26 April 2004 Monday 05 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425 Missing link in banks' restructuring Our policy makers have come a long way in restructuring its financial sector. The reforms cover both- money markets as well as capital markets. The impetus to change came from the World Bank which almost always targets the financial sector of a country as a first step. ... Inspecting agencies: the right way Procurement by the government and it's agencies - whether semi-autonomous or autonomous, is the source of many a scandal. The most notorious has been the famous Bofars issue which caused the downfall of the Congress Party in India. ... Fat cows and hungry humans Every cow in the European Union gets daily a $3 subsidy per head while 40 per cent of the humanity lives on less than $2 per day. Can the rising tide of globalization lift all boats and reduce poverty? ... Misplaced reliance on mega projects During the past few weeks, the City Government Karachi (CDGK) has been relentlessly pursuing the various proposed mega projects for the city. Mono rail options, rapid rail transit projects, large land development schemes of various sorts ... Return of looted wealth: rich nations' help needed Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali has deplored the high level corruption through which the wealth of the developing countries has been plundered and deposited in the rich countries and has asked for the West's help in its return. ... Caring for assets: the human factor Private as well as public organizations have special internal control structures to take care of their precious possessions. This function is usually carried out by well-defined administrative structure which involve significance expenditure on controlling ... Making PR a purely passenger carrier According to a press report (Dawn 10th April), the Pakistan Railways' revenue from goods traffic has declined precipitously, registering a fall of Rs1.2 billion during three quarters of the current fiscal year ... Broadening share-holders' base A large number of diverse individual and institutional shareowners is an essential condition for making the capital markets perform capital formation and provide liquidity and price discovery. ... Transition to market economy Right from the last mid-eighties a number of countries from Latin America, South East and Central Asia appeared on the spectrum of heavy debt ridden countries. Most of such countries were attributed to have centrally planned economies. ... Developing trends in textile machinery The growth of the textile industry the world over is due to a large extent to the development of processing machinery for textile fibres. The hand spindles or 'churkha' gave birth to spinning and the handloom to weaving. ... ITO: improvements needed in advance ruling The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) chief's recent statement to go for investment-oriented tax policies is in conformation to the government policies on foreign investment. The country holds immense promise for return to investors. ... Understanding poverty in rural Sindh Dependence on agriculture of rural people could not make any improvement in their economy. On the contrary shortage of water, dry spell cycle, decrease in cultivable area due to soil deterioration, extension of towns and villages ... Conservation agriculture Due to increasing population and demand for food grains, declining water resources, increasing cost of inputs, machinery, energy, increasing desertification and deteriorating soil and environments ... Small farmers under WTO regime Small farmer implies that category of farmers who own holding of less than five acres. Their number in the country exceeds 60 million and in Punjab they constitute 45 per cent of the farming community of the province. ... Wheat procurement price The problems confronting Punjab government's wheat procurement drive have forced focus on the method for fixing the price of wheat, for that matter of any agricultural commodity: ... Equities cool down after three-month sustained run-up Stocks received a massive battering last week as leading investors unloaded their long positions at higher rates thus temporarily halting the market's last three-months sustained run-up. ... Liquidity slightly flows out of market The State Bank of Pakistan conducted an open market operation on April 20, and sucked in Rs5.5 billion from the banking system through repo sale of the Treasury bills. With the outflow of this amount the overnight call rates rose to 1-1.5 per cent from 0.25-0.50 per cent. ... Local market trails global dollar value The rupee/dollar parity remained almost stable in inter-bank market this week amid slight fluctuations, but the rupee in kerb lost its firmness over the dollar crossing Rs58 barrier on persistent increase in its demand and appreciation in international market. ...

© The DAWN Group of Newspapers, 2004