| Overview of SBP Q2 report for FY07
KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan here on Friday released second quarterly report for FY07 entitled "The State of Pakistans Economy". Following is the text of overview and executive summary.
Overview
Midway through the fiscal year, available information suggests that real GDP growth during FY07 will remain close to the 7 percent annual target, despite some setbacks suffered by the commodity producing sub-sectors. Despite the underperformance of key kharif crops, a bumper wheat harvest and indications of strong outturn by the livestock sub-sector offer hopes of a recovery. Similarly, while data constraints inhibit a more robust forecast, the limited data set available suggests that industrial performance will also improve. Finally, the services sector, which pushed up GDP growth in the preceding years, is also expected to remain strong in FY07.
CURRENCIES: Dollar Falls On Weaker ISM Services Reading; Jobs ...
The dollar fell against the euro and yen Wednesday after a report showed nonmanufacturing sectors of the U.S. economy expanded at a slower pace in March, fueling concerns about the outlook for the U.S. economy. The Institute for Supply Management said its ISM services index fell to 52.4% from 54.3% in March. This is the lowest level since April 2003. The drop surprised economists who were looking for the index to rise to 55.0%. "The drop in U.S. services ISM to a four-year low is offsetting any upside reaction from Iran's decision to free the 15 British sailors," said Ashraf Laidi, chief foreign-exchange analyst at CMC Markets in New York. "The fact that the much touted services sector is now joining its manufacturing counterpart into slowdown mode raises questions about the prospects of a soft economic landing." Late in New York, the dollar was quoted at 118.68 yen, compared with 118.95 yen late Tuesday.
Moody's gives Sabic 'A1' rating
Riyadh: Moody's Investors Service Limited has assigned a long-term foreign and local currency rating 'A1' with a stable outlook to Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) highlighting its worldwide leading market positions in petrochemicals, fertilisers and steel products. Moody's believes that Sabic's rating reflects the strong global positions it has built over the past three decades in petrochemicals (eg ethylene, methanol, MTBE, ethylene glycol, polyolefins) and fertilisers markets. Sabic enjoys a highly competitive cost position reflecting the significant economies of scale afforded by its world-scale vertically integrated facilities, ready access to feedstock, and proximity to strategic end markets. Moody's also acknowledges that the acquisition of DSM's integrated petrochemicals business in 2002, complemented by the recent purchase of Huntsman's UK-based commodity chemicals activities, has helped enhance the geographic diversity of Sabic's asset base, though the majority of its production capacity is still located in Saudi Arabia.
Namibia: Nuclear Power for Namibia - a Public Policy Perspective
Nuclear power technologies interact in their development process with public health and safety, the environment, foreign policy and energy security, as well as the economy. As a result nuclear programmes have increasingly cut across institutional lines of individual state governments, regulatory agencies, nuclear vendors, electric utilities, nuclear fuel-cycle providers, R&D centres and the general public. Nuclear power is a proven technology that emits no sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides or greenhouse gases in power generation, thereby providing a means of responding to a number of environmental challenges now confronting the planet. Renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydro, geothermal could play valuable roles, but their potential contribution is limited by constraints of geography, intermittency and cost-efficiency.
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