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Nishat Group, consortium acquire AES Lal Pir and AES Pak Gen:

KARACHI (June 18 2010): Nishat Group and consortium Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC) and City

School have acquired AES Lal Pir and AES Pak Gen from AES Corporation of USA. According to a pressrelease issued here on Thursday, AES Lal Pir and Pak Gen are based in Muzaffar Garh and were establishedin late 1990.

The generation capacity of these two units is 727MW using state of the art steam turbine. These plantswhich have been acquired are managed by an excellent and dedicated team of professionals. In thisacquisition Nishat Group and Associates collectively own 50 percent of the shares whereas Abu DhabiInvestment Council which is owned by the Government of Abu Dhabi has acquired 30 percent and CitySchool 20 percent.

With this acquisition Nishat Group has become a major energy provider within Pakistan generating over1200MW excluding captive power and playing a significant role in supplying much needed electricity to

Wapda and Pepco. This acquisition at a time when the country is under an IMF programme demonstratesforeign investment in this case from Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC) can be attracted based on soundfinancial viability of projects undertaken within Pakistan.

Nishat Group and its consortium members are optimistic about the future of this sector in spite of thepresent concerns over circular debt and is totally committed to build upon and expand its generationcapacity within Pakistan playing its due role to reduce the energy shortfall particularly affordable energy toPepco for distribution.

Solar ATMs can help save Rs 650 million annually:

ISLAMABAD (June 21 2010): The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) Sunday said the country can save

electricity worth Rs 650 million annually if the existing automated teller machines (ATMs) are converted onsolar power. ATMs deriving energy from the sun can also work without air-conditioners; one such machinecan save up to Rs 1.5 lac (more than 0.1 million) annually.

PEW also called for installation of ATMs with bio-metric authentication system to benefit the lesser literatepeople in cities and countryside. We have around 6800 online branches, 4500 ATMs and one crore users ofplastic cards. Their majority resides in urban areas; now we should also plan to benefit rural population, heurged.

Elaborating, he said despite expansion plans, usually banks prefer maximum penetration in urban areas.Therefore, villagers have to cover a long distance to the nearby banks during office hours to withdrawmoney. They also face problems related to counting and verification etc.

Moreover, solar ATMs can settle the issue of unpredictable power supply in cities and villages. We musthave ATMs that function without PIN numbers and grid connectivity, he added. He informed that currently,teller machines have 56 percent share in all electric transactions, which will increase if it becomes friendlyfor the uneducated. Meanwhile, Dr Mughal demanded that SBP should improve the traditional paper-basedRetail Payment System, which is still dominating with over 85 percent share.

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We should move towards modern electronic instruments with full awareness about the risks involved. Thiswill call for introduction of modern core banking solutions, he maintained. In this regard, he pointed thatmobile phone industry has already bypassed usual wires, poles, roads and telephone exchanges, and this isproving to be beneficial for people to a great extent.

These companies are earning windfall profits therefore, they should come forward to convert theirthousands of sites on solar power, which will not only save electricity and reduce oil import bill, but alsohelp combat pollution, he added.

Al-Baraka and Emirates Global merger move challenged in SHC:

ISLAMABAD (June 20 2010): The merger of Al-Baraka Islamic Bank and the Emirates Global IslamicBank Limited has been challenged in the Sindh High Court (SHC) on the basis that EGIBL did not clear

payment of the Bank's Pre Initial Public Offer (Pre-IPO) to investors. The SHC has already issued notices toEGIB and State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in the matter.

Faisal Vawda, proprietor of Faisal Vawda Group (FVG), has argued in SHC that Emirates FinancialHolding, the parent company of EGIBL, has induced FVG to make investment in shares of EGIBL.Emirates Financial Holding has offered sale of 24 million non-listed shares of the EGIBL as Pre IPOoffering.

The shares were offered at premium value of Rs 12.50/each. The sale price was fixed at Rs 300.000 million.FVG accepted the offer for purchase of shares and paid a sum of Rs 60 million as part payment. The balancepayment of Rs 240 million had been adjusted against the property bearing No 24-C, Phase-V, Khayaban-i-Tanzeem, DHA, Karachi.

Balochistan budget today:

QUETTA (June 21 2010): Provincial Minister for Finance Mir Asim Kurd Gailo, who will presentBalochistan Budget 2010-11 on Monday in the Balochistan Assembly, said the budget would create 20,000

jobs. Talking to APP on Sunday, the Finance Minister said the provincial government was serious inresolving the unemployment issue. A huge amount has been earmarked in the new fiscal budget for thepurpose, he added. He said the provision of government sector jobs to over 20,000 youths would helpremove the sense of deprivation amongst them. Responding to a question, he said about Rs22 billion werebeing allocated for education sector. Health, water supply and agriculture sectors would also get additionalfunds in the budget, he added.

Kurd expressed his satisfaction that Balochistan would get Rs83 billion as its share under the NationalFinance Commission Award and Rs10 to 13 billion from Gas Development Surcharge. He maintained thatsuch type of financial assistance had helped the provincial government to finalise a budget as per aspirationsof masses.

When asked whether salaries of employees would be increased in line with other provinces, he replied thatsalaries of provincial departments employees including police personnel would be raised adequately.

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Index gains 174.59 points:

KARACHI (June 21 2010): Highly volatile trading activity was witnessing during the week ended on June19, 2010, and the KSE-100 index closed at the level of 9,645.71 points with a gain of 174.59 points, mainlyon the back of foreign investors' support. Trading profile remained low and the average daily volume atready counter amounted to 109.111 million shares as compared to previous week's 117.594 million shares.

Market capitalisation increased by Rs 40 billion to Rs 2.714 trillion. Foreign investors remained net buyersof shares worth $4.837 million. On Monday, the market opened on a negative note and the index declinedby 241.52 points to close at 9,229.60 points level with a volume of 89.526 million shares, mainly due to theuncertainties about imposition of CGT on shares purchased before June 30.

On Tuesday, the market witnessed mixed trend. However, it managed to close in positive at 9,250.55 pointslevel with a gain of 20.95 points, with trading of 82.953 million shares. On Wednesday, the index surged by

186.33 points and closed at 9,436.88 points with 99.350 million shares. On Thursday, the market witnessedhealthy trading on the back of foreign investors' interest, and the index increased by 239.83 points to closeat 9,676.71 points level, with 138.418 million shares.

On Friday, the investors opted for profit taking and the index lost 31.00 points to close the week at 9,645.71points level with 135.310 million shares.

An analyst at KASB Securities said that the market remained volatile throughout the week as there wereuncertainties galore regarding implementation of CGT at the bourses with investor sentiment seesawing onnegative and positive (relaxation in the collection of quarterly advance tax for retail investors) news flow. Abuying spree followed the latter, boosted by $4.9 million net foreign inflow for the week, whereby the KSE-100 index closed +1.8 percent.

Although, investors finally decided to come out of their cocoon post-budget announcement, they remainedfocused towards defensive and first-tier stocks. However, spurts of activity were witnessed in some stockslike, OGDC (on rumours of foreign buying in the stock), Lucky and DGKC (cement prices recovered 8-10percent) and PSO (government commitment to release Rs 41.4 billion towards resolution of circular debt).All-in-all, domestic investors remained cautious as the market awaited the final verdict on CGT. These

jitters muted the positive macro news during the week where current account showed moderation with11MFY10 current account deficit now down 66 percent on year-on-year basis to $2.9 billion and inflationreading coming in below consensus forecast.

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Holbrooke cautions against pipeline deal:

Says new US sanctions on Iran could hit Pak companies; terms reconciliation with Haqqani-group hard toimagine; LSE report on ISI-Taliban links fabricated; FO says UN motion doesnt stop Pakistan fromcontinuing with project

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Sunday that the recent UN Resolution 1929, imposed upon Iran, in nomanner stopped Pakistan from continuing with the $7.6 billion natural gas pipeline project with Iran.

Earlier, US Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke, while commenting onPakistans energy needs, said Pakistan should be wary of committing to the Iran-Pakistan natural gaspipeline because he anticipated new US sanctions on Iran could hit Pakistani companies.

First of all, the subject of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline was not raised between Pakistan and the US duringthe meetings that Ambassador Richard Holbrooke held in Islamabad. Secondly, the UN resolution does notstop Pakistan from carrying on with the gas pipeline project because both China and Russia ensured thatIrans energy sector, including gas and oil, is not targeted when UN resolution 1929 was passed by theUNSC. The scope of the resolution is limited, said the Foreign Office spokesman when contacted by TheNews.

Interestingly, Holbrooke in public took a different approach and was very guarded, when he told the mediaat the press conference at the Foreign Office on Saturday that This is your country. He was asked tocomment on the US view about the gas pipeline.

However, on Sunday he was more forthcoming and said: Pakistan has an obvious, major energy problem

and we are sympathetic to that, but with regards to a specific project, the (US) legislation is being preparedthat may apply to the project. We caution the Pakistanis not to over-commit themselves until we know thelegislation.

The spokesman said for the time being, Pakistan would wait and see what the scope of the fresh USlegislation would include, and whether these would target Irans energy sector. Both China and Russia areinteracting with Iran in its energy sector.

I do not think the US legislation will go to this extent. But how we proceed, is again, an internal matter ofPakistan, and if the fresh US legislation hits the Kerry-Lugar Bill, then we will have to divert other funds tothe project, the spokesman added.

He said Pakistan would also wait and see what the fresh EU legislation on Iran expected soon would looklike. The UN Resolution 1929 targets individuals and entities while calling for measures against new Iranianbanks abroad if a connection to the nuclear or missile programmes is suspected, as well as vigilance overtransactions with any Iranian bank, including the central bank.

Agencies add: Richard Holbrooke told reporters that the new legislation, which targets Irans energy sector,is being drafted in the US Congress and that Pakistan should wait and see.

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He declined to give details, saying he was not involved in drawing up the legislation, but cautioned that it

could be comprehensive. This can range from legislation which could be so comprehensive that somethinglike this could create a major problem for any company or country, Holbrooke said.

The US special envoy said Washington was not against reconciliation with militants, but with the Haqqaninetwork it was hard to imagine.

Hard to imagine, was Richard Holbrookes response to reporters in Islamabad when asked if theJalaluddin Haqqani-led militant group was reconciliable.

But I do want to underscore that we have some very clear publicly stated criteria and one is renounce al-Qaeda and other is participate voluntarily in the peaceful evolution of Afghanistan within its constitution,Holbrooke said. And this is hard to see that happening, but who knows.

Holbrooke acknowledged that Pakistan was trying to fight the Haqqani network in North Waziristan. ThePakistanis are trying to deal with this problem, they are well aware of it and even in the area in NorthWaziristan there is some activity going on, but there is a lot more that could be done if the resources wereavailable.

Separately, talking to a private TV channel, Richard Holbrooke said corruption was not limited to a singlecountry but had become an international problem which should be controlled.He said the whole world wasconfronting with the menace of corruption and it was no more attached to a single country. He urged for theneed to deal with this global problem. He said his visit proved very positive and productive, especially hismeeting with the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Ahmad Shuja Pasha.

About the report of the London School of Economics (LSE) in which it tried to connect the ISI with theTaliban, Richard Holbrooke said there was no reality in the report and termed it self fabricated.

Responding to a question, the US envoy said the US respected Pakistans sovereignty and could not think ofintervening in its affairs. He said the US would never cross Pakistans geographical limits.

About funding to terrorists, he said they had failed to stop financial assistance to terrorists for theiractivities. He said the situation in Bajaur and Mohmand Agencies were two sided and complicated as themilitants could move freely on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border.

Aid linked to reformed GST system:

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will go bankrupt in three to six months after October 1, 2010, if the governmentcontinues to spend recklessly without generating more financial resources.

Dont expect help from Washington, donors and the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) if you dontimplement the reformed GST system by October 2010, a senior official, who has been part of the WorkingGroup of the Pak-US Strategic Dialogue, told The News while quoting the US officials in the meetings.

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Ms Maria Otero, Undersecretary for Democracy and Global Affairs at the US State Department, and Mr

David Lipton, Special Assistant to the US president and senior director for international economics at theNational Security Council, headed the US delegation during meetings of the Working Group in Islamabad inwhich they clearly asked the Pakistani authorities to mend their ways by focusing on generating maximumrevenues and massively reducing their spending.

The official, while quoting David Lipton, said in case Pakistan failed to implement the reformed GSTsystem from October 1, 2010, with the same philosophy as the VAT, then it would receive nothing from theInternational Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and even theamount under the Kerry-Lugar Act from the US would not be available.

Top US officials have told the Pakistani authorities concerned that with eight to nine per cent tax-to-GDPratio, no country can progress. So, there is an urgent need to implement the reformed GST system from

October 1, which will not only help increase the tax-to-GDP ratio to 14 to 15 per cent by 2015, but also helpdocument the parallel economy whose size is bigger than the documented economy.

They said if the people at the helm of affairs wanted to continue to spend lavishly, then they needed toimprove the revenue generation outlook, as no country would come forward to bail out Pakistan if thereformed GST system was not put in place. The official said Pakistans public debt had risen to Rs 9 trillionand there was no plan in sight to offload the IMF loan of $11.3 billion out of which Pakistan had so faravailed $7.6 billion.

The US officials also got alarmed when they came to know that the circular debt in the energy sector hadswelled to $5.2 billion (over Rs 445 billion) and they refused to extend any monetary help to cope with thisissue. They wondered why the Pakistani authorities have let this monster to surface again.

David Lipton has been quoted as saying: You require $5.2 billion, but why you people have not taken therequired measures to curb this horrendous problem. So dont ask us to give you $5.2 billion.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Water and Power, however, said the ministry had neither demanded $5.2billion nor the US had discussed it. This issue was not discussed with the Ministry of Water and Power,the spokesman said.

The US side, the official revealed, had also expressed dismay over the degrading quality of human resourcescurrently running the ministries. The official said when the US delegation went to meet the officials of theIndus River System Authority (Irsa), its chairman did not give any presentation about the water issue butdwelt at length on the water flows from 1993 till now. The official claimed that the US experts were not

convinced at all by the Irsa chairmans speech.

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KESC T&D losses reduce to 33 percent:

KARACHI: The Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) suffers an estimated Rs 35.8 billion drainannually on account of transmission and distribution (T&D) losses in the power utilitys network andsystem, Daily Times has learnt. One percent of T&D loss in the KESCs system translates into about Rs 1billion to the power utility, but it seems that the company has other plans to generate revenues instead ofarresting its huge T&D drain. Sources told Daily Times that the KESC management claimed it hadsuccessfully curtailed about 2.8 percent of T&D losses bringing it down to 33 percent from its old losses of35.8 percent during the last year. According to the KESCs management, the total income of the powerutility from September 2008 to May 2010 was estimated at Rs 162 billion, while the total expenditure of thisperiod stands at Rs 199 billion, and added that a visible cash shortfall of Rs 37 billion was filled by a newinvestment of Rs 23 billion, while the remaining Rs 14 billion came from various local and foreign financialinstitutions, suppliers and creditors. For long term planning, instead if increasing the billing the KESCshould reduce the T&D losses around two to three percent annually.

Monetary growth exceeds State Bank target:

KARACHI: Monetary growth exceeded the State Bank target for the current fiscal year as broad moneygrew at the rate of 9.93 per cent till June 4, however, it crossed to double-digit by the end June 2010.

The State Bank had announced on several occasions that it would keep the monetary growth within nine percent as it was maintained during the last fiscal.

Last year, the monetary growth was 6.4 per cent up to June 6, but it took a sharp jump by end of the fiscalyear on June 30, to reach 9.56 per cent.

Bankers and analysts see the monetary growth up to 11 per cent by the end of this fiscal year. In terms ofamount the broad money grew by Rs509.9 billion in the first 11 months of this fiscal year, which is muchhigher than Rs303 billion expansions during the corresponding period of last year.

The massive expansion already kept the inflation higher than expectations of the policymakers forcing themto revise their earlier estimates.

Heavy government borrowing from the State Bank and large supply of money caused real inflation. The

governments borrowing for budgetary support surpassed the last years figure despite pressure from theIMF to reduce borrowing. However, lower than expected revenue collection forced the government tocontinue borrowing.

The government borrowed Rs442 billion for budgetary support as against last years borrowing of Rs371billion reflecting the poor economic management of the administration.

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The borrowing from State Bank was more critical as it is inflationary in nature but the governmentborrowed even more than last year. It borrowed Rs170 billion from the central bank compared to Rs165billion borrowed last year.

Both provinces, Sindh and Punjab, were also in the race to borrow from the State Bank despite gettinghigher shares from the central pool of revenues. Sindh borrowed Rs11 billion during this period, whilePunjab borrowed Rs22 billion from the State Bank. The other two provinces retired their debts.

The federal government also kept borrowing from the commercial banks and set a new record by borrowingRs225 billion in the first 11 months of this fiscal minimising room for credit growth in the private sector.

Last year, the private sector kept itself away from the bank borrowing, which resulted in poor economicgrowth of just 1.2 per cent.

The trend changed during the current fiscal and the private sector borrowed Rs82 billion up to June 4, 2010since July 2009, against a negative borrowing (debt retirement) of Rs4.9 billion made during the sameperiod last year.

The public sector borrowing showed a less flow of banks credit as compared to last year but it was stillhigher than private sector borrowing. The public sector borrowing was Rs84 billion (Rs144 billion lastyear), while the private sector borrowing was just Rs82 billion.

Analysts said the borrowing trend of the government has hampered its own strategy to curtail inflation,while it looks that the trend will persist since the fiscal deficit is rising on account of less revenuecollections and higher defense spending due to war against terrorism.

Higher salaried class to pay more tax:

KARACHI: A sizeable resource gap in the budget 2010-11 will be filled through increased rate of taxes onthe upper cadre salaried class whereby individuals having gross salary of Rs45.5 million will now pay tax atthe rate of 20 per cent. Previously, people earning as high as Rs86.5 million were taxed at this rate.

The government has raised the basic threshold limit of salaried class from Rs200,000 to Rs300,000 andlowered the upper limit for higher tax rate for the salaried class.

This also means that instead of bringing in untaxed segments in the tax net and broadening the tax base thegovernment opted for an easier option by taxing more the already taxed segments. Tax experts felt that the

change has made the tax structure more unfair.

A tax consultant Younus Rizwani Sheikh said the government has dodged the salaried taxpayers byenhancing the threshold limit on one side and taxing individuals having higher gross salary at a higher taxrate of 20 per cent.

He said that the salaried class with higher income bracket would be paying more tax than they used to pay inthe past.

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Rizwan Shoaib, another tax consultant, said by reducing the upper taxable slab of salary income fromRs86.5 million to Rs45.5 million would mean that all incomes that fall between these two slabs will now be

taxed at 20 per cent rate.

Against this in the past, salary income above Rs86.5 million was taxed at the rate of 20 per cent and income(salary) below this was taxed at 19 per cent. This would mean that the government has again put the burdenof additional resource generation on salaried class.

The entire exercise of enhancing revenue collection proposed in the finance bill is mostly dependent onhigher tax rates on different income groups, such as Association of Persons (AoPs), which has been pushedup from 2 per cent to a fixed tax rate of 25 per cent from the tax year, 2010.

Mr Rizwani was critical of the FBR that did not make any effort to widen the tax net and once againresorted to increasing tax rate on different segments of existing taxpayers.

He said that advance tax on purchase of air tickets or on banking transactions such as pay orders, bank draftor electronic transfer of funds, the tax deduction at 0.3 per cent are moves, which require no efforts on partof the FBR to enhance revenue.

Tax consultants have questioned the FBRs role in collecting revenue and said that if a huge strength of32,000 officers and staff members are assigned to collect only 20 per cent of total revenue per annum isitself a strong evidence of its inefficiency and level of corruption.

Presently, some estimates put 80 per cent annual revenue collection of the FBR through withholding tax andthe burden of collection of this tax fall upon the withholding tax agents.

Same European firms set to get LNG contract:

ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to go ahead with the award of a contract to the 4Gas and GDFSuez companies for import of 3.75 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for 20 years that was held inabeyance in April on the intervention of the Supreme Court.The decision was taken a few days ago at a meeting presided over by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani,who was given a presentation on the project, its benefits to the national economy owing to its competitiverates and widening energy shortfalls and its ramifications for investor confidence.

The prime minister gave approval to awarding the contract to the companies already selected by thepetroleum ministry and a price negotiation committee comprising representatives of the ministries offinance, planning and petroleum.

A summary for re-approval of contract for setting up of LNG terminal and supply of 3.75 million tons ofLNG will be presented to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet at its next meeting,an official told Dawn.

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Pakistan rice crop hit by tight water supplies:

DUBAI: Pakistan's 2010-2011 season rice crop is expected to drop by 14 per cent versus the year earlier asIndia limits water supplies to Pakistan, a board member on Pakistan's Rice Exports Association told Reuterson Sunday.

Pakistan's Indus river basin is supplied by melting snow and glaciers from the Himalayas. Both India andPakistan make use of the Indus, with the river managed under a 1960 water treaty.

Pakistan has lately begun accusing India of taking more than its fair share from the headwaters by building anumber of dams and waging water war against its downstream neighbour.

India denies this. In 2010-2011 we expect to face a drop of 14 per cent in production because of limitedwater supplies because India is building dams and diverting water from the same river we share, Sham

Khan told Reuters on the sidelines of an industry conference in Dubai.

This water issue is a serious problem and Pakistan is currently in talks with India to try to resolve this issueas agriculture represents around 23.3 of our GDP.

During the 2009-2010 season, which starts in August and ends in February, Pakistan produced around 6.7million tonnes of the water intensive crop due to good weather conditions, Khan said.

Other factors aside from water supplies have also impacted the rice crop, Khan said. Some farmers haveswitched to cash crops such as cotton and sugar due to the abundance of rice on global markets, he added.

Global rice supplies this year are expected to grow by 1 per cent compared to 2009, he said. The excess

supply will push the prices down and farmers want to make the most profit out of their land.

That's why they are looking to grow other crops, he said. Despite the drop in output, exports were expectedto remain buoyant as domestic demand in Pakistan was mainly for wheat and not rice, said Khan.

He declined to estimate the volume of exports for the 2010-2011 crop. For the previous season, Pakistanexported around 3 million tonnes of rice, he said.

Pakistan mainly exports long grain Basmati rice to the Middle East, Europe and Asia.

We also have a small market in Africa but right now they are demanding cheap grades of grain like brokenrice which comes from places like Vietnam, so our target this year is to expand our Middle East market share

to compensate for this, Khan said.

The vast majority, between 90 and 95 per cent, of Pakistan's water is used for agriculture, while the averageuse in developing countries is between 70 and 75 per cent.

The remaining trickle is used for drinking water and sanitation for Pakistan's 180 million people.

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Pakistan needs US support for mega projects:

KARACHI - Pakistan needs United States support for mega infrastructure projects that could stimulate thegrowth process in the country instead of assistance on numerous small projects which it might not be able tomonitor in a transparent manner.

These views were expressed by Chairman Nishat Group, Mian Mohammad Mansha during a discussion witha United States delegation led by President Barack Obamas Senior Economic Advisor, David Lipton, said apress release issued here on Saturday.

The meeting was in relation to President Obamas doctrine to identify measures that could deepen the tiesbetween business leaders, foundations and social entrepreneurs in the United States and Muslim communitiesaround the world.

During their meeting, they discussed various matters including economy, job creation, investment, reforms infinancial sector, market access to USA, ongoing power crises in Pakistan including circular debt,implementation of VAT and various business opportunities in Pakistan.

Mian Mansha suggested that the best way to help Pakistan is to provide access to the U.S. market forPakistani textile products. He also suggested that the US should take up a major hydel power project as itwill help boost investment and create employment opportunities. He invited the delegation to join hands inits plans to serve education sector by establishing a state of the art university in Pakistan and a UniversityFund.

The U.S. delegation apprised Mian Mansha about President Obamas plan to award contracts through its

multi-million-dollar Global Technology and Innovation Fund, designed to spur investments in the Muslimworld.

David Lipton assured the Chairman of Nishat Group that his suggestion would be given due consideration.David Lipton was assisted in talks by Consul General, U.S.

Consul General, Carmela Conroy, Senior Economic Advisor, Department of State, Mary Beth Goodman,International Economist, Department of Treasury, Elizabeth Shortino, Pakistan Desk Officer, Department ofState, USA Breth Eggleston and Economic Officer, US Consulate General, Jessica Berlow while MianMansha was assisted by President MCB Bank M.U.A. Usmani and Umer Mansha.

Govt sets $11.7b trade deficit:

ISLAMABAD - Trade deficit is projected at $11.7 billion for the next financial year 2010-11, which is 6.1percent of the GDP, with exports worth $19.95 billion and imports of $ 31.69 billion, official figuresrevealed.

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Due to global uncertainty, continuous energy shortage and security situation of the country, the Governmenthad estimated $19.95 billion export target for the coming fiscal year (FY) against $19.2 billion estimated for

2009-10. Meanwhile imports are projected at $ 31.69 billion for 2010-11, which is 6 percent higher than$29.9 billion estimated imports of the outgoing fiscal year. The trade imbalance is projected at $11.742billion.

According to the trade analysts, the Government has estimated an ambitious trade deficit target of $11.7billion, as it will be much higher. They believed that it would be a challenging export target for theGovernment in the wake of loadshedding.

It is worth mentioning here that in the outgoing fiscal year, trade deficit was estimated at $10.715 billion,which is expected to remain at $15.32 billion at the end of June.

The break-up of $19.952 billion exports target revealed that Government was expecting to export; food

commodities, $3.360 billion, textile, $10.666 billion, petroleum products and coal, $906.3 million, othermanufacturers, $3.842 billion, and all others products are projected at $ 1.099 billion in 2010-11.

Meanwhile, among the imports, the Government estimates food imports at $2.416 billion in the next fiscalyear, machinery, $3.950 billion, transport group, $1.984 billion, petroleum products, $10.241 billion,textiles products, $1.444 billion, agri and other chemicals, $3.029 billion, metal group, $2.059 billion, andmiscellaneous products are estimated at $671.5 million.

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