Friday, September 11, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
The Planning Commission high-ups say that the operation side of microfinance definitely lies under the jurisdiction of the SBP. However, its policy side falls into the mainstay of the Planning Commission and it will continue to give its input for formulating the upcoming National Micro Credit Policy. Talking to The News on Thursday, Secretary Planning Commission Ashraf M Hayat said that the poverty is the main concern of the Planning Commission as it wanted to devise policies in order to tackle this menace effectively. The Planning Commission s Member Social Sector, Shaukat Hameed, when contacted, said that they were working on microfinance institutions for last six months where they found flaws in regulations. We are giving our recommendation to rectify the situation, he added.
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Money-mongers, panic buying behind sugar imbroglio
Posted by imdurrani Labels: Pak Economy, pakistanFriday, September 11, 2009
LAHORE - The Punjab government has ample sugar stock but it is, on the one hand, farmers, millers, stockists, dealers and shopkeepers who are hell bent on fleecing money while on the other, panic buying among consumers putting a damper on efforts to stabilise sugar price and streamline the supplies. These were the views of members of inspection teams deployed to raid Sasta Ramazan Bazaars in the City on Wednesday.
Tehsildar Assad Butt while in surprise raid in Shalamar Sasta Ramazan Bazaar found many people carrying more than allotted quota of sugar. He himself has taken back sugar bags of one kilo from many consumers who were found possessing with more than allotted sugar. He said after the fresh instructions of Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif, only one kilo sugar is being sold to all individuals after punching their respective newly Identity Cards but people use to come out with all their family members to purchase sugar. He said earlier, chemical ink was used on sugar purchaser s thumb but few minutes after they came back after removing the ink. Now government has given us instruction to punch cards, he added.
KESC owes Rs13.65b to SSGC, pays Rs1.34b
Posted by imdurrani Labels: business finance, finance, Pak Economy, pakistanTuesday, September 08, 2009
India has exited from a gas pipeline deal it earlier planned with Iran and Pakistan, Mehr news agency reported citing Pakistani diplomat. “India has definitely quitted the IPI (India-Pakistan-Iran) gas pipeline deal,” the report said Sunday citing Pakistani ambassador to Iran, Muhammad Bux Abbasi. Iranian officials, however, said India has not yet officially declared its intention. In May this year, Tehran and Islamabad signed a $7.5-billion deal for supply of gas from Iran to Pakistan. As per the deal, Iran will initially supply 30 million cubic meters of gas per day to Pakistan which would be later increased to 60 million cubic meters per day. Iran, Pakistan and India had conceptualised the project in 1990s to help boost peace and security in the region, besides mitigating the power crisis. India stopped negotiations on the project due to tension with Pakistan, although Iran repeatedly encouraged New Delhi to rejoin the process, according to the report. The pipeline will run 2,775 km when linked with the three countries. The project would have greatly benefited India, which lacks sufficient natural gas to meet its rapidly increasing domestic requirements. Pakistan has been facing electricity shortfall of more than 3,000 megawatts and plans to generate 4,600 megawatts from Iranian gas. Islamabad has also been under pressure from Washington to abandon the deal.Tuesday, September 08, 2009
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Sunday said the United States should channelise disbursement of its financial assistance to Pakistan through the existing mechanism of the government of Pakistan. He underlined the fact that disbursement through NGOs involves out of proportion administrative expenses, sometimes to the extant of 35 - 40% and hence, actual amount spent on the welfare of the public gets drastically reduced. The Prime Minister was talking to the US Deputy Secretary of State for Resources and Management, Jacob J. Lew who accompanied by the Acting Administrator of USAID, Alouso L. Fulgham called on him here at the PM House on Sunday evening. Prime Minister Gilani suggested that the US Deputy Secretary of State should have detailed meetings with the Minister and the Secretary of Finance to work out mutually agreed modalities on the procedure of financial assistance. He pointed out that the Benazir Income Support Programme, Higher Education Commission, the existing basic education and the basic health units in Pakistan should be considered for the US assistance for education, health and poverty alleviation sectors.Monday, September 07, 2009
Monday, September 07, 2009
GILGIT : The Federal Government would spend Rs 6.5 million on socio-economic uplift of region as it has approved Annual Development Plan (ADP) for 2009-2010, Senior officials of the administration said. The ADP 2009-2010 was approved by the Chairman Gilgit-Baltistan Qamar Zaman Kaira and accordingly the plan was circulated among all government departments, Secretary Planning and Development, Abdus Sattar told APP by phone. He disclosed some 767 development schemes would be executed this year and out of them 94 were new projects in the ADP. The government is specially focusing on power sector so that the huge water potential is harnessed for the energy production.
Monday, September 07, 2009
KARACHI: The sugar mills owners have expressed their inability to pay off/retire Rs 40 billion loans and advances that they owed to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) due to ongoing crackdown against the millers by the government. Talking to Chairman Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) Iskandar Khan said due to the crackdown of law enforcement agencies
Japan suspends aid to Third World
Posted by imdurrani Labels: Asia, global finance, pakistan, world financeMonday, September 07, 2009 Visit Finance.KalPoint.Com for latest financial stories...
The channel said that Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project is in jeopardy following the Japanese government decision.
Monday, September 07, 2009 Visit Finance.KalPoint.Com for latest financial stories...
The macroeconomic framework for expenditures between the federation and provinces would also be determined for the next five years along with the NFC award. It is learnt that the meeting discussed growth rate for the future expansion of expenditures as well as vertical distribution formula between the federation and the provinces.
The new macroeconomic framework of provinces for five years would be based on the economic reports of the provinces and their future expenditures would be calculated on these grounds.
Secretary Finance Salman Siddique later talking to media on the sidelines of the launching of World Bank Pakistan Tax Policy Report, said that once the benchmarking of federal and provincial expenditures is completed, a clear macroeconomic picture would be available for determination of federal and provincial governments shares in federal revenues.
The issues before the technical committee are to determine federal and provincial expenditures, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rates to be achieved in next five years and as to what should be the base for vertical distribution of resource between federal government and four provinces.
THE RUPEE: dollar gains more
Posted by imdurrani Labels: forex market, Pak Economy, pakistan, Pakistani Rupee, World Currencies, world forexSaturday, September 05, 2009 KARACHI: Persisting demand for dollars did not allow the rupee to shed its losses against the greenback on the currency market on Friday, dealers said. On the interbank market, the rupee shed five paisa against dollar for buying and selling at 82.90 and 82.95, they said. Market sources said that the weaker rupee is good to attract the buyers in the international market, in the meantime, they said that the rupee may trim its losses as a result of easy supply of the US currency. Open Buying Rs 82.70 Open Selling Rs 82.80 Interbank Closing Rates: Interbank Closing Rates For Dollar On Friday. Buying Rs 82.90 Selling Rs 82.95 (BRecorder)
During the final Asian session dollar held steady above this week's seven-week low against yen and kept a firmer tone against euro as investors hunkered down to await US non-farm payrolls later in the day. The market is uncertain how dollar will react to the August non-farm payrolls report due at 1230 GMT, after it lost its toehold above 93.00 yen at the start of this week and hit its lowest since mid-July just above 91.90 on Thursday.
OPEN MARKET RATES: The rupee retained its levels against dollar for the second day for buying and selling at 82.70 and 82.80, dealers said. Meanwhile the rupee gained 20 paisa in terms of euro for buying and selling at Rs 117.55 and Rs 118.05, they said.
Saturday, September 05, 2009 ISLAMABAD: The World Bank believes that the absence of conditions from donors in the last few years has paved the way for Islamabad not to hike electricity tariff in accordance with the generation cost, leading to creation of the monster of circular debt that compromised country s ability to provide uninterrupted power to its consumers. When there were no conditions, the pricing formula to adjust electricity tariff simply disappeared, WB Senior Energy Specialist Rashid Aziz said while expressing his views in a panel discussion organised by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) on the impact of circular debt at the Auditorium of Planning Commission on Friday. Member Planning Commission Shaukat Hameed pointed out that the tariff of power generation from Basha dam was proposed at 10 to 12 cents in the PC-1 so cheap electricity would not be available now. He criticised the IPPs, saying that the government guaranteed in 1996 to get electricity at 18 cents. It was also pointed out that the issue of circular debt could not be solved by injecting Rs200 billion through loans from the ADB or launching securitisation bond for overseas Pakistanis. Our banking system is not in position to arrange financing of Rs200 billion, so it requires tackling the issue, Federal Secretary Ministry of Textile Dr Waqar Masood said. Referring to an IMF document, he said the tariff is still short by 21 to 41 per cent in accordance with various estimates. The WB expert on energy, citing an example, said it is quite clear that when you go to market for purchasing a dozen eggs with a price of Rs50 but if you pay Rs30 it will not be possible to get a dozen eggs. But the same is not the case in the power sector. When asked to comment on increased level of electricity after installing of expensive Rental Power Plants (RPPs), he said that there was no gas available to fully utilise avenues of power generation.
NIT to introduce two new mutual funds
Posted by imdurrani Labels: business finance, finance, Pak Economy, pakistanSaturday, September 05, 2009
SBP unveils new scheme for cotton
Posted by imdurrani Labels: business finance, Pak Economy, pakistanSaturday, September 05, 2009
THE RUPEE: all-round gains
Posted by imdurrani Labels: forex market, forex trading, pakistan, Pakistani Rupee, World Currencies, world forexThursday, September 03, 2009
KARACHI: The rupee retained its firmness against dollar on the currency market on Wednesday, dealers said. On the interbank market the rupee extended its gains, rising 22 paisa versus dollar for buying at 82.70 and rose by 23 paisa for selling at 82.75, dealers said. In the third Asian trading session yen retreated from a seven-week high against dollar and euro, pushed back after economic growth in Australia supported the case for an early rise in rates and powered the Australian dollar higher.
Most regional shares fell as concerns about the financial sector outweighed data showing growth in the US manufacturing sector and dragged Wall Street down, sending the low-yielding yen up against riskier currencies initially.
OPEN MARKET RATES: The rupee managed to gain 30 paisa against dollar for buying and selling at 82.70 and 82.80, dealers said. The rupee also picked up 20 paisa versus euro for buying and selling at Rs 117.15 and Rs 117.65, they said.
Open Buying Rs 82.70
Open Selling Rs.82.80
Interbank Closing Rates: Interbank Closing Rates For Dollar On Wednesday
Buying Rs.82.70
Selling Rs.82.75
(BRecorder)
Thursday, September 03, 2009 KARACHI - The fiscal and budget deficit target set by Ministry of Finance for the year 2009-10 could face some slippages and fail to materialize if the government is proved unsuccessful to tackle the issues of tax administration and electricity subsidies, an analyst showed this concern on Wednesday. Muzzammil Aslam, Head of Research at JS Global, said that IMF would strictly follow the deadlines of performance criteria set in its latest review especially related to taxation and electricity tariffs with an aim to re-balance budgetary deficit. He further said the government has also committed to fulfil the new structural conditionalities within a certain time framework given by IMF however, any difference in real and estimated cost of budget deficit is unlikely to strain IMF program, as Finance Ministry has already taken the performance waiver from IMF in the second review. He also mentioned that the related program commitments have been converted into structural benchmarks for the third review. IMF has further asked Pakistani authorities to introduce a broad-based VAT to correct the structural shortcomings in Pakistan s tax system, which relies on a very narrow tax base. The introduction of a broad-based VAT in mid-2010 is a key pillar of their fiscal strategy. Overall, the financing mix of the deficit was tilted in the favour of domestic (internal) financing, led by Rs 251 billion investment in NSS scheme and Rs 260 billion investments by banks. In revenue, last year will be remembered as the most volatile year in the recent past, as oil prices remained volatile; making an all time high of $147/bbl in July 2008 and a low of $32 in February 2009. While the former has impacted the expenditure side led by huge subsidies and the latter affected the overall FBR tax collection ability. Overall, tax revenue target was missed by fair margin and came in at Rs1.2 trillion (up 14.6 per cent) or 9.2 per cent of GDP. Direct tax collection growth remained dismal and came in at 13 per cent compared to sales tax and excise duty. Both were up 17.3 per cent and 38 per cent respectively. The performance of non-tax revenue sector remained robust and depicted a growth of 44 per cent led by SBP profits and defence income. While the current expenditure rose by 9 per cent and development expenditure remained at Rs 455 billion, lower than the target of 550 billion. The fundamental reason for the containment of current expenditure was the pass down of fuel price subsidy and partly electricity subsidy. However, interest payment has slightly inched up to 637 billion or 4.9 per cent of GDP. The budget deficit for the full-year came in at Rs 680 billion or 5.2 per cent of GDP. Similar to FY08, the bulk of the financing was done through domestic sources. Though the external gross receipts remained higher but the higher re-payment of external debt kept the share of external sources subdued. The majority of the domestic funding came through investments in saving schemes and bank investment in Treasury bill. Visit Finance.KalPoint.Com for latest financial stories...
The fiscal deficit target was missed by 90bps for FY09 if compared to IMF projection, the analyst added.
It is important to mention that the government has estimated budget and fiscal deficits to be stayed at 4.6 per cent and 7.6 per cent of GDP respectively for the current financial year.
It must be recalled that the government has amended by a Presidential Ordinance of the NEPRA Act to ensure monthly determination by NEPRA of the fuel adjustment surcharge in line with international fuel prices, quarterly determination of overall electricity tariffs by NEPRA and notification of the adjusted tariffs within 15 days. Later, by September 15 government s has to take approval for making regulations to form new occupational groups within the FBR and revision of the structure of Regional Tax payer offices and submission of the VAT law to Parliament by end of 2009.Both conditionalities have macroeconomic relevance as in the absence of a de-politicized mechanism for regular electricity tariff adjustments, sizable financial imbalances in the electricity sector are likely to resurface. The adoption of a broad-based VAT is the cornerstone of the revenue effort over the medium term, and a crucial component of the authorities strategy to finance the needed increase in public investment without recourse to external borrowing or crowding out domestic private investment. imilarly, the government has reached a revised agreement with World Bank and ADB staff on a schedule for tariff increases that postpones the elimination of tariff differential subsidies to 2010/11. The budget deficit for the fiscal year 2008/09 (July-June) was 5.2 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), higher than the government target. The deficit for fiscal year 2008/09 was targeted at 4.3 percent of GDP and was 3.0 percent for the first nine months ending March 31. According to the FY09 fiscal accounts that were released by the Ministry of Finance (MoF), MoF reported a deficit of 2.2 per cent of GDP in the 4QFY09 alone. The extra-ordinary deficit for the last quarter was led by aggressive development spending of Rs 210 billion, as a result of which, the total expenditure came in at Rs455bn in FY09.
Thursday, September 03, 2009
"Pakistan's inflation rate came from 25 percent to 11 percent, its forex reserves position is better and fiscal side is also somewhat stable, despite challenges," said Adnan Mazarei, Assistant Director, Middle East and Central Asia Department of the IMF, who also heads the IMF review missions. Pakistan remittances were 19.13 percent in July at $747.22 million and maintained a similar trend in last few months.
Pakistan received $22.6 million in July in foreign private investment from developed countries though $26 million were repatriated by Developing Asia. The IMF in its report has envisaged a growth rate of 3 percent for the current year, which was at 2 percent in 2008-09. Foreign portfolio investment is a sign of sentiments while FDI is more important but this improvement signals somewhat betterment in sentiment of investors towards Pakistan.
However, Adnan did not shy away from counting challenges the country is facing now - revenue mobilisation, the key issue for the country which also creates room for social sector spending which is badly hurt in the country, believed probably the most optimistic observer of Pakistan economy in the IMF. "Pakistan's tax revenues are among the lowest in the world right now and any improvement in it will allow spending on health, education and infrastructure," said Adnan.
Thursday, September 03, 2009
He said that Pakistan, with a population of 170 million, is a market with huge potential and the UK is keen to invest further here. He said the Pakistan was the most business-friendly country in Asia, as lots of opportunities are here to attract the foreign investors.
The country is quite different from what it was painted by TV and other media. Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad are quite safe places, he added. British Deputy High Commissioner pointed out that two way trade has increased by 12 percent per annum whereas last year British investors have made huge investment in Pakistan.
Rs.40,000/- PrizeBond Draw announced; Check your result Here!
Posted by imdurrani Labels: pakistan, prize bond draw, prizebondsNeed more financial stories?? Visit Finance.KalPoint.Com
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