US investment bank Morgan Stanley is holding talks with Wachovia and China Investment about a takeover or investment plan. It was earlier reported that after the demise of Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley might also be in hot waters. Shares of the bank have been battered by effect of the current credit crisis.

It is said that there would be more mergers in the banking sector because of the dramatic changes in the world market. Banking giant Merrill Lynch will also be taken over by Bank of America in a $50bn deal. It was also facing financial problems.
Continue reading Morgan Stanley in talks about takeover

President George W Bush has said that the US is taking unprecedented measures to solve the crisis that is gripping US financial markets. US government has pledged billions of dollars to bail out companies facing credit problems.

US Treasury Secretary has said that legislation for the plan will be pushed through as soon as possible.

Central Banks from around the world have also pumped billions of dollars in money markets in order to provide stability. Centrals Banks of Canada, Europe, Japan have injected nearly $180bn in markets to ease liquidity crisis.

The sooner this crisis is over the better.
Continue reading Financial Rescue plan hailed by US

In any business organization human resource is the most important part. Nowadays big organizations outsource most of their activities in order to increase efficiency and reduce cost. One such activity is hiring interim management executives. There are companies that do hiring and training for other organizations according to the requirements given by the employer.

Alium is one such company that provides interim management executives. It is a UK based company and one of the leading providers of high level Interim Management executives. It provides services to help organizations find the management resources for their organization. Alium insures a careful match of capability for assignment requirements as given by the company.

You can seek an interim executive either for a project or for any other specific purpose. Alium interim executives have experience of working in a range of organizations and have a proven track record. If you are in UK and your responsibilities include human resource management I would strongly recommend Alium to you. They will take care of a lot of problems.

Continue reading Hire Interim Management through Alium

According to news report published in Dawn the Global Index Compiler FTSE will not demote Pakistan from the status of secondary emerging markets to frontier markets. FTSE had announced two years ago that it was placing Pakistan on a watch list for a possible removal from the FTSE Global Equity Index Series. This index is widely used by global investors and the decision by hence the decision by FTSE to place Pakistan in a watch list had created ripples in Pakistani equity markets.

For a country that is already steeped in financial crisis this news comes as a great relief. I hope that the situation will improve in the coming days.

Continue reading FTSE not to demote Pakistan to frontier markets

The foreign reserves of Pakistan stood at $9.10 bn on September 13. They have now fallen by $190mn to a record low of $ 8.91bn in past week. This figure has been released by the State Bank of Pakistan.

The reservs held by the central bank fell to $5.52bn from $5.72n while the reserves held by commercial banks have increased marginally from $3.38bn to $3.39bn.

Foreign reserves held by the country were at a record high of $16.5bn previous year but it has depleted due to high import bill as well withdrawal of money by foreign investors because of the prevailing political uncertainly in the country.

Really tough times ahead if something is not done soon to check this situation. But unfortunately we are not seeing any serious attempts at improving the situation.
Continue reading Foreign reserves of Pakistan touch new lows

The judicial crisis in the country has nearly ended. The judges are lining up to get back their jobs. The lawyer’s community of Pakistan had launched a fierce struggle for the restoration of judges but it has come to naught. It was said that the steps taken by General Pervez Musharraf on 2^nd November 2007 were unconstitutional and hence the judges can be restored through a simple executive order. The prime minister of the country is on record having said that if he was given instructions by his party chief he will immediately issue orders for the restoration of judges.

This has not happened. The cunning Asif Zardari has played his cards well. Instead of restoring the judiciary where it was on 2^nd November 2007 by declaring the PCO issued by General Pervez Musharraf as unconstitutional, it has been implicitly accepted that the steps taken by him were valid because they judges are not being restored. They are being re-appointed. It is another matter that they are being given their past seniority.

If I could sum it up in one sentence I would say that as always the judges have greatly disappointed people by submitting before powers that be to save their jobs.

Continue reading Lawyers movement meets sorry end in Pakistan

The politicians of our country were very critical of General Pervez Musharraf and his policies on the US war against terror. It was expected that the situation will change after the formation of civilian government. Nothing has changed. The government is zealously following all the instructions being given by United States. I do not seek to criticize government for this because I sincerely believe that they do not have any other option.

The economy of the country is in bad shape. Rising oil prices and food inflation have had their toll. We are certainly not in a position to engage in any activity that may destabilize the country altogether. Foreign reserves of the country are rapidly depleting. It was the need of the hour that our politicians rose to the occasion and lead the country to safety, but we see that they are busy in petty politics. Expenses are not being cut down. The austerity move announced by the prime minister in his maiden speech in the parliament is nowhere to be seen. We see lavish expenses, foreign tours, dinner parties and many more things at the expense of public money.

Public representatives are being bought and sold. Political intrigues are continuing. If the country is politically unstable, I wonder if it can achieve prosperity at all.

Continue reading Has anything changed in Pakistan?