Tag: Sector

LAHORE - Calendar year 2010 was simultaneously the best and worst of years for agriculture. Experts believe that it was a positive year owing to surging commodity prices, while some are of the opinion it was the worst year as devastating summer floods washed away millions of rupees worth of agriculture produce.
However, the consensus is that any increase in commodity prices will not benefit farmers but only fuel further inflation in urban economy. Former Finance Minister Dr

NEW DELHI: India may cut taxes on crude oil and refined products in next year's budget, the finance secretary said on Wednesday, to cushion the impact of rising global oil prices on inflation and state oil firms' profits.
"All these issues on the duty structure will be considered in the run up to the budget," Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla told reporters, adding if required, duties will be revised in the budget.
The government, already under attack from the opposition over a

ISLAMABAD: In a major policy decision, the government has decided to give tariff concessions to new automobile players to break the monopoly of the Japanese car cartel in the country. According to official sources, the decision was made after a detailed analysis of the local automobile sector by the Ministry of Industries and Production.
They recommended tariff incentives to attract new players in the local car-manufacturing sector. Since the Japanese car assemblers failed to

ISLAMABAD: After the implementation of key power sector reforms, the board of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is likely to approve a loan of $242 million on December 10 to help Pakistan improve its electricity transmission infrastructure in Manila.
According to official sources, the ADB board would approve financing the power distribution enhancement project, which focuses on improving electricity transmission. The financing will help remove bottlenecks in the power distribution

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Finance on Thursday recommended rationalising of penalties under the reformed general sales tax (RGST) and tax exemption for food items, medicines and educational stationery.
The committee also included the dissenting notes of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Awami National Party (ANP), PML-Quaid (PML-Q) and the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) in its report to the Senate.
All opposing political parties

ISLAMABAD: Delay in the resolution of legal issues arising from public sector imports have forced the government to fast track imports of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) through the private sector, to meet the rising power demand by the industrial sector in the country.
According to official sources, the government has decided that the private sector will be granted permission to import LNG up to the upper limit of one billion cubic feet per day (BCFD).
However the government

KARACHI: The country's banking sector has been able to withstand pressure emanating from the weakening macroeconomic scenario since 2007. Although the banks are facing increased credit risk, the overall sector is well placed to withstand moderate shocks as they boost their inventory of government securities.
This was stated by Governor State Bank of Pakistan Shahid H. Kardar in a message embodied in SBP Annual Report on the working of the Bank (Performance Review) for the year

KARACHI: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Dr Mohammad Yaseen is optimistic of prospects of continued growth in the telecom sector as leading companies such as Mobilink, Telenor and Zong operating inside Pakistan, have pledged to commit substantial investments to Pakistan in a bid to boost their respective networks and hence market share.
Addressing the serious issue of illegal SIMs, PTA chairman revealed that more than 11 million SIMs have been blocked after

LAHORE: The Chairman of the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Punjab Ahsan Bashir expressed fear of large scale closures, heavy bankruptcies and massive lay offs if the textile industry in Punjab was deprived of gas supply for another 100 days during the winter load management program.
He was exasperated at the prevalent situation and stated that the textile industry in Punjab was already suffering heavily due to gas load-shedding to the textile Captive Power Plants

ISLAMABAD: The government on Monday assured the International Financial Institutions (IFI) that the power sector reforms will be completed within the next eight months.
Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf provided this assurance to a joint delegation of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and Asian Development Bank in the federal capital.
According to an official statement issued by the Power Ministry, the joint delegation of IFIs was led by IMF

Question hour began yesterday with the Punjab Education Minister Mian Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman put at the answering pedestal. The day was embarrassing for the minister as he was forced to apologise over various lacks in information provided by the education department on questions raised by the house.
Government schools to be English medium:
All public sector schools in Punjab would be converted into English medium by the end of this fiscal year, said the Punjab Education

KARACHI: The country's textile sector maintained a fantastic performance during the financial year 2010 posting remarkable annual growth in earnings of 690 percent.
The sector's top-line also grew by a respectable 27 percent to Rs 277 billion in 2010. Pakistani textile exports blossomed not only on the back of good prices fetched in both domestic and oversea markets, but also a rise of production volume and the rupee's depreciation against the dollar (average six percent in

ISLAMABAD:
The transition committee on power sector reforms decided on Friday to expedite the drafting of the new electricity law, preparing business plans for all distribution companies (DISCOs) and holding the technical audit of all generation companies (GENCOs).
According to an official statement, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Dr Nadeemul Haque chaired the first meeting of the Transition Team on Power Sector Reforms in Lahore on Friday.
During the meeting, the

The European Union (EU) has refused to give concessions to the country's best performing home textiles sector and it will be excluded from the list of 75 Pakistani products granted the favour, official sources said on Friday.
The government has strongly advocated the inclusion of the home textile sector in the concessions package, but to no avail.
The trade concessions announced by EU are likely to take effect from January 1, 2011. These unilateral concessions are expected