Lahore Stock Exchange
The Lahore Stock Exchange (Guarantee) Limited was first formed in October 1970 under the Securities and Exchange Ordinance of the Pakistan Government in an attempt to respond to the needs of the provincial metropolis of Punjab. It first started off with a total of 83 members situated in a rented building on Bank Square in Lahore. Since then the number of members has increased to 152 over the last 25 years, with the Lahore Stock Exchange opening up another two branches in the industrial cities of Faisalabad and Sialkot.
Some notable companies listed with the stock exchange are Abbott Laboratories (Pakistan) Limited, Shahpur Textiles Mills Limited, Adam Sugar Mills Limited, Regal Ceramics Limited and AL-ABID Silk Mills Limited.
Pakistan is rated as a developing country and has the sixth-largest population in the world, with an economic growth rate that has continued to climb since the recession in 1951. At purchasing power parity, the GDP of Pakistan was estimated at about $439.7 billion in 2006, slightly less than the GDP of the Philippines but much larger then that of Saudi Arabia. Today Pakistan is seen as a model to follow for economic development even though up until now it was characterized as a highly vulnerable and unstable.
Although there has been much growth in the domestic automobile manufacturing industry, imports have kept up with the increased demand. The three major automakers, Toyota, BMW and Honda have invested a lot into the country’s manufacturing facilities. Liberalization in the international textile trade has contributed to Pakistan’s exports, as well as benefits from freer trade in agriculture. Pakistan exports a variety of different fruit and vegetables as well as cotton and vegetable oil. They are also rated as Asia’s largest camel market and third largest cotton, milk and onion market. Most of Pakistan’s agricultural output is used within the country’s growing processed-food industry especially with the increase in sales.
Pakistan exports totalled about $6.927 billion in just the first five months of 2006 and overall reached approximately $16.47 billion reflecting an increase of 14,5 %. In the first five months imports added up to $12.333 billion with a total of $11.176 billion being used that year. The biggest import that Pakistan makes is petroleum and a range of petroleum-based products.
