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| October 09, 2006 | Monday | Ramazan 15, 1427 |
Time for a fresh look at trade policy
 IT is time the government took a fresh look at the content and direction of its foreign trade policy. Of course, the exports have almost doubled in the last seven years, going up from nearly $8 billion in 1999 to $16.4...
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Outlook for cash settled stock futures
MARKET participants are expecting that the much awaited cash settled single stock future contracts would finally be introduced at the KSE before end of 2006. It would be after a break...
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Lifting the lid on NSS investment
THE government has again allowed institutional investment in National Savings Schemes (NSS), and added fuel to the fire in the on-going controversy about its overall funding policy that relies on short-tem...
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Ball formation: a new threat to mango growers
 MANGO, the king of fruits is the second major fruit which also has a good demand in foreign markets. Over 100 evolved varieties are under commercial cultivation....
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Sugar beet crop — an alternate to cane
 THE availability of irrigation water is declining over the last few years. Irrigation experts do not hope for much improvement in the situation. They foresee a decreasing supply as the time passes....
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Boosting cut-flower trade
 Commercial flower production for domestic or export market requires good management skills as well as a business like approach. Returns are based on quality and the variety of the flowers....
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Livestock reduces poverty
THE share of crops in value-addition in agriculture has gradually declined from 65.1 per cent in 1990-91 to 47.5 per cent in 2005-06, while the share of livestock has increased from 29.8...
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Falling export of textile products
 THE textile industry has been hit by falling export trend. Most of the exporters seem to be nervous which has raised alarm bells for the country’s economic managers....
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Human skills and productivity
IN an era of knowledge economy, human resource development and its management as key driver of growth, has assumed an added importance. But in this field, Pakistan has lagged behind....
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Making industry globally competitive
THE authorities took a number of steps to improve macro-economic stability that included market reforms and structural adjustments during the decade of 1990s....
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High manpower turnover in manufacturing
 HUMAN capital enjoys a low priority in our local industry. As and when there are quality issues in textiles, the usual response from production managers is that it happened because of...
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Karnataka strike affects IT services
 POLITICIANS in India have a knack for scoring a self-goal for the nation. Last week, even as the booming Indian ITES (information technology enabled services) industry was battling charges of security...
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Rehabilitating earthquake victims an uphill task
AMONG the many challenges faced by the government because of the last year’s earthquake, the big task is the rehabilitation of some 324,000 people who have lost jobs, small businesses,...
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3G mobile communication: Is it too early?
 THE mobile telecommunications industry is witnessing a period of robust and unprecedented global growth worldwide. The net result of this high-growth rate is that the mobile subscriber base has reached two...
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Distortions in tax system
THE continuous revenue and current account deficits have forced the country to rely more and more on external and internal borrowings. The persistence of large fiscal deficits, among other reasons, is...
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Raising investor-friendly Judiciary
 WHAT the western corporate world failed to achieve by trying the abortive device of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) in mid-1990s and later through institutional mechanism of the WTO in...
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Timely move to increase savings
 IN a country with low savings and an inadequate investment rate, there is too much emphasis on promoting abundant consumer credit for the affluent....
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Penalties for manipulating prices
PRIME Minister Shaukat Aziz has approved the draft law to convert the Monopoly Control Authority (MCA) into a Competition Commission for promoting good business practices through reward and punishment....
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100-share index moving towards 11,000-point level
 THE 100-share index at the Karachi Stock Exchange was confidently inching towards the crucial 11,000-point level with analysts believing that its more than 400-point increase for sixth consecutive week was reflective of a goal not very elusive....
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Rupee stable despite high dollar demand
 THE local market observed mixed sentiments this week, with the rupee/dollar parity moving in narrow range in the inter-bank market....
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Notes issued and in circulation display a rising trend
 TO mop up funds from the market, the State Bank of Pakistan sold Rs10.5 billion worth of Treasury Bills on October 2, in a 10-day repo operation at 8.50 per cent....
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Slackened demand keeps commodities under tag
 TRADING activity on the Karachi wholesale commodity markets was relatively slow as prices of some essential items remained stable around their previous levels amid falling consumer demand....
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