year, July-DecFY12. As apercent of GDP, the surplus stands at 0.2percent compared to a deficit of 2.1 per-cent witnessed in 1HFY12.

According to central bank, war reim-bursements worth $ 688 million by theUnited States on account of CoalitionSupport Fund (CSF) and persistentgrowth in the inflow of worker remit-tances were major attributing factors forthe surplus.

“This is because of the receipt of $

688 million coalition support in Decem-ber and increasing remittances,” ChiefSpokesman of State Bank of PakistanSyed Wasimuddin told Pakistan Today.

This surplus during December, whenthe CSF amount was transferred, wasrecorded at $ 697 million against a deficitof $ 85 million in same month of FY12.

The official figures show that thetrade deficit during the review period alsodecreased to $ 7.614 billion from FY12’s $7.895 billion. This marks an across theboard slump in the country’s exports andimports the volume of which, respectively,shrank to $ 12.011 billion from $ 12.051billion and $ 19.625 billion from $19.9465 billion of same months in last fis-cal year.

The months under review saw thePakistanis working aboard remitting $7.117 billion, up by $ 792 million from lastyear’s $ 6.325 billion. The economic ob-servers expect that the country’s remit-tance receipts would accumulate to the

historic $ 16 billion by the end the currentfinancial year, FY13.

This augurs well for the cash-strappedPakistan where lingering uncertainties onthe politico-economic and security frontsdevalued the rupee to Rs 100 against thegreenback on Wednesday. The State Bankon Thursday reported that the country’sliquid foreign exchange reserves hadswollen up to $ 13.782 billion.

If compared with last week’s $ 13.558billion, till January 04, this figure showedan increase of $ 223.6 million or 1.6 per-cent, certainly an encouraging trend forthe country’s economic managers whowere said to have started negotiating withthe IMF for a fresh loan to avoid a possi-ble default on the balance of paymentside.

A break up of dollar reserves showedthat during the week in review the centralbank held $ 8.950 billion and the com-mercial banks $ 4.831 billion.

Other heads on the Balance of Pay-

ment list depicted a negative trend withforeign disbursements contracting to $963 million compared to $ 1.022 billionthe country received last year from its for-eign lenders and donors.

Of the total 963 million, $ 702 million(against $ 944 million of FY12) cameunder the head of long-term project loansand $ 5 million as program loans (against$78 million of FY12).

Also, a short-term loan marked the Is-lamic Development Bank lending to Pak-istan $ 256 million during the periodunder review.

As the economic mangers were des-perately striving to entice foreign in-vestors to invest in the country, negativeslike deadly politico-sectarian violence,particularly in the financial capital, keptthe later at bay.

Yesterday afternoon saw the cold-blooded killing of an elected Member ofthe Provincial Assembly of Sindh belong-ing to Muttahida Qaumi Movement in the

broad daylight. The deadly incident shutthe paranoid city within minutes of the vi-olent happening in Orangi Town neigh-bourhood. Given swift announcement oftoday’s closure by the transporters, pri-vate school association and the owners offuel pumps, one could aptly say that thecommercial hub would remain closedtoday. According to trade bodies a one-day closure cost trade and industry in thecity at least Rs 5 to 8 Rs billion.

This certainly would take a heaviertoll on the country’s ailing economy wheredemand for bank loans from the privatebusinesses was subdued and much of thebank loans were being sucked up by thefunds-starved federal and provincial gov-ernments to bridge their ever-burgeoningbudgetary expenditures.

Ultimate sufferer, the analysts warn,would be the economic growth that wasclosely linked to increased economic ac-tivity which was only possible when thelaw and order situation was improved.

CSF, remittances result in C/A surplus in the first half of FY13

KARACHI

Online

THE Pakistani stock marketclosed higher yesterday asthe marketstead-i e d

amid newsthat the majorpolitical par-ties hadreached consen-sus on election relatedissues and a governmentdelegation met a clericleading a protest in thecapital.

Mid cap stocks re-mained active. The greatest vol-umes of trade occurred in FaujiCement stocks, followed by financefirm Jahangir Siddiqui and Byco Pe-troleum, said dealer Samar Iqbal atTopline Securities.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s(KSE) benchmark 100-share indexended 0.68 percent, or 109.62points, higher at 16,291.09.

Fauji Cement rose 2.37 percentto 6.90 rupees per share whileByco Petroleum was up 3 percent to13.37 rupees per share.

D.G. Khan Cement dropped 0.74

percent to 51rupees per share and Lucky Cement fell0.22 percent to 146.60 rupees per share.

In the currency market, the Pak-istani rupee ended steady at97.58/97.65 against the dollar, com-

pared to Wednesday’s close.Overnight rates in the money market

remained flat at 9.40 percent.

stocks close higher,rupee steady

ISLAMABAD

APP

Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE-10) here yesterday witnessed bullish trend as the indexwas up by 19.21 points to close at 3159.49 as compared to the previous day’s closing. The

improving political situation in the country led the positive sentiments in the localstock market, said Zaheer Ahmed, Stock Analyst of Aba Ali Habib Pvt Ltd

while talking to APP. Besides, the expectation of the positive earning ofthe corporate sector to be announced in the near future had also helpedthe market to close at green area, he added. Ahmed told that due tothis, the punters were seen very busy in the intra-day trading espe-

cially in the cement and banking sector. The major positions weretaken in the low-priced scrip including banking and cement andthese positions were not squared up at the closing of the boursewhich was the positive indication for the capital market in the fu-

ture, Stock Analyst further said. A total shares traded was 73,500,which was up by 54,500 when compared it with a day earlier’s closing.Out of 137 companies’ shares traded, the price of 82 was increasedwhile the price of 55 decreased. The price of top gainer Abbot Labora-

tories was increased by Rs.9.20 while the price of top loser Gatron In-dustries decreased by Rs.5.90. Fauji Cement Company, Maple LeafCement and Askari Bank remained volume leaders on Thursday, withvolume of 33,500, 20,000 and 10,000 shares respectively.

ISE-10 StayS bullISh

USAID to roll-out

largest Automated

Meter Reading

Project in PakistanISLAMABAD

APP

The United States Agency of InternationalDevelopment (USAID is in the final stagesof rolling out a nationwide installation ofAutomated Meter Reading (AMR) projects. The project was started under its continuingefforts to assist government-owned powerdistribution companies (DISCOs) in loss re-ductions and revenue enhancements. Initially, the project would be targeting areaswith high thefts and significantly high linelosses, said a news release issued here yester-day. The AMR would provide highly accurateelectronic meter readings with little humanintervention, using computer technology totransmit meter readings data via GSM/GPRSand Radio Frequency. This would help DIS-COs in monitoring the energy consumptiontrends among different consumer categories,understand consumer patterns, reduce elec-tricity losses significantly and increase theirrevenues. The installation of AMR meterswould start in the first quarter of the year.This was the largest AMR rollout in Pak-istan with almost 17,000 AMR meters beinginstalled among all five DISCOs. Under this project AMR meters will be in-stalled at feeders, distribution transformers,agricultural tubewells, general and high-endconsumers, in areas with a high number ofthefts and electricity losses. The project wasbeing launched as a model for the five DIS-COs to showcase the benefits of the latestmeter reading technologies. The programwould also facilitate in establishing method-ologies for energy accounting and cost ofservice studies for DISCOs. AMR expertsfrom the USAID Power Distribution Pro-gram along with corresponding teams fromall five DISCOs will be travelling to ITRON’smanufacturing facility at France on January4, 2013 for Factory Acceptance Testing ofAMR meters. The project’s long-term objec-tives were to work with DISCOs to establishthe viability and sustainability of this tech-nology to ensure reliable and accuratebilling for all customers. This technologycan result in improved revenue, reducedlosses and identify theft for DISCOs.The USAID Power Distribution Programwill also introduce new equipment specifi-cally designed to reduce the frequency andduration of power outages.Besides AMR, smart metering and otherhardware projects, the USAID Power Distri-bution Program was also providing train-ings to DISCOs in strategic planning andchange management, management devel-opment, planning and engineering, cus-tomer information system, lineman safetyand skill enhancement, business planningand financial modelling, communicationsand customer outreach, gender equity anddeveloping and training personnel.

LAHORE

APP

Lahore High Court Chief Justice UmarAta Bandial yesterday summoned theOil and Gas Regulatory Authority(OGRA) Secretary over a plea seekingaction against substandard CNG cylin-der manufacturers.

The single bench comprising chiefjustice passed the orders on a petitionfiled by petitioner-counsel RanaMehtab.

As proceedings started, OGRA’scounsel pointed out that a report hadbeen filed on behalf of regulatory bodyregarding steps taken for the purpose.

However, the chief justicetermed the report insufficient afterreviewing it.

The petitioner-counsel appraised

the court of recent incidents of cylin-der explosions which left many dead.

The chief justice directed OGRA totake steps for stopping such incidents

and adjourned the matter till February4 besides summoning the secretaryOGRA on next date of hearing.

The petitioner, in his petition, sub-mitted that a number of persons losttheir lives in explosions of CNG cylin-ders fitted in public transport vehicles.

He contended that the explosionswere taking place due to substandardcylinders and their installation by in-competent road- side mechanics.

He contended that the respondentdepartments were also guilty of negli-gence as they were not performingtheir duties in accordance with law.

He pleaded the court that direc-tions be issued to respondents for tak-ing immediate action againstsubstandard CNG cylinder manufac-turers and substandard installationworkshops.

LHC summons OGRA secretary on plea against substandard cylinders

17 water brands found

to be unsafe, unhygienic

for human healthISLAMABAD: Pakistan Standard Qual-ity Control Authority (PSQCA) has re-vealed that 17 water brands are found tobe unsafe and unhygienic for humanhealth due to chemical or microbiologicalcontamination. According to the moni-toring report of Pakistan Standard Qual-ity control Authority (PCSQA) for thequarter October-December, 2012 re-vealed that Atlantis, Mezban Water,Fresh Pure Water, Vina, Active, ExcellentNatural, Al-Saudia, Kallan Water, Cool,Oriel, Tahoor, Nation, Lock, Aqua Na-tional, Aqua Life, Pan Pura and Premierwere found unhygienic and dangerous tohuman lives. This report further dis-closed that seventy seven samples ofMineral/Bottled water brands had beencollected from Islamabad, Rawalpindi,Lahore, Bahawalpur, Faisalabad, Multan,D.G. Khan Sargodha, Sialkot, Sahiwal,D.I.Khan, Quetta, and Peshawar. Online

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02Major Gainers

COMPANY OPEN HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE TURNOVER

Indus Dyeing 590.00 619.50 594.99 619.50 29.50 1,000

National Foods 262.00 275.00 268.00 271.03 9.03 5,200

Pak Services 159.60 167.58 167.00 167.39 7.79 400

AL-Ghazi Tractors 222.93 230.00 224.00 230.00 7.07 2,000

Gatron Ind. 149.00 156.00 149.00 156.00 7.00 1,000

Major Losers

UniLever Pak 10000.00 9999.00 9900.01 9969.67 -30.33 100Shezan Inter. 409.30 392.30 392.30 392.30 -17.00 100Sanofi-Aventis Pak 345.00 359.90 327.75 330.00 -15.00 300Sapphire Fiber 173.00 173.00 164.50 164.50 -8.50 300Blessed Tex. 115.90 110.11 110.11 110.11 -5.79 1,500

Volume LeadersFauji Cement 6.74 7.02 6.75 6.89 0.15 16,948,500Jah.Sidd. Co. 14.11 15.05 14.31 14.74 0.63 14,083,500Byco Petroleum 12.98 13.67 13.01 13.27 0.29 13,720,500TRG Pakistan Ltd. 6.27 6.88 6.45 6.66 0.39 13,372,500D.G.K.Cement 51.38 52.89 50.96 51.15 -0.23 6,977,500

Interbank RatesUS Dollar 97.5951UK Pound 156.2887Japanese Yen 1.0976Euro 130.2406

Forex RatesBUY SELL

US Dollar 98.70 99.40Euro 130.40 132.61Great Britain Pound 156.37 158.97Japanese Yen 1.0900 1.1074Canadian Dollar 98.83 101.12Hong Kong Dollar 12.45 12.77UAE Dirham 26.70 27.10Saudi Riyal 26.15 26.54Australian Dollar 102.62 105.81

Business

SSGC announces CNG

closure schedule

KARACHI: Sui Southern Gas Company has an-nounced the schedule for closure of CNG stationsfor the current week. According to a media releaseof SSGC, all the CNG stations in Sindh will remainclosed from 8am on Friday, January 18, till 8amon Sunday, Jan 20 for 48 hours only. This step isbeing taken by the gas utility to according to ‘GasLoad Management’ program, the spokesperson ofSSGC disclosed. PR

LESCO CEO urges priority

to customer services

LAHORE: Lahore Electric Supply Company(LESCO) Chief Executive Muhammad Saleem hasurged the LESCO officers to improve customerservices with a view to further facilities con-sumers. While addressing a meeting of senior en-gineers and directors at LESCO H.Q, ChiefExecutive LESCO Muhammad Saleem said that allsteps be taken for upgradation of power system toensure uninterrupted electricity supply to all con-sumers. He also said that all efforts to save energyshould be accelerated. For domestic and espe-cially commercial connections, LESCO requestselectricity consumers that if they find any pilfer-

age of electricity, report on toll free number0800-84338 (THEFT), their names and addresseswill be kept confidential. PR

PTCL inks agreement to provide

DCS to Meezan Bank

KARACHI: Pakistan Telecommunications Com-pany Limited (PTCL), the largest integratedtelecommunications services provider in thecountry, and Meezan Bank have announced anagreement for Data Center Services provisioning.Under the agreement, PTCL will provide DataCenter services to Meezan Bank for its DisasterRecovery Data Center (DRDC). This strategicpartnership shall enable Meezan Bank in disasterrecovery and business continuity, reduce internalnetwork operations cost, provide geographical re-dundancy and add greater resilience to its net-work. The state of the art Data Centers of PTCLoffer strategic ICT solutions through a highly se-cure and reliable network infrastructure providingoptimum network security, storage facilities, re-source utilization and scalability which reducethe cost of data ownership and management.PTCL will host Meezan Bank’s data services at thecompany’s Data Center in Islamabad, providingconvenient and secure network support to thebank’s 300 branches in 90 cities nationwide.PTCL has also recently signed an agreement with

Meezan Bank, enabling the banks customers toenjoy PTCL EVO Wireless Broadband servicesalong with the services of Meezan Bank. ZamanGulzar, PTCL Executive Vice President (EVP), Na-tional Sales, while speaking at the occasion said,“This partnership will enable Meezan Bank to in-crease its productivity and focus on its core busi-ness of financial solutions. PTCL’s dynamic end toend ICT solutions provide reliable network serv-ices, continuous operation support and scalabilityfor network expansion”. Faiz ur Rehman, ChiefInformation Officer, Meezan Bank while speakingon the occasion said “the synergy between PTCLand Meezan Bank will improve operational effi-ciency of Meezan Bank and augment our vision ofdelivering exceptional services to our customers”.PR

Nando’s Butterfly Chicken

Breast Meal success celebrated

KARACHI: Nando’s Pakistan Pvt Ltd held anevent to celebrate the success of its World WideLicensing centralized initiative Butterfly ChickenBreast Meal at Nando’s Boat Basin, Karachi. Themeal is a unique meal offering with Nando’s fa-mous Peri Peri Flame grilled Chicken Steak, afresh side salad, Crispy Wedges and a DesignerDrink called Rosa Fresca. It has been launched si-multaneously in all 12 of Nando’s Worldwide Li-

censed territories and has seen a major successfulresponse so far. Nando’s alongside Phegency Cast-ing Agency, founded by Pheby Haroon in Novem-ber 2011 has collaborated to kick start the year2013 with a new line up of Open Mic nights. Forthis event in particular, Phegency has put togetherthe internationally recognized comedian DanishAli to host this event together with the band‘LaamSakin’ from Islamabad. The two phenome-nal performers of LaamSakin, Ali Hamdani andUsman Shakeel perform in Karachi for Nando’sfor the 1st time ever. PR

KARACHI: Zaman Gulzar, PTCL Executive Vice President(EVP), National Sales and Arif Ul Islam, Chief OperatingOfficer (COO) & Executive Director, Meezan Bank, signingan agreement to provide Data Center Services to MeezanBank in a ceremony held at Meezan Bank Head Office. PR

CORPORATE CORNER

Friday, 18 January, 2013

ISLAMABAD

APP

RECENT spell oflight rains wouldbring positive im-pact on Rabi cropsincluding wheat,

barley, mustard, lental, grams andother minor crop fruit and vegeta-bles cultivated over large areas ofthe country to fulfil the domesticconsumption of the food.

Talking to APP here yesterday,Member of Crops Sciences in Pak-istan

Agriculture Research Council,Dr. Shahid Masood said that earlysowing wheat was passing throughthe booting stage and it required ashower in this state as the recentrains proved blessings for thecrop.

There was a sufficient gap be-tween first rainfall and recent spellof rains which are likely to con-tinue till today evening and farm-ers can put fertilisers on their

fields, he added.He further informed that the

rains were also beneficial for thelate sowed crop which was culti-vated by December and it was onfive-leaves stage or pre-bootingstage and it required water for fur-ther nourishment.

Meanwhile, Agriculture PolicyDevelopment Institute (API) chief

Abdul Rauf Chaudhry saidthat current spell of rains willbring positive impact on wheatcrop as it was time to water thefields because the wheat crops hadstarted sprouting.

Current spell of rains wouldbring positive affect on Rabbicrops particularly major foodcrops of the season including

wheat and different pulses sownover a vast area in the country.

He said that wheat sowing po-sition was quite encouraging ascompared to the last year’s sowingbecause of early and timely rain-fall during the start of the Rabbicrop season October and Novem-ber.

He said that wheat sowing alsohad got momentum and farmerswere encouraged to cultivate morewheat due to government decisionfor enhancing wheat support pricefrom Rs 1050 per 40 kg to Rs 1200per 40 kg.

The API head further in-formed that sufficient availabilityof other inputs like fertilisers,water for irrigation and seeds ascompared to the last year will alsohelp to enhance area under wheatsowing.

Abdul Rauf said that recentspell of rains would be beneficialfor other minor crops includingfruit, vegetables and pulses grownover a vast area in the country.

Recent spell of rains to bringpositive impact on Rabbi crops

KARACHI

nni

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Chairmanand Secretary Defence Lt. Gen. (R) Asif YasinMalik has invited all associations and CBA of theNational Flag Carrier to discuss and finalize theirWorking Agreements/Charter of Demands.

The invited Union/Associations include CBAfor group 1 to 4, Senior Staff Association for offi-cers above group 5, Society of Aircraft Engineersof Pakistan (SAEP), Aircraft Technologists Asso-ciation of Pakistan (ATAP), Flight Engineers Na-tional Association (FENA), and Pakistan AirlinePilots’ Association (PALPA).

The CBA had started negotiating with themanagement of PIA by presenting its Charter ofDemand, and a positive outcome was expectedsoon, said a source.

Meanwhile, PALPA, FENA, ATAP, SAEP, PI-ASSA were also expected to present their de-mands for salary raise and other perks andprivileges to the management. They also de-manded that pension of the retired employeesshould be increased every year in line with thesalary increases of the regular employee accordingto the admin order number 21/2003. Also, thereshould be an increase in the pension from current

32% to 50% as per government rules.The associations welcomed the chairman’s

initiative to call representatives of the union andall associations as it will help formulate a strat-egy on the long term basis for the revival of theairline and will win the hearts and minds of theemployees.

Sources said that the management of PIA waswell aware that the employees were facing difficul-ties due to rise in inflation and they needed somehelp to cope with this issue. “Since the employeesare backbone of the airline, their demands andsalary review is their basic right,” said the source.

The management of PIA had given a pay raiseto the employees some 10 years back, while thefederal government had raised the salaries of itsemployees/defence personnels three times duringthe last five years.

According to sources the PIA management hadasked the government to allow raising salaries ofPIA employees as the management wants to retainits highly technical and professional workforce atany cost because this was the only way to ensurethe airline’s progress. Otherwise many new airlinesin the region especially from Middle East werehunting for such workforce, offering huge salariesto aviation people as nothing replaces experiencein this high tech aviation industry.

PIA chairman invites associationsto finalize charter of demand

Pak-India trade

may dip by 20% in

2012-13: AssochamNEW DELHI: The bilateral trade be-tween Pakistan and India is expected todecline by 20 per cent in 2012-13 due tothe ongoing tensions at the Line of Con-trol ( LoC), Assocahm today said.“Trade between India and Pakistan maydip by 20 per cent in 2012-13 due to thecurrent disturbances on the borders andalso within Pakistan,” the chamber saidin a statement.During the first half of the fiscal year,the two-way trade stood at $ 1.1 billion,it said.“The on-going atmosphere will have itsown repercussions and will be reflectedon cross-border trade. Also, Indianbusinessmen and small merchants whowere contemplating trade relations withPakistan have put their plans on hold,”it added.Assocham said that in 2011-12, the bilat-eral trade stood at USD 1.9 billion.India’s export to Pakistan in the last fis-cal declined by 25 per cent to $ 1.5 billion, it said adding, however, im-ports from Pakistan grew by 48 per centto $ 400 million. inP

SECP chairman outlines capital

market development initiativesISLAMABAD: Securities and Exchange Commission of Pak-istan (SECP) Chairman Muhammad Ali yesterday outlined capi-tal market development initiatives including investor educationand awareness Infrastructure development and wider distribu-tion networks by capitalising on automation and encouraging asub-broker regime. He announced the initiatives while speakingat the Charter Awards Ceremony of Chartered Financial Analyst(CFA) Society Pakistan, a statement issued by the Commissionhere said. Muhammad Ali also congratulated the new CFA Char-ter holders on earning the prestigious CFA designation. Whilewelcoming the new Charter holders to the investment commu-nity, SECP Chairman informed the cream of the investment in-dustry attending the event, of the capital market developmentinitiatives taken by the SECP keeping in mind the five areas ofmarket development, which SECP had identified as being essen-tial for the development of our capital market. He stressed thatit was important to note that we need to work simultaneously onall the aspects for effective implementation. APP

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