Railways retrieve more land

LAHORE: The Pakistan Railways have got more than eight acre land vacated from grabbers during the last two days.

According to a spokesman, the market value of the retrieved commercial, agricultural and residential land in Peshawar, Sukkur, Quetta, Karachi, Rawalpindi, Lahore and Workshops is said to be in millions. The PR Directorate of Property and Land is supervising the campaign launched on the directive of the Supreme Court, said an official on Sunday. He said the drive was being monitored by all eight divisional superintendents concerned.

During the past two days, seven acre and 10 marla have been retrieved in Peshawar, two acres, two kanal and four marla in Sukkur, one acre, two kanal and nine marla in Quetta, five acres, two kanal and 15 marla in Karachi, 10 marla in Rawalpindi, one acre, six kanal and three marla in Lahore while 18 marla in Workshops Mughalpura divisions. — Staff Reporter

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SBP keeps key policy rate flat at 12 per cent

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan on Saturday announced it would keep its key policy rate unchanged at 12 per cent for the next two months in a bid to contain expected inflation in the second half of the 2011-12 fiscal year.

The announcement was in line with what the majority of analysts polled by Reuters earlier this week expected.

The central bank has left its key policy rate unchanged since cutting it by 150 basis points to 12 per cent on Oct 8, 2011.

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Pakistan, Sri Lanka sign agreements to promote cooperation

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Sri Lanka on Saturday signed three memorandums of understanding (MoU) to promote cooperation in trade, technical education and media between the two countries.

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa witnessed the signing ceremony here at the Prime Minister’s House along with the members of their delegations.

The first MoU was signed for cooperation in media by Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Aishaq Awan on behalf of Pakistan while Minister for External Affairs Prof GL Peiris signed on Sri Lanaka’s behalf.

Advisor to PM on Finance and Economic Affairs Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh signed the second MoU while Sri Lankan Minister for External Affairs Prof GL Peiris signed the agreement on behalf of their respective government for credit of US dollars 200 million for improving Pakistan’s export from Sri Lanka.

The third MoU was signed by Secretary Ministry of Professional and Technical Education Qamar Zaman Chaudhry and Secretary to President of Sri Lanka Lalith Weerathunga on behalf of Sri Lankan government for enhancing cooperation in technical training in different fields.

The MoU was signed for the cooperation between National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTEC) of Pakistan and Tertiary And Vocational Education Commission of Sri Lanka.

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Indian minister arriving for trade talks

LAHORE: India’s Commerce Minister Anand Sharma will walk into Pakistan through Wagah border on Monday morning at the head of big trade delegation on a three-day visit to Pakistan for talks to normalise trade relations between the two countries.

During his stay, he is expected to visit a three-day exhibition of Indian products starting on Saturday at the Lahore Expo Centre and hold a series of meetings with his Pakistani counterpart Makhdoom Amin Fahim, officials and businessmen in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi.

Mr Sharma was invited to visit Pakistan by Makhdoom Amin Fahim, who was the first Pakistani commerce minister to visit India last year in over three decades.

The visit has already generated huge interest in the both countries as it is billed to help break the non-tariff and tariff barriers between two largest south Asian economies. The visit is a sequel to commerce secretary level talks that resumed in April last year.

The direct trade between India and Pakistan constitute less than one per cent of their respective global trade. India exported goods worth $2.33 billion to Pakistan last year while its imports from the country were a mere $330 million.

While Islamabad maintains a positive list of less than 2000 items that can be traded officially, New Delhi has erected non-tariff barriers to restrict imports from Pakistan.

Pakistan’s cabinet recently approved in principle to give MFN (most favourite nation) status to India subject to elimination of non-tariff barriers against its exports. In return for dismantling of non-tariff barriers to its exports, Islamabad has agreed to switch over to a negative list of items by the end of this month.

Indian media have recently reported that New Delhi has agreed to sign three pacts – customs cooperation, mutual recognition agreements on quality certification and grievances redressing mechanism – for the removal of non-tariff barriers. But only the first pact is ready as India has some problems with the Pakistani draft on grievances redressing and has prepared a counter-draft.

In the meanwhile, Makhdoom Amin Fahim will inaugurate the India Show organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in collaboration with India’s commerce ministry with support from Pakistan’s commerce ministry and the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Around 150 Indian companies will showcase their products.

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Malaysia’s Jan palm oil stocks fall to five-month low

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s January palm oil stocks slipped to a five-month low as a decline in production outpaced a drop in exports, industry regulator Malaysian Palm Oil Board said on Friday.

Stocks in the world’s No 2 producer of the edible oil fell 2.5 per cent to 2.0 million tons from December last year, almost matching market expectations of a 2.2 per cent drop.

The still-high inventories can potentially shore up global edible oil supply in the wake of erratic weather affecting soy crops in South America.

Benchmark palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange may come under some pressure after losing 0.8 per cent at midday ahead of the data release.

“Stocks are still around 2 million tons which is enough for one-and-a-half months of exports,” said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage.

January production dropped 13.9 per cent to 1.29 million tons from a month ago on seasonally weaker yields after strong output last year with reports of some heavy rain affecting harvesting.

Planters and traders expect Malaysian output in February to decline further on weaker yields although it may not be a double-digit percentage fall as the weather has improved and there are fewer public holidays this month.

Malaysia’s January exports also dropped 13.2 per cent to 1.38 million tons as the government had not issued a tax free export quota for crude palm oil at the time and overseas buyers preferred Indonesian cargoes offered at a discount.

Traders are counting on China, a key customer of Malaysian palm oil, to start restocking in a big way after the Lunar New Year holidays in late January, and for more crude palm oil exports after the duty free quotas.

Malaysian imports of Indonesian crude palm oil rose 32.1 per cent to 167,487 tons, MPOB said.

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Gilani, Shaikh meet to discuss economy

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yuosuf Raza Gilani on Thursday held a meeting with Advisor on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh to discuss economic situation and matters related to the next budget.

Shaikh called on the premier here at the PM House and briefed him about the state of national economy.

During the meeting, he briefed Gilani on continuing progress in key areas such as domestic tax collection that has registered 26 per cent increase during the first half of the current financial year compared to the corresponding period of the previous financial year.

Gilani directed the advisor to further consolidate the stabilisation of growth of the economy with a view to leading the job creation for the youth.

The prime minister also gave guidelines regarding the provision of relief to the people in the next budget.

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Power shutdown spoils Sundar production plans

LAHORE: The hopes to start full-fledged production at Sundar Industrial Estate in view of the resumption of gas supply after one-and-a-half months dashed on Wednesday because of power breakdown which the industrialists said was sudden and devastating.

The outage continued from 8am to 6pm – the timings during which the industrialists had planned to run their factories at full production capacity to cover up the losses they had been suffering since the suspension of gas supply to the industrial estate on Dec 22.

They industrialists strongly protested against the shutdown and convened a meeting of their board of management on Thursday (today) to decide how to counter it.

“We had planned to resume full-fledge production after so many days, and had called staff for the purpose in the morning. But power shutdown did not allow us to utilise the gas which has been given to us three days a week after the suspension of its supply on Dec 22,” said the estate’s board of management president Ahsan Butt.

No official concerned of Lesco was available for comment despite several attempts.

The multi-billion rupees industrial estate has 162 operational units employing over 100,000 workers. Its total capacity is 606 units, 200 of them are under construction.

According to Mr Butt and some other industrialists, they had bound their workers to reach the factories early in the morning to start production at 8am so as to fully utilise the gas supply available only for three days a week.

But, the factory owners and workers kept waiting for the resumption of the power supply till in the evening but in vain. They returned home in dismay and anger accusing the government of deliberately destroying industrial sector.

Mr Butt said the shutdown was sudden and imposed without consulting the board of management. The chief engineer of the industrial estate was informed about the shutdown only on Tuesday night, leaving no time for preparation of an alternate production plan.

And when the Lesco authorities were asked why they did not timely consulted the board so that production was not affected, they promised to send their officials for the purpose on Thursday.

Butt said contacts with Lesco authorities concerned on Wednesday brought more sad news as they explained that the shutdown was for five days and the board would be consulted for shutdowns that would follow.

“This is clearly an attempt to totally destroy industry. We fear power shutdown till Feb 25 which means loss of billions of rupees. The loss during this five-day shutdown alone is several million US dollars,” he said.

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