DAWN - Business; July 02, 2007

Low Graphics Site


July 02, 2007	Monday	Jamadi-us-Sani 16, 1428

Quality of life: Karachi a low-ranking city KARACHI slipped to 175th from 170th position on the quality of life index over the last year. Its advantage to attract business for being the least expensive global city must have been neutralised with its slide on the quality scale....		Baloch not happy with mega projects “WHY are the people of Balochistan not happy with Islamabad when the federal government is investing more than Rs140 billion in mega projects in this province?”...

High growth and slow job creation The unemployment in Pakistan has been higher during the last two years than it was during the first eight years of the last decade, according to a study conducted by the...		Biofertilisers’ use for raising output THE rapid growth in population demands increased supply of food which can be optimised with larger use of inputs such as fertilisers. The use of nitrogenous, phosphoric and potassium fertilisers has become indispensable to attain good crops yield....

Drought stress in vegetable production OVER the years, problem of water shortage is well documented for various agricultural uses and natural bounties, vegetables are not an exception. Commercial production of vegetable is not possible without adequate water availability through out the growing season....		Nutritional value of carrot CARROT is a Latin word meaning ‘burnt’ and refers to the purple-red colour of the earlier cultivated forms. Carrot belongs to the family Umbellifereae and is an important member of root vegetables....

Water front development: threat to eco-system and old villages AS if twin islands of Sindh (Bundaar and Dingi) were not enough, the government has decided to develop 60,000 acres on Hawkesbay to construct a modern city named as Sugarland City....		World commodities Opec member countries plan to invest about $130 billion by 2012 to raise oil output to meet rising demand. Opec member countries have over 900 billion barrels or more than 78 per cent...

Networking among Muslim businesswomen Muslim women played very significant role in business from the very early days of Islam. They included Hazrat Khadija and other pious ladies followed by successive generations of Muslim women....		The making of a banking hub INDIA’S buoyant banking sector, growing at nearly double the rate of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), has worked up a huge appetite for funds. Demand for credit is leapfrogging, as consumers (both urban and rural) are on a spending spree....

The real wages of low income groups The construction industry’s share in the GDP is stuck at two per cent and real wages in the industry have been stagnant for long. It was only in last two years...		NWFP: stagnant revenues The NWFP government is finding it difficult to mobilise provincial revenue and its declining volume is increasing its reliance on external resources....

Widening skill gap Like some other nation-building efforts, the high-sounding plans to create a pool of skilled manpower for the country itself and for export have failed miserably. Concerned over the situation, the government...		Hedge funds heading towards a meltdown? London is by far the largest centre for European hedge fund managers. The 900 hedge funds located in London accounted for four-fifths of European based hedge fund assets in 2006....

Linking profits on national savings to inflation he long awaited increase in the rate of return on NSS has been announced. The rate has been raised on Defence Savings Certificates from 10 per cent to 10.15 per cent or by 0.15 per cent,...		Parliamentary control over public purse As usual after having approved the annual budget for 2007-08, the National Assembly also passed a supplementary budget legalising of Rs641 billion incurred by the government during FY 2007....

The surging rupee On June 29, the rupee finished at 60.47 a US dollar, up from 60.69 on June 22, gaining 22 paisa within a week. Bankers said foreign exchange inflows through the take-over...		Stocks approaching 14,000-point level THE Karachi Stock Exchange 100-share index last week steadily rose to its new career-best level of almost 13,800 points, signaling it could take a technical breather after having hit the new target of 14,000 points....

Issuance & circulation of currency fall According to the statement of affairs of the State Bank of Pakistan, for the week ended July 2June 16, 2007, both notes in circulation and those issued decreased in the week....		Rains keep commodity market subdued OWING to persistent rain, physical activity on the Karachi wholesale markets last week remained mostly dull as both buyers and sellers stayed on the sidelines because of delivery problems....

Rupee stronger Hectic trading activities were observed in the local currency market during the last week. The rupee was seen moving both ways against the dollar and euro....		Return on bank deposits For past few years, banks have been offering very low returns to depositors and charging very high interest from borrowers. As a result, the gap between lending and deposit rates has...