01 BUSINESS B Thursday, 23 May, 2013 KARACHI STAFF REPORT T HE SNGPL based fer- tilizer plants would in- vest $ 100 million for long-term development of dedicated lower btu gas fields that would ensure better gas supply to plants for bet- ter local production instead of depending on costly imported urea worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The fertilizer sector has been deprived of gas since April 2010 and has been one of the worst affected sectors, in turn af- fecting the rural economy over the last few years. According to Shahab Khawaja, exec- utive director, Fertilizer Manufacturers Pakistan Advisory Council (FMPAC), new gas allocation through long-term arrangement is just a replacement of cur- rent allocation through which fertilizer plants based on SNGPL network will get gas through different small fields as a re- placement of gas which would be discon- tinued from existing sources and which is their legal right as all fertilizer companies have agreements in place(gas sales pur- chase agreement- GSPA) with the utility providers. He said the de- cision was meant to supply gas to fertilizer in- dustry through dedi- cated small fields in line with the strategy to reduce burden from the SNGPL network, and to ensure continuous supply to gen- eral and industrial consumers in the country. This decision has been taken after detailed deliberations from all concerned stakeholders in the larger interest of the country which is an agriculture economy, he added. Agriculture contributes around 24% to the GDP of Pakistan and it also provides raw materials to all the major industries of Pakistan including, textiles and sugar. He said successful im- plementation of the long-term plan will ensure self sufficiency of the country in fertil- izer production and would also bring substan- tial savings, half a billion dol- lars of foreign exchange annually and subsidy of approximately Rs 20 billion that the coun- try has to spend on 1 million tonne of urea imports. He said post the ECC approval, GSAs between gas fields and fer- tilizer plants were inked carry- ing reservoir risks and gas transportation agreements with both Sui companies and were signed under OGRA’s TPA Rules, adding that these agree- ments strictly comply with the TPA rules. The arrangement is beneficial for Sui companies with additional stream of tolling income and saving 240 mmscfd of gas allocated to four fertilizer plants under existing GSAs with SNGPL. While dis- pelling the impression that fertil- izer sector would get dedicated gas from different small fields without any additional investment, he said to facilitate this transaction, fertil- izer plants are investing more than $100 million in increasing pipeline capacities of Sui companies where bottlenecks exist. The SNGPL based plants being large- scale units are now at the verge of closure with over 100 billions rupees of payable bank loans. The current arrangement is a win-win for all stakeholders as fertilizer plants upon receiving regular gas from different small fields would provide farm- ers with cheaper local urea and gas com- panies would be selling this gas to new customers at better rates. He said fertilizer plants will also pay a higher gas price than the gas price avail- able to them under the existing GSAs, and will also have to incur significant addi- tional investment for the smooth trans- portation of gas from respective gas fields to their plants. In the past despite guaran- teed contracts with the fertilizer industry, gas was diverted from fertilizer compa- nies to other sectors, however, with the implementation of this arrangement, cer- tainty of gas supplies to the fertilizer sec- tor would be ensured to get continuous urea production for Pakistani agri- culture sector. Fertilizer sector to invest $100m to develop BTU gas sources ISLAMABAD APP People from across the society have expressed mixed views on the care- taker government’s decision to ban CNG in private vehicles having a ca- pacity above 1,000cc. The caretaker government made the decision in view of acute short- age and scarcity of gas and to ensure its gainful use by supplying it to other important sectors. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources has been directed to consult the Ministry of Law for the implementation of these deci- sions. These decisions, after being vet- ted by the Ministry of Law, will come into force on May 25. “Though the decision has been taken in good intention, but it should ban CNG in public transport which had been the largest consumers, hav- ing several cylinders installed in ve- hicles,” Zahid Aslam, a public-sector employee said. He was of the view that since public transport could easily afford petrol or diesel since they were doing business and charging passengers whatever they wanted to. A taxi driver, Mir Janan, said the decision would go a long way in ex- tending relief to common people. He said the decision would push rich people, who had luxurious vehi- cles at their disposal, to move to petrol or diesel consumption. “You will see rich people with their luxurious cars in queues to refill CNG at filling stations in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, which is, to me, not a good practice,” he observed. The All Pakistan CNG Associa- tion (APCNGA) has rejected the de- cision, arguing it does not fall under the mandate of the caretaker govern- ment. It said the unpopular decision can in no way extend relief to the poor and would further increase problems for the masses and the business com- munity. The association also rejected the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources plan to suspend gas sup- ply to CNG outlets for six days on account of maintenance of plants at Qadirpur gas field. “The decision to bar CNG outlets from busi- ness from May 21 to May 27 will impact masses and businesses and therefore the decision cannot be accepted,” said APCNGA chief Ghiyas Abdullah Paracha. He was of the view that closing supply from the gas field will result in a shortfall of 400 mmcfd which should have been distributed on merit among gas consuming sectors. He said license issued to CNG oper- ators clearly indicate that any deci- sion regarding gas supply will be taken with consensus. It has been approved by the prime minister that any CNG filling station found violating these instruc- tions shall be fined for the first of- fence with Rs 50,000. In case of repetition, the owner shall be fined Rs 100,000 and in case of a third of- fence and violation, the CNG station shall be sealed for a minimum period of six months. Similarly for any subsequent of- fence, the period of suspension of the CNG station shall not be less than one year. These instructions shall not be applicable on public transport as defined in West Pakistan Public Transport Act 1961. Mixed views expressed to ban CNG in private vehicles above 1,000cc Plan to collect Rs 150 billion tax money ISLAMABAD ONLINE The caretaker federal government is ac- tively considering levying taxes to the tune of Rs 150 billion through a presiden- tial ordinance. According to sources, the government has decided to levy 5 percent withholding tax on the purchase of new vehicles, 17 per- cent general sales tax (GST) on sugar, and GST to 1.5 percent on all exports. Besides these, the Federal Excise Duty on cigarettes would be 65 percent of the re- tail price. PTEA OPPOSES TAXE INCREASE Meanwhile, the Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) expressed concern over the imposition of a further 1% sales tax and recent increase in withholding tax through presidential ordinance on textile sector, abolishing the sales tax zero rating regime. In a statement, PTEA Chairman Asghar Ali and Vice Chairman Muhammad Asif termed it as the last nail in the coffin of the textile sector. “Such unrealistic decisions would ad- versely affect textile exports of the coun- try at a time when the industrial sector is already in hot waters due to the energy crisis,” they added. “The changes in the tax regime would add fire to fuel,” he said, adding that the in- sane decision would adversely affect ex- ports at a time when a huge amount of sales tax refunds are already stuck with the FBR and exporters are facing a liquid- ity crunch. The government may study export poli- cies of India, China and Bangladesh where exporters are facilitated through ex- port-friendly policies, he said and added that FBR should announce export friendly policies instead of creating difficulties for the industry. They further said there would be no level playing field for honest taxpayers instead, it would only result in blockade of their capital in the shape of refunds, increase cost of doing business, shrink export turnover, and compel them to grease palms of tax officers to secure timely re- funds. “In the prevailing economic conditions, rising cost of production is the core issue for textile exporters and this move remov- ing the sales tax zero rating regime on ex- ports would have a negative impact on national economy and exports of the country,” they added. Asghar Ali said exporters strongly feel that the caretaker government and the FBR purposely want to ruin the vital value-added textile export sector, which is already reeling under load shedding of electricity and gas, hike in electricity prices, deteriorating law and order situa- tion, and strikes. PTEA office bearers urged the govern- ment to drop recent presidential sales tax ordinance for levying further 1% sales tax and the recent increase in withholding tax, immediately. They further demanded to con- tinue the pre- vious zero rating scheme in the in- terest of the in- dus- try. SECP issues license to non-life insurance company KARACHI APP The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) issued a license to the Sahara Insurance Company Limited (SICL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Employees Old-age Benefits Institution (EOBI), to transact non-life insurance busi- ness in Pakistan. A statement on Wednesday said with con- tinuing emphasis on social insurance, the EOBI decided to incorporate the SICL with the primary objective of providing health insurance coverage to EOBI pensioners, aged between 60 and 70. In addition, accidental death and disability coverage will be provided to expatriate Pakistanis working abroad. In case of health insurance, the premium will be funded by the Workers Welfare Fund while premiums for accidental death and disability insurance will be paid directly by the expatriate Pak- istani labour force to Sahara Insurance Company Limited (SICL). Following the registration of the SICL, the total number of active non-life insurers has reached 40, while the total number of ac- tive insurance companies (life and non- life), including Pakistan Reinsurance Company Limited, now stands at 50. The last time a license was issued by the SECP to an insurance company was in 2009, and that was to a life insurer. With this move, it is anticipated that the health insurance sector in Pakistan will wit- ness visible growth while holistically im- proving insurance penetration and density figures that have remained one of the low- est in the region, it was further stated. 16-17 Business Pages (23-05-2013)_Layout 1 5/23/2013 5:49 AM Page 1
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01
BUSINESS
BThursday, 23 May, 2013
KARACHI
STAFF REPORT
THE SNGPL based fer-tilizer plants would in-vest $ 100 million forlong-term developmentof dedicated lower btugas fields that would
ensure better gas supply to plants for bet-ter local production instead of dependingon costly imported urea worth hundredsof millions of dollars.
The fertilizer sector has been deprivedof gas since April 2010 and has been oneof the worst affected sectors, in turn af-fecting the rural economy over the lastfew years.
According to Shahab Khawaja, exec-utive director, Fertilizer ManufacturersPakistan Advisory Council (FMPAC),new gas allocation through long-termarrangement is just a replacement of cur-rent allocation through which fertilizerplants based on SNGPL network will getgas through different small fields as a re-placement of gas which would be discon-tinued from existing sources and which istheir legal right as all fertilizer companieshave agreements in place(gas sales pur-chase agreement- GSPA) with the utility
providers. He said the de-
cision was meantto supply gas tofertilizer in-d u s t r yt h r o u g hd e d i -cated
s m a l lfields in line with thestrategy to reduce burdenfrom the SNGPL network, and toensure continuous supply to gen-eral and industrial consumers in thecountry. This decision has beentaken after detailedd e l i b e r a t i o n sfrom all concernedstakeholders in thelarger interest of the countrywhich is an agriculture economy,he added.
Agriculture contributes around24% to the GDP of Pakistan and italso provides raw materials to all themajor industries of Pakistan including,textiles and sugar. He said successful im-plementation of the long-term plan willensure self sufficiency of the country infer t i l -
izer production andwould also bring substan-
tial savings, half a billion dol-lars of foreign exchange
annually and subsidyof approximately
Rs 20 billionthat the coun-
try has tospend on 1
million tonneof urea imports.
He said post theECC approval, GSAs
between gas fields and fer-tilizer plants were inked carry-
ing reservoir risks and gastransportation agreements withboth Sui companies and weresigned under OGRA’s TPARules, adding that these agree-
ments strictly comply with theTPA rules.
The arrangement is beneficialfor Sui companies with additionalstream of tolling income and saving240 mmscfd of gas allocated to fourfertilizer plants under existingGSAs with SNGPL. While dis-pelling the impression that fertil-
izer sector would
get dedicated gas from different smallfields without any additional investment,he said to facilitate this transaction, fertil-izer plants are investing more than $100million in increasing pipeline capacitiesof Sui companies where bottlenecks exist.
The SNGPL based plants being large-scale units are now at the verge of closurewith over 100 billions rupees of payablebank loans. The current arrangement is awin-win for all stakeholders as fertilizerplants upon receiving regular gas fromdifferent small fields would provide farm-ers with cheaper local urea and gas com-panies would be selling this gas to newcustomers at better rates.
He said fertilizer plants will also paya higher gas price than the gas price avail-able to them under the existing GSAs, andwill also have to incur significant addi-tional investment for the smooth trans-portation of gas from respective gas fieldsto their plants. In the past despite guaran-teed contracts with the fertilizer industry,gas was diverted from fertilizer compa-nies to other sectors, however, with theimplementation of this arrangement, cer-tainty of gas supplies to the fertilizer sec-tor would be ensured to get continuous
urea production for Pakistani agri-culture sector.
Fertilizer sector to invest $100mto develop BTU gas sources
ISLAMABAD
APP
People from across the society haveexpressed mixed views on the care-taker government’s decision to banCNG in private vehicles having a ca-pacity above 1,000cc.
The caretaker government madethe decision in view of acute short-age and scarcity of gas and to ensureits gainful use by supplying it toother important sectors.
The Ministry of Petroleum andNatural Resources has been directedto consult the Ministry of Law forthe implementation of these deci-sions.
These decisions, after being vet-ted by the Ministry of Law, willcome into force on May 25.
“Though the decision has beentaken in good intention, but it shouldban CNG in public transport whichhad been the largest consumers, hav-ing several cylinders installed in ve-hicles,” Zahid Aslam, a public-sectoremployee said.
He was of the view that sincepublic transport could easily affordpetrol or diesel since they were doingbusiness and charging passengerswhatever they wanted to.
A taxi driver, Mir Janan, said thedecision would go a long way in ex-tending relief to common people.
He said the decision would pushrich people, who had luxurious vehi-cles at their disposal, to move topetrol or diesel consumption.
“You will see rich people withtheir luxurious cars in queues to refillCNG at filling stations in the twincities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi,which is, to me, not a good practice,”he observed.
The All Pakistan CNG Associa-tion (APCNGA) has rejected the de-cision, arguing it does not fall underthe mandate of the caretaker govern-ment.
It said the unpopular decision canin no way extend relief to the poorand would further increase problemsfor the masses and the business com-munity.
The association also rejected theMinistry of Petroleum and NaturalResources plan to suspend gas sup-ply to CNG outlets for six days onaccount of maintenance of plants atQadirpur gas field.
“The decision to bar CNG outletsfrom busi-
ness from May 21 toMay 27 will impact masses and
businesses and therefore the decisioncannot be accepted,” said APCNGAchief Ghiyas Abdullah Paracha.
He was of the view that closingsupply from the gas field will resultin a shortfall of 400 mmcfd whichshould have been distributed onmerit among gas consuming sectors.He said license issued to CNG oper-ators clearly indicate that any deci-sion regarding gas supply will betaken with consensus.
It has been approved by theprime minister that any CNG fillingstation found violating these instruc-tions shall be fined for the first of-fence with Rs 50,000. In case ofrepetition, the owner shall be finedRs 100,000 and in case of a third of-fence and violation, the CNG stationshall be sealed for a minimum periodof six months.
Similarly for any subsequent of-fence, the period of suspension of theCNG station shall not be less thanone year. These instructions shall notbe applicable on public transport asdefined in West Pakistan Public
Transport Act 1961.
Mixed views expressedto ban CNG in privatevehicles above 1,000cc
Plan to collectRs 150 billiontax money
ISLAMABAD
ONLINE
The caretaker federal government is ac-tively considering levying taxes to thetune of Rs 150 billion through a presiden-tial ordinance.According to sources, the government hasdecided to levy 5 percent withholding taxon the purchase of new vehicles, 17 per-cent general sales tax (GST) on sugar, andGST to 1.5 percent on all exports.Besides these, the Federal Excise Duty oncigarettes would be 65 percent of the re-tail price.PTEA OPPOSES TAXE INCREASEMeanwhile, the Pakistan Textile ExportersAssociation (PTEA) expressed concernover the imposition of a further 1% salestax and recent increase in withholding taxthrough presidential ordinance on textilesector, abolishing the sales tax zero ratingregime.In a statement, PTEA Chairman AsgharAli and Vice Chairman Muhammad Asiftermed it as the last nail in the coffin ofthe textile sector. “Such unrealistic decisions would ad-versely affect textile exports of the coun-try at a time when the industrial sector isalready in hot waters due to the energycrisis,” they added.“The changes in the tax regime would addfire to fuel,” he said, adding that the in-sane decision would adversely affect ex-ports at a time when a huge amount ofsales tax refunds are already stuck withthe FBR and exporters are facing a liquid-ity crunch. The government may study export poli-cies of India, China and Bangladeshwhere exporters are facilitated through ex-port-friendly policies, he said and addedthat FBR should announce export friendlypolicies instead of creating difficulties forthe industry. They further said there would be no levelplaying field for honest taxpayers instead,it would only result in blockade of theircapital in the shape of refunds, increasecost of doing business, shrink exportturnover, and compel them to greasepalms of tax officers to secure timely re-funds. “In the prevailing economic conditions,rising cost of production is the core issuefor textile exporters and this move remov-ing the sales tax zero rating regime on ex-ports would have a negative impact onnational economy and exports of thecountry,” they added.Asghar Ali said exporters strongly feelthat the caretaker government and theFBR purposely want to ruin the vitalvalue-added textile export sector, which isalready reeling under load shedding ofelectricity and gas, hike in electricityprices, deteriorating law and order situa-tion, and strikes.PTEA office bearers urged the govern-ment to drop recent presidential sales taxordinance for levying further 1% sales taxand the recent increase inwithholding tax,immediately.They furtherdemanded
to
con-tinue the pre-
vious zerorating scheme in
the in-terestofthein-dus-
try.
SECP issues license to non-life insurancecompany
KARACHI
APP
The Securities and Exchange Commissionof Pakistan (SECP) issued a license to theSahara Insurance Company Limited(SICL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of theEmployees Old-age Benefits Institution(EOBI), to transact non-life insurance busi-ness in Pakistan.A statement on Wednesday said with con-tinuing emphasis on social insurance, theEOBI decided to incorporate the SICL withthe primary objective of providing healthinsurance coverage to EOBI pensioners,aged between 60 and 70. In addition, accidental death and disabilitycoverage will be provided to expatriatePakistanis working abroad.In case of health insurance, the premiumwill be funded by theWorkers Welfare Fund while premiums foraccidental death and disability insurancewill be paid directly by the expatriate Pak-istani labour force to Sahara InsuranceCompany Limited (SICL).Following the registration of the SICL, thetotal number of active non-life insurers hasreached 40, while the total number of ac-tive insurance companies (life and non-life), including Pakistan ReinsuranceCompany Limited, now stands at 50. The last time a license was issued by theSECP to an insurance company was in2009, and that was to a life insurer.With this move, it is anticipated that thehealth insurance sector in Pakistan will wit-ness visible growth while holistically im-proving insurance penetration and densityfigures that have remained one of the low-est in the region, it was further stated.
16-17 Business Pages (23-05-2013)_Layout 1 5/23/2013 5:49 AM Page 1
BUSINESSThursday, 23 May, 2013
Xpress Money offers freeLife Insurance cover toOverseas PakistanisKARACHI: Xpress Money, the world’s most
dependable money transfer brand, in association
with Union Insurance - one of the leading insurance
firms in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC)
region, today launched remittance industry’s first
free life insurance for Overseas Pakistanis working
in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and Kuwait.
Designed specifically to suit the blue collared
population, this monthly renewable free life
insurance scheme, is available to any person
remitting money through Xpress Money. This
pioneering insurance will provide a life insurance
protection of 15, 000 Saudi Riyals / 1150 Kuwaiti
Dinars including 5000 Saudi Riyals / 390 Kuwaiti
Dinars (approximately) of repatriation expenses of
the mortal remains, something that not many
insurance companies cover. The life insurance
benefit will be available to any person remitting
money through Xpress Money for a period of one
month, from the day the customer makes a
transaction. A remitter can avail this life insurance
free of cost irrespective of the amount transacted.
Rizwan Hamdani, Country Manager - Pakistan,
Xpress Money, said: “Majority of the Pakistani
expats from blue-collared category, residing and
working in the KSA and Kuwait, generally work in
hazardous conditions at construction sites, factories
etc. We launched this free life insurance scheme
because we are sensitive to humanity and believe
that every life is priceless. This life insurance is a
critical value addition to our services and we are
glad to be associated with Union Insurance - a
leading insurance brand in the Gulf Co-operation
Council (GCC) region in creating a new milestone in
the remittance sphere.” PR
International Forum ofYoung Poetesses BAKU: “International Forum of Young Poetesses”
organized by the “Great Silk Way” International
Youth Union with the support of the Ministry of
Youth and Sport of the Republic of Azerbaijan,
Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of
Azerbaijan and Youth Foundation under the
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan was held in
Baku, Azerbaijan on 26-28 April 2013. The forum
took place in the International Mugham Centre with
participation of more than 20 poetesses from all
around the world, in particular, Albania, Azerbaijan,
Bangladesh, Egypt, Georgia, Greece, Hungary,
Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Morocco,
Pakistan, Romania, Russia, Tunisia, Turkey,
Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Officials
from Ministry of Youth and Sport, Ministry of
Culture and Tourism and Youth Foundation under
the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan,
Chairman and members of the Writers Union,
members of the Parliament of the Republic of
Azerbaijan, delegates of diplomatic corps of
participating countries participated in the event. For
the first time, the International Forum of Young
Poetesses was held in Azerbaijan. The main
purpose of the forum was organizing the meeting of
young literary talents living in various countries and
found the tradition of international cooperation in
Baku. The youth from Europe to Africa had
exchanged their experiences and also had
researched opportunities of forming a great literary
unity. During the Forum young poetesses presented
their poems as well as participated in sessions such
as: “Alternative literature – modern ways of self
expression” moderated by famous writer, publicist
and member of the Writers Union Gunel Anargizi,
“Role of young poetesses in intercultural dialogue”
Interbank RatesUSD PKR 98.5120GBP PKR 148.7531JPY PKR 0.9577EURO PKR 127.5435
ForexBUY SELL
US Dollar 99.70 99.95 Euro 126.85 127.10 Great Britain Pound 148.51 148.74 Japanese Yen 0.9484 0.9583 Canadian Dollar 94.82 96.50 Hong Kong Dollar 12.58 12.82 UAE Dirham 26.95 27.20 Saudi Riyal 26.45 26.69
ISLAMABAD: The prime minister of Pak-istan in order to overcome energy shortageshas ordered to stop the use of air conditionersin all public office buildings in the country.Moreover to combat heat during summerswhich sometimes witnesses temperaturesabove 500 C in many parts of Pakistan, thepremier directed all the civil servants to fol-low a new dress code to facilitate them attheir work places.
During last winter season when the tem-perature dropped to below freezing in Islam-
abad, the federal secretary for water & powerhad ordered to close natural gas & electricityheaters in all office buildings to save energyin the country. Moreover she advised publicservants to wear heavy clothes so that theyfeel comfortable during work and may notcatch cold. To solve the worst energy crisesin Pakistan, Energy Foundation chief has ad-vised the government to use green energy re-sources like solar, geothermal, wind, water,bio & city waste, which are abundantly avail-able all over the country with capacity to pro-
duce more than 200,000 MW of electricity.The use of green energy which is free, clean,environment friendly, renewable and sustain-able source could provide low cost reliableelectricity to our people in a short period oftime. Moreover it will reduce our depend-ence on imported fossil fuels, like crude oil,furnace oil, diesel oil, petrol & coal requiredfor thermal power plants and shall save bil-lions of dollars every year in the form of im-ports. Geothermal energy is being used forair-conditioning of buildings in seventy
countries of the world. The US Governmentin order to save energy & protect the envi-ronment has provided geothermal energy inmost public buildings which was initiated byPresident Clinton in 1999. Moreover the USGovernment has decided to install one mil-lion geothermal energy air-conditioned sys-tems every year by 2016, in all buildings inthe country. The geothermal energy air-con-ditioned systems do not use any gas, oil orcoal and save up to 60% electricity. More-over, no water is used in the system while
millions of gallons of water are wastedeveryday in the conventional air-conditionedsystems. The people in Islamabad are facingacute shortage of water during summer sea-son and in many sectors they have no watereven for drinking. If the air-conditionedplants in Islamabad are operated on geother-mal energy we can save the water whichcould be used for drinking. The geothermalenergy air-conditioned system will save util-ity bills, 100% for gas, up to 60% for elec-tricity and 100 % for water. PRESS RELEASE
Green energy to solve energy crisis in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD
APP
PAKISTAN’S ex-ports in rupees termsurged by 13.38 per-cent to Rs 1.941 tril-
lion during the first ten monthsof the current fiscal year asagainst the corresponding pe-riod of last year. Exports fromthe country during July-April(2012-13) were recorded at Rs1,941,654 million against theexports of Rs 1,712,557 millionduring July-April (2011-12),according to the latest data ofPakistan Bureau of Statistics.
On a month-on-month(MoM) basis, the exports fromthe country increased by 0.08percent to Rs 209,441 in April2013 when compared to the Rs209,274 million exports ofMarch 2013. On the other hand,on a year-on-year (YoY) basis,exports during April 2013 in-creased by 3.68 percent whencompared to exports of Rs202,010 million during thesame month last year. The maincommodities of exports duringApril 2013 were cotton cloth(Rs 24,034 million), cotton yarn(Rs 18,447 million), readymadegarments (Rs 16,068 million),knitwear (Rs 14,849 million),rice other than basmati (Rs14,591 million), bed wear (Rs
Meanwhile, imports intothe country during July-April(2012-13) stood at Rs3,533,990 million against im-ports of Rs 3,279,526 millionduring the corresponding periodof last year, showing an in-crease of 7.76 percent. Duringthe month of April 2013, im-ports into the country wererecorded at Rs 384,277 againstthe imports of Rs 361,585 mil-lion in March, showing a posi-tive growth of 6.28 percent.
Compared to imports of Rs340,480 million during April2012, the imports in April 2013witnessed an increase of 12.86percent, the PBS data revealed.The main commodities of im-ports during April 2013 were pe-troleum products (Rs 72,320million) petroleum crude(53,529 million), iron and steel(Rs 16,231 million), palm oil(Rs 15,415 million), plastic ma-terials (Rs 12,049 million), me-dicinal products (Rs 8,210million), electrical machineryand apparatus (Rs 8,209 mil-lion), raw cotton (Rs 7,938 mil-lion), gold (Rs 7,608 million)and motor cars (CKD/SKD) (Rs5,011 million), the data revealed.
WAPDA working onover 20 watersector projectsISLAMABAD: The Water and PowerDevelopment Authority (WAPDA) isworking on more than 20 projects inwater sector with cumulative waterstorage capacity of about 13 millionacre feet (MAF) and power generationof more than 21,000 MW. An official source said completion ofthese projects would not only increasewater storage capacity to help im-prove per-capita water availability inthe country but also enhance the ratioof low-cost hydel electricity in the na-tional grid. Dilating upon the detailsof WAPDA projects, the sources saidthat WAPDA had completed six watersector projects from last year onwardsadding 4.13 MAF of water and 323MW of hydel electricity. These in-cluded Mangla Dam Raising, KhanKhwar, Jinnah, Allai Khwar, GomalZam and Satpara Dam. Amongst restof the projects, Neelum Jhelum,Golen Gol, Keyal Khwar, Tarbela 4thExtension, Diamer Basha, Dasu,Mohmand Dam and Bunji Hy-dropower Project are to name a few,they added. For optimum utilisationof the water resources, they saidWAPDA was also constructing smalland medium-sized dams in all thefour provinces and FATA in additionto its mega projects. They saidDarawat Dam has recently been com-pleted, while construction work hasalso been initiated on Nai Gaj, Nau-long and Ghabir Dam projects. APP
Political stabilityis a pre-requisitefor economicstability: ICCIISLAMABAD: Islamabad Chamberof Commerce and Industry (ICCI)President Zafar Bakhtawari said polit-ical stability is a pre-requisite for eco-nomic growth and development of thecountry. “There should have been planfor practicing good governance forsustaining and maintaining a soundpolitical and socio-economic systemin the country,” said Zafar Bakhtawariduring a meeting with Tariq FazalChaudhary of PML-N on Wednesday.Zafar Bakhtawari informed the newlyelected MNA about various problemsfaced by business community andhighlighted the problem of balancedrent control because non-existence ofa balanced rent law in the federal capi-tal was the main cause of rising rentdisputes between tenants and land-lords. He urged the leaders of all thepolitical parties to help strengthendemocratic system in the national in-terest, adding that political stabilitywas a key factor for economic devel-opment and restoring confidence offoreign and local investors. Speakingon the occasion, Tariq Fazal Chaud-hary said his party would launch de-velopment projects throughout thecountry as the PML-N leadership hadalready delivered various developmentprojects to the masses in the past andit would continue its struggle to makethe country prosperous. ONLINE
Exports surge 13.38 percentto 1.941 trillion in 10 months
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