Oil prices
stabilize after Fed hike as tighter market looms:
Oil
prices stabilized on Thursday as a tighter market looms in 2017 due to planned
output cuts led by OPEC and Russia, after sharp declines earlier following
Wednesday's U.S. interest rate increase that drove investors out of
commodities.International Brent crude oil futures were trading at $54.02 a
barrel at 0428 GMT, up 12 cents from their last close.U.S. West Texas
Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were at $51.02 per barrel, virtually flat
with their last settlement.
Siemens offers
$2.5b credit facility for TAPI pipeline:
Germany-based
engineering company Siemens has offered a credit facility of around $2.5
billion on the supply of compressors for
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline, a vital
development in efforts to press ahead with the project at a fast pace.According
to officials having knowledge of the development, TAPI Company, established by
the four countries with the task of laying and operating the pipeline, will
need to install nine compressors for transmitting gas from energy-rich
Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Under the $2.5-billion
supplier credit facility, Siemens will provide compressors against a loan.
Remaining funds for the pipeline project will be generated through road shows
in different countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Singapore,
officials say.
Exports of
services grow 19pc:
Pakistan’s
exports of services witnessed growth of nearly 19 per cent year-on-year to
$468.42 million in October, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said on
Wednesday. The increase will help the government control the widening current
account deficit in 2016-17.In the first three months of the current fiscal
year, the exports of services recorded negative growth. Similarly, they fell
24.61pc to $1.61 billion in July-Oct. The annual drop was 7.14pc to $5.46bn in
2015-16.The services sector has emerged as the main driver of economic growth.
Its share increased from 56pc of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2005-06 to
57.7pc in 2014-15.
Asian Bank to give
$5.96bn in 2017-19:
The
Asian Development Bank has proposed a sovereign lending programme amounting to
$5.96 billion during the Country Operations Business Plan (COBP) 2017-19.The
new lending programme consists of $4.77bn from regular ordinary capital
resources (OCR) lending and $1.2bn from concessional OCR lending (COL) and
focuses on energy, transport, natural resources, water and urban
infrastructure and services, and public sector management.In addition to
stand-alone projects, the sovereign lending programme comprises two
policy-based programmes and seven multi-tranche financing facilities (MFFs).
The indicative non-lending technical assistance programme for 2017 amounts to
$12.2 million, including $7.0m from other sources.
Bahrain's Bank
Alkhair gets nod to sell stake in Pakistan's Burj Bank:
Bahrain-based
Bank Alkhair said on Wednesday it had received approval from the State Bank of
Pakistan to sell its stake in Pakistan's Burj Bank to a subsidiary of Bahrain's
Al Baraka Banking Group.Al Baraka, one of the Gulf's top Islamic banks, had
said in September that its Pakistani unit, Al Baraka Pakistan, would merge with
Burj Bank to create an institution with assets totalling more than $1.1
billion.Bank Alkhair is an Islamic bank with a presence in Bahrain, Saudi
Arabia, Dubai, Malaysia and Turkey.Burj Bank, one of Pakistan’s five
full-fledged Islamic banks, attracted interest from several Pakistani
institutions and short-listed three to conduct due diligence before agreeing to
the merger with Al Baraka.
US pledges $81
million for Kurram Tangi Dam:
The
United States on Wednesday pledged to provide $81 million (over Rs8.5 billion)
to the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) for the construction of
first stage (Kaitu Weir) of the Kurram Tangi Dam project in North Waziristan
Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).In this regard, the US
Agency for International Development (USAID) and Wapda signed an agreement at a
ceremony.
Inclusion of auto
parts in Pak-Thai FTA to hurt industry:
Inclusion
of auto parts in FTA with Thailand will instantly result in collapse of the
prevalent local auto sector. New entrants would shy away, auto parts industry
would perish and all the benefits to the country would be lost.This was stated
by Pakistan Association of Automotive Parts and Accessories Manufacturers vice
chairman Syed Mansoor Abbas.The Association has conveyed its serious
reservation to the federal government on inclusion of auto sector in
Pakistan-Thailand Free Trade Agreement (FTA). “We are not against FTA with
Thailand rather we want level-playing field-the same incentives provided to the
auto parts makers in Thailand,” he added.
Diamer-Bhasha,
Kalabagh: LCCI suggests listing dams on stock market
The
Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Wednesday suggested the Ministry
of Finance to list the Diamer-Bhasha and Kalabagh dams in domestic and
international stock markets to generate funds for the mega projects.In a
statement, LCCI President Abdul Basit and Vice President Muhammad Nasir Hameed
Khan said that the country needs over $30 billion to construct the
Diamer-Bhasha and Kalabagh dams and make them operational for power generation.
International donor agencies and financial institutions are giving different
excuses and are reluctant to fund therefore, the government would have to
manage from its own resources.
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