Trade deficit increases to $2.5b for FY2004-05: SBP

ISLAMABAD (APP) - The trade deficit for July-November Financial Year 2004-05 rose to $2.5 billion as compared to a mere $ 0.4 billion during the corresponding period last year.

According to the State Bank, first quarterly report this rise was caused by a steep growth of 49.3 per cent in imports, which outstripped the 11.1 per cent export growth during this period.

In fact, the trade deficit had begun to widen significantly during the latter half of FY 2004, amidst a general rise in imports as economic activities accelerated, and international oil prices rose; approximately two thirds of the total FY20O4 imports were recorded in the last four months of the year.
This trend appears to be continuing into FY2005, with the July-Nov imports at 47.2 per cent of the $ 16.7 billion annual import target.

In particular, the oil import bill is abnormally high July-Now FY2005 due to very substantial growth in petroleum products imports (173.3 per cent). Nonetheless, the reliability of these import numbers cannot be authenticated due to the change in data reporting system.

In fact, this sharp jump in the import of oil products does not make sense either on the basis of elasticity estimates or historical trends of consumption, the report said.

Export performance, on the other hand, also raised a few concerns during this period. Country’ textile sector recorded 2.4 per cent rise during July-Nov FY2005 as compared to the 11.8 per cent growth during the same period last year.
This deceleration in this sector was caused by a sharp fall in two major categories namely: bed wear and synthetic textiles. This weakness in the performance of bed wear exports might be attributable to the imposition of anti dumping duty on this category by the EU and the embargo imposed by the US on bed wear exports in mid-November 2004 to check over-shipments in this category, the report added.
On the other hand, synthetic textile exports were affected by a significant rise in the price of polyester staple fiber due to rising international oil prices since April 2003, it said.

About the exchange rate and foreign exchange reserves the report said “the lower current account surplus, coupled with net retirement of FE-25 foreign currency loans and increased forward booking by the importers, squeezed the inter-bank forex market liquidity, and thus added to the pressure on the Rupee during Quarter First (Q1)-FY05.”

In fact, despite a significant SBP injections into the forex market during Jul-Oct 2004, the Rupee weakened by 5 per cent to reach Rs. 61.2/US$ by end-October 2004.

In fact, it was not until SBP formally announced by end-October 2004 that it will provide foreign exchange for imports of key commodities such as oil, wheat and fertilizers, and took administrative measures to discourage excessive speculation, that the Rupee recovered some of its losses.

Pakistan’s overall foreign exchange reserves scaled down by US$ 548.9 million during July-November 2004 to reach US$ 11,179.1 million at the end November 2004, the report said.

While SBP interventions in this period totaled US$ 724.2 million, SBP reserves fell only US$ 481 million because of additional inflows in the same period.
Moreover, reserves with commercial banks increased during this period due to both, incremental deposits as well as the retirement of FE-25 loans.


Malaysian businessmen call on PM

ISLAMABAD: A five-member Malaysian businessmen delegation lead by prominent businessman Vincent Tan met the Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz here at Prime Minister's house on Thursday.

The delegation is paying visit to explore the business and investment opportunities in Pakistan. They showed interest to invest in tourism and housing sectors in Pakistan.

While talking to the delegation Prime Minister said that government has provided a level playing field for investment and there is no restriction on the flow of capital. Economy of Pakistan, he said, was flourishing and due to the economic reforms and liberalization policies of the government the growth rate could reach at 7% instead of target of 6.4%. Agriculture, exports, foreign exchange reserves and all other economic indicators are showing upward trend, he added.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said that Pakistan's economy was fastest growing economy and it provides lot of opportunities for investors.

The Malaysian delegation praised the economic policies of the government and said that Pakistani market was very attractive for the foreign investment and they were planning to invest at very large scale.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said that government would facilitate the foreign investors by all means.

Foreign reserves reach at $11.962bn

KARACHI: The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $11962.9 million on January 1, 2005, said a release issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) here on Thursday.

Foreign reserves held by the SBP stood at $9185.3 million and net foreign reserves held by banks other than the SBP reached at $11962.9 million.

TeleCard gets WLL launch approval; Paktel to expand GSM coverage

KARACHI: TeleCard Limited is now officially Pakistan's first Wireless Local Loop (WLL) operator in the post-deregulation regime.

TeleCard, which has earned the reputation of being one of the most recognized and relied upon name in the telecommunications industry, has now been awarded with the commencement Certificate for the launch of its WLL service in the country.

TeleCard is now ready to offer the most advanced CDMA2000 Technology based wireless telephony service including voice, high-speed internet, SMS, voice mail service and long distance calling.

WLL ensures exceptional voice quality, seamless internet connectivity, and quick connection time without the hassle of wires and is available universally to all consumers.

The company has an existing nationwide WLL network and has recently upgraded its network for the effective deployment of its service in all of 14 telecom regions of Pakistan.

As the first company to reach this milestone, TeleCard is now poised to take the market by storm and augment Pakistan's overall tele-density. The company aims to become an alternate telecom service provider of choice for all home and business needs.

TeleCard provides calling facility to about 85 million Pakistanis nationally and help them to stay connected. TeleCard, with its team of dedicated professionals is fast positioning itself to become the leading telecom service provider in Pakistan.

Paktel to expand GSM coverage

Paktel cellular company will launch its GSM service simultaneously in Sadiqabad, Rahim Yar Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan and Bahawalpur towns from January 1, 2005.

Firm's field sales manager for Bahawalpur zone, Salman Haider told here that initially the Paktel GSM range would cover 20 square kilometres in Sadiqabad, Rahim Yar Khan and Dera Ghazi Khan and would be spread over 40 sq km in Bahawalpur.

He said it was expected that all areas of south Punjab would be provided the facility by March 2005.●

Pak offers level playing field to foreign investors
PM for use of bio-safety measures in agri sector

Islamabad—Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Thursday directed the Food and Agriculture Ministry to adopt bio-safety measures in the agriculture sector to grow disease-free crops and boost the production.

The Bio-Safety Guidelines for Agriculture and Phar-maceutical Sector were discussed here at a high level meeting chaired by the Prime Minister.

The meeting was informed that bio-safety measures have been adopted in most of the countries of the world.

The countries like China, Egypt, Argentina, India and Malaysia have already adopted these measures to boost their agriculture production.

The Prime Minister directed that the Ministry of Environment should hold an international seminar in the second quarter of the current year to discuss the issue in detail and create public awareness on the subject.

The Ministry of Environment was also directed to prepare bio-safety rules for implementation.

Minister for Environment, Maj. ® Tahir Iqbal, Minister for Health Muhammad Nasir Khan, Secretary Agriculture and other senior officials attended the meeting.

Talking to a five-member Malaysian businessmen dele-gation led by prominent busin-essman Vincent Tan here at the Prime Minister house, Prime Minister said that government has provided level playing field for investment and there was no restriction on flow of capital from the country.

The delegation is in Pakistan to explore business and investment opportunities and have evinced keen interest in tourism and housing sectors.

Prime Minister said that Pakistan’s economy was growing at a fast pace providing many opportunities for the investors and assured that the foreign investors would be facilitated.

Shaukat Aziz said that country’s economy was flourishing and owing to the economic reforms and liberalization policies the growth rate was expected to rise to 7% against the target of 6.4%.

He said agriculture, exports, foreign exchange reserves and other economic indicators were also showing an upward trend.

The Malaysian delegation praised the economic policies of the government and said that Pakistani market was very attractive for the foreign investment and said that they were planning to invest on a large scale.They said that under the judicious leadership of President Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz the country would achieve its economic goals.

Govt to set-up Telecom University in Federal Capital

Islamabad—The government would establish a world-class Telecom University in Federal Capital to provide better research and development activities.

The decision has been taken in the backdrop of phenomenal expansion and tremendous growth of telecom sector of the country as a direct result of deregulation policy announced by the government, official sources told APP here Thursday.

The sources said Ministry of Information Technology is in process of hiring consultancy to develop the most optimal strategy for setting-up a Telecom University of international standard in Islamabad.

The sources said the cost of consultancy would be funded by the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) Research and Development Fund which possesses enough land to house a telecom university in the Capital.

“The setting up of a Telecom University would be an ideal project and we have the determination to make available all necessary resources to see a top-ranking university emerging in the capital in the next couple of years,” the sources added.

Answering a question, the sources said, there is an urgent need to enhance human resource base within the country that can take advantage of the telecom infrastructure.

Currently there were only a few national universities offering degree level courses in telecommunications and related engineering subjects. However, these suffer from the fact they are not research oriented, and are aimed more at producing engineers that can find jobs in telecom operations and other support functions.

When asked, the sources said, PTCL’s R&D fund was also providing financial assistance for carrying out research and development activity in a vast array of sectors and disciplines.

In Pakistan, the telecom and cellular sectors have witnessed a remarkable improvement during the last two years as the number of cellular phone and fixed line subscribers has reached about 8 million and 5 million with 5.15 per cent and 3.13 per cent teledensity respectively.

There were only 0.2 million mobile phone subscribers across the country in 1999, but with the introduction of various measures by the government sharp increase has been witnessed.

To meet growing demand in mobile and fixed line areas, the government has awarded a number of licenses to various new operators and these sectors would experience a wave of change this year when these new operators would start providing connections.

The number of cell phone subscribers is expected to reach 15 million during next two years.—APP

PTCL to introduce online customer facilitation system: Tanveer

KARACHI, January 07 (Online): Senior Executive Vice President Pakistan Telecommunication Company Operations Tanveer Ahmed announced Thursday that soon this company will introduce online customer facilitation system for provision of new telephone connections.
Chairing a high-level meeting here, he said PTCL would further ease the process of new telephone connection, shifting of existing telephones and innovative steps should be taken in this regard.

EVP Operations South Rehmatullah, Chief Engineer M&O ZA Tunio, General Managers, Khalil-ur-Rehman, Ghulam Rasul Mangi, Saeed Ahmed, Muhammad Hanif, Muzaffar Ali, Akhter Jameel and others were also present on the occasion.

Revenue targets, provision of new telephone-bills complaints at customer centres and new development projects were also discussed in the meeting.