Friday, 14 December, 2012

ISLAMABAD

APP

US Ambassador to Pak-istan Richard G. Oslanand Senior Adviser to USSpecial Representativefor Afghanistan and Pak-

istan Robin Raphel called on FederalMinister for Finance Dr Abdul HafeezShaikh on Thursday.

Oslon and Raphel congratulated thefinance minister over his successful visitto United States and expressed satisfac-tion over the pace of institutionalisingeconomic reforms in Pakistan.

Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh informed theUS delegation that the economic indicatorsof the country were on a positive course de-spite energy scarcity and a deteriorating se-

curity situation. Dr Hafeez informed the USdelegation that Pakistan boasts the lowestinflation rate in the region and told that thetrade balance deficit of Pakistan was de-clining. The US assured the finance minis-

ter that Coalition Support Fund amountingto $ 600 million would be released soon.The delegation added that the US wouldsanction an 80 million dollar Pakistan In-vestment Fund for SMEs in January 2013.

The US delegation assured the financeminister that active participation of Over-seas Private Investment Corporation(OPIC) in development of Pakistan wouldbe ensured. The active participation ofOPIC has a potential to increase the mon-etary support for projects in Pakistanfrom $ 100 million to $ 1 billion. The vis-iting US delegation also reaffirmed UScommitment for provision of $ 200 mil-lion for Diamer Bhasha Dam. BilateralPAk-US trade was also on the agenda ofthe meeting and Olson assured Dr Hafeezof facilitating trade between the two allies.Richard Olson said that US would extendoptimum cooperation towards develop-ment projects in Pakistan apart from thegrants already pledged for overcomingthe energy crisis and for development ofsocial sector and infrastructure.

US satisfied with Pakistan’s

economic reforms Officials tell Dr Hafeez Shaikh CSF would be released soon

ISLAMABAD

APP

PIA has maintained a healthy financialprofile denominated in both Pak rupeesand foreign currencies.

A PIA spokesman on condition ofanonymity told that the airline wasmanaging accounts in Pakistan andabroad and said that “just a single localbank account has enough funds to meetdaily operating expenses.” It was alsolearnt that PIA had significant depositsto its name in a Middle Eastern and aNorth American Banks. The airlinemaintains more than two dozen ac-

counts across the globe and the PIAspokesperson told that “no PIA chequerelating to Provident Fund had everbounced and the Provident fund accounthas a balance of more than Rs. 26 billioninvested for profits. The Salaries of theemployees’ are paid at the end of eachmonth directly into the bank accounts ofthe employees’. The outsourced employ-ees are paid by the Service provider andnot by PIA”.

The recent spade of ill informedmedia mongering regarding bank-ruptcy of PIA damaged the goodwillthe National Flag Carrier enjoyed theworld over.

ISLAMABAD

STAFF RePORT

The Securities and Exchange Com-mission of Pakistan (SECP) draftedregulatory and punitive actionsagainst companies, directors andauditors to safeguard the interestsof investors.

Addressing the abuse of powersby directors of listed and un-listedcompanies, the Securities and Ex-change Commission of Pak-istan (SECP) issuedshow-cause notices to 23 com-panies in the month ofNovember. It wasfound during the in-spection of annualreports and financialstatements, that thecompanies were in-volved in un-autho-r i z e dinter-corporate fi-nancing, irregulari-ties in providentfunds, fudged financialstatements, impropercirculation of financialstatements and un-autho-rized utilization of securitydeposits.

In November, the enforcementdepartment allowed a listed com-

pany to issue of preference shares.The issuance of preferred shares re-sulted into injunction of capital ofRs2.4 billion in the corporate en-tity. Relaxation was also allowed toanother listed company from the re-quirements of Companies (Issue ofCapital) Rules, 1996.

There were four companies thatwere found unable to organize their

mandatory Annual General Meet-ings (AGMs) in the given schedule.These companies were directed toconduct their annual general meet-ings, while two companies were di-rected to issue addendum to thenotice of annual generalmeeting/extra-ordinary generalmeeting. Meanwhile, a listed com-pany was also allowed to changethe place of its annual generalmeeting.

During the month, the enforce-ment wing also received 12 com-plaints from investors mainly

related to non-declaration ofdividends, non-receipt of

annual accounts, non-re-ceipt of dividend war-rant and issuance of

duplicate shares. Thecomplaints were re-solved after initiatingnecessary actions.

The enforcement de-partment also directedfour listed companies to

place their quarterly ac-counts on their website for

dissemination of informa-tion to their shareholders.

Furthermore, exemption wasgranted to two companies frompreparation of their consolidatedfinancial statements.

PIA no where neAr A fIscAl clIff

SECP takes punitive action againstcompanies’ directors, auditors

Dada at helm

of commodity

exchangeKARACHI

STAFF RePORT

Shazad G Dada took charge as thechairman of the board of PakistanMercantile Exchange (PMEX )onThursday.The board unanimously elected Dadaas its new chairman during PMEX’ssession of December 5. The SECP ap-pointed Dada, Muhammad HanifJakhura and Syed Ali Sultan as inde-pendent directors to the PMEX Board.Dada is serving as the chief executiveofficer of the Barclays Bank PLC, Pak-istan since 2010.Dada graduated from University ofPennsylvania and holds Bachelor ofScience and Bachelor of Arts degrees.He did his MBA from The WhartonSchool, University of Pennsylvania.His prior work assignments includevarious senior positions in theDeutsche Bank AG, both in Pakistanand the US. Dada has a 23 years expe-rience of financial markets. Dada isalso serving as Chairman of the Pak-istan Banks Association, Board Mem-ber of the Karachi Stock Exchange(KSE), Vice President of The Instituteof Bankers Pakistan (IBP) and Chair-person - Finance Committee of IBP. Inaddition, Dada is associated with vari-ous charitable and educational organi-zations.Meanwhile Muhammad Hanif Jakhuraboasts a vast capital market experi-ence of over ten years during which hewas enrolled with important capitalmarket institutions. He has been serv-ing as the CEO of the Central Deposi-tory Company since 2002 and has alsoserved as the CEO of the NationalClearing Company of Pakistan Limitedfrom 2002 till 2005.Similarly Syed Ali Sultan is a seniorprofessional in the banking arena andhas a financial market experience oftwenty years. He is currently theGroup Head- Treasury, Investmentsand Financial Institutions - Bank Al-falah Limited. His prior work experi-ence includes senior management andboard positions on the State Bank ofPakistan, BNP Paribas Bank, Bahrainand the Standard Chartered Bank.

Trade euphoria

with India

snubbed by

Indian subsidies

ISLAMABAD

Online

Pakistani farmers are not averse totrade with India but expect to be pro-tected against the highly subsidisedmammoth agricultural base of India.Harvest Trading CEO Member ExportICCI Ahmad Jawad on Thursday saidthat “we believe in trade diplomacy andpeace is vital for a long term relation-ship. It is a matter of satisfaction thatboth India and Pakistan are movingforward in the right direction throughthe composite dialogue framework.However Agriculture is the back boneof our economy and Pakistani Farmersare not against trade with India butthey expect to be protected against thehighly subsidised agriculture productsof India”.On average, one agricultural hectare isgranted an annual subsidy of $300 inIndia. This works out to be around Rs11,900 per acre of subsidy. Indianfarmers have a comparative advantageof Rs 400 per 40kg on average. Jawadfeared that the balance of trade wastilting towards India and greater peo-ple-to-people contacts were essential tochannelize bilateral trade in an effi-cient manner. He hoped that Pakistanwould secure GSP Plus in EU by 2014. Currently, the non tariff barriers beingfaced by Pakistani exporters are creat-ing enormous hurdles in bridging thetrust deficit. However, recent measuresadopted by the Indian government areencouraging and being lauded in Pak-istan. Jawad urged the governments ofboth countries to provide adequate in-frastructure and modern integratedcheck-posts at the Khokrapar-Monabaoborder at the earliest to further in-crease bilateral trade on the pattern ofWagah-Attari border.

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02

Friday, 14 December, 2012

Major Gainers

COMPANY OPEN HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE TURNOVERPak.INT.CONT.SD 251.72 264.30 255.00 264.20 12.48 92,300AL-Ghazi Tractors 236.97 248.81 238.00 248.07 11.10 93,900National Fodds 272.72 283.75 273.00 280.83 8.11 11,000UniLever Pak 9900.31 10010.00 9900.00 10000.48 100.17 3,220Attock Refinery 167.94 172.40 168.26 170.79 2.85 1,629,300

Major LosersBata (Pak) 1530.00 1549.00 1453.50 1470.00 -60.00 400Bhanero Tex. 278.77 265.25 264.84 265.25 -13.52 200Mithchells Fruit 367.50 360.00 355.00 355.00 -12.50 2,200Pak Services 177.65 168.77 168.77 168.77 -8.88 200Shahtaj Sugar Mills 88.20 84.00 83.79 83.79 -4.41 2,000

Volume LeadersPetroleum 10.92 11.68 10.99 11.42 0.50 8,792,500Lotte PakPTA 7.85 8.00 7.67 7.83 -0.02 5,637,500Maple Leaf Cement 13.84 14.18 13.85 14.12 0.28 7,721,000D.G.K.Cement 53.41 54.35 53.50 54.24 0.83 4,155,000Nishat (Chunian) 34.28 35.99 34.26 35.99 1.71 4,063,000Engro Foods Ltd. 91.88 94.00 91.59 93.49 1.61 1,777,000

Interbank RatesUS Dollar 97.1912UK Pound 156.8957Japanese Yen 1.1732Euro 126.5429

Dollar EastBUY SELL

US Dollar 97.40 97.90Euro 126.03 127.47Great Britain Pound 155.83 157.58Japanese Yen 1.1621 1.1751Canadian Dollar 97.81 99.41Hong Kong Dollar 12.36 12.56UAE Dirham 26.38 26.65Saudi Riyal 25.87 26.10Australian Dollar 101.56 104.15

Business

ISLAMABAD: Salman Saeed, Executive Assistant Manager of

Islamabad Marriott, receives a souvenir from Dr Muhammad

Asif Khan, Program Manager BBA and MBA, at the start of

SZABIST University’s Job Fair 2012.

MAGNUS publishes first

comprehensive study on

Pakistani stocks and bonds

KARACHI: The first comprehensive study about re-turns of stocks and bonds in Pakistan has been re-cently published by Magnus Investment AdvisorsLimited (Magnus). The research provides data for eq-uities starting July 1965 and for bonds starting Janu-ary 2001. The study shows that long term real PKRreturn (after inflation adjustment) on local equitiesranges between 4.82 % to 5.69 %. The treasury billshave provided negative returns. The real return on 5year and 10 year PIBs is 2.19 % and 3.43 % respec-tively. The study also provides nominal and USD re-

turns. Issues such as ‘Equity Risk Premium’ and rele-vance of ‘Purchasing Power Parity’ in the context oflocal securities market are also dealt with. The studyalso provides an asset allocation frame-work for localtrustees. The most interesting part is the analysis of eq-uity returns in Pakistan with other emerging marketsand investment in Pakistani equities from the perspec-tive of foreign investors. The study conclusivelydemonstrates that Pakistan stocks do not representany unusual risk in the universe of emerging markets.Pakistani stocks should get one of the highest alloca-tions among emerging markets from the perspective ofUS investors. The study is not only useful for localtrustees of retirement funds and charitable institutionsbut it also fills a major gap for local business schoolswhere so far graduates had little knowledge and under-standing about risks and returns of local capital mar-kets. The study is also a useful read for the Ministry ofFinance, SECP and BOI officials who are called uponto promote investment in Pakistan from time to time.

LAHORE: Mr Hai of Samsung Pakistan (standing 1st from

left) trains TEVTA mobile phone lab staff.

Summit Bank inaugurates

flagship branch at Dolmen Mall

KARACHI: Husain Lawai, CEO Summit Bank, and Dolmen

Mall CEO Nadeem Riaz inaugurate Summit Bank branch

at Dolmen Mall on Thursday.

KARACHI: With the inauguration of its flagshipbranch, Summit Bank continues to increase itsfootprint in Pakistan. The ribbon cutting cere-mony at the new branch was performed by theCEO and Managing Director of Dolmen Group,Nadeem Riaz along with President & CEO of thebank, Husain Lawai in the presence of other sen-ior members of the bank at Dolmen Mall, Clifton.Summit Bank is one of the fastest growing com-mercial banks of the country. Taking its servicequality to the next level, Summit Bank also an-nounced extended hours of operations wherebythe branch located at the mall will remain openfrom 9AM to 11PM, 7 days a week even on public

holidays. With the launch of the new bankbranch, Summit Bank now boasts of a network of182 real-time online branches across Pakistan. Ina very short span of time, Summit Bank has ex-panded its network across the country and built astate of the art infrastructure. “Our presence atDolmen Mall is a step towards strategic expan-sion whereby we want our financial services avail-able within their business premises and duringtheir hours of operation. Being Karachi’s largestshopping mall, Dolmen Mall attracts a largecrowd that needs trusted financial services. It wasimportant for us to be present here and extendour financial services to our valued customerswhen they need us the most – because we arecommitted to you,” said Husain Lawai.

CORPORATE CORNER

Marketing Association of Pakistan President Masood

Hashmi presents a momento to Arif Habib Corporation

Ltd Chairman Arif Habib at MAP meeting on the topic of

‘Investment Opportunities in Pakistan’.

ISLAMABAD

APP

ISLAMABAD Chamber ofCommerce and Industry(ICCI) in collaborationwith the Economic &Commercial Representa-

tion Embassy of Belgium organ-ized a Belgian Companies’Catalogues Exhibition to promotebilateral trade between Pakistanand Belgium on Thursday.

The Belgian Business ContactDay consisted of a presentation ofthe existing trade and the futurecommercial opportunities be-tween the two countries. Cata-logues and trade directories ofmore than a 100 Belgian compa-nies were exhibited for consulta-tion by the ICCI members.

During the inaugural sessionof the Expo, Ambassador of Bel-gium in Islamabad, Peter Claessaid that Pakistan was the mosthospitable nation in the world aswell as being a business freindlycountry as a number of Belgiancompanies were operating in Pak-istan and contributing positivelytowards the development of Pak-

istan’s economy. He said thatthere were viable prospects for un-dertaking joint ventures in Pak-istan with the help of Belgiantechnical experience in a numberof fields. He said that the growingimportance of Belgium in thewake of its central position and lo-cation in the European Union callsfor more integrated efforts focus-

ing on exchange of trade delega-tions, institutional contacts be-tween the Chambers of Commerceand participation in internationaltrade fair. The Ambassdor saidthat that bilateral trade, betweenPakistan and Belgium stoodaround $800 million. He addedthat he aimed to break the one bil-lion dollar mark soon.

Speaking on the occasion ICCIPresident Zafar Bakhtawarilauded the efforts of Belgium insecuring a GSP plus status for Pak-istan and said that that ICCI wasan avid advocate for strengtheningeconomic relations with EU, espe-cially Belgium. He said that Bel-gian expertise in engineering,automobile sector, chemicals in-dustry, electrical and electronicsector was respected around theglobe.

Pakistan exports value addedtextiles, cotton, articles of leatherand sport goods to Belgium.

Zafar Bakhtawari emphasizedon changing the negative percep-tion regarding Pakistan in interna-tional community and urged theAmbassador to invite more Bel-gian Companies to invest in Pak-istan, especially in the energy andtextiles sectors. Zafar cited the ex-ample of Istanbul Chamber ofCommerce & Industry which hadmiraculously turned around theTurkish economy for good. Zafarsaid that ICCI was well aware of itsresponsibility to boost the econ-omy of Pakistan and bring politi-cal stability in the country.

Belgians exhibit trade cataloguesfor ICCI’s consumption

KARACHI

nni

Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL)was adjudged as the biggest corporatedonor of 2011 at the Corporate Phi-lanthropy Awards hosted by PakistanCentre for Philanthropy in Karachi.

The company bagged the awardfor the eighth consecutive year in thesame category., Sindh AssemblySpeaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro pre-sented the award to PPL’s DeputyManaging Director Moin Raza Khan.The event was attended by leadingbusinessmen, representatives ofmultinational companies, govern-ment officials, civil society represen-

tatives, donor bodies and media en-tities. Khuhro highlighted the gov-ernment’s inability and failures inreaching out to disadvantaged seg-ments of the society and com-mended the corporate sector for

bridging the gap.PPL’s CSR programme is fo-

cused on ensuring sustainable socialasset creation and maximizing long-term impact of development initia-tives through a participatory process

of needs identification, consultationinvolving all stakeholders, includingcommunities, followed by closemonitoring and inspection to extractlessons learned to further improveimplementation and delivery.

18th amendment influencedeconomic regimes: NA

ISLAMABAD

APP

Parliamentary Secretary for Science and Technology Lal Hus-sain informed the National Assembly on Thursday that 78items were covered under Compulsory Certification MarksSchemes of Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority(PSQCA).Lal Hussain said that out of total 78 items, 37 were edibleitems including edible oil. To another question, he said thatthe Ministry had taken various steps for promoting of scienceand technology in the country during the last four years. Meanwhile, Parliamentary Secretary Farhat Khan told theHouse that 14 organizations had been transferred to Ministryof National Heritage and Integration after the passage the18th Amendment. She said that the Ministry was tailoring cul-tural and heritage issues as per the needs and aspirations ofthe federation, post 18th Amendment. State Minister for Human Resources Development ChaudharyGhayas Ahmad informed the House that Employees Old AgeBenefits Institution (EOBI) was providing monetary benefitsto insured personnel and their spouses.

PPl philanthropy on dice forthe 8th consecutive year

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