Foreign Exchange - 4

For the first time Pakistan’s foreign trade is expected to hit $33 billion mark in the current financial year. In comparison with financial year 2003-04 the foreign trade of the country in 2004-05 is likely to expand by 5.3 billion dollars. In 2003-04 the total foreign trade of Pakistan amounted to 27.91 billion dollars. Unprecedented [...]

Umar Sheikh, 31, British-born, New York-trained and married to a woman from New Jersey, long dreamed of running his own restaurant. London was too expensive. New York was too risky. Karachi seemed just right. His gamble, in this restive port city better known for its religious radicals than its ravioli, has worked so far. Limoncello, [...]

The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Pakistan’s Telecom sector has surpassed $1 billion mark during the last eight months of current financial year to clinch the second coveted position after oil and gas sector in this respect. Presently, five mobile companies, four foreign and one state-run, are in operation in the country, while even this [...]

Total trade between the two countries stood at $380.79 million, up from $154.95 million in April-November, 2003-04, he said. Indian exports to Pakistan jumped from $110.48 million in April-November, 2003-04, to $314.54 million in the current fiscal. Imports from Pakistan also rose from $44.47 million to $66.25 million in April-November this fiscal. “The commodities where [...]

Outsourcing business in the country through IT-enabled services has crossed over $10 million mark with rapid growth of call centres and operators are optimistic to touch $20 million figures by the fiscal end. Country’s IT industry made comeback last year – first time after 9/11 incident – when the software export touched $32.22 million, which [...]

The huge share volume figure reflects that the market has pulled itself out from the state of uncertainty on the strength of all-round buying, leaving far behind the lean period when the single session volume has dropped to all-time low of 15.141m shares on Sept 3, 2001. The index finally finished around 7,508.80 points as [...]

The European Union is the largest trading partner of Pakistan and the overall trade between the two is 5.1 billion euros. This was stated by Likka Uusitalo, ambassador of the European Union to Pakistan. The envoy pointed out that volume of trade for Pakistan if the export and import both are taken then the European [...]

The large-scale manufacturing (LSM) sector has registered a phenomenal growth of 27.81 per cent in November 2004, while the overall LSM indices for first five months of the fiscal have also depicted a robust increase of 15.54 per cent. The period of industrial growth in the country has coincided with a rampant growth in the [...]

Pakistan’s financial sector is witnessing robust growth in Islamic banking, which is emerging as a happy alternative for millions of faithful who regard conventional banking as impure. The past 18 months have seen a steep increase in Islamic banking counters at key local and foreign banks. Two fully-fledged Islamic banks — one local and one [...]

Pakistan’s exports surged to more than $6.495 billion, registering an increase of 10.45pc, during July-December 2004, compared to US$5.881 billion during the corresponding period last year. Main commodities for exports during December 2004 included Cotton cloth worth Rs 7,532 million, Knitwear worth Rs 6,859 million, Bedwear worth Rs 6,343 million, Cotton yarn worth Rs 5,060 [...]