Financial Risk Manager

Life Insurance UK

2011-12-29T10:15:00.003+05:00

After the advent of internet things have really changed. People have started providing and rendering services through online rather than physical visit to the client on their doors. Insurance is one of them. There are number of concerns and brokers who are claiming that they are best and specialist Life Insurance brokers that operate wholly online and can compare personal protection insurance products in one place so that you do not have to shop elsewhere and at the same time get the best premiums via our commission rebate structure. However, personally I found Life Insurance UK one of the best among all because life insurance is crucial and I need UK's leading online life insurance broker who can help me to find the best life insurance coverage from the UK's leading life insurance companies.

www.lifebroker.co.uk has expertise in providing personal protection insurance products combined with outstanding service. They are offering number of insurance products including Level Term Life Insurance, Decreasing Term Life Insurance, Mortgage Protection Life Insurance, Critical Illness Cover, Income Protection, Family Income Benefit, Business Protection, Income Protection for Cyclists, Whole of Life Insurance, Gift Inter Vivos Life Insurance, HIV Life Insurance, Diabetic Life Insurance, Group Life Insurance, Key Person Life Insurance, Total & Permanent Disability Insurance (TPD) and many more. Visit the neatly laid out site and see what they are offering and how.

Partnering Employees to Share-Ownership for Good Governance and Growth

2011-11-12T12:32:00.003+05:00

Article Published in "The Pakistan Accountant" July - September, 2011.

Introduction:

Savvy companies that aspire for the engagement not just of their shareholders but also of a wider circle of encompassing customers, employees, communities, suppliers, business partners and relevant nongovernmental organizations can be competitive in the short-term and more sustainable in the long-term as compared to those which focus exclusively on the financial bottom line. Good business is, by its very nature, socially responsible business. It is argued that if employees have an ownership stake they will be are more committed to the company. This leads to motivation and efforts, hence to productivity and profitability.

The question both for business and government is how to engender such participation and involvement and, specifically, whether this can be brought about through employee shareholding, when such individual shareholdings, taken separately, are insignificant in terms of the overall share capital of the enterprise? Even by pooling the voting rights – although not necessarily the actual ownership – of their shares, an employee shareholder trust could represent a significant voice.

However, some mechanism is needed to translate individual employee shareholding stakes into a collective voice that can deliver results, both in terms of representing the interests of employees and in convincing employees that their shareholding gives them a stake in the enterprise. Such a move could have important beneficial effects for corporate performance and hence economic growth. It could also have significant welfare effects in terms of enriching the experience of working life. Main reasons and issues need to be addressed before considering sharing ownership plans are:

The following are some of the reasons for having a sharing ownership plan:

Link between work and reward: If you are going to ask the most from your employees, they will expect something in return. Increasingly, pay is not enough. A plan that rewards employees with a share of the fruits of their labor draws a direct connection between work and reward.

Culture of ownership: When employees are rewarded based on their contributions to the company's success, they feel like owners. As owners, employees have more incentive to increase the company's profitability. However, this strategy will work only if a culture of understanding the company's challenges and contribute to the solutions has been created over time. Open twoway communication, flat management structure and employee involvement foster such a culture faster.

Following are the issues to be considered when creating a sharing ownership plan:

Empower employees to succeed: Employees must be able to make decisions that will have an impact on their bonus. "It [profit sharing] is not worth much, unless there's participation in decision making," says Bob Nelson, president of Nelson Motivation Inc. in San Diego, Calif., and author of 1001 Ways to Reward Employees.

Clear objectives: Before developing a partnership plan, any organization needs to have defined objectives in place; is it employee recruitment? Retention? Do you want liquidity for your equity? Do you want to boost production, or perhaps, you want a little of everything. The answers will help you choose the right plan for your company.

Know your industry: Old economy businesses may have actual profits to share. New economy enterprises may be years from that, so stock options carry more appeal. If your workforce is young and well educated, immediate stock awards provide more motivation. Older workers may be more interested in plans geared toward retirement.

Stage of business development: At the startup stage, a company may want to protect cash and offer stock options. At a rapid-growth or mature stage, when a company has become profitable, stock-option awards, cash and stock bonuses, or profit sharing become possible.

Employee participation within the workplace is generally regarded as important in generating and sustaining loyalty and commitment to the organization. Establishing and sharing a company ethos and culture is seen as a desirable outcome for organizational success. One reason for this is that attempting to secure effort from employees via supervision is at best costly and often difficult if not impossible. Incentive schemes may be impracticable where results depend on team effort. To work, incentives in this case need to go beyond simply appealing to individual calculations of the costs and benefits to the employee of deploying greater effort – since such a calculation would often result in the employee deciding rationally to “free ride” and still benefiting from the collective incentive scheme. Instead, such schemes need to be designed to engender collective trust and commitment.

Shared ownership by employees has long been the subject of corporate and public policy discussions. Given the advantages, meaningful employee participation through the particular route of ownership stakes has taken a number of forms over time and in different economies. Is participation actually enhanced by ownership? Do employee participation and employee share ownership have the same results? To be successful over the long term, companies need to innovate both in what they produce or offer and in the way in which they produce or the processes they adopt. The active participation of the workforce is seen as increasingly important in these processes, particularly in high value added sectors and in the “new economy.” On the other hand, the short-term interests of shareholders may get dividend rather than research and development and other innovative investments; the payback from which may not only be uncertain but also, at best, long term.

Cost cutting strategies and work intensification can bolster profitability in the short term, in the longer term developing participatory and representative mechanisms may prove increasingly important. While it is widely recognized that “flexible” employees are important for firms’ competitiveness, the above work found that such practices need to be complemented with adequate involvement mechanisms including reward systems and training, without which they could result simply in an increased intensification of work.

EMPLOYEE SHARE OWNERSHIP

From individual point of view, it makes more sense to hold shares in a company other than the one for which you work, otherwise, should that company go bankrupt, the individual risks losing his or her savings as well as their job. To advocate the holding of shares in the company for which the individuals actually work therefore requires two things. First, there needs to be a good reason for advocating such a decision. That is, one must be convinced that mechanisms exist to ensure that the sort of potential benefits associated with such ownership.

There must be a visible outcome in terms of company performance that follows as a result of such shareholdings. Otherwise, the employees would be better off holding shares in other different companies. Second, if the mechanisms are in place to ensure that there is a potential benefit then employees should be encouraged to take and hold on such ownership stakes, rather than taking stakes in enterprises other than the one for which they work.

POLICY IMPLICATIONS

Employee shareholder trusts could be used to solve the problem of the owners of listed companies (shareholders) who normally have no interest in the long-term success or otherwise of the firm. As far as the company is concerned, institutional shareholders come and go. An employee shareholder trust would be there for the long haul. They really would have an interest in the good governance and long-term success of the firm. The policy implications of the above discussion are twofold.

First, the tax incentives for employee shareholders could be further developed with the specific aim of encouraging employee shareholders to actively participate in trusts that provide a collective voice within the organization. Such a voice could have a positive impact on the performance of companies and thereby the economy as a whole. Without a belief that such individual collective shareholdings are contributing in a meaningful way towards a collective voice, there may not be the necessary commitment from the individual employee shareholders to hold on to those shares.

Indeed, they might in this case be better advised to sell and re-invest in some different sectors of the economy. There could be ways in which the specifics of how the tax incentives currently operate might be improved. More importantly, the reference to “approved” collective shareholdings is important. The current criteria for approving trusts could be extended so that schemes would be designed and operated in a manner that was clearly open and democratic, and whose objectives were to operate in the best interests of the company, rather than just to maximize financial returns to the individual shareholder.

Second, such schemes are only likely to develop and operate successfully if a body is established to ensure that this happens, along the lines of the existing supporter’s direct unit. The remit of such an organization would go beyond what is currently offered by the Treasury and Inland Revenue. It would allow the appropriate legal and other structures to be developed and to be then provided to any such collective employee-shareholding group. But it would also actively seek to enable each group to benefit from the experience of others in using such holdings to provide an effective collective voice at work.

EMPLOYEE SHARE SCHEME IN PAKISTAN

Section 14 Of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 has a set of rules that an owner must obey to avoid paying hefty taxes on his or her contracts. In this section “Employee Share Scheme” means any agreement or arrangement under which a company may issue shares in the company to:

(a) An employee of the company or an employee of an associated company; or

(b) The trustee of a trust and under the trust deed the trustee may transfer the shares to an employee of the company or an employee of an associated company.

Provision of this section would apply in Employee Share Scheme as follows:

The grant is not a taxable event: The value of a right or option to acquire shares under an employee share scheme granted to an employee shall not be chargeable to tax. However, consideration received against disposal of right or option would be taxable under the head “Salary” in the year in which disposal will take place.

Taxation begins at the time of exercise: Where, in a tax year, an employee is issued with shares under an employee share scheme including as a result of the exercise of an option or right to acquire the shares, the amount chargeable to tax to the employee under the head “Salary” for that year shall include the fair market value of the shares determined at the date of issue, as reduced by any consideration given by the employee for the shares including any amount given as consideration for the grant of a right or option to acquire the shares.

For example, if an employee is granted 100 shares of Stock A at an exercise price of Rs.25, the market value of the stock at the time of exercise is Rs.50. The amount included in the salary income on the contract is Rs.2,500 (Rs.50 – Rs.25 x 100).

The sale of the security triggers another taxable event: If the employee decides to sell the shares

immediately (or less than a year from exercise), the transaction will be reported as a Capital gain (or loss) and will be subject to tax at ordinary income tax rates and vary from different holding patterns. If the employee decides to sell the shares a year after the exercise, the sale will also be reported as a capital gain (or loss) and the tax will be reduced to a maximum level or would be exempt from tax subject to certain conditions.

CONCLUSION

The philosophy to partnering employees in the business is that if the employees feel that they have a stake in the enterprise or organization in which they work, they will be more committed to work. This in turn will bring positive outcomes in terms of productivity and organizational performance. This is time-tested theory and is based upon simple logic which

every sane manager acknowledges. Partnering employees creates significant links between progressive human resource practices that promote participation and involvement, corporate performance and organizational outcomes on the one hand and getting taxation benefit of holding such participation by the employees on the other.

_____________________

About the authors:

Athar Hussain is a senior finance professional in Iran, a fellow member of the Institute, on the visiting faculty of various institutions - professional bodies and universities, lecturing in various management disciplines.

Mubeshir Ali Kazmi, M.Com, ACA is a CFO and Company Secretary in Pakistan and on the teaching faculty of a number of institutions.

The readers are welcome to contact the authors to discuss any part of this article on email:

Athar Hussain: atharhzaidi@hotmail.com,

Mubeshir Ali: mobiali@gmail.com

Energy and Capital

2011-11-11T17:09:00.003+05:00

One of my friends is very keen to get such sort of resources which would be beneficial for him to get the foresight and vision to exploit the commercial opportunities of a post-oil economy through daily published commentary, research, and investment ideas centered around the end of the oil age and the technologies. This will certainly help him make a smooth transition among different type of energy resources.

Energy is such an important resource that it affects every single human venture due to its cheapness and convenient availability. Each and every one of us uses more energy than the previous generation. From wood to whale oil to coal to oil, every transition has given them access to cheaper energy and created vast amounts of new wealth. Energy crisis is beginning to make its way into the media limelight, but very few people are aware of its true scope and magnitude. And there is a great opportunity will rise from the ashes of this crisis like Natural gas investments.

Visit the neatly laid out site of Energy and Capital which are providing free, daily newsletter offering investment advice and analysis for the energy market. Each issue is written by one of our renowned experts in the field, whose work has been recognized everywhere from the Wall Street Journal to CNBC. The reporting and ideas they’ll give you are consistently at least one fiscal quarter ahead of the mainstream media. Periodically you will also receive promotions that offer opportunities to expand your investment knowledge even further. While the Energy and Capital website offers access to the articles and reports, as a newsletter subscriber you will be among the first to receive access to the valuable advice, delivered directly to your inbox daily, and you will have access to deals on our exclusive services.

UK Cleaning Products

2011-11-01T18:41:00.000+05:00

Enter any living space, home or an office, hotel or airport lounge, and the standard of cleanliness will form your first idea of a place. Cleaner the place, better the image you form. If the things are messed up, given chance, you would not like to deal with the place again in anyway. That is why one people going a long way to clean up. More so in corporate world.

The cleaning of living spaces – interior and exterior – is a fine art as well as science. The living spaces cleaning activities includes the cleaning of edifice’s facades and floors, the cleaning of steel structures such as bridges, wind turbines, and the cleaning of tunnels, sewage systems as well as items placed inside the space.

In modern living spaces, such as office blocks, supper stores, hotels or a hospital, facades and partitions made of glass are widely used. To maintain the characteristics and transparency of these building elements over the long term, they have to be regularly cleaned. How these requirements can be met cost-efficiently and with the necessary thoroughness.

One needs to have a right product for a right job. May be your cleaning staff doesn’t know the difference between cotton cleaning material and micro fiber cleaning products. Which one absorbs water more and which one lasts longer? I suggest the mangers at the upper ladder of the pyramid need to decide before bulk purchase. That is how any concern can save on cleaning products. No?

Money Market, Forex & General Updates - 31-10-2011

2011-11-01T10:31:00.003+05:00

Money Market Updates

Money market opened at 11.50 with high of 11.85 and a low of 11.40. Market closed at 11.85 percent.

Forex Market Updates

Dollar market inter bank opened at 86.65/67 with a high of 86.65 and a low of 86.48. Market closed at 86.50/52.

General Updates

The much-awaited Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation number for the month of October is expected to be released this week, which is likely to fall in the range of 10-10.3 percent as against 10.5 percent for September, analysts said. This would be the third consecutive monthly decline which will render four months' FY12 average inflation to 11.2 percent as compared to 13.9 percent in the same period of last year.

The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), for the week ended on October 27 for the lowest income group up to Rs.8,000, has registered increase of 0.55 percent over the previous week. The SPI for the week under review in the above mentioned group was recorded at 171.36 points against 170.42 points registered in the previous week, according provisional figures of Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS). The weekly SPI has been computed with base 2007-2008=100, covering 17 urban centers and 53 essential items for all income groups and combined. SPI for the combined group registered increase of 0.44 percent as it went up from 176.59 points in the previous week to 177.37 points in the week under review.

The exports of various sports goods increased by 5.39 percent during the first quarter of the current fiscal year as against the same period of last year. The overall sports goods' exports during July-September (2011- 12) stood at $79.469 million against the exports of $75.407 million during July - September (2010-11), Federal Bureau of Statistics reported. Among the sports products, the exports of footballs surged by 16.38 percent by increasing from $31.931 million in July-September (2010-11) to $37.161 million during the same period of current fiscal year.

Small Business Loans

2011-11-01T10:08:00.002+05:00

After the advent of internet, people and most of the companies have started their business through online regarding providing of small business loans and personal loans. To obtain a reasonable solution for getting Small Business Loans or a Personal loan for the average person, it is always a confusing and daunting job. Further, there are number of concerns which are available in the market providing such services and claiming they are the best among all.

However, we need such expert loan consultants those will guide us through the entire process from the initial application to walking away with our financial goals at competitive rate. I personally found Unsecured Solutions one of the best among all where you can apply for New Business Loans and Personal Loans. They always make sure that they will take all the proper steps to make the loan process easy, and fast. They offer all types of unsecured loans that will fit into what you are trying to accomplish.

Visit the neatly laid out site and see how they are offering about small business loans and Personal Loan ranging from $10k to $250k for good and excellent credit applicants.

Which Economies Have Fared Best and Worst During the Global Financial Crisis?

2011-10-13T10:32:00.000+05:00

GDP growth rates slowed sharply in most rich economies in the second quarter. So where does that leave output relative to its level before the start of the financial crisis? If we rank the G7 countries according to the change in real GDP since the end of 2007, Canada tops the league. But Canada, like the United States, has a fast-growing population, whereas the number of Germans and Japanese has started to shrink. GDP per person is therefore a better measure of relative performance. As the chart below shows, by this gauge Canada is still 1% below its pre-crisis level and America is 3.5% down.

Among the G7 countries only Germany has regained its end-2007 level. Comparing output now with its level before the crisis actually understates the depth of the slump. An alternative yardstick is to compare GDP per head now with what might have been expected if it had continued to grow at the same pace as during the ten years before the crisis. On this basis, even Germany has not yet caught up, and Ireland’s income per head is now a painful 25% below its previous trend.

Guaranteed Win

2011-10-13T10:26:00.002+05:00

There are number of penny auction websites available these days, however, I personally found dealfun.com scam one of the best penny auction websites and after looking at their site and the recent wins, I’m not surprised. Their motto appears to be “Never pay retail again on high quality brand name products.”

The most amazing thing is that they make sure that you will win! They provide a ‘must win’ guarantee. Participation is easy. Just select one of the available bid packages and bid on any of the hundreds of unique items including new laptops, TV’s, game systems, MacBooks, iPhones, and much more. If you’re the last person to bid for an item when the clock runs out, you win! The winners each day number in the hundreds! There are no win caps and if you don’t win an auction, you can use the bids to buy the product. Newcomers to Dealfun.com can brush up on their skills in the beginners’ auctions.

They provide the best possible customer service by ensuring that there is seven days a week, 24 hour a day phone and email support; rapid shipping that is easily trackable; NEW, factory sealed and warranteed items; featured auctions; a secure server; and saving up to 98% off retail prices. All items will ship in 72 hours by UPS or FedEx.

Difference Between IFRS and GAAP

2011-10-07T16:37:00.000+05:00

The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), and US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), are the two most widely used accounting standards in the world. IFRS standards are set forth by International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), and GAAP principles are set forth by Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB).

GAAP is more widely used by US companies, while IFRS is more common with companies listed outside the US.

U.S. GAAP is scheduled to start converging with IFRS by the end of 2014.

Key Differences

Let’s take a look at the key differences between the two:

Inventory Accounting

In a company the inventory can be tracked using one of the two methods, namely, Last In First Out (LIFO) and First In First Out (FIFO). The US GAAP allows the use of any of the two methods, while in IFRS, LIFO accounting is not allowed.

Interest Receipts and Payments

The various cash flows of an operation can be identified as operating, financing or investing activities. In IFRS, the interest payments and receipts can be identified as any of these three activities, while in US GAAP, interest receipts can be identified only as operating activity.

Financial Consolidation

Consolidation refers to inclusion of the financial statements of a subsidiary into the parent company’s financial statements.

In US GAAP, to be able to consolidate, the focus is on controlling financial interest. As long as the parent company has control over the financial interest of the subsidiary, the consolidation can be carried out. In case of IFRS, the focus is on having the ability to control both the financial interest and the operating policies. The control is assumed to exist of the parent company has over 50% of votes.

Property held for Investments

In general, US GAAP recognizes only two types of accounts for properties, i.e., held for sale, or held for use. The US GAAP does not have a separate account for investment properties; so all investment properties are recognized as either held for use, or as held for sale. However, in IFRS, investment property is separately defined in IAS 40 as an asset held to earn rent or for capital appreciation (or both) and may include property held by lessees under a finance/operating lease. Therefore, accountants can account for investment property based on a historical cost basis or on a fair value basis.

Leases

Under US GAAP, most of the lease transactions only affect the income statement, and are not recorded as balance sheet items. However, in IFRS, most leases are recognized as financing leases, so, the company must recognize the asset as well as the future lease liability.

Revenue Recognition

Both IFRS and GAAP do not recognize revenue until it is earned, however, there are certain differences. For example, let’s take the case of sale of goods. In case of US GAAP, revenue is recognized once the delivery has occurred, there is persuasive

evidence of the sale, the fee is fixed or determinable, and collectibility is reasonably assured. In IFRS, the revenue is recognized only when the ownership has been transferred, and the revenue can be measured reliably.

With respect to receivables, IFRS considers it to be a financing agreement. All future receivables should be discounted using the appropriate interest rates in order to determine the value of revenue.

The US GAAP allows construction contract revenues to be recognized using the percentage-completed or the completed-contract method. The IFRS prohibits the use of completed contract method.

The two accounting standards also have differences in the way the financial reports are presented.

Online Sport Betting

2011-09-28T14:09:00.002+05:00

Internet has really changed the norms of different activities including sports. some years back people have to go physically for watching any type of sports. Most of them were interested to bet over their favorite teams of cricket, baseball, american foot ball, soccer, etc. However, now this all can be done through internet at home. Any one who believes his favorite team that they will win the contest can bet over internet within seconds and make money in convenient way. There are number of concerns in the market which are providing online sports betting services, however, only few are good enough to which any one can rely.

After the advent of internet online sports betting is very popular and easy as it is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. Over the last decade, more sports bettors have turned to online sports books to place wagers. The growth of the Internet during this time has enabled the online sports betting industry to flourish. None of these books are allowed to be based in the United States. Many are run out of other countries like Costa Rica.

However, there are certain rules need to be followed for online sports betting. The main ruling issue in sports betting involves the length of a particular game. In the NFL and NBA, it is very rare for any game to not be completed. Still, there can be some unusual circumstances in a game that might ultimately result in a shortened contest. At most sports books, a football game that lasts at least 55 minutes is considered an official contest. Visit the neatly laid out site and see what they are offering and how.

Pakistan's Forex Reserves Ease to $17.90 Billion

2011-09-05T15:38:00.002+05:00

Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves fell to $17.90 billion in the week ending Aug. 27, from $17.96 billion in the previous week. Reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) fell to $14.45 billion from $14.50 billion in the earlier week, while those held by commercial banks eased to $3.45 billion from $3.46 billion, according to the State Bank of Pakistan. Foreign exchange reserves hit a record $18.31 billion in the week ending July 30 but have eased since then due to scheduled debt repayments.

The reserves were boosted in June by inflows of $411 million, including a loan of $191.9 million from the World Bank, and another loan of $196.8 million from the Asian Development Bank. Higher export proceeds and a record inflow of remittances have helped Pakistan's forex reserves grow steadily. According to official data, remittances rose 38.57 percent to $1.1 billion in the first month of 2011/12 fiscal year (July-June), compared with $791.18 million in the same period last year.

Web Hosting

2011-09-05T14:36:00.002+05:00

The web hosting industry is extremely important for the continuity and functionality of the internet, as every website online requires access to a web server at all times. Without a web hosting plan, your website would cease to exist, and without the right type of web hosting, it will not perform optimally. Thus, it is very important to make sure you are choosing the right kind of hosting for your online endeavors.

Virtual private server (VPS) hosting is akin to an advanced form of shared web hosting, as you are sharing a web server with other people. However, with VPS, you have access to more server resources because the entire server is split evenly at all times. In other words, when your site runs out of bandwidth, it can immediately draw bandwidth from another part of the server as long as it is available. The hosting concept is often referred to as the cloud concept, and when it is used in several servers at once, it is called cloud VPS hosting.

Most corporations or greatly successful online business owners use dedicated web hosting because it is extremely powerful. With dedicated hosting, you are basically renting your own web server that is stored and maintained at a professional data center. As the owner of a dedicated server plan, you have complete control over the server because you can install any type of software you’d like, including various control panels and content management system. Most dedicated hosting plans cost around $100-$400 per month, depending upon the server type.

Federal Government Sues Major Banks over Fannie and Freddie Losses

2011-09-05T14:32:00.003+05:00

Federal regulators launched a broad legal assault on big banks Friday, claiming they sold nearly $200 billion in fraudulent mortgage investments to housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that led to massive losses during the financial crisis.

The suits, brought by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, name 17 domestic and foreign banks as defendants. Among them: Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank.

According to the court filings, those firms and others “falsely represented” the quality of the loans that were bundled into securities and sold to investors and “significantly overstated the ability of the borrower to repay their mortgage loans.” The result, the suits claim, were investments that were far riskier than the banks led taxypayer-backed Fannie and Freddie to believe, and the securities ultimately were worth a fraction of their original value.

Friday’s filings in New York and Connecticut represent an escalation in the government’s effort to recoup taxpayer losses incurred during the financial crisis. But the lawsuits also raised questions about the toll they might have on the health of the already struggling banking sector and the prospects for a housing market recovery.

The federal action also underscored the often contradictory relationship between the government and financial firms in the wake of the crisis. At times, government officials have come to the rescue of banks and counted on them to help accelerate the nation’s lagging economic recovery. But often, officials have derided the practices that fueled the financial meltdown and sought to keep banks in check, either through new regulations or negotiated settlements or, as on Friday, potentially costly litigation.

Some financial analysts said the lawsuits come at a particularly bad time because bank lending is already sluggish. They warned that the lawsuits could sap capital from banks, leaving them with even less money to lend, and further weaken the economy. Others argued that Fannie and Freddie were sophisticated investors who helped shape the very securities they purchased.

One former top executive at a financial institution that bought and sold mortgage securities, and who spoke on the condition of anonymity, criticized the suits, saying that “the whole thing has gotten ridiculous and out of hand. The banks are big boys. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are big boys. The people who invested in private securities are big boys.”

Added another bank official: “These are folks that were involved in creating these securities. The idea that Fannie and Freddie were victims in this, it defies credibility.”

But James Millstein, a former Treasury official who oversaw the reorganization of bailed-out insurance giant American International Group, said “the anti-fraud provisions of the securities laws don’t have a big boy exemption. There isn’t one rule for little investors and another rule for big investors.”

He added that the government had an obligation to pursue its claims. “I don’t think it’s going to do anybody any good if the price of getting banks to do what they’re supposed to do is giving them a pass on violating the securities laws,” he said, “particularly when it involves an entity currently being subsidized by the taxpayers.”

Source: Washington Post

Garage Del Parco

2011-09-05T14:07:00.003+05:00

Whether you're buying new or used, there's no doubt that the Internet is a great tool for your car quest. If you are buying a new car, you can research the kind of car you want, the options you need, the price of the car and the price of the additional options. If you've done your homework, you'll be able to walk into a dealership armed with loads of valuable information. When you're just starting out, a good first step is to go to the manufacturers' Web sites to check out the cars and the available options.

One of the most useful sites on the Internet is auto usate milano. This site offers up just about everything you need to know about buying a new or used car. The tips are invaluable for anyone who wants to make sure they don't overpay for their new ride. One of the best things about the site is that it deconstructs various dealer scams. If you know the dealer's agenda before you walk in the door, you'll be able to spot if someone is taking advantage of you. We're certainly not saying that all car dealers are out to dupe you, but you have to be careful and be prepared. Remember, an ounce of prevention can save you thousands of dollars in the end.

Request an evaluation of your car phone is easy at vendita auto usate. And 'Just call their number and communicate the exact model of the car, the year of registration, mileage and the options of where the car is equipped. These data will be with you, they will do an assessment, evaluation will then be definitively whether a person charged with compro auto usate and will try the car.Do not hesitate to call them! Efforts will be made without adequate appreciation of your car and their best offer. Visit the neatly laid out web site and see what they are offering and how.

Pak-Rupee Makes Record Low

2011-08-22T12:14:00.003+05:00

The Pakistani rupee fell to a fresh record low on Saturday on negative sentiment about the country's economic outlook, as well as the deteriorating security situation in Pakistan's financial hub Karachi. The rupee closed at 86.95/99 to the dollar -- its weakest ever closing -- down from the previous record low of 86.85/90 on Friday. Dealers said they expect the currency to remain under pressure, as dollar payments are typically higher in July and August because of stronger oil demand and debt payments.

'The rupee was traded as high as 87 against the dollar,' said a dealer at a local bank. 'There were no payments today but there are some due on Monday so there was some position building plus the sentiment is still very weak.' Stalled payments from a bailout program by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is also negatively impacting the rupee.

The IMF has criticized the Pakistan government for its patchy implementation of fiscal reforms, and has held back the sixth tranche of an $11 billion bailout program since August last year.

IMF and Pakistan officials were due to meet last month, but the meeting has been delayed and no new date has been announced.

Dealers said increased remittances from Pakistanis working abroad had supported the rupee and shielded the currency from a sharp fall in recent weeks, but increased dollar demand over the last week has pushed the rupee lower. According to official data, remittances rose 38.57 percent to $1.1 billion in the first month of 2011/12 fiscal year, compared with $791.18 million in the same period last year.

Dealers also said there were fears of portfolio inflows, which was driving down the sentiment. Dealers said the security situation of Karachi was also weighing down the rupee as at least 65 people have died in the violence which erupted on Wednesday, according to police officials. The commercial hub of Pakistan has been gripped by political and ethnic violence as well as gang wars in recent months.

Online Pharmacy

2011-08-22T10:43:00.001+05:00

These days there are number of spam emails offering and selling medicines or drugs which are designed to steal your credit card details or to download damaging files onto your computer. They are offering medicine at very cheap prices or without the need for a prescription from a doctor. These scams can cause both financial and health problems. Even if you actually do receive the products that you order, there is no guarantee that they are the real thing. In some cases, the medicines or other products may even damage your health.

Remember that there is legitimate online pharmacy without prescription. These businesses will have their full contact details listed and will also require a valid prescription before they send out any medicine that requires one.

They have compiled some informative material from professional sources regarding purchasing prescription online pharmacy , which they know clients will find useful. While they always recommend that a client consult with their physician prior to buying prescription medications online, they can answer any questions that may fall within our professional scope as the law permits regarding sales and service. They would like to invite you to continue to our client support page for more detailed information. You can also contact us with questions, concerns or issues regarding your online purchases. They are pleased that you have considered us pharmacy online no prescription and want to ensure only the finest service available on the web.

Sharing economy

2011-08-10T13:07:00.002+05:00

This article appeared in Profit, Pakistan Today, August 10, 2011 issue

The concept of sharing economy is as old as society itself. Economic model based on bartering, lending, trading, renting, gifting, and swapping (commonly called collaborative consumption) has always been present in all civilization in one form or the other. Only the ongoing boom of collaborative web technologies has accelerated sharing on the pace that was never possible before. The growth is more evident online.

Loosely defined, sharing economy is a business model in which shared goods or services are distributed via a market place to a community of users. The basic idea is to better utilize existing assets. Connected population can better participate in organized sharing of goods that would otherwise sit unutilized. Many of us are probably already participating in this fast growing trend. Anyone who has created software for download free or posted information online for users to benefit is already participating in the trend. Those who are using online marketplaces to recycle physical goods creating less of a need to produce new products or are facilitating an economical and convenient ways of sharing are also aiding collaborative consumption.

Initially, sharing economy concerns followed business-to-consumer market strategies. Over time, peer-to-peer models are mushrooming. Peer-to-peer models are much more capital efficient than their business to consumer counterparts because they do not require major capital investment to acquire assets. Instead, they rely on a community to supply them, typically in exchange for a revenue share of the transaction.

Growing fast, sharing economy stands at one of those interesting points in time where no one knows how big it might grow. Social technologies have already changed the concept of a community and consumers’ behavior. What in the past was about ownership is now about access.Traditionally, the growth of conventional economy has always based upon larger inputs from finite resources. That is not sustainable long-term solution. Still, armed with theories that disregard physical limits, conventional economy has been successful in creating incredible wealth and technological progress, notwithstanding the depletion in existing resources to near exhaustion. Almost all resources are running out, leaving little for generations to come. Environmental hazards that come with exploiting resources, like climate change, ecosystem devastation, and biodiversity loss.

That is why ecologists were the first to support sharing economy as a phenomenon. Ecologists and environmentalist view economic fundamentals by making a distinction between growth and sustainable development. While growth can be defined as an increase in output, sustainable development means increasing the quality of human well-being by a given output. By focusing on the latter, ecologists believe that our society can progress without destroying the ecosystem that sustains it.

Sharing and renting more stuff means producing and wasting less stuff, which in turn means producing less and that is good for the planet we live on. In addition to this green element, best thing is that collaborative consumption has new opportunities for entrepreneurs to make money. As per careful estimate, sharing economy as a whole is a $110 billion plus market and it is growing as a perfect fit for an cyber lifestyle in which “digital natives” (those born after 1980 and are now growing up during the digital revolution) can participate with trust. One can see the growth in the rise of big businesses like car rentals and media companies whose millions of subscribers pay a fee to share a car part time or download DVDs they want. In addition to the so many successful examples, a huge new opportunity is already driving new businesses and renewing old ones.

Let us take a look at human factor in collaborative consumption. Collaboration is human nature in the first place. Digital natives have discovered that consumption and capitalism are not necessarily the doors to happiness. They are connected; they know that the world is now a group of interest based communities ripe for collaboration. The tools the digital generation embraces and the platforms that are coming up every day are making it possible to collaborate more.

Sharing is first of all a human experience, probably as old as our existence, but after the rise of rampant consumption, “sharing with” is the new humanized experience.

Local market scouting reveals that all businesses from bartering, lending, trading, renting, gifting, to swapping are already running in Pakistan since pre internet era still working the old ways. They need to adjust to the age of collaborative web technologies. The bottom of the pyramid in Pakistan is much wider than most people realize. Collaborative consumption phenomenon that promises austerity will sure find great demand.

Is collaborative consumption really the answer to rampant consumerism, a change in the air? While the exchange economy may have been appropriate for the industrial and post industrial age, the sharing economy is coming back as we proceed through the digital age and yes, it can change so many things.

Made in Pakistan

2011-08-10T13:06:00.001+05:00

Pakistan stands out in the world when it comes to cotton products. Here cotton is the best, manufacturing process is cost effective and the whole chain is business friendly. Which is why users from all over look upto Pakistani concerns for their needs?

At Product Impex we offer cotton wears from aprons to towel, sports socks, work wear and other cotton mix synthetic material swimwear. Out whole process is simple. Contact us, tell us what you need and will deliver the same, under your own label if you want. We pride in offering you your own brand.

Have a look at our site and see what we are offering and how. Just tell us what you want and let us work together.

Our Blog

Monetary Policy, July 2011 - At A Glance

2011-08-01T16:28:00.002+05:00

1. A relative decline in average CPI inflation compared to earlier projections and a gradual buildup of foreign exchange reserves provide a modicum of macroeconomic stability as the economy begins a new fiscal year. These developments appear more pronounced in the backdrop of devastating floods of early FY11 and a significant shortfall in external financial inflows. While the containment of government borrowings from SBP in H2-FY11 played its part in relatively improving the inflation outlook, a substantial increase in export prices and steadily rising remittances facilitated the reserve accumulation. A cumulative increase of 150 basis points in SBP’s policy rate during H1-FY11 and a proactive management of financial markets also helped in realizing these incremental gains.

2. A lower than projected inflation does not provide an enduring source of comfort for SBP as it continues to show a high degree of persistence at an elevated level. The 12-month moving average of CPI inflation was 13.9 percent in June 2011, exactly the same level observed in every subsequent month since December 2010, and 4.4 percentage points higher than the target for FY11. This level of inflation is not limited to the prices of few items and is in fact quite broad based, indicating that expectations of inflation are fairly entrenched in the economy. Thus, a meaningful reduction in inflation would require consistent and credible implementation of monetary and fiscal policies.

3. Acknowledging the persistence of inflation, the government has announced an inflation target of 12 percent for FY12. The government has also provided in the Medium Term Budgetary Framework (MTBF) a desired path of inflation of 9.5 percent and 8 percent for the subsequent two years. Conditional upon factors such as adjustments in the administered prices of electricity and oil and a projected broad money (M2) growth of 15 to 16 percent SBP’s forecast of average inflation ranges between 11 and 12 percent during FY12.

4. A close inspection of the overall expansion in monetary aggregates and their changing composition is important to understand both the moderate decline and persistence of inflation. For instance, reserve money grew by 17.1 percent in FY11 with 82 percent of the expansion coming from an increase in the Net foreign Assets (NFA) of SBP. Accumulation in NFA is a reflection of the external current account surplus and build-up of reserves by the SBP. A surplus in the external current account, in turn, is an indication of somewhat restrained aggregate demand in the economy and therefore relative stability in inflation, albeit at a high level. Retirement of government borrowings from SBP towards the end of both the third and fourth quarter of FY11 has also been helpful in improving the inflation outlook.

5. The government borrowing from scheduled banks, however, has increased substantially. It grew by 74.5 percent in FY11 and contributed 65 percent to the 15.9 percent growth in broad money (M2). The growth in private sector credit, on the other hand, was only 4 percent with negligible demand for fixed investment. These monetary trends show that the decline in aggregate demand is less than desirable and expansion in productive capacity of the economy remains weak. Both these factors help understand the persistence of inflation. The falling productivity due to severe energy shortages and deteriorating law and order conditions together with unanticipated and sporadic adjustments in the administered prices are also adding inertia to inflation.

6. The borrowing needs of the government from the scheduled banks were mostly met through short term instruments. This has increased the rollover requirements substantially and has complicated liquidity management. Apart from mitigating the resulting volatility in the money market overnight repo rate and keeping it consistent with the monetary policy stance, SBP’s liquidity operations had to strike a difficult balance among multiple and competing considerations. These include stability of the payments system, adequate availability of liquidity in the market, and build up of foreign exchange reserves.

7. The underlying reasons of growing government borrowings are structural and not specific to FY11 though it must be acknowledged that FY11 was a difficult year given floods and other pressing spending needs. The consolidated fiscal data has not been released, however, provisional estimates from the financing side indicate that the fiscal deficit in FY11 may have reached close to Rs1127 billion or 6.2 percent of GDP. Excluding the one-off payment of Rs120 billion to partially settle the circular debt in the energy sector, the fiscal deficit in FY11 comes down to 5.6 percent of GDP.

8. The main structural weaknesses causing this high level of fiscal deficit and a rise in total debt are low tax to GDP ratio and rigid current expenditures. While exemptions and ineffective taxation of major parts of income generating sectors of the economy are limiting the revenue generation capacity, continued provision of financial support to the loss making Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) and untargeted subsidies are keeping the current expenditures under pressure. Consequently, the tax to GDP ratio remains low, 8.6 percent in FY11, and any fiscal adjustment inevitably results in cuts in the development expenditures, which is not desirable given the infrastructure needs of the economy.

9. These considerations underscore the need to accelerate the implementation of fiscal reforms currently being considered by the government. A path of fiscal deficit in the next three fiscal years has been provided in the Medium Term Budgetary Framework (MTBF), which shows a budget deficit target of 4 percent for FY12. Moreover, the government is planning to reduce the revenue deficit to zero in FY12 with a projected surplus in the following two years. This assumes an ambitious increase in tax collection by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). An effective implementation of fiscal reforms, especially those related to broadening of the tax base, and better coordination with the provinces are urgently required to implement this plan.

10. Unlike fiscal accounts the position of the external current account improved considerably in FY11 and contrary to earlier projections a surplus of $542 million has been realized. A significant and unexpected growth of 29.4 percent in exports and a robust growth in workers’ remittances, which now stand at $11.2 billion, are the primary factors responsible for this improvement. Fragile global economic conditions and dominance of price effect in both exports and imports, which was more pronounced in H2-FY11, has increased exposure of the economy to movements in international commodity prices.

11. Incorporating the recent declining trend in international cotton prices and likely continuation of international oil prices around $100 per barrel, projected growth rate of exports is 6 to 7 percent and that of imports is 10.5 to 11.5 percent. The external current account is expected to show a modest deficit of 0.8 percent of GDP in FY12. Given an increase in debt obligations and continued suspension of IMF’s Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) financing even a small external current account deficit could pose challenges in terms of maintaining an upward trajectory of SBP’s foreign exchange reserves.

12. The main risk in external accounts emanates from the declining capital and financial flows, which have dropped to $1.8 billion in FY11 from $5.3 billion in FY10. The perceived high country risk, relative to other emerging market economies, is the main factor underlying the reluctance of private foreign investors to invest in the country. The delays in implementation of economic reforms, on the other hand, resulted in shortfalls in estimated foreign loans. Nonetheless, by end-June 2011, SBP’s liquid foreign exchange reserves have increased to $14.8 billion from $13.0 billion at end-June 2010. A reflection of an improved overall external position can also be seen in a relatively stable exchange rate; Pak rupee marginally depreciated by 0.5 percent against the US dollar in FY11.

13. The provisional National Income Accounts, however, do not share the positive aspects of external accounts. The devastating floods at the start of FY11 were a serious setback for economic growth in the economy already beset by continuing energy shortages and deteriorating law and order conditions. As a result, real GDP growth of 2.4 percent fell short of the target by more than 2 percentage points. The main casualty was the real private investment expenditures. The gross fixed capital formation by the private sector contracted by 3.1 percent, leading to a decline in total gross investment to 13.4 percent of GDP; the lowest level since FY74. However, due to strong growth in real consumption expenditures, aggregate domestic demand grew by 5.9 percent.

14. At the same time, national savings have increased to 13.8 percent of GDP, mainly due to net factor income from abroad. Consequently, the gap between national savings and investment as a percent of GDP has turned marginally positive. Since this positive gap is mostly due to falling investment, it cannot be considered as an encouraging development from the perspective of reviving economic activities and sustaining high growth over the medium term.

15. Against this backdrop, SBP has decided to reduce the policy rate by 50 basis points to 13.5 percent effective 1st August 2011. The key parameter in this assessment is the outlook of inflation that indicates that average inflation in FY12 is expected to remain in line with the announced target. No adjustment in the interest rate would have entailed further tightening of monetary policy in real terms, which is not warranted given the decline in private investment. Moreover, despite fiscal slippages, the government has adhered to restricting the stock of its borrowings from SBP to Rs1155 billion (on cash basis). In fact, the government retired these borrowings compared to both the end-June 2010 level as well as the mutually agreed limit of end-September 2010 level. The government has also expressed its commitment to continue with a stance of zero borrowings from SBP in yearly flow terms in FY12, which bodes well for anchoring inflation expectations. However, the developments related to expected financial inflows and pattern of government borrowings from scheduled banks will need to be monitored closely to assess potential risks for macroeconomic stability.

Weight Loss Pills

2011-08-01T13:01:00.003+05:00

If you’ve been exercising or dieting, and been having difficulty achieving that ideally weight, Slim9, is an all-natural, and safe dietary supplement that can help with weight loss. For some of you, motivation and energy can be an issue when it comes to exercises. Slim9, as a diet pill, is a source of Ginseng, Guarana, Green Tea, and Green Coffee, which can give you an energy boost throughout the day, giving you the extra stamina and motivation needed to exercise.

Slim9 is an all-natural weight loss pill and dietary supplement, aimed at helping you lose weight, boost metabolism and boost energy. It is one of the best among 10 top weight loss pills in Canada.Using Slim9 can help you to feel more energetic, and improve your stamina while exercising.

Slim9 put together the formula of this weight loss pill, to include powerful herbal extracts, aimed at improving metabolism, regulating digestion, and much more. This is one of the best all natural weight loss pills in Canada. Slim9 is a great dietary supplement, which will help you manage and achieve your weight loss goals because this is the best and safest weight loss pills in Canada.

Money Market, Forex and General Upadtes - 23-07-2011

2011-07-23T13:38:00.003+05:00

Money Market Updates

Money market inter bank opened at 13.80/13.90. Market remained near 13.55 and went on a high of 13.90 and closed at 14.00.

Forex Updates

Dollar Market interbank opened at 86.12/15 with a high of 86.19 and a low of 85.12. Market closed at 86.17/20.

General Updates

Inflation remained in double-digits in the four year term of the present government eroding the purchasing power of the country’s poverty-hit masses. With inflation forecasted to stay in double digit in FY12 it would be the first time in Pakistan’s history that the country would be observing consecutive five years of double-digit inflation. The overall Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Pakistan witnessed a massive increase of 76 per cent in last four years, thereby eroding the purchasing power of the masses. In the last four years average yearly inflation stood at 14.6 per cent as against an average GDP growth rate of a mere 2.9 per cent.

During the financial year 2011, Pakistan imported goods worth $27.777 billion from the Asian region, which is 76 per cent of the country’s total import of $36.379 billion. Compared to this tall figure, the country’s exports to the region could hardly reached $11.195 billion, which is just 40 per cent of imports from the region.

Even Pakistan’s close friends are getting large benefits while their imports from the country reflect poor and discouraging trade relations. China’s exports to Pakistan in FY-11 rose to $4.144 billion from last year’s $3.283 billion. However, China’s import from Pakistan remained stuck to just $1.645 billion, reflecting a serious gap which could be filled with better trade relations and market.

Debt Settlement

2011-07-23T11:31:00.004+05:00

Everyone needs a day job right? The trick is finding one that doesn’t take much time yet can still pay your bills. It sounds like a dream, until you try Googling debt settlement business opportunity. About five minutes of Internet research proves that running a debt settlement affiliate program is money in the bank. All you have to do is sign people up, process the paperwork, and then work with a debt settlement net branch to handle all the back end, and you’ve got a full time job with a full time income that requires hardly anytime whatsoever. Now, who’s up for skiing?

Typically, a debt settlement affiliate program will contract out to a processing center to handle all the rote day to day tasks. The processing center works on behalf of your clients to help eliminate their debt, while you enjoy a modest kickback that adds up to a sizable living with enough clients. It’s all web based, so you don’t have to meet anyone in person. You could be on the beach for all they care, which isn’t a bad idea. Invest in a good WiFi option, and you can even answer your email on the beach, though that might distract you from the real surfing.

Those attracted to the debt settlement business opportunity are mostly intrigued by the ability to earn a living without much hassle. It’s just a matter of signing clients on board, and letting your debt settlement branch handle the logistics. As a debt settlement affiliate program, you get a sizable check on a regular basis, and plenty of free time to spend it. Let’s face it, free time is not a bad way to make a living.

Accounting Firms - Marketing Strategy

2011-07-23T11:21:00.000+05:00

Accounting firms are rapidly escalating their business-building efforts:

66% of accountants say their firms have been increasing their marketing and business development activities in the last 12 months.

85% say they will be continuing to step up marketing in the coming 12 months

55% are accelerating their own personal biz-dev efforts

Adding new clients is now, clearly, the foremost concern, with 83% listing it as an objective, followed by:

Client retention, 72%,

Lead Generation, 62%, and

Niche or Specialty Services, 49%.

In the next 12 months, firms will be stepping up:

1. Networking with prospects and referral sources, 67%,

2. Upgrading the firm’s website, 57%,

3. E-newsletters, 52%,

4. Social media (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc.), 48%, and

5. Thought leadership (blogging, publishing articles, speaking engagements, white papers), 45%.

Payday Loans - Online Hub

2011-07-23T10:54:00.002+05:00

A payday loan also called a paycheck advance is a small, short-term loan that is intended to cover a borrower's expenses until his or her next payday. The loans are also sometimes referred to as cash advances, though that term can also refer to cash provided against a prearranged line of credit such as a credit card. Legislation regarding payday loans varies widely between different countries and, within the USA, between different states

If a person needs money in a hurry, a fast cash advance is a great way to get the funds. What makes a fast cash advance so great? To start off, almost anybody can qualify for one and they will receive the money quickly. There is no long wait time for paperwork to be processed or for the money to be given to you. Simply complete the short application process and you are on your way to having your fast cash advance through payday loans online hub. What does a person need to have in order to qualify for a fast cash advance? All that a person needs is a bank account, a paycheck stub and they must be at least 18 years of age or older. That’s it. No credit check is required and you are not asked what you need the funds for. The paperwork for a fast cash advance can be completed in as little as 10 minutes and a person can have the money available to them within 60 minutes. Talk about a fast turnaround. You can use the money for whatever emergency has arisen, whether the emergency is a car that needs to be repaired or a utility bill that is due, you will now have the fund to take care of the situation.

The amount of money that a person can get with a fast cash advance can be as much as $1,500, though in some cases it may be as little as $50, it all depends on the person and the situation that they need the funds for. There are times when a few emergency financial situations can happen all at one time, in those cases a person may have to take out a fast cash advance of over $1,000. No matter how much you need or what you need the funds for, a fast cash advance is the way to go through payday loans online hub.

Rebekah Brooks and News's books

2011-07-16T11:57:00.002+05:00

A look at where News Corp makes money might explain why phone hacking at the News of the World was not given the attention it deserved

Rebekah Brooks resigned as chief executive of News Corporation on July 15th, taking the advice offered to her in this week's print edition. As the chart below shows, the challenge for News Corp now is to prevent the stink from phone hacking at the News of the World spreading to the parts of the business that make most of the company's money. For while Rupert Murdoch is a newspaper man first and a television and film mogul second, newspapers made up just 13% of the company's profits in the year to June 2010

Meet and Chat with Strangers

2011-07-15T14:20:00.002+05:00

The Internet is allowing greater flexibility in working hours and location, especially with the spread of unmetered high-speed connections and web applications. Electronic mail, or email, is an important communications service available on the Internet. The concept of sending electronic text messages between parties in a way analogous to mailing letters or memos predates the creation of the Internet. Pictures, documents and other files are sent as email attachments. Emails can be cc-ed to multiple email addresses.

iMeetzu is a unique website that combines the idea of randomly meeting and chatting with someone one-on-one (like Chatroulette and Omegle) with a social network / free online dating / friend finder site. This allows you have additional interesting conversations with your favorite random chat contacts, as well as check out their profiles and learn more about them, without having to divulge your real name and other private details like you would have to with Facebook. Thus, we have taken multiple great concepts and put them together to create the ultimate site where you can make friends online and not worry about your privacy.

5 Reasons to Become FRM

2011-07-14T09:57:00.000+05:00

If you currently manage risk, money, or investments, or are looking to enter this dynamic field, achieving the FRM certification is the clear way to accelerate your career.

The FRM is the acknowledged global standard for financial risk management. The FRM is the first and the most widely recognized risk management designation in the world. In 2010, FRM candidates came from 126 countries and over 4400 different organizations globally, underscoring that the FRM is the true global standard.
You will gain state-of-the-art knowledge. Designed by and for risk practitioners to reflect a mix of foundational theory and current marketplace issues, the FRM Exam content is highly relevant. So much so that 92% of those who sat for the May 2011 FRM Exam would recommend their colleagues also sit for the FRM Exam.
The certification process confirms your professional achievements. Real-world experience is an essential component of attaining FRM certification. No other financial risk designation requires candidates to demonstrate related professional experience – so becoming a Certified FRM means considerably more than passing an exam.
Certified FRMs have access to exclusive continuing education and networking opportunities. Certified FRMs have a unique opportunity to join a lifelong professional network, with numerous continuing education and networking activities. Certified FRMs value the designation: 82% would prefer to hire a job candidate with the FRM.
You will enhance your reputation for integrity. All Certified FRMs are expected to adhere to principles that promote the highest levels of ethical conduct and disclosure beyond following the letter of applicable rules and regulations. Employers know that Certified FRMs will help safeguard their firms' reputations.

Karzai’s Brother Killed by Guard in Kandahar Home

2011-07-12T13:59:00.001+05:00

The half-brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai was assassinated by one of his security guards inside his house in Kandahar on Tuesday morning, a political killing that will reverberate widely through the country and could destabilize a key region in the U.S. military’s campaign against the Taliban, according to witnesses and Afghan officials.

Ahmed Wali Karzai, the head of Kandahar’s provincial council who was widely considered the most powerful man in southern Afghanistan, had been meeting with tribal elders and politicians in his heavily fortified home in downtown Kandahar city when a security guard walked into his meeting room and requested a private discussion, according to two people at the house at the time. Karzai and the guard left for another room, and shortly afterwards three gunshots rang out.

Agha Lalai Destegeri, the deputy provincial council chief, who had been meeting with Karzai Tuesday morning, said he heard the gunfire and rushed in to find Karzai shot in the head, chest and hand.

Karzai’s other guards entered the room and shot and killed the gunman. His entourage drove the bleeding Karzai a short distance across town to Mirwais Hospital but he did not survive, Destegeri and other Afghan officials said.

“He was the number one man in Kandahar,” said Mir Wali Khan, a former parliament member from Helmand province who was at Karzai’s house at the time of the shooting. “We expect now the security of Kandahar will get worse, and the fighting among the tribes will grow stronger and stronger.”

Khan and Destegeri identified the shooter as Sardar Mohammad, who was from the Dand district of Kandahar province. They did not know how long he’d worked with Karzai, who employs a large team of guards and lives on a street barricaded by concrete blocks and manned by police.

Karzai has long been a controversial figure in Afghan politics. He rose to prominence as his brother assumed the presidency and profited off his position to establish a powerful grip on Kandahar, the home of the Taliban insurgency. He was regularly accused of participating in the opium trade and profiting from private security companies. He always adamantly denied these accusations and described them as motivated by his political enemies, of which there were many. Unlike the often tranquil atmosphere at the governor’s office, Karzai’s Kandahar home was a hive of activity, and clearly the center of political power, as tribal leaders, politicians, American diplomats and soldiers, came for his help and counsel.

Some Good Quotes

2011-07-11T11:06:00.000+05:00

• Energy and persistence conquer all things. – Benjamin Franklin

• Focus on your potential instead of your limitations. – Alan Loy McGinnis

• Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. – Nelson Mandela

• A successful team is a group of many hands but of one mind. – Bill Bethel

• Strong conviction precedes great actions. – Louisa May Alcott

• Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. – Helen Keller

TPD Insurance

2011-07-11T10:32:00.000+05:00

Life insurance is important in protecting the financial well-being of your family and loved ones in the event that you pass away. It pays a lumps sum to your beneficiaries or to your estate. If you would like to compare life insurance quotes then looking online may be your best option. You can look at term life insurance policies and see which one best suits your needs.

TPD Insurance stands for Total & Permanent Disability Insurance. It provides a lump sum in the event that the insured becomes totally or permanently disabled. This type of insurance should not be confused with Trauma Insurance, as it provides a lump sum payment if you suffer a medically diagnosed event or disease, irrespective of whether you are totally disabled or not. The funds from a TPD insurance benefit payment may be useful in paying for any outstanding debts, medical bills and living expenses while you adjust to your disability. This type of personal insurance is typically combined with life insurance or Trauma insurance as it is relatively inexpensive in most cases, although in some instances you may want it as a “stand alone” policy.

You can call here on 1300 135 205 today and save up to 20% on your first year’s life insurance premium.

Citigroup to Repurchase HK$1.06 Billion of Lehman Notes

2011-07-09T12:00:00.003+05:00

Citigroup Inc. agreed to repurchase HK$1.06 billion ($136 million) of notes linked to Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in Hong Kong, according to a statement from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission today.

Citigroup’s offer covers about 92 percent of customers holding the outstanding notes, it said. The bank will pay 80 percent of the value of each customer’s investment, according to the statement.

The offer from Citigroup came after Standard Chartered Plc in March agreed to repurchase HK$1.48 billion of structured notes linked to Lehman. The proposals, along with a settlement agreement approved in May, may help end discontent that led investors to hold almost daily protests outside bank branches in Hong Kong.

“Citibank is making this offer in the best interests of our clients without admitting any liability,” James Griffiths, a Citigroup spokesman for the bank in Asia Pacific, said in the e-mailed statement.

Hong Kong investors in notes tied to Lehman approved on May 20 a settlement agreement proposed by Lehman’s receiver PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP that would return as much as 96.5 percent of their original investment. About 43,000 Hong Kong investors had bought an estimated $1.8 billion of so-called minibonds from lenders.

Citigroup is repurchasing market-linked notes and equity- linked notes that are different from the minibonds that were sold by some banks in Hong Kong.

Credit Counseling

2011-07-09T11:45:00.004+05:00

Credit counseling is a process that involves offering education to consumers about how to avoid incurring debts that cannot be repaid through establishing an effective Debt Management Plan and Budget. Credit counseling is usually less typified by functions of credit education or the psychology of spending habits, rather credit counseling establishes a planned method of bad credit mortgage relief, typically through a Debt Management Plan.

Consumer credit counseling often involves negotiating with creditors to establish a debt management plan (DMP) for a consumer. A DMP may help the debtor repay his or her debt by working out a repayment plan with the creditor. DMPs, set up by credit counselors, usually offer reduced payments, fees and interest rates to the client. Credit counselors refer to the terms dictated by the creditors to determine payments or interest reductions offered to consumers in a debt management plan.

Visit the neatly laid out site and fill out the form below and claim your 3 FREE Educational Gifts NOW! These 3 items will teach you ideas you can apply today to better your credit counseling services.

Money Market, Forex and General Upadtes - 07-07-2011

2011-07-09T10:41:00.003+05:00

Money Market Updates

Money market interbank opened at 13.90. Market remained near 13.90 whole day and closed at 13.90.

Forex Updates

Dollar Market interbank opened at 85.82/85 with a high of 85.89 and a low of 85.83. Market closed at 85.82/84.

General Updates

Country’s oil consumption slid by 3.1 percent in fiscal 2011 to 19.6 million tonnes versus 20.3 million tons last year, despite the increasing energy appetizing and emergence of gas shortage in the country.

Pakistan and Srilanka have started thinking about enhancing the business ties between the two countries. The current bilateral trade volume stood at $338 million, which could be increase with the help of private sector.

The budget deficit for the fiscal year 2010-11 that ended on June 30 was 5.3 per cent of gross domestic product, higher than earlier estimated. The country’s budget deficit was 6.3 per cent of GDP in 2009/10 fiscal year. During June 2011, the US transferred to Pakistan $190 million for what is called the citizen damage compensation program. It helps provide assistance to victims of the devastating summer floods of 2010, which caused about $10 billion in damage.

In the fiscal year that began July 1, the government aims to cap its deficit at 4 per cent of GDP by decreasing its expenditure and broadening its tax-to-GDP ratio, which is currently around 9 per cent.

Trading

2011-07-07T13:45:00.003+05:00

Trading is one of the oldest business but modern communication technologies have given birth to the global trade cycle, commonly referred to as ‘global supply chain’ or ‘physical and financial supply chains,’ which represents the various stages of the buying and selling process among trading partners anywhere. Product Impex is trading as a part of global supply chain. You visit the website, you will find a whole lot from Salt, and Salt Products, to Aprons, Beachwear, Towels, Sports Socks, and Work wear from some of the best manufacturers in the industry.

We have collaboration with leading manufacturers that gives us control across large trading partner networks and also in the manufacturing process. Which is why we offer our clients custom products like aprons with your unique design and or message printed on front or back?
Product Impex put much emphasis behind having a fancy growth strategy but we sure understand that our growth is really the growth of our clients.

We are wholesalers and we know our growth is attached with the growth of our retailers and whom they sell and how much. That is why we think globally and put all our energies behind making our clients by offering them the best and cost effective.

Money Market, Forex and General Upadtes - 27-06-2011

2011-06-28T10:31:00.002+05:00

Money Market Updates

Money market opened at 12.00/50 percent with a high of 12.50 and a low of 11.10 percent. Market closed at 11.10 percent.

Forex Updates

Interbank dollar market opened at 85.95/00 with a high of 86.20 and a low of 85.92. Market closed at 86.10/12

General Updates

The government in the next financial year 2011-12 has set growth rate at 3.7 percent for manufacturing Sector as a whole, while 2 percent and 7.5 percent growth rates have been fixed for large scale and small scale manufacturing respectively.

A South Korean conglomerate, Lotte, plans to invest up to dollars 500 million in Pakistan. The firm Lotte is the producer of pure terephthalic acid-a chemical widely used in the manufacture of

synthetic especially polyester.

Whereas the inflation rate during the current fiscal year remained over 14 percent and electricity went costlier by 24 percent, the petroleum products prices also soared by 28-60 percent. Petroleum products and furnace oil prices in international market during the year was seen hiking by 22-46 percent.

Remittances sent by overseas Pakistanis crossed $10 billion for the first time, hitting $10.1 billion in the first 11 months of the 2010/11 fiscal year, an increase of 25.20 percent compared with the same period last year.

Payday Loans Online

2011-06-24T11:14:00.003+05:00

Payday loans have become quite popular amidst the uncertain economic times, and many consumers would be struggling if it weren't for their existence. The rising demand has certainly created an opportunity for businesses, so it is no surprise that there is plenty of competition in the industry. As the providers of payday loans online seek to entice clients by offering unique benefits, a consumer can take full advantage of their chance to compare the various lenders and select the one that will prove to be the most beneficial.

It is necessary to understand that some attributes of payday loans online may be more important dependent upon the specific situation. For example, a person that has an immediate or urgent need for cash may be more interested in a provider that can issue a loan faster than any other lender. Consumers should realize that the fastest turnaround times may require a higher fee, so individuals that can manage to wait for the funds could possibly save money. Some individuals may be interested in borrowing as much money as possible, and this process is likely going to be more involved than a small loan. A prospective borrower needs to determine which characteristics are their primary focus, and any further comparisons should be based on that decision.

Money Market and General Upadtes - 23-06-2011

2011-06-23T17:23:00.001+05:00

Money Market Updates

Money market opened at 13.00/25 percent with high of 13.85 percent and a low of 11.oo percent. Market closed at 11.00 percent

General Updates

The foreign exchange reserves of the country increased by dollars 353.9 million to dollars 17.518 billon. Foreign exchange reserves were dollars 17.518 billion on June 11 compared to dollars 17.164 billion on June 06. The break-up further showed that reserved held by SBP were dollars 14.085 billion and that held by other banks were dollars 3.433 billion.

Pakistan's current account surplus for the July-May period was a provisional $205 million, compared with a deficit of $3.402 billion in the same period last year. In May, the current account had a provisional deficit of $457 million, compared with a surplus of $630 million in April. The current account deficit for the 2009/10 fiscal year was $3.946 billion, compared with $9.261 billion in 2008/09 fiscal year.

The government budgetary borrowings from the banking system have witnessed a sharp rise of 75 per cent or Rs316.823 billion and have skyrocketed to Rs735.647 billion during a period ranging from July 1 to June 11 during the concluding financial year. The central bank recorded that Broad Money expanding to 14.50 per cent or Rs837.693 billion during the period under review against last year’s expansion of 9.72 per cent or Rs499.385 billion in monetary terms.

Payday Laons

2011-06-23T17:16:00.003+05:00

A payday loan (also called a paycheck advance) is a small, short-term loan that is intended to cover a borrower's expenses until his or her next payday. The loans are also sometimes referred to as cash advances, though that term can also refer to cash provided against a prearranged line of credit such as a credit card (see cash advance). Legislation regarding payday loans varies widely between different countries and, within the USA, between different states.

No matter how great your credit, no matter how good your job, sometimes you're going to find that you need extra cash. online payday loans are a great option when you need to be able to access money quickly - and know that, within a matter of a few weeks or months - you will be able to repay it. However, finding the right quick payday loans can be challenging.

By taking the time to identify and prioritize your needs - and then taking the time to compare lenders who offer payday loans online - you will be in control. A quick search of their database of lenders makes it possible for you to find same day payday loans with simple application processes, low fees, quick approvals, or low hassles - making it easy for you to get the money that you need quickly without the risk of any unpleasant surprises later on.

Money Market, Forex and General Upadtes - 22-06-2011

2011-06-23T17:10:00.004+05:00

Money Market Updates

Money market opened at 13.00/25 and mostly traded in between 12.00% to 13.00% & low 11.00 and closed at floor.

Forex Market Updates

Dollar Market interbank opened at 85.65/70 with a high of 85.71 and a low of 85.55. Market closed at 85.54/56.

General Updates

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has extended the limits sanctioned by banks to individual exporters under Part-II of the Export Finance Scheme (EFS) and Islamic Export Refinance Scheme (IERS) for the year 2010-11 to August 31. Export refinance limits sanctioned in favor of banks for the year 2010-11 were due to expire on 30 June, 2011.

Textile and Food sectors which have exhibited dramatic growth in exports have helped in pushing overall exports over the $22 billion mark during the last 11 months. Textiles was the major export sector which, having 55 per cent share in total exports, recorded 46.23 per cent growth over the same month of last year. Export of food items grew by 66.24 per cent. On the other hand, growth in manufacturing sector decreased by 2.6 per cent and Petroleum group by 11.7 per cent.

Credit Repair Services

2011-06-16T11:13:00.002+05:00

Living with bad credit today is possible, but it's tough. Bad credit makes many things difficult, impossible, or even more expensive. For example, did you know insurance companies often charge a higher interest rate for drivers that have bad credit scores? If you're getting new utilities turned on in your name, the company will check your credit to decide whether you should pay a security deposit. We all know that banks check credit scores before they give you a credit card or a loan. The list of companies who check your credit will probably grow instead of shrink.

Credit Repair is critical to saving money on insurance, loans, and credit cards, but that's not the only reason to repair your credit. A better credit score opens up new employment opportunities, even promotions and raises with your current employer. If you have dreams of starting your own business or you just want the security of knowing you can borrow money when you want to, then you should repair your credit sooner rather than later.

Credit Repair Services will provide a Free Intelligent Online Interview about a User's Credit Repair needs, and then recommend the Credit Repair Service we have reviewed that will be the best match for the User's needs and requirements. This Intelligent Online Credit Repair Adviser is offered to you completely FREE of charge. They are compensated by the Credit Repair Companies you decide to use only if and when you sign-up.

Money Market, Forex and General Upadtes - 15-06-2011

2011-06-16T11:09:00.002+05:00

Money Market Updates

Money market interbank opened at 11.50/11.25 percent offer rate with a high of 12.25 and a low of 11.00. Market was quite liquid today and closed at floor.

Forex Updates

Dollar interbank market opened at 85.75/80 and volumes were traded between 85.93 and 85.77. Market closed at 85.84/88.

General Updates

Foreign investment in Pakistan fell 5.8 percent to $1.739 billion in the first 11 months of the 2010/11 fiscal year because of a decrease in foreign direct investment. Foreign investment totaled $1.847 billion in the same period last year. Foreign direct investment fell 29.7 percent in the July-May period to $1.392 billion from $1.981 billion in the same period last year.

The remittances sent home by overseas Pakistani workers have crossed $10 billion mark for the first time in country's history. The overseas Pakistanis have remitted an amount of $10,096.40 million in the first eleven months (July-May) of the current fiscal year (2010-11), showing an increase of $2,031.94 million or 25.20 percent when compared with $8,064.46 million received over the same period of the last fiscal year. Overseas Pakistanis have remitted over $1 billion for the third consecutive month of this fiscal year. They remitted an amount of $1052.90 million, $1,030.43 million and $1,049.79 million in March, April and May 2011 respectively. The remittances sent home by overseas Pakistanis in May 2011 were up by 38.52 percent or $291.93 million when compared with $757.86 million received in the same month last year.

Malaysia would invest in Pakistan to the tune of $1.5 billion by next year. Malaysian exports for $1.8 billion to Pakistan were only due to palm oil as Pakistan is the second largest importer of Malaysian palm oil. Pakistan’s exports to Malaysia reached $125 million from $100 million three year ago but this increase is meager and needs a quantum leap.

Pay Pal Alternative

2011-06-16T10:56:00.002+05:00

Today a majority of credit card transactions are sent electronically to merchant processing banks for authorization, capture and deposit. Various methods exist for presenting a credit card sale to "the system." In all circumstances either the entire magnetic strip is read by a swipe through a credit card terminal/reader, a computer chip is read, or the credit card information is manually entered into a credit card terminal, a computer or website. The earliest methods, submitting credit card slips to a merchant processing bank by mail, or by accessing an Automated Response Unit (ARU) by telephone, are still in use today but have long been overshadowed by electronic devices. These early methods used two-part forms and a manual device for mechanically imprinting the embossed card number information onto the forms.

Like all other fields of human activities, computers, the Internet and related collaborative technologies and mobile phones are pervading different aspects of commerce. Businesses have already integrated Merchant Accounts, computers, and other machines to handle transaction or figured out PayPal Alternative as it suits them and it is so convenient for everyone.

Financial transactions are as old as the start of the economy only Credit Card Processing Companies and introduction of Credit Card Processing have changed the way we do our business. Thanks to High Risk Merchant Accounts that now all you need to have is account and it will take care of all your requirements efficiently. Flagship Merchant Services is playing important role in promoting merchant culture.

Highlights - Pakistan Economic Survey 2010-11

2011-06-03T10:52:00.004+05:00

GROWTH AND INVESTMENT

The Real GDP is estimated to grow at 2.4 percent on the back of strong performance of services sector as against actual growth of 3.8 percent last year and target of 4.5 percent.

The growth in the agriculture is estimated at 1.2 percent on the back of 3.7 percent growth in the livestock sector.

Major Crops accounting for 31.1 percent of agricultural value added registered negative growth of 4.0 percent compared to a negative growth of 2.4 percent last year and a target of 3.7 percent.

Minor crops registered a growth rate of 4.8 percent compared to the target of 3.0 percent and massive negative growth of 7.8 percent last year.

Output in the manufacturing sector has witnessed expansion of 3 percent in 2010-11 as compared to expansion of 5.5 percent last year on the back of strong performance from small and medium manufacturing sector.

Large-scale manufacturing grew by 0.98 percent (July-February 2010-11 incorporated in the national accounts but the growth is now 1.7 percent in July-March 2010-11) as against 4.9 percent of last year.

The services sector grew by 4.1 percent against the target of 4.7 percent and actual outcome of 2.9 percent. Within services sector Wholesale and retail trade sector grew at 3.9 percent as compared to 4.6 percent last year and the target for the year of 5.1 percent. Finance and insurance sector recorded negative growth of 6.3 percent in 2010-11 as against contraction of 11.3 percent last year. Public administration and defense posted a stellar growth of 13.2 percent as compared to 2.5 percent in last year. Social Services Sector grew by 7.1 percent which is slightly higher than the target of 5.0 percent but lower than last year’s actual growth of 7.8 percent.

Pakistan’s per capita real income has risen by 0.7 percent in 2010-11 as against 2.9 percent last year.

Per capita income in dollar term rose from $ 1073 last year to $ 1254 in 2010-11, thereby showing tremendous increase of 16.9 percent. This is mainly because of stable exchange rate as well as higher growth in nominal GNP.

Real private consumption rose by 7.0 percent as against 4.0 percent attained last year. However, gross fixed capital formation lost its strong growth momentum and real fixed investment growth contracted by 0.4 percent as against the contraction of 6.1 percent in last fiscal year.

The total investment has declined from 22.5 percent of GDP in 2006-07 to 13.4 percent of GDP in 2010-11.

Fixed investment has decreased to 11.8 percent of GDP from 13.4 percent last year.

The national savings rate has decreased to 13.8 percent of GDP in 2010-11 as against 15.4 percent of GDP last year.

Domestic savings has also declined substantially from 16.3 percent of GDP in 2005-06 to 9.5 percent of GDP in 2010-11.

AGRICULTURE

The agriculture growth this year is estimated at 1.2 percent as compared with 0.6 percent during 2009-10.

Cotton production has decreased from 12,913 thousand bales in 2009-10 to 11,460 thousand bales in 2010-11, showing a decrease of 11.3 percent.

Wheat production has increased from 23,311 thousand tons in 2009-10 to 24,214 thousand tons in 2010-11, showing an increase of 3.9 percent.

Rice production has decreased from 6,883 thousand tons in 2009-10 to 4,823 thousand tons in 2010-11, showing a decrease of 29.9 percent.

Sugarcane production has increased by 12 percent to 55.3 million tons in 2010-11 from 49.4 million tons last year.

Gram production has increased from 562 thousand tons in 2009-10 to 523 thousand tons in 2010-11, showing a decrease of 6.9 percent.

Maize production has increased from 3,262 thousand tons in 2009-10 to 3,341 thousand tons in 2010-11, showing an increase of 2.4 percent.

In minor crops, the production of potato, onion and mash increased by 18.6 percent, 11.2 percent and 1.0 percent, respectively. However, the production of mung, chillies and mash decreased by 35.5 percent, 8.6 percent and 2.7 percent respectively.

Agriculture credit disbursement of Rs. 168.7 billion during July-March 2010-11 is higher by 1.4 percent, as compared to Rs. 166.3 billion over the same period last year.

The domestic production of fertilizers during the first nine months (July-March 2010-11) of the current fiscal year was higher by 2.7 percent as compared with corresponding period last year. On the other hand, the import of fertilizer decreased by 50.4 percent, the off-take of fertilizer also decreased by 11.3 percent during the same period last year.

MANUFACTURING & MINING

During the First nine months of the current Fiscal Year 2010-11, production of Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) increased by 1.71 percent which was mainly caused by the improvement in sub groups of leather (30 percent), automobile (14.6 percent), Food, Beverages & tobacco (9.3 percent) and paper & board (2.9 percent).

The items which show an increase in their production during this period were TV sets (28.6 percent), sugar (26.5 percent), LCVs (23.3 percent) and cooking oil (9.7 percent).

During the current fiscal year (2010-11), cement production decreased to 20.8 million ton as against 23.1 million tons last year showing a decrease of 9.6 %, whereas sugar production increased by 3.8 million ton showing an increase of 26.5 percent.

Exports earning of the Textile products in 2010-11 (July-March) showing an increase of 29.9 percent.

During 2010-11 (July-March) in automotive industry cars, LCVs/Jeeps and two/three wheelers registered a positive growth of 16.4 percent, 20.5 percent and 12.6 percent, respectively.

The mining and quarrying sector is estimated to grow by 0.4 percent in 2010-11 as against 2.2 percent last year. Natural gas, crude oil and dolomite posted positive growth rate of 1.9 percent, 1.1 percent and 5.9 percent, respectively.

FISCAL DEVELOPMENT

Tax collection by the FBR was targeted at Rs 1667 billion for fiscal year 2010-11. However, the target was downward revised to Rs 1,588 billion, as a result of devastation caused by floods during July and August 2011.

The catastrophic floods reduced growth and posed a further challenge to public finances by depressing budget revenues and additional spending to meet the humanitarian and reconstruction needs, thereby upward adjustment in the fiscal deficit target from 4 percent of GDP at the time of budget announcement to 5.3 percent of GDP have made.

The government is focused on prudent expenditure management and better resource mobilization to create fiscal space for providing support to growth. Major reforms like harmonization of tax administration have taken place and strengthening of Risk Based Audit is under process.

Through a combination of Presidential Ordinance and withdrawal of SRO base exemptions, amendments have been made in the Sales Tax Act 1990, Income Tax Ordinance 2001 and Federal Excise Act 2005. The additional revenues of Rs 53 billion are estimated during the last quarter of 2010-11. The following tax measures have been taken through these amendments:-

i. Withdrawal of sales tax exemption on agriculture inputs like tractors, pesticides, and fertilizer both at domestic and import stages. Now these are subjected to 17 percent GST

ii. A one time surcharge of 15 percent has been imposed on withholding and advance taxes payable during financial year 2011; and

iii. Special excise duty rate has been increased from 1 percent to 2.5 percent on non-essential items for the remaining period of tax year 2010-11.

The administrative measures and vigilance will be helpful in generating another Rs 24 billion. These steps will also be helpful in achieving the revised collection target of Rs 1588 billion.

Revenue collections of FBR stood at Rs 1,156 billion during July-April 2010-11, thereby reflecting 12.6 percent growth over Rs 1,026.5 billion collected during the corresponding period last year. Among the four federal taxes, the highest growth 15.6 % has been recorded in sales tax receipts, followed by customs (12.6 %), direct tax (10.7 %) and federal excise (7.0%).

For July-April, 2011, direct taxes have been a major source of FBR tax revenue collection, contributing 37.1 percent of total receipts. Net collection was estimated at Rs. 430 billion.

Indirect taxes including (Sales Tax, Federal Excise Duty and Custom Duty) grew by 13.8 percent during July-April, 2011 and accounted for 62.8 percent of the total FBR tax revenue. Net collection was estimated at Rs.726.0 billion.

Total expenditure of Rs. 3,257 billion was estimated for the full year, comprising of Rs. 2,641 billion of current expenditure (81.1% of total), and Rs. 617 billion of development expenditure (18.9% of total).

MONEY AND CREDIT

SBP has raised the discount rate to 14 percent on 30th November 2010, and decided to keep the rate unchanged at 14 percent.

Net expansion in M2 increased by 9.62 percent during July-April, 2011 as compared to 8.1 percent during the same period last year

Net Domestic Assets (NDA) during July-April 2011 reached at Rs 402.5 billion against Rs 446.1 billion during the same period last year. The expansion in NDA mainly attributed by a rise in demand for private sector credit and government borrowings.

On the other hand the NFA of the banking system during the period under review stood at Rs 153.2 billion after registering a significant decline of Rs 31.3 billion during the same period of last year.

During July-April, 2011 Credit to private sector enterprises (PSEs) registered a sharp decline from Rs72.5 billion in 2009-10 to Rs 26.7 billion owing to the retirements by an oil refinery and a state owned oil marketing company .

The government borrowing from the banking system for budgetary support and commodity operations stood at Rs 342.2 billion during July-April, 2011. Government has borrowed Rs 196.3 billion from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) , while Rs 275.9 billion has been borrowed from the scheduled banks. In the month of May 2011, the government has further reduced its borrowing stock from the SBP to attain the target of net zero borrowing from the SBP.

During July-April 2010-11 the retirement of loans under commodity financing picked up sharply and reached at Rs 134.2 billion on account of retirement of advances for wheat by provincial departments and Pakistan Storage and Supply Corporation (PAASCO) and other provincial procurement agencies as compared to Rs 35.6 billion during the same period last year.

The credit availed by the private sector during July-April, 2011 was Rs 156.7 billion is compared to Rs 144.2 billion in the corresponding period last year.

A strong growth has been witnessed since January 2010 which was due to an increase in seasonal demand for working capital. More than half of private sector credit went to the textile sector showing higher input prices, especially cotton. Sector wise breakup of private sector credit also shows that sugar and textile industries were the major drivers to this increase, which respectively availed credit of Rs 105.6 billion and Rs 62 billion during Jul-March 2011.

Liquidity conditions in the money market remained fairly comfortable during July-March 2010-11 underpinned by the reduced government borrowings from the SBP and growth in bank deposits. SBP drained this excess liquidity not only through auctions, but also mopped up a significant amount through open market operations (OMOs).

CAPITAL MARKETS

The KSE-100 index recorded a bullish trend during first half of the current fiscal year (CFY) as the market was trading around 12,000 at the end of December 2010. The KSE- 100 index however, remained steady during the third quarter of 2010-11 and after touching at 12,682 on January 17, 2011 and at the end of March 2011 it traded at 11,810 points.

The main reason of better performance in 3rd quarter of 2010-11, in the stock market and gearing up the momentum in the KSE-100 is considerable foreign investment in the capital market

Lahore stock exchange index-25 increased to 3,343 points on March 2011 and its market capitalization is Rs. 2921.5 billion.

Islamabad stock exchange index-10 inched up from end-June 2010 level of 2,445 points to 2605 points on end-March 2011 with market capitalization of Rs. 2,531.5 billion.

Net inflow of foreign investment in Pakistan from July –March 2010-11 was US$ 301.5 million which as compared to US$431.9 million in the last corresponding period, it is important to mention that noteworthy contribution was made during the first two quarter of 2010-11.

Corporate profitability has increased in 2011 but profitability concentrated in few large companies.

The sectors of Oil and Gas companies, Fertilizers and Chemical sector and Banks exhibit considerable profits.

Seven auctions of Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) were carried out in July-March2010-11 and government collected Rs.83.4 billion. Three and ten years maturities contributed a large proportion by resulting in an amount of Rs.76.2 billion.

Three 3-years Ijara Sukuk were issued from July-March2010-11. Rs.136.6 billion was raised against the total target of Rs. 125 billion.

During the fiscal year July-March 2010-11, net deposits with National Saving Schemes (NSS) increased to Rs 1,822.4 billions. Behbood Savings Certificates, Regular Income Certificates and Special Saving Certificates were the precursor products. Profit Rates for some National Saving Sachems were revised.

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) formulated a comprehensive policy for dealing with companies in default of securities market laws to protect the investor, enhance transparency and improve member listing.

INFLATION

The inflation rate as measured by the changes in Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 14.1 percent during (July-April) of the current fiscal year 2010-11, as against 11.5 percent in the comparable period of last year.

The food inflation is estimated at 18.4 percent and non-food 10.4 percent, against 12.0 percent and 11.0 percent in the corresponding period of last year.

The core inflation which represents non-food and non-energy prices also decreased from 11.0 percent to 9.6 percent.

The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) during July-April, 2010-11 have increased by 23.3 percent, as against 11.3 percent of last year.

The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) has recorded an increase of 18.2 percent during July-April, 2010-1, as against 12.4 percent of last year.

The increase in inflation rate during the current year 2010-11 is attributable to the increase in food price inflation which has been mainly due to increase in prices of sugar, milk, poultry, meat, fresh vegetables and fruits owing to shortfall in production of these items and significant increase in world food stuff prices.

TRADE AND PAYMENTS

Overall exports recorded a positive growth of 27.8 percent during the first ten months (July-April) of the current fiscal year against an increase of 8.0 percent in the same period of last year. In absolute terms, exports have increased from $15,773.2 million to $20,154.2 million in the period.

Imports during the first ten months (July-April) of the current fiscal year (2010-11) increased by 14.7 percent compared with the same period of last year, reaching to $32.3 billion. The overall import bill is higher by $4.1 billion, reflecting the impact of higher global crude oil & Commodity Prices.

The higher import bill during July-April 2010-11 is contributed by food group ($1,528 billion), petroleum group ($678.3 million) consumer durables ($247 billion), raw material group ($ 1039 million), telecom ($245 million) and other item group ($ 951 million).

Trade Balance The merchandise trade deficit improved by $240 million and declined from $12.3 billion in July-April 2009-10 to $ 12.1 billion in July-April 2010-11. The substantial increase of 14.7 percent in imports is more than neutralized by 27.8 percent growth in exports which caused the trade deficit to improve.

Worker’s Remittances totaled $ 9.1 billion in July-April 2010-11 as against $ 7.3 billion in the comparable period of last year, depicting an increase of 23.8 percent.

Current Account Balance improved significantly during the last two years or so. Current account recorded a broad-based surplus of $ 748 million in July-April 2010-11 as against deficit of $3456 million in the comparable period of last year. The improvement came from all components of current account balance like trade balance of goods and services, and current transfers.

Services account deficit shrank by 28.2 percent during July-April 2010-11 to reach $ 1.4 billion as compared to $1.9 billion during the same period last year.

Financial account surplus deteriorated and reached to $ 412 million as compared to $ 3533 million in corresponding period last year.

Exchange rate remained more or less stable as rupee depreciated by just 2.2 percent in July-April 2010-11, however, Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER) appreciated by 0.8 percent in the period.

Foreign direct investment (private) stood at $1232 million during the first ten months (July-April) of the current fiscal year as against $1725 million in the same period last year thereby showing a decline of 29 percent.

Foreign Exchange Reserves amounted to $ 17.1 billion by the end of April, 2011. Of which, reserves held by State Bank of Pakistan stood at $ 13.7 billion and by banks stood at $ 3.4 billion.

EXTERNAL AND DOMESTIC DEBT

During the first nine months of the current fiscal year 2010-11, Pakistan’s total external debt increased from $55.9 billion at end-June 2010 to $ 59.5 billion by end-March 2011 — an increase of US $ 3.6 billion or 6.4 percent which is lowest growth in EDL in the last five years.

In relative terms, EDL as percentage of GDP decreased from 31.6 percent at end-June 2010 to 28.2 percent by end-March 2011— a decrease of 3.4 percentage points.

The country’s debt burden defined as external debt and liabilities as percentage of foreign exchange earnings decreased from 146.6 percent by end-June 2010 to 127.2 percent by end-March 2011.

Public Debt increased by Rs 1162 billion in the first nine months of 2010-11, reaching a total outstanding amount of Rs. 1,002,0 billion; an increase of 13.1 percent in nominal terms.

The primary source of increase in public debt during July-March, 2011 has been a sharp rise in local currency component that accounted for 69.7 percent of the total increase in total public debt.

The external debt component grew by Rs 275 billion or 6.4 percent partially due to increased foreign public debt inflows and partly because of cross-currency translation effect.

Public debt as percent of GDP has decreased to 55.5 percent by end-March 2011 after hovering around to 60 percent of GDP for three years.

Domestic Debt stood at Rs 5462.2 billion at end-March 2011 which implies net addition of Rs.803.9 billion in the nine months of the current fiscal year.

In relation to GDP the domestic debt stood at 30.2 percent of GDP which is lower than end-June 2010 level at 31.4 percent.

The domestic debt grew by 17.3 percent which is lower than last years’ growth of 20.7 percent. The focus on deficit financing through internal sources owing to non-availability of external receipts has been the major cause.

The composition of major components shaping the domestic debt portfolio has undergone a complete transformation from a high dominance of unfunded debt to an increasing dependence on floating component of domestic debt.

Since 2006-07, domestic debt witnessed a sharp rise with consequent build-up in the interest payments. Interest payments as percent of GDP has peaked to 4.4 percent of GDP in 2008-09 but since then declined persistently to 2.5 percent of GDP in 2010-11. This also incorporates impact of higher nominal GDP growth.

Higher fiscal deficit and enormous slippages in the revenue and expenditure targets remained key problems.

EDUCATION

The overall literacy rate (10 years & above) which was 57.4 percent in 2008-09 has increased to 57.7 percent in 2009-10, indicating 0.5 percent increase over the same period last year.

Male literacy rate (10 years & above) remained 69.3 percent in 2008-09 and 69.5 percent in 2009-10 while it increased from 44.7 to 45.2 percent for females during the same period. Literacy remained higher in urban areas (73.2 percent) than in rural areas (49.2 percent) during 2009-10.

Province wise literacy data of PLFS (2009-10) shows Punjab stood at 59.6 percent, Sindh (58.2 percent), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (50.9 percent) and Balochistan (51.5 percent).

According to the Ministry of Education, there are currently 228,376 institutions in the country. The overall enrolment is recorded at 38.22 million with teaching staff of 1.41 million as compared to 1.40 million last year showing an increase of 0.7 percent.

HEALTH AND NUTRITION

At present, there are 972 hospitals, 4842 dispensaries, 5344 basic health units and 909 maternity and child health centres in Pakistan.

With availability of 144,901 doctors, 10,508 dentists, 73,244 nurses and 104,137 hospital beds in the country by 2010-11, the population and health facilities ratio works out at 1222 persons per doctors, 16,854 persons per dentist and 1701 persons per hospital bed which compares well with the other developing countries.

During 2010-11, 35 basic health units and 13 rural health centres have been constructed. While 40 rural health centres and 850 basic health units have been upgraded.

Some 4500 doctors, 400 dentists, 3200 nurses and 5000 paramedics have completed their academic courses and 4300 new beds have been added in the hospitals.

Some 96,000 Lady Health Workers (LHWs) have been trained and deployed mostly in the rural areas. Moreover, some 8 million children have been immunized and 24 million packets of ORS distributed.

Various health programmes with a special focus on major public health problems have been carried out. These include cancer treatment, AIDS prevention and Malaria Control Programme.

The total outlay of health is budgeted at Rs.42.0 billion (Rs.18.7 billion development and Rs. 23.3 billion current expenditure) which is equivalent to 0.23 percent of GDP which is 79 billion as compared in 2009-10.

POPULATION, LABOUR FORCE AND EMPLOYMENT

According to the latest estimates population of Pakistan stood at 177.10 in 2011 and is sixth most populous country of the world. If the existing trend remained unchanged, it will reach 191.7 million by the year 2015 and 242.1 million by 2030 (Estimates and projection by Sub-Group II for the 10th five year People’s Plan 2010-15).

Growth Rate is 2.05 percent and total Fertility Rate (TFR) is 3.5 per woman.

Life expectancy in Pakistan is 64.18 for male and 67.9 for female.

Pakistan has the total labour force of 54.92 million and is the 9th largest country in the world with respect of the size of its labor force in 2010.

About 3.05 million labour force is estimated as unemployed in 2009-10, with an unemployment rate of 5.6%.

Agriculture dominates the distribution of employed persons among all the major sectors leading at 45.0 during 2009-10; wholesale and retail trade has the share of 16.3 percent and manufacturing with 13.2 percent.

To cope with the evolving demographic challenge the National Population Policy 2010 seeks to attain replacement level fertility i.e. 2.1 births per woman by 2030.

POVERTY

The floods of 2010 have caused a significant loss to poverty reduction efforts. The areas affected by floods were consistently lagging behind in terms of socio-economic and educational indicators as compared to the areas unaffected by floods. The loss to infrastructure and livelihood sources will push them behind further.

ADB’s recently issued study on “Global Food Price Inflation and Developing Asia”, maintains that a 10 percent rise in domestic food prices in Pakistan for one year could push an additional 3.47 million people below the $1.25-a-day poverty line or worsen poverty situation by 2.2 percentage points.

Food inflation in Pakistan has averaged 18 percent for the last four years which implies significant deterioration of purchasing power of the poor. The precise impact of this build-up in prices could not be determined until availability of results of the Household Income Expenditure Survey (HIES) component of PSLM Survey 2010-11 the work on which has already started.

An analysis of 3 year moving average of changes in per capita income and commensurate impact on reduction in poverty headcounts suggests that large reductions in poverty headcount are associated with substantial growth in per capita GDP during 2002-2006.

The Government has prioritized the 17 pro-poor sectors for budgetary intervention through the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) from 2008-09 to 2010-11 in the PRSP-II. An amount of Rs.482.6 has been spent on these areas during July-December 2010 which is 15.8 percent higher than in the comparable period of last year.

The social safety nets are major initiatives to reinforce the government’s efforts to reduce the adverse effects of poverty on the poor. The social safety nets program include Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) envisages cash grants of Rs 1,000 every month to the females of each qualifying household having a monthly income of less than Rs 6,000 through banks/post offices with the aim to ameliorate the conditions of the poorest of the poor by directly accessing them and supplementing their sources of income.

To enhance self-employment, some registered beneficiaries of BISP under the current targeting mechanism are selected through a monthly draw under Waseela-e- Haq and each of them are provided with an interest-free loan worth Rs. 0.3 million, repayable in installments over a period of 15 years.

The government is also working on various microfinance initiatives in collaboration with the SBP and multilateral institutions to generate employment and combat poverty.

TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION

In 2010-11, Pakistan has a road network covering 259,463 kilometers including 180,866 KM of high type roads and 78,597 KM of low type roads.

Since March 2008, NHA has launched/awarder 36 development projects covering a length of above 1000 Km inclusive of a number of bridges, flyovers and interchanges.

During the year 2010-11 (July-March), in railway, there has been fall in growth rate of passenger traffic by 17.6 percent but freight traffic grows at the rate of 17.7 percent.

During the calendar year 2010, PIA earned the revenue of around Rs. 107 billion as compared to last year of Rs. 94.6 billion.

Karachi Port Trust handled a total of 20.2 million tones of cargo during 2010-11 (July-Dec).

Port Qasim Authority handled 13.1 million tones cargo during the current financial year 2010-11 (July-Dec).

First ever largest ship in Pakistan having 63,000 M ton of wheat was berthed at Gwadar Port in March 2008. Since then upto January 2011, 120 ships have been handled at Gwardar.

Total Cellular subscribers at the end of December 2010 crossed the 102.8 million mark, with over 97 percent prepaid subscription in the mobile market and the post paid subscription in Pakistan is only 3 percent.

ENERGY

Crude Oil

Production of crude oil per day has increased to 65,996.50 barrels during July-March 2010-11 from 65,245.69 barrels per day during the same period last year, showing an increase of 1.15 percent.

The transport sector consumed 47.82 percent of petroleum products, followed by power sector (42.84 percent), industry (6.66 percent), other government (1.93 percent), household (0.49 percent) and agriculture (0.26 percent) during July-March 2010-11

Natural Gas

The average production of natural gas per day stood at 4050.84 million cubic feet during July-March 2010-11, as compared to 4,048.76 million cubic feet over the same period last year showing an increase of 0.05 percent.

The power sector consumed 23.81 percent of gas followed by industrial (20.15 percent), household (16.75 percent), fertilizer (15.04 percent), commercial (2.45 percent) and cement sector (0.05 percent) during July-March 2010-11

Electricity

The total installed capacity of PEPCO system is 20,681 MW as of March 2011, compared to 20,190MW in first nine months of the last fiscal year.

Total installed capacity of WAPDA stood at 11,439 MW during July-March 2010-11 of which hydel accounts 57.30 percent or 6,555 MW, thermal accounts for 42.70 percent or 4,884 MW.

During the first nine month of current fiscal year 66,928 GWh of electricity has been generated by WAPDA as against 64,935 GWh in the same period last year showing an increase of 3.07 percent.

The number of villages electrified increased to 160,110 by March 2011 from 147,038 recorded in March 2010.

CNG

Presently there are 3329 CNG stations operating throughout the country. By March 2011 about 2.5 millions have been converted to CNG

Coal

Supply of coal during July-March 2010-11 has been recorded at 5.85 million tonnes compared to 5.304 million tonnes in the first nine months of last fiscal year.

Brick kilns and cement industry consumed 56.6 percent and 42.7 percent respectively of the supplied coal.

The government is developing Thar Coalfield in order to increase the share of coal in energy mix and to reduce dependency on expensive imported fuel.

ENVIRONMENT

Pakistan recognizes the importance of environmental concerns as a cross cutting theme in its sustainable development strategy. Hence its protection, renewal and enrichment is recognized as an obligation towards the betterment of its citizens. The environmental concerns of Pakistan are associated primarily with the adverse impact of un-sustainable social and economic development. High population growth rate, lack of public awareness of environmental related education, mismanagement of natural resources, widely unplanned urban and industrial expansions are the core hard issues. These are further compounded with the rapid urbanization.

A nation with a population of 177 million with an average population density of 222 persons per sq km, higher than many other developing countries, whose 37% people live in urban areas and 63% in rural has a high rate of migration to urban centers which has made the cities dysfunctional, overcrowded and very congested. Rapid urbanization is putting the available insufficient infrastructure under enormous pressure and causing environmental debacles of great magnitude. Serious risks of irreversible damages are present due to air and water pollution, mismanagement of solid waste and destruction of fragile ecosystems.

With an estimated 37 percent of its population living in cities, Pakistan is the highly urbanized country in South Asia. Its cities continue to grow, offering employment opportunities, but rapid urbanization has been accompanied by environmental problems such as pollution, waste management, congestion and the destruction of fragile ecosystems. Urban air pollution remains one of the most significant environmental problems, facing the cities.

Motorcycles and rickshaws, due to their two stroke (2 strokes) engines, are the most inefficient in burning fuel and contribute most to emissions. 2-stroke vehicles are responsible for emission of very fine inhalable particles that settled in lungs and cause respiratory diseases. The 2-stroke vehicles industry is performing fast in Pakistan and has increased by 142.6 percent in 2010-11 when compared with the year 2000-01. Rickshaws have grown by more than 24 percent while motorcycles and scooters have more than doubled since 2000-01.

CNG is promoted as an alternate motor fuel for Pakistan’s market to reduce pressure on petroleum imports and to curb air pollution. Presently, 3329 CNG stations are operating in the country and 2.50 million vehicles are using CNG as fuel. Use of CNG as fuel in transport sector has observed a quantum leap, replacing traditional fuels.

National Environment Quality Standard (NEQS) for Motor Vehicle Exhaust & Noise (Amended), 2010 have been approved to control the vehicular emissions. It has been decided that: (i) all petrol driven vehicles imported or manufactured locally will comply with Euro-II emission standards with effect from July 2009. Existing models if not complying with Euro-II emission standards will have to switch over to Euro-II models by no later than three years, If not immediately: (ii) all diesel driven vehicles imported or manufactured locally will comply with Euro-II emission standards with effect from July, 2012. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources will ensure availability of Euro-II diesel (with sulphur contents 0.05 percent) with effect from January, 2012.

Supply of drinking water and provision of sanitation are the most important contributing factors for improving the health of the people in any country. Inadequate water supply results in high incidence of water related diseases which in turn increase morbidity and mortality rates and pose major threat to the survival and development of children. The National Standards for Drinking Water Quality (NSDWQ) have been approved on 29th March, 2010 in order to improve the water quality and to provide the public with the safe drinking water.

Pakistan is committed to achieve the MDG target of halving by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe and improved sanitation. Strategic direction, capacity development, and monitoring and evaluation, as well as investments, are primarily the responsibility of the provincial governments through the provincial line departments.

Climate change is one of the most complex challenges of the new century; Pakistan like other developing countries remained extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The most serious concerns are the threat to water and food security of the country and the vulnerability of its costal areas. Other climate change related concerns include increased risks and extreme events (floods, droughts and cyclones) and adverse impact of forests, biodiversity human health etc.

Implementation of the climate change programme under Tenth Five Years Plan will be carried out through coordinated efforts of the relevant ministries to secure ample resources and their effective utilization The following areas will be targeted through mitigation and adaptation measures as well as studies to enhance our understanding for Pakistan specific needs.

Data information on Climatology
Reducing climate change induced risks and vulnerabilities from Glacier Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF) in Gilgit Baltistan Area of Pakistan.
Enhancement of capacities to harness opportunities under Clean Development Mechanism and Adaptation Fund.

Money Market Update - 02-06-2011

2011-06-03T10:13:00.003+05:00

The Central bank conducted a Treasury bill auction on Wednesday, i.e. June 1, 2011 with the settlement on Thursday, i.e. June 2, 2011. There was a maturity of PkR. 145 billion against the target of PkR. 175 billion. The central bank mopped up PkR. 153.677 billion in the recent auction.

The details of the auction are as follows:

Tenor---------------- 3 Months----------- 6 Months------------- 12 Months

Auction Date --------Jun 01, 2011-------- Jun 01, 2011---------- Jun 01, 2011

Settlement Date ----Jun 02, 2011-------- Jun 02, 2011---------- Jun 02, 2011

Issue Date----------- Jun 02, 2011------- Jun 02, 2011---------- Jun 02, 2011

Maturity Date------- Aug 25, 2011------- Dec 01, 2011---------- May 31, 2012

Cut‐off Yield (In %) 13.5313------------ 13.7586--------------- 13.9074

Gold - A Precious Asset

2011-06-03T10:05:00.006+05:00

Gold is one of the precious metals in the world and it is right for any individual, family, or institution concerned with the very real threats facing the world today. If you are tired of trying to figure out who to trust, if you are tired of trying to figure out what voice to listen to for guidance regarding getting right price of gold, if you are tired of trying to be in the right place at the right time, give gold a try. It sounds like it may be right gold price for you.

Negative economic, political, environmental, or monetary conditions contribute to a rising gold prices. This is the reason gold has always been referred to as the “crisis commodity. You can buy gold coins or gold bullion from Aurum Advisors, America’s gold IRA, gold coin investment, and gold price providers to household and institutional investors nationwide. American Gold Eagle, American Gold Buffalo, Canadian Gold Maple Leaf, and South African Gold Krugerrand coins at today’s lowest discount price.

Have a look at gold spot market prices where you can get updated prices of gold and other precious metals. I am very much of the opinion that spot gold prices helps us to take right decision at right time. So keep trying.

Thar Coal Reserves

2011-05-27T10:04:00.005+05:00

If All The Oil Reserves of Saudia Arab & Iran Put Together These Are Approximately 375 Billion Barrels,But A Single Thar Coal Reserve Of Sindh is about 850 Trillion Cubic Feet, Which is More Than Oil Reserves Of Saudia & Iran.

These reserves estimated at 850 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas, about 30 times higher than Pakistan 's proven gas reserves of 28 TCF.

Dr Murtaza Mughal president of Pakistan Economy Watch in a statement said that these reserves of coal worth USD 25 trillion can not only cater the electricity requirements of the country for next 100 years but also save almost four billion dollars in staggering oil import bill.

Just 2% usage of Thar Coal Can Produce 20,000 Mega Watts of Electricity for next 40Years ,without any single Second of Load Shedding. and if the whole reserves are utilized, then it could easily be imagined how much energy could be generated.

The coal power generation would cost Pakistan PKR 5.67 per unit while power generated by Independent Power Projects cost PKR 9.27.

It Requires Just Initial 420 Billion Rupees Initial Investment, Whereas Pakistan Receives annually 1220 Billion from Tax Only.

Chinese and other companies had not only carried out surveys and feasibilities of this project but also offered 100 percent investment in last 7 to 8 years but the “Petroleum Gang” always discouraged them in a very systematic way.

But Petroleum lobby , is very strong in Pakistan and they are against any other means of power generation except for the imported oil. This lobby is major beneficiary of the increasing oil bill that is estimated above 15 billion dollar this year.Even GOV. is planning to Sell all these reserve to a company on a very low price. When Pervez Musharraf was president he gave green signal to embark upon the initiation of work on exploiting energy potential of these coal reserves of Thar under a modern strategy.

Think About This, How We Can Help Our Home Land .

(GOD HELP THOSE WHO HELP THEMSELVES)

Web Hosting

2011-05-25T10:41:00.002+05:00

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IMF Managing Director Strauss-Kahn Resigns

2011-05-19T12:07:00.002+05:00

Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s resignation as the 10th leader of the International Monetary Fund kicks off a contest on his successor, as European officials seek to retain the job amid a lack of unity among emerging-market nations.

The Washington-based lender that approved a record $91.7 billion in emergency loans last year and provides a third of the euro-region’s bailout packages said it will “communicate in the near future” on the process of finding a new chief. John Lipsky, the No. 2 official at the fund, who is scheduled to retire in August, remains as acting leader, the fund said in its statement.

European officials, who have picked the IMF heads for 65 years under a deal that gives the U.S. the lock on running the World Bank, moved to retain their privilege. Sweden’s finance minister endorsed his French counterpart Christine Lagarde, while Dutch central bank Governor Nout Wellink suggested outgoing European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet.

“Time is of the essence,” said Julie Chon, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Atlantic Council and former adviser to the U.S. Senate Banking Committee. “The longer the IMF allows the specter of uncertainty to hang over its leadership, the more exposed it becomes to the jittery actions of sovereign debt and foreign exchange traders who have been speculating on what the leadership vacuum means for their portfolios.”

IMF Term

Strauss-Kahn’s five-year term had 17 months remaining. In past successions, incoming managing directors were appointed to fresh five-year tenures.

France’s Lagarde “presents very strong leadership” which is “important on building consensus in important issues,” Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg told Sky News yesterday. Wellink, an ECB Governing Council member, told the Dutch talk show Knevel & Van den Brink late last night: “I know a fantastic candidate, that’s Jean-Claude Trichet,” whose term ends in October.

South Africa and Russia said yesterday the next head of the IFM should come from an emerging economy. Trevor Manuel, head of South Africa’s National Planning Commission, is “highly respected in the world,” Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said in an interview in Pretoria.

Russian central bank Deputy Chairman Sergei Shvetsov said a developing country should be given the chance to run the IMF to better reflect the role of those economies in global trade. South Korea’s central bank governor made similar remarks before the announcement late yesterday that Strauss-Kahn would resign.

‘Proving My Innocence’

“I want to protect this institution which I have served with honor and devotion, and especially -- especially -- I want to devote all my strength, all my time, and all my energy to proving my innocence,” Strauss-Kahn said in the statement released by the IMF.

Strauss-Kahn was arrested May 14 on accusations of sexually assaulting a hotel maid in New York, and has been held at New York’s Rikers Island jail complex since he was ordered held in custody at his arraignment May 16. A French citizen, he is asking a second judge to release him on bail.

Morris Goldstein, a fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington who was an IMF official for 24 years, said earlier this week that potential emerging- market candidates to head the IMF include Singapore Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, former Turkish Economic Minister Kemal Dervis and India’s Montek Singh Ahluwalia, a top economic aide to the prime minister. Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said there’s no reason he couldn’t do the job.

“The most important thing is to move decisively to appoint the best qualified person for the job,” Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan said through a spokesman. “Uncertainty around a new Managing Director of the IMF is not in the interests of the global economy or the institution itself.”

Money Market and General Upadtes - 10-05-2011

2011-05-11T11:07:00.002+05:00

Money Market Updates

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) sold Rs 45.803 billion worth of Ijara Sukuk (Islamic bonds) for the period of three years in its auction held here Monday. The SBP received bids worth of Rs 51.253 billion for three-year Ijara Sukuk from the primary dealers in the auction including commercial banks and Islamic banks. Primary dealers have been allowed to sell Ijara Sukuk to eligible investors with margins varies from negative100 to positive 50 basis points.

General Updates:

For the first time ever in the country’s history, exports have crossed the $20 billion mark in the first 10 months of the current financial year. According to statistics provided by Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), Pakistan’s exports in April 2011 were recorded at $2.38 billion, 40 percent higher than the level of $1.7 billion in April 2010. Pakistan has been consistently crossing the $2.0 billion mark for the last five months of current financial year. According to official sources in TDAP, the country is likely to achieve record exports of $24 billion this year given the current resilience in exports.

The debt-stricken country’s total debts and liabilities during July-March FY11 have swelled to Rs 11.239 trillion, a figure that account for over Rs 1 trillion or 9.9 percent more than what Pakistan owed during the whole of last financial year, 2009-10. During the last financial year, debts and liabilities stood at Rs 10.221 trillion while during the preceding year, FY09, it came out at Rs 8.746 trillion. State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data illustrates that during the first three quarters, the government’s domestic debts have grown to 33.2 percent of the GDP as compared to 31.4 percent of FY10.

Heavy domestic borrowing, naturally, pushed the country’s public debts skywards to stand at Rs 10.206 trillion registering an increase of 12 percent or Rs 1.989 trillion when compared with last year’s figure of Rs 9.107 trillion.

Way to Consolidate Your Loan

2011-05-11T10:43:00.002+05:00

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Letter to God

2011-05-05T10:21:00.004+05:00

There was a man who worked for the Post Office whose job was to process all the mail that had illegible addresses. One day, a letter came addressed in a shaky handwriting to God with no actual address. He thought he should open it to see what it was about.

The letter read:

Dear God,

I am an 83 year old widow, living on a very small pension. Yesterday someone stole my purse. It had $100 in it, which was all the money I had until my next pension payment. Next Sunday is Christmas, and I had invited two of my friends over for dinner. Without that money, I have nothing to buy food with, have no family to turn to, and you are my only hope.

Can you please help me?

Sincerely,

Edna

The postal worker was touched. He showed the letter to all the other workers. Each one dug into his or her wallet and came up with a few dollars. By the time he made the rounds, he had collected $96, which they put into an envelope and sent to the woman. The rest of the day, all the workers felt a warm glow thinking of Edna and the dinner she would be able to share with her friends.

Christmas came and went.

A few days later, another letter came from the same old lady to God.

All the workers gathered around while the letter was opened.

It read:

Dear God,

How can I ever thank you enough for what you did for me? Because of your gift of love, I was able to fix a glorious dinner for my friends. We had a very nice day and I told my friends of your wonderful gift. By the way, there was $4 missing. I think it might have been taken by those bastards at the post office.

Sincerely,

Edna

FBR Likely To Raise Salaried Sector Tax To 25 Percent

2011-04-27T09:48:00.000+05:00

This refers to the news item published on 25th April, 2011 in the Business Recorder with the heading ’FBR likely to raise salaried sector tax to 25 percent’. In the details this news item has been associated with the proposals given by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan. This news item is based on Para 1.3 of the Budget Proposals of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan which has been misunderstood and reported incorrectly resulting into a negative perception.

In fact, the Institute’s recommendation is not to increase the maximum tax rate applicable to Salaried Individuals (as reported) but to remove the disparity of the rates of tax on income of Non-Salaried Individuals by rationalizing the tax bands, enhancing the threshold of the maximum tax rate of 25% from Rs. 1,500,000 to Rs. 3,000,000 and to provide for the marginal relief as applicable in case of Salaried Individuals.

For your information a Corrigendum has been published by the Business Recorder today, for the rectification of the above as under:

This refers to the news item published in Business Recorder on April 25, 2011 titled "FBR likely to raise salaried sector tax to 25 percent". In the details this news item has been attributed to the proposals given by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP).

This news item is based on Para 1.3 of the budget proposals of the ICAP, which has been misunderstood and reported incorrectly.

In fact, the Institute's recommendation is not to increase the maximum tax rate applicable to salaried individuals but to remove the disparity of the rates of tax on income of non-salaried individuals by rationalizing the tax bands, enhancing the threshold of the maximum tax rate of 25 per cent from Rs. 1,500,000 to Rs. 3,000,000 and to provide for the marginal relief as applicable in case of salaried individuals.

It was incorrectly reported due to the misunderstanding of the ICAP budget proposals which in fact has recommended that the tax rate for non-salaried individuals should be rationalized to provide relief at par with that of the salaried individuals by increasing threshold for levy of maximum tax rate of 25 per cent from taxable income of Rs. 1,500,000 to Rs. 3,000,000 and to also provide marginal relief as in case of the salaried individuals. The original text of the ICAP proposals is reproduced hereunder:

"Discrimination of salaried and non-salaried persons by providing for separate tax rates is against the norms of personal taxation". "This clearly indicates that the law itself admits that non-salaried persons understate their income". "It is very odd that: A salaried person attracts the maximum tax rate of 20 per cent where the income exceeds Rs. 4,550,000 as compared to a non-salaried person who attracts the maximum tax rate of 25 per cent where the income exceeds Rs. 1,500,000; and a salaried person is allowed a marginal relief where the income marginally exceeds from a particular slab of income and tax thereon whereas a non-salaried person is not allowed any such relief.

Therefore, it is recommended that, "huge gap in maximum tax rate should be narrowed by expanding the non-salaried tax bands so that the maximum tax rate of 25 per cent starts at least from income above Rs. 3,000,000. "Non-salaried persons should also be allowed to claim marginal relief where the income marginally exceeds from a particular slab of income and thereon".

Simple Living Manifesto: 72 Ideas to Simplify Your Life

2011-04-14T11:16:00.001+05:00

“Simplicity is the peak of civilization.” – Jessie Sampter

A simple life has a different meaning and a different value for every person. For me, it means eliminating all but the essential, eschewing chaos for peace, and spending your time doing what’s important to you.

It means getting rid of many of the things you do so you can spend time with people you love and do the things you love. It means getting rid of the clutter so you are left with only that which gives you value.

However, getting to simplicity isn’t always a simple process. It’s a journey, not a destination, and it can often be a journey of two steps forward, and one backward.

If you’re interested in simplifying your life, this is a great starter’s guide (if you’re not interested, move on).

The Short List

For the cynics who say that the list below is too long, there are really only two steps to simplifying:

1. Identify what’s most important to you.

2. Eliminate everything else.

Of course, that’s not terribly useful unless you can see how to apply that to different areas of your life, so I present to you the Long List.

The Long List

There can be no step-by-step guide to simplifying your life, but I’ve compiled an incomplete list of ideas that should help anyone trying to find the simple life. Not every tip will work for you — choose the ones that appeal and apply to your life.

One important note: this list will be criticized for being too complicated, especially as it provides a bunch of links. Don’t stress out about all of that. Just choose one at a time, and focus on that. When you’re done with that, focus on the next thing.

Make a list of your top 4-5 important things. What’s most important to you? What do you value most? What 4-5 things do you most want to do in your life? Simplifying starts with these priorities, as you are trying to make room in your life so you have more time for these things.
Evaluate your commitments. Look at everything you’ve got going on in your life. Everything, from work to home to civic to kids’ activities to hobbies to side businesses to other projects. Think about which of these really gives you value, which ones you love doing. Which of these are in line with the 4-5 most important things you listed above? Drop those that aren’t in line with those things.
Evaluate your time. How do you spend your day? What things do you do, from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep? Make a list, and evaluate whether they’re in line with your priorities. If not, eliminate the things that aren’t, and focus on what’s important. Redesign your day.
Simplify work tasks. Our work day is made up of an endless list of work tasks. If you simply try to knock off all the tasks on your to-do list, you’ll never get everything done, and worse yet, you’ll never get the important stuff done. Focus on the essential tasks and eliminate the rest.
Simplify home tasks. In that vein, think about all the stuff you do at home. Sometimes our home task list is just as long as our work list. And we’ll never get that done either. So focus on the most important, and try to find ways to eliminate the other tasks (automate, eliminate, delegate, or hire help).
Learn to say no. This is actually one of the key habits for those trying to simplify their lives. If you can’t say no, you will take on too much.
Limit your communications. Our lives these days are filled with a vast flow of communications: email, IM, cell phones, paper mail, Skype, Twitter, forums, and more. It can take up your whole day if you let it. Instead, put a limit on your communications: only do email at certain times of the day, for a certain number of minutes (I recommend twice a day, but do what works for you). Only do IM once a day, for a limited amount of time. Limit phone calls to certain times too. Same with any other communications. Set a schedule and stick to it.
Limit your media consumption. This tip won’t be for everyone, so if media consumption is important to you, please skip it (as with any of the other tips). However, I believe that the media in our lives — TV, radio, Internet, magazines, etc. — can come to dominate our lives. Don’t let it. Simplify your life and your information consumption by limiting it. Try a media fast.
Purge your stuff. If you can devote a weekend to purging the stuff you don’t want, it feels seriously terrific. Get boxes and trash bags for the stuff you want to donate or toss. Here’s my guide on decluttering. Here’s a post on starting small. More on purging below.
Get rid of the big items. There’s tons of little clutter in our lives, but if you start with the big items, you’ll simplify your life quickly and in a big way.
Edit your rooms. One room at a time, go around the room and eliminate the unnecessary. Act as a newspaper editor, trying to leave only the minimum, and deleting everything else.
Edit closets and drawers. Once you’ve gone through the main parts of your rooms, tackle the closets and drawers, one drawer or shelf at a time.
Simplify your wardrobe. Is your closet bursting full? Are your drawers so stuffed they can’t close (I’m talking about dresser drawers here, not underwear). Simplify your wardrobe by getting rid of anything you don’t actually wear. Try creating a minimal wardrobe by focusing on simple styles and a few solid colors that all match each other.
Simplify your computing life. If you have trouble with too many files and too much disorganization, consider online computing. It can simplify things greatly.
Declutter your digital packrattery. If you are a digital packrat, and cannot seem to control your digital clutter, there is still hope for you. Read this guide to curing yourself of this clutter.
Create a simplicity statement. What do you want your simple life to look like? Write it out.
Limit your buying habits. If you are a slave to materialism and consumerism, there are ways to escape it. I was there, and although I haven’t escaped these things entirely, I feel much freer of it all. If you can escape materialism, you can get into the habit of buying less. And that will mean less stuff, less spending, less freneticism.
Free up time. Find ways to free up time for the important stuff. That means eliminating the stuff you don’t like, cutting back on time wasters, and making room for what you want to do.
Do what you love. Once you’ve freed up some time, be sure to spend that extra time doing things you love. Go back to your list of 4-5 important things. Do those, and nothing else.
Spend time with people you love. Again, the list of 4-5 important things probably contains some of the people you love (if not, you may want to re-evaluate). Whether those people are a spouse, a partner, children, parents, other family, best friends, or whoever, find time to do things with them, talk to them, be intimate with them (not necessarily in sexual ways).
Spend time alone. See this list of ways to free up time for yourself — to spend in solitude. Alone time is good for you, although some people aren’t comfortable with it. It could take practice getting used to the quiet, and making room for your inner voice. It sounds new-agey, I know, but it’s extremely calming. And this quiet is necessary for finding out what’s important to you.
Eat slowly. If you cram your food down your throat, you are not only missing out on the great taste of the food, you are not eating healthy. Slow down to lose weight, improve digestion, and enjoy life more.
Drive slowly. Most people rush through traffic, honking and getting angry and frustrated and stressed out. And endangering themselves and others in the meantime. Driving slower is not only safer, but it is better on your fuel bill, and can be incredibly peaceful. Give it a try.
Be present. These two words can make a huge difference in simplifying your life. Living here and now, in the moment, keeps you aware of life, of what is going on around you and within you. It does wonders for your sanity. Readtips on how to do it.
Streamline your life. Many times we live with unplanned, complex systems in our lives because we haven’t given them much thought. Instead, focus on one system at a time (your laundry system, your errands system, your paperwork system, your email system, etc.) and try to make it simplified, efficient, and written. Then stick to it. Here’s more. Another good article here.
Create a simple mail & paperwork system. If you don’t have a system, this stuff will pile up. But a simple system will keep everything in order. Here’s how.
Create a simple system for house work. Another example of a simple system is clean-as-you-go with a burst. Read more.
Clear your desk. If you have a cluttered desk, it can be distracting and disorganized and stressful. A clear desk, however, is only a couple of simple habits away.
Establish routines. The key to keeping your life simple is to create simple routines.
Keep your email inbox empty. Is your email inbox overflowing with new and read messages? Do the messages just keep piling up? If so, you’re normal — but you could be more efficient and your email life could be simplified with a few simple steps.
Learn to live frugally. Living frugally means buying less, wanting less, and leaving less of a footprint on the earth. It’s directly related to simplicity.Here are 50 tips on how to live frugally.
Make your house minimalist. A minimalist house has what is necessary, and not much else. It’s also extremely peaceful (not to mention easy to clean).
Find other ways to be minimalist. There are tons. You can find ways to be minimalist in every area of your life. Here are a few I do, to spur your own ideas.
Consider a smaller home. If you rid your home of stuff, you might find you don’t need so much space. I’m not saying you should live on a boat (although I know some people who happily do so), but if you can be comfortable in a smaller home, it will not only be less expensive, but easier to maintain, and greatly simplify your life.
Consider a smaller car. This is a big move, but if you have a large car or SUV, you may not really need something that big. It’s more expensive, uses more gas, harder to maintain, harder to park. Simplify your life with less car. You don’t need to go tiny, especially if you have a family, but try to find as small a car as can fit you or your family comfortably. Maybe not something you’re going to do today, but something to think about over the long term.
Learn what “enough” is. Our materialistic society today is about getting more and more, with no end in sight. Sure, you can get the latest gadget, and more clothes and shoes. More stuff. But when will you have enough? Most people don’t know, and thus they keep buying more. It’s a neverending cycle. Get off the cycle by figuring out how much is enough. And then stop when you get there.
Create a simple weekly dinner menu. If figuring out what’s for dinner is a nightly stressor for you or your family, consider creating a weekly menu. Decide on a week’s worth of simple dinners, set a specific dinner for each night of the week, go grocery shopping for the ingredients. Now you know what’s for dinner each night, and you have all the ingredients necessary. No need for difficult recipes — find ones that can be done in 10-15 minutes (or less).
Eat healthy. It might not be obvious how eating healthy relates to simplicity, but think about the opposite: if you eat fatty, greasy, salty, sugary, fried foods all the time, you are sure to have higher medical needs over the long term. We could be talking years from now, but imagine frequent doctor visits, hospitalization, going to the pharmacist, getting therapy, having surgery, taking insulin shots … you get the idea. Being unhealthy is complicated. Eating healthy simplifies all of that greatly, over the long term. Read abouthow to simplify your eating habits.
Exercise. This goes along the same lines as eating healthy, as it simplifies your life in the long run, but it goes even further: exercise helps burn off stress and makes you feel better. It’s great. Here’s how to create the exercise habit.
Declutter before organizing. Many people make the mistake of taking a cluttered desk or filing cabinet or closet or drawer, and trying to organize it. Unfortunately, that’s not only hard to do, it keeps things complicated. Simplify the process by getting rid of as much of the junk as possible, and then organizing. If you declutter enough, you won’t need to organize at all.
Have a place for everything. Age-old advice, but it’s the best advice on keeping things organized. After you declutter.
Find inner simplicity. I’m not much of a spiritual person, but I have found that spending a little time with my inner self creates a peaceful simplicity rather than a chaotic confusion. This could be time praying or communing with God, or time spent meditating or journaling or getting to know yourself, or time spent in nature. However you do it, working on your inner self is worth the time.
Learn to decompress from stress. Every life is filled with stress — no matter how much you simplify your life, you’ll still have stress (except in the case of the ultimate simplifier, death). So after you go through stress, find ways to decompress. Here are some ideas.
Try living without a car. OK, this isn’t something I’ve done, but many others have. It’s something I would do if I didn’t have kids. Walk, bike, or take public transportation. It reduces expenses and gives you time to think. A car is also very complicating, needing not only car payments, but insurance, registration, safety inspections, maintenance, repairs, gas and more.
Find a creative outlet for self-expression. Whether that’s writing, poetry, painting, drawing, creating movies, designing websites, dance, skateboarding, whatever. We have a need for self-expression, and finding a way to do that makes your life much more fulfilling. Allow this to replace much of the busy-work you’re eliminating from your life.
Simplify your goals. Instead of having half a dozen goals or more, simplify it to one goal. Not only will this make you less stressed, it will make you more successful. You’ll be able to focus on that One Goal, and give it all of your energy. That gives you much better chances for success.
Single-task. Multi-tasking is more complicated, more stressful, and generally less productive. Instead, do one task at a time.
Simplify your filing system. Stacking a bunch of papers just doesn’t work. But a filing system doesn’t have to be complicated to be useful. Create a simple system.
Develop equanimity. If every little thing that happens to you sends you into anger or stress, your life might never be simple. Learn to detach yourself, and be more at peace.
Reduce your consumption of advertising. Advertising makes us want things. That’s what it’s designed to do, and it works. Find ways to reduce your exposure of advertising, whether that’s in print, online, broadcast, or elsewhere. You’ll want much less.
Live life more deliberately. Do every task slowly, with ease, paying full attention to what you’re doing. For more, see Peaceful Simplicity: How to Live a Life of Contentment.
Make a Most Important Tasks (MITs) list each day. Set just 3 very important things you want to accomplish each day. Don’t start with a long list of things you probably won’t get done by the end of the day. A simple list of 3 things, ones that would make you feel like you accomplished something. See this article for more.
Create morning and evening routines. A great way to simplify your life is to create routines at the start and end of your day. Read more on morning routines and evening routines.
Create a morning writing ritual. If you enjoy writing, like I do, make it a peaceful, productive ritual.
Learn to do nothing. Doing nothing can be an art form, and it should be a part of every life.
Read Walden, by Thoreau. The quintessential text on simplifying.Available on Wikisources for free.
Go for quality, not quantity. Try not to have a ton of stuff in your life … instead, have just a few possessions, but ones that you really love, and that will last for a long time.
Read Simplify Your Life, by Elaine St. James. One of my favorite all-time authors on simplicity.
Fill your day with simple pleasures. Make a list of your favorite simple pleasures, and sprinkle them throughout your day.
Simplify your RSS feeds. If you’ve got dozens of feeds, or more than a hundred (as I once did), you probably have a lot of stress in trying to keep up with them all. Simplify your feed reading. See How to Drop an RSS Feed Like a Bad Habit.
But subscribe to Unclutterer. Probably the best blog on simplifying your stuff and routines (along with Zen Habits, of course!).
Create an easy-to-maintain yard. If you spend too much time on your yard,here are some good tips.
Carry less stuff. Are your pockets bulging. Consider carrying only the essentials.
Simplify your online life. If you have too much going on online,
Strive to automate your income. This isn’t the easiest task, but it can (and has) been done. I’ve been working towards it myself.
Simplify your budget. Many people skip budgeting (which is very important) because it’s too hard or too complicated.
Simplify your financial life. Article from a financial planning expert here.
Learn to pack light. Who wants to lug a bunch of luggage around on a trip? Here’s an article on using just one carry-on.
Use a minimalist productivity system. The minimal Zen To Done is all you need. Everything else is icing.
Leave space around things in your day. Whether they’re appointments, or things you need to do, don’t stack them back-to-back. Leave a little space between things you need to do, so you will have room for contingencies, and you’ll go through your day much more relaxed.
Live closer to work. This might mean getting a job closer to your home, or moving to a home closer to your work. Either will do much to simplify your life.
Always ask: Will this simplify my life? If the answer is no, reconsider.

SEO Consultant

2011-04-14T09:56:00.000+05:00

Created in 1986 Jamie Bennett can typically be distinguished by its outlandishly out spoken and crazy features such as tattoos and piercings. These crazy creatures are often found in sunny towns of Essex.

This interesting creature finds itself drawn to the online marketing industry, where they find themselves taking the roles of senior managers and SEO Consultant. During the day they work, but yet still have time to become the joker and have a laugh with teammates and friends, usually insulting each other in a friendly manner.

Jamie Bennett will love an adrenaline rush so weather sipping energy drinks or jumping from a plane this astonishing creature will also seek out attention in any way possible, typically by becoming a clown, the entertainer or even a complete fool. You can recognise this creature from other characteristics to, such as a the ability to rant for hours even days, an extreme burning desire to explore the world as well as a love for horrors films, driving and spending time with friends.

Money Market and General Upadtes - 08-04-2011

2011-04-09T10:00:00.001+05:00

Money Market Updates:

Money market opened at 13.50 with a high of 13.70 with a low of 13.15. State Bank conducted an Open Market Operation today and injected Rs. 32.5 billion for 7 days at the rate of 13.21 percent due to which the market came to ease and closed at 13.15 percent.

General Updates:

After showing a relative ease for a couple of months, inflation jumped to 13.16 per cent last month because of high prices of food items and a partial increase in prices of petroleum products in domestic market and a slight rise in electricity tariff. Inflation had fallen from 15pc in December last year to 14.2pc in January and 12.91pc in February because of a government freeze on oil and electricity prices. The impact of overall increase in inflation last month was mainly because of food prices (56.46pc) and house rent (12.08pc), totaling 68.54pc.

Developing Asia, a diverse group of economies including China, India, Azerbaijan, Thailand and Fiji, is expected to grow 7.8 percent in 2011 and 7.7 percent in 2012, robust rates albeit slower than the 9 percent seen in 2010, Asian Development Outlook report. At the same time, inflation is expected to quicken to an average 5.3 percent this year from 4.4 percent in 2010, before easing to 4.6 percent in 2012. Some countries such as Vietnam and Pakistan could see inflation rates climb well into the double digits.

Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have declined to $17.637 billion on April 2, 2011, as compared to $17.9 billion during the previous week. The reserves held by central bank fell to $14.261 billion as compared to $14.54 billion during the last week, similarly, the reserves held by commercial banks other than SBP also declined to $3.376 billion as compared to $3.41 billion. The reserves touched a record high to $17.9 billion on March 26 on handsome inflows of remittances and exports earnings. Remittances sent home by overseas Pakistanis soared 20 percent in the first eight months (July-February) of the current fiscal year, in the wake of a tightening of noose around illegal channels, a stable rupee and contribution of charity money after flood ravages.

Cherished Number Plates

2011-04-08T10:01:00.000+05:00

If you want to buy cherished number plates visit the neatly laid out site and you would find that they have grown steadily over the years to become a leading light in the private number plate industry. All registered number plates can be supplied on certificate or transferred directly to your vehicle through DVLA local offices and through the DVLA in swansea. They have specialised in reg number plates since 1991 and are on hand to answer any questions you may have. Image Marks is a registered number plates supplier, a registered frequent buyer of DVLA personalised registrations and a recognised reseller of DVLA registration plates. MIRAD are the governing body for dealers of private number plates and cherished number plates.

Money Market, Forex and General Upadtes - 07-04-2011

2011-04-07T17:02:00.001+05:00

Money Market Updates:

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Wednesday accepted bids worth Rs. 184.7 billion for Government of Pakistan Market Treasury Bills (MTBs) with various maturities. The MTBs had face value amounting Rs 200.9 billion. The SBP realized bids worth Rs. 1.067 billion for MTBs with maturity of 3- month and cut-off yield of 13.3004 percent, Rs 130.3 billion for 6-month with cut-off yield of 13.6899 percent and 53.26 billion for 12-month with cut-off yield of 13.8684 percent. Non competitive rates for three, six and twelve months were 13.2542 percent. 13.6670 percent and 13.8294 percent respectively.

Forex Market Updates:

Dollar Market opened at 85.08/13 with a low of 84.80 and a high of 85.05. The rupee has appreciated in terms of dollar due to fewer payments in this week. Dollar closed at 84.85/90.

General Market Updates:

Pakistan's total rice export has crossed 2.734 million tons mark during nine months of current fiscal year, showing a decline of 772,928 tons over last year's 3.314 million tons. The value of rice exports has slipped by $ 123 million to $ 1.507 billion during July 2010-March 2011 compared to $ 1.630 billion same period last year.

The Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) has launched a new enhanced `Priority Banking offering' for Pakistan's increasingly sophisticated and discerning banking customers. The new service for customers with high investible assets combines highly customized financial solutions covering banking, borrowing, protection and investments, with exclusive new products such as the Visa Platinum Debit and Credit Cards.

As part of restructuring of Khushhali Bank Limited KBL (largest micro finance bank in Pakistan) agreed between State Bank of Pakistan and KBL shareholders, a consortium of shareholders (Sellers Consortium being represented and led by MCB Bank Limited) intends to divest its 79.2 percent shareholding in KBL along with transfer of management control (Equity Stake) to strategic Investor.

Tile Flooring

2011-04-04T11:24:00.000+05:00

Fixing up the home before the holidays get here can be both expensive and time consuming. That’s why many of us try to look online to see where the best deals are. Say you need something like a new power tool in order to handle your new remodeling project. Well you would look online to see who has the best deal available and then go to the store and pick it up. Well the problem is that right now stores are selling out items if they have a great deal on it so you could drive all the way out there to find out that the power tool is sold out.

This problem could have been avoided if you used different websites to research the info. There are now websites out there that can actually allow you to not only find out which store has the best deal, but which store still has those items. So not only can you find out which store sells the power tool the cheapest, you can also find out which of the local Home Depot locations, Lowes locations, or Sears locations actually have it in stock without having to waste an entire day driving around. This can save you a lot of money as well as a lot of time and time is something we cannot afford to waste during the holiday season, especially if we are remodeling our home and changing our Tile flooring. So find the ways to make it easiest on yourself, the technology is out there, you just have to keep your eyes open.

The Rich Will Pay - Taxation Policy

2011-03-29T14:35:00.000+05:00

NO CUTS. That was the slogan of one British protester who walked through my neighbourhood on Saturday. It seemed an extraordinary hope for a country with a £150 billion deficit. My colleague Bagehot found that most protesters accept that some cuts are necessary; they just disagree on the pace and scale. But there is a school of thought that cuts can be avoided entirely by closing tax loopholes for the corporate sector or by taxing the rich.

We hope to run a chart on corporate tax revenues later in the week but here are the OECD data for personal tax rates as a proportion of GDP. As you can see, Britain's tax take from income is well above the OECD average, although not at Scandinavian levels. It is higher, however, than France or Germany.

Now, of course, it is possible that the tax take might be high as a result of punishing poor working stiffs, while the rich get off scot-free. Scott Hodge of the Tax Foundation used an OECD study to calculate the relative shares of income tax paid by the top 10%, with their share of national income. On average income tax systems in the OECD are progressive in the sense that the richest pay proportionately more; the ratio is 1.11. The UK weighs in at 1.2.

Now, of course, income tax is only part of the story; money is also raised via sales taxes which are more regressive. The US rich, for example, pay proportionately more of the income tax but the US's income tax burden is below the OECD average. Britain, however, has an above average income tax burden and is more progressive than average. These geese are already well plucked.

Leaving Denmark aside, what if Britain aimed to be, say, Sweden? It could try to get another 3% of GDP that way (although the budget deficit is in double digits). However, who are the British rich? Many of them are based in the City, and are not necessarily British at all, but American, French etc. They are not in London for the weather or the transport system and could move elsewhere. For those who doubt that there is a trade-off between tax rates and tax take, note that the Swedish system has high marginal tax rates but in terms of tax take, is less progressive than Britain.

Source: The Economist

Travel Insurance

2011-03-29T14:28:00.000+05:00

Travel insurance is insurance that is intended to cover medical expenses, financial default of travel suppliers, and other losses incurred while traveling, either within one's own country, or internationally. Temporary travel insurance can usually be arranged at the time of the booking of a trip to cover exactly the duration of that trip, or a more extensive, continuous insurance can be purchased from travel insurance companies, travel agents or directly from travel suppliers, such as cruiselines or tour operators. However, travel insurance purchased from travel suppliers tends to be less inclusive than insurance offered by insurance companies. Travel insurance often offers coverage for a variety of travelers. Student travel, business travel, holiday insurance , leisure travel, adventure travel, cruise travel, and international travel are all various options that can be insured.

UK travel insurance provider Flexicover Direct offers cheap travel insurance and Holiday Insurance at affordable prices. They provide a comprehensive range of cheap travel insurance policies including Single Trip, Annual-Multi Trip, Gap Year, Long Stay and Winter Sports cover. Do you have a pre-existing medical condition or are you aged over 65? They can offer travel insurance and holiday Insurance at affordable prices for both pre-existing medical conditions and over 65 insurance cover, when you purchase a Single Trip, Annual-Multi Trip, Gap Year (to age 45 only) or Long Stay Travel Insurance. Cover includes emergency medical expenses and dental treatment, cancellation, baggage, personal liability, personal accident, and 24/7 access to medical assistance.

Radiation Levels at Japan Nuclear Plant Reach New Highs

2011-03-28T10:24:00.000+05:00

As radiation levels at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant reached a new high Sunday, workers contended with dark, steamy conditions in their efforts to repair the facility’s cooling system and stave off a full-blown nuclear meltdown. Wearing respirators, face masks and bulky suits, they tried to reconnect cables and restore power to motor pumps the size of automobiles.

Leaked water sampled from one unit Sunday had 100,000 times the radioactivity of normal background levels — the highest radiation readings yet — although the Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the plant, first calculated an even higher, erroneous, figure it didn’t correct for hours.

Tepco apologized Sunday night when it realized the mistake; it had initially reported radiation levels in the leaked water from the unit 2 reactor as being 10 million times the norm, which prompted an evacuation of the building.

After the levels were correctly measured, airborne radioactivity in the unit 2 turbine building still remained so high — 1,000 millisieverts per hour — that a worker there would reach his yearly occupational exposure limit in 15 minutes. A dose of 4,000 to 5,000 millisieverts absorbed fairly rapidly will eventually kill about half of those exposed.

The latest confusion in the operation to stave off a full-scale nuclear meltdown at the crippled facility underscores the immense challenges for the several hundred workers in a desperate battle to restart the critical cooling systems. Seventeen workers have been exposed to high levels of radiation, including three who were hospitalized last week, as technicians conducted highly nuanced electrical work in dark conditions that one nuclear industry expert termed “hellish.”

Japanese authorities say efforts to control Fukushima’s overheated reactors will take months and during that time radiation will continue to leak into the environment, extending a nuclear emergency that already ranks as the world’s most serious in a quarter-century. Several hundred workers now shoulder the responsibility for limiting the crisis, amid potentially lethal radiation levels, and on Saturday the chief of Japan’s nuclear agency called on Tepco to improve its worker safety.

Evidence of rising contamination in and around the plant has tempered optimism from a week ago, when engineers began work to restore power to the first of the damaged reactor buildings. Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said Sunday that a new measurement of seawater taken about 1,000 feet from the facility showed an iodine level 1,850.5 times the legal limit, higher than a reading taken the previous day.

The dangers in unit 2 merely add to the growing challenges. Radioactive water is pooling in four of Fukushima’s six turbine rooms, and engineers have no quick way to clean it up, although they have begun to try in unit 1.

While a Tepco spokesman said Sunday that he did not know how the radioactive water was leaking from the reactor cores, Yukio Edano, chief cabinet secretary, said in a televised interview Sunday morning that the reactor itself had not been breached.

He said it was clear that water that could have been inside the unit 3 reactor had leaked but the reactor had not been breached. Still, he said, “Unfortunately, it seems there is no question that water, which could have been inside the reactor, is leaking.’’

Unlike in newer reactor designs, the older boiling-water reactors at Daiichi are pierced by dozens of holes in the bottoms of their reactor vessels. Each hole allows one control rod — made of a neutron-absorbing material that quickly stops nuclear fission inside the reactor — to slide into the reactor from below, as happened when the earthquake shook the plant March 11. During normal operations, a graphite stopper covers each hole, sealing in highly radioactive primary cooling water, said Arnie Gundersen, a consultant at Fairewinds Associates with 40 years of experience overseeing boiling-water reactors.

But at temperatures above 350 degrees Fahrenheit, the graphite stoppers begin to melt.

“Since it is likely that rubble from the broken fuel rods . . . is collecting at the bottom of the reactor, the seals are being damaged by high temperature or high radiation,” Gundersen said. As the graphite seals fail, water in the reactor will leak into a network of pipes in the containment buildings surrounding each reactor — the very buildings that have been heavily damaged by explosions. Gundersen said that this piping is probably compromised, leaving highly radioactive water to seep from the reactor vessels into broken pipes — and from there into the turbine buildings and beyond.

To stabilize the facility, workers are trying to repair the elaborate cooling system, necessary to keep the reactor cores and spent fuel pools from overheating. For now, they are conducting this work in dark, steamy conditions. Nuclear safety experts say they must shift out of the most dangerous areas every 30 minutes to an hour, to prevent radiation overexposure.

Meanwhile, they are racing to repair motor pumps. Their environment resembles a cavern of cables. Some of the equipment was damaged during the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Other equipment has been corroded by salt water, which was poured into the facility during earlier efforts to cool the reactors.

“To a layman, you’d be scared to death,” said Lake Barrett, a nuclear engineer who directed the cleanup of Three Mile Island. “You’re working with salt water around your feet. This is not the way electricians usually work.”

The number of workers at the Daiichi plant fluctuates from day to day, ranging between 500 and 1,000. But Tepco employees account for only a part of the labor force. Last Tuesday, for instance, there were 700 people at the plant, a nuclear agency official said. The figure included 500 Tepco employees, 100 subcontracted workers, and 100 members of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces or the Tokyo Fire Department.

One subcontracted worker who laid cables for new electrical lines March 19 described chaotic conditions and lax supervision that made him nervous. Masataka Hishida said neither he nor any of the workers around him was given a dosimeter, a device used to measure one’s exposure to radiation. He was surprised that workers were not given special shoes; rather, they were told to put plastic bags over their street shoes. When he was trying on the gas mask for the first time, he said, the supervisor told him and other subcontractors, “Listen carefully, I’m only going to say this one time,” while explaining how to use it.

When Hishida finished his work shift, an official scanned his whole body for radiation. He came up clean, except for the very tip of his beard. He was sent into a shower where he lathered up and scrubbed his beard. He was tested again and passed.

A few days later, still worried about the extent of his radiation exposure, he trimmed his beard.

Post from Washington Post

Storage Edinburgh

2011-03-28T10:14:00.000+05:00

Whether you are moving house, expanding your offices or archiving some old documents, Safestore offer the perfect storage solution. It can sometimes seem like a difficult task to find the appropriate venue to store your belongings in, but with an ever-expanding portfolio of over 90 locations throughout the country, Safestore bring secure, affordable, flexible space closer than ever.

There are a list of self storage stores and business storage centres located in Edinburgh or nearby on the site. For self Storage Edinburgh and to find out which stores offer household storage, business storage, furniture storage or office space in Edinburgh, you can select the store that you wish to view more details about.

Money Market and General Upadtes - 22-03-2011

2011-03-28T10:11:00.001+05:00

Money Market Updates

-Money market opened at 13.90 with a high of 13.90 and low 13.60 and closed at 13.90. Market remained under liquidity crunch today. State Bank is to conduct a T-Bill Auction today in which the total participation is 288.054 billion rupees and the auction is of 150 billion rupees.

General Updates

-Pakistan has imported more than 90 million kilograms (kg) of tea worth Rs17.2 billion in the first eight months (July to February) of fiscal 2010- 11. With a population of 180 million, the country’s import figures represent per capita consumption of 0.5 kg, compared with Afghanistan, which imported over 68 million kg, despite a population of only 20 million, representing per capita consumption of 3.4 kg.

-Banks lending to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) has been falling despite all efforts made by the State Bank, while its` role is shrinking instead of growth in the economy.

-Bad debts of the country’s banks and development financial institutions (DFIs) have increased by Rs 54 billion to Rs 562.404 billion in second quarter of the current fiscal year, ranging from October 1 to December 31, 2010-11. Non-performing loans (NPLs) of all banks and DFIs ballooned to Rs 562.404 billion in the second quarter of FY11 compared to Rs 508.832 billion in the first quarter of FY11. Figures from the State Bank reveal that, during the said quarter, banks’ net NPLs to their net credits increased to 5.51 percent against 4.65 percent in the previous quarter.

-Oil prices rose by over $2 a barrel, as a wave of U.N.-mandated air strikes on Libya and proliferating unrest in the Middle East fanned concerns about oil supply from the region. Brent crude for May was up $1.80 to $115.73 a barrel by 1234 GMT after earlier trading over $116, while U.S. crude for April gained $1.81 at $102.88 a barrel.

Dinning Room Tables

2011-03-28T10:09:00.000+05:00

People these days have a penchant to reflect their personality and their unique tastes and preferences in their furniture items, and it is often not easy to find one that can strike the right cord. Spacify is a perfect place that can win your heart with its varied quality furniture products that are perfect blend of style and utility. Whether you are looking to give a face lift to your home decor or just wishing to replace your old sofa with a modern piece, Spacify gives you the ultimate furniture shopping experience as you can select form its various European and Italian design furniture to give the right feel to your home decor.

Any kind of modern Dining Room Tables on your mind is available here. You can get modern dining sets, contemporary 5 piece or 7 piece dining room sets, inexpensive dining room sets, furniture dining sets, round dining sets, affordable wooden dining sets, contemporary formal dining sets online at Spacify. Designer Italian formal dining room sets come complete with glass or wooden top tables, buffets, cabinets and dining chairs for you to choose from.

Forward Cover Facility Against Imports

2011-03-24T10:29:00.000+05:00

Attention of Authorized Dealers is invited to Para 1 of F.E. Circular No. 8 dated July 08, 2008 in terms of which forwarded booking against all types of imports was temporarily suspended.

In order to meet the genuine business needs of importers, it has been decided to restore the said facility with immediate effect subject to compliance of all related instructions contained in Chapter IV, FEM-2002 and the following terms and conditions:

1. Forward cover facility will be made available to importers against the Letter of Credit only.

2. No forward cover facility will be provided for a period of less than one month. Roll over in those cases where import payment is not made in accordance with the schedule, will be allowed subject to the condition that the roll over is not less than one month

3. In terms of instructions contained in chapter IV of F.E. Manual 2002, banks will ensure abinitio that the facility is being availed for genuine import transaction and that the importers do not hedge more than the underlying exposure.

Furthermore, if during SBP’s inspection or at any point of time, it is found that the said facility was misused for and not against genuine transactions, action will be taken by SBP under Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947, against the concerned bank and the importer.

4. As per the existing regulations, all forward contracts against which the L/Cs are cancelled are required to be closed out on maturity and differential is settled between the importer and the bank. However, all such cases, where underlying L/Cs were cancelled will be submitted to SBP on maturity with full details, reasons and justification, for further action by SBP as deemed appropriate in terms of regulations under the FERA Act 1947.

Authorized Dealers are advised to bring the above to the notice of their constituents, for strict compliance.

Questions and Answers Arising From New Ordinances

2011-03-21T09:38:00.000+05:00

Question No. 1

Whether or not Yarn sales made on 15-03-2011 in local market to non-exporter customers will also be subject to 17% sales tax as the same had already been dispatched before the issuance of SRO after business hours.

Reply

Zero rating to textile products has been granted through SRO 509(I)/2007. The aforesaid notification has been amended through SRO 231(I)/2011 dated 15.03.2011. The amending notification is effective from the date of its issuance hence the amendment has effect on the supplies made on or after 15.03.2011. There is a hardship for the persons who had made supplies on 15.03.2011 in business hours and at that time no one was aware of the fact that the Federal Government was going to amend the notification, however, since law has its own course, the persons supplying goods on 15.03.2011 shall be liable to pay tax. I would like to draw your attention that in the Finance Bill for the year 2001-2002 presented in the Parliament on 18.06.2001, the rate of further tax [which was applicable on goods supplied to unregistered persons] was enhanced from 1.5% to 3%. These provisions were given immediate effect, however, the persons who had made supplies on 18.06.2001, were facing the same problem as the Bill was presented in the Assembly in the evening hours of 18.06.2001 whereas the supplied had been made at the rate of 1.5% in the business hours on 18.06.2001. While conducting audit of the sales tax record of the registered persons, the auditors made out cases against the taxpayers through which demands of the differential amounts of further tax were raised. Keeping in view the genuine hardship faced by the taxpayers, the Federal Government had to issue SRO 202(I)/2002 dated 04.04.2002 through which it granted exemption of further tax chargeable under section 3(1A) of the Act in excess of 1.5% on all taxable supplies made by the registered persons on 18.06.2001. Unless such an exemption notification is issued in respect of supplies made on 15.03.2011, you would remain liable to pay tax on supplies made on 15.03.2011 irrespective of the fact that the notification was issued after business hours.

Question No. 2

We being manufacturer cum exporter, if sell our yarn to other manufacturer cum exporter who manufactures cloth from the yarn and then exports the same, whether our sale would be treated as zero rated or subject to 17% sales tax. If it is zero rated what should be the required evidence to justify our sale that we actually sold yarn to manufacturer cum exporter who ultimately exported cloth?

Reply

In case you are selling yarn to such a person who is registered as a manufacturer cum exporter, the supplies would be chargeable to zero rating of sales tax. You can retrieve the sales tax registration certificate of the buyer exhibiting that he is registered as manufacturer cum exporter. The buyer would use the yarn in the manufacture of fabric which would be either exported or would be sold in the local market. In case of export, the goods shall be chargeable to zero rating of tax. In case of local sale, if such a sale is again made to a manufacturer cum exporter or exporter, the goods shall be chargeable to zero rating of tax. However if the goods are sold in the local market to a person neither registered as manufacturer cum exporter nor exporter, the goods shall be charged to tax at the rate of 17%.

Question No. 3

We being manufacturer cum exporter, if sell our yarn to other manufacturer cum exporter who exports the same without any processing, whether our sale would be treated as zero rated or subject to 17% sales tax. If it is zero rated what should be the required evidence to prove that we actually sold yarn to manufacturer cum exporter?

Reply

The reply to the first part of the question has been given in above paragraph. The only evidence that the goods are sold to the manufacture cum exporter or exporter, will be the sales tax registration certificate of the buyer.

Question No. 4

What will be the status of Cotton Ginner registered as manufacturer cum exporter & otherwise selling his cotton to manufacturer cum exporter? Whether cotton has also become subject to 17% sales tax.

Reply

Under SRO 509(I)/2007, ginned cotton is also subjected to zero rating of sales tax. In case the ginner supplies cotton to manufacturer cum exporter, it shall be chargeable to tax at the rate of zero percent otherwise it shall be chargeable to standard rate of 17% sales tax.

Question No. 5

If we sell some old machinery for which at the time of its purchase we had paid sales tax @ 15%, whether its sale today after the issuance of SRO 230 will be again subject to 17% or not?

Zero rating of sales tax on plant machinery and equipment including parts thereof, has been withdrawn w.e.f. 15.03.2011 so any machinery, whether new or old, sold on or after 15.03.2011 has become liable to sales tax at the rate of 17% irrespective of the fact whether you had paid sales tax at the time of its purchase.

Question No. 6

Since zero rating of sales has been withdrawn effective March 15, 2011, therefore, we request you to confirm as if the stock already held and imported at zero rated but sold on or after March 15, 2011 would be subjected to 17% sales tax or not. Till now there is no such circular or clarification from the board on this matter.

Reply

Zero rating of sales tax on plant machinery and equipment including parts thereof, has been withdrawn w.e.f. 15.03.2011. Any supply of these goods on or after 15.03.2011 shall be subjected to 17% sales tax and 2.5% SED irrespective of the fact whether these were imported under zero rated regime.

Question No. 7

Please clarify this increase of Excise duty of 1 to 2.5% for zero Rating sector because as per SRO 509(1)/2007 , sales tax will be charged at the rate of zero rating percent on the supply and import thereof .

Now through SRO 231 (1)/2011, this zero rating of sales tax is there but in a restricted manner, then what will be the applicability of this increase of 1 to 2.5 % FED because when it was 1%, then it was not being applicable. What will be the status in case of textile and leather especially?

Reply

Zero rating of sales tax on textile and leather has been restricted only if these goods after import or domestic production are sold or purchased between persons registered as manufacturer cum exporters or as exporters, for use or utilization in goods meant for export. In case these goods after import or domestic production are sold or purchased between persons not registered as manufacturer cum exporters or as exporters OR for use in goods meant for local consumption, zero rating of sales tax shall not be applicable under SRO 509(I)/2007. When the supply of those goods is out of the ambit of SRO 509(I)/2007, the exemption of SED in terms of Sr. No. 25 of the Table given below SRO 655(I)/2007 shall also be not available to the goods. Some advocates still hold the view that even the goods supplied to persons other than manufacturer cum exporters or exporters OR for use in goods meant for local consumption, become liable to 17% sales tax but those still remain exempt from SED. However, this point of view has to be tested for judicial scrutiny by competent court of law. Before taking any action, it would be advisable to seek categorical ruling from FBR to avoid any future complication.

Dolls Village Festivities

2011-03-21T09:12:00.000+05:00

With Monika Kuppler in Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka busy with series of her pottery workshops and Dr. Norbert Pintsch also in the village, Thatta Kedona spring activities are picking up.

Work is in progress at different projects in addition to electricity by kites project. Thekedar Iqbal from Harappa is busy in various the repair work, a group of students from Women College University is expected to come and spend a day in the village. Flowers and decorative trees will be handed over to residents under ‘one boy one tree’ program.

While this is happening in the village, dolls and toys from Thatta Kedona are on display at Alhamra Art Gallery with the collaboration of Daachi-Foundation. Large number of friends of dolls came to visit Thatta Kedona stall at Alhamra Art Gallery.

Daachi Foundation mela has a message to create an atmosphere of harmony, tolerance, unity among the nation by establishing a peaceful society and promotion of traditional art and crafts. The mela not only entertained the masses but also provided an opportunity to know about the traditional arts and crafts and to bring them closed the real culture of this land. A large number of Lahorites along with their families visited the festival with full zeal.

Email Solutions

2011-03-21T00:46:00.000+05:00

Growing the value of your customer relationships while also converting new prospects can be a tough challenge. But the effectiveness of today’s email marketing tools now makes it surprisingly affordable. Today’s email marketing is perfectly suited to the way small businesses have always operated. It is personal, immediate, easily tailored to what makes you unique. Above all, it’s practical.

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Loge Design

2011-03-21T00:37:00.000+05:00

When you see a logo design that makes you say "WOW!" it's most likely the result of creative visual thinking. Creative logo designers think about what they see and are able to see what they think. That's the difference their in-house team of professional logo designers bring to their logo design project. They work directly with you throughout every step of the process to create a unique and memorable logo that will make their business stand out from the crowd.

You will have a team of professional logo designers (all in-house) working on their project at all times. Their designers will supply you with 15 - 30 unique and custom created logos for you to choose from. All you have to do is select the ones you like and provide any changes, their logo designers will do the rest. They offer unlimited revisions and you have direct communication with their logo designers at all times.

Three New Ordinances Promulgated

2011-03-20T17:41:00.000+05:00

President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday promulgated three ordinances. Details are as under;

1:17 percent sales tax on

fertilisers,
agricultural tractors,
pesticides,
plants,
machinery and
equipment including its parts,

2: 15 percent income tax surcharge for Tax Year 2011 and

3: Raised special excise duty (SED) from 1 to 2.5 percent.

4: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has restricted the sales tax zero-rating facility of five export sectors -

textile,
leather,
surgical,
sports and
carpets

to only registered manufacturers-cum-exporters or exporters for export purpose by amending SRO509(I)/2007.

5: The domestic supplies of these five zero-rated sectors will now be liable to sales tax at the standard rate of 17 percent.

6: The FBR has rescinded SRO.564(I)/2006 whereby sales tax was charged on sugar at the rate of Rs. 28.88 per kg. Now, the sales tax would be assessed on the actual market price of sugar. The rate of sales tax on sugar would remain unchanged at 8 percent. The assessable value of Rs 28.88 is creating a market distortion since ex-factory prices range between Rs 50 and Rs 60.

7: The FBR has withdrawn sales tax zero-rating facility on plants, machinery and equipment by amending the SRO.549(I)/2008. The sales tax exemption has been withdrawn on fertilizers, pesticides and tractors. The FBR has also withdrawn sales tax exemption of input tax on agricultural tractors. The Sales Tax (Amendment) Ordinance, 2011 has been issued to impose 17 percent sales tax on agricultural tractors.

8: One-time 15 percent income tax surcharge and raise in the SED from one to 2.5 percent respectively for the remaining period of the current fiscal.

9: The government would generate an additional revenue of Rs 53 billion through these fresh taxation measures in the remaining period of the current fiscal year.

10: The government has taken a number of measures to reduce its expenditure. These include a ban on the purchase of durable goods till July 1, 2011.

11: The government has also imposed a temporary ban on fresh hiring and recruitment. In addition, the government has totally banned capital expenditure and effected a 50 percent cut in travel and stationery budget. The cut in travel and stationery would help government save Rs 1 billion.

Picture of The Day - By Business Recorder

2011-03-19T09:11:00.000+05:00

Payroll Services

2011-03-18T17:27:00.000+05:00

Customer service is at the heart of their business, which is why they are constantly working to improve systems and have achieved a 100% rating of “very satisfied” in every annual survey. They’ve found it’s the details which make the difference, such as advance processing schedules, highly trained staff, unlimited telephone support and secure pay slips. They are so confident in their payroll services that they will process ytheir Year End returns and P60's for free if you feel they have not lived up to their promises.

With 20 years experience in the industry, they’ve perfected the art of payroll. Their HMRC accredited systems, professional expertise and unrivalled service guarantee complete peace of mind, giving you more time to focus on business. They specialize in delivering payroll services UK to SMEs throughout the UK and manage every step of the process, ensuring a reliable, cost effective and dedicated service.

Mud Architecture

2011-03-18T16:09:00.000+05:00

Concept of shifting to mud architecture is creating waves in Pakistan. It is heartening to know that a lot is happening to convert this concept in to a reality in the form of proposed Mud Village, Peerzada Festival Area, Lahore.

Mud is an excellent construction material. It is being used as a building material since prehistoric times. Mud structures can still be found in a variety of climates across the globe; In Pakistan, it is most strongly associated with rural culture. The idea of mud building is now coming to urban areas. Construction of model mud village in Lahore is the case in point.

Society for the Promotion of Art and Culture (SPARC), registered in Lahore since 1994, is starting construction of mud village for handicraft men. Prof. Dr. Norbert Pintsch (Senior Expert Service Bonn, Germany) is planning to coordinating the project and giving it a practical shape.

Prof. Dr. Norbert Pintsch is an experienced architect by profession is very passionate about mud architecture. Since completing first building project as an architect at the age of 18, Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch has been in various activities as an architect and civil engineer all his life.

In addition, Iqbal, a local builder from Harrapa, Ghayyoor Obaid, a famous architect, Peerzada Festival Area, a concern that is providing space for construction of mud village near world famous Puppetry Museum are also involved in the project. Beacon House University, Department of Architecture and Building Research Institute are also likely to participate.

It is not good enough to assume that “everything from the past is good. It is necessary to show,” says Dr. Norbert Pintsch who is very passionate about the project. Like national University in Colombia where students practice construction with local materials like bamboo and wood, the project will give an opportunity to the students of Beacon House University to practice what they have been learning while adapting the construction technique mixed with appropriate technology in Pakistan.

Prof. Dr. Norbert Pintsch never gets tired of talking about his passion and, given my own interest, I don’t get tired of listening about the details of the project. Please stay tuned and I will endeavor to bring every detail as the project unfolds.

UOG Convocation 2011

2011-03-17T23:45:00.000+05:00

The University of Gujrat Second Convocation 2011

The University of Gujrat Second Convocation 2010

Hardwood Floor

2011-03-16T10:51:00.000+05:00

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General Manager Finance - Nagina Group

2011-03-09T15:51:00.000+05:00

NAGINA Group having presence in spinning, weaving, power generation and trading is looking for a dynamic chartered accountant with atleast 7 years of post qualification of experience. The candidates having experience in Textile industry would have an added advantage: The job profile is given below:

Job title            :           General Manager Finance.
Location of job :           Lahore based
Salary                :         To be negotiated on the basis of the experience and skill.
Fringe benefits  : As per company policy such as company maintained car, health insurance etc.
Maximum age limit: The maximum age of the person should not be more than 50 years as on March 31, 2011.

Job description: It’s a senior management post with variety of responsibilities. However major responsibilities would include:

Group financing under working capital and long term loans. For this purpose the successful applicant would be required to have close relationships with the senior officials of banks and possess effective verbal and written communication skills.
Treasury management of the group which includes forward dollar sales, foreign currency financing arrangements, investment of surplus funds of the group and derivative transactions etc.
Corporate secretarial work of the three listed companies. The successful applicant should be well versed with secp and stock exchange regulations.
Supervising the internal audit function of the group.
Supervising the IT function of the group, make improvements in the existing softwares and manage new developments.
Supervising the export documentations and monitoring the logistics function for exports and imports.
Implementing budgets, cost control efforts and bench marking performance standards.
Supervising the taxation and legal matters of the group.

The persons who are confident to fulfill the above criteria are encouraged to apply electronically in confidence latest by March 18, 2011 at the following e mail address: hr@nagina.com

Country's Wind Energy Potential Stands at 350,000 MW

2011-03-08T22:33:00.000+05:00

Country can generate over 350,000 MW electricity through wind against the total demand of about 21,000 MW in peak summer, urging the need for solid steps to explore the potential. Pakistan has numerous resources to get energy and around 57,000 MW electricity could be generated only from Gharo-Keti Bandar corridor where average wind speed is more than seven meter per second throughout a year.

They said the corridor has potential which is twice of India and other sites in Balochistan, Punjab, and Northern Area which are being identified for power generation. The sources said Pakistan is among the world's highest and fastest rising urbanisation and electricity is available to only 57 percent of the population while natural gas to 21 percent.

Only 45 percent of rural population have access to grid electricity and there is extreme shortage of electricity and gas leading to load shedding. Economic growth is also suffering due to gas and power load shedding, leading to closures of industries.

Total installed and dependable capacity of the country's power sector is 20,231 MW. 11,735 MW could get from public sector while 8,496 MW from private sector. "By switching to alternative energy means, we can reduce dependence on imported oil, running into billions of dollars and undermining economic development".

It is pertinent to mention that USA has wind power installed capacity of 25,170 MW, Japan 1,880 MW, India 9,645 MW, Greece 985 MW, Egypt 365 MW, Iran 85 while Pakistan has only 6 MW so far. The government has set up AEDB in 2003 for implementing policies programs and projects through private sector in the field of alternative energy.

Estate Planning Attorney

2011-03-08T22:19:00.000+05:00

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Money Market, Forex and General Upadtes - 07-03-2011

2011-03-08T10:36:00.001+05:00

Money Market Updates:

Money Market opened at 13.00 and was quite crunched in terms of liquidity today. Highest dealing went on 13.60 percent. Meanwhile State Bank conducted an open market operation in which it injected Rs. 10.95 billion at 12.91 percent. The total bidding was for Rs. 21.65 billion. Due to this OMO market came down to 12.30 and again rose to 13.30 and then closed at 13.50.

General Updates

Besides injecting about Rs175 billion into the energy sector, the government is finalizing a plan for `at-source deductions and book adjustments` to melt down a chronic circular debt that has created a liquidity crisis for over a dozen companies and blocked dividend earnings for the national exchequer.

Pakistan, which is the second largest recipient of the British aid after Ethiopia with an annual assistance of £200 million, could see it scale up to £446 million a year by 2015. But this enhancement in assistance, focusing on key areas of education, health, financial inclusion, democracy and governance, is conditional and Islamabad will have to prove its commitment to reforming itself.

Ending a four-month freeze, the government on Monday increased by 9.9 per cent the prices of all petroleum products in a bid to pass on the partial impact of the steep rise of international oil prices. The political explosion that this hike may cause remains to be seen. This is the single biggest surge in oil prices in 32 months since July 2008 and is expected to generate about Rs5-6 billion revenue for the government, depending on the fluctuation in the international market which has been caused by the political turmoil in oil-producing countries of the Middle East and North Africa.

Forex Updates:

Interbank Dollar Market opened at 85.40/45 and keeping at a low dealing pace went on a high of 85.40 and a low of 85.35. Interbank Dollar Market closed at 85.38/40

Wood Weave Blinds

2011-03-08T10:32:00.000+05:00

Discover why so many people have relied on Blinds Supermarket to update the look of their home. With the lowest prices available on the internet, a whole host of exciting made to measure, cheap roller blinds can be delivered to your home within 5 days.

Their extensive range of cheap Woodweave blinds has become increasingly popular among Blinds Supermarket customers, made from 100% natural materials. The organic nature of this product gives each blind a unique appearance, offering a natural touch to both contemporary and traditional homes. With a range of six different styles to choose from, including bamboo and jute, each with its own distinctive look, these blinds look good in any room, but are particularly suited to dining rooms and conservatories.

After you've selected one of the many Made to measure woodweave blinds available, you can add a personal touch by selecting different shaped bottom and control poles. Boasting incredibly similar characteristics to Roman blinds, their high quality yet cheap Woodweave blinds are simple to operate and adjust.

Local Search Marketing

2011-03-08T10:25:00.000+05:00

You know your customers are searching for you. But how? Are they on Google or Facebook? Where do they live? What keywords do they punch in when they want you? What about when they need you? You could look into each of these channels, spending hours ensuring your ads, listings and profiles are accurate and effective. Or you could look into Deluxe, for affordable ways to get the most of your online presence, Local search marketing and effective ways to get found.

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SBP Allows NRSP Microfinance Bank to Commence Nation-wide Operation

2011-03-05T11:05:00.000+05:00

The State Bank of Pakistan has allowed NRSP Microfinance Bank to commence business as a nation-wide microfinance bank. Earlier, the SBP had issued a license to the Bank. NRSP Microfinance Bank now becomes the 6th microfinance bank to operate on nationwide basis whereas two microfinance banks are operating at district level. Initially, it will operate with a network of 38 branches in 13 districts of the country.

It may be added here that the licensing of NRSP MFB was the result of gradual transformation of National Rural Support Program (NRSP) into microfinance bank. However, initially, the NRSP operations in 13 districts are being transformed into NRSP MF Bank. At present, the NRSP is the largest player in the microfinance sector with a market share of almost 22%. The commencement of business of NRSP MFB will result in a significant increase in the market share of regulated microfinance banks (MFBs) within the overall microfinance sector. This will also lead to the increased provision of inclusive financial services in the rural areas of the country.

Other microfinance banks operating in the country are:

Tameer Microfinance Bank Ltd.,
Khushhali Bank Ltd.,
Pak Oman Microfinance Bank Ltd.,
The First Microfinance Bank Ltd.,
Rozgar Microfinance Bank Ltd.,
Kashf Microfinance Bank Ltd. and
Network Microfinance Bank Ltd.

Guitar Lessons

2011-03-05T11:01:00.000+05:00

From Aerosmith to ZZ Top, they offer guitar lessons for all, providing simple and easy to follow methods. Whether you are playing the acoustic or electric guitar, their video guitar lessons will help you to learn to play your favorite tunes simply by downloading your chosen videos. Their guitar lessons offer music enthusiasts step-by-step instructions on guitar playing techniques using a range of popular songs, for people of all levels including beginners.

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Bad Breath Cure

2011-03-04T12:08:00.002+05:00

Anyone who has ever had a problem with bad breath knows that it is the worst feeling in the world. Bad breath takes away your ability to be out going and as aggressive with your life as you would like to be. Instead of meeting new people, and trying for new opportunities at work, you restrain yourself and hide yourself away because of the embarrassment you feel from your halitosis. As a matter of fact, most surveys show that what people find to be the number one most unappealing attribute in the opposite sex, is halitosis. What these people do not realize, is that bad breath is not just an irritating ailment, it can also be a sign of some potentially dangerous chemical combinations in your body that present themselves with a potent and horrific order.

If the smelly breath problem is not yours and you do not need of bad breath cure , but you have a loved one that needs some help in the area, this website can help you too. You will be able to find ways to help them without confronting them about their problem. Perhaps it is simply a matter of changing their diet, or the oral hygiene products they use. No one has to live their entire life in hiding due to embarrassment over their halitosis.

Story of Appreciation

2011-02-28T10:44:00.004+05:00

One young academically excellent person went to apply for a managerial position in a big company.

He passed the first interview, the director did the last interview, made the last decision.

The director discovered from the CV that the youth's academic achievements were excellent all the way, from the secondary school until the postgraduate research, never had a year when he did not score.

The director asked, "Did you obtain any scholarships in school?" the youth answered "none".

The director asked, " Was it your father who paid for your school fees?" The youth answered, "My father passed away when I was one year old, it was my mother who paid for my school fees.

The director asked, " Where did your mother work?" The youth answered, "My mother worked as clothes cleaner. The director requested the youth to show his hands. The youth showed a pair of hands that were smooth and perfect.

The director asked, " Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?" The youth answered, "Never, my mother always wanted me to study and read more books. Furthermore, my mother can wash clothes faster than me.

The director said, "I have a request. When you go back today, go and clean your mother's hands, and then see me tomorrow morning.

The youth felt that his chance of landing the job was high. When he went back, he happily requested his mother to let him clean her hands. His mother felt strange, happy but with mixed feelings, she showed her hands to the kid.

The youth cleaned his mother's hands slowly. His tear fell as he did that. It was the first time he noticed that his mother's hands were so wrinkled, and there were so many bruises in her hands. Some bruises were so painful that his mother shivered when they were cleaned with water.

This was the first time the youth realized that it was this pair of hands that washed the clothes everyday to enable him to pay the school fee. The bruises in the mother's hands were the price that the mother had to pay for his

graduation, academic excellence and his future.

After finishing the cleaning of his mother hands, the youth quietly washed all the remaining clothes for his mother.

That night, mother and son talked for a very long time. Next morning, the youth went to the director's office.

The Director noticed the tears in the youth's eyes, asked: " Can you tell me what have you done and learned yesterday in your house?"

The youth answered, " I cleaned my mother's hand, and also finished cleaning all the remaining clothes'. The Director asked, " please tell me your feelings."

The youth said, Number 1, I know now what is appreciation. Without my mother, there would not the successful me today. Number 2, by working together and helping my mother, only I now realize how difficult and tough it is to get something done. Number 3, I have come to appreciate the importance and value of family relationship.

The director said, " This is what I am looking for to be my manager. I want to recruit a person who can appreciate the help of others, a person who knows the sufferings of others to get things done, and a person who would not put money as his only goal in life. You are hired.

Later on, this young person worked very hard, and received the respect of his subordinates. Every employee worked diligently and as a team. The company's performance improved tremendously.

A child, who has been protected and habitually given whatever he wanted, would develop "entitlement mentality" and would always put himself first. He would be ignorant of his parent's efforts. When he starts work, he assumes that every person must listen to him, and when he becomes a manager, he would never know the sufferings of his employees and would always blame others. For this kind of people, who may be good academically, may be successful for a while, but eventually would not feel sense of achievement. He will grumble and be full of hatred and fight for more. If we are this kind of protective parents, are we really showing love or are we destroying the kid instead?*

You can let your kid live in a big house, eat a good meal, learn piano, watch a big screen TV. But when you are cutting grass, please let them experience it. After a meal, let them wash their plates and bowls together with their brothers and sisters. It is not because you do not have money to hire a maid, but it is because you want to love them in a right way. You want them to understand, no matter how rich their parents are, one day their hair will grow gray, same as the mother of that young person. The most important thing is your kid learns how to appreciate the effort and experience the difficulty and learns the ability to work with others to get things done.

You would have forwarded many mails to many and many of them would have back mailed you too...but try and forward this story to as many as possible...this may change somebody's fate...

Domain Name

2011-02-28T10:16:00.000+05:00

Domain names are the foundation on which a website can be built. Choosing a domain name is important for a number of reasons: it is used to build your brand online, it is used in your advertising, it is used for search engine optimization and ultimately it is what customers will use when finding you online. Domain registration is critical to your online business success.

One thing to do is decide on several different options for your name. While the name of your company is a great place to start it's a good idea to come up with a few alternatives as well. Ideally, choosing a .com is optimal because users tend to default to .com when typing in a URL, however .net and .org do have value. Using keywords in your domain name can potentially help your search engine results for those terms. You should also do a background check on the names you would like to use. The last thing you want to do is buy a domain that is viewed negatively by Google. Using a WHOIS tool you can use to aid in this research.

After you've registered your domain you should try to get a site up as quick as you can. A domain name doesn't do you any good if there is nothing to attract potential customers. This also lets you start to gain the trust of search engines by establishing your online presence.

Punjab Government Mulling Privatising BoP

2011-02-25T17:29:00.001+05:00

The Punjab government is contemplating to privatise the Bank of Punjab (BoP) with the aim that proceeds of the privatisation of bank will help bailout the provincial government from current financial crunch and Mian Muhammad Mansha, a prominent banker is the potential buyer, Business Recorder has learnt.

Sources told this scribe that Punjab government officials and BoP senior management has given a detailed briefing to the PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif and Mian Mohammad Mansha owner of Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB) limited regarding the equity, assets, manpower and infrastructure of BoP.

It may be added that during first tenure of Nawaz Sharif as Prime Minister (1991-93) Mian Mansha purchased the state owned Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB) which is now one of the leading banks of Pakistan with a deposit base of Rs 368 billion and total assets over Rs 500 billion.

It may be added that Punjab government has been living on over-drafts of nearly billions of rupees from the State Bank. In order to improve its financial position it has already identified and put 1410 properties including commercial, residential and agriculture lands for sale to fetch more than Rs 12.5 billion from market since November 2009.

Till the end of January 2011, out of total properties on sale, the Punjab Privatisation Board sold out 325 properties of all kinds in open auctions and earned Rs 3.29 billion to meet its expenses said an official. In January this year, the government also announced rightsizing in public sector to save Rs 6.1 billion from current expenditures, he added.

It is pertinent to mention here that Punjab government established BoP in 1989, in pursuance of The Bank of Punjab Act 1989 and was given the status of scheduled bank in 1994. The Bank of Punjab is working as a scheduled commercial bank with its network of 284 branches at all major business centres in the country. The Bank provides all types of banking services such as Deposit in Local Currency, Client Deposit in Foreign Currency, Remittances, and advances to Business, Trade, Industry and Agriculture. A wholly owned subsidiary of BOP, First Punjab Modaraba, was established in 1992 and is being managed by Punjab Modaraba Services (Pvt) Ltd.

The Punjab government has owned 51 percent shares of the bank whereas 49 percent shares were owned by various individual, companies and foreigners. According to official record, the deposits of BoP is calculated Rs 225 billion till December 2010. Whereas, its assets were calculated Rs 173.6 billion according to Annual General Meeting 2008. The manpower is above 6,000 employees.

The bank remained under tremendous financial pressure during 2009 and 2010 owing to bad loaning particularly to Haris Steel Mill by the former president Hamesh Khan. The Punjab government provided Rs 10 billion finances to bank as equity injection to come out from the crises. Now BoP is doing business at breakeven level (no profit no loss basis), said an official requesting anonymity.

A senior finance department official said banking was a corporate activity and should be done by the private sector. If the government was interested to privatise BoP, fair market value should be carried out first to assess the total outlay (equity+loan+assets) of the bank to attract most appropriate price from the market. Privatisation should be done in open auction. It was in the interest of the government to privatise bank because it was passing through constant financial crises to deal government business and financial issues. The privatisation would help the government to avoid future loss and generate handsome funds to be diverted into development projects, he added.

Another senior Punjab government official requesting anonymity said discussions were being made at high level and political elite would decide about the privatisation of the bank. The privatisation would be done under "The Punjab Privatisation Board Act, 2010, he added.

The Punjab government can sell only 51 percent shares owned by her and the new management would purchase the remaining shares in hostile take-over from stock markets. If 51 percent shares would be sold then the purchaser would take-over the management control of the bank, he added. When contacted, Tariq Bajawa secretary finance Punjab said "it is not in my knowledge."

When asked, Ameer Mumtaz media manager BoP said it was news for me that bank was going to be privatised. When contacted, Mubashir Bashir head of corporate communication MCB on the behalf of Mansha said "we have no such intentions yet," adding that it was routine that Mansha holds meetings on various issues.

He said Mansha purchased MCB during first tenure of Nawaz Sharif as Prime Minister (1991-93) Mian Mansha purchased the state owned Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB) which is now one of the leading banks of Pakistan with a deposit base of Rs 368 billion and total assets over Rs 500 billion. Incorporated in 1947, MCB soon earned the reputation of a solid and conservative financial institution managed by expatriate executives.

Money Market, Forex and General Upadtes - 24-02-2011

2011-02-24T16:13:00.000+05:00

Money Market Updates

State Bank of Pakistan is to conduct a T-Bill auction today. The target of the auction is Rs. 150 billion. Participation in 3 months, 6 months and 1 year t-bill is recorded at Rs 183,757 million, Rs 63,326 million and 21,600 million respectively.

Forex Market Updates

Benchmark crude oil prices rose to a record high in two and a half years and gain $5 US a barrel and closed at $95 a barrel and Brent crude oil futures in London added $2.2 a barrel and closed at $108 approximately, due to revolts in Libya.

General Updates

-July to January exports increased by 22.7 percent which is a record high during this ongoing fiscal period as compared to last year. The exports for the period of July to Jan 2010-11 totaled to $13.23 billion against $10.78 billion of last year’s corresponding period. Pakistan’s exports in January were recorded at $2.329 billion depicting a 38.2 percent increase against $1.685 billion made in January 2010.

-The imports in January 2011 were $3.44 billion being 3.4 percent higher than the exports recorded in January 2010. The total imports for July-Jan 2010-11 were recorded at $22.55 billion against $19.32 billion for the same period previous year showing an increase of 16.7 percent.

-Pakistan’s energy sector is facing a circular debt of about Rs. 500 billion which includes Rs. 300 billion old and Rs 150 billion fresh debts. The fresh debts are created due to inefficient top brass of Pakistan Electric Power Company.

-The government has released Rs 1.2 billion against the allocated Rs 8.7 billion which is 13 percent of the total allocation to the agriculture sector. There were 59 total projects to be completed with the allocated amount from which Rs 5.2 billion were allocated for Improvement of Watercourses for which Rs 672 million were released so far.

-Japan International Cooperation Agency is to provide $175 million soft loan for construction of damaged roads and bridges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that were swept away by flood.

Easter Revision Courses

2011-02-23T11:07:00.000+05:00

Lansdowne College has successfully run Easter Revision Courses for over 25 years. During this time the have helped thousands of students realise their full academic potential at both GCSE and A Level, enabling them to progress onto their chosen path for their studies. Students often find themselves unaware of exactly what the examiners are looking for and subsequently unsure of what makes an A grade answer. The Easter Revision Courses at Lansdowne remedy this by not just focusing on the subject content, but also on extensive and comprehensive examination preparation, including a free mock examination at the end of the course.

Their easter revision courses london succeed by establishing what students already know and understand, through tasks, class discussions and homework. Only then can tutors ensure the right kind of feedback and help. Many students are hardworking and diligent in their studies and approach, and yet still find the top grades beyond their grasp. This is often due not to a lack of ability, but to poor revision techniques, inadequate examination preparation and practice, as well as a general lack of confidence.

UBL Declares 40 Percent Dividend

2011-02-23T10:59:00.002+05:00

United Bank Limited (UBL) has posted a record consolidated profit before tax of Rs 11.020 billion for year ending December 31, 2010 and declared a final cash dividend of Rs 4 per share. According to financial results sent to KSE here Monday, the pre- tax profit of the bank has surged to Rs 17.688 billion compared to Rs 14.392 billion in 2009. The earning per share also improved to Rs 9.01 during the period under review as against Rs 7.78 last year.

Patio Heaters

2011-02-23T10:53:00.000+05:00

A patio heater also called a mushroom or umbrella heater is an appliance for generating radiant heat for outdoor use. A burner on top of a post, burns LPG or propane, and directs the flames against a perforated metal screen. Heat is radiated from the surface of the screen in a circular pattern around the appliance. A reflector atop the burner reflects heat that would be otherwise lost upwards. The chimenea is an alternative to the patio heater for home use, which burns wood instead of gas.

A newer type of Patio Heater is the InfraRed Patio Heater, which although claimed to be environmentally friendly, use grid electricity. Grid electricity in the UK is 2.9 times more carbon intensive than gas. Patio heaters have become popular with bars and restaurants since they extend the day and the season for their customers to sit outdoors. This increase in the popularity of the patio heater has led to concerns over their environmental effects.

NBP FOREE CASH

2011-02-19T11:11:00.000+05:00

National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) has formally launched instant, reliable, convenient and absolutely free remittance product in Madina region of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

According to NBP here, the product with the brand name of "NBP FOREE CASH" was launched on 12th Rabi-ul-Awwal. This instant remittance product is available from all centers of Tahweel Al Rajhi to facilitate the large Pakistani community for sending instant remittances to their families at home.

It is a cash-to-cash remittance delivery product through which beneficiaries from across Pakistan can receive home remittances in minutes from their loved ones abroad.

New Build Homes

2011-02-19T11:07:00.000+05:00

As a property owner you should always choose to sell your property privately, as many sellers now realize the financial gain when selling property privately without the presence of an Estate Agent. At Your Property Key we will make a real difference in marketing your private property sale as they are highly ranked with all major search engines, cover the entire United Kingdom, have a well proven record and offer great value for our service..

Search for your Next Home! Browse their constantly updated property database for the latest homes for sale privately. All their property adverts and For Sale Boards are linked by a reference number, also adverts show a listing date to ensure they are current and relevant to you. Just follow our Buying Guide for more information. You can also Register With them to sell your new build homes as per your requirements and receive the latest properties direct by e-mail.

Advertise your property online by simply following our Selling Guide. Select the best sales package to suit your selling requirements, complete our property form, e-mail up to 10 of your photographs, then relax and let us create your advert and your property will be listed until sold.

C/A Deficit At $81 Million Forex Reserves Rise to a Record $17.44 Bln

2011-02-19T10:56:00.000+05:00

Pakistan's current account deficit for July-January was a provisional $81 million, compared with a deficit of $3.052 billion in the same period last year, the central bank said on Friday.

In January, the current account deficit was a provisional $62 million, compared with a surplus of $570 million in December. The current account deficit for the fiscal year 2009/10 was $3.946 billion, compared with $9.261 billion in fiscal year 2008/09.

Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves rose to a record $17.44 billion in the week ending Feb. 12, up from $17.31 billion the previous week, the central bank said on Thursday. Reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan rose to $13.91 billion from $13.76 billion in the week ending Feb. 12, while those held by commercial banks fell to $3.53 billion from $3.55 billion, said the SBP.

"Foreign exchange reserves rose to a record because of a rise in remittances and increasing exports," said Syed Wasimuddin, chief spokesman for the central bank. Remittances by overseas Pakistanis were recorded at $6.12 billion during the first seven months of the fiscal year 2010/11, up 17.70 percent from the same period last year, according to data from the State Bank of Pakistan.

Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves were boosted last month by more than $633 million after the United States provided military and logistical support to fight Islamist militancy. In May, Pakistan received $1.13 billion -- the fifth tranche of an $11 billion International Monetary Fund bailout programme.

Absolutely Delicious

2011-02-19T10:48:00.000+05:00

Pouring a glass of your favorite tipple to accompany dinner can be just the thing to finish off a busy day. However, for those who would like to change their drinking habits, an alternative has been suggested.If you're looking for a top notch selection of wines, and you only want six of them...then this fantastic case is right up your alley. Featuring delicious wines perfect for a plethora of different tastes and occasions, from all corners of the globe. This case will ensure that you've always got the right bottle to pop open, whether it's to pair with your evening meals, treat guests or indulge yourself. As this is a six pack, no vouchers may be used.

We've put this case together for those occasions when six bottles is all you need. Perfect for parties and aperitifs, white wine lovers will be sure to enjoy every last drop of the stunning selections in this case. Red fans won't feel left out, with gorgeous wines ideal for your evening meals or when you've sunk into the sofa watching the box. Visit the neatly laid out site of wine delivered and see what they are offering and how?

Venetian Blinds

2011-02-18T11:55:00.002+05:00

Whether you have a traditional style home or one that has been designed along more contemporary lines, made to measure Venetian blinds look great in any part of your home. Materials used to make these blinds include traditional aluminium slats, wood effect or real wood.

Customers love selection of cheap Venetian blinds as they bring an uncluttered, clean feel to any room. They are available in a wide range of different styles and materials, as well as in an exciting choice of colours - so there is sure to be one that suits your interior. From a practical point of view, these top quality yet cheap Venetian blinds offer a great way of filtering or blocking light out of a room - or indeed allowing maximum sunlight to enter when desired.

All our made to measure Venetian blinds are very easy to operate - with two simple controls. One cord is used to control the height of the blind, while the other controls the angle of the slat. And because we make your blinds to your exact requirements, you can decide which side of the blind the control mechanism should be on. From a cleaning point of view, these blinds can be easily wiped clean with a damp cloth.

If you're looking for Cheap venetian blinds that offer superb levels of build quality, Blinds Supermarket has some great products to help make your home look fantastic

Dollar Range Bound Ahead of G20 Meeting

2011-02-18T11:54:00.000+05:00

The dollar was rangebound against major currencies in Asia trade Friday following a negative market response to US data overnight and ahead of the G20 finance ministers' Paris meeting this weekend. The dollar traded at 83.36 yen in Tokyo compared to 83.30 in New York late Thursday. The euro rose to $1.3614 in Tokyo from $1.3605. The common currency firmed to 113.54 yen from 113.33.

US jobless claims and January inflation rose above expectations, and the dollar eased slightly on the mixed data as markets took an overall negative view, noted National Australia Bank's Spiros Papadopoulos.

"Investors appear to be focused on whether an improving business outlook will actually feed through to improvements in the labour market," he said. Dollar investors shunned the news of a strong rise in the regional industrial activity index of the Philadelphia branch of the Federal Reserve. Dealers cited increasing tensions in the Middle East and rising global inflation as the two key themes in the markets.

Oil prices were expected to rally higher in the event of escalating unrest, they said.

Brent oil briefly hit $104 per barrel on Thursday on such concerns after it rose to $104.52 on Wednesday the highest level since late September 2008 after Israel said Iran was sending two warships into the eastern Mediterranean.

Motonari Ogawa, senior dealer at Barclays Bank, expected investors to unwind long positions in the greenback ahead of a three-day weekend in the United States, while also saying that a large sell-off is unlikely. "It's better to assume the pair will briefly fall below 83.00," Citibank Japan's chief foreign exchange strategist Osamu Takashima also told Dow Jones Newswires. Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors are to meet for the first time under the bloc's French presidency Friday and Saturday in Paris, aiming to hammer out common criteria for measuring global economic imbalances.

Monaco Grand Prix

2011-02-17T13:24:00.000+05:00

The Monaco Grand Prix is one of the most prestigious events in the sporting calendar attended by the royal, the rich and the famous. Luxury yachts, helicopter transfers, private parties and of course the best hospitality along the Cote d’Azur offers excellence as standard to any visitor whether it is a private break or part of a corporate hospitality package. We’ll also be hosting an exclusive yacht party to which our hospitality guests are invited free of charge. Monaco Grand Prix packages provided by us promise a weekend to remember at an F1 event that is more than just a race - it’s an experience of a lifetime.

Their Monaco Monaco grand prix hospitality packages are available for general admission to the grandstand through to VIP Balcony or VIP Yacht hospitality options. There is also a wide choice of optional extras available so you can tailor your own Monaco Grand Prix hospitality experience to suit your budget and your style. Book your 2011 Monaco Grand Prix package with us by emailing your enquiry or calling one of our experienced hospitality managers here at Paragon and we will tailor the ideal package for you.