Economic Review articles from December 2002

Economic Review archives from December 2002

Engro announces third quarter results. (Press Release).
December 1, 2002... The Board of Directors of Engro Chemical Pakistan Limited met on October 22, 2002 to review the business results of the Company for the period January to September, 2002. The Company's sales volume increased by 12% over the corresponding...

Appraisal of SBP's first quarterly report (FY 2002-03). (Editorial).
December 1, 2002... The new government should implement the flex! phase of reforms where development expenditure on infrastructure education, health, water and sewerage, Khushali programmes in the districts can be ratcheted up without fear of breaking the fiscal...

New video coding standard delivers major advances in image quality. (Press Release).
December 1, 2002... ITU standard opens new opportunities for entertainment & video Telecommunication Geneva, 23 December 2002 - The technical design of a new video compression standard was agreed this week in Japan. Known as H.264/AVC, it has been developed...

Trends in international production: (extract from world investment report, 2002).
December 1, 2002... The Role of TNCs in the Globalizing World Economy is Increasing International production continues to grow as Transnational Corporations (TNCs) expand their role in the globalizing world economy. Recent estimates suggest there are about...

Obstacles hindering development.
December 1, 2002... H. E. Abdulaziz Bin Nasser Al-Shami Repercussions of Globalization Despite the relative improvement that occurred in the 1990s in the economic and financial positions of many areas of the world, the lot of many in the developing...

Export of Pak textiles and the US policy.
December 1, 2002... The US textile policy has been redesigned to protect domestic industry from cheaper imports and to open up foreign markets for textile/apparel products on a reciprocal basis. It was in pursuance of this policy that Pakistan got the...

Performance of banking sector.
December 1, 2002... Pakistani banks were taken over by the government on the 1st January, 1974 as per the party manifesto of the Pakistan Peoples Party. The underlying idea of the take-over was that the profit which the private sector was pocketing should accrue...

Muslim commercial bank ATM network largest in Pakistan.
December 1, 2002... With over 130 ATMs in 25 cities, including the hill station Murree, MCB has the largest ATM network in Pakistan. MCB's first ATM installation took place in Karachi in 1995. But in less thana decade the network was successfully expanded...

Merits of electronic banking outlined.
December 1, 2002... The idea of electronic banking has created ripples in financial industry and traditional banking. In an interview Mir Nejib Rahman of ABN AMRO threw light on the aims and objectives of electronic banking and averred that the basic idea was to...

Banking business in Sindh: an overview.
December 1, 2002... The five major banks i.e. (i) National Bank; (ii) Habib Bank; (iii) United Bank; (iv)Muslim Commercial Bank; and (v) Allied Bank; are operating in Sindh with a combined branch network of 1257. These banks have 3425 branches in the Punjab...

NBP, HBL invest in T-bills at discounted yield.
December 1, 2002... The State Bank of Pakistan sold Rs. 19.75 billion worth of 6-month Treasury bills at a cut-off yield of 6.37 per cent, down from the previous 6.39 percent. The National Bank of Pakistan and the Habib Bank Ltd. made large investments in T-bills....

Finance capital and falling interest rates.
December 1, 2002... The proposed sovereign bankruptcy mechanism to be ready by spring 2003 "will not undermine the credit culture in the global economy", says the IMF managing director Horst Kohler. Under the plan, a country with heavy debt burden will be able...

Financial sector reforms.
December 1, 2002... The overall financial efficiency of the scheduled banks has not improved due to faulty design and improper sequencing of reforms. In fact, the financial efficiency, gauged by the interest rate spread, shows a deterioration, despite a more...

IPRs enforcement must to improve investment.
December 1, 2002... Tackling issues at the eleventh hour has become a custom. We are least concerned when a problem arises but look for a quick solution the moment it becomes a menace. Black marketing, drugs, black money, smuggling, corruption, unemployment, arms,...

Housing finance.
December 1, 2002... Policy makers are striving to turn marginalized housing finance into the mainstream banking activity. Banks, awash with liquidity and declining return on government papers, need new areas of business. And housing offers an unmatched potential....

Global trade strategy.
December 1, 2002... Gone are the days when reliance was placed on various forms of foreign aids for boosting developing economies. The equation has changed dramatically and now it is the trade of a country that matters most. And that is why the global trade is...

Law and order problem a deterrent to investment: an interview with the President of NBP. (Interview).
December 1, 2002... Q. Mohiuddin Aazim: How the Sindh province has been contributing towards the progress of banking industry? A. Ali Raza: The province of Sindh has contributed immensely to the progress of the banking industry in Pakistan. In fact, Sindh...

Gleanings from the press. (International Round-Up).
December 1, 2002... S. Arabia Budget Based on $17.50 Oil Price Oil power Saudi Arabia has based its 2003 budget on a price of about $17.50 a barrel for its oil versus an actual value of $23.30 in 2002. S. A, abia passed a $55.7 billion budget for 2003 carrying...

Price situation: (December 2002).
December 1, 2002... December witnessed weak prices for most of the food and other items. Notable slide was witnessed in the prices of wheat, gram imported, sugar and acetic acid. Reports of comfortable supply position on some counters triggered fresh selling. Most...

Dollar stays firm. (Currency Market).
December 1, 2002... December 2002 witnessed firmness in the value of the rupee vis-a-vis the greenback. The dollar edged up one paisa in inter-bank market both in buying and selling. In the kerb market, the dollar appreciated by 10 paisa both in buying and...

KSE outperforms world's stock markets. (Stock Market).
December 1, 2002... Pakistan's capital market is the best performing market in the world and the share values in terms of gross domestic product increased from 7.9 per cent to 14.6 per cent in 2002, so observed Shaukat Aziz, Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance....

Coal mining in Ukraine. (News & Views).
December 1, 2002... In the mineral-rich regions of Ukraine, some 500,000 miners leave for work every day. Since 1991, up to 300 have died at work every year, notwithstanding the dramatic decrease in both production and employment, which has seen their numbers...

ILO, ADB join force to improve labour standards, promote development. (News & Views).
December 1, 2002... The International Labour Office (ILO) and the Asian Development Bank (AD B) have joined forces to improve labour standards as a means of promoting development and reducing poverty in the Asia-Pacific region. In a joint workshop recently,...