Saturday, 15 September, 2012

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

GOvERNOR State Bank of Pak-istan (SBP) Yaseen Anwar hassaid that there exists a hugepotential in the global remit-

tance market for Pakistan. This he statedwhile addressing an award ceremony heldhere in recognition of the bankers’ com-mendable services in facilitating home re-mittances by Pakistan RemittanceInitiative (PRI) Friday. The leading bank inhome remittances award for the year 2011

was conferredupon Habib

Bank Limited(HBL). TheSBP gover-nor said itwas quitesatisfactory

to note thatthe banks hadstarted to im-

prove their in-frastructure and

related systems

with a view to offering better remittanceservices to their customers. Anwar ob-served that the continued impressivegrowth in worker remittances was the re-sult of the efforts made by SBP and PRI, incollaboration with banks and other stake-holders, to facilitate both overseas Pakista-nis and their families back home. He

outlined the steps taken to enhance theflow of remittances through formal chan-nels that he said included: (a) preparationand implementation of national strategy onremittances; (b) playing the advisory rolefor the financial sector; (c) creating sepa-rate efficient remittance payment high-ways; and (c) becoming a focal point for

overseas Pakistanis through round-the-clock call centre with toll free lines.

“We cannot afford to be complacent. Wecan always learn more from other countries’best practices in facilitating remittance flowsincluding end-to-end efficient systems, max-imum satisfaction of both remitters and ben-eficiaries, highest degree of commitment ofthe financial sector, and development of newproducts and services,” he added. He as-sured full SBP and PRI support in facilitatingall efforts of the financial sector towardsachieving the desired objective of maximiz-ing the flow of remittances through formalchannels into the country. “Remittancessent home by overseas Pakistani workerscrossed the $13 billion mark for the first timein country’s history during the last fiscalyear,” he said. The SBP Governor distributedthe awards amongst banks’ officials in differ-ent areas relating to home remittances in-cluding remittances services at branch levelboth in Pakistan and overseas, processing atcentralized Home Remittance Cells and ITsupport for swift remittance delivery. Some45 officials from a number of banks also re-ceived individual performance awards for fa-cilitating remittances into Pakistan.

Telcos, FBR agree

to resolve Rs47

billion tax dispute

through table talkMONITORING DESK

Five telecom companies and FBR haveagreed to resolve Rs. 47 billion tax disputethrough out of court settlement, told theFBR head Ali Arshad Hakim during ameeting of the sub-committee of the Na-tional Assembly Standing Committee onInformation Technology (IT). This is ex-actly the way the dispute was going to getresolved when FBR was going to give thetelcos the waiver on Rs. 47 billion tax oninter-connection charges but NAB hadtaken the notice of the issue and had re-verted FBR’s draft for waiving the tax.However, it appears that the settlement hasbeen reached now between the telcos, FBRand NAB – since the matter is said to be re-solved with-in a month’s time through theconstitution of Alternative Dispute Resolu-tion Committee (ADRC) and no strictmeasures, including attachment of banksaccounts of the telecom companies, wouldbe taken. Telecom companies, which wereearlier seeking the exemption of taxthrough Section 65 of Sales Tax Act, 1990,later on took a stand that tax was notpayable at all and that this was some kindof misunderstanding on FBR’s part.

EU Parliamentapproves AutonomousTrade Preferences

ISLAMABAD

STAFF REPORT

The European Parliament approved yes-terday with an overwhelming majority apackage granting the EU AutonomousTrade Preferences (ATPs) for Pakistan.The package would allow tariff free exportof 75 Pakistani products - mostly textiles -to EU markets until 31 December 2013.The ATPs are expected to become effec-tive around end October 2012 followingcompletion of administrative procedure.The grant of ATPs is in response to Presi-dent Zardari’s appeal for enhanced mar-ket access to the EU, first made duringthe Pakistan-EU Summit held in Brusselsin 2009. Earlier in June 2012, the Euro-pean Parliament approved a new GSP+scheme. Under the new scheme Pakistanwould be able to apply and if all the nec-essary conditions are fulfilled, our exportto the EU would receive duty free treat-ment from January 2014.

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

After having witnessed a decline of 5%MoM in Julu-12,the deposits of the total scheduled banks reverted backto their normal pace as they surged by 2.7%MoM toreach at Rs6.3tr in Aug-12.

On cumulative basis, the deposits have registered agrowth of 6.8%8MCYTD as compared to 4.7% growthwitnessed in the deposits during the same period lastyear.

This has been evident in the latest figure of M2(Aug-31), in which M2 growth reached at 0.3% duringthe previous two months of FY13 as compared to nega-tive growth witnessed during Jul-12.

On the other hand, the 6M KIBOR averaged at10.93% during Aug-12, as compared to Jul-12 average of12.01%, showing a decline of 108bps on monthly aver-age basis.

“The reason for such decline in KIBOR rate was dueto adjustment in yields on the back of SBP’s decision tocut the DR by 150bps in its last MPS (Aug-12),” said theanalysts at InvestCap Research. The credit off-take

trend of the banking sector remained sluggish duringthe review month as it was up by minor 0.3%MoM toreach at Rs3.7tr, while during 8MCY12, the advances ofthe banking sector increased by 6.3%.

The advance to deposit ratio (ADR) of the bankingsector has reached 59%, down 138bpsMoM during Aug-12 and 28bps during 8MCY12.

The investment side of the banking sector on theother hand, showed a significant surge of 14.1% during8MCY12 with an appreciation of 1.3%MoM witnessedduring the month of Aug-12.

This growth under the investments head was in linewith the extraordinary growth of Gov't borrowing, inwhich Gov't borrowed Rs200bn from commercial bank-ing channels during the last two months of FY13. As ex-pected, total deposits of the banking sector returnedback to their norm after showing decline in the lastmonth and remained in an upward trajectory during8MCY12.

“The Gov't's heavy reliance on banking sector forborrowing is expected to keep the banking investmentsside higher and advances are expected to remain insideways going forward,” the analysts said.

SBP Governor talks upglobal remittance potential

Bank deposits back to normalcy

HBL honored as SBP sees huge potential in global remittance market for Pakistan

BUT IT’S THE GLOBAL MELTDOWN’S FAULT!Growth in Pakistan’s trade gap due to global economic slowdown: Ameen Fahim

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

Minister for Commerce MakhdoomAmeen Fahim Friday said increase in thecountry’s trade deficit to a huge $ 15 bil-lion was because of the international fi-nancial crises. During FY12 Pakistan’strade deficit swelled beyond $ 15 billionwith imports ballooning to over $ 40 bil-lion and exports standing slightly below $25 billion. This increase in the country’strade gap widened Pakistan’s current ac-count deficit to over $ 4 billion duringFY2011-12.

The federal minister, however, wasupbeat that events like Expo Pakistan Ex-hibition 2012 would help the dollar-hun-gry country increase its exports as well asattract the much-needed foreign invest-ment. He was briefing reporters here atTrade Development Authority of Pakistan(TDAP) after chairing a review meeting onthe mega exhibition in which, the federalminister said, a large number of buyers

from across the globe had assured theirparticipation. Fahim said the event wouldbe organized in line with internationalstandards so Pakistani products could bebetter introduced to the foreign buyerswho usually stay away from the country fortheir perceived security concerns. Fashion

industry, he said, was world over flourish-ing and fashion shows were being held inalmost all exhibitions. He said womenwere the best buyers and in Pakistan con-stitute 50 percent of the population. Aboutproblems of the stakeholders, the federalminister said his ministry had directed

TDAP to hold a regional conference to ad-dress the same. He said Pakistan’s com-mercial counselors deputed abroad wouldalso be called in to attend the moot. To aquery, he said the commercial counselorswere given another month to arrive backin Pakistan to attend the Expo event.

Lesson in equity

investmentSECP moves to educateequity investors onfraudulent market risks

KARACHI

STAFF REPORT

The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) Fridayheld its third session of SECP Investor Edu-cation Program for the members of busi-ness community and working professionalsfrom diverse backgrounds. The seminarwas attended by a number of Karachi-basedinvestors. Senior officials from KSE, Insti-tute of Capital Markets (ICM) and PakistanMercantile Exchange (PMEX) presentedtheir views during the session. CEO Insti-tute of Capital Markets Javed Hassan;Head of Marketing and Business Develop-ment, PMEX, Hassan Mehmood; ChiefStrategy Officer, JS Investments, MaleehaBangash; General Manager KSE Sani-e-Mehmood Khan; along with the KSE offi-cials participated in the session. CEO ICMJaved Hassan elaborated the pros and consof investing in different financial products.He focused on the broad features of invest-ments opportunities available in the coun-try, Pakistan’s economic and financialsystem, features and characteristics of dif-ferent financial markets, regulatory frame-work, market indicators, investmentproducts, financial services and roles andresponsibilities of various financial institu-tions in the country. He also explained thefact that how diversification across vari-ous investment instruments safeguardsthe investors’ interest. The investors werealso given an insight about the features ofinsurance, mutual funds, commodities,debt and equity markets. Head of Market-ing and Business Development PMEXMehmood Hassan also briefed about therole of PMEX in capital markets alongwith its products and mechanisms. It wasalso addressed to the participants that inwhat circumstances and how an investorcan lodge complaint with the Exchange /PMEX in case he/she is not satisfied withthe services of the broker. Maleeha Ban-gash briefed participants about the oppor-tunities in mutual funds and the role ofmutual funds in creating the saving habitsin general investors.

SECP registers 274 firms in August

KARACHI: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) registered274 companies in August, said the apex regulator Friday. The new incorporationsduring the month include 257 private, followed by 16 single-member, 2 public un-listed companies, and 2 non-profit associations. Trading sector has the highest newincorporation of 44 companies, followed by services with 28 companies, constructionwith 21 companies, power generation with 18 companies, information technologywith 17 companies and textile with 16 companies. Highest company incorporationwas witnessed at Company Registration Office (CRO), Lahore of 89 companies fol-lowed by CROs Karachi and Islamabad registering 76 and 72 companies, respectively.Remaining CROs of Peshawar, Multan, Faisalabad and Quetta registered 14, 12, 8and 3 companies respectively. Authorized capital and paid up capital of 274 compa-nies, is Rs1.89 billion and Rs482 million respectively. During the month, 56 compa-nies increased their authorized capital with the aggregate authorized capitalincrement of Rs2.99 billion and 52 companies raised their paid up capital with thetotal paid up capital increment amounting to Rs3.20 billion. STAFF REPORT

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02

Saturday, 15 September, 2012

Major Gainers

COMPANY OPEN HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE TURNOVERUniLever Pak 9240.00 9700.00 9700.00 9700.00 460.00 20Rafhan Maize Prod. 4198.00 4407.00 4407.00 4407.00 209.00 20Siemens Pakistan 940.00 987.00 987.00 987.00 47.00 50Bata (Pak) Limited 989.00 1038.00 950.00 1028.99 39.99 1,350National Foods 252.23 264.84 255.00 263.83 11.60 44,500

Major LosersIsland Textile 306.08 291.00 291.00 291.00 -15.08 100Indus Dyeing 414.99 414.99 400.00 400.00 -14.99 11,600Pak Gum & Chemical 236.42 236.42 226.50 226.53 -9.89 800Millat TractorsSPOT 526.00 525.00 516.10 519.10 -6.90 13,400Exide (PAK) 353.54 349.90 344.00 347.45 -6.09 600

Volume Leaders

Telecard Limited 3.20 3.65 3.25 3.33 0.13 17,661,500P.T.C.L.A 18.83 19.34 18.96 19.19 0.36 9,455,000WorldCall Telecom 2.94 3.20 2.96 3.01 0.07 5,899,000Netsol Technologies 20.58 21.60 19.80 21.10 0.52 5,851,000Lafarge Pakistan 5.43 5.65 5.45 5.49 0.06 5,648,000

Interbank RatesUS Dollar 94.5483UK Pound 153.1778Japanese Yen 1.2089Euro 123.2438

Dollar EastBUY SELL

US Dollar 94.50 95.00Euro 123.08 124.34Great Britain Pound 152.32 153.84Japanese Yen 1.1940 1.2059Canadian Dollar 96.29 97.76Hong Kong Dollar 11.98 12.17UAE Dirham 25.58 25.81Saudi Riyal 25.06 25.26Australian Dollar 98.74 101.18

Business

NEW YORK

AFP

A PPLE shares extendedtheir gains Thursdayamid a generally positiveresponse to the launch ofthe new iPhone 5, aimed

at keeping the California firmahead of its peers in the hotsmartphone market.

Apple shares added 1.97 per-cent to close at $682.98, buildingon modest gains on Wednesday.

Brian White at Topeka CapitalMarkets said he maintains astrong buy rating for Apple.

"We felt Apple executed toperfection and we believe theiPhone 5 was even more aestheti-cally pleasing than many had ex-pected with a completelyredesigned architecture," he said.

"As such, we remain aggressivebuyers of Apple as the iPhone 5rolls out around the world and po-tential new products are un-veiled."

Trip Chowdhry at Global Equi-ties Research said that with the new

iPhone, Apple appears to be assuringits place as one of the leaders in thesector, along with handsets poweredby Google's Android system.

In a note to clients, Chowdhry said"98 percent of (the) mobile marketwill be shared by Google Android andApple iOS. There will not be any thirdspot left. Nokia, Microsoft and (Black-Berry maker) Research in Motion willstruggle in the remaining two percentof the market."

He added, "Innovation velocity ofboth Apple and Google far exceedsthat of its peers."

Analyst Shaw Wu at Sterne Ageesaid the iPhone 5 "is a significant up-grade and will drive a powerful prod-uct cycle."

He added that the quick deliver-ies, set to start September 21, willmean strong sales but that fourthquarter deliveries "could be limited bysupply constraints."

The new iPhone has a rich four-inch (10-centimeter) display prime forthe red-hot smartphone market, inwhich screen size is a key factor forbuyers, according to Nielsen seniorvice president Jeff Wender.

Eid becomes ‘Smart’ for

Samsung customers

LAHORE: Eid ul Fitr this year was extra special. Despite the heatof the season that could have spoiled the fun, Pakistanis had a festi-val like never experienced before. With fabulous prizes to be wonas Eidi through the Samsung’s “Eid Banao Smart” campaign, Sam-sung was talk of the town for the entire month of Ramazan! Thelucky winners found it difficult to hide their expressions of joy.“Samsung ‘Eid Banao SMART’ was a life-changer! I always seeksuperlative value for my money. Delightfully, my new SamsungSmartphone is a masterpiece of next-generation technology andwinning Rs. 1,000,000 came as a truly exhilarating surprise”.-said Mr. Shahzad Aslam from Lahore, winner of the Grand EidiPrize. Brimming with excitement, one of the 15 laptop winnersfrom across Pakistan, Mr. Nazamat Deen of Quetta said; “I amthoroughly enjoying the powerful Samsung Smart-phone features.The shopping experience at Samsung dealership was inspiring, as Igained information on many authentic products, along with a reli-able warranty certificate from their well-trained, courteous staff.To top it all off, I won an amazing prize with revolutionary features.I cannot wait for another campaign to be launched.”

CORPORATE CORNER

india inflationrises, puttingoff rate cut

NEW DELHI

AFP

Indian inflation rose in August to 7.55 per-cent on a 12-month basis, official datashowed on Friday, further reducing thechances of an interest rate cut from thecentral bank next week. India's centralbank will meet in Mumbai next Monday toconsider its interest rate policy where itwill also have to consider a 12-percent risein the price of diesel ordered by the gov-ernment that will push inflation higher.The Wholesale Price Index rose to 7.55percent from 6.87 percent in July, whichwas a near three-year low. The diesel pricehike, announced late Thursday, was hailedby some as a sign of intent by the govern-ment that it is prepared to tackle difficulteconomic reforms and the widening holein the public accounts.

NccPL collecting

cGT under

new regimeKARACHI

STAFF REPORT

The NCCPL has started the collection ofCGT on behalf of the federal board of rev-enue (FBR) with effect from Thursday,13th Sept. The new system would be appli-cable to individual investors, brokers andcorporate entities only. While the mutualfunds, banking companies, NBFIs, insur-ance companies, Modarabas and foreigninstitutional investors do not come underthe newly implemented system, as theywill have to file CGT on their own.

KARAchi: The consul General of Malaysia and Mrs.hidia Abu Baker,hosted a reception to celebrate the 55th National day. Picture showsSpeaker Sindh Assembly Nisar Khuro, Minister Raza haroon, hajiMuzaffar Shujra, KMc Administrator Syed Matanat Ali, chairman EPZSyed Tariq hassan, Barrister Abdul R.Sattar, Kalim Farooqui, Ayeshacurmally, of Sheraton hotel, with other guests.

Apple extends gainsafter iPhone 5 launch

ISLAMABAD

ONLINE

Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry(ICCI) organized a seminar, titled “Tax Compli-ances for Corporate and Non Corporate tax pay-ers”. Haroon Tareen, Chief CommissionerInland Revenue Regional Tax Office (RTO) wasalso present on the occasion. Speaking on the oc-casion, Chief Commissioner IR, RTO raised aconcerning issue, by saying that a large numberof people in Pakistan are not paying taxes. Hesaid that tax laws are not as such complicated inour country and there is a greater need to pro-mote voluntary tax compliance for increasing thetax compliance rate which would definitely im-prove Tax-to-GDP ratio.

Yassar Sakhi Butt, President ICCI highlightedvarious causes of low tax revenue in Pakistan andsaid that factors like discretionary audits, frequentamendments in tax laws, high tax rates, risk ofpenalties and interest charges on late tax pay-ments, late filing of returns and other obligationsunder tax laws and on top of all corruption unnec-

essary harassment of taxpayers have tended to dis-courage tax compliance in our country. He was ofthe view that friendly tax laws and reduction inhigh tax rates are need of the hour and furthermore giving attractive incentives to high taxpayersto recognize their tax contribution, reducing inter-action between tax collectors and taxpayers couldhelp in improving tax compliance in Pakistan. ICCIPresident suggested that instead of burdening thealready existing taxpayers, FBR should take meas-ures to broaden the tax base and its extremely im-portant to bring all those sectors as well asindividuals in tax net that are capable of paying tax.

Mian Muhammad Ramzan, Chairman Tax-ation Sub-Committee Committee gave a pres-entation on basic tax compliance of Income Taxand Sales Tax for corporate and not tax payerswhere he explained the regular compliance re-quirements for corporate and non corporate taxpayers. He added that business community nor-mally pays taxes but due to non fulfillment oflegal compliance requirements, they have toface complications and litigations which iswastage of resources, time and cost.

SINGAPORE

AFP

Oil prices rallied in Asia Friday astraders celebrated a fresh round ofquantitative easing announced bythe US Federal Reserve, analystssaid. New York's main contract,light sweet crude for delivery in Oc-tober surged 65 cents to $98.96 abarrel and Brent North Sea crudefor November delivery added 56cents to $116.44.

Brent crude for delivery in Octo-ber had late Thursday soared to afour-month high of $116.90 beforeclosing.

Crude markets rose aftertraders' hopes for stimulus an-nouncements at the end of a two-day Fed meeting Thursday weremet, IG Markets said in a report.

"Never fear, QE3 is here. At longlast the markets got what theywanted as (Fed chief Ben) Bernankefinally announced another ambi-

tious bond-buying programme hehopes will lead to a sustainable re-covery in the US economy," the re-port stated.

"The icing on the cake an-nounced last night was that no de-fined time limit was announced forQE3."

The Fed late Thursday an-nounced a new, open-ended $40 bil-lion per month bond-buyingprogram which would remain inplace until there was substantial im-

provement in the jobs market where8.1 percent of Americans remain un-employed.

"QE3" -- the Fed's third "quanti-tative easing" program in less thanthree years -- would take the centralbank's total monthly purchases, in-cluding ongoing programs, to $85billion a month, it said.

In addition, the Fed alsopledged to keep its benchmark in-terest rate at ultra-low levels until atleast mid-2015.

Oil rises in Asia on Fed stimulus

ICCI whines overtaxpayer harassment‘Unnecessary harassment of taxpayersdiscourage tax compliance in our country’

Off to the American discos! ISLAMABAD: In order to strengthen the planning and engineering function at DISCOs, a team ofsenior planning and engineering officials from Pakistan’s power distribution companies (DISCOs)will visit several well-run power utilities in the United States from September 14-22. “The U.S.government is committed to helping the Government of Pakistan improve its power distributionsystem,” said Jock Conly, Director of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Mis-sion to Pakistan. “Planners and engineers who experience well-run utilities in the United Statesfirsthand, return to Pakistan with practical ideas to improve DISCO operations, reduce losses and,ultimately, to make sure consumers have a more reliable supply of power.” The team will visitpower utilities in Cincinnati, Ohio, and New Haven, Connecticut. This is the fifth study tour forDISCO officials organized by USAID under its Power Distribution Program. ONLINE

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