315 firms registered in Dec
By Our Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Jan 17: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has registered 315 companies in December last year as compared to 233 companies registered during the corresponding month of 2004, reflecting an increase of 35 per cent.
Of the newly-registered companies, 300 were limited by shares, comprising of 10 public companies, 285 private companies and five single-member companies, showed official statistics issued here on Tuesday.
In addition, eight foreign companies and seven non-profit associations were also registered last month.
The Company Registration Office (CRO) in Lahore registered the highest number of 115 companies, while Karachi and Islamabad offices registered 101 and 64 companies, respectively. CROs in Multan, Faisalabad, Peshawar and Quetta registered 13, 12, eight and two companies, respectively.
A total of 54 companies were registered in the services sector, 36 in trading, 21 in information technology, 15 in communications, 10 in construction, 19 in real estate development, and 14 each in engineering, textile and telecommunications sectors.
Total authorized capital and paid-up capital of the 300 limited by shares companies registered during December 2005 amounted to Rs9.921 billion and Rs466.03 million, respectively. A total of 31 companies also raised their authorized capital by Rs1,475.9 million.
With the incorporation of 315 companies in December 2005, the total number of companies registered with the SECP by the end of calendar year 2005 has reached 4234 as compared to 2583 companies registered by the year 2004, reflecting an increase of 64 per cent.
http://www.dawn.com/2006/01/18/ebr10.htm
Falling reserves put stability at risk: Country may face $2 billion decline
By Shahid Iqbal
KARACHI, Jan 19: Fast depleting forex reserves could pose serious threat to the economic stability as over $1.1 billion slipped away in six months from the reserves. The hard-earned reserves have been facing continuous outflow since the beginning of the new fiscal year from July 1, 2005 and the pace of erosion picked up speed after record increase in the oil prices.
In the first week of July 2005, the country’s reserves were $12.613 billion and it reached to $11.504 billion on January 14, 2006, showing a fall of $1.109 billion or 8.8 per cent. If the outflow of dollars continues with the same pace, the country will face a substantial decline of over $2 billion by end of the current fiscal on June 30.
The reserves held by the commercial banks also showed a declining trend. The SBP faced an erosion of $778 million during the last six months while the commercial banks noted a decline of $331 million in their respective reserves.
The pressure of oil price-hike faced by the SBP resulted in the fast depleting of reserves as for more than a year the central bank has been paying oil import bills. The international oil prices have been fluctuating during the year but most of the time hovered around $60 per barrel that posed a serious threat to many developing economies including Pakistan.
“This is true that the oil prices have gone up and the SBP is facing pressure but there should be some mechanism to check the decline in reserves,” said an analyst.
So far no strategy has been devised to protect the reserves from further depletion. The reserves were built during the last six years by the SBP after spending billions of rupees on dollar buying as well as increased remittances.
The continuous fall in reserves is considered a threat to the stability of the economy as it had been six years back when the economy was at the verge of collapse on account of its ability to pay its external bills.
“The huge current account deficit in the range of $7bn to $9bn at the end of the fiscal may appear as the biggest challenge for the economic managers as remittances from overseas Pakistanis could not be enough to fill the gap,” said analyst Amjad Aleem.
The country is expected to receive around $4.2 billion remittances by the end of the current fiscal. During the first half of this fiscal $2.055 billion were remitted by overseas Pakistanis, official figures showed.
Either the government would have to meet $3 to $5 billion deficit from its own account (SBP reserves) or it would borrow from the market.
“Spending from its own reserves could send a shock to the market and destabilization process would be geared up. I think the government may not opt for this route to address the problem,” said Amjad.
The other option is the borrowing from the international market and donors like IMF, ADB etc. There is a possibility that the government will opt for launching bonds as it is already in the market with Euro bonds and Sukuk bonds.
http://www.dawn.com/2006/01/20/ebr4.htm