November 14, 2005	Monday	Shawwal 11, 1426

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

Reforms fail to protect investors THE next few weeks are likely to see a series of events taking place at the Karachi Stock Exchange which should by now be just routine but which will, in fact, be of significance....		Where does WPPF money go? THERE are many sacred cows in the economy about which one must not ask too many questions: Defence expenditure is a ‘sensitive’ matter and so a silence is advised....
Will Safta get launched on January 1? WILL Safta get launched January 1? Will it become operational as stipulated? It’s a big question mark, even after years of preparations and rhetoric to get going and expand regional trade through South Asia Free Trade Agreement (Safta)....		Fewer but stronger banks BANKS are making headlines day after day in these times. Those headlines on the financial pages of newspapers along with their advertisements reflect the very large profits they are making....
Change in the guise of status quo? Government agencies insist that the levels of poverty below the poverty line have decreased in the last year or two. Whenever a decrease is notified, it is very important to determine how the indicator was measured before and after the change....		Increasing sugar production THE minister for food, agriculture and livestock has asked the sugar industry and farmers to optimize the cane and sugar productivity as the country has a capacity to produce 5.5...
Delayed cane crushing to hit wheat crop THE start of the cane crushing season has become a perennial issue confronting the timely sowing of wheat that suffers yield loss due to delays. That the authorities responsible for the...		Ginger cultivation and imports GINGER Zingiber officinale, Rosc) or commonly known ‘adrac’ belongs to the family “Zingiberaceae”. It includes two other condiments ‘haldi’ (turmeric), and ‘cardamom’ (Bari elaichi), along with few ornamental green house plants....
Neglected rural women MEN and women have defined tasks in agriculture and their roles are often complementary. They share in crop production and livestock sectors. Today, they have a greater role to play in economic development....		Exploring alternative sources of energy IN the wake of recent devastating earthquake, the need for rural electrification utilizing alternate resources has assumed more significance than ever before, for construction and community building programmes in the affected areas....
US quotas for China’s textile exports THE United States signed an accord with China in London on November 8, 2005, placing quotas on Chinese textile exports to the US over the next three years....		Monetary policy working at cross purposes-II THE monetary policy for FY06 must take into account the monetary overhang of previous years. International financial institutions have publicly underlined the phenomenon of monetary overhang....
World economies Russia is in its seventh year of robust GDP growth. Higher oil output and investments have been the main conduits in this regard. Rising oil prices have prompted not only an immediate oil output response,...		Boom in Indian stock markets: Mumbai Letter FOR punters playing the Indian stock markets, this has been one of the most profitable years. When the Sensex, the benchmark index on the Bombay Stock Exchange, pierced the 8,000-mark once...
WTO’s umbrella for quake-hit countries THE nature’s blow of October 8 has posed a number of challenges for the government. The major ones, inter alia, include (i) compensation and rehabilitation of the affected and displaced families,...		Building codes and contractors THE October 8 earthquake has exposed the weakness of our construction industry. While the current efforts are focused on relief, very soon we will get into reconstruction phase....
KSE-100 index maintains an upward drive THE stocks, despite profit-taking during the last week, maintained an upward drive to the index level of 9,000 points as the follow-support in cement, bank and energy remained unsatisfied which was aided by an attractive bait of capital gains....		Rupee gains against the euro THE rupee moved both ways versus the dollar in the local currency market on November 7, when all the trading centres reopened after observing Eid holidays....
Forex reserves rise by Rs1,935 million ON November 11, banks borrowed Rs10.615 billion from the State Bank, after an outflow of more than Rs7 billion from the system for the settlement of a Treasury bill auction earlier in the week....		Post-holiday mood prevails on market PHYSICAL trading on the Karachi wholesale markets remained insipid last week as leading brokers and traders were in the post-holiday mood and did not make big commitments on any counter....