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PIA gets IOSA certification for safety

KARACHI: National carrier PIA was presented at the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certification valid for the next 2 years at a ceremony Monday. IATA regional director Safety, Operations and Infrastructure Asia-Pacific, Ken McLean flew here for presentation of IOSA registration certificate. This has made PIA among 300 world airlines out of 1100 which have been declared safe for international travel. McLean said PIA achieved this certification as a result of its continued quest for improvement in its safety and service standards and with a sense of commitment for the goals ahead. staff report

Two-day ECO meeting on SMEs begins

LAHORE: The second annual meeting of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) Steering Committee on Entrepreneurship and SME Development started on Monday. The meeting, with the authority's CEO Shahid Rashid in chair, unanimously elected him as chairman of the committee. According to an official spokesman, prominent among those attended the meeting were Abdullah Taskin and Ertugrul Nazli, representatives of Turkey, along with ECO's SME Expert Khosrow Hajian based in Tehran. app

Emirates marks 24 years of operations

ISLAMABAD: Dubai-based Emirates Airline celebrates its 24th anniversary here on Monday, which launched its operations in 1985 with its first flight from Dubai to Karachi. Since then Emirates had come a long way and has become a leading airline of the world with 100 destinations in 61 countries across six continents. It had strengthened relations between Pakistan and the UAE by rapidly providing unrivalled services to Pakistani travelers. Commenting on Emirates’ impressive journey so far, Vice President Pakistan and Afghanistan Adil Al Ghaith said, “Emirates Airline had achieved many milestones since its first flight to Karachi.” staff report

JS Securities posts profit

KARACHI: JS Securities & Co has posted a profit after tax of Rs 892.599 million for the quarter year ending September 30, 2009 and declared an interim cash dividend of Rs 1 per share. According to financial results dispatched to Karachi Stock Exchange here Monday, the profit before tax has declined to Rs 894 million as earning per share (EPS) dropped to Rs 1.17. app

LG opens its first service centre

KARACHI: LG Electronics, a worldwide technology and design leader in mobile communications launched its first ever state-of-the-art service centre in Pakistan. Vice president LG customer service, S K Baik said, “The LG service centre is the first centre in Pakistan and is complete with all tech savvy essentials to meet the requirements of LG customers.” He elaborated on the use of the skills and vision of Korean architects in building the service centre and how it would itself be an experience for those who visit it. The centre will be meeting all requirements of LG customers including purchase, repair and service, warranty issues and anything and everything that customers need for their cell phone. staff report

BD trade deficit down on lower imports

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s trade deficit dropped to $500.35 million in July-August from $1.25 billion in the same period last year as imports fell due to the global economic slump, a central bank official said on Monday. The trade gap in the last fiscal year that ended in June 2009 was $6.94 billion after hitting $7.52 billion in 2007/08 because of the soaring cost of food and fuel imports. Imports in the first two months of the 2009/10 fiscal year decreased by 20.4 percent from last year, while exports fell 3.3 percent, the central bank said. Exports also declined as demand weakened for key items including prime ready-made garments — which earn more than $11 billion for the cash-strapped economy — in the recession-hit US and European markets. Officials said strong remittances from more than six million Bangladeshis working abroad helped offset the impact of the trade shortfall and kept the overall balance of payments in surplus. Bangladesh received $2.7 billion in remittances in July-September against $2.3 billion in the same period of last year. reuters

‘RBI set to hold interest rates’

MUMBAI: India’s central bank is expected to keep interest rates unchanged on Tuesday, opting to support a nascent economic recovery instead of tackling rising prices, economists said. Higher prices caused by increasing food costs after a poor monsoon, along with the fragile economic recovery, has confronted the central bank with a dilemma about when to take the first steps to tighten monetary policy. Some economists believe there is a chance the bank might opt to drain some liquidity from the banking system as a first step to tame inflation by hiking the cash reserve ratio — the percentage of funds banks must hold in reserve. The RBI governor Duvvuri Subbarao struck a more hardline tone on prices earlier this month saying “inflationary pressure (in India) is a more urgent concern” than elsewhere. But at the same time, he added the bank “will not exit from the accommodative monetary policy unless we are assured recovery is secure.” The RBI has cut interest rates six times since October 2008 with the repo — the rate at which it lends to commercial banks — now at a record low of 4.75 percent. afp

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