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| March 10, 2008 | Monday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 1, 1429 |
Continuity or change in policy?
 Pakistan’s food inflation rate in the first seven months of current fiscal year has hit nearly 17 per cent – the highest in Asia, its exports growth has stalled and the...
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The indifference towards biofuels
 Last week’s sudden and major hikes in petrol, diesel and electricity prices and the prospects of much more to come in the days ahead is a chilling reminder of how miserable...
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Agriculture under severe stress
 Pakistan’s food import bill in 2007-08 is set to exceed $2.5 billion which shows the stress under which our agriculture and farmers are working....
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Fixing a fair wheat price for farmers
 THE militant farmers have demanded that the procurement price of wheat be doubled and fixed at Rs1,000 per 40 kg from the coming crop. This signals a tussle between the government and the farmers....
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Growing more wheat in Balochistan
 BALOCHISTAN is a wheat-deficit province which depends on Sindh and Punjab to meet its requirements. There is no permanent system of irrigation here except in Naseerabad district....
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Soaring food prices turning into a global problem
During the last few months, Pakistan witnessed wheat and wheat flour crisis of the worst type in the recent years. The 2007 wheat crop was a bumper one – around 23...
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How to increase pulses output
 PULSES are the most important crop next to cereals which belong to the family leguminosae. They are an excellent source of protein and are inexpensive as compared to animal protein....
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Whither economic justice?
The essence of Islamic concept of economic justice is to take and give what is genuinely due, nothing more, nothing less. Economic injustice is the rationale for prohibition of interest in Islam....
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Coal-based power
The need to increase access to electricity has led many governments of the emerging economies to implement a variety of strategies such as privatisation to increase investment in the electricity sector,...
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Coal biotechnology
 To ensure “the continuous availability of energy in varied forms, in sufficient quantities and at affordable prices, the world is looking towards coal to play an important role in providing energy security....
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World economies
United Kingdom...
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Private equity’s appetite for company stakes
 INTERNATIONAL private equity (PE) funds and venture capital (VC) funds are pumping in significant amounts into India, confident that the country would maintain its 8.5 per cent-plus economic growth pace for the next few years....
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REITS: documenting real estate business
 THE real estate business is free from all necessary legislation. While the commercial and residential projects are undertaken in non-corporate sector, the offices and residential apartments built by them are sold at exorbitant prices....
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Assets-building by the poor
 The slide of poor individuals and communities towards extreme poverty can be prevented through transformational changes or rather a permanent solution....
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Business and Political stability
 THREE weeks after the February polls in which people gave a mandate in favour of national reconciliation, the country’s leading politicians are working with different concoctions to arrive at the right...
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European tax havens put on notice
 Tax evasion seems to have gone out of hand in Europe. Or perhaps some member governments of the European Union are finding it impossible to live with the unscrupulous practice while complying with the ever-tightening regulations governing the international financial markets....
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Non-conventional policy approach
 WHILE the budget-making process for the next fiscal year has been in progress since second week of February, some consensus is also emerging among likely coalition partners--the PPP, PML(N) and ANP...
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Eliminating illegal third-party insurance
 Presently, 90 per cent of the vehicles do not possess genuine third-party insurance certificates, which make it obligatory for the insurance companies to pay compensation to people who get injured or...
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KSE closes above 15,000 points on foreign buying
 THE share market showed an improved performance during the preceding week as a combination of positive news both on the political and corporate fronts continued to inspire fresh covering purchases and speculative buying on selected counters....
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Rupee still under downward pressure
 With political atmosphere still clouded with uncertainties, international oil and gold prices touching record highs and the country’s weak economic indicators deteriorating further, mounting demand for dollars and euros in the...
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Investments by scheduled banks increase by Rs2.436 billion
 On March 4, the short-term money rates rose sharply after the State Bank of Pakistan sold 56-day Treasury Bills in an outright sale. Overnight call rates ended at 10.40...
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Unprecedented rise in rice prices
 A FRESH price flare-up in the rice sector highlighted last week’s trading on the Karachi wholesale markets amid reports of short supply and holding back of stocks by the leading commercial houses....
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