Updated at: 1903 PST, Thursday, September 10, 2009 KARACHI: The country’s foreign exchange reserves have downscaled to $14.243 billion with the decrease of $64 million, data released by the State Bank of Pakistan shows Thursday. The reserves held by the SBP witnessed a decrease of $52.6 million to go down to $10.73 billion on the week ending on September 5. The reserves held by the banks other than SBP recorded a decrease of $10.6 million to climbed down at $3.504 billion.The experts said the national forex reserves shrank owing to the payments of international loans.
Sunday, February 28, 2010 HAVANA: Hundreds of wealthy merchants and cigar aficionados from all parts of the world gathered in Havana this week to bid high stakes for humidors full of premium cigars. Cuba's annual Habanos festival ended on Friday night with an auction of ornate humidors of cedar and mahogany stacked with hand-rolled stogies that raised 800,000 euros ($1.09 million dollars). Habanos S.A. executives this month said cigar sales fell 8 percent to $360 million in 2009, so they have created the Julieta, a smaller, milder version of the Romeo y Julieta cigar, aimed specifically at female smokers. Women now make up only 5 to 10 percent of customers for Habanos. But even with the creation of the Julieta, Garcia said Habanos has only modest hopes for 2010 sales, due largely to a weak economy in Spain, the biggest market for Cuban cigars. The flavor of premium tobacco relies on the soil and climate in which it is grown. The western province of Pinar Del Rio, famous fo...
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