Oct 172008
 

KARACHI: Rupee extended its losses in the interbank market as well as open currency market on Thursday. The US dollar rose by 100 paisas in the interbank market to close at Rs 82, said a bank treasurer. The greenback was trading near Rs 87 in the open market, said a dealer. “You can see rupee is so weak against the dollar that it has now started losing 100 paisas every day,” said a bank treasurer. He said the situation in the foreign exchange market was very bad. Continue reading »

 Posted by at 10:32 am
Oct 172008
 

MANILA: Former Pakistani Prime Minister, Shaukat Aziz accused the International Monetary Fund Thursday of failing to show leadership during what he described as a ‘historic’ global financial crisis. As world leaders met to shore up distressed financial institutions, Aziz charged “this global institution which is supposed to look at everything going on was not even in the room where meetings are going on.” Speaking at an international business conference in Manila, the former finance minister and Citigroup banker said interest rate cuts, recapitalisation of banks and liquidity injections, while helpful, would not solve the problem. Continue reading »

 Posted by at 10:31 am
Oct 162008
 

Senior AGP official rejects charges
By Rauf Klasra

The office of the Auditor General of Pakistan has launched efforts to save his own skin from the furious Public Accounts Committee (PAC), as certain audit paras of serious nature about the massive abuse of drought project launched with Rs 11 billion borrowed from the Asian Bank and the World Bank, are said to have been settled before they were tabled before the public representatives.
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 Posted by at 7:28 am
Oct 142008
 

When customers lose confidence in a bank and withdraw their deposits hurriedly, it is called a “run,” Which very few banks can survive. In the present economic circumstances the “run” on one of our banks should have been expected some time, when it did come it was a complete surprise. The surprise was on many counts, not the least how unprepared the State Bank and the government were in coping with the problem. To their credit, when they realised the enormity of the impending crisis they did react strongly, better late than never! Continue reading »

 Posted by at 8:32 am
Oct 142008
 

Does the name Jack Welch makes a ding dong when you let your mind straddle across to Raiwind and its chieftains who control Punjab? Ask the governor of that province and you get a straight ‘No.’ The Sharif brothers come nowhere near that economic warlock who not only saved General Electric from ruin but raised it to dizzying heights during his 20 year tenure as the chairman of GE. Perhaps Governor Salmaan Taseer, who has built an eclectic empire in telecommunications, considers himself the contender to this title. He derides the Raiwind royal family lacking economic élan. Continue reading »

 Posted by at 8:30 am
Oct 132008
 

Robert Clements

Last night a doctor friend dropped in, he appeared sad and beaten. A patient who had been operated upon in his hospital had gone into coma for no fault of his or his staff and now he was hounded by the media, police, and, even members of the local community to which the lady belonged. To top it all, his father who had been living with him, suddenly had a heart attach and passed away a week ago.
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 Posted by at 2:16 pm
Oct 132008
 

* Delay has resulted in project cost doubling                                                                                              
* To be converted into four-lane road
* TEPA chief engineer says increase in cost because of rise in price of construction material

By Mansab Dogar

LAHORE: The Punjab government’s announcement that an elevated expressway would be constructed from Kalma Chowk to Qartaba Chowk has delayed the re-modeling of Ferozepur Road again, despite its first proposal being made over two years ago in the first quarter of 2006. Continue reading »

 Posted by at 10:29 am