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,...

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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, 201...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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