Greek, Irish votes reduce risks to wider Europe
Peter Apps, Political Risk Correspondent – 06.10.2009
Greece’s Socialists won a greater than expected landslide election victory on Oct.4, giving them a comfortable majority to push forward an economic programme based on economic stimulus and tax rises for the rich.
On Oct.3, Irish voters overwhelmingly endorsed the EU’s Lisbon reform treaty, a major hurdle for Prime Minister Brian Cowen whose government would likely have fallen immediately had the treaty been rejected for a second time.
The two countries have been the hardest hit in the eurozone by the global financial crisis, prompting some to fear they could drag down the wider bloc particularly if domestic political stalemates stymied policy-making.
“In Greece, the election results mean we will have a stronger government than its predecessor,” said IHS Global Insight Europe analyst Grace Annan.
Either an inconclusive result in Greece or coalition failure in Ireland would have raised the spectre of a policy hiatus that could have left the countries too politically paralysed to tackle their economic problems.
That could have left Europe’s stronger economies, primarily Germany, footing the bill.
Greek stocks rose outperformed other European exchanges and bond yields tightened relative to German debt, with investors cheered by the thought of a government with a firm mandate.
“The surprise of a strong majority is what is driving the market higher today,” said Alpha Finance analyst Manousos Stathoudakis in Athens. “Longer term, this could help public finances and the stock market.”
Ratings agency Standard and Poor’s said policy choices by the new government could affect Greece’s sovereign rating in either direction, warning that further budgetary slippage could be negative but a “clear, credible and sustainable agenda to reinvigorate reforms” could eventually benefit the rating.
US aid under Kerry-Lugar bill to be spent on agri sector
Faisalabad—A substantial annual assistance of $ 1.5 billion under Kerry-Lugar Bill for Pakistan will be invested in agriculture sector, said US Agricultural Counselor at US Embassy in Pakistan, Joseph M. Caroll. He was addressing a seminar on business incubators, organized by UAF (University of Agriculture Faisalabad) Endowment Fund Secretariat at Old Senate Hall here Saturday. He said that 180 million population of Pakistan depends on agriculture and US is very much aware of the fact that agriculture is the only way to bring progress and prosperity in the rural as well as urban life. However, he expressed concern over rising poverty trends in southern Punjab and stressed the need for collaborative and integrated efforts of public and private sectors in order to achieve the desired goals of poverty alleviation. A US team is likely to visit Pakistan from October 4, he said and added that he will also convince the team for maximum assistance in agriculture sector. Joseph Caroll underlined the need for virus free cotton varieties and said that cotton was severely suffering from CLCV and Mealy Bug. Referring to the declining trends in getting patents of Pakistani intellectual properties, he said that in early 2004, India and Pakistan established their IPOs with 17000 and 489 registered patents respectively, but after 5 years India has touched the figure of 60,000 against 125 in Pakistan which needs to be reversed in the years to come by simplifying the patent procedure to encourage the innovators. Professor Dr. Iqrar Ahmad Khan, Vice Chancellor (VC) UAF asked the faculty to bring forward such projects to resolve the social problems with the novel ideas. Referring to the contributions of Nobel Laureate Agricultural Scientist Nornam E. Borlaug, he said prior to 1950, a long wheat straw used to lay on the ground on every heavy rain or wind storms. Thus the productions were destroyed but after introduction of small wheat straw varieties by Borlaug, world became surplus in the food and such innovative ideas can bring positive change in the society. He said that USAID has established endowments in various organizations to enable the scientists for their substantial contributions through innovative research approaches as it is moral and legal obligations to bring change for the society.—APP
Sindh wheat under fungus threat due to lack of storage facilities
Updated at: 1000 PST, Wednesday, August 05, 2009
KARACHI: Thousands of tonnes of wheat in Sindh is under threat from fungus. Authorities are not taking any measures to save the wheat.
Wheat procurement centres were established at various places of Sukkur, Khairpur, Naushahrofiroz, Shaheed Benazirabad (Nawabshah) Khairpur and other districts of Sindh for purchasing wheat at the official price of Rs950 per maund.
District Food Controllers were given wheat procurement targets and for this purpose they distributed guinea bags among the growers. According to the office of the Deputy Director Food Sukkur, in Sukkur the target of the wheat procurement was 60,000 tonnes and for meeting this target 17 purchasing centres were established and the department purchased 61,350 tonnes wheat.
Ghotki had a target of 1,50,000 tonnes and the food department procured 1,41,530 tonnes of grains from 23 centres set up in the area. Khairpur met its target of 1,50,000 tonnes of wheat by setting up 34 centres
Naushahrofiroz procured 1,15,601 tonnes of wheat by establishing 33 purchasing centres to meet its target of 1,20,000 tonnes.
Shaheed Benazirabad (Nawabshah) procured 1,39,865 tonnes of wheat by establishing 35 centres to meet target of 1,46,000 tonnes. The Food Department procured 58,70,118 tonnes wheat out of 62,60,000 tonnes wheat.
The Food Department has only 32 covered food warehouses for storing wheat including six in Sukkur, three in Ghotki, nine in Khairpur, seven in Naushahrofiroz and seven in Benazirabad. Around 2,32,772 tonnes of wheat is stored in the open and uncovered places including 19,407 tonnes at Sukkur, 51,034 tonnes at Ghotki, 63,594 tonnes at Khairpur, 61,120 tonnes at Naushahrofiroz and 37,615 tonnes in Benazirabad district.
The wheat stored in open areas is under threat of fungus and bacteria due to humidity and high temperature.Further the Sindh Government is not interested in shifting the grain to covered places and their negligence may cause the wheat to rot and lead to scarcity of flour in Sindh.
Oil trading above 71 dollars a barrel
Updated at: 1144 PST, Tuesday, August 04, 2009
SINGAPORE: Oil traded above 71 dollars a barrel in Asia Tuesday despite a bout of profit taking after a dramatic rally overnight on signs the ailing global economy was on the mend.
New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for September delivery, fell 15 cents to 71.43 dollars a barrel, after surging 2.13 dollars in US trade Monday. The New York benchmark contract hit an intraday peak of 72.20 dollars, its highest level since late June. Brent North Sea crude for delivery in September was up nine cents to 73.64 dollars.
Analysts said data showing that the global economy was improving and good corporate earnings results were helping pushing oil prices higher.
Flourmills raise atta price by Rs50/79 kg
Updated at: 1547 PST, Saturday, July 18, 2009
KARACHI: Flourmills raised the price of 79-kg sack of flour to Rs2425 with an addition of Rs50, Geo News reported on Saturday.
It merits mentioning here that after July 1, the flour price has been shot by Rs2.20/kg.
Talking to Geo News, Flourmills Association Sindh Circle Chairman Jauhar Ali Kandahari said the flour price has been augmented by Rs50 upping it to Rs2600/100 kg, after which, the flour prices have been increased.
This raise has led the ex-mill price of flour to go up to Rs30.70/kg.
Kandahari said the raise in wheat prices is due to the less supply of wheat in local markets and shooting diesel price.
Mixed trend prevails at KSE
Updated at: 2026 PST, Tuesday, May 26, 2009
KARACHI: A mixed trend prevailed at Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) Tuesday as 100-Index gained 3.32 points to close at 7176.89.
The turnover volume fell to 127.845 million shares as prices of 148 scrips recorded gains while 162 sustained losses and 10 remained unchanged.
According to analysts, investors have adopted a cautious approach and were avoiding big deals. The market surged on buying spree, but fell down on profit taking half an hour before the close.
News Source http://geo.tv/5-26-2009/42860.htm
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