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Businessmen blast government’s ‘cosmeTic’ move on agriculture tax
BUSINESS Friday, 14 June, 2013
moL Group appoints Dodds executive vice president
FPCCI SAYS HEAVILY-MANDATED GOVERNMENT BOWED DOWN TO POWERFUL LOBBIES OF FEUDALISTS AND LANDLORDS IN PARLIAMENT KARACHI
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ISLAMABAD: MOL Group has appointed Alexander Dodds the executive vice president - Exploration & Production – and member of the executive board, effective June 17. This appointment reflects MOL Group’s determination to accomplish its upstream strategy and thus to strengthen its new international headquarters team. MOL Pakistan Oil & Gas Company BV a fully owned subsidiary of MOL Group is operating in Pakistan since 1999. Dodds has over 30 years of understanding of the international upstream oil and gas arena with broad experience in exploration, development and production. He brings with him a significant international track record, having worked in North America, South America, the North Sea, the Middle East, Asia and Russia. His recent assignments have included being executive director and executive vice president at TNK-BP and president & general manager at ExxonMobil Qatar Inc. STAFF REPORT
Xpress money launches free Door Delivery service ISLAMABAD: Xpress Money, the world’s most dependable money transfer brand, in association with Tameer Bank, on Thursday introduced the Door Delivery Service for its customers in Pakistan, at no additional cost to the beneficiary. This pioneering service has been launched to encourage remitters residing abroad, to send money through legal transfer channels, that their beneficiaries will receive at their doorstep. This service will initially be available in five major cities of Pakistan namely Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Jhelum, Mirpur and Gujar Khan and will soon be extended to 40 cities by the end of 2013 Remitters from across the world can avail of this service to send money back home to Pakistan. STAFF REPORT
ISMAIL DILAWAR
he business community on Thursday lashed out at the PML-N government for announcing “cosmetic” measures with regard to the imposition of agriculture tax. The new government, despite wining a heavy mandate in May 11 election, had bowed down to powerful lobbies of feudalists and landlords in parliament who always hindered the taxing of agriculture income. The business community took a U-turn on Thursday from their Wednesday’s all-praise stance towards the “face value” of the Federal Budget 2013-2014 that the traders and industrialists termed as pro-feudal, pro-landlords and pro-bureaucrats. “Lobbies in the Parliament, that of the feudalists and the landlords, are the actual stumbling block,” FPCCI President Zubair Ahmed Malik told a briefing at Federation house. Alleging that the finance minister had “cosmetically” addressed the issue of broadening of the tax net, particularly to the agriculture sector in his
DAR FLAYED FOR ‘FUDGING’ NUMBERS ON FISCAL DEFICIT
Wednesday’s budget speech, Malik said agriculture sector constituted 20 percent of the GDP but was contributing less than one percent to the national kitty. “This is not on,” he said. The FPCCI chief wondered as to what prevented the government from taxing the farm income while it was enjoying 75 percent of the governmental power in center and provinces like Punjab and Balochistan. Also, Malik accused the federal finance minister of having fudged numbers on the fiscal deficit. “The days of fudging are over,” Malik said, adding that Dar had juggled with numbers while setting the fiscal deficit target at 6.3 percent in his budget speech. Citing news reports, Malik claimed fiscal gap during FY13 would set at 7.5 percent and not 8.8 percent quoted by Dar. The one percent fudged difference would be claimed by the government as a decrease at the end of FY14, he claimed. Commenting on overall budget, the FPCCI chief said despite all the
positives it has the new fiscal plan had failed to relieve the common man, particularly salaried class. Flanked by Tariq Saeed, Azhar Saeed Butt, Zakaria Usman, Iftikhar A Malik, Mian Zahid hussain, Atiq Mir, Gulzar Feroz and other leading businessmen, the FPCCI president said the budget had fallen short of his expectations. “It lacks direction they should have given to us,” he claimed demanding that the finance minister sit across the table to negotiate necessary amendments in the proposed fiscal document. Characterizing the budget proposals into positive and negative, Malik categorized as positive the cutting of fiscal deficit to 6.3 percent, slashing corporate tax to 30 percent, retiring over Rs 500 billion circular debt in 60 days, Rs 1.5 trillion PSDP, targeting GDP growth at 4.4 percent, retaining inflation in a single digit (7.5 percent currently) and the privatization of state-owned enterprises. “I hope all these steps be materialized in letter and spirit,” Malik said. About negatives, the FPCCI president was critical of the one percent raise in GST that he said was unacceptable. “It would directly affect 180 million people and would restrain the government from retaining inflation in a single digit,” Malik said. Mian Zahid hussain, head of FPCCI’s sales tax committee, said inflationary impact of the increase would be far greater on packed daily-use essentials when retailer, distributor and retailer would add to their profit. Other budgetary negatives Malik highlighted included: lack of incentives like reduction in mark up rate for industries, absence of a comprehensive energy development plan, the unlawful issuance of SROs by the FBR without consent of the Parliament, no mention of SMes sector in budget speech, cumbersome procedures of sales tax refund, Rs 31 billion allocation for railways where Rs 34 billion salaries are paid and inflationary pressure of two percent additional tax in the name of documentation of the economy. “This budget would further widen the gap between the rich and poor,” said Malik. FPCCI official Zakaria Usman said: “A budget prepared with revenue’s point of view can never deliver.” Terming it as “bureaucratic budget”, the trader said the government never was ready to tax the agriculturists.
Asian markets slump on fears over Fed stimulus HONG KONG APP
Asian markets dived Thursday, with Tokyo’s Nikkei losing more than six percent at one point and the dollar hitting a two-month low against the yen, on expectations that central bank easing measures will soon come to an end. Dealers ran for cover following a sell-off on Wall Street, with the US Federal Reserve in focus ahead of a policy meeting next week that many fear will herald the end of its $85 billion-a-month bond-buying. Tokyo slumped 5.28 percent by the break, having crumbled 6.57 percent at one point. hong Kong shed 2.88 percent, Sydney fell 1.00 percent and Shanghai lost 3.22 percent while Seoul skidded 1.07 percent. Sentiment has been battered this week after Japan’s central bank held off unveiling any new monetary easing measures to cool volatility in the markets. It also reignited traders’ fears, which have been growing for several weeks, about the so-called quantitative easing by the Fed as the US economy shows signs of improving.
Fed chief Ben Bernanke unveiled the scheme in September, saying the bank would continue to print money until the world’s biggest economy was strong enough to stand on its own two legs. Japanese stocks took the brunt of Thursday’s heat as the yen extended its gains against the dollar. In Tokyo forex business the dollar was at 94.90 yen — near lows last seen in early April and down from 95.88 yen in New York late Wednesday. The US unit, which was sitting in the high 98-yen range in Tokyo at the start of the week, has dived around 8.5 percent since its spike late in May. The euro sat at $1.3358, compared with $1.3335 in New York, while it also bought 126.72 yen, from 127.86 yen. On Wall Street the Dow fell 0.84 percent, the S&P 500 slid 0.84 percent and the Nasdaq was down 1.06 percent. Oil prices were lower, with New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in July, down 37 cents at $95.51 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for July 21 cents off at $103.28. Gold was at $1,392.90 at 0244 GMT from $1,377.00 late Wednesday.
OIL PRICES DOWN IN ASIAN TRADE SINGAPORE APP
Oil prices fell in Asian trade on Thursday after a surprise up tick in US crude stockpiles, but losses were tempered by growing concerns over turmoil in Turkey, analysts said. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in
July, dropped 37 cents to $95.51 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for July shed 21 cents to $103.28 in morning trade. “Many were expecting a seasonal drawdown on stockpiles, with the US driving season well underway, but that has not been the case,” David Lennox, resource analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney, said. The US energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday that US crude inventories rose 2.5 million barrels in the week ending June 7, instead of the decline of 400,000 barrels expected by analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires. The data indicated weaker demand in the world’s top crude oil consumer in during the summer season when Americans traditionally take to the roads for their holidays. however, fears among investors about nationwide protests in Turkey is capping
losses, Lennox said. “The market is closely watching the situation in Turkey and whether it could lead to supply shocks elsewhere in the Middle east,” he said. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip erdogan on Wednesday said he would consider holding a referendum on plans to redevelop an Istanbul park that have sparked the protests, in his first major concession in nearly two weeks of antigovernment unrest. erdogan has faced international condemnation over his handling of the protests, which have left four dead and injured nearly 5,000 demonstrators, tarnishing Turkey’s image as a model of Islamic democracy. emerging Turkey is the world’s 17th biggest economy and a key strategic partner in the region for the United States and other Western powers.
Yahoo buys smartphone photo app maker GhostBird
SAN FRANCISCO: Yahoo on Wednesday announced it has bought a startup that makes picture-taking applications for iPhones to enhance its Flickr photo service. Yahoo did not disclose how much it paid for GhostBird Software, the company behind KitCam and PhotoForge2 apps for Apple’s popular smartphones. “We’ll integrate many of the mobile photography experiences from GhostBird into our Flickr apps,” Yahoo said in a brief email statement. People who have installed KitCam or PhotoForge2 apps on iPhones will still be able to use the miniprograms, but Yahoo yanked them from Apple’s online App Store and planned no updates for the future. “Over the last few years, mobile photography has really taken off,” the GhostBird Team said in a blog post confirming the takeover. “We’re thrilled to be able to bring our technology and passion for beautiful photos to the Flickr team.” Yahoo last month unveiled a dusted-off design of its Flickr photo platform only hours after the company’s dramatic acquisition of blogging site Tumblr. Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer, maintaining that her ambition was to make Flickr “awesome again,” said the new site will showcase “bigger images” and create a user experience that is “more immersive, more expressive.” The GhostBird buy extends a Yahoo shopping spree that included acquiring Tumblr for $1.1 billion. California-based Yahoo last month also bought PlayerScale, a startup that powers games played on smartphones, tablets, consoles or personal computers. APP
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souTh KoRea: a $2Bn maRKeT foR PaKisTani manGo KARACHI
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STAFF REPORT
AKISTAN could tap $2 billion dollar market of South Korea with the exports of different variety of mangoes by the next few years as it shipped its consignment of different tastes of juicy and delicious mangoes to South Korea first time in the history. The country’s got approval of exporting mangoes last year after inspection of quality and standard of flavors of mangoes variant. This year, the country is being allowed to export 500 tons mangoes, however, the first consignment shipped carried mangoes of volume 10 tons. The mangoes exports will not only increase trade ties between the country but it will open a new market corridor for Pakistan’s traders in different sectors to promote country’s branded products, particularly in the fruit and multiple diversified and unique sectors. Pakistan’s mangoes have potential markets worldwide and South Korea could be one of the countries where the fruit exporters could penetrate with different varieties of mangoes against handsome returns, Abdul Qadir Khan Durrani, a fruit exporter and CeO of Durrani Associate said in an inauguration ceremony held recently. The introduction of mangoes exports to South Korea is a welcome development for the country, Durrani said who introduced Pakistan’s mangoes in Asian Pacific Region. South Korea is a very rewarding market for Pakistani fruits where importers are inclined towards value addition products. he hailed the opening of the Korean market as
a landmark achievement, and expressed hope in doors opening to other fruits of Pakistan once mango reaches the Korean market. Babar Khan Durrani, Vice Chairman South Korea Business Council and Director of Durrani Associate said that the Pakistan’s mango is preferred by South Korean than mangoes of different countires due to uniqueness of its taste, flavors and colors. he said the values of Pakistani mangoes are being paid higher than mango of different values which meant the exports will land handsome returns to country. The price difference of Pakistan’s mangoes is very prominent and it is being demanded at 100 percent higher prices than mangoes of different countries, he said. On the occasion, Sohail Nisar, Chairman Pak-Korea Business Council of FPCCI said South Korea is a big market of more than 12,000 tons of mangoes, which is currently imported from a few countries. But the delicious, aromatic and different varieties of mangoes grown in Pakistan have no parallel Despite a 30% duty on mango imports, the Pakistani fruit could have a good demand in the Korean market. he, however, called for swift processing of mango at the existing facilities, he said South Korea has a very stringent quality control check policy for mango import. Chang-hee Lee, Consul General of South Korea in Pakistan, highlighted the mutual interest of Pakistan and South Korea to boost trade and strategic ties in different grounds. he assured his cooperation to strengthen the bilateral relationship between the countries through cementing ties with businessmen fraternity of the Pakistan.
Japan confident over ‘third arrow’ growth package TOKYO: The Japanese government shrugged off stock market gyrations Thursday, saying a raft of reforms including tax breaks for firms wanting to invest would boost the economy. As the Nikkei 225 began another precipitous drop that saw it close the day 6.35 percent lower than it started, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the world’s third largest economy remained on a path to recovery. “Our nation’s economy is steadily picking up,” he told a briefing in the morning. “The real economy and leading indicators are improving. We want to continue to manage the economy with confidence,” he said. The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will Friday vote on the so-called “third-arrow” of his programme of growth and reforms, in a scheme dubbed “Abenomics”. The two earlier “arrows” came in forms of aggressive monetary easing and massive public spending aimed at ending years of vigour-sapping deflation. The draft proposals place emphasis on medium to long-term goals that Abe hopes will generate two-percent real GDP growth annually over the next decade, far outstripping the rate in the last ten years. APP
sarhadi appreciates Rs 31b allocation for Railways PESHAWAR APP
Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce & Industry (PJCCI) Director and Sarhad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCI) Standing Committee on Railways and Dry Port Chairman Ziaul haq Sarhadi on Thursday appreciated allocation of Rs 31 billion for the revival of Pakistan Railways in the federal budget for financial year 2013-14. Commenting on the Federal Budget, he said the operation of Pakistan Railways through private sector would help arrest the deficit of the organization. he said that Afghan Transit Trade, which had shifted to Bandar Abbas of Iran would also come back to Pakistan and generate employment opportunities. Similarly, he said due to lacking of modern dry port facility, location disadvantage and weak provincial economy, majority of the industrial units have either been closed or operating under capacity. The revival of Pakistan Railways would have better impact on the economy of the province and will generate employment opportunities. he appreciated increase in the pension for the retired government employees, but added that increase in the salaries of the government employees was necessary not only for the eradication of corruption, but also for balancing out the impact of inflation.
Major Gainers COMPANY OPEN Unilever Food 4850.00 Nestle Pak. 6490.00 Attock Petroleum Ltd 557.22 MithchellsFruit 547.05 Indus Dyeing XD 561.32
HIGH 5000.00 6600.00 585.08 574.40 579.00
LOW 5000.00 6600.00 556.00 565.00 579.00
CLOSE CHANGE 5000.00 150.00 6600.00 110.00 577.78 20.56 566.50 19.45 579.00 17.68
TURNOVER 20 440 175,200 3,300 100
1530.00 294.00 335.00 614.00 146.00
1490.00 280.50 323.00 590.00 140.04
1490.00 281.58 329.62 602.00 140.04
-40.00 -13.42 -10.37 -8.00 -6.39
300 2,800 2,100 400 5,000
3.65 12.78 23.59 3.67 8.45
2.56 12.15 22.75 3.48 7.85
3.44 12.78 23.50 3.57 8.38
0.79 1.00 1.03 0.09 0.79
66,312,000 52,736,500 35,111,000 21,367,000 20,907,000
Major Losers Wyeth Pak Ltd Murree Brewery Indus Motor Co XD Island Textile Pak Gum & Chem.
1530.00 295.00 339.99 610.00 146.43
Volume Leaders B.O.Punjab(R) Fauji Cement P.T.C.L.A WorldCall Telecom Lafarge Pak.
2.65 11.78 22.47 3.48 7.59
Interbank Rates USD GBP JPY EURO
PKR 98.5056 PKR 154.2204 PKR 1.0437 PKR 131.2981
Forex UK Pound Sterling Euro US Dollar Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar China Yuan Japanese Yen Saudi Riyal UAE Dirham
BUY
SELL
153.5 132.2 99.6 95.75 98 16.07 0.9974 26.5 27.15
154 132.45 99.85 96 98.25 16.12 1.0059 26.75 27.4
Dollar slumps to 10-week low against yen in Asia TOKYO APP
The dollar slumped to a 10-week low against the yen in Asia Thursday as ran for cover in the face of tumbling stock markets and concern the US central bank will soon end its massive stimulus programme. The greenback bought 94.64 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, down from 95.88 yen in New York late Wednesday and from the high 98-yen range in Tokyo at the start of the week. That put the dollar at levels last seen when the Bank of Japan (BoJ) announced in early April a raft of aggressive monetary-easing measures to boost the economy that sent the yen into a tailspin. The dollar’s weakness helped push Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index down 5.28 percent to 12,587.40 by the break Thursday, after US stocks fell sharply in volatile trade a day earlier. Yen trading and the Japanese stock market are closely interlinked as the
unit’s value directly impacts the profitability of the nation’s exporters. Foreign investors had piled into the Tokyo stock market since late last year as the new government pledged to stoke the economy with big spending and an aggressive monetary policy, which pushed down the yen. “The Nikkei falls because the dollar/yen falls, then the dollar/yen falls further because the Nikkei has fallen — markets are in this vicious circle,” said Atsushi hirano, head of FX sales Japan at Royal Bank of Scotland.
CORPORATE CORNER saif textile mills reporting massive increase in its profit Saif Textile Mills has posted profit after tax of Rs 280 million for the nine months ending March 31, 2013 (un-audited) compared to previous year’s nine months profit of Rs 14 million. The sales increased by 16% whereas cost of sales rose by only nine percent, thereby increasing gross profit from Rs 0.5 to Rs 0.8 billion. The company has managed to control its distribution costs despite of increased sales, however, there is slight increase in administrative costs and other operating expenses. The earnings per share rose from Rs 0.53 to impressive Rs 10.61 per share. However, the dividend paid per share decreased slightly to Rs 1.92 per share. PRESS RELEASE
motorway Police reunite 4 lost children with parents National Highways & Motorway Police has reunited four lost/runaway children with their parents. Per details, a citizen informed Motorway Police from Mardan Bus Adda through NH&MP Helpline (130)
that a teenager named Muhammad Bilal s/o Fazal Wahid aged 14 years, r/o Mardan is going to Lahore from Mardan on a Bus No. LW-190. NH&MP officers SPO Ghulam Rasool stopped the said bus at Kallar Kahar, immediately on receiving the information. The child was taken in the safe custody of NH&MP. Later on the child was handed over to his parents after completion of legal requirements. Three more similar rescues were undertaken by the NH&MP on GT Road near Maraka, GT Road Renala Khurd and GT Road near Kandiaro. The parents of the children were filled with happiness when the Motorway Police officers reunited their children with them. The performance of officers was also appreciated by the department and cash rewards and commendation certificates were given to those who took part in the effort. PRESS RELEASE
of their respective organizations. Under the umbrella of project Espire, UMT together with Bfz gGmbH, will enhance the capabilities of the faculty members by a series of workshops and trainings. UMT students will benefit through participation in trainings and real time industrial projects supervised by trained staff in the domains of Energy Efficiency and Green Productivity. UMT is
committed to continue the work started by Bfz gGmbH in Pakistan. Bfz gGmbH is one of the largest private providers of vocational training in Germany. Its International Division runs development co-operation projects on behalf of World Bank, European Union and German Government in several countries of Latin America, Africa and Asia. PRESS RELEASE
umT signs mou with Bfz gGmbh, Germany An MoU has been signed between University of Management and Technology (UMT) and Bfz gGmbH, Germany under the aegis of project Espire. UMT is the first university in Pakistan to sign MoU with Bfz gGmbH, Germany. Dr Salim Abid Tabassum, Dean, School of Engineering, UMT, and Martin Strähle, Project Coordinator, International Division Bfz gGmbH, signed the MoU on the behalf
Group Photograph of the dignitaries on the occasion of the ICWFD (G77 Secretarit) Conference on “CEO’s Forum for Capacity Building”. (L to R) Faizanul Haq, Arshad Iqbal, Shahid Iqbal, Sirajuddin Aziz, Mushtaq Chhapra, Jehan Ara, Javed Jabbar, Saquib Hameed, Nauman Qadeer, Dr Ishrat Hussain, Dr Asad U. Shah, Kamran Y. Mirza, Aly Mustansir and Pervez Iqbal. Pervez Iqbal has been nominated as Chief Programme Coordinator ICWFD in Pakistan.