EU ready to lift Libya oil, port sanctions: diplomats

The European Union is expected to lift sanctions against Libya s ports and 22 economic entities including some oil companies by Friday, diplomats said.

The EU reached an agreement in principle on Wednesday and governments will formally adopt the decision on Thursday, the diplomats said. The sanctions will be lifted on Friday when the move is published in the EU s Official Journal.

Irene moves to Canada, US damage estimate $7b

In the US, the storm claimed at least 19 lives and caused estimated economic damage of up to $7 billion.

Millions of people were without power along the East Coast after the huge storm — now downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone — passed over the Big Apple and headed for Canada.

The Miami-based National Hurricane Center warned late Sunday of “major river flooding occurring in parts of the northeast,” after President Barack Obama cautioned that recovery efforts would last for “weeks or longer.”

“I want people to understand that this is not over,” Obama said in a short statement in the White House Rose Garden.

“I do want to underscore that the impacts of this storm will be felt for some time… Power may be out for days in some areas.”

The governor of Vermont, Peter Shumlin, said his state was in “tough shape” while New York state s Andrew Cuomo warned of “tremendous flooding” in the Catskill Mountain area north of Manhattan.

In New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie said roads and rails were “impassable” in some areas, and much of the state had seen “significant flooding.”

Localized flooding occurred in the south and east of Manhattan, with more serious incidents in Brooklyn, where the famed Coney Island amusement park took a battering and outlying beaches were swamped.

There was heavy flooding along the low-lying south shore of Long Island where high tides, rain and ocean surge drove waves right up against expensive beach houses. Floods were also reported far inland after torrential rain.

At least 18 deaths were blamed on the storm, which first slammed into North Carolina on Saturday as a Category One hurricane, before turning north up the coast and weakening.

Initial property damage estimates ranged up to $7 billion.

The youngest victim, an 11-year-old boy, died when a tree crashed through his apartment building in Newport News, Virginia.

The Federal Aviation Administration announced that New York area airports — John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia and Newark — would reopen on Monday. More than 10,000 flights were cancelled across the eastern United States.

The New York Stock Exchange said it was set to reopen as normal Monday morning.

“The good news is the worst is over and we will soon return to restore and return mode,” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, announcing that 370,000 people ordered to evacuate could now go back home.

More than a million evacuees in New Jersey were also headed home, Christie said.

City officials however warned that commuting into New York could be a nightmare this week with no firm indication of when public transport would be back on track following an unprecedented shut-down just ahead of the hurricane.

“You re going to have a tough commute in the morning,” mass transit chairman Jay Walder said.

Walder said buses could start running soon, but subway trains needed extensive testing of lines and equipment.

Irene also left swaths of territory without power, including one million in New York state, most of them on Long Island, according to Cuomo.

In New Jersey, 650,000 people had lost power supplies, while in the greater Washington area, nearly two million people lost electricity. In Massachusetts, 500,000 customers were without power.

Virginia s Governor Bob McDonnell told MSNBC his state had seen the second biggest power outage in its history.

“It s going to be days, perhaps a week, before all the power s restored. We just ask people to be patient,” he said.

About 200,000 households have lost power in Canada, officials said.

Some 65 million people live in the urban corridor from Washington north to Boston. More than 4.5 million customers lost power in that area and well inland.

In Atlantic City, a gambling resort on the New Jersey shore, locals started to put their lives back together, while counting the costs of a weekend shutdown during the high season.

“We were expecting to make good money, but you cannot fight with Mother Nature,” said Riaz Rajput as he removed plywood storm screens from the windows of his shop.

On Cape Cod in Massachusetts, waves of up to six feet (1.8 meters) crashed over some coastal roads, but most residents and tourists let out a collective sigh of relief.

“We re having a little bit of a hurricane party,” said T.J. Wolnar, who was confident his beachfront home could withstand the high winds.

“It s good the storm isn t as strong as it was going to be.”

Hurricanes are rare in the northeastern United States — the last major hurricane to hit New York was Gloria in 1985.

Meanwhile, the National Hurricane Center reported that a new tropical storm, Jose, had formed and was approaching Bermuda.

Finance team briefs President Zardari on overall economic situation

Discussing futuristic concept of investment, President Asif Ali Zardari directed the Finance team to consider the feasibility of floating infrastructure bonds for raising equity for building infrastructure projects.

Chairing a meeting of finance team of the government at the Presidency, the President said that Pakistan needed to build massive infrastructure projects but it lacked financial resources for the purpose. It may therefore be advisable to raise equity through infrastructure bonds, he said. The infrastructure projects, the President said, would create economic and business activity in the country on one side and help generate employment opportunities on the other.

The meeting took stock of the overall financial and economic situation of the country and the various measures being undertaken to address the economic issues facing the country.

The meeting was attended by Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Federal Minister for Finance, Revenue & Economic Affairs, M. Salman Faruqui, Secretary General to the President, Yasin Anwar, Acting Governor, State Bank of Pakistan, Khalil Ahmad, Ambassador at Large, Dr. Waqar Masood Khan, Secretary Finance, Salman Siddique, Chairman, Federal Board of Revenue and Spokesperson to the President Farhatullah Babar.

Briefing the media about the meeting, Spokesperson to the President Farhatullah Babar said that a detailed briefing was given on the financial and economic situation, revenue collection measures, status of proposed currency swap agreements with Turkey and Sri Lanka, measures for increasing remittances through incentives to Pakistanis working abroad and documentation of economy.

The spokesperson said that the President directed the government’s finance team to prepare a workable plan in the shortest possible time by taking in to account all aspects of the proposal for raising equity through floating infrastructure bonds.

The President said that the early finalization of currency swap agreements with Turkey and Sri Lanka would further strengthen the mutual trade and economic ties of Pakistan with these countries and help reduce pressure on their foreign exchange reserves.

The President was briefed on the Pakistan Remittance Initiative (PRI) and the significant increase in the inflows of remittances as a result of the incentives policy.

The President urged for vigorous implementation of the incentive packages for expatriate Pakistani to curb the illegal flows of remittances and facilitate their flow through official channels.

The President also asked for encouraging overseas Pakistanis to fully avail from the government’s incentive package for expatriate Pakistanis to send home remittances through legal channels so as to maximize the inflow of capital.

MQM comes up with 9-point charter of economy

MQM has announced its 9-point charter of economy. And it would be presented in the second round of meeting with the economic team of the government.

In a news conference in Islamabad, MQM leader Farooq Sattar said that it is inevitable to implement the charter of economy to avoid the Egypt-like situation in the country. Sattar said that IMF delegation told him that condition of imposing RGST was not asked by the IMF instead it was presented by Pakistani team. He said that it is demanded in the charter to impose tax on 6,000 landlords, sugar mafia and the affluent class. He said that demand of land reforms and reforms in public sector enterprises were also included in the charter. He said that additional resources of worth Rs 1000 billion can be attained by implementing the charter of economy.

Centre not silent on Davis issue: Gilani

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Sunday refused to comment on US national, Raymond Daviss case, who is alleged of killing two Pakistanis, saying that the Punjab government is investigating the issue and nothing could be said until the report comes.

Talking to media, the PM rubbishes the notion that the federal government is doing nothing over the issue; the matter is sub judice in the court thus I wont said anything in this regard, he maintained. Referring to the economic problems, the Premier said that the country is faced with economic crunch but that has not assumed the form of crisis.

Obama says growth requires more than tax cuts

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that if Republicans want to reject his economic plans, he wants to hear their suggestions on fueling the economy.

“I don’t think that tax cuts alone are going to be a recipe for the kind of expansion that we need,” he said at a White House news conference.

Obama also acknowledged he had not managed the balance well between having the rules of the road for business while making clear to U.S. companies that he wants them to succeed.

“One of the things that has not been managed by me as well as it needed to be was finding the right balance in making sure that businesses have rules of the road and are treating customers fairly … but also making absolutely clear that the only way America succeeds is if businesses are succeeding,” he said. AGENCIES

Gilani advises parties to get ready for LG poll

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday advised all the political parties to start preparations for the local government election to be held in the near future.

He was speaking to Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman who called on him here.

Prime Minister Gilani said the country has suffered colossal human and economic losses over devastating floods and any suggestion regarding mid-term poll was tantamount to leaving the affected people in the lurch.

“The government is making every possible effort to steer the country out of the economic mess left by the eight years long dictatorial rule,” he said.

Gilani said that the recent flooding had washed away the government’s economic gains since last election.

He urged all the political parties to concentrate on provision of relief to the

ASEAN leaders gather as turbulence buffets region

HANOI: Southeast Asian leaders meet Thursday with their region assailed by currency tensions, territorial disputes and pressure to act on troublesome neighbour Myanmar’s looming elections.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi also takes place against a backdrop of increasingly assertive behaviour by China which has put the region on edge.

The gathering of the 10-member ASEAN bloc shifts gear Saturday when it widens into the 16-nation East Asia Summit, also taking in Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.

Talks mooted between Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and his Japanese counterpart Naoto Kan are in doubt after the two nations became embroiled in their worst diplomatic row in years, centred on a disputed East China Sea island chain.

A meeting scheduled for Friday between the economic

ASEAN leaders gather as turbulence buffets region

HANOI: Southeast Asian leaders meet Thursday with their region assailed by currency tensions, territorial disputes and pressure to act on troublesome neighbour Myanmar’s looming elections.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi also takes place against a backdrop of increasingly assertive behaviour by China which has put the region on edge.

The gathering of the 10-member ASEAN bloc shifts gear Saturday when it widens into the 16-nation East Asia Summit, also taking in Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.

Talks mooted between Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and his Japanese counterpart Naoto Kan are in doubt after the two nations became embroiled in their worst diplomatic row in years, centred on a disputed East China Sea island chain.

A meeting scheduled for Friday between the economic

SBP: Annual analysis report of fiscal year 2009-10 published

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has published the annual analysis report of fiscal year 2009-10. According to the bank the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth rate is expected to remain 2-3 percent during the current fiscal year.
The report published by the central bank also reveals that fiscal deficit rose to 6.3 percent exceeding the last year statistics by 1.1 percent. The report also explains that the recent deluge has caused a huge damage to the economic targets. This natural catastrophe affected the arable land and Khareef crop as well. Not only this but the massive floods also affected the infrastructure and the industrial units. Despite initial progress the issue of circular loans of the energy sector could not be resolved.
On the other hand current account deficit declined while the foreign exchange reserves increased tremendously.

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