Trade deficit narrows by 3.07pc to
$3.3b
Pakistan’s trade
deficit narrowed by
over 3 per
cent in first
couple of months (July
and August) of the ongoing
financial year 2013-2014,
as ex-ports grew at faster pace than imports during the period under
review. According to the
latest figures of
Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) released on Tuesday, the country’s trade
imbalance was recorded at $3.3 billion dur-ing July-August period of the
current financial year 2013-14 as against $3.4 billion of
the corresponding period
of previous fiscal
year 2012-13 (July-August 2012-13), showing decline of
3.07 percent in one year. The PBS data revealed that exports have grown
slightly faster than imports during period under
review. Exports rose
3.66 per cent
to $4.091 billion
during the July-August 2013-14 as compared to $3.946 of
the same period of the last year.However, imports marginally enhanced
by 0.54 per cent to $7.386 billion in July-August 2013-14 from $7.346
billion a year ago.
Car sales pick up
Sales
of locally produced
cars slightly improved
to 18,880 units
in July-August this fiscal year
compared with 18,325 units in the same months last year. The increase in sales
of Honda cars and Suzuki Bolan made a positive impact on
the overall sales
figures as sales
of Toyota Corolla, Suzuki Swift, Liana, Cultus and Mehran
remained depressed. The month-on-month sales also rose to 9,592 units in August
compared with 9,288 units in July, accord-ing
to data released
by Pakistan Automotive
Manufacturers Association (PAMA).
As for Honda cars, Civic sales swelled to 1,755 units from 707 units followed by
City whose sales
increased to 2,334
from 2,184 units.
Suzuki Swift and Toyota
Corolla sales declined to 907 and
4,995 units from
1,292 and 5,264 units, while Liana sales remained flat at 13 units compared with 45 units
earlier. In 1,000cc, the sales of Suzuki Cultus marginally dropped to 2,243
from 2,308 units followed by fall in Suzuki Mehran sales to 4,559 from 4,832
units. Bolan sales recovered to 2,074 from 1,624 units.
Yamaha to invest $150m on bike
plant in 5 years
Board
of Investment Chairman
Muhammad Zubair on
Tuesday announced that the
government has granted permission to Yamaha Company to estab-lish motorcycle
plant in Karachi and the company would invest $150 million during the next 5
years but would start operations in December 2014. Ishaq Dar took up the matter
in Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet that after
detailed deliberations and
expediting the process,
allowed the company to setup the
plant. Yamaha at the initial stages would produce 25 percent motorcycles
in Pakistan that will
be increased with
the passage of time. Muhammad
Zubair said that
the government had
formulated a mo-torcycle policy just in 3 months while taking all the stakeholders
on board. He said that government has offered incentives to local and foreign
compa-nies for introducing latest technologies. All steps are being taken to
attract foreign direct investment and development of local industry. But local
industry would have to introduce modern technology to be the beneficiary of new
policy formed by the government, he added. Muhammad Zubair said that decision
of Yamaha to establish its
plant in Pakistan
will encourage other
famous brands to
invest in different
sectors of the
economy as the country offers more lucrative business
opportunities as compared to the regional countries.
IDB to extend $850mn project
assistance to Pakistan
A
five-member delegation led by
Mr.Birama Boubacar Sidibe,
Vice President (operations) Islamic Development
Bank (IDB) called on Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar at his
office. Mr Birama who held meetings with senior officials of Economic Affairs
Division and Planning Department said that he was impressed with the resolve of
the government and was optimistic that the initiatives and economic measures
taken by the government of Pakistan would put the macro-economic indicators
banks to green. He said that IDB not only readily agreed to a loan of 750
million Euros and a trade facility of 150 million but also released the first
tranche by August 15, 2013. Mr. Birama also informed the Finance Minister that
IDB was prepared to disburse an additional 850 million dollars in the next
three years for project assistance to Pakistan. The Finance Minister also
thanked IDB for financing Nelum Jhehum Hydropower Project and hoped that the
project whose cost had tripled due to
neglect of the
previous government would
be completed by
2016 as Prime
Minister Nawaz Shraif was
taking personal interest. Similarly,
work on Nanidpur
Project which had
been delay for over
three years had
been started in
full swing.
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