Tag Archives: January

Outbreak in Khyber Agency: 1,300 leishmaniasis cases reported since January

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PESHAWAR: 

The number of patients infected by leishmaniasis has increased rapidly in Khyber Agency, with nearly 1,300 cases reported in two months. Authorities fear the number of leishmaniasis cases may increase further if proper steps to control the infection are not taken.

Khyber Agency surgeon Dr Samin Shinwari told The Express Tribune, “We have registered 1,085 cases in Landi Kotal, 60 in Jamrud and 155 in Bara. There might be some cases in Tirah valley as well, but we cannot report them because vaccination teams cannot visit the area.”

He added that around 700 patients had been treated so far, while over 100 injections were administered to patients whose condition was not severe. Patients having tumours on any part of the body from the disease were treated with thermotherapy. Treatment can take up to one month depending on the severity of the case.

“The increase in the number of patients has compelled us to start a special programme for treatment. We have trained doctors and paramedics for this purpose and brought more medicines and equipment to cope with the situation,” Shinwari said.

Replying to a question about the patients stranded in Tirah, he said they have received information about infected children there, but the exact number cannot be confirmed.

Vaccination teams cannot be sent there due to the deteriorating law and order but residents have been informed to go to nearby hospitals of any subdivision if they contract the disease.

Fata Health Services Director Dr Fawad Khan said Khyber, Orakzai, Bajaur and South Waziristan have been affected by leishmaniasis for the past 10 years.

“I am not aware of the recent increase in the number of cases in Khyber Agency, but we have provided all facilities to the agency surgeon and he has the authority to take any initiatives he considers necessary,” Khan said.

The disease is caused by the bite of sand flies that breed in forest areas, caves, or the burrows of small rodents. Wild and domesticated animals, and humans themselves can act as a reservoir of infection.

Symptoms of leishmaniasis include fever, malaise, weight loss, anaemia and swelling of the spleen, liver and lymph nodes. Infection can be prevented by avoidance of sand fly bites through the use of repellents or insecticides.

Leishmaniasis is endemic in 88 countries. There are 1–1.5 million cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis reported yearly worldwide, according to the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24th, 2013.


Remittances record a slight drop in January

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KARACHI: Overseas Pakistanis in January 2013 remitted $ 1.09 billion, down $ 21 million or 2% if compared to the $ 1.111 billion remitted in the corresponding period of fiscal 2012 (FY12), the State Bank of Pakistan said on Monday.

However, the country received overall remittances of $ 8,206.39 million in the first seven months (July-January) of the current fiscal year (FY13), depicting a growth of 10.36% or $ 770.41 million when compared with the $ 7,435.98 million received during the first seven months of the preceding fiscal year.

Since the country has been continuously receiving more remittances in the current fiscal year, as compared to the previous year, average monthly remittances from July to January 2013 stood at $ 1,172.3 million as compared to $ 1,062.2 million in the previous year.

Emerging Economics Research Managing Director Muzammil Aslam says that the rise in remittances would continue in the coming months owing to a significant outflow of skilled and unskilled labour from Pakistan in the last few years.

Analysts have observed that the strong inflow of remittances into the country has been supporting the Pakistani rupee against the US dollar in the currency market.

Apart from professionals like doctors and bankers, many businesspersons have also opted to shift some or entire businesses out of Pakistan, Aslam said; adding that this would further add to the increase in remittances.

On the current depreciation of the rupee against the dollar, Aslam said that speculators are active in the open market and they want to further increase the difference between the open market and interbank dollar rates.

The official inter-bank rate for the dollar is Rs98, while the dollar is being traded around Rs100 to a dollar. “The difference of Rs2 rupees is too much – it should not be more than 50 paisas,” he added.

On Monday, Pakistan repaid $ 146 million in the 9th instalment of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan, the central bank spokesperson said.

Analysts count this as another reason why the rupee is under constant pressure against the dollar in the open market. The country has to repay an amount worth 258.425 Special Drawing Rights (worth around $ 390-395 million) on February 26, 2013, to the IMF.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12th, 2013.

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SECP registers 329 companies in January

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ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has said that it registered 329 companies in January, with Lahore office registering the highest number of firms.

Authorised and paid-up capital of these companies is Rs5 billion and Rs573 million respectively, says an SECP press release.

The new incorporations include 304 private companies, 16 single-member companies, five public unlisted companies, two non-profit associations and two foreign companies – one each from the Cayman Islands and the US.

Nationals of Norway, Bangladesh and South Korea made investments in three new companies in the information technology, finance and banking and food and beverages sectors.

The trading sector has the largest share in new incorporations with 47 companies, followed by tourism with 44, services 29, IT 23, construction 18, corporate agricultural farming 14 and pharmaceuticals 13.

The Company Registration Office (CRO) of Lahore saw the highest incorporations with 108 companies, followed by CROs of Karachi and Islamabad, registering 90 and 84 companies respectively.

Multan CRO registered 20 companies and CROs in Peshawar and Faisalabad registered 16 and 9 companies respectively. Quetta and Sukkur CROs registered one company each.

In the month under review, returns for an increase in authorised capital of 114 companies were accepted, with total capital increment of Rs24.26 billion. Apart from this, 89 companies filed returns for enhancing the paid-up capital with total increase amounting to Rs4.2 billion.

In the second quarter (Oct-Dec) of financial year 2012-13, the SECP granted licences to 11 non-profit associations, taking the number of such licences in the first half to 25.

Of the 11 associations, four got licences in the education sector, two for charity activities and one each for services, dairy sector, rural development, social welfare and research and development.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2013.

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Top 10 commented stories: January 2013

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Top commented articles

 

 Author Section Comments
1 If a Muslim can head India’s Intelligence Bureau, can a Hindu ever be DG ISI? Hamza Manan Blogs

236
2 Why Maulana Qadri and Cricketer Khan can’t save Pakistan Pervez Hoodbhoy Oped

193
3 Was the Two Nation Theory flawed?  Dr Ahmad Faruqui Blogs

183
4 Ceasefire violations: LoC death designed by Indian Army, says Musharraf News Desk Pakistan

179
5 Will Afghanistan see civil war after the US exits? Jamaluddin Blogs

161
6 Are homemakers ‘prostitutes’? Saba Khalid Blogs

157
7 Canadian authorities summon Qadri for violating oath Web Desk Pakistan

156
8 Shahrukh Khan controversy: Hype and hypocrisy Zainab Imam Blogs

146
9 Karachi — welcome to Hell … Ejaz Haider Oped

141
10 The more they target us, the louder I will say ‘I am Shia’ Zainab Imam Blogs

136


Breaking downward streak: Inflation rebounds; clocks in at 8.1% for January

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ISLAMABAD: 

After setting up new lows in recent months, inflation picked up for the second successive month clocking in at 8.1% for January, raising prospects for an increase in interest rates by the State Bank of Pakistan in its next monetary policy announcement due on February 8.

The inflation rate, measured by the consumer price index (CPI), rose to 8.1% in January over the corresponding month of the preceding year, inflation bulletin released on Friday by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics shows.

In November 2012, inflation – the rate of increase in prices of commodities –slowed down to 6.93%, the lowest level achieved in five years. However, post-November inflation rebounded, precisely according to the central bank’s and the International Monetary Fund’s expectations.

Average inflation during the first seven months, July to January, of the fiscal year 2012-13 climbed to 8.3%, according to the data from PBS.

The continuous increase in the CPI proves the claims of the government of achieving the macroeconomic objective of price stability wrong.

The experts believe that it will make sense for the SBP to increase the interest rates in its monetary policy statement, if it takes the decision by ignoring political advice, due to the continuous rise in inflation particularly core inflation – non-food and non-energy inflation – and the monetary aggregates.

The core inflation is sticking too close to double digits for comfort, hitting 9.9% in January, and climbing for the second consecutive month.

Officials say the reduction in discount rates did not bring an end to falling investments and stopped the economy from shrinking. Moreover, there was no credible evidence available that could suggest that investment was picking up due to monetary easing – injecting money into the system.

Similarly, credit figures to the private sector was also discouraging as till January 18 the figure stood at a meagre Rs95 billion against Rs210 billion in the same period of the last year. Earlier, The SBP warned that due to increasing government borrowing, there is little credit available for the private sector to grow.

After cutting interest rates, the only positive signs emerged in the real estate sector and the stock market that the analysts believe was more about profit taking rather than improvements in fundamentals of the economy.

Due to significant reduction in interest rates, the Directorate of National Saving Schemes had to reduce the saving rates. Investors pulled their money out of the national saving schemes and started investing in real estate and the equity market. The boom in equity market was also because of an amnesty scheme that the government offered last year.

The government’s loose fiscal policy was also contributing to inflation, according to the officials. During the first six months of fiscal 2013, the budget deficit remained at 2.8% of the gross domestic product (GDP) despite receipts of $ 1.9 billion from the United States on account of the coalition support fund (CSF).

The CSF receipts did reduce the budgetary borrowings from the central bank but borrowings by government from commercial banks continued unabatedly.  Till January 18, the government had borrowed Rs771 billion from the commercial banks for budget financing. In return, the central bank was injecting money in the system to support the government’s borrowings.

In its recent assessment of Pakistan’s economy, the IMF observed that monetary and exchange rate policy needs to better contain inflation and external risks. It noted that the achievement of durably lower inflation will require more prudent monetary policy, accompanied by substantial fiscal adjustment to ease the government’s funding requirement, which has been driving inflation.

The IMF said that inflation in Pakistan will return to double digits by the end of fiscal year 2012-13.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 2nd, 2013.

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