Nestlé Healthy Kids Day
LAHORE (Staff Reporter): Pakistan is a food-surplus county but the rate of malnutrition among the population is alarming. The government remains committed to address this problem and needs help from the corporate sector. These were the views expressed by State Minister for National Health Services Saira Afzal Tarrar at the Nestlé Healthy Kids Day 2016 where she was the chief guest. She called Nestlé Healthy Kids as an excellent example of the role corporate sector can play in promoting good nutrition. The day was celebrated by Nestlé Pakistan to mark educating more than 100,000 kids about nutrition, hygiene, hydration and an active lifestyle. The NHK programme is a global initiative by Nestlé to introduce healthy lifestyle lessons to children from 6 to 16 years of age. The curriculum-based programme, which is completely non-branded, covers topics of healthy eating, nutrition, hygiene and physical activity. The program has reached out to more than 100,000 children in Pakistan and trained 427 teachers since its launch in 2010.
Nestlé Pakistan is collaborating with 10 partners in Punjab, the Federal Capital, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh. Children are our future and in order to ensure that we have a good future, we have to make sure that our children are healthy, the minister said.
ICMA management accountants conference
LAHORE (Staff Reporter): The government is making all-out efforts to end the energy crisis, Minister for Human Rights and Minorities for Punjab Khalil Tahir Sindhu said on Friday. Addressing the ICMA management accountants conference 2016, he said that last year, the Chinese president visited Pakistan and signed agreements to start a number of energy projects. Work on these projects had begun in September. “Under CPEC, coal, solar, wind and hydel power projects are being set up all over the country. Projects in communication, transport and infrastructure have also been undertaken,” he said. Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh said that debt servicing eats up a whopping share of our current revenues. “In spite of the fact that a lot of funds are arranged through deficit financing, still a very little is left for development and revenue expenditures.” The Ggvernment is alive to the deteriorating state of affairs and is in the process of taking a number of measures to put our financial and fiscal house in order.
Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Dr Syed Ismail Shah revealed that the internet penetration in Pakistan has reached 15%. “Recently the present government has issued a long-awaited telecom policy, marked as landmark document by industry experts for the incorporation of numerous measures to accelerate the digitization in the country,” he said.
Italian delegation to visit Lahore in Dec
LAHORE (Staff Reporter): A high-powered Italian delegation will visit Lahore on December 7. The delegation, to be led by State Minister, would have representatives of 80 Italian companies from textile, leather, footwear, infrastructure, information technology, renewable energy, agriculture, automotive sectors. The delegation would also have six Italian business associations in its fold. This was revealed by Deputy Trade Commissioner of Italy, A.R. Daudpota while talking to the LCCI President Abdul Basit here at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry on Friday. Italian Deputy Trade Commissioner said that the Italian delegation is visiting Pakistan to explore opportunities for trade & investment. Italy’s main industries are tourism, machinery, iron & steel, chemicals, food processing, textiles, motor vehicles, clothing, footwear and ceramics. Most raw materials needed by industry and more than 75% of energy requirements are imported. He said that joint ventures between the private sectors of the two countries could help enhance mutual trade volume.
Silkbank declares profit of Rs1.32b
KARACHI (Staff Reporter): Silkbank Limited, in its Board meeting held on Friday, declared an operating profit of Rs1.32 billion for the nine months ended September, 30, 2016. The bank’s profit before tax of Rs783 million reflects a notable growth of 772% compared to the same period last year. The steady improvement in profitability is the result of implementation of a well formulated business strategy. The ongoing focus is two-fold; on the revenue side, growth is led by contributions from high yielding consumer assets; and on the cost side, a steady rise in CASA is bringing the cost of funds down – evident from the deposit mix which stands at 61 % of CASA deposits vs. 58% for the same period last year. Thus net mark-up income of the bank grew significantly by 43% compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2015, which substantiates bank’s operational efficiency. The bank’s total assets base grew by 16% as compared to the position as at September 30, 2015 - due to the increase in investments by 23% and net advances by 11%.
Deposits have increased by Rs. 6.3billion from September 2015 - taking the total deposits to Rs. 85.96billion – reflecting continued depositors’ confidence in the Bank.