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PAK LAW PUBLICATION News Alerts 11 December 2013EMAIL # 278-2013

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13

Daily News

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

PAK LAW

PUBLICATION

2013

Office # 05, Ground Floor, Arshad Mansion, Near Chowk A.GOffice, Nabha Road Lahore.

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News ContentsTop Stories.............................................................................................................................................5

Exchange rate stability: Dar banking on banks .......................................................................................5

IMF projects 7.09 percent inflation for FY14 ..........................................................................................7

Remittances rise to $6.4 billion in five months ......................................................................................8

Nawaz sees poverty-free Asia by 2050 ...................................................................................................8

APA adopts Islamabad Declaration.......................................................................................................10

Nawaz for strengthening trade ties with EU countries.........................................................................11

'Missing' persons: Supreme Court holds army responsible..................................................................12

IP gas pipeline: Islamabad, Tehran for fast-track Implementation ......................................................14

Proposed gas sale price: MPCL locks horns with ministry ....................................................................15

NPLs fall by Rs 11.152 billion in Q1FY14 ...............................................................................................16

ECC to consider PSM package today.....................................................................................................17

Tax gap analysis of major sectors initiated...........................................................................................17

FBR announces last date for filing of IT returns....................................................................................19

Clarification...........................................................................................................................................19

LSE equities settle in negative zone......................................................................................................20

ISE Ten index falls..................................................................................................................................20

BRIndex30 down by 64.54 points .........................................................................................................21

Taxation: Pakistan ..............................................................................................................................22

Immunity from tax audit: proforma to claim exemption issued ..........................................................22

Sales tax and FED collection: Islamabad RTO says first quarter target exceptionally high ..................23

Tax gap analysis of major sectors initiated...........................................................................................24

PRA to introduce restaurant invoices monitoring system....................................................................26

FBR urged to introduce new sales tax registration system ..................................................................27

Business & Economy...........................................................................................................................28

Sindh CM gives go ahead to 335 new dev schemes costing Rs 41940mn............................................28

Solid efforts afoot to open LPG auto gas stations ................................................................................29

Industries & Sectors ...........................................................................................................................31

OGDCL developing six projects in Sindh, Balochistan and KPK.............................................................31

Cotton and Textiles: Pakistan ............................................................................................................32

Cotton market: rates firm on strong demand for fine type..................................................................32

APTMA to unveil vision for next five years on December 14 ...............................................................33

Readymade garments industry Issuance of separate SROs soon.........................................................33

Agriculture and Allied: Pakistan .......................................................................................................35



Sukkur Barrage canals to be closed from January 6 .............................................................................35

Irsa federal member from Sindh...fat chance.......................................................................................35

KP fixes sugar cane and sugar beet prices ............................................................................................36

PFMA's GBM on December 13..............................................................................................................37

JWT Pakistan named Gold Agency of the Year .....................................................................................38

ECC to consider PSM package today.....................................................................................................38

Cold and gusty winds reduce fish catch................................................................................................39

IT and Computers: Pakistan ..............................................................................................................40

Intel extends computing technology in 2013 .......................................................................................40

Fuel and Energy: Pakistan .................................................................................................................41

OGDC MD briefs NA body: exploration activities on six projects expedited ........................................41

Gas supply to industries, CNG stations suspended...............................................................................42

Proposed gas sale price: MPCL locks horns with ministry ....................................................................42

IP gas pipeline: Islamabad, Tehran for fast-track Implementation ......................................................43

16 or 17 percent sales tax: Ogra asked to issue revised notification ...................................................44

Country possesses hydropower generation potential of 60,000MW: WAPDA....................................46

Captive power generation: IFC, LCCI discuss regulatory, policy barriers..............................................47

Fuel and Energy: World......................................................................................................................49

Brent drops on signals Libyan exports could resume ...........................................................................49

Russia risks depleting oil savings: IMF ..................................................................................................50

OPEC sticks to 2014 oil demand growth forecast.................................................................................51

Oil and gas companies to spend over six percent more in 2014: Barclays...........................................51

Eni shuts Nigerian oil pipeline after fire................................................................................................52

BR Research: All .................................................................................................................................53

Dar’s pep talk to bankers ......................................................................................................................53

Getting Lucky in Africa ..........................................................................................................................54

Masood Textile Mills: let us count the ways.........................................................................................55

ADB’s nod to coal power.......................................................................................................................56

LSE looses 13.39 points.........................................................................................................................57

Brief Recordings..................................................................................................................................58

Colgate Palmolive (Pakistan) Limited....................................................................................................58

BR Research: All .................................................................................................................................61

Dar’s pep talk to bankers ......................................................................................................................61

Getting Lucky in Africa ..........................................................................................................................62

Masood Textile Mills: let us count the ways.........................................................................................63



ADB’s nod to coal power.......................................................................................................................64

Miscellaneous News ............................................................................................................................66

Shariah-based system: Government takes steps to spread Islamic banking........................................66

Overseas Pakistanis send $6.4b in five months....................................................................................67

Gold prices expected to bounce back by March...................................................................................68

Innovation: IBA students develop app for news watchers ...................................................................69

Dar expects reserves to rise by $3 billion .............................................................................................70

Roll out: Honda Atlas Cars to double production capacity...................................................................71

Transit trade: Pakistan to open road, rail routes for regional states....................................................73

Greater connectivity : Demand for big data services to grow, says Intel .............................................74

Client privacy: With innovative banking comes the need for fresh laws .............................................75

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11th, 2013.......................................................................75

OPEN MARKET FOREX RATES................................................................................................................76

INTER BANK RATES................................................................................................................................77



Top Stories

Exchange rate stability: Dar banking onbanksDecember 11, 2013

ZAHEER ABBASI

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has reportedly sought short-term support from commercial banksin terms of import bill financing to achieve exchange rate stability as improvement in foreignexchange reserves is expected from next month with materialisation of finflows in thepipeline, it was reliably learnt.

Sources said the chief executives of various banks during a meeting on Tuesday plainlyconveyed to the Finance Minister that exchange rate can only be determined by marketdynamics on a permanent basis and if the government wants to stabilise rupee, it can only beachieved by improving foreign exchange reserves with adequate inflows and by makingliquidity situation better in the market. The banks' viewpoint was that neither government norcommercial banks can fix exchange rate. The Finance Minister has reportedly askedcommercial banks to "play fairly" and discourage speculators.

A senior official said banks were told that the situation on external account would remainrelatively bad till the end of current month and things would start improving from the nextmonth with materialisation of foreign inflows on various accounts. The Finance Minister issaid to have sent a clear message to the speculators that the government is aware of them.

The meeting continued for about two hours and the chief executives of banks were told thatfor the first time open market rates were less than the interbanks', said Advisor FinanceMinistry Rana Asad Amin.

Talking to Business Recorder, he said that foreign exchange reserves would start improvingwith the receipt of US $137 million from Islamic Development Bank on Wednesday, US$300 million of Coalition Support Fund (CSF) would either be reimbursed by US in end ofcurrent month or beginning of next month. Amin added that 3G auction would be completedby the February 2014 and $500 million each from World Bank (WB) and Asian DevelopmentBank (ADB) would materialise by March 2014. A US $500 million bonds transaction wouldalso be completed by March 2014.

In reply to a question, Amin said that "we are living in regulatory regime" and it is not the jobof Finance Ministry to track down speculators. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has put inplace a system and may have information about speculators.

A statement issued after the meeting stated that Federal Minister met the heads ofCommercial Banks here on Tuesday and exchanged views with them on the currenteconomic, monetary and fiscal situation of Pakistan.

In his opening remarks, the Finance Minister said the government has constituted a steeringcommittee which will submit its recommendations for promotion of Islamic banking in the



country by 31st December. This will provide a policy framework for Islamic banking in thecountry. The constitution of the Steering committee and its terms of reference have alreadybeen notified and released to the media, he added.

Dar stated that we have to work together to keep the forex market stable and acknowledgedthe help and co-operation extended by commercial banks in discouraging speculators whichis evident from the fact that the interbank rate today closed at Rs 107.78 to a dollar.

The Finance Minister said the government has redoubled its efforts to increase its foreignexchange reserves. In this connection, he said the government expects a privatisationpayment of $800 million, $800 million against outstanding payments due on account ofCoalition Support Fund, over $1.2 billion against auction of spectrum licence besides $137million expected from Islamic Development Bank today.

The Governor SBP Yaseen Anwar informed the meeting that in the last 2 days exporters haveliquidated export proceeds totalling $70 million, the government is receiving $30 million perday on account of remittances which has improved the foreign exchange position.

The Finance Minister said he is confident that the situation of inflows will further improveand those who speculate on Pakistani currency would end up as losers. The Finance Ministersaid that we have a clear roadmap to build foreign exchange reserves up to $20 billion in thenext 3 years.

The government encouraged by positive outlook projected by "Standard and Poor" and'Moody's'. There are plans to float a Global Rupee bond with the assistance of IFC who arealso interested in floating of sovereign bonds of Pakistan which has received a very positiveresponse from the market.

The Finance Minister thanked the Executives of Commercial Banks for co-operating with thegovernment.

On this occasion Atif Bajwa, President Alfalah Bank, Imran Maqbool, President MuslimCommercial Bank (MCB), Tariq Mehmood, President Allied Bank Limited (ABL), pledgedtheir support and co-operation to the government in its efforts to stabilise the economy andmarkets. They also welcomed the Finance Minister's frank and candid assessment of theeconomy and said that they share his optimistic outlook of Pakistan's economy and its soundfundamentals which would send a very positive message across markets.

Those who participated in the meeting among others include the Governor State Bank ofPakistan (SBP) Yaseen Anwar, Senior officials of the Ministry of Finance and ChairmanSteering Committee on Islamic Banking Saeed Ahmad Wajahat Baqai, Executive VicePresident, Group Head Credit, National Bank of Pakistan, Karachi. Syed Mohammad TalibRizvi Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head Habib Metropolitan Bank Limited,Imran Maqbool, President, Muslim Commercial bank Limited (MCB), Karachi.

Tariq Mehmood, President, Allied Bank Limited, Muhammad Shahbaz Jameel, ExecutiveVice Resident and Regional Chief Head, United Bank Limited, Karachi, Nadeem Lodhi,CEO ,Citi Bank, Managing Director,. Aamir Irshad, Country Retail Head, Ms. Seema Kamil,Regional Corporate Head and Uzeir Naveed, Habib Bank Limited., Atif Bajwa, ChiefExecutive Officer of Bank-Alflah, Karachi. Zaheer Mehdi, Managing Director, StandardChartered Bank Limited.



Copyright Business Recorder, 2013

IMF projects 7.09 percent inflation forFY14December 11, 2013

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected 7.09 percent inflation for Pakistan on itswebsite for the current fiscal year as compared to 7.4 percent for last fiscal year whileConsumer Price Index for November was recorded at 10.9 percent.

The government in the Memorandum on Economic and Financial Policies for 2013 to 2016submitted to the IMF acknowledged that "inflation would not be a primary focus in the firstyear of the programme,"... however based on the government's revenue and expenditurebudgetary projections the Fund projected a rate of inflation well below what has beenachieved during the past five months of the current year.

In July the CPI stood at 8.26 percent, in August 8.55 percent, in September 7.39 percent andin October at 9.8 percent. Unless the government takes appropriate corrective policymeasures to combat inflation the IMF projection of 7.09 percent is not likely to be achievedsources in the Finance Ministry told this correspondent.

The Fund in a press briefing dated 21 November uploaded on its website stated in response toa query that "inflation is often the heaviest tax on the poor and places the heaviest burden onthem. So, we believe that social protection is key to successful implementation of theprogramme. And the government has agreed to put in place policies to protect the mostvulnerable segments of the population from the short-term impacts of reforms. In the short-run the programme includes a significant increase in targeted transfers to the poor."

Sources on condition of anonymity stated that rise in wheat price is going to fuel inflation bymore than the recent rise in vegetable prices. An official told Business Recorder that therewas also heated discussion in the last Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of theCabinet meeting on the issue of sharp increase in prices of vegetables but there was nodiscussion about the impact of rise in wheat price which would also affect the prices of otheritems.

They added that a major reason for inflation was through heavy reliance on domesticborrowing and unless the government takes appropriate revenue measures to bridge the fiscalgap inflation may continue to rise. In addition, the increase in price of petroleum products,electricity as well as depreciation of the rupee has also contributed to the current spike ininflation.

Sources said inflation would also be discussed in the ECC meeting today (Wednesday) andthe Finance Minister has sought details of prices of essential items, including vegetablesduring the last two weeks to see the trend.




Remittances rise to $6.4 billion in fivemonthsDecember 11, 2013

Overseas Pakistani workers remitted an amount of $6406.73 million in the first five months(July-November) of the current fiscal year 2013-14 (FY-14), showing a growth of 7.10percent when compared with $5982.04 million received during the same period of last fiscalyear (July-November FY-13).

The inflow of remittances in July-November FY-14 from Saudi Arabia, UAE, USA, UK,other GCC countries (including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman), and EU countriesamounted to $1793.73 million, $1,297.22 million, $1,025.87 million, $962.76 million,$732.64 million and $179.14 million respectively as compared with the inflow of $1,609.45million, $1,240.62 million, $993.57 million, $245.86 million, $676.69 million and $161.16million respectively in July-November FY-13.

Remittances received from Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Japan and othercountries during the first five months of current fiscal year amounted to $415.37 million asagainst $454.69 million received in the first five months of last fiscal year.

In November 2013, the inflow of remittances from Saudi Arabia, UAE, USA, UK, otherGCC countries (including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman), and EU countries amounted to$334.10 million, $236.29 million, $175.82 million, $155.13 million, $128.18 million and$29.84 million respectively as compared with the inflow of $300.84 million, $193.79 million,$152.29 million, $148.53 million, $117.18 million and $26.63 million respectively inNovember, 2012. Remittances received from Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Japanand other countries during November 2013 amounted to $71.36 million.-PR


Nawaz sees poverty-free Asia by 2050December 11, 2013

ZULFIQAR AHMAD

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday called upon the Asian Parliamentary Assembly(APA) to play an effective role in bringing the Asian countries closer besides making jointefforts for finding a long-lasting solution to the problems faced by the Asian region. Speakingat the 6th plenary session of APA, the premier underlined the need for making joint efforts tocope with economic, law and order, energy and environmental challenges confronting them.

If the Asian countries succeed in properly utilising their resources, maintaining theireconomic growth‚ he added, they can overcome poverty by 2050. Pakistan having geo-strategic location in the region is keen to work with the neighbouring countries to bolstertrade and economic activities, he added.



Referring to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) which had stated that Asia's per capitaincome could rise six-fold in purchasing power parity terms to reach European level by 2050,he said that by the same year Asia could double its share of the global GDP.

"If all goes well and Asia manages its growth properly and with equity, there will be no poorAsian countries by 2050," he contended. He said that 3 billion people of the region canbenefit from the strategic location of Pakistan, adding that Pakistan wants good relations withits neighbours including India and Afghanistan and desires peace‚ security and stability in theregion for ensuring speedy economic growth and welfare of people.

Sharif said that Pakistan is also working on various projects to overcome energy crisis in theregion including Pak-Iran gas pipeline and Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI)gas pipeline and Central Asia-South Asia 1000 power import project.

The premier stated that people of Pakistan want to bring peace not only in the region but alsoin world which can guarantee prosperity of the whole world. He said with peacefuldemocratic power transition‚ Pakistan is now heading towards revival of its economy througha strong parliament.

He said we have been successful to build consensus for fighting terrorism through parliament."The government is taking concrete measures for revival of economy and overcoming energycrisis...we're determined to resolve the problems being faced by people in minimum possibletime," he maintained.

Nawaz said Pakistan had tried to turn a new page with all its neighbours and was prepared tolook at the larger picture, adding that the country had reached out to both Afghanistan andIndia. He said in an Asian century, an opportunity would be witnessed for South Asia to jointhe other Asian engines such as China and the Asean.

"While Pakistan may succeed at its own and through its own endeavours, the success will bequicker, greater, and more sustainable if it is underwritten by the entire region movingtogether," he added.

He expressed satisfaction over the commonalties in APA and Pakistan's ideals concerningstrengthening democracy, peace, development, regional co-operation, security and well-beingof the people across the Asian continent.

The Prime Minister said the theme for this Assembly was particularly relevant - AsianCentury: co-operation in economy, energy and the environment. He said the theme had aparticular resonance for Pakistan.

He said Pakistan underwent a historic political transition earlier this year and one popularlyelected government succeeded another popularly elected government in free, fair andtransparent elections.

He said the country's parliament had emerged ever stronger on account of this transition andadded that "We rejoice that this parliament is today playing host to representatives of its sisterparliaments from across Asia."

Nawaz said the parliament was now working to address the challenges confronting thecountry and had forged a national consensus on how best to address the threat of terrorismand to rejuvenate the economy.



He said achieving this goal was essentially tied to the urgent need to address the cripplingenergy crisis and the government was striving on war-footing to combat the energydeficiency, attract foreign investment, mobilise domestic resource and jump-start economicgrowth. He said there was an important dimension of sharing notes on issues specific to theworking of legislatures, agenda setting, budget-making, drafting and even harmonisinglegislation, committee structures and mandates. He said an equally important aspect of thisinteraction was bringing the peoples of the member countries closer.

He said parliamentary meetings and exchanges are among the best avenues available topromote trust and understanding among countries and peoples. The parliamentarians have afinger on the pulse of their constituents and they know the priorities of their voters, he added.


APA adopts Islamabad DeclarationDecember 11, 2013

The plenary session of Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) Tuesday adopted IslamabadDeclaration, condemning all kinds of foreign occupation‚ interference in internal affairs andviolations of territorial integrity and states sovereignty - be it through drone attacks‚ spying ortelephone taping. The APA recognised the legitimate rights to self-determination of allpeople under foreign occupation. It considered foreign occupation‚ terrorism and extremismas evils. The declaration said terrorism and extremism have no religion‚ nor any nationalboundaries since these are enemies of humanity.

It need to be condemned universally and combated collectively as these are common threats.The declaration underlined the need to remove their root causes, said the declaration. TheAPA reaffirmed the in-alienable right of every country to acquire‚ develop and use nuclearenergy for peaceful purposes under IAEA safeguards including access to civil nucleartechnology without any discrimination. It also resolved to work in unison to promote co-operation and solidarity among Asian nations so that a collective vision and will isdemonstrated to combat in a concerted manner the complex challenges‚ the Asia faces inAsian century.

The APA committed to promote the pivotal role of Parliaments in realising the hopes anddreams of their people for resolution of their long-standing problems including povertyalleviation and quest for a better quality of life.

The declaration recognised regional economic co-operation as an important pillar ofpromoting peaceful development and sharing prosperity‚ underlining the need for trading‚commerce‚ investment‚ special economic zones‚ economic corridors‚ roads and railways andpromoting energy co-operation.

The Assembly expressed gratitude to the Parliament and Government of Pakistan forgraciously hosting the 6th plenary conference of Asian Parliamentary Assembly.

In his statement at the concluding ceremony, APA president Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhariexpressed the confidence that together we can prevail over all our common challenges only if



we stand united and focused.

He said that a new beginning has been initiated as we all are departing with fresh perspectiveson old as well as emerging issues together with a deeper understanding of the challenges weface on our way.

Bukhari said in the 21st century‚ the balance of economic‚ cultural and political power isshifting from the West towards East and the APA stands determined to preserve‚ protect andrealise the dreams of Asians‚ who make up about sixty percent of the world population.

He hoped that the commitments made during the Conference will usher in a new era ofprosperity‚ peace and sustainable development for the people of the region. The conferencealso adopted a number of resolutions highlighting important issues being faced by the region.


Nawaz for strengthening trade ties with EUcountriesDecember 11, 2013

Prime Min-ister Nawaz Sharif has said that Pakistan is looking forward to deepening furtherits co-operation with its European partners in key areas including trade, investment, energy,infrastructure development, education and human resource development. European countries,as our largest trade and investment partners, enjoy a unique position in our priorities, headded. Prime Minister said this while addressing the Ambassadors of European Countries toPakistan at a luncheon hosted in their honour, here on Tuesday.

Prime Minister said that we are very satisfied and deeply encouraged to see the progresstowards grant of GSP plus status to Pakistan, which is going to be voted on by the EuropeanParliament. I know this for a fact that our high hopes about Pakistan winning this status arevery strongly founded on supportive and co-operative role of the resident missions, he added.

The Prime Minister expressed his confidence that given Pakistan's ever strengtheningrelations and mutual confidence, your efforts and support to Pakistan shall go a long way inbenefiting all of us, and in particular, Pakistan, by stimulating further economic growth,curbing extremism and promoting social stability.

Pakistan is a country full of potential, but not yet really exploited and we are looking toworking closely with you, both in exploring, exploiting and developing this potential andrealising the opportunities, the Premier added.

Addressing the issue of US drone attacks he said, "You are fully aware of thecounterproductive impact of the continuing drone strikes. We are fully engaged in sensitisingthe international community about the impact of these attacks and persuading it to find waysand means to curb terrorism that are not counter-productive". Nawaz said that we aredetermined to rid Pakistan of terrorism and extremism.

This menace is complex in nature and is rooted in the events of the past three decades, having



global, regional and local dimensions. We believe that the best way to deal with thesechallenges is through national consensus, which we are generating through various forumsincluding the All Parties Conference and the Parliamentary resolutions, the PM maintained.

Nawaz said, "One of the foremost foreign policy priorities is to have good neighbourly,friendly and co-operative relations with all our neighbours including India, based on mutualrespect and esteem". He told the Ambassadors that the new government has approached theinternal and external challenges by creating a climate of political tolerance andaccommodation, based on respect of mandates of all parties. Our initial steps were focused onachieving a measure of macroeconomic stability, he said.

Prime Minister said that a multi-pronged strategy is being developed to address the energycrisis. "Last week, I have launched a Business Loan Scheme to promote small and mediumenterprise across the country," PM said. He added, "These interventions will go a long way increating job opportunities, stimulating growth and improving the quality of our humanresource."

PM said that we have developed a comprehensive development plan, the "Vision - 2025. Thepurpose of these measures is to put our country on the path of progress, peace and sustainabledevelopment."

The High Commissioner of UK and Ambassadors of France, Italy, Germany, Czech, Spain,Hungary, Greece, Romania, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden, Portugal, Poland andAmbassador of European Union to Pakistan attended the lunch.-PR


'Missing' persons: Supreme Court holdsarmy responsibleDecember 11, 2013

KHUDAYAR MOHLA

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry ruled on Tuesday that the court order was notimplemented in the missing persons' case and held the army responsible for detention of 35'missing' persons in Malakand Internment Centre; out of them, only seven were producedbefore the court so far.

A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry with Justice JawwadS Khawaja and Justice Amir Hani Muslim issued directives to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif,Chief Minister Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KPK) Pervez Khattak and Governor KPK EngineerShaukatullah to ensure the recovery of all missing persons within a week and take actionsagainst those involved in the enforced disappearances.

Disposing of the case, the bench said in its short order that a compliance report must be filedwith the Registrar's office for the perusal of Judges.

During the course of hearing, the bench ruled that there was no law that authorises MilitaryIntelligence (MI), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), or Frontier



Constabulary (FC) to detain persons and only the police could apprehend an accused afterregistering an FIR.

The bench observed that a person confined in an interment center in Aid of Civil Power waspresumed to be under the jurisdiction of the administration "which does not authorise themilitary to remove internees without seeking permission and without any justification."

The Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Munir A Malik informed the court on behalf of theDefence Minister that a bill to legislate a law over the issue of enforced disappearanceswould be tabled in current session of the National Assembly.

The court further observed that there was no law on detention except in the ProvinciallyAdministered Tribal Areas (PATA). The rest of the country, however, must legislate thesespecial laws. Directing the provincial chief executive of KPK, the bench said it should beensured that no forced disappearance would take place in the province in future.

The court said in its order that prima facie, it drew a conclusion that all the 35 persons wereundeclared internees who were taken away from Malakand Interment Center and only sevenwere produced before Justice Ameer Hani Muslim and no explanation was offered.

The bench ruled that when it asked Acting Secretary Defence about the forcible removal ofthese persons from the Interment center, he stated that the army had been given powers underArticle 245 of the Constitution adding that the army could exercise these powers in the faceof internal and external aggression.

The order said that the Attorney General for Pakistan responded to the court inquiry over 721cases of enforced disappearances and that his office had submitted a draft to the federalgovernment for legislation but there was no progress yet.

The bench said that as far as other agencies were concerned they could not detain personsforcibly without sharing their whereabouts with their relatives for a long period as evidentfrom the present case.

The court recalled that despite repeated directions since August 5, 2013 the issue ofproducing the persons as per the list had not been resolved in spite of the involvement ofDefence Minister and Prime Minister.

The bench ruled the Prime Minister and his cabinet in terms of Article 90 of the Constitutionwere duty bound to ensure the production of these missing persons and ensure that all theofficers, responsible for removing these missing persons from the interment centers weredealt with in accordance with law.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the contentions by Acting Secretary Defence, the courtdismissed his claim that the missing persons were not in the custody of army.

Meanwhile, with the resumption of missing persons' case in Quetta the bench directed theadditional secretary, interior, to submit the record of medical treatment of Major-GeneralEjaz Shahid, IG FC; in AFIC, and also directed the incumbent IG FC Quetta to appear beforethe court today (Wednesday).




IP gas pipeline: Islamabad, Tehran for fast-track ImplementationDecember 11, 2013

ALI HUSSAIN

Pakistan and Iran have decided for fast-track implementation of the IP gas pipeline projectand to formulate a roadmap to address the challenges with effective co-ordination and co-operation, said Foreign Office here Tuesday. According to Foreign Office spokesman AizazAhmad Chaudhry, this was agreed during a meeting between Minister for Petroleum andNatural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi with his Iranian counterpart Bijan NamdarZangeneh at the Ministry of Petroleum at Tehran, Monday.

The United States has been opposing the project and advising caution in proceeding with aproject that would take one a half years to complete. "The US policy on Iran is well known.We have made it clear that it is best to avoid activity that may be sanctionable under US orinternational sanctions," a US official said.

However, Pakistan has repeatedly expressed its commitment to pursue the project in order tomeet the energy requirement despite the US pressure.

During the meeting in Tehran, Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry said that it was also agreed that ameeting will be held shortly between the experts of both sides to review parameters foraccelerating work on IP gas pipeline project.

The two ministers also reviewed in detail the bilateral co-operation and expressed satisfactionover the friendly and cordial relations between the two brotherly countries, he added.

Discussing various areas of co-operation‚ he said that the two sides also emphasised the needto put greater focus on bilateral economic relations.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi accompanied by Abid Saeed, Secretary Petroleum and Mobin SaulatMD of the Pakistan's Interstate State Gas System arrived in Tehran to discuss the IP gaspipeline issue with his counterpart and reiterated Pakistan's assurance to fulfil its contractualobligation as the project is of immense importance to meet the energy needs of the country,the spokesman added.

Under the agreement, signed in June 2010, Iran would provide 750 million cubic feet per day(mmcfd) of gas to Pakistan for 25 years, which may be extended by five years and volumesmay rise to 1 Billion Cubic Feet per Day (BCFD).




Proposed gas sale price: MPCL locks hornswith ministryDecember 11, 2013

MUSHTAQ GHUMMAN

Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL) has reportedly locked horns with PetroleumMinistry over the proposed gas sale price to M/s Engro Fertiliser. Petroleum Ministry, in aletter, had suggested diversion of MPCL's contracted gas supply to Engro's old plant from itsnew plant through SNGPL; by novation to SNGPL of MPCL's old plant Gas Purchase & SaleAgreements (GPSA) with Engro.

MPCL in a letter to the Petroleum Ministry said that re-allocation of its gas from Engro's oldplants to its new plant through novation of MPCL's two existing GPSA to SNGPL would be aviable and amicable proposition provided it is also fair/non-discriminatory to MPCL and doesnot compromise MPCL's position in any way; ie it should not result in any loss whatsoever toMPCL, since the said re-allocation has arisen solely on account of (a) SNGPL's inability tohonour its contractual obligations to Engro and (b) Qadirpur Gas Field's reservoirperformance.

Therefore re-contracting of MPCL's contract for gas supply to Engro's old plant to SNGPL tomeet its commitment of gas supply to Engro's new plant could only be possible if done onstrictly the same present/overall terms and conditions (including (a) the applicable fixed saleprice, (b) feed and fuel ratios and (c) the contractual periods existing/applicable to Engro'sold plant. The said basis is crucial/fundamental to obviate any adverse effect on MPCL's salesrevenue as well as on Sindh and Federal governments' take of GDS and GIDC and sales tax,respectively.

The letter written by Muhammad Asif said that a prescribed price of Rs 88.44/MMBTU, asproposed, for SNGPL's estimated gas off-takes of 23.92 million MMBTU per year fromMPCL, would generate a sales revenue of Rs 2.115 billion per year to MPCL whereasMPCL's present gas sale to Engro under the existing supply terms yields Rs 8.706 billion peryear (comprising Rs 6.133 billion for feed gas of 19.14 million MMBTU at the price of Rs320.41/MMBTU (ie Rs 123.41 plus GDIC of Rs 197.00 the latter being subject to court'sdecision) and Rs 2.573 billion for fuel gas of 4.78 million MMBTU at the price of Rs538.23/MMBTU (ie Rs 488.23, plus GDIC of Rs 50 the latter being subject to court'sdecision).

Consequently, MPCL shall be losing Rs 6.591 billion per year in its sales revenue, besides aloss in GST which is applicable @ 17% of sales value (Rs 1.120 billion approximately).Moreover, it would also result in a loss of Rs 4.713 billion per annum to Sindh Governmenton account of GDS payments being the ultimate recipient of GDS on gas sale to Engro andthe loss of GIDC/ sales-tax to Federal Government.

The gas company is of the view that huge adverse financial effect on MPCL andSindh/Federal government, the sale of MPCL's Engro contracted gas to SNGPL at theproposed price (Rs 88.44/ MMBTU) shall not be acceptable to MPCL, and also because ofthe fact SNGPL, despite being Engro's defaulting party, would be in a gain position at thecost of MPCL's huge loss of sales revenue and Sindh and Federal governments' consequential



loss of GDS and sales tax/levies from Mari Gas field, respectively.

Regarding SNGPL's gains, MPCL said that SNGPL's commitment of gas sale to Engro's newplant was contracted against its gas off-takes from Qadirpur Gas field which at the currentlyapplicable gas purchase price of $3.10/MMBTU translates into Rs 331.70/MMBTU. Basedthereon SNGPL's cost of MPCL equivalent gas off-takes of 23.92 million MMBTU fromQadirpur field would have cost SNGPL Rs 7.934 billion per year (23.92 million MMBTU xRs 331.70/MMBTU). In contrast, based on the sale price being proposed for SNGPL, it shallbe paying only Rs 2.115 billion; which would accrue a gain of Rs 5.819 billion to SNGPL peryear.


NPLs fall by Rs 11.152 billion in Q1FY14December 11, 2013

The Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) of the banking industry fell by Rs 11.152 billion duringthe first quarter of the current fiscal year (FY14). Bankers said that the current decline in theNPLs was a positive sign for the banking industry that had taken some serious steps to curtailthe rising NPLs. The consumer loans had a major share in NPLs and now the banks werecautious against these types of financing, therefore the NPLs were presenting an improvedpicture, they added.

"The NPLs of the banking industry were on the higher side during the last few years becauseof slow economic activities due to energy crisis and poor law and order situation in thecountry," they mentioned.

The bankers said that while the new NPLs were not being generated, the industry wasrequired to focus on recovery to reduce the stocks of NPLs.

According to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the NPLs of the entire banking industry(including banks and DFIs) have fallen to Rs 620.978 billion as on September 30, 2013,compared to Rs 632.130 billion as on June 30, 2013, depicting a decrease of about twopercent or Rs 11.15 billion during the first quarter of current fiscal year.

During the period under review, major fall was witnessed in banks' NPLs, while theDevelopment Financial Institutions (DFIs) posted a slight decline.

With current decline, the NPLs of all banks stood at Rs 603.77 billion in September 2013.During the period under review, the NPLs of DFIs slumped by Rs 183 million to Rs 17.208billion.

Detail analysis revealed that the NPLs of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) are on surge, whileLocal Private Banks (LPBs) posted some decline. NPLs of PSBs mounted to Rs 163.182billion, up by Rs 29 million during the first quarter of FY14.

In addition, with a decline of Rs 8.8 billion, NPLs of LPBs reduced to Rs 398.651 billion inSeptember 2013 compared to Rs 407.529 billion in June 2013.



Foreign Banks' NPLs stood at Rs 6.415 billion as on September 30, 2013 compared to Rs6.572 billion in June 30, 2012. Similarly, during the period under review, NPLs ofSpecialised Banks declined to Rs 35.521 billion from Rs 37.485 billion. Net NPLS to net loanratio also declined from 4.5 percent to 3.9 percent during the first quarter of FY14.


ECC to consider PSM package todayDecember 11, 2013

MUSHTAQ GHUMMAN

The Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet is to consider Rs 26.5 billionpre-privatisation package for the 'technically shut' Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) on Wednesday(today). The package includes Rs 11 billion GoP guaranteed, non-cash, 120-day LC withNBP for raw material procurement, Rs 4.2 billion to retire NBP old LC liability with accruedinterest and Rs 12.3 billion for working capital and an old LC liability.

The sources said PSM Board in its meeting on November 5, 2013 deliberated on thefollowing way forward options formulated by the board committee with pros and cons: (i)temporary closure for 15 months till privatisation; (ii) winding up (closure throughliquidation); (iii) let it bleed or status quo; and (iv) turnaround with restructuring.

Shafqat Naghmi Secretary MoI&P and Chairman of the Board, confirmed that GoP remainscommitted to PSM privatisation in the foreseeable future. He gave the following guidelines tothe Board: (i) park all loans into a separate company owned by GoP; (ii) the committeeshould develop a re-structuring proposal and rationalise the manpower by way of GHS withfinancial implications; and (iii) PSM should develop an integrated financial model for aholistic view. The sources said production capacity of PSM is at 1.36 percent due to shortageof material (zero inventory of coal). The Mill's PF liability has been calculated at Rs 12billion and non-funded gratuity at Rs 18 billion.

According to sources current liabilities are 3.6 times the current assets and debt and equityratio is minus-zero. Manpower is 16,000+, that is, 61 MT per employee, as opposed to anaverage of 275 being the regional benchmark. PSM management maintains that the 30 yearold PSM plant requires recurring CAPEX for rehabilitation to attain 80 percent+ productioncapacity with no guarantees.


Tax gap analysis of major sectors initiatedDecember 11, 2013

SOHAIL SARFRAZ

The Federal Board of Revenue has started tax gap analysis of major sectors - sugar, aeratedwater, paper and paper board, ceramic tiles, detergents, fertilisers, varnish, paints,motorcycles, fertilisers and cigarettes to improve the effective rate of sales tax in 2013-14.



Sources told Business Recorder here on Tuesday that the FBR wanted to improve theeffective rate of sales tax in these sectors. The effective rate of sales tax in major sectors isdecreasing instead of showing any improvement in 2013-14. This promoted the FBR tothoroughly analyse each sector from sugar to cigarettes to improve effective rate of sales taxduring current fiscal year. The FBR has initially conducted analysis of the manufacturingprocess, major raw material and other inputs used in sugar, aerated water, paper and paperboard, ceramic tiles, detergents, fertilisers, varnish, paints, motorcycles and cigarettes sectors.

According to the FBR, tax gap is the amount of tax that goes uncollected due to non-compliance of the tax law. Sectoral analysis on the basis of returns data for financial year2012-13 and its comparison with 2013-2014 shows that effective rate of sales tax in majorsectors is much lower than the standard rate. In VAT mode of taxation, effective rate has tobe lower than standard rate because of input adjustment, but the rates as shown in tale belowseen fairly lower than the expected effective rates, necessitating a comprehensive sectoralstudy in major sectors. A preliminary exercise of each sector, identifying manufacturingprocess, major raw material and other inputs used along with output has already beenundertaken by the FBR.

Cement: Manufacturing process includes extraction of raw materials, crushing through amilling process, heating of raw materials in the kiln to around 1,500 degrees C and finallygrinding to produce cement.

The raw materials needed to produce cement (calcium carbonate, silica, alumina, and ironore) are generally extracted from limestone rock, chalk, shale or clay. These raw materials areobtained from the quarry by either extraction or blasting.

Other inputs are coal or petroleum coal, Sui gas, electricity, diesel, machinery/machineryparts and paper bags. In case of cement, the major output is Portland cement. No known by-product is produced in the said sector.

Motorcycles: The primary raw materials used in the manufacture of the body of motorcycleare metal, plastic and rubber. The motorcycle frame is composed almost completely of metal,as are the wheels. The frame may be overlaid with plastic. The tyres are composed of rubber.The inputs include frame, suspension, front fork, engine, transmission, final drive, wheels,tyres, brakes, other instruments like fuel gauges, etc.

Sugar: Manufacturing Process includes Sampling, Cleaning, Slicing, Diffusion, Purification,Evaporation and Crystallisation. Major raw materials are sugar/beet cane. Other inputs arebagasse, chemicals (calcium hydro oxide, phosphoric acid, lime etc), Sui gas, electricity,diesel, machinery/machinery parts, polythene bags and slight use of Sui gas, electricity anddiesel.

Major output is refined/brown sugar. Bagasse, molasses and beet tops are by-products of thisindustry.

Aerated Water: Manufacturing Process includes clarification, filtering, sterilising, and de-chlorination of water. Manufacturing Process also included mixing the ingredients (water,sugar concentrate and flavour, etc), carbonating the beverage and filling and packaging.Major raw materials are carbonated water, concentrate, Carbon dioxide and sugar. Otherinputs are electricity, diesel, empty glass bottles, pet bottles, machinery/machinery parts andpacking material. Output is aerated water.



Other sectors are: paper and paper board, ceramic tiles, detergents, powder detergents,fertilisers, varnish and paints.


FBR announces last date for filing of ITreturnsDecember 11, 2013

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has announced that the last date for filing of incometax returns is December 16 (Monday). In this regard, the FBR has issued instructions to theChief Commissioners of Large Taxpayer Units (LTUs) and Regional Tax Offices (RTOs)here on Tuesday regarding tax facilitation kiosks (KIOSKS) / tax facilitation centers (TFCs).

According to the FBR's instructions, all Chief Commissioners are requested to ensure that allTax Facilitation Kiosks and Tax Facilitation Centres (TFCs) are immediately operational andreactivated as the last date for filing of Income Tax return is December 16, 2013 (as SundayDecember 15 is a gazetted holiday).

Acknowledgement of having received these instructions be sent to the board by return by fax,FBR's instructions added.


ClarificationDecember 11, 2013

Shahid Hussain Asad, Member (IR Policy)/ Official Spokesman FBR, has clarified that thereporting of the SDPI Seminar (held on 29-11-2013) in certain newspapers stating that hecriticised economic package of the Prime Minister, is absolutely incorrect. The Packageannounced by the PM fully incorporates the input from FBR and has the unequivocal supportand ownership of the management of FBR, and that he sincerely believes that it will help kickstart the industrialisation in the country.

It will provide informal sector an opportunity to come into the formal sector of the economywhich will result in increasing the size of formal/documented economy. The incentive forindustrialisation is expected to create direct and indirect job opportunities for hundreds ofthousands of people. The concession to dormant NTN holders and new taxpayers will resultin substantial increase in number of Income Tax Returns filers/broadening of tax base.




LSE equities settle in negative zoneDecember 11, 2013

Equities on Tuesday moved both ways on the Lahore Stock Exchange and finally settled innegative zone amid marginally improved trading turnover. The LSE-25 index lost 13.39points to close at 4706.03 against 4719.42 of Monday, while transaction volume wasincreased to 1.616 million shares compared with last day volume of 1.445 million shares.

The market was opened on mixed note but witnessed sharp fall due to selling pressure inselect shares. Later, the market remained volatile and kept on moving up and down till closeof trading. Engro Corporation, Engro Foods, Tariq Glass Industries, Hub Power, PIAC, D.G.Khan Cement, Lotte Chemical Pakistan and Pace Pakistan resisted pressure while NishatChunian, Nishat Mills, PPL, Fauji Fertiliser, Adamjee Insurance, Pakistan Reinsurance,Maple Leaf Cement, Fauji Cement, and Bank Alfalah suffered losses due to profit taking.

The losers were more than the gainers, as out of a total of 100 active issues, 17 companiesposted gains, 21 stayed in negative column while 62 companies remained unchanged at theirprevious closing. Engro Corporation gained Rs 1.73, Engro Foods was improved by Rs 1.50,Tariq Glass Industries was appreciated by Rs 1.07 while Samin Textile Mills was up by Rs1.00.

In the minus column, Nishat Chunian lost Rs 1.85, PPL was declined by Rs 1.45 while NishatMills shed Rs 1.01. PIAC with trading of 917,500 shares topped the volume leaders followedby Bank of Punjab with 126,000 shares.


ISE Ten index fallsDecember 11, 2013

Bears retuned in the driving seat at the Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE) where losersoutclassed gainers amid decrease in index. ISE Ten Index showed a decrease of 14.13 pointsas the ISE Ten Index moved from 4,626.38 to 4,612.25 points. The overall turnoveramounted to 16,000 shares as compared to previous volume of 88,300 shares.

Total 140 companies participated in buying and selling activity. Majority of stocks (92)closed in negative territory, 48 closed in positive territory, whereas 0 company remainedpegged to its overnight levels. The volume of Fauji Cement was 7,500 shares. The volume ofPIA was 5,000 shares. The volume of Engro Corporation was 2,500 shares.




BRIndex30 down by 64.54 pointsDecember 11, 2013

RECORDER REPORT

On Tuesday, BRIndex30 opened at 14,411.76. It touched an intraday high of 14,473.05 andan intraday Low of 14,328.07 and closed at 14,347.22 which was -64.54 points or -0.45percent lower than previous close. Total volume was 113,373,100, which was 63.86 percentof KSE All share volume and 104.67 percent of KSE 100 volume. The KSE All ShareVolume was 177,532,870 and KSE-100 volume was 108,316,090.

BR Commercial Banks Index closed at 5,512.28 with a net negative change of -39.11 pointsor a percentage change of -0.7 and a total turnover of 32,844,400.

BR Cement Index closed at 2,377.55 with a net negative change of -6.61 points or apercentage change of -0.28 and a total turnover of 32,362,400.

BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 3,738.83 with a net negative change of -10.7 points or apercentage change of -0.29 and a total turnover of 7,777,100.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 808.44 with a net negative change of -7.07 points or apercentage change of -0.87 and a total turnover of 7,956,500.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index closed at 3,792.19 with a net negative changeof -22.11 points or a percentage change of -0.58 and a total turnover of 7,542,000.




Taxation: Pakistan

Immunity from tax audit: proforma toclaim exemption issuedDecember 11, 2013

Immunity from audit for Tax Year 2013 under SRO 1040(I)/2013 has been clarified andexplained through a circular that all taxpayer including individuals, association of personsand companies can avail immunity by paying 25 percent higher tax for TY13 against taxpaid/assessed for TY12.

The FBR on Tuesday issued an Income Tax Circular 15 of 2013 regarding immunity from taxaudit under section 177 and 214C read with clause 84 of part IV of second schedule to theordinance as per SRO.1040(I)/2013 dated 5.12.2012.

Through a circular, the FBR has also issued a proforma to claim exemption/immunity fromaudit under sections 177 and 214C of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001.

According to the circular, the FBR has issued the circular for the purposes of said proviso andto specify the proforma to claim exemption/immunity from audit under sections 177 and214C. The circular has been issued in exercise of the powers conferred under Proviso toclause (84) of SRO. 1040(I)/2013 dated 5.12.2013 which has further amended Part IV of theSecond Schedule to the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001,

The immunity from audit is available under clause 84 through SRO.1040(I)/2013 to allpersons ie an individual, AOP and company.

The persons who have already filed their returns, for tax year 2013, may revise their returnsto claim immunity from audit under SRO.1040/2013 dated 5.12.2013 and no approval ofCommissioner under section 114(6)(ba) of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, shall berequired.

The immunity is also available to persons whose income for tax year 2012 was exempt, buttheir income for Tax Year 2013 is taxable. They would pay 25% more tax as compared to taxthat would have been payable if the income of tax year 2012 was not exempt, it said.

It said that the tax required to be paid to avail the concession/immunity under the said SRO isto be computed in accordance with Proforma specified in part II. Those who have alreadyfiled their revised return may file this proforma by December 31, 2013. However, this doesnot amount to extension of the date of filing of returns which continues to remain December15, 2013.

The circular said that the tax has been paid on or before the due date for filing of return.

Tax paid for tax year 2012 includes minimum tax under section 113 of the Income TaxOrdinance, 2001. The cases where income declared is below the taxable limit of Rs 350,000for tax year 2012 will not qualify for the said immunity/exemptions, it said.



For the purpose of comparison, tax paid as final tax on fixed tax or a separate block ofincome, shall not be taken into account either for tax year 2012 or 2013.

The income is not arrived at by lump sum addition, circular added. The proforma as perSRO.1040/2013 to be filed along with the Return has two portions. Firstly, where incomewas not exempt during tax year 2012 and secondly where income was exempt during tax year2012.

In case where income was not exempt during tax year 2012, the proforma has nine columnsie taxable income declared for tax year 2012, whether taxable income revised/amended(Y/N)? if yes, latest amended taxable income for tax year 2012, tax paid on taxable income,25% of 4, minimum tax payable for tax year 2013 under SRO.1040/2013 (4+5), tax paid fortax year 2013, CPR No., whether eligible for immunity from audit (for official use only).

In case where income was exempt during tax year 2012, the proforma has eight columns ieincome declared for tax year 2012, whether income for tax year 2012 exempt (Y/N)? ifanswer to 2 is yes, tax payable if it was not exempt 25% of 3, minimum tax payable for taxyear 2013 under SRO.1040/2013 (3+4), tax paid for tax year 2013, CPR No., whether eligiblefor immunity from audit (for official use only).


Sales tax and FED collection: IslamabadRTO says first quarter target exceptionallyhighDecember 11, 2013

Regional Tax Office (RTO) Islamabad has declared increase of 621 and 828 percent inrevenue collection targets of sales tax and federal excise duty (FED) respectively, during thefirst quarter of 2013-14, as highly lofty for the said RTO.

Sources told Business Recorder here Tuesday that the Chief Commissioner RTO Islamabadhas conveyed to the FBR about extraordinary increase in revenue collection target for the saidRTO. The RTO has informed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) that the tax authoritieshave fixed exceptionally high revenue collection targets of sales tax and federal excise duty(FED) during first quarter of 2013-14 against same period of last fiscal year.

Chief Commissioner was of the view that the Islamabad Capital Territory is comparatively asmaller unit compared to Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and other major cities where RTOs arewell-established and revenue collection of the RTO Islamabad need to be seen within the saidcontext.

It is learnt that the Chief Commissioner RTO Islamabad has informed the FBR that the salestax and FED targets have shown increase of 621 and 828 percent respectively during theperiod under review.



According to the Chief Commissioner RTO Islamabad, the matter regarding revenue targethas been re-clarified in light of meeting with the Chairman.

It once again re-emphasised that regarding the first quarter 2013-14 the budget fixed by FBRfor sales tax was Rs 2090 million compared to last year budget at Rs 290 million likewisebudget fixed for FED was Rs 733 million compared to last year fixation at Rs 79 million. Thesame shows an increase of 621 percent & 828 percent for sales tax and the FED accordingly,Chief Commissioner said.

The issue of fixation of first quarter budget for Sales Tax was discussed with the FBR. RTOhad informed that during 2011-12 a collection Rs 1461 million in sales tax was received fromFBR, deposited by Strategic Planning Division (NESCOM) which was reported by RTO,Islamabad in December, 2012. Regarding FED a collection of Rs 400 million received fromPTA communicated by Board during the month of the September, 2012 was reported in finalfigure of June, 2013. The FBR has accordingly worked out budget of FED and sales tax onthe figures taken by them in their collection for the month of September 2013.

In view of above, if the amount of Rs 146 million in sales tax from SDP and Rs 400 millionin FED from PTA is excluded the actual collection figures for the first quarter 2013-14 wouldbe different.

Regarding the collection under Advance Tax on Functions, Chief Commissioner said that theAdvance Tax on distributors and retailers and Advance tax on fees paid to educationalinstitutions is concerned, the RTO is working on the collection of these measures and RTOwise collection nation vide we (RTO) stand at number six. Further, Islamabad CapitalTerritory is comparatively a smaller unit compared to Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and othermajor cities where RTOs are established.

Regarding the collection under section 149, 150, 234 and section 236 the collection shows thenegative trend in sub heads to the section which normally happens at the punching stage ofchallans at DPC level.

It is hoped the factual position would clarify the discrepancy pointed out by the FBR.However, utmost efforts are being put in for betterment of collection under all heads andcreation of demand on proper time, Chief Commissioner RTO Islamabad added.


Tax gap analysis of major sectors initiatedDecember 11, 2013

SOHAIL SARFRAZ

The Federal Board of Revenue has started tax gap analysis of major sectors - sugar, aeratedwater, paper and paper board, ceramic tiles, detergents, fertilisers, varnish, paints,motorcycles, fertilisers and cigarettes to improve the effective rate of sales tax in 2013-14.

Sources told Business Recorder here on Tuesday that the FBR wanted to improve theeffective rate of sales tax in these sectors. The effective rate of sales tax in major sectors isdecreasing instead of showing any improvement in 2013-14. This promoted the FBR to



thoroughly analyse each sector from sugar to cigarettes to improve effective rate of sales taxduring current fiscal year. The FBR has initially conducted analysis of the manufacturingprocess, major raw material and other inputs used in sugar, aerated water, paper and paperboard, ceramic tiles, detergents, fertilisers, varnish, paints, motorcycles and cigarettes sectors.

According to the FBR, tax gap is the amount of tax that goes uncollected due to non-compliance of the tax law. Sectoral analysis on the basis of returns data for financial year2012-13 and its comparison with 2013-2014 shows that effective rate of sales tax in majorsectors is much lower than the standard rate. In VAT mode of taxation, effective rate has tobe lower than standard rate because of input adjustment, but the rates as shown in tale belowseen fairly lower than the expected effective rates, necessitating a comprehensive sectoralstudy in major sectors. A preliminary exercise of each sector, identifying manufacturingprocess, major raw material and other inputs used along with output has already beenundertaken by the FBR.

Cement: Manufacturing process includes extraction of raw materials, crushing through amilling process, heating of raw materials in the kiln to around 1,500 degrees C and finallygrinding to produce cement.

The raw materials needed to produce cement (calcium carbonate, silica, alumina, and ironore) are generally extracted from limestone rock, chalk, shale or clay. These raw materials areobtained from the quarry by either extraction or blasting.

Other inputs are coal or petroleum coal, Sui gas, electricity, diesel, machinery/machineryparts and paper bags. In case of cement, the major output is Portland cement. No known by-product is produced in the said sector.

Motorcycles: The primary raw materials used in the manufacture of the body of motorcycleare metal, plastic and rubber. The motorcycle frame is composed almost completely of metal,as are the wheels. The frame may be overlaid with plastic. The tyres are composed of rubber.The inputs include frame, suspension, front fork, engine, transmission, final drive, wheels,tyres, brakes, other instruments like fuel gauges, etc.

Sugar: Manufacturing Process includes Sampling, Cleaning, Slicing, Diffusion, Purification,Evaporation and Crystallisation. Major raw materials are sugar/beet cane. Other inputs arebagasse, chemicals (calcium hydro oxide, phosphoric acid, lime etc), Sui gas, electricity,diesel, machinery/machinery parts, polythene bags and slight use of Sui gas, electricity anddiesel.

Major output is refined/brown sugar. Bagasse, molasses and beet tops are by-products of thisindustry.

Aerated Water: Manufacturing Process includes clarification, filtering, sterilising, and de-chlorination of water. Manufacturing Process also included mixing the ingredients (water,sugar concentrate and flavour, etc), carbonating the beverage and filling and packaging.Major raw materials are carbonated water, concentrate, Carbon dioxide and sugar. Otherinputs are electricity, diesel, empty glass bottles, pet bottles, machinery/machinery parts andpacking material. Output is aerated water.

Other sectors are: paper and paper board, ceramic tiles, detergents, powder detergents,fertilisers, varnish and paints.




PRA to introduce restaurant invoicesmonitoring systemDecember 11, 2013

ZAHID BAIG

Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) has decided to introduce 'Restaurant Invoices MonitoringSystem (RIMS)' aimed at making food sector compliant to Punjab Sales Tax in a bid toenhance the revenue to the provincial exchequer. Rules in this regard have been draftedwhich also include a prize scheme to convince the masses for demanding sales tax compliantinvoices from the restaurants.

A summary has been sent to the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for final approval,PRA sources told Business Recorder on Tuesday. During the year 2012-13, food sectorservices yielded revenue of Rs 1.8 billion, while during the first five months of 2013-14, Rs1.1 billion have been collected. PRA sources further said that there was a widespreadtendency of tax misdeclarations in restaurants operating in Punjab especially those whichwere not incorporated or not part of international restaurant chains. Even tax amountsreceived from the customers are misappropriated, the summary claimed.

In order to overcome such traditionally entrenched unhealthy tendency, PRA has prepared arestaurant invoice monitoring system software. The scheme was in principle concurred. Themajor cornerstones of the proposed scheme were installation of a well protected modem inthe invoice generating computer system of the restaurant, real time transmission of invoicedata to PRA's central computer system, automated verification of monthly tax declarationsthrough the system.

Now the authority, after discussions with the PRAL, had drafted the Punjab RIMS rules andsent a summary to the Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif for final approval. According tothe summary appropriate definitions of the words like restaurants, RIMS and video vigilancehave been given for the purposes of real time monitoring and distribution of prizes.Application of RIMS has been subjected to advance notification to the restaurant. A methodfor examination and verification of the existing invoice generated system of the restaurant hasbeen provided.

The authority will also provide training and initial operational help to restaurants. Theintentional damage/intervention or violations of RIMS-covered system have been subjectedto penal actions including prosecution already covered in the statute book, the summaryadded.

It is believed that RIMS is going to be a major breakthrough in the history of businessdocumentation of the country. It is hoped that with the implementation of RIMS, Punjab salestax revenue from restaurants will sharply increase, sources concluded.




FBR urged to introduce new sales taxregistration systemDecember 11, 2013

Lahore Tax Bar Association (LTBA) has urged the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) toimmediately introduce the new sales tax registration system saying that the computerised riskevaluation programme introduced by the FBR for sales tax has failed.

LTBA said that the taxpayers are facing numerous hardships due to the computerizedprogramme. It also urged the FBR to dispose of pending audit cases at the earliest.

These views were expressed by the LTBA office-bearers at a seminar arranged by the Barwith regard to sales tax here on Tuesday.

LTBA President Qari Habib-ur-Rehman Zuberi speaking on the occasion claimed that thePakistan Revenue Automation (Pvt) Limited has no authority to suspend the companies. Hesaid step of suspending over 3,100 companies is illegal and it will cause loss of billions ofrupees to the national exchequer.

Qari Habib-ur-Rehman also claimed that the computerised risk evaluation programme needsreforms and improvement.

He also drew the attention of the department towards pending audit cases and claimed that noaudit case had been completed since 2003.




Business & Economy

Sindh CM gives go ahead to 335 new devschemes costing Rs 41940mnTuesday, 10 December 2013 20:29

Posted by Imaduddin

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has given go ahead and directed the departments

concerned to take 335 prioritised new development schemes, conceived at an estimated cost of

around Rs 41940 million included in annual development programme ADP-2013-14 with annual

allocation of Rs 10575.511 million.

The CM Sindh strictly directed that the officers must complete 313 ongoing development schemes

by December 31, 2013 without fail as they had committed earlier and added that no excuse would

be entertained in this regard.

He said this while presiding over a meeting regarding implementation on new approved ADP

schemes 2013-14 held at CM House here, said a statement on Tuesday.

Addressing the meeting the CM Sindh said that the PPP-led Government has earmarked Rs 165

billion for development schemes of provincial government out of which Rs 95 billion would be

utilised on ongoing schemes and Rs 70 billion on new development schemes, besides Rs 8.6 billion

are being spent on the schemes recommended by the MPAs.

The CM Sindh directed the officers to give priority to the schemes which can be completed by the

end of this fiscal year and the finance department to facilitate in releasing fund for such

development schemes.

Expressing his reservations over the schemes prepared with a schedule of completion in long period

and same included in ADP with little annual allocation, the CM Sindh directed all administrative

secretaries to prepare development schemes with substitutional amount and annual allocation with

these completion schedules within 3 years.

He said that though 55 ongoing development schemes are reported to be completed by the end of

current financial year however still there is room for importance and intensifying the pace of

development work to complete maximum numbers of development schemes to facilitate the

common man.

The CM Sindh while taking notice of substandard works at some development schemes directed the

related executing authorities to get such schemes rectified by the contractors concerned before

handing over to the concerned departments failing which strict action would be taken against them.



He directed the administrative secretaries also to monitor their schemes in addition to the other

monitoring agencies.

The Additional Chief Secretary while briefing the meeting said that all provincial ministries were

asked to submit most important prioritised development schemes for implementation.

The Planning and Development Department has received 335 such schemes which include 62

schemes from Sindh Irrigation Department, 12 from education, 20 from health, 93 from local

government, 64 public health engineering, 80 from works and services while the rest related to

home energy and P&D department, he said.

He said that many of these new schemes would be got completed by the end of this financial year.

He said that works and services department has committed to complete 92 ongoing development

schemes for construction of about 1800 kilometres roads by the end of December, 2013 and 57 new

schemes by the end of June 30, 2014.

Similarly, the Local Government department has also committed to complete at least 50 per cent of

the new schemes by the end of current financial year, he added.

Sindh Chief Secretary Sajjad Saleem Hotiyana, Additional Chief Secretary (P&D) Arif Khan, Additional

Chief Secretary Home, Syed Mumtaz Shah, Secretary Finance Shoail Rajput, Secretary to CM Rai

Sikandar and provincial and other administrative department attended the meeting.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2013

Solid efforts afoot to open LPG auto gasstationsTuesday, 10 December 2013 17:38

Posted by Imaduddin

ISLAMABAD: Chairman Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) Distributors Association IrfanKhokhar has said efforts are underway to open LPG auto gas stations countrywide in order toprovide cheaper and environment friendly fuel to consumers.

He told APP on Tuesday that initiative would be encouraged at official level, the governmentcould not afford to supply gas to the CNG sector which had no future in a country wheredomestic consumers were suffering and power shortage was hitting the masses hard.

"We have high hopes from government to take effective steps for provision of relief tocommon people by promoting the LPG as alternate fuel and encouraging to open fillingstations, across the country," he observed.



He said the LPG association would be fully co-operating with the government by providingworkable proposals to it for resolving issues for promotion of LPG to extend relief toconsumers who were already faced with high prices of daily-use commodities.

However, called upon the government to take notice of frequent raises in prices of thecommodity to extend relief to consumers who were already overburdened with the cripplinginflation.

He said the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority(OGRA) should also play its role by takingaction against the unethical forces in the LPG sector, that were extracting money throughunjustified raises.

He appreciated the government for issuing orders to the LPG not to increase price of thecommodity and maintain at Rs 103500 per metric, putting an end to speculation regarding bigrise in prices of the fuel.

He said it was a welcome decision, putting an end to speculation that local producers wouldraise the price by Rs 46 per kg with domestic cylinder by Rs 541 and commercial cylinder byRs 2082.

He also appreciated role of the media saying it played effective role in highlighting illegalmove on the part of the unscrupulous business forces in LPG market.

He said the association had written a litter to the Prime Minister with the request to cap Nov2013 Producer Price for next three months in order to make poor consumer buy LPG atreasonable price.




Industries & Sectors

OGDCL developing six projects in Sindh,Balochistan and KPKTuesday, 10 December 2013 11:59

Posted by Parvez Jabri

ISLAMABAD: Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) has acceleratedexploration activities and speedy development of new discoveries and currently the companyis working on six projects to meet the growing domestic demand, a document said.

According to a OGDCL document, in these development projects include Unar Pasakhi Deepand Tando Allah Yar Field Development Project (KPD-TAY), Sinjhoro, Uch-11, JhalMagasi, Nashpa Mela and Sara West.

Out of these six projects, three are located in Sindh, two in Balochistan and one in KhyberPakhtoonkhwa, the document said.

Talking to APP, an official of OGDCL said the company's financial results for the year 2012-13 reflect landmark achievements. This can be witnessed by the fact that company's sales andprofit after tax stood to Rs223.37 billion and Rs90.78 billion respectively resulting inearnings per share of Rs 21.11.

The official further said that OGDCL contributed Rs129.12 billion to the national exchequerin the terms of royalty, dividends, corporate tax, general sales tax, excise duty anddevelopment surcharge.




Cotton and Textiles: Pakistan

Cotton market: rates firm on strongdemand for fine typeDecember 11, 2013

Prices managed to hold the present levels on the cotton market on Tuesday as mills, spinnersand exporters showed their interest in buying of fine quality, dealers said. The official spotrate was unchanged at Rs 6,450, they added. Prices of seed cotton in Sindh per 40 kg held thelast levels at Rs 2300-3100, in Punjab rates were also same at Rs 2700-3300, dealers said.

In the ready session, trading activity depicted visible rise as buyers were trying to purchasefine type, so around 24,000 bales of cotton changed hands between at Rs 6350-6750, theysaid.

Local mills were busy in laying hands over the best quality, but Indian preferring to purchaselow quality for local needs, cotton analyst, Naseem Usman said.

Thanks to the revival of demand by the importing countries and local buyers, as well, otherbrokers said.

Reuters adds: ICE cotton eased on Monday, consolidating after the previous session's rallyas traders squared positions ahead of a monthly US government supply and demand reportdue on Tuesday. The most-active March cotton contract on ICE Futures US closed down 0.05cent, or 0.06 percent, at 80.36 cents a lb.

The benchmark contract inched as high as 80.75 cents, its strongest level since October, andtraded in a tight range between support near 79.50-80 cents and resistance at 81-82 cents a lb.Trading volumes fell from Friday's levels, when activity and prices spiked following strongUS economic data. The Thomson Reuters/Core Commodity CRB index, a benchmark forglobal commodities markets, advanced.

The following deals reported as 1000 bales of cotton from Khair Pur (BCI) at Rs 6400, 1000bales from Upper Sindh at Rs 6450/6500, 600 bales from Upper Sindh (BCI) at Rs6450/6500, 400 bales from Gojra at Rs 6400, 400 bales from Fort Abbas at Rs 6450, 400bales from Chistian at Rs 6450, 4600 bales from Haroonabad at Rs 6450-6475, 3800 balesfrom Faqirwali at Rs 6475, 400 bales from Noor Pur at Rs 6500, 1600 bales from YazmanMandi at Rs 6500, 600 bales from Liaquat Pur at Rs 6500, 400 bales from Dera Ghazi Khanat Rs 6500, 400 bales from Sadiqabad at Rs 6550, 600 bales from Rajan Pur at Rs 6600, 400bales from Rahim Yar Khan at Rs 6600, 600 bales from Jalal pur at Rs 6600, 400 bales fromLayyah at Rs 6650, 2000 bales from Bahawal Pur (BCI) at Rs 6650 and 3800 bales fromMianwali at Rs 6750, they added.

===========================================================================The KCA Official Spot Rate for Local Dealings in Pak Rupees---------------------------------------------------------------------------FOR BASE GRADE 3 STAPLE LENGTH 1-1/32"



---------------------------------------------------------------------------MICRONAIRE VALUE BETWEEN 3.8 TO 4.9NCL===========================================================================Rate Ex-Gin Upcountry Spot Rate Spot Rate DifferenceFor Price Ex-Karachi Ex. KHI.As Ex-Karachion 09.12.2013===========================================================================37.324 Kgs 6,450 155 6,605 6,605 NIL---------------------------------------------------------------------------Equivalent---------------------------------------------------------------------------40 Kgs 6,912 155 7,067 7,067 NIL===========================================================================

APTMA to unveil vision for next five yearson December 14December 11, 2013

All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) is all set to unveil its vision for next fiveyears before the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in its annual dinner clubbed with Textile andClothing Show at the Governor House on December 14. This was revealed by the APTMAcentral Chairman Yasin Siddik in a press conference at the APTMA Punjab office onMonday. Group leader APTMA Gohar Ejaz, central Senior Vice Chairman APTMA SethAkber and Chairman APTMA Punjab S M Tanveer were also present on the occasion.


Readymade garments industry Issuance ofseparate SROs soonDecember 11, 2013

Federal Secretary Textile Industry Division, Rukhsana Shah has assured the PakistanReadymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) of havingseparate Statutory Regulatory Orders (SROs) for readymade garments industry soon.

Addressing the PRMGEA Managing Committee the other day, she said, she will take up theissue with FBR chairman on her return to Islamabad as time has come to acknowledge thehigh potential of this sector primarily catering the SME sector, the backbone of Pakistaneconomy.

Earlier, she was welcomed by the Senior Vice Chairman PRGMEA, Jawad A. Chaudhry atthe PRGMEA North Zone office. Senior PRGMEA leadership, including former centralchairman Ijaz Khokhar was also present in the occasion.

Earlier, the PRGMEA members urged the visiting secretary to introduce liberal import policyfor raw materials, simplify MINTEX registration procedure, devise a mechanism to attest andrecord export invoices from Associations before Customs, release pending R&D funds,



rationalised high mark up rates, reactivate implementation committee meeting, ensureuninterrupted energy supplies to industry and also ensure unnecessary interference by thegovernment departments.

The PRGMEA members also extended valuable proposals to the secretary on the occasion.




Agriculture and Allied: Pakistan

Sukkur Barrage canals to be closed fromJanuary 6December 11, 2013

The Chief Engineer Sukkur Barrage Left Bank Sukkur Region has said that all the canals ofSukkur Barrage would be remained closed for the annual closure. He said that the closurewill start from January 6 to 20, 2014 for the purpose of normal inspection, maintenance andnecessary repair of the infrastructure.

For that period there will be no water supply in any of the off-taking canal of Sukkur Barrageie N.W. Canal, Dadu canal, Khairpur Feeder East canal, Khairpur Feeder West canal, RohriMain canal, Nara canal and their allied channels, the Chief Engineer added.


Irsa federal member from Sindh...fatchanceDecember 11, 2013

MUSHTAQ GHUMMAN

The prospects of a permanent federal member of Indus River System Authority (Irsa) fromSindh appears to be slight as Ministry of Law and Justice clearly states that the directivesissued by Musharraf as the Chief Executive has no legal authority, well-informed sources toldBusiness Recorder.

Irsa established under the Irsa Act, 1992, consists of five members, one each to be nominatedby each of the four provinces and the federal government. The nominations are made fromamongst high ranking engineers in irrigation or related engineering fields, in terms of section4(1) of Irsa Act 1992. Under section 4(3) the term of office of a member is for three years. Inthe absence of federal member, Chief Engineering Advisor (CEA) acts as federal memberIrsa.

The sources said in July 2000 the then Chief Executive of Pakistan, Pervez Musharrafdirected that federal member of Irsa should be from Sindh. Accordingly, federal member wasappointed from Sindh. Due to these orders, Sindh had two members in the Authority whileother provinces had one member each.

Fazal-ur-Rehman Siddique, Nisar Ali Ragar and Bashir Dahar, having Sindh domicile havealready represented the federation in Irsa.

According to sources, Sindh government failed to send any recommendation for Irsa member



to represent the federation. However, keeping in view the importance of the issue, Irsa wrotea letter and sought the recommendation for appointment of a federal member. Subsequently,Water and Power Ministry sought recommendations from Wapda and provincialgovernments. Wapda recommended the name of Chaudhry Mushtaq as federal member.

Prime Minister Secretariat (now PM Office) sought the advice of Law Ministry to determinewhether implementation on the directives of Chief Executive is mandatory or not.

On December 4, 2012, Law Ministry, in its advice clarified that the decisions of the thenChief Executive are executive orders, adding that an Act of Parliament cannot be amendedthrough an executive order.

Law Ministry maintained that it is Parliament, which under the Constitution has the authorityto make a law, amend or repeal it. Even the Legal Framework Order (LFO) 2002 (ChiefExecutive Order No, 24 of 2002) (e.f. P6/Cor) and the instruments amending it have beendeclared to have been made without the lawful authority and of no legal effect by Article 270AA of the Constitution. Law Ministry had requested the Water and Power Ministry to takenecessary action as mandated by section 4 of the Irsa Act 1992 and Article 154 of theConstitution of Pakistan read with entry 6 of part II in the fourth schedule to the Constitutionas rightly pointed out by Senator Raza Rabbani.

Official document available with Business Recorder reveals that on February 1, 2012, PunjabChief Minister Shahbaz Sharif wrote a letter to the then Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilaniand drew his attention to his earlier letter of October 11, 2010, in which he requested thePrime Minister to take steps to restore the original structure of Irsa as originally envisaged inthe Irsa Act. Shahbaz had requested the Prime Minister to cancel the directive of ChiefExecutive of July 10, 2010 which stipulates that the federal member of Irsa will be eitherfrom Fata or Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

According to Chief Minister Punjab, present dispensation is against the spirit of the Irsa Act,which is based on the principle of equality and equity between the federating units ofPakistan.

"It was proposed in my earlier letter which I reiterate that in order to ensure equity the federalmember may be nominated from each province on a rotation basis. This issue is of utmostimportance to Punjab and other provinces, and early action should have been taken on thisproposal. However, unfortunately, no progress has been made so far," Shahbaz stated in hisletter written on February 11, 2012.

The sources revealed that Irsa has once again sought nomination of federal member fromprovinces and Wapda.


KP fixes sugar cane and sugar beet pricesDecember 11, 2013

Keeping in view the recommendations of the Sugarcane Control Board and approval of theChief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the KP Food Directorate has fixed the prices of



sugarcane and sugar beet for the crushing, slicing season.

According to details, at the factory gates of Khazana Sugar Mills Peshawar, Premier SugarMills Mardan, Bannu Sugar Mills Serai Naurang, Al-Moiz Sugar Mills D I Khan,Tandlianwala Sugar Mills, D I Khan, Chashma Sugar Mills D I Khan and Chashma(Expansion) Sugar Mills D I Khan, the rate of 40kg sugarcane will be Rs170 and sugar beetRs163 while at the farmer's fields the rate of sugarcane will be Rs170 per 40kg minustransportation charges and that of sugar beet will be Rs163 per 40kg minus transportationcharges.


PFMA's GBM on December 13December 11, 2013

Pakistan Flour Mills Association's (PFMA) general body meeting to be held on Friday (Dec13), where they would decide the final decision of strike plan.

The Association has highlighted its main demands as under:

Government should immediately stop raids on mills which are meant only to harass theowners. Differential cost notices issued to 27 flour mills be withdrawn.

To meet their requirements, government should release 100 per cent ie, 200,000 ton wheatevery month to flour mills so that flour could be supplied at the rates agreed with thegovernment. It is not possible for the millers to supply flour at government rates if they buywheat from open market. It is against business practice to buy wheat at higher rates andsupply flour at lower rates.

Government should not force mill owners to supply wheat which is injurious for health toflood affected people.

Mills whose quota has been suspended by restored forthwith.

Although the general body meeting held on Tuesday (Dec 9), was to decide the strike butkeeping in view the problems of people, the decision was postponed till Dec 13 general bodymeeting, where final decision on next line of action will be taken as under the presentsituation, mill owners cannot run their business profitably, according to a PFMA statementissued on Tuesday.




JWT Pakistan named Gold Agency of theYearDecember 11, 2013

JWT Pakistan was named Gold Agency of the Year by Campaign Asia Pacific at an awardshow in Mumbai recently, capping a fast-paced year of business wins and dynamic creativeleadership in this important emerging market.

Under the leadership of JWT Pakistan CEO Mansoor Karim Shaikh, the agency expanded itsdigital scope with the creation of JWT Fusion, brought in 10 new clients and led the marketon thought leadership, with an in-depth research report on Pakistan's youth market, titled "ATime for Change", and "JWT's Anxiety Index".-PR


ECC to consider PSM package todayDecember 11, 2013

MUSHTAQ GHUMMAN

The Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet is to consider Rs 26.5 billionpre-privatisation package for the ''technically shut'' Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) onWednesday (today). The package includes Rs 11 billion GoP guaranteed, non-cash, 120-dayLC with NBP for raw material procurement, Rs 4.2 billion to retire NBP old LC liability withaccrued interest and Rs 12.3 billion for working capital and an old LC liability.

The sources said PSM Board in its meeting on November 5, 2013 deliberated on thefollowing way forward options formulated by the board committee with pros and cons: (i)temporary closure for 15 months till privatisation; (ii) winding up (closure throughliquidation); (iii) let it bleed or status quo; and (iv) turnaround with restructuring.

Shafqat Naghmi Secretary MoI&P and Chairman of the Board, confirmed that GoP remainscommitted to PSM privatisation in the foreseeable future. He gave the following guidelines tothe Board: (i) park all loans into a separate company owned by GoP; (ii) the committeeshould develop a re-structuring proposal and rationalise the manpower by way of GHS withfinancial implications; and (iii) PSM should develop an integrated financial model for aholistic view. The sources said production capacity of PSM is at 1.36 percent due to shortageof material (zero inventory of coal). The Mill''s PF liability has been calculated at Rs 12billion and non-funded gratuity at Rs 18 billion.

According to sources current liabilities are 3.6 times the current assets and debt and equityratio is minus-zero. Manpower is 16,000+, that is, 61 MT per employee, as opposed to anaverage of 275 being the regional benchmark. PSM management maintains that the 30 yearold PSM plant requires recurring CAPEX for rehabilitation to attain 80 percent+ productioncapacity with no guarantees.




Cold and gusty winds reduce fish catchDecember 11, 2013

Cold and gusty winds at sea with short days have significantly reduced winter's fish catch, asvessels have shifted to their nocturnal operations in a bid to maximise the fishing span.Talking to Business Recorder on Tuesday, the scantly covered with warm gears seafarers saidthat the short days make them to rely more on night time operations with a view to increasethe fishing span.

"Catch always comes down in winter because of strong gusty winds and cold weatherconditions," said President Sindh Trawlers Owners and Fishermen Association (Stofa),Habibullah Khan Niazi.

The fishermen said the northerly winds, which have yet to take impetus to tear across thecoastal belt of Sindh, are still cold enough to cause vessels to cut their catch short to quicklyreturn to moorages.

"Span of fishing operations has increased at seas from 20 to 28 days since the cold weatherseason has started in the country's coastal parts," Habibullah Niazi said

The seafarers said the Arabian Sea turns into inertia and remains dull for four months, butscales down the catch as marine life plunges into seabed in habitats during the cold.

"Cold waves push fish to seabed dwelling where many of the species remain there all thewinter days, making the fishermen sail longer to hunt," said President Native. IslandersFishermen Association (Nifa), Asif Bhatti.




IT and Computers: Pakistan

Intel extends computing technology in 2013December 11, 2013

The year 2013 was exciting for Intel in the Asia Pacific region. Technology innovation fromthe region made possible devices with personal computing experience. Intel is proud to be adriving force behind this innovation. Creating and extending computing technology toconnect and enrich lives has been Intel's company vision.

This year Intel made a leap forward by delivering next generation processors that changed theway people use and interact with computing technology from interactive signs, smart phones,tablets, Ultra books(tm) and servers. Intel also continued its work to help transform Asia intoa global powerhouse through a focus on education, encouraging the adoption of 21st centuryskills and investing in Asian start-ups and entrepreneurs across the region.-PR




Fuel and Energy: Pakistan

OGDC MD briefs NA body: explorationactivities on six projects expeditedDecember 11, 2013

Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) on Tuesday informed the NationalAssembly Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources, presided over by IjazVirk that the company has expedited exploration activities and currently is working on sixprojects.

Managing Director OGDCL, Riaz Khan, gave a detailed presentation regarding-down thememory lane, industry position, five years at a glance, exploration, drilling and productionactivities as well as human resource and corporate social responsibilities of the OGDCL.

The projects which are being developed include Unar, Pasakhi, Deep and Tando Allah YarField Development Project (KPD-TAY), Sinjhoro, Uch-11, Jhal Magasi, Nashpa Mela andSara West.

Committee members were of the view that that local population of the oil and gas fields'areas was being ignored and they are not given employment in those fields.

The member pointed out that majority of the share of employment was being given to theoutsider instead of locals.

The members also noted that employees of oil and gas fields are paid very low remunerationby the contractors and overtime and late payments are not paid to them as well.

Standing committee members demanded that Minister for Petroleum may enquire into thematter and report be submitted to the committee within one week.

The committee directed that province-wise break-up of employees may also be provided. Amember of National Assembly, from Kohat, stated that crude oil from Shakar Dara, Kohat isbeing exported illegally. Therefore, Ministry of Petroleum and OGDCL may constitute acommittee to enquire into the matter.

MNA's Malik Ihtebar Khan, Afzal Khkhar, Rana Afzaal, Saqlain Bokhari, Khalid JavaidWarraich, Shaharyar Afridi, Nizar Khattak, Pir Bux Jonejo, Jam Kamal Khan, Minister ofState for Petroleum, and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Minister for Petroleum attended themeeting.




Gas supply to industries, CNG stationssuspendedDecember 11, 2013

Punjab is facing large-scale gas supply closure to its industries and Combined Natural Gas(CNG) pumps for an indefinite period as per announcement of the Sui Northern Gas PipelinesLimited (SNGPL) on Tuesday. Spokesman of the company said the decision has been takenin view of increase in gas consumption by the domestic sector and due to increase in intensityof coldness of weather.

Gas shortfall has reached 1100 million cubic feet per day, the spokesperson added. Accordingto Manager SNGPL Muhammad Ashraf the decision has been taken due to the near 50percent deficit in the provision of supply of gas.

According to sources, gas suspension to industries and CNG stations could continue for twomonths, whereas, supply to commercial and domestic consumers will continue uninterrupted.

The cities where the gas supply has been suspended include Lahore, Gujranawal, Faisalabad,Multan, Bahawalpur, Rawalpindi, Sarghodha, Islamabad, Sahiwal and Sheikhupura. On theother hand, special teams have been formed to ensure implementation of SNGPL's decision.

Copyright News Network International, 2013

Proposed gas sale price: MPCL locks hornswith ministryDecember 11, 2013

MUSHTAQ GHUMMAN

Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL) has reportedly locked horns with PetroleumMinistry over the proposed gas sale price to M/s Engro Fertiliser. Petroleum Ministry, in aletter, had suggested diversion of MPCL''s contracted gas supply to Engro''s old plant from itsnew plant through SNGPL; by novation to SNGPL of MPCL''s old plant Gas Purchase &Sale Agreements (GPSA) with Engro.

MPCL in a letter to the Petroleum Ministry said that re-allocation of its gas from Engro''s oldplants to its new plant through novation of MPCL''s two existing GPSA to SNGPL would bea viable and amicable proposition provided it is also fair/non-discriminatory to MPCL anddoes not compromise MPCL''s position in any way; ie it should not result in any losswhatsoever to MPCL, since the said re-allocation has arisen solely on account of (a)SNGPL''s inability to honour its contractual obligations to Engro and (b) Qadirpur GasField''s reservoir performance.

Therefore re-contracting of MPCL''s contract for gas supply to Engro''s old plant to SNGPLto meet its commitment of gas supply to Engro''s new plant could only be possible if done on



strictly the same present/overall terms and conditions (including (a) the applicable fixed saleprice, (b) feed and fuel ratios and (c) the contractual periods existing/applicable to Engro''sold plant. The said basis is crucial/fundamental to obviate any adverse effect on MPCL''ssales revenue as well as on Sindh and Federal governments'' take of GDS and GIDC and salestax, respectively.

The letter written by Muhammad Asif said that a prescribed price of Rs 88.44/MMBTU, asproposed, for SNGPL''s estimated gas off-takes of 23.92 million MMBTU per year fromMPCL, would generate a sales revenue of Rs 2.115 billion per year to MPCL whereasMPCL''s present gas sale to Engro under the existing supply terms yields Rs 8.706 billion peryear (comprising Rs 6.133 billion for feed gas of 19.14 million MMBTU at the price of Rs320.41/MMBTU (ie Rs 123.41 plus GDIC of Rs 197.00 the latter being subject to court''sdecision) and Rs 2.573 billion for fuel gas of 4.78 million MMBTU at the price of Rs538.23/MMBTU (ie Rs 488.23, plus GDIC of Rs 50 the latter being subject to court''sdecision).

Consequently, MPCL shall be losing Rs 6.591 billion per year in its sales revenue, besides aloss in GST which is applicable @ 17% of sales value (Rs 1.120 billion approximately).Moreover, it would also result in a loss of Rs 4.713 billion per annum to Sindh Governmenton account of GDS payments being the ultimate recipient of GDS on gas sale to Engro andthe loss of GIDC/ sales-tax to Federal Government.

The gas company is of the view that huge adverse financial effect on MPCL andSindh/Federal government, the sale of MPCL''s Engro contracted gas to SNGPL at theproposed price (Rs 88.44/ MMBTU) shall not be acceptable to MPCL, and also because ofthe fact SNGPL, despite being Engro''s defaulting party, would be in a gain position at thecost of MPCL''s huge loss of sales revenue and Sindh and Federal governments''consequential loss of GDS and sales tax/levies from Mari Gas field, respectively.

Regarding SNGPL''s gains, MPCL said that SNGPL''s commitment of gas sale to Engro''snew plant was contracted against its gas off-takes from Qadirpur Gas field which at thecurrently applicable gas purchase price of $3.10/MMBTU translates into Rs331.70/MMBTU. Based thereon SNGPL''s cost of MPCL equivalent gas off-takes of 23.92million MMBTU from Qadirpur field would have cost SNGPL Rs 7.934 billion per year(23.92 million MMBTU x Rs 331.70/MMBTU). In contrast, based on the sale price beingproposed for SNGPL, it shall be paying only Rs 2.115 billion; which would accrue a gain ofRs 5.819 billion to SNGPL per year.


IP gas pipeline: Islamabad, Tehran for fast-track ImplementationDecember 11, 2013

ALI HUSSAIN

Pakistan and Iran have decided for fast-track implementation of the IP gas pipeline projectand to formulate a roadmap to address the challenges with effective co-ordination and co-operation, said Foreign Office here Tuesday. According to Foreign Office spokesman Aizaz



Ahmad Chaudhry, this was agreed during a meeting between Minister for Petroleum andNatural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi with his Iranian counterpart Bijan NamdarZangeneh at the Ministry of Petroleum at Tehran, Monday.

The United States has been opposing the project and advising caution in proceeding with aproject that would take one a half years to complete. "The US policy on Iran is well known.We have made it clear that it is best to avoid activity that may be sanctionable under US orinternational sanctions," a US official said.

However, Pakistan has repeatedly expressed its commitment to pursue the project in order tomeet the energy requirement despite the US pressure.

During the meeting in Tehran, Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry said that it was also agreed that ameeting will be held shortly between the experts of both sides to review parameters foraccelerating work on IP gas pipeline project.

The two ministers also reviewed in detail the bilateral co-operation and expressed satisfactionover the friendly and cordial relations between the two brotherly countries, he added.

Discussing various areas of co-operation‚ he said that the two sides also emphasised the needto put greater focus on bilateral economic relations.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi accompanied by Abid Saeed, Secretary Petroleum and Mobin SaulatMD of the Pakistan''s Interstate State Gas System arrived in Tehran to discuss the IP gaspipeline issue with his counterpart and reiterated Pakistan''s assurance to fulfil its contractualobligation as the project is of immense importance to meet the energy needs of the country,the spokesman added.

Under the agreement, signed in June 2010, Iran would provide 750 million cubic feet per day(mmcfd) of gas to Pakistan for 25 years, which may be extended by five years and volumesmay rise to 1 Billion Cubic Feet per Day (BCFD).


16 or 17 percent sales tax: Ogra asked toissue revised notificationDecember 11, 2013

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the concerned authorities to concentrate onminimising the sufferings of consumers' through efforts to provide uninterrupted supply ofelectricity on an equitable basis. A three-judge bench announced its 38-page reservedjudgement on unprecedented loadshedding and increase in electricity prices in the country.The court also directed the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) to issue a revisednotification to recover only 16 or 17 percent Sales tax as early as possible.

The verdict said, "Ogra is directed to issue revised notification to recover only 16 or 17percent Sales Tax as early as possible, but not beyond the period of seven days and the extraSales Tax shall be deposited by FBR within three months in the manner as was directed in the



judgement and the matter shall be fixed before the Court for issuing guidelines for itsdisbursement".

The court ruled that loadshedding of electricity is a manageable subject to dedicated efforts toensure maximum possible generation of electricity which is sufficient to cater to therequirement of all the categories of the stakeholders/consumers.

"The competent authority must concentrate its efforts to minimise the sufferings of theconsumers by endeavouring to provide uninterrupted supply of electricity... if, however,loadshedding is the only way out, it must be administered without having distinction betweenrural and the urban areas as well as domestic, commercial and industrial sectors. Moreover, aformula must be put in place to ensure the distribution of electricity on an equitable basis,"the court ruled.

The court said in its order that the competent authority is required to take steps to control allkinds of losses such as like line losses and theft by using modern devices like introduction ofsmart meters and supply of electricity only to the consumers, who are ready and willing tomake payment, if need be, in advance or without any default after submission of the bills.

"As far as all kinds of unauthorised consumers are concerned, efforts should be made topersuade them to make payments of the bills, failing which action as envisaged under theElectricity Act, 1910, the Electricity Rules, 1937 and NEPRA Act, 1997 as well as otherenabling laws/rules, should be taken," the judgement maintained.

The court said in its verdict that a policy has to be announced by the NTDC/DISCOS underwhich the supply of electricity to the consumers who believe in law and make the payment intime is encouraged and supply of unauthorised consumers is discouraged.

"It is the responsibility of NEPRA and PEPCO to reduce the prices while ensuring thatelectricity is generated through less-costing value of production from hydel power....and asfar as thermal power is concerned, preference must be given to generate electricity by usingcoal and gas, and unless there is no compulsion, the electricity should not be generated fromRFO as it is costing higher prices, which ultimately has to be borne by the consumers," saysthe judgement.

It added that the renewable sources for generating electricity including wind and solar powermust be utilised, adding that prices of petrol, diesel, petroleum products, etc are invariablybeing fixed by OGRA arbitrarily without taking into consideration the rate in theinternational market.

"Therefore, in future, all necessary steps shall be taken in this behalf to fix the prices strictlyin accordance with the prevailing rates in the international market," the verdict said.

While passing the order regarding the supply of gas at subsidised rates to the fertiliserscompanies the court ruled, "As far as supply of gas at subsidised rates to the fertilisercompanies is concerned, it may continue but at the same time there must be a policy to ensurethat the production of the fertilisers like urea etc is sold in the market to the farmers at asubsidised rate. However, as far as captive power plants are concerned, the policy must berevised and without any justification they cannot be allowed supply of gas to produceelectricity because they supply electricity at much higher than the NEPRA rate instead ofsubsidised rate to NTDC".



The verdict said that the supply of gas to captive power plants should be revised to a lowerpriority and not at a subsidised rate.

"NEPRA has failed to perform its duties strictly in accordance with the Regulation ofGeneration, Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power Act, 1997... As it has beendiscussed hereinabove, without any unnecessary interference, the NEPRA must watchinterest of stakeholders/consumers while determining the tariff of the electricity andopportunity of hearing must be ensured to all concerned," the judgement said.

The court ruled that the Federation of Pakistan under Article 38 of the Constitution as apolicy is bound to secure the well-being of the people by raising their standard of living.

It added that the subsidy already being given to them should have not been withdrawn,adding that though subsidy is not the right of the consumers, the government beingresponsible for their welfare may consider in near future to increase the rate of subsidy byextending its benefits to the consumers, who are not in a position to pay high charges ofelectricity.

"As far as subsection (8) of section 3 of the Sales Tax Act, 1990 inserted by means ofFinance Act, 2013 is concerned, it is contrary to law and the Constitution... therefore, levy ofextra tax at the rate of 9 percent cannot be charged except the rate which has been fixed undersection 3(1) of the Sales Tax Act, 1990... Moreover, the same directions and the ratio of thejudgement of June 21, 2013 reported as Iqbal Zafar Jhagra v. Federation of Pakistan (2013SCMR 1337), wherein rule 7 of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, 1931 was declaredultra vires, shall be applicable in this case," the court ruled.

The judgement said that as far as recovery of the gas development charges GDIC isconcerned, it falls within the definition of section 2(46) of the Sales Tax Act, 1990 and noorder is required to be passed in this behalf.

Regarding issuance of licenses to CNG stations, the verdict said, "An exercise has also beenundertaken to inquire into the grant of licenses to the various CNG stations .... these wereprima facie unauthorizedly issued from time to time is delinked and this aspect of the case isto be heard along with the case of implementation in the case of appointment of Tauqir Sadiqreported as Muhammad Yasin vs. Federation of Pakistan (PLD 2012 SC 132) and the Courtshall decide it on the basis of evidence recorded by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)independently. The court directed the FIA to hand it over to NAB where proceedings ofTauqir Sadiq are already pending.


Country possesses hydropower generationpotential of 60,000MW: WAPDADecember 11, 2013

Pakistan possesses an identified hydropower potential of 60,000 MW, said WAPDA Member(Water) Hasnain Afzal, adding that every effort was being made to harness this potential. Hewas briefing optimum development of water and hydropower resources in the country to a



team of PAF Air War College, Karachi during their visit to WAPDA House, here onTuesday.

The team led by Air Commodore Shahid Latif Bajwa, comprised officers from Pakistan AirForce, Pakistan Navy and Pakistan Army including 16 allied officers from different friendlycountries. Member (Power) Rizwan Ahmad, NTDC Managing Director Zia-ur-Rehman andsenior officers of WAPDA were also present on the occasion.

Responding to questions of participants, the Member (Water) further said that 4500-MWDiamer Basha Dam Project, and 4320-MW Dasu Hydropower Project and 7100-MW BunjiHydropower Project were ready for construction. He apprised the team that the contract of1410-MW Tarbela Fourth Extension Hydropower Project was already awarded in addition toaccelerating pace of work on the under-construction projects including Neelum Jhelum andGolen Gol. Hydel energy being the cheapest source will provide substantial relief in tariff tothe consumer which is currently high due to lesser share of hydel electricity in the overallgeneration, he added.

The team was also briefed about power sector reforms, existing power generationcapabilities, generation mix, consumption patterns, line losses, and factors behind increase inelectricity tariff. The team was also apprised of the government's efforts to overcome theelectricity crisis.


Captive power generation: IFC, LCCIdiscuss regulatory, policy barriersDecember 11, 2013

International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry(LCCI) on Tuesday discussed threadbare regulatory and policy barriers to captive powergeneration and private-to-private models of electricity to reduce the current power deficit.

LCCI former president Mian Anjum Nisar, LCCI Executive Committee Member ChaudhryMuhammad Aslam and Akbar Sheikh held talks with the International Finance Corporation(IFC) team comprising Saima Zuberi, Ricardo Arias, Aijaz Ahmad, Affifa Raihana, DaliaSakr, Etienne Rafi.

The IFC team apprised the LCCI members that they are increasing their focus oninfrastructure sectors and are looking to identify how it can best support private investment inselected countries including Pakistan.

They also endorsed the LCCI idea of making the energy audits obligatory in the privatesector as is a prerequisite to enhance efficiency and great step towards conservation ofenergy.

IFC team spoke about the importance of captive power generation and private-to-private salesof energy in solving the energy crisis in the country.



They were of the view that this would reduce the dependence on the national grid.

IFC delegates also talked about facilitating the investors in giving loans for captive powergeneration and private-to-private sale of energy. They said there would be no cap on the loanand would depend entirely on the need of the project.

They said that they would also facilitate Banks in giving loans for captive power/private-to-private power generation as Banks currently are reluctant to finance these types of venturesand only concentrate on traditional collateral based lending.

They told the gathering that talks with Banks in this regard are in process.

Both IFC and LCCI were of the view that excessive time taken by government in approvals isa big obstacle in facilitation of private sector for power generation.

The IFC highlighted the importance of the LCCI as a hub of knowledge and invited theChamber to join hands with IFC in creating the awareness among members of efficientenergy use.

Anjum Nisar appreciated the IFC initiative saying that the exercise would contributeconsiderably towards assisting the government efforts to attract private sector investment intopower sector development and help solve provincial energy shortage.

He also briefed the IFC team about the prevailing energy crisis in the country and highlightedthe problem of expensive energy mix and said that high energy price and shortages were thehitches to captive power generation in the province of Punjab.

He talked about excess gas shortage in the province of Punjab as compared to otherprovinces. He said that captive power generation by the sugar industry is currently very low.He was of the view that encouraging captive power generation is very important to solve theprevailing energy crisis in the country.




Fuel and Energy: World

Brent drops on signals Libyan exportscould resumeDecember 11, 2013

Brent crude oil slid on Tuesday, extending losses for a second session on reports of a possibleend to the months-long blockade of east Libyan oil terminals. Leaders of a movement seekingautonomy for Libya's eastern Cyrenaica region said on Tuesday they could allow oil exportsto resume on December 15 from several ports if Tripoli meets their demands and allows theregion to take its share of crude. Movement leaders said the group is set to begin trying to sellcrude oil on its own if the government does not meet its demands.

The disruption has restricted Libyan oil output to 250,000 barrels per day (bpd), down from1.4 million bpd in July, and supported the price of Brent.

US crude oil or West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose over $1 earlier in the session on news ofprogress toward the opening of a major pipeline that will transport oil from the US Midwestto the Gulf, helping drain surplus crude at the pricing point for the futures contract.

The prospects of increased supply of Brent and less landlocked US crude helped narrow thespread between the two to a month low of $10.48.

"The Brent-WTI spread has gone from below $10 to above $19 and now around $10 in thelast five weeks, and now maybe we'll get Libyan production back in excess of 1 millionbarrels," said Gene McGillian, an analyst at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.

"Now I think it's going to come down to what kind of inventory report we see."

Brent for January was down 66 cents at $108.73 at 11:53 am EST (1653 GMT), reversingearlier gains of more than $1 to a high of $110.45. Brent dropped 2 percent on Monday, itsbiggest loss in five weeks.

US light crude futures for January rose 70 cents to $98.04, after hitting a six-week high of$98.74 earlier in the session.

Brent's premium to US crude stood at $10.69.

TransCanada Corp began filling a 700,000 bpd pipeline that will transport crude fromCushing, Oklahoma, to Gulf Coast refiners. The company did not say when it expects the lineto begin commercial service, but a filing with the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commissionlast week said it expects the pipeline to be in service by January 3. Weaker-than-expectedindustrial output data from China released Tuesday and mixed economic data from Germanyon Monday further weighed on Brent.

"The industrial production figures that we saw out of China were a little bit disappointing,and the data we've seen out of Europe hasn't been particularly great either," said Michael



Hewson, analyst at CMC Markets.

A fall in the value of the US dollar helped to cap losses. The US currency hit a six-week lowagainst the euro, increasing the purchasing power for consumers who buy oil priced indollars.

Market participants await data on US crude inventories from industry group the AmericanPetroleum Institute to be released at 4:30 pm EST (2130 GMT).

US crude oil stocks are forecast to have fallen for a second week last week by 2.7 millionbarrels, a Reuters poll of analysts showed.

Copyright Reuters, 2013

Russia risks depleting oil savings: IMFDecember 11, 2013

Russia has based its three-year budget forecasts on optimistic oil price expectations that,combined with heavy social spending, may lead to the depletion of its rainy-day savings, theInternational Monetary Fund warned on Tuesday. The government sees the average price foroil, Russia's main export, at around $100 per barrel over the next three years.

"For 2014 and even more for 2015-2106, budgets appear insufficiently ambitions, includingdue to optimistic revenue projections based on high oil-price assumptions," the IMF said in astatement after an annual mission to Moscow.

The statement shows that the IMF is notably more concerned about Russia's fiscal stance thanit was just three months ago when it advised against higher spending and urged Russia torebuild its fiscal buffers.

Last week, government sources revealed to Reuters that Russia's funding gap could reach$300 billion by the end of the decade and that the country could exhaust its $90 billionReserve Fund within as little as three years.

In addition to a possible revenue shortfall, the IMF warned that the temporary diversion ofpension contributions to the state system will create further pressures when it is reversed, aswill planned infrastructure spending.

The Reserve Fund, which collects windfall energy revenues, can be used to cover budgetshortfalls only after it reaches 7 percent of gross domestic product, which the FinanceMinistry expects will take at least nine years.

An amendment, however, permits dipping into the fund to cover planned revenues that havenot materialised.

"It is necessary to rebuild these buffers, including through pension reform and pro-growthexpenditure rationalisation," the IMF said.

The Fund called also for a tighter monetary policy to rein in inflation. The Economy Ministry



now envisages consumer prices to rise by 6.2 percent this year, compared to the centralbank's target of keeping price growth under 6 percent.


OPEC sticks to 2014 oil demand growthforecastDecember 11, 2013

The OPEC oil cartel on Tuesday stuck to its forecast that 2014 global oil demand would growat a faster rate than in 2013 thanks to accelerating world economic growth. The Organisationof Petroleum Exporting Countries said in its December monthly report average 2014 demandwould be 98.84 million barrels per day, up 1.04 mbpd from 2013.

This compares with an expected rise of 0.87 mbpd for 2013 to 89.79 mbpd. OPEC said themain growth-driver in 2014 would be developing economies, with demand from members ofthe OECD group of advanced economies set to decline by 0.2 mbpd.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2013

Oil and gas companies to spend over sixpercent more in 2014: BarclaysDecember 11, 2013

Oil and gas companies will spend about $723 billion on exploration and production (E&P) in2014, an increase of 6.1 percent from 2013, Barclays Bank said in a report on Monday. Majoroil companies are slowing spending growth as they put more emphasis on increasing returnsto investors amid a wave of shareholders activism in the industry, Barclays said.

Activist investors have pushed for shake-ups at a number of mid-sized energy companies thisyear including Chesapeake Energy Corp, Hess Corp and Transocean Ltd.

The Big Oil companies - Exxon Mobil Corp, Chevron Corp, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and TotalSA and BP Plc - though not targeted by activist investors are also under pressure to boostreturns. BP has raised its dividend, cut back capital spending plans, and ramped up its assetsales target to $10 billion over the next two years from between $4 billion and $6 billion.

Barclays forecast an increase of more than 7 percent in E&P spending in North America in2014, compared with a 2 percent increase in 2013, based on a survey of more than 300 oiland gas companies conducted last month.

Spending is set to increase in North America after two years of tepid growth, when weakprices in the United States made drilling for natural gas uneconomical in many onshorefields.



E&P spending outside North America is likely to increase 6 percent to a record $524 billionin 2014, a smaller increase than the 10 percent rise this year, the bank said.

Limited growth by the oil majors and corruption probes directed at Chinese companies areweighing on growth expectations for international spending, but this will be partly offset bygrowth in the Middle East, Latin America and Russia, Barclays said. The bank said while itsinitial expectation for 2014 suggested a modest slowdown in global spending growth, the mixof spending was moving away from large infrastructure projects to drilling, evaluation andcompletion activity.

The shift implied a revenue opportunity for diversified oil service companies such asSchlumberger Ltd, Halliburton Co and Baker Hughes Inc, the report said.


Eni shuts Nigerian oil pipeline after fireDecember 11, 2013

Italian energy company Eni started closing the flow stations on a large Nigerian pipelinebecause of a fire, the company said on Sunday, in the latest blow to production in Africa's topoil exporter. Eni did not say how much production would be lost. In previous shutdowns ofthe Tebidaba-Brass pipeline about 47,000 barrels per day (bpd) of output had to be deferred,industry sources said.

The fire comes less than two weeks after a problem during tanker loading caused a largeamounts of oil to be spilled near an Eni facility in Nigeria. There are hundreds of leaks everyyear from pipelines that pass through the delta's creeks, damaging the environment and theprofits of oil companies including Eni and Royal Dutch Shell, especially when production hasto be deferred.

OPEC-member Nigeria is losing about 400,000 bpd of its 2.5 million bpd production capacitybecause of persistent outages, helping to prop up global oil prices.

Many oil spills are caused by theft and pipeline sabotage, a crime committed daily in theNiger Delta, where millions live in poverty. The crude methods used to steal the oil oftenresult in accidents that cause fires.

A number of spills are also a result of decrepit infrastructure.

"At the moment we do not have information on the cause (of fire). We have promptly startedthe shut-in operations for the flow stations related to the pipeline," an Eni spokesman said.

Oil companies are required to fund the clean-up of each spill and usually pay compensationto local communities if it was clearly the company's fault.




BR Research: All

Dar’s pep talk to bankersDecember 11, 2013

BR Research

A few days ago Finance Minister Ishaq Dar proclaimed that the rupee-dollar parity willreverse to Rs98 against the greenback. At that time, the dollar was hovering around 110marks in the open market and since then it has been in reverse gear at full throttle; it hascome down significantly in the last five trading days to close below 108 levels yesterday. Ininterbank market it reverted by 70 paisas from its peak to close at 107.91.

The interesting fact is that for most of the last few trading sessions, the greenback has tradedlower in the open market compared to the interbank market. And yesterday Dar called onbanking executives in Islamabad on a single point agenda of stabilizing the currency market.No wonder the finance ministry is using all the cards to bring sanity in the foreign exchangemarket.

It is high time the emergency measures should be taken as SBP’s forex reserves are down tomere $3 billion, covering just three weeks of imports. Dar met some banking executivesseparately apart from a combined meeting with all the heads in the capital city. He gave a peptalk to the bankers and asked them to refrain from speculating activities. He emphasized thatthe worse is over; major chunk of IMF payments has been made in November and Dar isconfident that come January the reserves situation would be much healthier.

SBP executives have been saying the same thing repeatedly for the past few weeks, althoughboth banks and exchange companies are not taking this seriously. On the other hand Dar wasaway from the scene owing to health reasons. Now he is back in action and has all hisattention on foreign exchange market.

By seeing this, those speculators who bought USD around 110 marks in anticipation offurther fall are biting their nails and while many who hoarded greenback at lower rates havesold in big chunks—and that explain the correction in the currency market. There are around8,000 registered and unregistered exchange companies and market pundits estimate that intotal they must have supplied $15-20 million lately. These guys have done that on the basis ofSBP releasing some supply at the orders of Finance Minister.

But, such kind of interventions and assurances are not sustainable. For the rupee-dollar parityto remain lower, it is imperative for the funds to flow in from January onwards. Thegovernment expects $300 million form CSF and $549 million of IMF’s tranche in Decemberor latest by January. The impetus ought to come from other budgeted flows including 3Glicenses ($1.2 bn), privatization proceeds ($800 mn), euro bond (at least $500 mn) and someflows from the World Bank and ADB.

Out of all this, the issuance of euro bond is directly in the hands of FinMin and currently theministry is taking too much time in finalizing the technical advisor. They have to tighten uptheir act and exhibit strong commitment since in the absence of these flows, no pep talk or



any other form of intervention can stop the free fall of rupee in the third or fourth quarter ofthis fiscal year.

Getting Lucky in AfricaDecember 11, 2013

BR Research

For most companies operating in Pakistan, security threats and internal conflicts inhibitgrowth and pose a challenge to success. But for a Pakistani company to target anothereconomy torn by civil war is not only fraught with risks, but is completely unheard of.

But, good luck comes with name, they say; and Lucky Cement is no novice to daringventures. In June 2013, the company formally announced its plans to begin construction of$240 million cement manufacturing facility in Democratic Republic of Congo as a jointventure with the country’s Rawji Group.

To recall, DR Congo suffered from a decade-long conflict beginning in 1998, which came tobe known as the “African world war”. The war has often been described as the world’sdeadliest conflict since the Chinese civil war, killing more than 5.4 million people. Today,DR Congo carries the ill-fame of world’s second lowest GDP per capita, despite havingworld’s largest untapped deposits of raw minerals worth in excess of $ 24 trillion.

But, it seems Lucky (and YBG’s) success in the challenging Pakistani economic environmenthas trained the group well for such audacious ventures. Already, Lucky’s cement grindingfacility in war-torn Iraq is expected to start trial production before the close of CY13. Thejoint venture in DR Congo seems to be another attempt at diversifying company’s globaloperations, taking advantage of the reconstruction in conflict zones of the past.

According to Sajid Feroze, CFO Nyumba Ya Akiba—the Rawji Group arm responsible forthe venture, “now is the time to reconstruct a country that was destroyed by civil war”. Theproposed factory is expected to come online in late 2015 and will produce 1.2 million tons ofcement per annum, doubling the current production capacity of the country. The project isexpected to reach a financial close by December 2013, with globally renowned FL Smidthcommissioned for plant construction.

Financial markets have also shown strong optimism over Lucky’s African investment, callingthe effort a smart bid at geographical diversification of target markets. According to KASBresearch, “expansion in rapidly growing African market makes Lucky’s investment caseextremely attractive, as the company is trading at a 40 percent discount to regional peers”.

The scope of infrastructural development on African continent can easily be gained bycapacity expansion of 175 percent (from 20m tons to 50m tons per annum) by DangoteCement, Africa’s largest cement producer. At the same time, Pretoria Portland Cement, (PPCSouth Africa) has also invested in a green field project in DR Congo, expected to becommissioned around the same time as Lucky’s project.

PPC’s well entrenched foot print on African continent does give it a much needed advantageover Lucky, especially since the current demand for cement in DRC is merely 0.8 million perton. However, since DRC is an un-chartered territory for both manufacturers, whoever



commissions the project first could gain a much needed first movers advantage.

Even so, a mild response by DR Congo market may not be enough to deter Lucky or send itpacking home. Given the untapped potential of growing African economies, the conflict tornmay just be a launching pad for Lucky to export to other markets on the Dark Continent-–andwho knows, maybe even beyond!

Masood Textile Mills: let us count the waysDecember 11, 2013

BR Research

We have been writing odes to the country’s re-energised textile sector for a while now. And itseems that the positive vibes sent out by the soon-to-be gold sector have not escaped thenotice of savvy international investors either.

Amid rampant speculation that Chinese buyers were looking to invest in the thrivingPakistani textile landscape came the news that Shandong Ruyi Technology-–headquartered inmainland China—intended to buy a majority stake in Masood Textile Mills Limited—one ofthe most technologically advanced albeit little known composite textile mills in the country.

The notice put up by KSE on Friday detailed that the Chinese firm intended to acquire 31.2million shares—which approximate to 52 percent of the 60 million issued and paid-up sharesof MTM.

From the point of view of Shandong Ruyi Technology, there are perhaps very few textilemills in the country that present the kind of synergies Masood Textiles does and let us tellyou why?

While the company’s financial statements and website do not disclose the breakdown indetail, Yasir Khan from AKD Securities—the firm acting as managers to the offer said MTMis a purely export intensive operation, with yarn dispatches making up less than 10 percent ofthe company’s export revenue.

The lion’s share of the firm’s revenues is hence composed of value added and specialty itemsincluding weaved cloth and apparel, sent mainly to America and Canada. EU currentlyaccounts for around 4-6 percent of the firm’s top line, but Pakistan’s prospective inclusion inthe list of nations allowed tariff free entry into Europe will potentially blow up the marketwide open.

We also believe that the existing client portfolio of MTM must have been a major draw forthe Chinese firm. Masood Textiles already counts major North American heavyweights suchas JC Penny, Walmart Addidas, Puma, Levis, Dockers, Fruit of the Loom and Reebokamongst its clients. Additionally, the firm is amongst the very few in Pakistan which sells tostores directly and monitor sales patterns online before restocking—which brings down thecost of inventory for buyers.

But the list of good things about MTM doesn’t just stop there. The firm’s books are also onsolid footings, with turnover at the close of CY12 standing at Rs19.3 billion—nearly 144percent higher than 2008. The company has also paid dividends to shareholders at a uniform



rate of 15.5 percent for each of the last three years—a trend quite unprecedented in theapparel sector.

Talking to BR Research, Jehanzaib Zafar from BMA Capital also pointed out that MTM wasamongst the most cost efficient textile operations in the country at the moment. The firm’sfuel costs to sales ratio during CY13 at 4.74 percent was in fact the lowest amongst its peers.

So, while the rest of the mid-tier textile players are only now scrambling to find out ways tobeat the rising fuel prices and make a killing off the improved sector dynamics, MTM hasalready been enjoying the bounties for a while due to judicious operational management.Going forward, sources report that the firm has already invested into a bio-fuel plant, whichin tandem with its coal-fired power plant will make MTM one of the most profitable textileplayers in the country.

The above mentioned fundamentals in combination with the Chinese firm’s advances have infact already helped garner MTM some major (and dubious) attention at the local bourses.Mostly ill-liquid, MTM’s stock price has been rallying quite suspiciously since November27—when in fact the KSE notice was only put up much later on the 6th of December.

However, managers to the offer have waved away the insinuation of fishy goings, explainingthat Shandong Ruyi had been vetting MTM for a while and that market players were alreadyaware of this development since it was no secret.

Subsequently the firm’s share price has rallied up due to speculation, whereas volumes haveremained flattish. But, straight or not, the attention will do MTM a load of good. Opposed tothe current price—which stood at Rs78/share share at the end of Tuesday’s trading session—the analyst community believes that MTM should be able to fetch a price between Rs85-Rs100 per share as a result of its new found ‘fame’.

ADB’s nod to coal powerDecember 11, 2013

BR Research

Of nearly half a dozen big energy projects announced ever since the government took charge,there was at last seen a concrete step towards materialisation. The Asian Development Bank(ADB) formally approved a $900 million loan for a new sub-critical coal power generationunit in Pakistan. Pakistan had sought the ADB’s funding in August and the approval comesrelatively quicker: thanks to Dar and his team’s pressing efforts.

Contrary to some media reports though, this unit will generate an additional 600 MW ofelectricity, as against 1,200 MW reported widely in media. The total estimated cost of theproject comes around $1.5 billion, for which the Islamic Development Bank will lend $150million. Pakistan will still have to make efforts for counterparts funding to the tune of $450million.

The project will be built at the existing power plant at Jamshoro, replacing existing heavyfuel oil-fired power generators. The project is expected to take five years before commencinggeneration and is expected to result in over half a billion dollar annual saving in lieu of oilimport bill. While, it is a step in the right direction, Pakistan will have to tread carefully to



monitor the electricity tariffs and not get too carried away with cheaper generation.

Experts believe that biting the bullet earlier should be the way to go, and electricity tariffsshould make room for some form of levy, for greater return in future. Remember thatPakistan will still have to use imported coal for this propose, which is believed to be ofsuperior quality than what is in Thar.

Correcting the energy mix should be the number one priority and it is heartening to see thegovernment slowly moving towards that. However, to ensure timely repayment of such loans,effective power pricing is a must, without which the whole exercise would be one in futility.

On the same note, while ADB’s approval of one coal-fired power plant comes at a good timefor Pakistan, one should not be overly optimistic of ADB financing all such projects in thefuture. The government also plans a mega project in Gadani and the sole financing cannot beexpected from the ADB. Recall that ADB, not so long ago had declared Thar coal, ‘dirtycoal’. The USA has not had a change of heart after voting against the ADB’s loan approval.

From what it appears Pakistan will have to rely heavily on imported coal, till the time it getsfunds for Thar project.

LSE looses 13.39 pointsTuesday, 10 December 2013 20:39

Posted by Imaduddin

LAHORE: Lahore Stock Exchange here Tuesday witnessed bearish trend by losing 13.39 points, as the

LSE Index-25 opened with 4719.42 points and closed at 4706.03 points.

The market's overall situation, however, corresponded to an upward trend as it remained at 1.616

million shares to close against previous turnover of 1.445 million shares, showing an upward move

of 170,700 shares. While, out of the total active 100 scrips 17 moved up, 21 shed values and 62

remained equal.

The Major Gainers of the day were Engro Corporation Limited, Engro Foods Limited and Tariq Glass

Industries by recording increase in their per share value by Rs 1.73, Rs 1.50 and Rs 1.07 respectively.

Nishat (Chunian) Limited, Pakistan Petroleum Limited and Nishat Mills Limited lost their per share

value by Rs 1.85, Rs 1.45 and Rs 1.01 respectively.

Top three Volume Leaders of the day included Pakistan International Airline Coporation with

917,500 shares, The Bank of Punjab Limited with 126,000 and Byco Petroleum Pakistan with 107,000

shares.




Brief Recordings

Colgate Palmolive (Pakistan) LimitedDecember 11, 2013

Colgate Palmolive Pakistan, one of the leading manufacturers of personal care and consumerproducts in the country, began its operations back in 1985 when the US granted the firmlicense to manufacture and market Colgate Palmolive products in Pakistan.

Currently, the firm is engaged in the production and marketing of some of the leadinginternational brands of oral and personal care products, bringing a few of the world's mosttrusted household names such as Colgate Toothpaste and Palmolive Naturals to the Pakistanimarket.

Financial Highlights 1Q FY14

From the surface it seems that Colgate might just have managed to put up a goodperformance in 1Q FY14 after closing the last quarter on a subdued note. The firm did afterall achieve a year-on-year revenue growth of nearly 17 percent during the aforementionedperiod. But from there onwards, the firm's income statement reads like a particularly sadstory.

Although Colgate's gross profit did strengthen in absolute terms, the margins during the firstquarter remained shaky due to unexpected hikes in packaging and raw material prices.Additionally an increase in advertisement and sales promotion, freight and employee relatedexpenses also weighed on the firm's bottom line during the period. And to make mattersworse, Colgate's other expenses for the 1st quarter were also off the charts. The charges underthis head increased by more than 22 percent year on year and were attributable to foreignexchange tear-jerkers that came up as a result of the continued weakening of the Rupee.

The net profit after tax for the period, therefore, managed to shed 1.3 percent over last year'snumbers despite the healthy top line growth, which could do little to improve the havoc castby spiralling costs.

Highlights FY13

The Company achieved a revenue growth of 9 percent for the year ended June 30, 2013. Theyear came to a subdued close for Colgate-especially when compared to the massive 28.6increase in top line the company witnessed last year.

The firm's gross profit margin decreased meanwhile to 27.9 percent as compared to 29percent recorded last year. The decline in gross Profit margin was mainly caused by anadverse exchange rate movement resulting in higher raw material costs coupled withincreased depreciation expense due to major investments in plant and machinery during thecourse of the year.

The energy woes that the company faced throughout the better part of the year also adverselyaffected the firm's margins as they had to rely heavily on expensive in house power



generation. Colgate's selling and distribution costs for the year ended in June moreover alsoincreased by 10 percent due to an increase in advertisement expenses-which had to beincurred in light of the ever increasing competition in the sector.

However, despite inflation, Colgate was able to control their administrative charges-whichremained on last year's levels. The net profit after tax for the year, however, decreased bynearly 2 percent. The EPS as a result decreased by 1.99 percent to Rs36.45 as compared toRs37.19 that was recorded last year.

Outlook

Although Colgate has managed to largely keep its share in the oral health care category intactdespite the increasing competition, it seems that a growth in sales will just not cut it anymore.In the face of rising costs of utilities, packaging material and raw material, the firm's marginshave been on the down and low since the last two quarters and going forward, improvementsin operational efficiency are also a must if the firm plans to keep its margins in the greenzone.

Moreover, apart from internal cost efficiency, the firm might also need to re-evaluate some ofthe existing product lines-especially in the Detergents category where the competition isheating up very fast.

=========================================================OPERATING RESULTS @ 1QFY14=========================================================Rs (mn) 1QFY14 1QFY13 % chg=========================================================Turnover 6,945 5,952 17%Gross profit 1,500 1,359 10%as a % to Net Sales 27% 29% 2 pptSelling and Distribution costs 826 716 15%as a % to Net Sales 15% 15% -Profit from Operations 587 572 3%NPAT 372 377 -1%EPS 7.75 7.86 ----------------------------------------------------------Source: Company Records======================================================================================================================COLGATE PALMOLIVE PAKISTAN LTD=============================================================FY10 FY11 FY12 FY13=============================================================Profitability-------------------------------------------------------------Gross profit margin 33 29 29 28Net Profit Margin 10 8 9 8ROE 32 27 29 24ROA 24 18 21 21-------------------------------------------------------------Liquidity-------------------------------------------------------------Current Ratio 2.85 2.21 2.68 2.9



Equity as a % of total assets 0.74 0.68 0.70 0.69-------------------------------------------------------------Capital Efficiency-------------------------------------------------------------Inventory turnover 58 67 72 71Debtors turnover 10 8 10 10Total asset turnover 2.33 2.21 2.37 2Fixed asset turnover 5.98 5.20 6.47 6-------------------------------------------------------------Gearing Ratios-------------------------------------------------------------Gearing Ratio 0.34 0.47 0.42 0.39-------------------------------------------------------------Source: Company Records=============================================================



BR Research: All

Dar’s pep talk to bankersDecember 11, 2013

BR Research

A few days ago Finance Minister Ishaq Dar proclaimed that the rupee-dollar parity willreverse to Rs98 against the greenback. At that time, the dollar was hovering around 110marks in the open market and since then it has been in reverse gear at full throttle; it hascome down significantly in the last five trading days to close below 108 levels yesterday. Ininterbank market it reverted by 70 paisas from its peak to close at 107.91.

The interesting fact is that for most of the last few trading sessions, the greenback has tradedlower in the open market compared to the interbank market. And yesterday Dar called onbanking executives in Islamabad on a single point agenda of stabilizing the currency market.No wonder the finance ministry is using all the cards to bring sanity in the foreign exchangemarket.

It is high time the emergency measures should be taken as SBP’s forex reserves are down tomere $3 billion, covering just three weeks of imports. Dar met some banking executivesseparately apart from a combined meeting with all the heads in the capital city. He gave a peptalk to the bankers and asked them to refrain from speculating activities. He emphasized thatthe worse is over; major chunk of IMF payments has been made in November and Dar isconfident that come January the reserves situation would be much healthier.

SBP executives have been saying the same thing repeatedly for the past few weeks, althoughboth banks and exchange companies are not taking this seriously. On the other hand Dar wasaway from the scene owing to health reasons. Now he is back in action and has all hisattention on foreign exchange market.

By seeing this, those speculators who bought USD around 110 marks in anticipation offurther fall are biting their nails and while many who hoarded greenback at lower rates havesold in big chunks—and that explain the correction in the currency market. There are around8,000 registered and unregistered exchange companies and market pundits estimate that intotal they must have supplied $15-20 million lately. These guys have done that on the basis ofSBP releasing some supply at the orders of Finance Minister.

But, such kind of interventions and assurances are not sustainable. For the rupee-dollar parityto remain lower, it is imperative for the funds to flow in from January onwards. Thegovernment expects $300 million form CSF and $549 million of IMF’s tranche in Decemberor latest by January. The impetus ought to come from other budgeted flows including 3Glicenses ($1.2 bn), privatization proceeds ($800 mn), euro bond (at least $500 mn) and someflows from the World Bank and ADB.

Out of all this, the issuance of euro bond is directly in the hands of FinMin and currently theministry is taking too much time in finalizing the technical advisor. They have to tighten uptheir act and exhibit strong commitment since in the absence of these flows, no pep talk or



any other form of intervention can stop the free fall of rupee in the third or fourth quarter ofthis fiscal year.

Getting Lucky in AfricaDecember 11, 2013

BR Research

For most companies operating in Pakistan, security threats and internal conflicts inhibitgrowth and pose a challenge to success. But for a Pakistani company to target anothereconomy torn by civil war is not only fraught with risks, but is completely unheard of.

But, good luck comes with name, they say; and Lucky Cement is no novice to daringventures. In June 2013, the company formally announced its plans to begin construction of$240 million cement manufacturing facility in Democratic Republic of Congo as a jointventure with the country’s Rawji Group.

To recall, DR Congo suffered from a decade-long conflict beginning in 1998, which came tobe known as the “African world war”. The war has often been described as the world’sdeadliest conflict since the Chinese civil war, killing more than 5.4 million people. Today,DR Congo carries the ill-fame of world’s second lowest GDP per capita, despite havingworld’s largest untapped deposits of raw minerals worth in excess of $ 24 trillion.

But, it seems Lucky (and YBG’s) success in the challenging Pakistani economic environmenthas trained the group well for such audacious ventures. Already, Lucky’s cement grindingfacility in war-torn Iraq is expected to start trial production before the close of CY13. Thejoint venture in DR Congo seems to be another attempt at diversifying company’s globaloperations, taking advantage of the reconstruction in conflict zones of the past.

According to Sajid Feroze, CFO Nyumba Ya Akiba—the Rawji Group arm responsible forthe venture, “now is the time to reconstruct a country that was destroyed by civil war”. Theproposed factory is expected to come online in late 2015 and will produce 1.2 million tons ofcement per annum, doubling the current production capacity of the country. The project isexpected to reach a financial close by December 2013, with globally renowned FL Smidthcommissioned for plant construction.

Financial markets have also shown strong optimism over Lucky’s African investment, callingthe effort a smart bid at geographical diversification of target markets. According to KASBresearch, “expansion in rapidly growing African market makes Lucky’s investment caseextremely attractive, as the company is trading at a 40 percent discount to regional peers”.

The scope of infrastructural development on African continent can easily be gained bycapacity expansion of 175 percent (from 20m tons to 50m tons per annum) by DangoteCement, Africa’s largest cement producer. At the same time, Pretoria Portland Cement, (PPCSouth Africa) has also invested in a green field project in DR Congo, expected to becommissioned around the same time as Lucky’s project.

PPC’s well entrenched foot print on African continent does give it a much needed advantageover Lucky, especially since the current demand for cement in DRC is merely 0.8 million perton. However, since DRC is an un-chartered territory for both manufacturers, whoever



commissions the project first could gain a much needed first movers advantage.

Even so, a mild response by DR Congo market may not be enough to deter Lucky or send itpacking home. Given the untapped potential of growing African economies, the conflict tornmay just be a launching pad for Lucky to export to other markets on the Dark Continent-–andwho knows, maybe even beyond!

Masood Textile Mills: let us count the waysDecember 11, 2013

BR Research

We have been writing odes to the country’s re-energised textile sector for a while now. And itseems that the positive vibes sent out by the soon-to-be gold sector have not escaped thenotice of savvy international investors either.

Amid rampant speculation that Chinese buyers were looking to invest in the thrivingPakistani textile landscape came the news that Shandong Ruyi Technology-–headquartered inmainland China—intended to buy a majority stake in Masood Textile Mills Limited—one ofthe most technologically advanced albeit little known composite textile mills in the country.

The notice put up by KSE on Friday detailed that the Chinese firm intended to acquire 31.2million shares—which approximate to 52 percent of the 60 million issued and paid-up sharesof MTM.

From the point of view of Shandong Ruyi Technology, there are perhaps very few textilemills in the country that present the kind of synergies Masood Textiles does and let us tellyou why?

While the company’s financial statements and website do not disclose the breakdown indetail, Yasir Khan from AKD Securities—the firm acting as managers to the offer said MTMis a purely export intensive operation, with yarn dispatches making up less than 10 percent ofthe company’s export revenue.

The lion’s share of the firm’s revenues is hence composed of value added and specialty itemsincluding weaved cloth and apparel, sent mainly to America and Canada. EU currentlyaccounts for around 4-6 percent of the firm’s top line, but Pakistan’s prospective inclusion inthe list of nations allowed tariff free entry into Europe will potentially blow up the marketwide open.

We also believe that the existing client portfolio of MTM must have been a major draw forthe Chinese firm. Masood Textiles already counts major North American heavyweights suchas JC Penny, Walmart Addidas, Puma, Levis, Dockers, Fruit of the Loom and Reebokamongst its clients. Additionally, the firm is amongst the very few in Pakistan which sells tostores directly and monitor sales patterns online before restocking—which brings down thecost of inventory for buyers.

But the list of good things about MTM doesn’t just stop there. The firm’s books are also onsolid footings, with turnover at the close of CY12 standing at Rs19.3 billion—nearly 144percent higher than 2008. The company has also paid dividends to shareholders at a uniform



rate of 15.5 percent for each of the last three years—a trend quite unprecedented in theapparel sector.

Talking to BR Research, Jehanzaib Zafar from BMA Capital also pointed out that MTM wasamongst the most cost efficient textile operations in the country at the moment. The firm’sfuel costs to sales ratio during CY13 at 4.74 percent was in fact the lowest amongst its peers.

So, while the rest of the mid-tier textile players are only now scrambling to find out ways tobeat the rising fuel prices and make a killing off the improved sector dynamics, MTM hasalready been enjoying the bounties for a while due to judicious operational management.Going forward, sources report that the firm has already invested into a bio-fuel plant, whichin tandem with its coal-fired power plant will make MTM one of the most profitable textileplayers in the country.

The above mentioned fundamentals in combination with the Chinese firm’s advances have infact already helped garner MTM some major (and dubious) attention at the local bourses.Mostly ill-liquid, MTM’s stock price has been rallying quite suspiciously since November27—when in fact the KSE notice was only put up much later on the 6th of December.

However, managers to the offer have waved away the insinuation of fishy goings, explainingthat Shandong Ruyi had been vetting MTM for a while and that market players were alreadyaware of this development since it was no secret.

Subsequently the firm’s share price has rallied up due to speculation, whereas volumes haveremained flattish. But, straight or not, the attention will do MTM a load of good. Opposed tothe current price—which stood at Rs78/share share at the end of Tuesday’s trading session—the analyst community believes that MTM should be able to fetch a price between Rs85-Rs100 per share as a result of its new found ‘fame’.

ADB’s nod to coal powerDecember 11, 2013

BR Research

Of nearly half a dozen big energy projects announced ever since the government took charge,there was at last seen a concrete step towards materialisation. The Asian Development Bank(ADB) formally approved a $900 million loan for a new sub-critical coal power generationunit in Pakistan. Pakistan had sought the ADB’s funding in August and the approval comesrelatively quicker: thanks to Dar and his team’s pressing efforts.

Contrary to some media reports though, this unit will generate an additional 600 MW ofelectricity, as against 1,200 MW reported widely in media. The total estimated cost of theproject comes around $1.5 billion, for which the Islamic Development Bank will lend $150million. Pakistan will still have to make efforts for counterparts funding to the tune of $450million.

The project will be built at the existing power plant at Jamshoro, replacing existing heavyfuel oil-fired power generators. The project is expected to take five years before commencinggeneration and is expected to result in over half a billion dollar annual saving in lieu of oilimport bill. While, it is a step in the right direction, Pakistan will have to tread carefully to



monitor the electricity tariffs and not get too carried away with cheaper generation.

Experts believe that biting the bullet earlier should be the way to go, and electricity tariffsshould make room for some form of levy, for greater return in future. Remember thatPakistan will still have to use imported coal for this propose, which is believed to be ofsuperior quality than what is in Thar.

Correcting the energy mix should be the number one priority and it is heartening to see thegovernment slowly moving towards that. However, to ensure timely repayment of such loans,effective power pricing is a must, without which the whole exercise would be one in futility.

On the same note, while ADB’s approval of one coal-fired power plant comes at a good timefor Pakistan, one should not be overly optimistic of ADB financing all such projects in thefuture. The government also plans a mega project in Gadani and the sole financing cannot beexpected from the ADB. Recall that ADB, not so long ago had declared Thar coal, ‘dirtycoal’. The USA has not had a change of heart after voting against the ADB’s loan approval.

From what it appears Pakistan will have to rely heavily on imported coal, till the time it getsfunds for Thar project.



Miscellaneous News

Shariah-based system: Government takessteps to spread Islamic bankingBy Our Correspondent

Published: December 11, 2013

ISLAMABAD:

The federal government on Tuesday issued a notification announcing the constitution ofa steering committee that would come up with recommendations in light of the workdone so far by various stakeholders for promotion of Islamic banking in the countryand implementing a real Shariah-based financial system.

The committee will comprise 10 members, headed by Saeed Ahmad, an actuary and a banker.Other members include Maulana Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman, a noted religious scholar,Muhammad Imran Usmani, religious scholar, Dr Waqar Masood Khan, Finance Secretary,Munir Kamal, Afaq Khan, Irfan Siddiqui, Atif Bajwa, Mian Muhammad Idrees, industrialistand Director Islamic Banking Department of State Bank of Pakistan.

The committee, which will have authority to co-opt other members, will submit itsrecommendations before the end of 2014. The State Bank will provide secretarial support tothe committee.

Islamic banking in Pakistan has recorded a reasonable growth and its asset base has grown toRs1 trillion. However, consumers are still sceptical whether the products of Islamic banks areRiba-based like that of conventional banks or are Riba-free.

The government has also notified terms of reference of the committee. The body will reviewprevious official reports on Islamic banking including the reports prepared by the Council ofIslamic Ideology, the Commission for Islamisation of Economy, the Self-RelianceCommission under the Ministry of Planning and a commission of the State Bank in pursuanceof the judgment of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The committee will also formulate a comprehensive policy framework for Islamic financialsystem and will suggest practical steps needed to be taken to implement the system. It will tryto find out practical ways and means to maximise equity-based financing instead of thewidespread debt-based system.

It will suggest solutions for the Islamic secondary market/money market for liquiditymanagement and will chalk out a roadmap and propose a time plan for progress of differentphases of Islamic banking.



The committee will also study international implications of converting conventional bankinginto Shariah-compliant banking. It has been asked to conduct an analysis of the possible legalobstacles to converting conventional banking into Shariah-compliant banking and thechanges required to remove these obstacles.

The committee will review the existing research and training facilities in the country forIslamic finance and suggest measures for their reinforcement and new initiatives.

Lastly, under the terms of reference, the committee will chalk out a procedure and process foreffective monitoring, overview and supervision of its terms of reference.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11th, 2013.

Overseas Pakistanis send $6.4b in fivemonthsBy Our Correspondent


KARACHI: Overseas Pakistani workers sent home $6.407 billion in the first fivemonths (July-November) of the current fiscal year 2013-14, a growth of 7.10%compared with $5.982 billion remitted in the same period of last year.

According to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) here on Tuesday, the inflowof remittances from Saudi Arabia, UAE, USA, UK, other GCC countries (including Bahrain,Kuwait, Qatar and Oman) and EU states stood at $1.794 billion, $1.297 billion, $1.026billion, $962.76 million, $732.64 million and $179.14 million respectively.

In comparison, the inflows were $1.609 billion, $1.241 billion, $993.57 million, $845.86million, $676.69 million and $161.16 million respectively in July-November 2012-13.

Remittances from Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Japan and other countries in thefirst five months of the current fiscal year amounted to $415.37 million against $454.69million in the same period last year.

In November alone, Pakistanis in Saudi Arabia, UAE, USA, UK, other GCC countries andEU states sent home $334.10 million, $236.29 million, $175.82 million, $155.13 million,$128.18 million and $29.84 million respectively.

In November last year, the inflows were $300.84 million, $193.79 million, $152.29 million,$148.53 million, $117.18 million and $26.63 million respectively.

Remittances received from other countries in November amounted to $71.76 million.




Gold prices expected to bounce back byMarchBy Kazim Alam


KARACHI:

Gold prices are going to start surging by March next year, All Sindh Saraf andJewellers Association (ASSJA) President Rasheed Chand said on Tuesday.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Chand said the ongoing downturn in gold prices is a‘temporary phenomenon’, which will be over before the end of the current fiscal year in June2014.

The price of 10 grams of gold was Rs43,714 on December 9 as opposed to Rs45,428 onNovember 15. In the international market, the gold price has decreased from roughly $1,290per ounce to $1,240 per ounce over the same period.

“As long as US economic data shows improvement, the probability of sooner-than-latertapering becomes more real, which should keep downward pressure on gold prices,” analystsat Next Capital, a Karachi-based commodities broker, said in a research note.

Theoretically, the price of gold is inversely proportional to the dollar’s worth, which meansits value declines if the dollar gains strength.

Gold prices started surging internationally as soon as the US Federal Reserve resorted toquantitative easing in the aftermath of the 2008 global recession. Injecting liquidity into themarket by purchasing $85 billion worth of government bonds and financial assets everymonth has kept interest rates at a low level.

As a consequence of low interest rates in the US economy, investments in gold have soaredglobally. The price of gold has increased over 60% since 2008 when it stood at $840 anounce.

The fact that gold prices dropped to a three-year low in June as soon as the US FederalReserve hinted that quantitative easing could be scaled back as early as September provesthat the likelihood of increasing interest rates quickly leads to divestments from the preciousmetal.

“Gold prices edged higher in range-bound trade on Monday, as traders looked ahead tospeeches from a number of Federal Reserve officials later in the day for further indications ofthe future course of US monetary policy,” said the research note.

However, according to a Wall Street Journal report published on Tuesday, financialpowerhouse Goldman Sachs doesn’t expect the US Fed to start raising interest rates until2016.

Analysts believe this is likely to put an end to the short-term volatility in gold prices.



According to the ASSJA president, gold prices in the country are directly affected by ‘games’that a certain international lobby plays in order to deceive innocent investors in developingeconomies like India and Pakistan.

“Although the role of Pakistanis’ diminishing purchasing power cannot be ignored, the factremains that this international lobby targets gold, currency and stock markets one afteranother to rip off unsuspecting investors,” Chand added.

However, he said gold prices in Pakistan are expected to undergo a swift increase in the firsthalf of calendar year 2014.


Innovation: IBA students develop app fornews watchersBy Sarfaraz Memon


SUKKUR:

Two students from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Sukkur, Asadullahand Imran Leghari, have developed a new app for Pakistani news watchers. The app –Pakistan News Cloud – collects Pakistan-related news from the internet and compilesthem on the user’s Android phone.

“People are developing mobile apps for foreign companies and clients and making money,but we have designed this particular app for Pakistanis either living in the country oroverseas,” says Asadullah, who is doing Masters in Computer Networks at IBA.

The app can be downloaded for free on all Android phones. Not only can people get Pakistaninews on the app, they can also share the news with their friends and family through theirmobile phones, he adds.

IBA has supported the app through its incubation centre.

Before this app, Asadullah says, people had to visit sites of different news agencies ornewspapers for looking for news related to Pakistan, but now they can get all types ofPakistani news on one page. Initially, “we have developed this app for Android phones, but inthe second phase we are going to update it for iPhones and Window phones.”

Imran Leghari is doing Masters in Marketing and is responsible for launching and marketingof the software. “Our next move is to launch this software for iPhones and Window phonesand we are also planning to develop software for health and education issues,” he says.



They will also develop a software for Pakistani children living abroad, he adds, which willdeal with Islamic education, teachings of the Quran and the Holy Prophet (PBUH) andNamaz.

Leghari adds that in the near future they are also going to develop a security app for thepeople using Android phones. In case of an accident or mobile snatching, simply pressing abutton will activate the software and five messages will be sent to five of the user’s contactsin five minutes, through which the receivers of the messages will know about the exactlocation of that person.

Both students praised their college and teachers for the help they provided.

Director Centre for Entrepreneurial Development and Leadership IBA, Ali Akbar Rizvi,while talking to The Express Tribune, said “We have developed the incubation centre forstudents to develop entrepreneurial skills.”

Rizvi expressed pride in his students’ work. People, he said, design such softwares to makemoney, but these students have come up with their product to serve the masses.


Dar expects reserves to rise by $3 billionBy Shahbaz Rana


ISLAMABAD: The government on Tuesday tried to soothe top bankers and assuredthem that the thin foreign currency reserves of the country will increase by about $3billion.

It again pinned its hopes on uncertain inflows including $800 million from the United Statesdespite Washington’s fresh warning to halt disbursements in response to blockade of Natosupplies in Pakistan.

“The government has redoubled efforts to increase foreign exchange reserves,” said FinanceMinister Ishaq Dar to the heads of top commercial banks of the country during a meeting heldto seek their cooperation in stemming the rupee slide against the US dollar.

Dar said the government was expecting payment of $800 million by Etisalat, another $800million on account of Coalition Support Fund by the US and over $1.2 billion from theauction of telecom spectrum licence.

The only fresh injection that the minister cited was a $137 million short-term but expensiveloan from the Islamic Development Bank, which is expected to be released today(Wednesday).

What the minister probably did not tell the executives was that the US gave a warning onMonday that it would stop CSF disbursements, if obstacles to Nato supplies were notremoved.



Etisalat may not release the entire sum of $800 million because of dispute over certain PTCLproperties, if it really decides to pay the outstanding amount to Pakistan for a 26% stake inthe telecom company.

Also, there is still a long way to go before the government completes the auction of telecomspectrum.

By the end of November, the country’s official reserves had plunged to $3.05 billion,sufficient for only three weeks of imports. Owing to the shortage of dollars andadministrative weakness of the State Bank of Pakistan, commercial banks had also refused toprovide dollars to the exchange companies, forcing the Ministry of Finance to remind theSBP to do its job.

However, the finance minister said he was confident that inflows would further improve andcurrency speculators would eventually be the losers.

Dar asked the top bankers to cooperate with the government in stabilising the foreignexchange market, pointing out that with the cooperation of commercial banks, the rupeeclosed at Rs107.78 to a dollar in the inter-bank market.

“We have a clear road map to build foreign exchange reserves up to $20 billion in the nextthree years,” he said.

The bankers pledged their support to the government in efforts to stabilise the economy,according to a finance ministry handout.


Roll out: Honda Atlas Cars to doubleproduction capacityBy Shahram Haq


LAHORE:

As insatiable appetite for four-wheelers continues, local car manufacturers have startedpreparing expansion plans to boost production in order to meet growing demands andto tackle the mantra of imported, reconditioned cars, which are gaining momentum andsomehow denting the revenues of market players.

Honda Atlas Cars Pakistan Limited (HACPL) is also developing its own expansion plan.Chairman HACP, Yousaf H Shirazi, unveiled the company’s plans to double the productioncapacity in the coming years during the company’s 20th anniversary on Tuesday.

“Pakistan human resource is one of the best in the world, utilising their abilities HACP willnow start working at full production capacity, which will lead us to double the productioncapacity in the coming years,” Shirazi said while speaking at the occasion.



HACPL, a joint venture of Honda Motor Company Limited Japan and Atlas Group ofCompanies, currently has a total production capacity of 50,000 units per year. The chairmanwants this figure to be double to 100,000 units per year for which the company had alreadypurchased a piece of land adjacent to their factory near Lahore.

“We were the pioneers in 70cc two-wheeler segments in 1962 followed by Honda Atlas carsafter 30 years. We always proceed with ambition and youthfulness, continually improvingour strategies and goals for better performance. Our every effort is to create a strong culturalblend of Honda and Atlas group, for the benefit of our business and society at large”, Shirazisaid.

In last 20 years, HACPL has contributed Rs80 billion to the national exchequer in shape oftaxes, he added.

“Challenges in Pakistan market are increasing and doing business here is not easy especiallydue to depreciation of Pak rupee, which force us to increase per unit prices,” said PresidentHonda Motor Company Japan, Takanobu Ito. “But I am confident that our bond will becomeeven stronger and our business will expand more in the future,” he added.

Since its inauguration, HACPL has produced a total of 227,476 units for its Honda Civic andHonda City models. The company has produced 3,000 units for its first ever Civic 1994model. The second model of Honda Civic hit the market back in January 1996 and produced15,290 units till January 2001. Meanwhile the company introduced its second car Honda Cityin January 1997 and closed the production in January 2003 by manufacturing a total of16,640 units.

In January 2001, Honda Atlas introduced its third model of Civic and closed its production bymanufacturing 40,680 units in June 2006. In January 2003, the company introduced its mostdynamic model of Honda City, the most manufactured car in the company’s history so far.The company manufactured 58,380 units of the City before switching models in November2008.

In June 2006, the company introduced Honda Civic Reborn, a Euro-compliance car, andmanufactured 34,380 units before the switch to another model in August 2012. In December2008, the latest Honda Civic was introduced and till the date company has produced 45,479units of this model.

The latest Honda Civic model hit the market in September 2012 and till date 13,627 unitshave been produced.




Transit trade: Pakistan to open road, railroutes for regional statesBy APP


LAHORE: Federal Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique has stated Pakistan isready to offer its road and rail routes to all regional countries including China, India,Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey and Bangladesh.

He was speaking to the media after addressing the “Regional Conference on StrengtheningTransport Connectivity and Trade Facilitation in South and South-West Asia”.

The conference was organised by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission forAsia and Pacific (UNESCAP) and the Ministry of Commerce here on Tuesday.

He observed that the opening of the trade corridor was in the best interest of Pakistan. “Wehave to look at our interests, as we have to eradicate poverty, terrorism and extremism forwhich an improved and vibrant economy is of vital importance,” he said.

Rafique added Pakistan needed to exploit two main and significant resources – the uniquegeographical position of the country and a population of 180 million. He stressed thatopening up of trade routes for India was also in favour of Pakistan.

“We are still lagging 200 years behind the developed world, therefore, we have to shunorthodox thinking to move forward on all fronts,” he maintained.

Rafique said south and southwest Asia consisted of about half the world population and wasrich in mineral deposits besides having importance as a bridge between the North and theSouth, but its intra-regional trade was negligible.

In fiscal year 2008-09, the intra-regional trade in South Asia was a mere 5% of global trade,which was far below the potential.

The minister stressed the need for exploring and taking optimal benefits from regional trade.Pakistan government, he added, was focusing and working on national and regionalconnectivity to connect China, India, Central Asia, Middle East and Europe while work onthe Gwadar Port was going on at a swift pace.

The minister pointed out that the Torkham-Jalalabad link was of great importance regardingtransportation of raw material, while the Quetta-Taftan link would prove to be the best tradecorridor to access Iran, Turkey and European markets. Khokhrapar-Monabao (India) link wasalso being examined for trade.

He said a delegation of the Pakistan Railways would soon visit India to gain knowledge andexperience of the Indian rail system, as Delhi had turned its railways into a profitable entitywhile Pakistan was yet to achieve the goal mainly due to lack of resources.



Pakistan Railways was searching for a foreign partner for investment to improve itsinfrastructure, he added.


Greater connectivity : Demand for big dataservices to grow, says IntelBy Our Correspondent


KARACHI: The shifts in computing technology have taken place at an enormous pacein 2013 and Asia-Pacific remained a hotspot for technological innovation, according toIntel Pakistan’s marketing head. The chip-making giant says it sees increasedconnectivity that will boost the economy in 2014.

As more people get connected, demand for big data services will grow, said Asma Aziz whois Head of Public Relations and Marketing for Intel Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Shewas briefing journalists during Intel’s year-end media roundtable on Tuesday. Intel Pakistan,in its year-end media briefing, looks at the technological shifts and advancements in theoutgoing year and gives predictions for the upcoming year.

People’s interaction with technology is changing every year, resulting in emergence of allkinds of computing devices, such as all-in-ones, two-in-ones, convertibles and detachable,Aziz said in a presentation laden with the company’s CSR programs and product launchesthat took place last year.

In Pakistan, the use of data and connectivity is higher compared to many other markets in theworld, Aziz said, adding the demand for big data services will grow in years to come.

International Data Corporation, a global research firm, projects the global big data technologyand services market to grow at more than 31% each year, while revenues are forecast at $23.8billion by 2016, according to Intel’s press release.

“In 2014, Asian technology companies will continue to set the pace for technologicalinnovation,” Gregory Bryant, VP and GM, Intel Asia-Pacific and Japan was quoted in thestatement as saying.

For Intel, the main highlights in 2013 were the release of Intel’s 4th Generation CoreProcessors, Intel’s Silvermont micro-architecture and Intel Atom Processor Z3000 series–which has been designed for tablets and smartphones.

The company predicts 2014 will bring rapid increase in emerging technologies as well as theemergence of a whole new sector for home entertainment as more and more TV shows,movies and content will be created for mobile devices.




Client privacy: With innovative bankingcomes the need for fresh lawsBy Our Correspondent


KARACHI:

State Bank of Pakistan Deputy Governor Ashraf Mahmood Wathra has said innovativebanking practices have increased the need to introduce fresh laws and regulations toensure client privacy, information safety and payment accessibility.

He was speaking at the InfoSec2013 – 8th International Conference on Information Securityon Tuesday.

“Solutions that work in wired networks may not be sufficient to address risks to applicationin a wireless environment and the transfer of information from a wired to a wirelessenvironment can create additional risks to the integrity and confidentiality of informationexchanges,” Wathra said.

According to him, there are five key principles guiding technology risk management inmobile financial services, which are confidentiality, integrity, availability, authentication andnon-repudiation.

“These have been embedded in our regulatory framework,” he said.




OPEN MARKET FOREX RATESUpdated at: 11/12/2013 8:56 AM (PST)

Currency Buying Selling

Australian Dollar 97.5 97.75

Bahrain Dinar 287.45 287.7

Canadian Dollar 100.75 101

China Yuan 17.6 17.85

Danish Krone 19.65 19.9

Euro 147.5 147.75

Hong Kong Dollar 13.7 13.95

Indian Rupee 1.7 1.8

Japanese Yen 1.055 1.08

Kuwaiti Dinar 382.6 382.85

Malaysian Ringgit 33.4 33.65

NewZealand $ 88.85 89.1

Norwegians Krone 17.5 17.75

Omani Riyal 281.25 281.5

Qatari Riyal 29.35 29.7

Saudi Riyal 28.5 28.75

Singapore Dollar 85.5 85.75

Swedish Korona 16.25 16.5

Swiss Franc 120.5 120.75

Thai Bhat 3.25 3.4

U.A.E Dirham 29.25 29.5

UK Pound Sterling 176.5 176.75

US Dollar 107.6 107.85



INTER BANK RATESUpdated at: 11/12/2013 8:56 AM (PST)

CurrencyBank Buying

TT CleanBank Selling

TT & OD

Australian Dollar 97.64 97.83

Canadian Dollar 100.81 100.99

Danish Krone 19.71 19.75

Euro 147.07 147.35

Hong Kong Dollar 13.79 13.81

Japanese Yen 1.0413 1.0432

Saudi Riyal 28.5 28.56

Singapore Dollar 85.57 85.73

Swedish Korona 16.35 16.38

Swiss Franc 120.47 120.7

U.A.E Dirham 29.1 29.16

UK Pound Sterling 175.74 176.07

US Dollar 106.9 107.1

news 11 dec 2013 email # 278-2013 - muhammad imran ghaziimranghazi.com/mtba/downloads/news/2013/news...

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