Banks asked to approach SBP for unpaid claims

KARACHI: The State Bank has advised commercial banks and Development Financial Institutions (DFIs) to approach respective offices of the SBP Banking Services Corporation for processing of pending claims with respect to Export Finance Mark-up Rate Facility and Mark-up Rate Support for Textile Sector against the long-terms loans.

According to a circular issued by the SBP on Wednesday, the Ministry of Textile Industry has released necessary budgetary allocation for 2010-11 fiscal year...

Pakistani IT firm ‘on top of the world’ in apps

ISLAMABAD: Photo editing software developed by a Pakistan technology firm Five Rivers became the best selling paid-for application for the Blackberry, the firm said Wednesday.

Lahore-based Five Rivers said its Photo Editor Suite had hit the top spot across all sectors on Blackberry’s AppWorld store.

“This is extremely good news for us and especially for the Pakistani IT industry,” Mahe Zehra Husain, the head of operations and product management at Five Rivers Technology,...

Record govt borrowing: Interest rate may go up again

KARACHI: The record borrowing by the government and its heavy reliance on printing of notes created fears among the investors and analysts that the average inflation could even reach 16 per cent by the end of this fiscal.

The desperate need of cash seems to have forced the government to make unprecedented borrowing of Rs336 billion from the State Bank leaving no option for the latter to further tighten the policy interest rate.

The inflation fears already forced the...

Govt changes its finance team again

ISLAMABAD: In a major reshuffle in its economic team, the government removed on Monday Finance Secretary Salman Siddique and Federal Board of Revenue Chairman Sohail Ahmed in the midst of an imbroglio over the reformed general sales tax.

The reshuffle came at a time when the government has requested the International Monetary Fund for a three-month extension (till March 31) in a 25-month $11.3 billion standby arrangement because of difficulties in implementing key economic...

Dam’s cost revised by over 300pc in five months

LAHORE: The cost of Darawat dam has increased by more than 300 per cent, from Rs3.1 billion to Rs11.4 billion, within five months in the “run up to its construction, and that too without additional benefits — water storage or command area”.

The original PC-I of the project approved in Sept last year put the cost at Rs3.1 billion. But the cost was “revised by an unknown consultant who increased it to Rs11.407 billion only five months after the approval of first PC-I”.

The...

China, Pakistan ink trade deals during Wen’s visit

ISLAMABAD: With 13 agreements already signed, Pakistan and China were expected to ink additional economic deals worth billions more Saturday, the second day of a rare visit by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to this impoverished, conflict-ridden nation.

The two nations also stressed the importance of cultural exchange by inaugurating a new center dedicated to what Islamabad calls their ”all-weather” friendship.

China is Pakistan’s closest friend in Asia, giving Islamabad...

SBP keeps interest rate unchanged

By Farhan Zaheer
May 25, 2010

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has kept its interest rate unchanged at 12.5 per cent on Monday.

“This decision was taken as the power crisis continues to hamper economic activities, inflation rises and fiscal weakness continues to impede a comprehensive macroeconomic stability,” the SBP said in its statement. The economy is recovering but it lacks the necessary infrastructure and sufficient macroeconomic stability to...

First rental power plant inaugurated by Gilani

By M. Akram Malik
Monday, 24 May, 2010

GUJRANWALA: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said his government is working in collaboration with the private sector to overcome the energy crisis.

Addressing at Aimanabad on Sunday the inauguration ceremony of a rental power plant, Gulf Rental Power, the first of eight such plants scheduled to go into operation during the tenure of the PPP-led government, the prime minister said it was a PPP government which had brought...

Dams incurring continuous rise in water level

Monday, 24 May, 2010

KARACHI: Pakistan’s major reservoirs, Mangalla and Terbella, are experiencing a continuous rise in their water levels, according to a report on Monday.

According to the Met office, water is flowing in the reservoirs on a continuous basis.

In Mangalla dam, the usable water deposits have become 1,707,000 acre/feet. The dam’s water level has surpassed the dead level of 1,040 feet as the level has further risen by two feet.

Committee formed to resolve textile industry crisis

By Nasir Jamal
Monday, 24 May, 2010

LAHORE: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has constituted a three-member committee to find a solution to the crisis in the textile industry caused by imposition of 15 per cent regulatory duty on export of cotton yarn.

The committee comprising Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Dr Hafeez Sheikh, Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar and State Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar is said to have been formed after...

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