profit.com.pk

Heavy thunder and hailstormsahead… Page 02

Thursday, 10 May, 2012

fRUiTLESS fanTaSiES, STanZa 7, LinE 4

g Pakistan faces 30pc less mangoproduction this season

g Mango exports to start by 25th g Country’s eyes $50 million worth

of exports this year g US, Japanese markets likely to

remain untapped despite lastyear’s initiatives

g australian delegation to inspectPakistani mango this month

ISLAMABAD

APP

PREsiDEnt asif ali Zardarihas said that Pak-EU 5-yearEngagement Plan and theupcoming strategic Dialogue

were the important landmarks in Pak-EU partnership which he said wasmoving steadily forward along an

upward trajectory since2008.addressing a gathering of EUdiplomas, Ministers, Parliamentariansto commemorate 50th anniversary ofPak-EU relations being held at aiwan-e-sadr this evening, the President saidthat Pakistan attaches greatimportance to its excellent relationswith the European Union which were“based on shared democratic values,

principles of mutual respect, trust andcooperation.” He said that the 50 yearslong association reflects thecommitment the two sides have madeto strengthen the mutual relations andcooperative partnership. the Presidentsaid that European Union was a keypartner in peace and development ofPakistan. He said that it was animportant ally in the campaign againstterrorism, the biggest trading partner,and a major source of directinvestment. the EU, the President said,has supported democracy and helpedPakistan in difficult times. We greatlyvalue and thank the European Unionand its member states for their supportand assistance to Pakistan, thePresident said.the President, on thisoccasion, also appreciated thecontributions made by EU ambassadorin Pakistan Lars-Gunner Wigemark

and Pak ambassador in Brussels, thecurrent Foreign secretary Jalil abbasJilani for their efforts to furtherstrengthen the equation. the Presidentsaid that Pakistan was working with theEU to build a mutually beneficialstrategic partnership.He said thatduring the last 50 years the EU haspassed through momentous changesand has emerged bigger and stronger.Despite economic difficulties, it hasstayed the course and emerged as animportant global player, the Presidentcontinued. He said that Pakistan toohas faced many challenges and bravedmany storms in the course of itshistory. We are passing through acrucial phase now, he said. thePresident said that Pakistan was againon the frontline in the campaignagainst terrorism. this struggle, hesaid, was exacting massive human and

economic costs.the President said thatbesides the great toll of the ongoingwar against terrorism, the economicdifficulties have been furthercompounded by back-to-back naturalcalamities, rising international oilprices, the energy shortage and theclimate changes. But, he continued,positive developments were also takingplace simultaneously. He said thatPakistan has undergone a silentrevolution which has revived the spiritof Pakistan. a democratic andprogressive Pakistan has been emergingin line with the vision of the foundingfather, Quaid-e azam Muhammad aliJinnah, shaheed Zulfikar ali Bhuttoand shaheed Mohtarma BenazirBhutto, the President said. He said thatour Constitution guarantees equalrights to all citizens irrespective of faith,cast or gender.

EU’S high fivE

Digging out thepublic sectorfrom oblivion

ISLAMABAD

APP

tHE annual PlanCoordination Committee(aPCC) in its meeting to

be held here on May 10(thursday) is likely to earmarkRs.825 billion in the Publicsector Development Programme(PsDP) 2012-13 for various on-going and new developmentschemes at federal as well asprovincial level, showing anincrease of 11.51 percent over thePsDP of the outgoing fiscal year.Out of the total PsDP 2012-13,the aPCC is likely to berecommended Rs. 350 billion asfederal PsDP while Rs. 475billion are likely to be approvedfor provincial PsDP, officialsources told aPP. as compared tothe PsDP of the last year, thePsDP this year has beenincreased by 11.51 percent,including federal PsDP by 17percent and provincial PsDP by9.47 percent, an official in thePlanning Commission said. Hesaid PsDP for the year 2012-13would be presented before theannual Plan CoordinationCommittee (aPCC) during itsmeeting scheduled to be heldhere on thursday under the jointchairmanship of Minister forFinance, Dr. abdul Hafeezshaikh and Deputy ChairmanPlanning Commission ofPakistan, Dr. nadeem-ul-Haq.the Planning Commissionofficial added that in the first partof the meeting the economicoutlook during the currentfinancial year would be presentedto the participants in detail. inthe second part of the meeting,he added that the allocationsrecommended by the prioritycommittee of the governmentwould be discussed to be chairedby the Deputy ChairmanCommission Dr.nadeem ul Haq.the aPCC would recommend thePsDP-2012-13 for the approval ofnational Economic Council(nEC) to be chaired by the PrimeMinister syed Yusuf Raza Gilani.

KARACHI

GHULAM ABBAS

Pakistan, which is going tostart the exports of mango ofthis season by May 25, hasbeen estimated to face 30

percent reduction in production due tothe impacts of climatic change in thecountry. the country is likely toproduced only 1.2 million tones ofmango against the production of 1.7million tones recorded during theprevious season. Last year 0.134million tones of mango were exportedagainst the target of 0.170 milliontones out of the total production of 1.7million tones generating revenue of atleast $ 38 million. this was informed by Waheed ahmedCo Chairman, all Pakistan Fruit andVegetable Exporters, importers andMerchant association (PFVa) whiletalking to Pakistan today onWednesday. He said that this year thetarget was fixed at 0.15 million toneswith the estimated revenue generationof $ 50 million to the country. the reduction in production, he said,was mainly because of the climaticchange which hit the mango trees in

many parts of the country including,Hyderabad, tando allahyar,Mirpurkhas and Mityari of sindh andMultan, Rahim Yar khan, shuja abad,Muzaffar Garh and khane-e-wal ofPunjab province. Waheed informed that, despitesuccessful initiatives taken by PFVa incollaboration with trade Developmentauthority of Pakistan (tDaP) tointroduce the country’s honey mangoesin the Us and Japanese markets, theexports of the fruit to the foreigncountry was unlikely to be started thisyear because of the lack of VHt plantfacility in the country. though Japan had last year approvedthe mango tested through the existingsmall VHt facility in the country but itwas not viable to use for commerciallevel of trade because of itsfunctionality and capacity. thus theexports to tokyo were at least still adistant dream, he added. Besides, the test and quality approval ofmango in Usa, in the absence of thequarantine facility in the country, wasalso not favorable for exports as noexporter could risk sending entireconsignment to the foreign countrybefore quality approval while bearing

huge freight cost, he said. thus thecountry’s honey mangoes were failed tomake their debut in Japan, Usa andRussia due to lack of funds for installingthe VHt and radiation plant needed toqualify the value added markets of theforeign countries. the proposal of Commercial ProcessingPlant and Common Facility Center hasalready been sent to the Ministry ofCommerce but the ministry was yet totake any step for resolving the qualityissue of the highly demanded fruit ofthe country. Beside the two important foreignmarkets, the country was also losing thealready established and tapped marketin iran because of the sanctionsimposed by Us and UnO as thecommercial banks here were reluctantto get involve in the financialtransactions. the lukewarm response bythe Pakistani officials towards a genuineissue raised by the exporters regardingtrade with the brotherly country iranmay also spell severe financialrepercussion for the fruits’ export of thecountry. in view of the emerging criticalsituation, exporters were apprehensiveabout the future of their exports as iranis regarded as a valuable market in

terms of prompt payment for theimported fruits. the existing exports orsmuggling via land routes to tehranwould also not benefit the country interms of revenue, Waheed added. Hefurther informed that a delegation ofquarantine department of australia wasalso due to visit Pakistan this month toinspect the mango farms and processingunits in the country. the opening ofaustralian border for Pakistani mango,which is expected this year, would be animportant development for thecountry’s fruits. it is worth mentioninghere that mangoes, in the country, arealso cultivated in Balochistan andn.W.F.P, the fruit is mainly grown insindh and southern Punjab. Mirpurkhas and Multan are noted for theirhuge mango gardens. Hyderabad,nawabshah, naushahroferoz, khairpur(Mir’s), Rahim Yar khan, Bhawalpur,Muzafargarh, sheikhupura areimportant mango growing areas in thecountry. Mango production inkhanewal, sahiwal, Vehari, Okara,Faisalabad, Jhang, toba tek singh andsargodha etc is also considerable.Varieties of mangoes are various. theirnumber is infinite. But, only a select fewhave commercial significance. some ofthe principal varieties of Pakistan aredescribed here. Out of the five kinds high qualitymango sindhri is the best of allvarieties grown in Pakistan. the otherswere Chaunsa, Dasehri, Langra andsonaro. among a total of 75 mangoexport countries in the world Mexico,Philippines and Pakistan lead the list.

Can’t only blame the govt for the mango,Cuz it takes two, and sometimes more, to tango

Mango MiSERy

Pak-EU 5-year engagement plan importantlandmark in partnership: Zardari

g PSDP likely to beincreased by 11.51percent at Rs.825billion in 2012-13

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news02Thursday, 10 May, 2012

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

Pakistan has a potential to generate over2.324 million mega watts electricity perannum through solar system and

industrialists should come into manufacturing inthis sector for domestic as well as industrial use inorder to overcome prevailing energy crisis inPakistan. this was stated by Vice ChancellorHamdard University Dr nasim a. khan whilegiving a presentation on “solar Power in Pakistan”organized by korangi association of trade andindustry in collaboration with the EngineeringReview here Wednesday. Dr nasim said solar andwind powers were the real sources of energy andrest of the sources were alternative. He saidHamdard University was ready to providetechnology of solar power to the industrialists freeof charge so that country could be able to benefitfrom cheapest sources of energy. He said thoughsolar panels were expensive at present, but thecommercial manufacturing would make themcheaper and viable for all consumers. He further

emphasized on manufacturing of all components ofsolar system locally in order to make them viablefor the local as well export market. He informedthat countries like the Usa, Germany, australia,Brazil, Uk, Japan, india, China and thailand werenow generating electricity in bulk through solarsystem. He disclosed that Japan was generatingelectricity at the cost of only two cents per kilo watthour (kWH). He said Pakistan needed to add 2000MW electricity to the national grid annually andthis could only be possible through solar and windpower. He said the Uk, which had less than half ofthe population than Pakistan, was generating70000 MW in 1970 whereas Pakistan wasgenerating merely 22000MW at present.Chairman kati Ehtesham Uddin announced toextend all-out support to the University for thepromotion of solar powered technology andoffered to coordinate with Dr nasim andindustrialists to manufacture solar panels fordomestic and industrial use. President all karachiindustrial alliance Mian Zahid Hussain said solarand wind power was need of the hour and futurebelonged to the two cheapest sources of energy.

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

DEsPitE having immense potential, theagriculture sector of Pakistan lacksefficiency and global competitiveness,

causing dent to self sufficiency in production ofvarious farm produces, said asad Umar, ChairmanPakistan Business Council while speaking tomembers of agricultural Journalists’ association(aJa). in his presentation on ‘agriculture – amainstay of Pakistan’s economy’ asad Umar, whohas recently assumed responsibility in Pakistantehrik insaf as senior Vice President after optingearly retirement from top slot of Engro Corp, saidproduction of various farm products has been as lowas 90 per cent if compared with global benchmark.sugarcane yield is 40 per cent lower if comparedwith global benchmarks, wheat yield is 20 per centlower, non-basmati Rice yield is 40 per cent lower,cotton yield is 20 per cent lower and milk yield peranimal is 90 per cent lower, he said. the low outputalso adversely affects capability of farmers to earn

more, he added. Pakistan, which has been dubbed asa ‘great bread basket’ is struggling due to thesefactors and is now increasingly becoming animporter of a large number of agri-commodities. atthe same time, Umar said, Pakistan agriculturesector also faces huge post-harvest losses of 40-80per cent if compared with global benchmark. thisdouble blow—low output and high losses, diminishesincome of growers further, he maintained. similar isthe case with agriculture credit facilities, farmmechanization and availability of water, he said andadding these structural problems needs to beaddress. as against 20-25 tractors per sq km ofarable land for global benchmarks, availability oftractor for Pakistani farmer has been about 10 timeslower from this level. Much to the dismay of farmers,he said, agricultural Credit disbursed to farmers inPakistan declined from UsD 3.4 billion in 2007/08to UsD 3.1 billion in 2010/11. During the sameperiod, indian agricultural Credit increased fromUsD 63.3 billion to UsD 103.4 billion, he said.gricultural Credit in Pakistan is 8 per cent of agri-GDP while in india, it is 31 per cent of agri-GDP.

Make hay while the sun shines

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

PUnJaB Food Department till date has bought over200,000 metric tons of wheat from the growerswhile distributed 1.077 million tons gunny bags to

the growers in all the districts of the province. this wasrevealed by the special assistant to the Chief Minister onFood Mansha Ullah Butt and secretary Food Punjab irfanali while briefing the newsmen regarding on going wheatprocurement drive here on Wednesday. they hoped thatthe food department would meet the procurement target ofwheat procurement by May 30, 2012. secretary FoodPunjab irfan ali claimed that this year wheat procurementwas more transparent and farmer friendly as compared tothe past. He said that issuance of gunny bags from theprocurement centers was more than the arrival of wheatwhich was a clear proof that the growers were facing nohardships in getting gunny bags. He said that he hadvisited the procurement centers of 12 districts of theprovince to monitor the wheat procurement drive andfound revenue department officials in irregularities postedat narang Mandi. He said that DCO on the complaintimmediately took the record in custody and after checkingsuspended the officials concerned. similarly, he said thattwo food inspectors from sahiwal (Pakpattan), patwarifrom Okara, food supervisor from khanewal and a foodinspector from Vehari were suspended from the serviceson complaints. He said that monitoring teams had beenconstituted in each division to monitor the wheatprocurement in their respective areas to ensuretransparency. He also said that small growers whobrought wheat in 50 bags or less are paid immediatelywhile those bringing more than 50 bags of wheat were

being paid in next two days. irfan ali stated that bankbooths had been set up at 19 big procurement centers tofacilitate the growers and making payments without anydelay during the drive. Food secretary further claimed thatwheat procurement policy of the Punjab government isbringing stability in the price of wheat in the domesticmarket while prospects of exports are also brighteningwhich would further stabilize the market and ensureprosperity to the growers of the province. Meanwhile,Punjab agriculture Minister said in a press statement thatPassCO was exploiting the farmers whereas PunjabGovernment has facilitated wheat procurement process byestablishing 374 procurement centres in Punjab. He waschairing a consultative meeting on wheat procurementwith representatives of farmer organizations here atagriculture House, Lahore on Wednesday. Chief Minister’sadvisor for Food Mr. Mansha Ullah Butt was also present.Meeting was attended by President of Mutehida kissanMahaz Mr. ayub khan Mayo, President kissan Boardsardar Zafar Hussain, General secretary kissan Board Ch.akhtar Farooq Mayo, Director Farmers associatesPakistan Mr. Hamid Malhi and representatives ofanjuman-i-Mazareen, Punjab. Director General agri.(Ext.) Dr. anjum ali, Director agricultural information,Punjab Mr. Muhammad Rafiq akhtar, Deputy secretary(Food) Mr. abid Rasheed, additional Director (Food) Dr.altaf. Mansha Ullah Butt told the meeting that 1.1 millionbags of wheat have been purchased and 9 million emptybags (bardana) have been provided to farmers. the targetof 3.5 million ton wheat procurement will be achieved andany sort of corruption, inefficiency and exploitation willnot be tolerated. For this purpose a revenue officer hasbeen deputed as Centre Coordinators have been appointedat each procurement centre by DCO.

‘agriculture sector lacks efficiency, competitiveness’

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

tHE Lahore Chamber of Commerce andindustry Wednesday threatened thegovernment to close down businesses if

the government fails to control over 14 hoursdaily load shedding immediately by makingpayments to the iPPs. in a statement issuedhere, the LCCi President irfan Qaiser sheikhsaid that the Lahore Chamber of Commerce &industry was being forced by all the trade andindustrial associations to give a call for indefi-nite strike as the energy shortage have crippledtheir businesses. He said that situation hasturned so pathetic that neither the industrialunits are working nor traders are doing anybusiness because of the electricity shortage.irfan Qaiser sheikh said that law & order situ-ation was also getting out of hands due to un-employment because of electricity shortage.the LCCi President said that the governmentcould easily overcome the circular debt issue ifthe electricity distribution is transferred toprovinces. He said that the transfer of electric-ity distribution to provinces would not onlyhelp recover outstanding dues but it wouldalso streamline the electricity supply as moremoney would be available to the governmentfor power generation. He said that theprovince that would not be able to recover dueswould definitely be getting lesser electricity.

Piaf’S PoKELAHORE: Pakistan industrial & tradersassociation Front (PiaF) has urged thegovernment to exempt industrial estate fromelectricity load shedding as daily 5 to six hourscontinuous power cuts have curtailedproductions to the maximum. in a pressstatement, Chairman Lahore townshipindustrial association iftikhar Bashir, formerChairman Malik tahir Javed, iqbal BaigChughtai, former Chairman of Quaid-e-azamindustrial Board Mian nauman kabir, formerChairman of PaPaM Malik Mohammad aslam,former Chairman of PMa and LCCi former ECmember amjad ali Jawa and Baber Mahmoodsaid that load shedding in the industrial estate iscausing irreparable loss to the economy besidesincreasing poverty and number of unemployedpeople in the country. they said that governmentsilence over power crisis is putting a questionmark on its ability to run the country. they saidthat due to wrong government policies andmismanaged affairs, the industry had almostcollapsed and industrialists were left with noother option but to close down their operations.they said had right steps been taken well in timeto enhance the power generation, the situationwould have been far better. STAFF REPORT

Wheat procurement is going rather wellLUCRaTivE nUMBERS

WaLKing on SUnShinE

PBC’S PESSiMiSM

heavy thunder andhailstorms ahead…

KARACHI

ISMAIL DILAWAR

tHE economic observers foresee furtherdeterioration in the country’s alreadydepressed investment climate as the funds-starved federal government is planning to

impose incremental taxes on the banks’ earnings. the federal government, which this year (FY12) isbracing for a fiscal deficit of over seven percent due torigid current expenditures and low tax buoyancy, is ina dire need for additional avenues of revenue and is,therefore, expected to impose incremental taxes,ranging from five to 50 percent, on the ever-profitablebanking sector. the banks, both traditional andislamic, have long been under fire for pocketing hugesums on account of their heavy lending to the cash-strapped federal and provincial government throughinvestment in the risk-free and highly-weightedsovereign guarantees including the Market treasuryBills, Pakistan investment Bonds and ijara sukuk.according to central bank data, during July-april 27the scheduled banks invested over Rs 603 billion inthe government securities. this amount was Rs324.401 billion or 116.5 percent more than Rs 278.38billion they had invested during corresponding periodin FY11. “the banks’ allocation of funds towards thegovernment papers only propelled, naturally, becauseof the sustained arbitrage of high yield on governmentpaper verses low-cost and relatively immune depositbase,” viewed khurram schehzad, head of research atinvestCap. the federal government, however, seems tohave decided to retrieve some of the mammothincomes the banks have made through investing in thegovernment papers. a 15 percent incremental tax is,therefore, widely being expected on the banks’ t-billsreturns that make up a significant portion of thebanks’ balance sheets. the analysts, however, fear thatthe levy would impact the two sides, the governmentand the banks, marginally with the overall economy tobear the brunt. “such inadequate measures againstmarket economy and sector efficiency would only hurtfurther the already depressed investment climate inthe country,” warned schehzad. the analyst said while allowing for such “anti-free-market” measures, one should look at the

government’s own conflict of interest to first, invitingfinancial institutions to fund its burgeoning fiscaldeficit on one hand, causing yields to stretch beyondsustainable level for extended periods hamperingeconomic growth, and then trying and hammeringdown funding institutions for getting attracted to suchhigh return, on the other. He said the financial impact of the proposed by 15 to50 percent taxes would range from three to 10 percentdepending on the size of the bank and the volume ofits investment in the sovereign guarantees. “We have to make a number of assumptions tocalculate only a proximity of the actual impact that thebanks may have on their bottom lines in case of anexpected 15 percent incremental tax on t-bills’returns,” schehzad said. in this regard, he assumedthat the incremental tax would reduce the banks’earnings on average by seven percent. While the ex-sLR investments and returns on t-bills, which makesmore sense with incremental tax on ex-sLR earningsfrom t-bills, the banks’ earnings only get affected by amarginal three percent on average. the banks havinglarger contribution from t-bills earnings to theirGovernment investment issues were expected to beaffected the most. the mid-tier and lower-tier, theanalyst said, would see their earnings decline by 9.1percent and 9.8 percent, respectively. “We expect anyextra tax on t-bills’ returns would yield a marginal Rs8.7 billion for the government or total Rs 16.8 billionalong with a potential five percent incrementalcorporate tax if imposed on the banks’ earnings inaddition to 15 percent incremental tax on t-bills.”Opposed to the idea of incremental tax, the analystsaid the resource-constrained government should takemore appropriate action with lasting impactsincluding improving depositor/investor’s awarenesson investment avenues, policies supportingcompetition amongst banks to cause materialimprovement in deposit rates, rigorous capitalrequirement, narrower cap on investment intogovernment papers and the promotion of a regularbond/tFC market. Last but not the least, the analystsaid, the secondary market/central bank borrowingshould be one part of the source of funding for thegovernment to bridge the fiscal gap instead of beingthe only source for that matter.

g government rolls upsleeves to risk investmentclimate for mere Rs9 billionto Rs 17 billion tax revenue

g Researchers, businessmen agree to introduce solar system in industrialsector g Pakistan has potential to generate 2.3million MW solar energy:Dr nasim g KaTi forms body to coordinate with hamdard University

nope, the load-shedding protestqueue won’t get any shorter…

iMPaCT of inCREMEnTaL TaXES on BanKS’ T-BiLLS EaRningS

PRO 10-05-2012_Layout 1 5/10/2012 3:50 AM Page 2

news

Thursday, 10 May, 2012

03

glow supports young leaders

KARACHI: Being one of the most active, hap-pening and aware brand - Glow by Warid con-tinues supporting young leaders. this time, itwas the Media Fest event of kinnaird Collegefor women which was presented by Glow. itwas aimed at helping Media students unleashtheir talent and expose their inner journalisticskills. kMs (kinnaird Media society), the col-lege’s Mass Communication department, or-ganized this festival in which over 550 kCstudents participated in four competitions.Glow by Warid always recognizes the potentialand provides platform and means to theyoungsters of our nation to show their talents.the kMs President appreciated the role ofGlow for supporting them in conducting theirfirst Media Fest successfully.

aBL to launch mobile banking services

LAHORE: allied Bank Limited, one of thelargest banks in Pakistan inked a technologysupport agreement for the deployment of mo-bile banking services with sybase, an saPCompany, the global leader in mobile com-merce services and abacus Consulting, theleading consulting, technology and outsourc-ing firm in the region. the deal was closed atthe Head Office of the Bank today. khalid a.sherwani, President/CEO, Jalees ahmed, Ex-ecutive Director - strategic Planning, Zia ijaz,Group Chief - Commercial & Retail Banking &

Mujahid ali, Group Chief - information tech-nology from allied Bank, asad ali khan, Pres-ident & abbas ali khan, senior Partner fromabacusConsulting and Hasan Jamal, CountryHead - Pakistan from saP were present on theoccasion along with other officials. Pakistanhappens to be one of the fastest developingmarkets in the world for mCommerce andthese services will create opportunities of un-precedented scale for bank customers. alliedBank’s decision to deploy mCommerce solu-tion will enable it to offer mobile phone basedfinancial and non-financial services to its cus-tomers. On the occasion, sherwani commented“allied Bank, being one of the largest banks inPakistan, has been capitalizing on technologyto provide fast and cost efficient services to itscustomers. the imminent implementation ofmCommerce solution would further enhanceallied Bank’s capacity to extend its services towide range of banking customers and help inextending financial inclusion to the hithertountapped market segments”. asad a khan ofabacusConsulting commented “We are pleasedto be a part of this goal in transforming the fi-nancial ecosystem in Pakistan in partnershipwith allied Bank.

intel powers partner growth withcompute continuumISLAMABAD: intel this week hosts hundredsof asia Pacific channel partners at its annualintel solutions summit, held this year in Bali,indonesia. the summit, held over three days,will provide intel’s partner community with thetools to deliver solutions to businesses and con-sumers across the region. the intel technologyPartner program saw a massive increase acrossasia Pacific during the past year, with 7,000new organizations added. at the summitkeynote, kamil Hasan, director of intel’s Re-seller Channel Organization in asia Pacific, willoutline intel’s focus areas for 2012 and beyond:“Partners across asia Pacific are seeing newpossibilities in the compute continuum, andopportunities to deliver parts of a smarter,more secure, and always-connected computingexperience that spans a range of device seg-ments – including laptops, digital signage, all-in-one devices, and servers – even the datacenters to which they connect,” said Mr. Hasan.“in the last year alone, 7,000 more partnersjoined intel’s technology Provider program tolearn how they can grow their businesses in theevolving world of technology.” the intel tech-nology Partner program is designed to helptrain, support and position channel partnersfor sustained growth, by both supporting their

current business models and helping themidentify and capture new opportunities in themarket. at the event, intel will create valueamong its ecosystem by facilitating new rela-tionships and managing access between mutu-ally beneficial organizations. khawerMehmood, , Managing Director, Optimumtechnology Pakistan, who is attending thesummit said “in 2010, a combination of in-creasing competition and decreasing profit sig-nified a need for our business to change focuson selling computers and look for other busi-ness growth solutions. intel helped us identifythe vast potential in the digital signage segmentin Pakistan and opened doors for us to accessmajor partners in the market overseas”. inno-vation is a key area of discussion at the summitthis year as many partners look to expand theirbusiness into new market segments. intel isproviding building block ingredients for desk-top, mobile and server CPUs, motherboardsand systems so that channel partners can de-liver new products and solutions to market.Partners participating in the intel technologyProvider program are already experiencing suc-cess across embedded, all-in-one, Ultrabookand software channels. “the demand of thecompute market continues to grow and evolve,and we will strengthen our position across allchannel segments and focus on working collab-oratively with partners to grow and evolve thechannel” says naveed siraj, Country Manager.“intel Pakistan looks forward to working withour local partner network to bring new innova-tions to market in Country.”

BRIEF CORNER

Major Gainers

Company Open High Low Close Change Turnover

Unilever Food 2990.06 3139.56 3000.00 3139.01 148.95 175Rafhan MaizeSPOT 2902.00 3047.10 2950.00 3047.00 145.00 442Nestle Pakistan Ltd. 4122.31 4320.00 4150.00 4199.75 77.44 2,102Colgate Palmolive 861.00 875.00 850.00 875.00 14.00 180Sanofi-AventisXD 168.58 176.75 168.58 176.70 8.12 1,606

Major Losers

Siemens Pakistan 718.97 702.00 683.10 685.57 -33.40 1,345Indus Dyeing 438.10 416.32 416.20 416.29 -21.81 69UniLever PakSPOT 7341.25 7400.00 7100.00 7326.43 -14.82 315Island Textile 228.73 217.50 217.30 217.30 -11.43 1Shezan Inter. 172.94 168.01 165.00 165.69 -7.25 3,900

Volume Leaders

P.T.C.L.A 16.05 16.90 15.90 16.20 0.15 47,264,734Lotte PakPTA 9.12 10.06 9.13 9.94 0.82 38,610,901D.G.K.Cement 45.84 46.55 44.70 46.22 0.38 25,254,141Jah.Sidd. Co. 16.46 17.46 16.25 17.46 1.00 22,052,868Bank AL-Habib 28.00 29.40 27.74 29.24 1.24 16,474,965

Interbank RatesUs Dollar 90.8170Uk Pound 146.2971Japanese Yen 1.1401Euro 117.8351

Dollar EastBuy Sell

US Dollar 91.10 91.80Euro 117.58 118.40Great Britain Pound 146.45 147.43Japanese Yen 1.1358 1.1433Canadian Dollar 90.38 91.49Hong Kong Dollar 11.58 11.75UAE Dirham 24.78 24.92Saudi Riyal 24.28 24.41Australian Dollar 91.02 93.09

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

On Wednesday, the bullskept dominating karachistocks market with thebenchmark, ksE 100-

share index skyrocket 99.63 points.ahsan Mehanti, Director at arifHabib investments Limited, saidthat the Pakistan stocks closedhigher amid trading in narrow rangeas investors speculate on favorablefederal budget announcements forcorporate sector. the day saw theindex closing up by 0.69 percent at14,613.59 points against 14,513.96points of tuesday. the trading vol-umes at the ready-counter wererecorded higher at 318.885 millionshares against 226.218 millionshares of the previous day. the trad-ing value was up to Rs 9.991 billioncompared to Rs 9.628 billion of theprevious session. the intraday highand low, respectively, stood at14643.88 and 14513.96 points. Headded that the investor interest inblue-chip stocks in oversold fertil-izer, cement, telecom sectors wit-nessed despite major fall in globalstocks and commodities on uncer-tain future of Euro zone debt crises.the market capitalization grew mod-estly and increased to Rs 3.732 tril-

lion from Rs 3.705 trillion a day ear-lier. Of the total 387 traded scrips,199 gained, 129 lost and 59 finishedas unchanged. the free-float ksE-30index also gained 73.08 points toclose at 12,746.43 points against theprevious 12,673.35 points. the ksEall-share index closed with a gainedof 74.67 points to 10,251.17 points asagainst 10,176.50 points. azeemstated that Positive outlook for ureasales, higher cotton yields data andexpected double digit rise in PsDPallocations in federal budget playeda catalyst role in bullish sentiments atksE. P.t.C.L.a was the day’s volumeleader counting its traded shares at47.264 million with the opening andclosing rates standing at Rs 16.05 andRs 16.20, followed by Lotte PakistanPta, D.G.k. Cement, Jahangir sid-diqui Company and Bank al-Habibwith turnover of 38.610 million,25.254 million, 22.052 million and16.474 million shares respectively.On the future market, the turnoverrecovered remarkably by over 4 mil-lion shares to 23.241 million against19.214 million shares of tuesday. theUnilever Food and Rafhan MaizesPOt, up Rs 148.95 and Rs 145.00,led highest price gainers while,siemens Pakistan and indus Dyeing,down Rs 33.40 and Rs 21.81 respec-tively, led the losers.

WELL PLayED!

Bulls hit a century…well almostg KSE 100-share index skyrockets 99.63 points

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

OFFiCiaLs of the indianstock exchanges have rec-ommended elimination of

all constraints to make the demutu-alisation experience successful. theofficial shared their own experiencesof demutualisation at a luncheonhosted by the Lahore stock Ex-change (LsE) for the visiting digni-taries of indian capital market. thedelegation comprised of MCX- stockExchange india CEO JosephMassey, south asian Federation ofExchanges (saFE) and Delhi stockExchange (DsE) Chairman Dr Dal-bir singh and other DsE directors,including Justice Vinod kumar, Ma-hendra nath, Vijay kumar and anujChowdhry. the delegation held dis-cussions with the Board of Directorsand members of the committeeoverseeing demutualisation at LsE.LsE MD/CEO aftab ahmed Ch,while welcoming the delegationsaid: “timing of this visit cannot beany better as the exchanges in Pak-istan are in the process of demutual-isation. We can learn a great dealfrom the experiences of Delhi stockExchange and MCX in a post-demu-tualisation environment”. He saidthat the visit of indian business

community would play an importantrole to increase trade and cross bor-der activity in the backdrop of grant-ing india MFn status and positivemeasures being taken at both sidesin these regards. the indian busi-ness community is visiting Pakistanto participate in a two-day confer-ence of indo-Pak businessmen andlook for opportunities to increasetrade and finance between the twocountries. speaking at the occasion,Joseph Massey of MCX-sX said thatalthough Pakistan’s capital marketwas underdeveloped, this could be ablessing in disguise as it offered thestrategic investors a huge upside po-tential. However, in order to turnthis opportunity in exchangesfavour, the exchanges must show anability and willingness to grow. theexchange must try to fully project itspotential in its business plan. With-out these it will be very difficult toattract strategic investors, let alonecontemplate sale at favourable valu-ation. Commenting on restrictionproposed to be placed on issuance oftrading rights post-demutualisation,he said that restriction of any sortthat can hamper exchange’s busi-ness especially its revenue streamswill not be viewed favourably by anyinvestor and therefore Exchangesmust try to avoid this.

nEighBoURLy aDviCE

Lower the barriers, fellas!g indian officials urges Pakistani bourse to keepminimum barriers to attract strategic investors

islamic countries urged toenhance mutual trade tiesISLAMABAD: Muslim nations need to further promote andstrengthen economic ties and cooperation for exploiting the existingpotential and ensuring maximum possible trade exchange amongthem. shahid Zaman shinwari, acting President islamabad Chamberof Commerce and industry (iCCi), has made these remarks during ameeting. He said that islamic countries own major production of oiland other valuable natural resources but the trade volume of thesecountries with Europe and america is far greater than themselves. Hesaid that Muslim countries should focus on the promotion of tradeamong themselves because their existing trade volume accounts foronly 7.8 percent of the world export and 6.7 percent of the world im-port. thus, the level of economic and commercial cooperation amongMuslim countries should be increased on sound footings, he main-tained. shinwari was of the view that multi-lateral trade among theMuslim countries could lift up their economies. He cited the examplesof iran, Malaysia and turkey, which are industrializing at a much betterrate. therefore, these countries should provide expertise in establishingbasic industries like iron and steel and other metallurgical products inother Muslim countries which provides a strong reason for having closetrade relations among these countries, he added. NNI

Refinery margins to improveas int’l oil prices take a plungeKARACHI: the lag reflection of decline in international crude oilon domestic prices bodes well for the refinery sector at least for short-term, said the analysts. the Gross Refinery Margins (GRMs), a vitalgauge of refinery sector profitability which showed signs of improve-ment in april, is expected to further boost in May on account of recentdecline in crude oil prices, they said. “We estimate domestic GRMsin May to improve to $2.5 per barrel up from $1.5 recorded lastmonth, while fare much better from average $1 per barrel recordedin the preceding quarter,” said nauman khan of topline Research.similarly, the analyst said, also had improved the lube margins whichhad jumped above $40 per barrel in May, provided lube prices to re-main same, which averaged around $30 per barrel in the third quarterof FY12. “though falling crude oil prices may lead to inventory lossesfor few refineries which depend heavily on imports, higher GRMs wilmore than compensate this risk we believe. Being wary on the endur-ing nature of GRMs improvement,” khan said. the analyst said theinternational crude oil prices (arab Light) in recent times on accountof bearish sentiment emerging in the crude market fell from 2012highest level of $126 per barrel to $111 per barrel. Only in May so far,the prices had average at $115 down 4 percent as compared to april.“this sharp decline in the crude oil prices is expected to bode well forthe domestic refineries, whose product prices are based on precedingmonth product prices, under the prevalent pricing mechanism,” headded. subsequently, he said the May GRMs was estimated to standaround $2.5 per barrel as against $1.5 per barrel in april. khan saidaccording to his estimates the atRL GRMs would improve to $4-4.5per barrel during May as against $2-2.5 per barrel in april and wereup considerably from average $2.5 estimated in 3Q. STAFF REPORT

RELigioUS REaLM

KARACHI: Etihad Airways, the national airline of theUnited Arab Emirates, and Sitara Mall recentlyannounced the winner of their joint promotion“Next Stop UAE” from Faisalabad at the Sitara Mall.The grand prize of the Etihad Airways-Sitara Malllucky draw was a Return Ticket to Abu Dhabi onEtihad Airways. Shown here is (L-R) Mr. AtifShehzad, Sales Executive, Etihad Airways, Mr.Haseeb Ahmed, CEO, Sitara Mall, Shaikh ZeeshanAfaq, RM Gerry’ International, Mr. Faizan Alam Awan(the winner). PRESS RELEASE

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