Search Results for: Pakistani

BY RAHIMULLAH YUSUFZAI, IN PESHAWAR

The Pakistan Iron and Steel Merchants Association (PISMA) is continuing to press or a 20% uniform customs duty on Pakistani imports of steel products, despite its calls being ignored in the recent Pakistan budget.

The association says the duty is needed to help protect the domestic industry from international price fluctuations.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE CHAIRMAN of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association (PPMA) wants his government to pull back from allowing Indian medicine exporters to sell India-approved medicines in Pakistan from January 2013. Muhammad Asad told Pakistani journalists he feared his members would suffer from India being given ‘most favoured nation’ status under world trade law next year – a step agreed by Pakistan’s cabinet in December.…

BY RAHIMULLAH YUSUFZAI, IN PESHAWAR

THE PAKISTAN government has shied away from selling off Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) in its latest privatisation announcement, with court proceedings and opposition within the company deterring a sale. PSM was not among the 23 public sector banks, insurance firms, electricity supply companies, postal services, hotels, railways, and other concerns listed for inclusion by the government’s Privatisation Commission in a new round of sell-offs beginning in April.…

BY RAHIMULLAH YUSUFZAI, IN PESHAWAR

PAKISTAN’S struggling clothing and textile industry, which generates 65% of the country’s total national foreign exchange earnings, is anticipating a significant boost to export sales following the recent World Trade Organisation (WTO) decision to approve waiver allowing 75 Pakistani products duty-free access to European Union (EU) markets for two years.…

BY RAHIMULLAH YUSUFZAI, IN PESHAWAR

WHILE Pakistan may suffer from political instability, its paint industry has been registering an average 6%-8% annual growth rate over the past decade due to the country’s expanding automotive and construction sectors. That these key customers are doing well is fortunate, given the fact that the country’s GDP growth in 2010-1 was 2.4% and has been forecast to grow at 3.5%-4.5% only in 2011-12.…

DESPITE the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last May, Al Qaeda and its affiliated groups remain a global money laundering and terrorist financing concern. Yet a decade on from the September 11 attacks, counterterrorism specialists say there has been too much focus on Al Qaeda itself (it means The Base in Arabic) but not enough on associated and other militant groups that pose significant threats.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

BANGLADESH will not oppose the European Union’s (EU) plans to grant Pakistan GSP+ status, just-style has been told. However, the country’s powerful clothing exporters have called on their government to press for the EU to withhold these privileges for products that are important to Bangladesh’s manufacturing industry, including some clothing lines.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL and DAVE YIN

THIS has been the year where the European Union (EU) considered imposing a draconian origin labelling law that would have been a major headache for knitwear manufacturers and retailers. In the winter, the European Parliament was seriously discussing insisting on a regulation forcing knitwear and crocheted clothes and accessories imports into the EU to carry country of origin labels.…

BY RAHIMULLAH YUSUFZAI

THE FLOODS that devastated Pakistan this past summer did not just destroy farmland and housing – they ruined many financial records and legal documents, making life that much harder for accountants in Pakistan. "We don’t know how to deal with the aftermath of the floods because there is still no mechanism on the part of the government or the private sector to cope with the challenges and difficulties that our accounting community is facing," said a senior chartered accountant RafaqatUllah Babar.…

BY RAHIMULLAH YUSUFZAI

Pakistan tobacco industry rides out floods

Pakistan’s tobacco industry was hit hard by the huge monsoon floods this summer, but it could have been much worse if the floods had come earlier. Much of the tobacco crop had been picked in time.…