DAWN - Business; June 25, 2007

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June 25, 2007	Monday	Jamadi-us-Sani 09, 1428

A relief package without much substance The Punjab government’s much touted relief package of Rs25 billion, proposed as part of the Rs356.170 billion budget for 2007-08, is likely to make little impact even on the life of those who are supposed to benefit from it....		Post-budget increase in wheat prices Millers have increased the price of an 80-kg bag of wheat flour from Rs1,110 to Rs1,130 due to rising wheat prices, says a former chairman of Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA), Akhtar Hussain....

Fiscal empowerment of provinces “PROVINCES need more fiscal empowerment to make the federation viable” and to work smoothly. This observation has not been made by an angry political activist agitated over centralised political and administrative...		Maximising rice yield RICE is our third largest crop in terms of area after wheat and cotton. During 2005, rice was planted on over 6.47 million acres and the yield was about 5.5...

Issues affecting dairy sector WITH a production of 33 billion litres per annum, Pakistan is the fourth largest milk-producing country. The potential is huge but untapped as the sector operates mostly in informal economy and...		Crop air pollution assessment methodology HUMAN beings probably are the first to experience the harmful effects of air pollution when they lit fires in poorly ventilated caves. Since then they have gone on polluting the atmosphere....

No new project for Balochistan Balochistan budget for 2007-08 envisages a total outlay of Rs63.081 billion against the total receipts of Rs53.248 billion. With a resource gap of Rs10.278 billion, the provincial government believes that the...		World economies The economy continued to grow rapidly in 2006, but the exact figure was likely lower than the official estimate. The country is heavily dependent on exports of gas and oil, a situation unlikely to change soon....

Infrastructure-focused NWFP budget THE North West Frontier Province budget for financial year 2007-08, carrying an outlay of Rs114.50 billion with an ambitious Annual Development Programme (ADP) at Rs39.462 billion, follows a similar pattern to...		Statistical boom and ground realities Not enough discussion and debate precede the national budget in the parliament or at private and academic forums. More often suggestions, mostly by the CBR, are invited from the public, particularly the trade bodies....

Worries about Indian rupee getting stronger INDIA’S strong economy, with gross domestic product (GDP) having expanded by 9.4 per cent in the year ended March 31, 2007, foreign exchange reserves overflowing at nearly $210 billion and inflation...		Increase in profit rates on savings schemes delayed THE differences within the ministry of finance and the central bank are blocking the announcement of 0.5 to one per cent increase in the profit rates of all the savings schemes as proposed by the Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS)....

Taxing the mutual fund industry The mutual fund industry, designed to benefit small investors, has been growing slowly at five per cent for the last ten years. But in the recent years it blossomed into an industry with a deposit of Rs230 billion....		Parliamentary oversight of defence spending The declining share of defence in the overall federal budget reflects the transforming political economy and the direction in which things are moving. While the annual defence expenditure always exceeds the...

Rising prices and interest rates FOR almost 10 years, the UK economy grew robustly and the rate of inflation and the bank interest rates remained low and stable....		Curbing independence of market regulator The Finance Act 2007 has amended the Securities and Exchange Commission Act, 1997, making the finance minister or, in his absence, adviser to the prime minister on finance, as the case may be, chairman of SECP policy board....

Federal budget sans final NFC award The government’s failure in announcing an over-due seventh NFC Award before the budget 2007-8 is a breach of the Constitution''s Article 160. The award is pending since 2002 and delay in...		KSE share index sheds 486 points on rumours THE disqualification reference against the prime minister seems to have taken steam out of the market at the fag end of the last week as a section of investors indulged in panic selling reinforcing the perception of political uncertainty....

Forex inflows On June 22, the rupee closed at 60.69 a US dollar, down from 60.61 on June 15, losing eight paisa within a week as the pace of foreign exchange inflows slowed down during the week under review....		Money market stays liquid On June 22, the State Bank of Pakistan sold treasury bills worth of Rs12 billion to mop up liquidity from the market. It sold Rs9 billion T-bills for 13 days and Rs3 billion outright sale was made for 42 days....

Prices of pulses show an upward trend TRADING activity on the Karachi wholesale commodity markets last week was relatively slow as consumers were reluctant to buy at the rising prices amid expectations that fresh arrivals from upcountry centres may ease supply position....		Rupee steady The local currency market observed mixed sentiments versus the dollar and euro this week.High demand for dollar persisted throughout the week, but the rupee managed to restrict its sharp decline versus the dollar, amid fluctuations, on easy inflows....