Tag: Reforms

MUSCAT - Protesters pressed for political and labour demands on Tuesday across the Gulf state of Oman, where a string of concessions from veteran ruler Sultan Qaboos bin Said have failed to bring unrest to an end.
Qaboos, in power for 40 years, decided earlier this week to cede some legislative powers to the partially elected Oman Council, which is so far only an advisory body.
At present, only the sultan and his cabinet can legislate. The government also said it would

ISLAMABAD - Bringing about economic reforms to overhaul the existing system is the way forward to ensure sustainable economic growth in the country, the economic managers believe.
There is need to bring about changes at many levels if the country has to grow on sustainable grounds, they said. They added that the first step towards this direction could be the change in mindset for accepting innovations and giving up illogical reasoning for accepting or rejecting ideas.
The

ISLAMABAD - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday presented a bleak picture of the economic situation in Pakistan and recommended a complete overhaul of the economy to put the country back on the path of recovery without disengaging itself to facilitate reforms.
Upon conclusion of its extended talks with Pakistan's economic managers, the IMF issued a statement of its assessment, cautiously appreciating the proposed plan of the government but at the same time candidly

CONTINUED from page 1 - Similarly, the IMF sought a timeframe for inducting professional management in DISCOs and GENCOs. They also expressed reservations that the benchmarks agreed with the fund in September 2008 for the reform of PSEs had not been implemented. The government was continuously borrowing from the commercial banks to keep afloat the non productive PSEs, which had created a non conducive environment for private investments. The government team briefed the IMF officials

ISLAMABAD - Nine mainstream political parties adopted a resolution on FATA reforms as the first formal initiative of the Political Parties Joint Committee on FATA Reforms in Islamabad the other day. They called for a strong consensus on the need to move forward with reforms in FATA. The committee is comprised of representatives from ANP, JI, MQM, NP, PkMAP, PML-N, PML-Q, PPP and PPP-S.

GENEVA - The UN human rights chief on Monday called on the international community to support reforms in the Middle East and urged vigilance in Libya amid fears of violent reprisals. "The international community bears the great responsibility of extending its support in words and deeds to assist such indispensable reforms.
It must do so with dispatch and firmness," said High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay. She told the UN Human Rights Council that it should remain

LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has taken concrete measures for promotion of medical education, welfare of doctors and provision of best medical facilities to the people, Punjab Assembly (PA) Speaker Rana Iqbal said on Saturday. He was addressing the 4th Convocation of the Post Graduate Medical Institute (PGMI).
The PA speaker said that the doors of medical education were opened for poor but talented students by abolishing seats of self finance. He said that the

LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has taken steps for the development and welfare of the doctors, nurses and other officials working in health sector and on his directions the Health Department has regularised about 5,000 doctors besides, promoting hundreds of medical officers, said Health Secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad on Thursday.
He was chairing a meeting to review measures taken for the health sector development and doctors' welfare. He said 1,135 medical officers

LAHORE - Former LCCI Senior Vice President Abdul Basit has urged the government to immediately constitute economic reforms committee with representation of stakeholders, including chambers of commerce and industry, trade bodies and political parties to urgently take up the challenges hampering the economic growth.
In a statement issued here on Tuesday, former LCCI SVP said that economic slowdown was not only causing unemployment but also creating law and order situation in the

ISLAMABAD - President Asif Ali Zardari asked the country's leading business houses to convene a roundtable conference of all political parties on their platform to find ways and means of putting the country's economy on a solid footing. At a presentation by the Pakistan Business Council on the agenda for the economic reforms, the president also suggested to the businessmen to make consortiums of leading entrepreneurs to consider buying out and managing various state-run

CAIRO - The Internet activists who triggered Egypt's popular uprising said Monday they had discussed reforms with the country's new military rulers, a day after the generals dissolved Hosni Mubarak's regime.
As the elderly generals and the youthful online campaigners sought to map out the country's future, a wave strikes and protests swept several public and private sector industries as workers pressed demands for pay rises. In the shadow of the Great Pyramid of Giza, hundreds of

ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) categorically told the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government on Tuesday that its patience was running out on the slow progress on the 10-point reforms agenda.
Talking to media after holding talks with the PPP ministerial team, Senator Ishaq Dar said his party had informed the government their patience was wearing thin. "We have asked the government to come up with a plan to cut expenditure and raise revenues, similar to the

ISLAMABAD - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has categorically told the government to come up with economic reforms to qualify for the next tranche of $1.7 billion under the $11.3 billion standby arrangement which is suspended since May last year as Pakistan failed to implement the agreed reforms roadmap.
Pakistan has already received $7.5 billion but the IMF has held back two tranches, which, a source privy to the meetings between the IMF and the government said, are

ISLAMABAD - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday categorically conditioned its support to Pakistan with immediate measures to implement economic reforms to control the rising fiscal deficit and inflation, as the government asked for at least one more tranche of the $11.3 billion stand-by arrangement.
The IMF team, consisting of the Mission Chief for Pakistan Adnan Mazarei and Director Middle East and Central Asia Department Masood Ahmed, and Resident Representative

LAHORE - House Building Finance Corporation Limited (HBFCL), the country's leading housing finance institution is successfully enacting a voluntary separation scheme (VSS) as a key component of its transformation strategy aimed at turning HBFCL into an efficient, customer focused and profitable entity.
The continued right-sizing will result in a significant reduction in administrative expenses and an increase in consistent profitability. HBFCL engaged a leading auditing firm for

ISLAMABAD - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has expressed concern over the slow pace of economic reforms, saying they were halting further investment in the country and severely impacting poor communities.
An official source said the IMF has recently suggested to the government to expedite work on the economic reforms, otherwise poor segments of the society would become poorer. The IMF stressed that the chances of investment in the country were picking up, but it was

ISLAMABAD - Stressing the need for economic reforms, Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on Tuesday said that if appropriate reform measures are not taken in time to contain the fiscal deficit then it might go up to 8 percent of the GDP during the current fiscal year.
However, he said, the government will not allow it to happen and will take appropriate measures. "Some of the measures taken by the government have reduced the fiscal deficit below 3 percent of GDP for the first