profitepaper pakistantoday 20th November, 2012
2
AshrAf OPENs fOUr-DAY TrADE EXhIBITION Tuesday, 20 November, 2012 ISLAMABAD APP Vice President of the Foreign Affairs Committee, of Turkey, Professor Dr.Muhammad Cetin here on Monday urged the need to increase bilateral trade up to $2 billion for economic prosperity of the two countries. A Turkish delegation led by its Mem- ber National Assembly and Vice Presi- dent of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Prof Dr.Muhammad Cetin visited Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) to discussed ways and means to explore and create joint venture opportunities between the two countries. He urged upon the Muslim nations to further promote and strengthen eco- nomic ties and cooperation for exploiting the existing potential and ensuring max- imum possible trade exchange. He said that Pakistan and Turkey are very important countries for the entire Muslim Ummah, having very strong po- tential to lead their respective regions. Dr.Cetin said that education is the best investment, therefore Pakistan should invest more in education sector to build human capital for surviving in the knowledge economy. To achieve growth through a well ed- ucated and skilful workforce, government should come up with policy reforms in the education sector, he maintained. In his welcome address, Zafar Bakhtawari, President ICCI said that Pak- istan and Turkey have historic brotherly relations, thus both the countries should further strengthen the mutual trade rela- tions by promoting business relations. ICCI President expressed that it is the need of the hour to explore possibility of joint ventures between Turkey and Pakistan.He said that we can strengthen our economy by adopting de- velopment and progress of Turkey as a model in numerous sectors especially en- ergy as energy is an important issue for Pakistan’s economic growth. Many Turkish companies made in- vestment in Pakistan in various sectors like energy and chemical and we are look- ing for others Turkish companies to invest in others fields as score of incentives are being provided by the government to the investors, he added. He stressed the need for further cooperation by Turkish Air Line to make possible for Pakistan to have direct air link with various countries like Azerbaijan, thus, by making a flight to Is- lamabad from Istanbul via Baku (Azerbai- jan) would create a direct link between Azerbaijan and Pakistan as well. Chairman Pak-Turk education Foun- dation, Unal Tosur said that people of Turkey consider Pakistan as their second home, adding that promotion of education in Pakistan is our mission and the founda- tion is actively working for this purpose. Turkey intends to enhance bilateral trade up to $2b ISLAMABAD TAYYAB HUSSAIN P RIME Minister Raja Per- vez Ashraf on Monday called for an early removal of non-tariff barriers for the Developing Eight (D-8) countries so that they could benefit from the full potential of intra-trade between the D-8 nations. The prime minister expressed these views while opening a four-day trade ex- hibition being held on the margins of the D-8 Summit here at the Pak-China Friendship Centre. All D-8 countries in- cluding Turkey, Iran, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Malaysia, Indonesia, Egypt and the host country Pakistan have put their products on display at their designated pavilions. The D-8 countries’ share in global trade has already increased from $67 billion in 2008 to $130 billion last year, which is almost double and in this event a strategy will be chalked out to increase their share by 15 per cent. The event was attended by exhibitors and business delegates and the representa- tives of trade bodies. The prime minister was accompanied by foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar, commerce minister Amin Fahim and minister of state for foreign affairs Malik Ammad Khan later went around the exhi- bition and visited stalls of the participat- ing countries. Over 100 stalls have been setup by different companies from abroad while around 40 Pakistani companies have also put their products on display. Addressing the audience, the prime minister urged the D-8 states to estab- lish “enduring trade partnerships” for the prosperity of their peoples. He said that the D-8 countries had a huge mar- ket of close to a billion people, stressing that intra-trade was the way to improve their economic indicators. “Promotion of business-to-business linkages among the member countries lies at the core of D-8’s strategy to pro- mote economic welfare of our peoples,” he said, hoping that with consistency, the D-8countries could achieve the intra-D-8 trade target of US$ 500 bil- lion by 2018, and may even surpass it. He sought an early removal of non- tariff barriers to benefit from the full po- tential of intra D-8 trade. He also proposed promotion of trade in services which would immensely benefit D-8 countries. Raja Ashraf said that Pakistan was keen to expand business and trade relations with the D-8 member coun- tries. He mentioned that Pakistan had ratified all three key agreements includ- ing the one on preferential trade and was convinced that implementation of tariff concessions under this agreement would lead the D-8 community towards greater economic integration. He said Pakistan, on the eve of the D-8 Summit, had also taken the initia- tive of hosting the first-ever meeting of the heads of trade promotion organiza- tions (TPOs). He said the initiative was intended to institutionalize trade rela- tions among D-8 members and added that the TPOs could play a critical role in catalyzing the private sector and identifying avenues of cooperation in trade promotion. Expressing satisfaction over the fif- teen-year journey of the D-8 govern- ments that had taken many practical steps to facilitate promotion of trade, the Prime Minister expressed satisfac- tion and said that in this regard, im- portant framework agreements such as preferential trade agreement, agree- ment on visa facilitation and coopera- tion on customs matters. He said efforts were underway to promote in- stitutional linkages among the busi- ness community. SBP moves to regulate profit, loss distribution of Islamic banks KARACHI STAFF REPORT The State Bank of Pakistan on Monday issued detailed instructions for profit and loss distribution and pool management in the Islamic Banking Institutions (IBIs). The central bank said the regulatory move was aimed at improving transparency and disclosures and bringing standardization in the Sharia-complaint banks’ profit and loss distribution policies and practices.With the issuance of these instructions that, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said, are applicable with immediate effect Para IV of annexure-II of IBD Circular No. 2 of 2008 stands withdrawn. Further, it said, the provisions of BPRD Circular No. 7 of 2008 regarding minimum rate of return on savings deposits as amended from time to time shall no more be applicable on the IBIs. “Failure to comply with SBP instructions shall invoke penal action under the provisions of Banking Companies Ordinance, 1962,” the SBP said in its IBD Circular No.3 issued to the heads of all Islamic banks and all conventional banks, having Islamic banking branches on Monday. It may be pointed out that the peculiar nature of relationship between the depositors and IBIs, where income earned by the IBIs has a direct impact on depositors’ return, there was a need for Islamic banking industry to have well defined, transparent and standardized policies and practices for profit and loss computation and distribution. As per SBP instructions, each pool of deposit established by IBIs would act like a virtual enterprise having explicitly demarcated sources of funds, ownership of specific assets and income and expenses. The profit earned on the financing and investments made through such pool of deposits will be shared between IBIs and the depositors as per pre-agreed profit sharing ratio. In case of loss, the same will be borne by the depositors in proportion of their investments unless caused by the negligence and misconduct by the IBIs in managing the depositors’ funds. The central bank’s other regulatory changes cover areas like the creation of pools, identification and allocation of pool related income and expenses, investment and financing losses, profit and loss allocation between depositors’ fund and IBI’s equity, profit sharing ratio and weightages, profit smoothening, Investment Risk Reserve (IRR), verification/audit and disclosures. KARACHI STAFF REPORT The commercial banks are getting back to what the analysts said their core business of extending advances to the private borrowers masterly on the back of a 4 percent rate-cut by the cen- tral bank in its policy rate during the recent months. The official figures reveal that ad- vances of the previously risk-averse scheduled banks are moving north- ward as economic activities, in the country, are bolstering, tough slowly, with textile sector being the major contributing sector. The State Bank data shows that advances of the banks grew by 6.6 per- cent during 10MCY12 against the de- cline of 2.3 percent witnessed during the same period last year. After witnessing a month-on- month (MoM) appreciation of mere 0.2 percent in September, the banking sector’s advances were grown by 0.9 percent during October. “During the last two to three months, the advances of the banking sector showing some recovery on the back of gradually increasing economic activities specifically on textile front,” viewed Mazhar A. Sabir, ana nalayst at InvestCap Reserach. During the month, the deposits of the banking sector showed some lack- luster behavior and declined by mere 0.2 percent, taking on cumulative basis, the deposits increased by 7.3 percent (CYTD) during 10MCY12. As a result, Advance to Deposits Ratio (ADR) of the banking sector stood at 59.6 percent improved by 62 basis points on monthly basis. On the other hand, during the re- view period (10MCY12) investments head of the sector experienced colos- sal growth of 26 percent (CYTD). During the month of October, where the deposits fell by Rs10 billion MoM, investments of the industry were augmented by a massive Rs 98 billion, depicting an impressive 2.7 percent growth. This growth was against a mere 0.2 percent witnessed in the deposits of the sector. The IDR of the banking sec- tor propped up by 2bps to 60 percent dur- ing Decem- ber 2011. “Going forward, we do expect the trend to somewhat reverse, mainly owing to 400bps cut witnessed in DR during the last one year,” said Sabir adding that “We also do expect this trend to slowly generate pace as the private sector credit demand rises.” On top of that, the analyst said, any further decline in the policy rate going forward, would most certainly force the sector to shift its ways and concentrate more of advances, the core business, rather than invest- ments. Crude up in Asia amid Middle East conflict SINGAPORE AGENCIES Crude prices were up in Asia Monday on supply concerns amid the escalating Israel-Palestine conflict and following an explosion on a Gulf of Mexico oil rig, analysts said. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in January, added 62 cents to $87.54 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for January delivery gained 51 cents to $109.46. “Crude futures rose as a fire on a Gulf of Mexico platform and the escalating conflict between Israel and Palestinians stoked supply concerns,” Phillip Futures said in a report. In the oil-rich Middle East, the Gaza Strip came under renewed bombardment Sunday as Israeli air strikes killed 31 Palestinians in the bloodiest day of its campaign so far. Despite intensified diplomatic efforts to broker a truce, there was no let-up in the bloodshed in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. A blast rocked a rig operated by Houston-based Black Elk Energy in the Gulf of Mexico on Friday but did not cause a major spill, the US coastguard said. Divers found one body late Saturday. Two workers had been missing since the accident but coastguard spokesman Carlos Vega would not say if the body found was that of one of those two people. PM for early removal of NTBs for D-8 states Monetary easing pushes banks towards core business PRO 20-11-2012_Layout 1 11/19/2012 11:49 PM Page 1
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profitepaper pakistantoday 20th November, 2012
Transcript of profitepaper pakistantoday 20th November, 2012
AshrAf OPENs fOUr-DAY TrADE EXhIBITION
Tuesday, 20 November, 2012
ISLAMABAD
APP
Vice President of the Foreign AffairsCommittee, of Turkey, ProfessorDr.Muhammad Cetin here on Mondayurged the need to increase bilateral tradeup to $2 billion for economic prosperityof the two countries.
A Turkish delegation led by its Mem-ber National Assembly and Vice Presi-dent of the Foreign Affairs Committee,Prof Dr.Muhammad Cetin visited
Islamabad Chamber of Commerce &
Industry (ICCI) to discussed ways andmeans to explore and create joint ventureopportunities between the two countries.
He urged upon the Muslim nations tofurther promote and strengthen eco-nomic ties and cooperation for exploitingthe existing potential and ensuring max-imum possible trade exchange.
He said that Pakistan and Turkey arevery important countries for the entireMuslim Ummah, having very strong po-tential to lead their respective regions.
Dr.Cetin said that education is thebest investment, therefore Pakistan
should invest more in education sector tobuild human capital for surviving in theknowledge economy.
To achieve growth through a well ed-ucated and skilful workforce, governmentshould come up with policy reforms inthe education sector, he maintained.
In his welcome address, ZafarBakhtawari, President ICCI said that Pak-istan and Turkey have historic brotherlyrelations, thus both the countries shouldfurther strengthen the mutual trade rela-tions by promoting business relations.
ICCI President expressed that it is the
need of the hour to explorepossibility of joint ventures between
Turkey and Pakistan.He said that we canstrengthen our economy by adopting de-velopment and progress of Turkey as amodel in numerous sectors especially en-ergy as energy is an important issue forPakistan’s economic growth.
Many Turkish companies made in-vestment in Pakistan in various sectorslike energy and chemical and we are look-ing for others Turkish companies to investin others fields as score of incentives arebeing provided by the government to the
investors, he added. He stressed the needfor further cooperation by Turkish AirLine to make possible for Pakistan to havedirect air link with various countries likeAzerbaijan, thus, by making a flight to Is-lamabad from Istanbul via Baku (Azerbai-jan) would create a direct link betweenAzerbaijan and Pakistan as well.
Chairman Pak-Turk education Foun-dation, Unal Tosur said that people ofTurkey consider Pakistan as their secondhome, adding that promotion of educationin Pakistan is our mission and the founda-tion is actively working for this purpose.
Turkey intends to enhance bilateral trade up to $2b
ISLAMABAD
TAYYAB HUSSAIN
PRIME Minister Raja Per-vez Ashraf on Mondaycalled for an early removalof non-tariff barriers forthe Developing Eight (D-8)
countries so that they could benefit fromthe full potential of intra-trade betweenthe D-8 nations.
The prime minister expressed theseviews while opening a four-day trade ex-hibition being held on the margins of theD-8 Summit here at the Pak-ChinaFriendship Centre. All D-8 countries in-cluding Turkey, Iran, Bangladesh, Nigeria,Malaysia, Indonesia, Egypt and the hostcountry Pakistan have put their productson display at their designated pavilions.
The D-8 countries’ share in globaltrade has already increased from $67billion in 2008 to $130 billion last year,which is almost double and in thisevent a strategy will be chalked out toincrease their share by 15 per cent. Theevent was attended by exhibitors andbusiness delegates and the representa-tives of trade bodies.
The prime minister was accompaniedby foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar,commerce minister Amin Fahim andminister of state for foreign affairs MalikAmmad Khan later went around the exhi-bition and visited stalls of the participat-
ing countries. Over 100 stalls have beensetup by different companies from abroadwhile around 40 Pakistani companieshave also put their products on display.
Addressing the audience, the primeminister urged the D-8 states to estab-lish “enduring trade partnerships” forthe prosperity of their peoples. He saidthat the D-8 countries had a huge mar-ket of close to a billion people, stressingthat intra-trade was the way to improvetheir economic indicators.
“Promotion of business-to-businesslinkages among the member countrieslies at the core of D-8’s strategy to pro-mote economic welfare of our peoples,”he said, hoping that with consistency,the D-8countries could achieve theintra-D-8 trade target of US$ 500 bil-lion by 2018, and may even surpass it.
He sought an early removal of non-tariff barriers to benefit from the full po-tential of intra D-8 trade. He alsoproposed promotion of trade in services
which would immensely benefit D-8countries. Raja Ashraf said that Pakistanwas keen to expand business and traderelations with the D-8 member coun-tries. He mentioned that Pakistan hadratified all three key agreements includ-ing the one on preferential trade and wasconvinced that implementation of tariffconcessions under this agreement wouldlead the D-8 community towards greatereconomic integration.
He said Pakistan, on the eve of theD-8 Summit, had also taken the initia-tive of hosting the first-ever meeting ofthe heads of trade promotion organiza-tions (TPOs). He said the initiative wasintended to institutionalize trade rela-tions among D-8 members and addedthat the TPOs could play a critical rolein catalyzing the private sector andidentifying avenues of cooperation intrade promotion.
Expressing satisfaction over the fif-teen-year journey of the D-8 govern-ments that had taken many practicalsteps to facilitate promotion of trade,the Prime Minister expressed satisfac-tion and said that in this regard, im-portant framework agreements such aspreferential trade agreement, agree-ment on visa facilitation and coopera-tion on customs matters. He saidefforts were underway to promote in-stitutional linkages among the busi-ness community.
SBP moves to
regulate profit, loss
distribution of
Islamic banks
KARACHI
STAFF REPORT
The State Bank of Pakistan on Mondayissued detailed instructions for profit andloss distribution and pool management inthe Islamic Banking Institutions (IBIs).The central bank said the regulatory movewas aimed at improving transparency anddisclosures and bringing standardizationin the Sharia-complaint banks’ profit andloss distribution policies andpractices.With the issuance of theseinstructions that, the State Bank ofPakistan (SBP) said, are applicable withimmediate effect Para IV of annexure-II ofIBD Circular No. 2 of 2008 standswithdrawn. Further, it said, the provisionsof BPRD Circular No. 7 of 2008 regardingminimum rate of return on savingsdeposits as amended from time to timeshall no more be applicable on the IBIs.“Failure to comply with SBP instructionsshall invoke penal action under theprovisions of Banking CompaniesOrdinance, 1962,” the SBP said in its IBDCircular No.3 issued to the heads of allIslamic banks and all conventional banks,having Islamic banking branches onMonday. It may be pointed out that thepeculiar nature of relationship between thedepositors and IBIs, where income earnedby the IBIs has a direct impact ondepositors’ return, there was a need forIslamic banking industry to have welldefined, transparent and standardizedpolicies and practices for profit and losscomputation and distribution. As per SBPinstructions, each pool of depositestablished by IBIs would act like a virtualenterprise having explicitly demarcatedsources of funds, ownership of specificassets and income and expenses. Theprofit earned on the financing andinvestments made through such pool ofdeposits will be shared between IBIs andthe depositors as per pre-agreed profitsharing ratio. In case of loss, the same willbe borne by the depositors in proportion oftheir investments unless caused by thenegligence and misconduct by the IBIs inmanaging the depositors’ funds. Thecentral bank’s other regulatory changescover areas like the creation of pools,identification and allocation of pool relatedincome and expenses, investment andfinancing losses, profit and loss allocationbetween depositors’ fund and IBI’s equity,profit sharing ratio and weightages, profitsmoothening, Investment Risk Reserve(IRR), verification/audit and disclosures.
KARACHI
STAFF REPORT
The commercial banks are gettingback to what the analysts said theircore business of extending advances tothe private borrowers masterly on theback of a 4 percent rate-cut by the cen-tral bank in its policy rate during therecent months.
The official figures reveal that ad-vances of the previously risk-aversescheduled banks are moving north-ward as economic activities, in thecountry, are bolstering, tough slowly,with textile sector being the majorcontributing sector.
The State Bank data shows thatadvances of the banks grew by 6.6 per-cent during 10MCY12 against the de-cline of 2.3 percent witnessed duringthe same period last year.
After witnessing a month-on-month (MoM) appreciation of mere0.2 percent in September, the bankingsector’s advances were grown by 0.9percent during October.
“During the last two to threemonths, the advances of the bankingsector showing some recovery on theback of gradually increasing economicactivities specifically on textile front,”viewed Mazhar A. Sabir, ana nalayst at
InvestCap Reserach.During the month, the deposits of
the banking sector showed some lack-luster behavior and declined by mere0.2 percent, taking on cumulativebasis, the deposits increased by 7.3percent (CYTD) during 10MCY12.
As a result, Advance to DepositsRatio (ADR) of the banking sectorstood at 59.6 percent improved by 62basis points on monthly basis.
On the other hand, during the re-view period (10MCY12) investmentshead of the sector experienced colos-sal growth of 26 percent (CYTD).
During the month of October,where the deposits fell by Rs10 billionMoM, investments of the industrywere augmented by a massive Rs 98billion, depicting an impressive2.7 percent growth.
This growth wasagainst a mere 0.2percent witnessed inthe deposits of thesector. The IDR ofthe banking sec-tor propped upby 2bps to 60percent dur-ing Decem-ber 2011.
“ G o i n g
forward, we do expect the trend tosomewhat reverse, mainly owing to400bps cut witnessed in DR duringthe last one year,” said Sabir addingthat “We also do expect this trend toslowly generate pace as the privatesector credit demand rises.”
On top of that, the analyst said,any further decline in the policy rategoing forward, would most certainlyforce the sector to shift its ways andconcentrate more ofadvances, the corebusiness, ratherthan invest-ments.
Crude up in Asia
amid Middle East
conflict SINGAPORE
AGENCIES
Crude prices were up in Asia Monday onsupply concerns amid the escalatingIsrael-Palestine conflict and following anexplosion on a Gulf of Mexico oil rig,analysts said. New York’s main contract,light sweet crude for delivery in January,added 62 cents to $87.54 a barrel andBrent North Sea crude for Januarydelivery gained 51 cents to $109.46.“Crude futures rose as a fire on a Gulf ofMexico platform and the escalatingconflict between Israel and Palestiniansstoked supply concerns,” Phillip Futuressaid in a report. In the oil-rich MiddleEast, the Gaza Strip came under renewedbombardment Sunday as Israeli air strikeskilled 31 Palestinians in the bloodiest dayof its campaign so far. Despite intensifieddiplomatic efforts to broker a truce, therewas no let-up in the bloodshed in theHamas-run Gaza Strip. A blast rocked arig operated by Houston-based Black ElkEnergy in the Gulf of Mexico on Friday butdid not cause a major spill, the UScoastguard said. Divers found one bodylate Saturday. Two workers had beenmissing since the accident but coastguardspokesman Carlos Vega would not say ifthe body found was that of one of thosetwo people.
PM for early removal of NTBs for D-8 states
Monetary easing pushesbanks towards core business
PRO 20-11-2012_Layout 1 11/19/2012 11:49 PM Page 1
02
Tuesday, 20 November, 2012
Major Gainers
COMPANy OPEN HIGH LOw CLOSE CHANGE TURNOVERIsland Textile 623.44 654.61 654.61 654.61 31.17 400Bata (Pak) XD 1317.88 1344.99 1260.00 1344.99 27.11 150Exide (PAK) 312.37 323.85 320.50 323.85 11.48 2,000Bhanero Tex.XD 215.00 225.75 225.75 225.75 10.75 1,500Sapphire FiberXD 131.00 137.55 137.55 137.55 6.55 1,200
Major LosersRafhan Maize Prod. 3572.00 3500.00 3500.00 3500.00 -72.00 40Colgate Palmolive 1300.00 1235.50 1235.00 1235.00 -65.00 150Fazal TextileXD 212.00 201.40 201.40 201.40 -10.60 10,000IGI Insurance 140.60 136.90 133.57 133.58 -7.02 272,000Pak Gum & Chemical 149.50 146.00 142.60 143.08 -6.42 4,500
Volume Leaders
Maple Leaf Cement 12.04 13.04 11.75 13.02 0.98 31,272,500Azgard Nine 8.03 9.00 8.15 8.73 0.70 26,510,500Fauji Cement 6.74 6.94 6.73 6.87 0.13 18,149,000Lotte PakPTA 7.03 7.50 7.08 7.39 0.36 13,830,000Jah.Sidd. Co. 16.96 17.40 16.70 16.86 -0.10 13,789,000
Interbank RatesUS Dollar 96.0209UK Pound 152.6541Japanese Yen 1.1809Euro 122.6859
Dollar EastBUy SELL
US Dollar 96.40 96.90Euro 122.29 124.18Great Britain Pound 151.91 154.22Japanese Yen 1.1719 1.1896Canadian Dollar 95.53 97.49Hong Kong Dollar 12.21 12.45UAE Dirham 26.05 26.42Saudi Riyal 25.53 25.87Australian Dollar 98.94 101.90
Business
KARACHI
ISMAIL DILAWAR
PAKISTAN’S dollar-hungry currentaccount balance continued to re-main in the green zone duringJuly-October FY13 by registeringa surplus of $ 258 million.
This surplus amounted to $ 432 millionduring first quarter of FY13, July-Sep, owing towhat the official and unofficial quarters agree,receipts of war reimbursements from theUnited States in early August this year.
On August 1, 2012, the Islamabad’s non-Nato allies in Washington had released to thecash-strapped Pakistan some $1.118 billionunder the long-denied Coalition Support Fund(CSF) after a months-long strain in bilateral tiesrelaxed through an on-and-off process of nego-tiations between the two countries on civilian,military and intelligence level.
The inflows, the SBP chief spokesman SyedWasimuddin had confirmed, had put the coun-try’s current account balance into a surplus sinceJuly. The central bank Monday reported that dur-ing the corresponding period of last year, July-Oct FY12, the country’s current account balancehad marked a deficit of $ 1.655 billion.
In percentage terms, the surplus constitutes0.3 percent of the country’s gross domesticproduct (GDP) accounting for $ 82.232 billion.This is against a deficit of 2.1 percent last year.
Senior analysts like Khurram Schehzad hadalso seconded the central bank’s view saying thepositive was attributable mainly to the dollar in-flows on account of CSF and Kerry Lugar from the
US. The receipts under KLA have been meagerwith Washington reported to have transferred onlyRs 20.356 billion during FY12 against a projectedreceipt of Rs 34.164 billion. Under the KLA, Pak-istan has the US’s word for receiving a civilian aidof $ 7.5 billion till 2014, $ 1.5 billion per annum.
However, the funds transfer under CSF au-gured well for the funds-starved Pakistan which, inFY12, had braved a current account deficit of over$ 4 billion, pushing the economic managers closeronce again to a fresh IMF bailout package. Duringthe period under review, the country’s trade bal-ance remained subdued and registered a deficit of$ 5 billion against last year’s $ 5.398 billion. Abreak up of trade deficit shows that during the re-view months the country exported goods worth $8.210 billion compared to $ 8.105 billion in July-Oct of FY12. Compared with last year’s $13.503 bil-lion, the imports totaled at $ 13.210 billion.
Overseas Pakistanis also performed well byremitting $ 4.964 billion during the review pe-riod as against $ 4.315 billion last year. TheState Bank says that the country on average re-ceives over a billion dollars every month fromPakistanis working abroad. The disbursementsfrom the foreign financers, another noteworthyindicator on the current account balance list,stayed however in the red zone by remainingconfined to long-term project loans standing at$ 382 million. Last year, disbursements underthe same head were recorded at $ 519 million.
However, despite these positives the ana-lysts believe that the economic managers havestill a lot to worry about owing to the currentpoor dollar inflows into the country speciallythe foreign investment.
LG unveils unique 4:3 ratio, 5-inch Optimus Vu
LAHORE: LG unveils one of the most anticipatedsmart device, the Optimus Vu:. Equipped withLG’s advanced IPS display technology, the Opti-mus Vu: offers a unique combination of tablet-likeviewing with smartphone portability. Running ona powerful 1.5GHz QUAD -core processor, 32GBinternal memory and a large 2,080 mAh battery,the Optimus Vu: is a multimedia lover’s dream de-vice. “The Optimus Vu: was designed to maximizewhat customers could not do with a regular smart-phone,” said Mr.D.Y.Kim, President of LG Elec-tronics Gulf FZE. “By offering an optimal 4:3 ratioviewing experience, 5-inch display combined withSuperior IPS technology, Optimus Vu: is just oneexample of what we can achieve when we combineour best technology with customer needs.”
BOK Raast Islamic Banking startsoperations in Topi Distt Swabi
KARACHI: Mr. Bilal Mustafa, Managing Direc-tor Bank of Khyber (BOK) said BOK is committedto cater the Banking requirements of all segmentsof society, BOK is providing Islamic Banking &Financial requirements as well as conventional ina befitting manner in order to encourage the eco-nomic developmental activities in the region. Hewas speaking at the formal inauguration of BOKRaast Islamic Banking branch at Main Bazzar TopiDistrict Swabi today in a simple but graceful cere-mony. The inaugural ceremony was also attendedby notables of the area & business community.
Grandeur Art Gallery organisesFive Artists Exhibition
KARACHI: Sabiha Nasr-ud-Deen did her Mas-ters in Fine Arts from the Punjab University in1968. She is a Gold medalist. Painting ever since,she had ‘a one man show’, while still a student, in1967 at the Arts Council in Karachi. Gulgee wasvery interested in her work and wrote in her exhi-bition brochure – “She will go very far.” Selling her paintings from her home and a few gal-leries, she has now decided to come out in theforeground of the art world. An expressionist, shepaints in all mediums. Pakistan, the land, its peo-ple, its flora and fauna, is what inspires her. A.S.Rind’s did his graduation and Diploma in FineArts from CIAC (Arts Council Karachi). He hasbeen painting since 1986 on different mediumsand using diverse techniques.
British High CommissionerVisits KSBL CampusKARACHI: H.E. Adam Thomson CMG, BritishHigh Commissioner to Pakistan and Mr. GeorgeTurkington, Head of Department for InternationalDevelopment along with senior officials of theBritish High Commission visited the KSBL Cam-pus. The High Commissioner met the KSBL BoardMembers including Mr. Munawar Siddiqui, Mr.Muhammad Ali Tabba, Mr. Sarfaraz Rehman andMr. Sohail Qureshi who shared KSBL’s vision andaspirations. Dr. Shaukat Brah, Dean KSBL briefedthe High Commissioner about the Cambridge Uni-versity Judge Business School collaboration withKSBL including designing the curriculum, facultyrecruitment, faculty planning and developmentand research, and talked about the progress madeby KSBL this far.
Samsung Galaxy Note-IIcontinues to win hearts LAHORE: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - theglobal leader in digital technology and telecommu-nications, recently launched the “Samsung GalaxyNote II” in Pakistan - a fascinating new Smartphone
from the innovation leader. Within one month of itsworld-wide launch, the global sales figures of thiscreative device have crossed the 3 million mark, dueto its unmatched features for creating active con-tent, digital artworks and high-functionality withtext. It gives unmatched ease in capturing those “bigideas” using Samsung’s sophisticated “S pen” tech-nology, to accurately digitize sketches, artworks andhandwritten text, maximizing the creativity thatusers can experience with the device. This Smart-phone is selling at more than three times the pace ofthe Note 1, a device that touched heights of popular-ity when it was launched.
Pakistan Institute of Fashion &Design Exhibition Direction 2012LAHORE: PIFD in collaboration with PNCA ex-hibits the Thesis Work of its Graduates in FashionDesign, Textile Design, Jewellery Design & Gemo-logical Sciences, Furniture Design and Manufac-turing. PIFD is a unique institute that hasrevolutionized the fashion and design education inPakistan. It focuses on developing the students inanalytical, creative and technical skills so they aremade aware of different possibilities and are capa-ble of creating and promoting appropriate prod-ucts for the global consumer of today. Theexhibition showcases the creativity & innovationskills taught to these graduates. Displayed prod-ucts are diverse from traditional to contemporary.
Ufone Cricket League ends on a high note
ISLAMABAD: Ufone recently concluded the UCL(Ufone Cricket League) which was hosted by Ufonefor its valued employees. The final was played be-tween North Titans and South Strikers with theformer defeating the latter in an exhilarating finalmatch held at Shalimar Cricket Ground in Islam-abad. President & CEO Abdul Aziz and Ufone’sbrand ambassador Wasim Akram graced the occa-sion as chief guests. The Ufone Cricket Leaguespanned over one and half month comprising of 64teams with 14 Ufone employees per team. The vic-torious teams from all four regions made it to thesemi-finals that comprised URock, South Strikers,North Titan and Central Wolves.
LUMS Career Services Officehosts mega education fair LAHORE: The 3rd Annual Education Fair, thelargest and most informative event of its kind inthe country, was organised by Careers Services Of-fice (CSO) on Friday, November 16, 2012 atLUMS. Featuring education providers from allacross the globe, the fair aimed to provide usefulinformation on further studies as well as the muchneeded education and career-oriented resourcesto students. Education Fair has become the mostcomprehensive and informative education eventin Pakistan since its debut in 2009. A wide rangeof full-time, part-time, long distance, programmeswere remarkably well-received by over 1500 visi-tors last year. The event this year was more suc-cessful than ever drawing in over 3000 students.
Servis unveils ‘Shoes For Everyone’LAHORE: Service Sales Corporation, Pakistan’s lead-ing footwear retailer, has launched a new campaign forunveiling its corporate tagline “Shoes For Everyone”.The campaign has a lively TVC that revolves aroundmany people in their own surroundings. Its actually astory of all those people who wear Servis shoes andalso tells the consumer that Servis makes Shoes forEveryone, be that men, women or children from allage groups. The ad is accompanied by a jingle thatleaves you humming the tune long after you have seenthe ad or heard it on popular FM stations. SSC’s Headof Communication Shahzad Khalid believe that the dif-ferentiating factors for this campaign are its lively storyline, the choice models, their dynamic expressions andoverall aesthetics of production thanks to the producer,director, the shooting location and setup, and theirteam at the agency.
Meesha Shafi performes atDoha Tribeca Film Festival 2012DOHA: L’Oréal Paris Pak-istan Spokesperson, actress,singer and model MeeshaShafi attended and per-formed at the official DohaTribeca Film Festival 2012screening of her cinematicdebut venture, The ReluctantFundamentalist [TRF] whichopened the prestigious festi-val in Doha. The fourth edi-tion of the event featured amusic performance by Meesha Shafi who was ac-companied by her husband and musician Mah-mood Rahman where the duo performed in frontof a packed audience just before the screening ofTRF to an audience including personalities such asHollywood legend Robert De Niro.
CORPORATE CORNER
Green light for current account balance
KARACHI: BBA at SZABIST recently conducted anevent ‘K-Town adness’ and with the proceeds ofthe event got UV Germicidal water ilter installedat a school near Sandspit. This CSR activity wasonducted in collaboration with WWF. The pictureshows the organizing eam members along withtheir course instructor Miss. Hina Shamsi aumanat the school where CSR activity was conducted.
KARACHI: Mr Magdi Batato, Managing Director,Nestle Pakistan (centre), with leading members ofthe Nestle management team at the inaugurationof the Nestle ‘Corporate Resident Office’.
Current account balance stays in green zone with $258m surplus
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