MAJOR NEWS TODAY: 21-2-2014

1. PM approves air strikes against Taliban as government decides not to go ahead with talks

2. FBR allowed to exchange taxpayers’ info at global level

3. Pakistan-China sign accord for projects worth USD20bn

4. China to provide USD900mn for Gwadar development

5. Privatization Commission (PC) board accords approval to restructuring, sell-off of 2 DISCOs and 1 GENCO

6. Telecom firms seek easy terms, realistic price for 3G auction; government does not commit anything, will send proposals to consultant

7. LSM grows 6.76%YoY in 1HFY14, up 13.17%YoY and 24.31%MoM in Dec 2013

8. Foreign exchange reserves up USD404.6mn from last week to USD7.994bn

9. Textile exports up 7.6%YoY in 7MFY14; up 3.6%YoY but down 13%MoM in Jan 2014

10. Oil imports down 1.4%YoY in 7MFY14; up 4.6%YoY and 11.9%MoM in Jan 2014

11. Power sector receivables up 17%

12. ECC rejects mills’ demand for more sugar export; also turns down request for duty rebate on shipments to Kabul, Central Asia

13. 49 mills agree to offload 0.236mn tons of sugar onto TCP

14. FBR retrospectively allows repayment of custom duties on import of raw materials used in production of Toyota Corolla cars

15. PNSC reserves soar to USD1.5bn

16. Gas curtailment hits K-Electric’s power generation

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