2 May 2005	Monday	22 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426

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Whither poverty reduction? THE Pakistan Development Forum meeting in Islamabad provided General Musharraf’s Prime Minister, Mr Shaukat Aziz, a major opportunity to outline the government’s thinking and plans relating to what is being labelled as the ‘second generation’ reforms for economic and social development....		Textiles battle in a giant China, post-quota world THE jitters that Washington and Brussels had been living with for the past four months exploded into outright protectionist anger this past week as trade officials in both the U.S. and the EU publicly warned of punitive action against China ...
Soaring real estate prices WITH prices of real estate touching the sky, one wonders where the average man who does not own a house of his own, would end up in the years to come. If we go by the statements of our economic managers, we are on the prosperous road to a ‘free market economy.’...		Quality culture essential for boosting exports QUALITY is being emphasized by all to be able to compete in a liberalizing international trade environment. Recently, the prime minister laid stress on it too on the basis of “quality engineering skills and competitive labour” available in the country....
Does Sindh need an official bank? DOES Sindh need a provincial bank of its own to improve the economic conditions of its poor people? Can such a bank make a material difference to the miseries of the poor in the province?...		Denial of fiscal federalism THERE is something fundamentally wrong with Pakistan’s constitutional structure of distribution of taxing powers between the federation and the federating units. ...
Oil prices fuel inflation IT seems hard to believe that at the beginning of last year the price of crude oil was about $30 per barrel. Since then there has been a sustained but unmistakable upward trend in the international prices for oil and petroleum products. Not very long ago, on April 4 crude prices hit an unprecedented high of $58.28 a barrel in New York....		Makeshift storage facility A NEW crop of wheat has been harvested in Sindh and Balochistan while it has commenced in Punjab and NWFP. Prospects and reports are positive but there are apprehensions about the final count....
Cottonseed crisis feared during Kharif SEED is the most important of all agricultural inputs affecting the efficiency of other factors in farming. Accordingly, the importance of genetically pure and certified seed cannot be underestimated. Keeping this...		Controlling the root-rot disease OKRA or ladyfinger is an important vegetable crop. It is presently in fields suffering from the root-rot disease. The disease incidence ranges between 10-80 per cent with a maximum of 55-80...
Wool producers deprived of export benefit AFTER cotton, wool is an important textile fibre which gives considerable support to the national economy. Foreign exchange is earned through export of raw wool. Quality of wool varies from one breed to another as around 21 sheep breeds are reared here.However, quality breeds are small in number and largely concentrated in their habitat....		Luring investors to hydropower PAKISTAN is endowed with over 42,000 mega watt (mw) hydropower potential— a huge resource of renewable and affordable electricity. This potential is more than six times the generating capacity of the...
Consolidation of cement industry THE cement industry is witnessing a boom 20 per cent growth in overall demand. In 2003-04, exports of cement increased by 160 per cent. The demand has come from the housing sector, government’s infrastructure works, and from Afghanistan and the Middle East....		Nepal: a potential market for engineering goods and services GIVEN the right environment, Pakistan and Nepal have great potential for promoting substantive economic and trade relations which may get further impetus when the South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement...
Making up for housing backlog HOUSING is the third basic human need, after food and clothing. An average family derives much more sense of security from owning a house than any other worldly possession. The successive...		Kalabagh dam and the NWFP’s fears THE need for new storages, wherever feasible on the Indus and other rivers, was recognized by the Water Accord 1991, but construction of a dam on Indus, especially at Kalabagh has become a contentious issue....
STOCK EXCHANGE: Karachi share struggle to stage recovery, gain three per cent THE KSE 100-share index rose by over three per cent last week after enduring heavy battering in the recent past, demonstrating in more than one ways that the worst may now be over....		RUPEE REPORT: Rupee falls against dollar THE Pakistani rupee moved slightly in the inter-bank market, from Rs59.44 and Rs59.46 for buying/selling on the first day of the week to Rs59.46 and Rs59.47 on April 28. On the following day the rupee continued its gradual fall against the dollar,....
MONEY MARKET: State Bank raises cut-off yield on Treasury bills IN open market operation on April 27, the State Bank of Pakistan sold Rs7.882 billion of six-month treasury bills after receiving bids worth Rs20.01 billion. The cut-off yield was raised to 7.1877 per cent from 5.6923 per cent at the previous sale on March 30....		COMMODITIES: Sindh and Punjab likely to meet wheat targets DESPITE steady new crop arrivals from the upcountry markets, prices of some essential items, notably wheat did not regress from high levels. Physical offtake was light and confined to some other other essential items....