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| June 19, 2006 | Monday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 22, 1427 |
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Images of road building
MORE than 460 years after his death from a gunpowder explosion, Sher Shah Suri, the Lion King, is confronted with a serious contender in the person of Punjab’s Chief Minister, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, for the title of the ‘Builder of Roads.’... 
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The worrying turmoil
 STOCK market is in turmoil. On June 14, 2006, KSE-100 was down 29 per cent or 3543 points from its peak level of 12,274 on April 17, 2006....
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Overlooking the hefty investments
 NOTWITHSTANDING all the moaning and groaning that many of us in Sindh are accustomed to— for being ignored and overlooked—, the fact is that a hefty amount of Rs117 billion has...
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Subsidy on sprinkler irrigation
 THE Federal Budget 2006-07 has allocated Rs22.26 billion for agriculture. If the share of forestry and fisheries, which are not part of it, is deducted then the actual agriculture allocation comes to less than 1.4...
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The neglected farming community
 PAKISTAN inherited a socio-economic agrarian structure in the fragmented form in 1947. Since then no serious reforms or efforts were made for the uplift of small farmers or for rationalising the land ownership structure....
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Mushrooming mushrooms
 Mushrooms provide proteins, vitamins, fats, carbohydrates, amino acids and minerals. These are recommended to diabetic and anaemic persons. These are used as antibiotic, anti-allergic, and for anaesthesia....
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A new bug threatens cotton crop
 THE cotton crop has been facing a number of problems like the leaf-curl-virus, drought, reddening of leaves etc. Last year new menace pink mealy bug emerged which is gradually increasing in Sindh and Punjab....
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Meeting ambitious targets with conventional wisdom
 CREATING two thousand new jobs for inducting as many lady health workers under the national programme for family planning and primary healthcare, the NWFP government’s annual development programme for 2006-07 is...
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New comers in an over-heated domestic car market
 THE budget 2006-2007 has opened the over-heated car market for new comers with incentives— questionable black cab import programme and additional incentives for import of used cars....
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Real estate attracting foreign investment
 THE property sector in leading Indian cities – including Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore – has been experiencing a boom over the past one year, with prices galloping by almost a 100 per cent in many select areas....
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Budget promises require a re-think
 THE Federal Budget 06-07 has been interpreted in many ways but, in essence, it was an admission (evasive and disguised though) of the serious gaps that have developed in the economy, and need plugging urgently....
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Indirect taxes on the increase
THREE critical problems of the national economy, acknowledged by one and all are: inflation, poverty and yawning gap between the rich and the poor. The budget for fiscal year 2006-07 did little to neutralise these threats....
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How tight is our monetary policy?
THE State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) describes the changes in monetary stance, initiated towards the end of FY 04, as tight monetary policy. The deputy governor of the Bank has claimed that this has helped tame inflation....
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Signs of a pause in privatization
THE PML government remains committed as ever to privatisation but it seems to be moving behind the official schedule set for sell-offs of various state enterprises despite the business opportunities offered by a fast growing economy....
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Subsistence pensions for all labour force
 A civilised society should provide old age security to all citizens. Pakistan’s Constitution states this as a non-mandatory directive principle. The need for a basic subsistence pension covering the whole labour force is widely accepted....
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The controversy about privatisation funds
AFTER an extensive and prolonged privatisation, a good many write- off of foreign loans and additional economic aid by the donors, why has the foreign debt come down in seven years by only $2.3...
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KSE recoups some of its record losses
 A MASSIVE weekend rally allowed the stock market to recoup most of its initial losses. However, a formidable section of investors was sceptical about the future outlook amid a loud whispering whether or not the worst was over....
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Dollar supply supports rupee
 IN the local currency market, the rupee remained mostly bullish versus the dollar and euro despite sharp fluctuations towards the close of the week....
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SBP mops up excess liquidity from market
 ON June 13, the State Bank of Pakistan conducted two OMOs on a single day. It was conducted to raise excess liquidity from the market. In the first OMO, the SBP rejected all bids totalling around Rs15.65...
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Trading remains insipid on wholesale markets
 TRADING on the Karachi wholesale commodity markets last week failed to pick up as buyers kept to the sidelines. They were waiting for a reduction in the prices as claimed by...
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