Cement sales grow
11pc:
Cement
sales rose 11 per cent year-on-year to 3.749 million tonnes in November thanks
to a continued rise in local despatches. The figure suggests the cement
industry achieved its highest-ever capacity utilisation of 98.6pc during the
month.Domestic sales of cement jumped 15pc to 3.27m tonnes during the month,
according to data released by the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association
(APCMA) on Monday. However, exports fell 10.4pc to 478,000 tonnes.During the first
five months (July-November) of this fiscal year, the industry despatched
16.251m tonnes of cement, up 9.9pc from 14.788m tonnes a year earlier.Domestic
sales increased 12pc to 13.709m tonnes while exports dropped 0.79pc to 2.542m
tonnes during the July-November period.
Oil hits 16-month
high at $55 a barrel:
Crude
rose above $55 a barrel to hit a 16-month high on Monday as rising prospects of
a tightening market after last week’s Opec landmark deal to cut production has
given speculators impetus to increase bets on higher prices.Monday’s gains take
the rally since the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’
agreement was struck on Wednesday to 19 per cent for Brent and 16pc for US
crude. Last week’s 12.2pc increase was the largest one-week rise since February
2011.“Opec sentiment continues to support oil markets. Speculative short
positions are still at elevated levels and as more traders unwind these
positions they could trigger more support for oil prices,” said Hans van Cleef,
senior energy economist at ABN Amro in Amsterdam.By 11:15 a.m. Eastern [1615
GMT], Brent crude rose 49 cents to $54.95 a barrel, a 0.9pc gain, after hitting
$55.33, its highest since July 2015.
Shanghai Electric
gets CCP's approval to acquire K-Electric:
Shanghai
Electric Power Co Ltd said on Monday that it had received approval from the
Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) to acquire K-Electric Limited.The
Abraaj Group announced in October that one of its companies, KES Power, had
reached an agreement to divest its stake in K-Electric, the country’s largest
and only vertically integrated power utility, to Shanghai Electric.Abraaj owns
66.4 per cent of K-Electric’s total shares, along with management control. The
deal, when closed, will be worth $1.77 billion.Shanghai Electric is a
state-owned enterprise controlled by China’s State Power Investment
Corporation, a Fortune 500 company.
Textile bodies
put off black day protest plan:
Varying
lobbying groups of the textile industry will hold a roundtable conference by
the end of this week to deliberate on a single point – availability of
electricity and gas to all provinces at regionally competitive prices without
any disparity.All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) Punjab Chapter
Chairman Syed Ali Ahsan announced this on Monday.He also said textile bodies
would delay their December 6 (Tuesday’s) black day plan following assurance
from Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif that he would take up industrial
issues with the prime minister and get them resolved. A delegation of all
textile associations will also call on Federal Minister of Petroleum and
Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Dec 6 to outline the challenges faced
by the industry.
Pak-Italy JEC
agrees on greater trade exchanges:
The
second session of Pakistan-Italy Joint Economic Commission, held in Islamabad
yesterday, discussed the current status of the economic situation, an overview
of reforms, priorities, bilateral, institutional and trade relations.The
Italian delegation was led by Mr Ivan Scalfarotto, Deputy Minister for Economic
Development while Pakistan’s side was led by Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan,
Parliamentary Secretary for Finance and Economic Affairs. Both the sides
identified areas of cooperation and agreed on the need to have greater economic
and commercial exchanges for mutual benefits of the two countries.The inaugural
session of the JEC was held in Rome, Italy, on March 22-23, 2006. The two sides
agreed to form four working groups: Energy and Infrastructure Development,
Trade and Joint Venture, Agriculture and Agro Industries and Information
Technology Collaboration. The second session of the JEC was held in Islamabad
after the passage of a decade. Along with the Italian co-chair, 25 official delegates from different departments
of Italy also participated in the JEC.
Diamer-Bhasha
Dam: financing plan given approval:
Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif approved, in principle, the financing plan for
construction of Diamer-Bhasha Dam from indigenous resources with directives to
the ministry of finance for finalisation of funding modalities. The proposal of
the ministry of water and power suggested that dam portion of the project must
be financed on self-reliance basis through Public Sector Development Programme
(PSDP) allocation as well as sources generated from Water and Power Development
Authority (WAPDA).An official on condition of anonymity stated that there is a
possibility of taking finances from a consortium of banks due to quantum of
amount involved. He added the government would explore multiple sources of
finance for the construction of the dam. It remains unclear whether or not
Asian Development Bank (ADB), whose president during his recent visit to
Pakistan had stated that his organisation was unable to finance the funding
alone, would finance the project. However, details to this effect would be
finalised by finance ministry as directed by the Prime Minister. The PSDP
allocation would be made from the next fiscal year, he added.
PIA business
segments: FAs preparing restructuring plan:
Financial
Advisors are preparing a restructuring/implementation plan in consultation with
the Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (PIAC), which would be
presented to the Privatisation Commission (PC) Board and Cabinet Committee on
Privatisation (CCOP) for requisite approvals next month. This was revealed by
PIA officials while briefing the Senate Special Committee on the performance of
PIA, which met with Mushahidullah Khan in chair here on Monday.The committee
was informed that on September 29, 2016 a meeting was held among the
Privatisation Commission, Aviation Division, PIACL, Civil Aviation Authority,
Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and Financial Advisors, wherein
it was recommended that the PIACL should update the detailed assessment carried
out on its various business segments with the assistance from the financial
advisors. Further, the meeting underscored the need for formulating a detailed
restructuring/implementation plan, focusing on the proposed segregation of core
and non-core business segments of PIACL
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