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| November 05, 2007 | Monday | Shawwal 23, 1428 |
Governance reforms: melting resistance to change
 The Punjab government is all set to receive a soft term credit facility to the tune of $1.550 billion from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to be disbursed over a period...
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Concerns in the growth profile
 Business leaders, bankers and economists share concerns with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) over the emerging challenges facing the national economy — a stubbornly high inflation, widening of current account...
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Investment boom amid political shadows
 As gunship helicopters start to hover over the scenic Swat valley, multiple suicide bombers strike at different locations and nation waits for the Supreme Court to render its decision regarding the legality of Pervez Musharraf’s re-election, Islamabad is rife with rumours....
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Techniques for growing mushroom
 THE higher, fleshy fungi, bloom into a visible umbrella like fruiting body, are called mushrooms which have a form of plant life, without green colouring matter (achlorophyllous organisms)....
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Bacterial leaf blight — a serious rice disease
 RICE production is
mostly affected by diseases of fungal, bacterial and viral origin. Bacterial
blight is one of the most serious diseases of rice...
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Commercial cultivation of tuberose
 THE tuberose, a native to Mexico, belongs to the family Amaryllis and is commonly known as lily. It has long been cherished for aromatic oils extracted from its fragrant white flowers....
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Berseem: a valuable fodder
 BERSEEM is the largest
Rabi season cattle fodder grown in the country, 88 per cent of which grows in
Punjab, nine per cent in Sindh...
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Peasants’ long march and the land reforms
 Pakistan has had three doses of land reform, Ayub Khan’s package in 1959, Bhutto’s first in 1972 and his second in 1976. Land ceiling was reduced in that order, but implementation was in the reverse order....
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Corporate social responsibility in consumer financing
While consumer financing has provided an opportunity for common citizen to upgrade his quality of life, a school of thought refers to it as an undesirable attempt to fabricate consumers needs which actually do not exist....
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Power crisis — the consumer behaviour
Nearly two years since privatisation, Karachiites have seen very little positive change in the electricity situation, despite the promises made about how privatisation would greatly improve the energy situation....
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World commodities
The price of oil on November 1, rocketed to a record $96.24 per barrel on worries over tight supplies. Crude oil prices are moving towards $100 a barrel...
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Rural employment: proposed integrated card system to check corruption
 INDIA has been rather slow in enacting social security legislation to bail out the poor, the jobless and the aged in times of crises, because of lack of funds and an inadequate machinery to execute and monitor the projects....
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An over ambitious tax target to achieve
 The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has missed the first quarter tax revenue target of Rs218 billion by a wide margin of Rs13 billion. No doubt, the FBR will try to...
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Corporatisation through tax incentives
 The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) constituted a task force in August 2006 to review the enabling tax environment for holding companies and formulate proposals in line with the international best practices to facilitate group consolidation of the fragmented corporate ownership....
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Turmoil in currency and commodity markets
 The pound soared to its 26 year high against the dollar midway through last week as it shot to $2.798 on Wednesday. On the same day the US Federal Reserve cut the interest rates by a quarter points to 4.5...
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Employment policy draft
 EMPLOYMENT is universally recognised as the fundamental right of the people. Over the past sixty years, not much efforts have gone to provide sufficient employment. This is also true for the incumbent regime....
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The sledgehammer approach to nowhere
 While the special secretary to the ministry of finance makes a statement in Washington against joblessness in Pakistan, he is all praise for the various privatisation programmes some of which resulted in high levels of unemployment, golden parachutes notwithstanding....
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Linking oil prices to a basket of currencies
The downward drift of the dollar against the stronger currencies, particularly the euro, continues hurting those who receive payments in dollars....
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Rs155bn capital wiped out on political rumours
 THE share market last week managed to finish well above the midweek lows as a section of leading institutional traders covered positions at the attractive lower level aided by the perception that the worst may be over....
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Rupee regains on dollar inflow
 The demand for dollars was higher in both open and inter bank markets last week....
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Bank borrowings decline by Rs13.381 billion
According to the Statement of Affairs of the State Bank of Pakistan, for the week ended October 20, 2007, both notes in circulation and those issued increased in the week....
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Prices of industrial raw materials, cereals go up
PRICES of some essential items on the Karachi wholesale markets increased further during the previous week but reports of midweek steady arrivals from upcountry market contained fresh speculative increase....
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