November 21, 2005	Monday	Shawwal 18, 1426

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Where does WPPF money go? (II) FOR decades, the issue of workers’ profit participation fund (WPPF) has remained under wraps. For their own reasons, the government, company managements, and the remnants of the workers’ unions, have opted not to speak a word on the issue....		A fresh approach to investment WORRIES continue to mount over the growing human and economic costs from the devastating October 8 earthquake. And even though Pakistanis at home and abroad are intensely involved in relief efforts,...
Tax-GDP ratio in a re-based economy THE Central Board of Revenue (CBR) plans to move on the fast track of policy reforms and wants to set up 11 regional tax offices (RTOs) where returns on income and...		Official statistics and the ground realities STATISTICS are compiled to provide insight into specific areas of life and offer guidance to planners and analysts in their tasks. They are documents containing objective, unbiased and meticulously gathered and tabulated reliable information....
Raising rice yield from harvesting A LARGE percentage of the rice crop is lost through improper harvesting and threshing. Harvesting of paddy includes cutting, stacking and handling, threshing, cleaning and hauling....		Biotech for wheat growing SUBSTANTIAL wheat production is crucial for ensuring food security in Pakistan where per capita consumption is 120kg per year - highest in the world....
Quickfixes for quake-hit irrigated areas THE complete rehabilitation of the quake-hit zone may take around 6-10 years while its effects on agriculture will take more as about 70 per cent of the total 13,29,700 hectares of Azad Kashmir is devastated....		Water shortage in Dadu THE shortage of irrigation water in Dadu Canal and Johi Branch is severally affecting the cultivation of wheat crop in the on-going Rabi Season 2005-06. Dadu Canal was constructed for dry...
SIDA and devolution THE recent amendment in the Sindh Water Management Ordinance 2002 to make the provincial irrigation minister chairman of the Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (SIDA) has brought a sharp reaction by the farming community of Sindh....		Coal as fuel for fertilizer industry IN Pakistan, fertilizer production is one of the most energy intensive processes. Energy is consumed in the form of natural gas as feedstock as well as fuel for generation of electricity and steam....
Social sector lag in Balochistan THE roadmap for Balochistan’s development through mega projects like Gwadar free port is mainly aimed at opening the strategically located province for foreign investments and exploiting its vast natural resources....		World commodity report Copper: COPPER prices have hit new highs after speculators seized on reports that China, the world’s largest user, might be forced to buy large quantities of the metal...
Transparency in reconstruction THE October 8 earthquake presents unique challenges particularly of scale and logistics as evident from the number of deaths, injuries, homeless people and colossal economic losses....		Risk in liberalization of services SERVICES sector is presently the fastest-growing component of global economy accounting for nearly 20 per cent of world trade and three-fifths of the global FDI flows....
The legacy of Dr Ishrat Husain State Bank Governor Dr Ishrat Husain is due to retire on November 30. He is counted among the top policy makers and he has been a strong advocate of economic and fiscal reforms undertaken by President Musharraf’s regime....		SBP wake-up call — big is beautiful AS the deadline for implementing Basel Accord-II comes closer, regulators have been sounding wake-up call to the bankers. In October, they sounded two critically important ones....
Subsidies for rural aristocracy BRITAIN’s Queen Elizabeth II is not a farmer, but she is amongst the highest recipients of agricultural subsidies. In 2003-04, she received nearly $1.31 million in farm payments....		Donor worries about misuse of aid AS the donations needed for relief and rehabilitation of the over three million survivors of the earthquake rises to $5.2 billion including $3.7 billion for rehabilitation and reconstruction, Pakistan’s capacity to...
Is unification of stock exchanges an option? SHOULD there be only one or more than one stock exchange in the country? This is a fundamental question facing the market for a number of years....		New core inflation index THIS refers to the rejoinder by Mr Syed Wasimuddin (SBP’s chief spokesman) that appeared in the EBR weekly on November 14. He cites two well-known core inflation estimation bases viz...
KSE-100 index share moving towards 9,000 level AFTER a number of abortive attempts, the KSE 100-share index crossed the barrier of 8,900 points last week. This breakthrough reflected that the next chart point of 9,000 may now be not that ambitious....		Central bank mops up Rs4.5bn through OMO ON November 16, the State Bank of Pakistan picked up Rs4.5 billion from the banking system through the Open Market Operation. The overnight rates dropped from 8.9...
Rupee resists dollar’s pressure THE rupee, in the local currency market, remained under demand pressure this week. However, sufficient dollar supply did not allow it to suffer any sharp decline....		Rice prices remain steady on new arrivals PHYSICAL trading on the Karachi wholesale commodity market failed in picking up to normal proportions last week as commercial houses made selective covering purchases on some essential counters....