AlBaraka bank to double its branches
AlBaraka Islamic Bank (AIB), a division of the AlBaraka Group of Bahrain, plans to double its network of branches in Pakistan.
The bank plans to increase its branches from 11 to 20 within a year. In Bahrain, the bank plans to double its branches from three in the next three to four years. AlBaraka also plans to float 25% of its units in Pakistan to bring its capital to $100 million by the end of the year.
Bird flu outbreak
The health, agriculture and livestock ministries have confirmed the presence of H5N1 bird-flu virus in some birds in Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Mansehra. The virus was found in a small flock of chickens, peacocks and turkeys, which resulted in their death. The remaining flock where the affected birds were found was culled to contain the spread of virus. The first reported cases of the virus in Pakistan were found in chickens in February 2006 in NWFP. The outbreak of the virus has been reported in various parts of the world.
In England, officials looked at the possibility of removing packaged turkey meat from supermarket shelves in a mass product recall after the bird flu outbreak at a Suffolk farm. Turkey meat had arrived at the Suffolk farm from Hungary, where cases of H5N1 virus were reported.
CAA to develop Airport Cities
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) plans to develop two commercial and residential projects called the ‘Airport City’, near Karachi and Lahore airports. The projects would be developed on 1,000 and 350 acres of the CAA land in two cities, said the CAA director general, Farooq Rehmatullah, at a press briefing.
He said that the projects had been approved by the authority’s board of directors. The estimated cost of the ‘Airport City’ project is around $4.5 billion, which, Rehmatullah said, would be financed by foreign investors.
The project will take seven to eight years to complete. The Karachi project would cost $3.5 billion while the Lahore project will cost $1 billion.
China Mobile acquires Paktel
China Mobile has acquired Paktel Limited, Pakistan’s fifth largest cellular phone operators, at an investment of $800 million.
China Mobile Communications Limited paid $400 million in acquiring Paktel, while it will invest further $400 million this year on running expenditure and in the expansion of the existing mobile network.
The Luxembourg-based Millicom International held the majority 88.86% shareholding, which the Chinese cellular operators have now acquired. China Mobile controls about two-thirds of the mobile market in China.
CBR surpasses revenue target
The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) collected Rs457.5 billion during July-January 2006-2007 against Rs369.8 billion the previous fiscal year.
The provisional tax collection indicates a cumulative growth of 23.7%. The revenue on account of direct taxes was Rs 184 billion in July-January 2006-2007 against Rs 114.4 billion the previous fiscal year. Sales tax collected was Rs169.5 billion against Rs154.9 billion, indicating a growth of 9.4%.
The collection of Federal Excise Duty (FED) was Rs34.6 billion in July-January 2006-2007 against Rs 29.5 billion previous year, showing an increase of 17.4%. The collection of customs duty was Rs69.3 billion during this period against Rs 71 billion in July-January 2005-2006, reflecting a negative growth of 2.4%, which is attributed to declining imports.
Frontier Holdings-PEL joint venture
Frontier Holdings has entered into partnership with Petroleum Exploration Limited (PEL) acquiring working interests in seven concessions held by the PEL. Frontier Holdings is a Canadian company while PEL is based in Pakistan. They plan to invest $200 million in oil and gas exploration and power sectors.
They also plan to set up a power plant of 60-120-mw at Sukkur which would be sourced by Kandra gas field reserves. They would later drill development wells to ensure a sustained gas supply to power plant by investing $160 million to be commissioned in 2009 involving further investment of $60 million.
Gwadar to get electricity from Iran
An agreement was signed with an Iranian company for the purchase of 100mw of electricity for Gwadar. The import of power will be through a 170km 220kv double circuit transmission line between the Polan sub-station in Iran and the Gwadar sub-station. Pakistan is to build 100km transmission line and Iran the remaining 70km. The project will cost $86 million, out of which TAVANIR will put in $26 million and NTDC $60 million.
Education budget to be raised
The education budget would be raised to 4% from the existing 2.6% of the GDP, said Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz while chairing a cabinet meeting. The education minister, Javed Ashraf Kazi, informed the cabinet of the reforms made in education such as uniform academic session from September 1 each year throughout the country, provision of free textbooks, compulsory teaching of English language from Class I onwards and elimination of duplication of subjects in new curriculum.
PTCL signs deal to implement mobile portability
The Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) has signed a deal with American company Tekelec to implement inter-carrier mobile number portability.
Under the mobile cellular policy announced by the government in 2003, the PTCL is required to facilitate mobile portability that allows the mobile subscribers to switch cellular phone companies without changing their original number. The telecom operators have failed to meet the last six deadlines set by the telecom authorities to implement mobile portability. The new deadline is set for March 23, 2007.
Record $3.3bn foreign investment
Pakistan attracted a record $3.3 billion in foreign investment during the first half (July-Dec) of the current fiscal year.
Federal Minister for Privatisation and Investment Zahid Hamid stated in a meeting with the Privatisation Commission Board that foreign direct investment rose by 69% to reach at $1.87 billion, portfolio investment reached $627 million while the global depository receipt (GDR) of MCB and OGDCL were $150 million and $731 million. The domestic retail offering of OGDCL was oversubscribed by 38% following the successful GDR offering in January.
Exports to Switzerland increase
Pakistan’s exports to Switzerland increased by 45.5% in 2006 over the previous year after remaining stagnant for the last several years.
According to the commerce ministry data, exports to Switzerland rose from 46 million Swiss francs (CHF) in 2005 to 67 million Swiss francs in 2006.
The exports increased in traditional as well as non-traditional items. Export of ethanol jumped from CHF25,400 in 2005 to CHF12 million in 2006, while exports of dried mushrooms and truffles increased by 153% to CHF6.3 million.
Textiles remained the largest exports with 50% export share going up from CHF24.9 million in 2005 to CHF33.1 million in 2006. Rice exports increased by 36.5% to CHF1.2 million. While leather grew slightly by 5.5% to CHF1.9 million.
While the imports of Swiss items to Pakistan fell by 6.2% to Swiss Francs 336 million in 2006. The main Swiss imports remained machinery and parts, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, watches, and electronic and other equipment.
Reserves reach $13.254 b
Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves touched a high level of $13.254 billion on February 3 mainly on account of robust inflows and lesser outflows. Of the total reserves $10.845 billion were held by the SBP and $2.408 billion by other banks. The FDIs have been flowing in different sectors including the oil exploration, telecommunications, financial institutions, real estate and housing projects. Remittances have risen by over 20% and could touch the $5.5bn-mark by the end of the current fiscal year. The outflows also fell with substantial decline of oil prices during the current financial year.
