News Bulletin: (17/03/2014) Moody’s raises outlook for EU to stable (Dawn): Moody’s raised its rating outlook for the European Union to stable from negative on Friday, citing the improvement of its members’ finances and falling risks from the eurozone debt crisis. Moody’s affirmed the EU’s top-flight Aaa rating and said the main reason for the outlook change is “the improvement in the credit standing of the largest shareholders that the EU relies on” in crises. Medium-term roadmap projects 7pc growth (Dawn): Highlighting the government’s medium-term economic roadmap, the minister said: “Our medium-term three-year (2014-17) aim is to raise the GDP growth gradually to around 6 to 7pc, investment/GDP to 20pc, tax/GDP to 13pc and foreign exchange reserves to around $20bn. Also, we aim to bring fiscal deficit down to 4pc of GDP and public debt to below 60pc of GDP as per statutory requirement.” FDI jumps by 18pc (Dawn): Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) increased by 18 per cent during the first eight months of this fiscal year, the State Bank reported on Friday. However, overall foreign private investment in the country dropped by 3.5pc due to low inflows from portfolio investment. The State Bank reported that the FDI during July-February rose to $606 million compared to $514m received during the same period of last year. Thatta Cement suspends project in Sri Lanka (Dawn): The company informed investors on Friday that the project was ‘temporarily suspended’ as the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) had not executed the Land Lease Agreement (LLA), despite the fact that basic engineering of the project was completed by the Thatta Cement Company (Pvt) Limited, a subsidiary of Thatta Cement Company. Pakistan Steel Mills roadmap: Fix the house before selling it (Tribune): Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) has been unable to come out of the red since it lost all its cash reserves in the 2008 global financial crisis. The piece-meal liquidity injection from the government that followed was so small and irregular that production kept on declining. Now it is on the brink. Maker of Revo talks about its re-launch (Tribune): When the country’s premier expressed a desire for a ‘made in Pakistan’ vehicle at the recently-held auto show in Lahore, he had probably forgotten about Adam Revo — Pakistan’s first locally produced car that made an entry nine years ago. Balochistan to receive big slice of Chinese funds (Tribune): After taking operational control of the strategically important deep-sea port of Gwadar, China is focusing on poverty and militancy-stricken province of Balochistan, which will get a major chunk of funds worth $31 billion pledged by Beijing for energy and port expansion projects, sources say. Islamic Banking Industry asset base crosses Rs one trillion mark (BR): The Islamic Banking Industry (IBI) continued to post a healthy growth and for the first time in the history its asset base has crossed Rs 1 trillion mark at the end of last calendar year (CY13). According to State Bank of Pakistans Islamic Banking Bulletin the year-on-year IBI asset base reached Rs 1.014 trillion compared to Rs 837 billion in CY12, depicting an increase of Rs 177 billion. PPL fails to start producing gas/oil from Wafiq X-1 field (BR): Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) has failed in starting gas/oil production from Wafiq X-1, in district Sanghar, while the Ministry of Petroleum has directed the state run company to make all possible efforts for initiating gas/oil production from the gas field. 1,700 megawatts power be added to national grid in May: Asif (BR): The Minister said lawyer community had played a remarkable role in independence of judiciary and there services would be remembered in all times to come. The water and Power Minister disclosed that 1,700 megawatt electricity would be added to national grid in coming May 2014 which will help further reduce the duration of electricity load shedding while during recovery drive the government recovered Rs 22 billion across the country which is a healthy sign. The Nandipur power project he said would start functioning in May this year as a result of which the duration of load shedding of electricity would be further reduced. Earlier, President District Bar Association Shahid Mir presented the address of Welcome and highlighted different problems being faced by the lawyers community. Ogra case: hearing adjourned to March 27 (BR): The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned the proceedings of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) implementation case till March 27. A three-member bench headed by Justice Jawwad S Khawaja resumed the hearing of Ogra implementation case. Prosecutor General NAB K.K Agha informed the court that a timeframe for the completion of a trial has been mentioned in National Accountability Bureau ordinance, but there is no specific time line in the ordinance about completion of an inquiry in the case. Power tariff raise by Rs 2.24 per unit (BR): National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Thursday allowed power distribution companies (DISCOs) to raise electricity tariff by Rs 2.24 per unit on account of fuel adjustment for January 2014. The regulator allowed the increase after a public hearing on a tariff petition filed by Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA). Vice Chairman Nepra Khawja Muhammad Naeem presided over the hearing. ECC likely to allow import of urea (BR): Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet is likely to allow the import of 0.35 million tons of urea for Kharif 2014 as domestic urea production is insufficient to meet requirement of agriculture sector, well informed sources in Cabinet Division told Business Recorder. Imported urea price fixed at Rs1,786 (TN): The federal government has fixed the price of imported urea at Rs1,786 per 50kg bag to uniform the market prices after considering all the incidentals and financial cost of the imported urea, official documents revealed on Friday. Pakistan to achieve 4.5pc GDP growth: Dar (TN): Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday said that the GDP growth target of 4.5 percent for the fiscal year 2013-14 will be achieved, considering the ongoing economic developments. Govt urged to restructure PIA loans (TN): The management of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has approached the government for restructuring of its long-term or legacy loans, which hover around Rs70 billion. ‘3G spectrum to raise GDP by at least Rs380 billion’ (TN): The launch of 3G/4G spectrum is likely to generate 990,000 jobs and create additional GDP between Rs.380billion and Rs.1,180 billion in the period up to 2020 in a high demand scenario according to a report by the UK based Plum Consulting, the News learnt on Saturday. Weekly inflation goes up by 0.3% (DT): The SPI for the week under review in the above mentioned group was recorded at 203.31 points against 202.71 points registered in the previous week, according to data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Policy rate left unchanged (Dawn): The State Bank has kept its policy rate unchanged at 10 per cent for next two months. Unveiling the monetary policy on Saturday, the bank noted an improvement in key indicators, but also warned that the economy was still facing serious challenges and suggested a proactive policy effort was required to maintain the momentum. Proposal to halve wheat reserves rejected (Dawn): The Ministry of National Food Security and Research has turned down a proposal put forward by the finance ministry to halve the country’s strategic wheat reserves from 1.0 million tonnes to 0.5m tonnes because of limited fiscal space, Dawn learnt on Saturday. A senior official of the food ministry, when contacted, said the strategic wheat reserves would continue to be maintained at 1m tonnes as per international obligations. Import of used vehicles plunges (Dawn): The import of used vehicles (800cc to above 3,000cc) under various schemes plunged to 14,903 units in the July-February period of this fiscal year, from 37,952 units in the same period last fiscal year.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 05:25:23 +0000
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