March 21, 2020 (MLN): Pakistan International Airline (PIAC) announced that it was suspending international flight operations from Saturday March 21, 2020 (8 PM) to March 28, 2020.
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April 1, 2020 (MLN): The management of Dolmen City REIT has decided to waive 25% rentals of the tenants of "The Harbour Front" for the month of April 2020 since many offices were closed as per the directives of Sindh and Federal Government.
This measure will provide cost and cash flow relief to tenant partners whose business is already affected. Further, the company will continue to engage with the tenants and monitor the situation closely.
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April 01, 2020 (MLN): Pak Rupee's Real Effective Exchange Rate Index (REER) increased by 0.77 percent in February 2020 to a provisional value of 97.20 from the revised value of 96.46 in January 2020.
According to data published by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the REER index has decreased by 0.49 percent compared to February 2019.
Similarly the Nominal Effective Exchange rate Index (NEER) increased by 1.43 percent in February to a provisional value of 63.69 from the revised value of 62.79 in January. On a yearly basis, the NEER Index has decreased by 8 percent.
PKR closed February at 154.2308 against the USD having appreciated by 0.17 percent compared to its value in January 2020. However, Compared to February 2019 PKR has depreciated by by 11.1 percent.
REER is a measure of the value of a currency against a weighted average of several foreign currencies, an increase in REER implies that exports become more expensive and imports become cheaper therefore, this increase indicates a decline in trade competitiveness.
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April 1, 2020 (MLN): The KSE-100 index lost nearly around 11,503 points during the first three months of the current year and closed at 29,231-mark on March 31, 2020, i.e. 28.24% lower as compared to December 31, 2019, wherein the index closed at 40,735 points.
The major driving force behind this fall in the value of the benchmark index is also responsible for bringing the stock markets across the globe to its knees. That’s right. The COVID-19 pandemic has spared no country, no economy, in fact, nothing on this planet from its wrath. Not just the global indices, but the forex markets, commodities, and mutual funds markets, to name a few, have also suffered considerably.
The first month was nothing less than a honeymoon period for the KSE-100 index, as it was delivering incessant victories and breaking several records back to back. The inflow of foreign funds via investments in T-bills, stability in PKR-USD exchange rate, curtailment of Current Account Deficit and enhancement in SBP’s foreign reserves helped the benchmark index successfully score a hat-trick for the month.
It may be relevant to mention that not everything was going perfect during January, as the escalating tensions between the United States and Iran had dented the well-being of the index temporarily. All in all, the combined impact of these forces had led to the KSE-100 gaining 895 points during the month.
On the contrary, the month of February was host to several hostile news for the domestic Stock market, which shifted investors into a frenzy mode. Multiple factors such as hotter than expected CPI readings for January and delays in the conclusion of the second IMF review dented investors’ confidence. Subsequently, the KSE-100 index lost around 3,647 points during the month.
Finally, the month of March saw the arrival of the COVID-19 into Pakistan, which spilled water on all the efforts and hardships by the Government to revive the economy. Several attempts by the Government to rebuild the confidence of investors, such as announcement of Rs. 1 trillion stimulus packages and the curtailment in Policy Rates by the State Bank of Pakistan, twice, helped in providing some respite to the faltering stock markets.
The sectors that suffered the most during the first quarter of 2020 include Commercial Banks, E&P Companies, Fertilizer and Power Generation Sectors, as they combinedly took away 8,275 points from the index. Commercial Banking Sector was the largest loss bearer during the period, as its losses amounted to 3,075 points.
Within these sectors, PPL (-953), OGDC (-925), HBL (-852), UBL (-641) and ENGRO (-537) incurred the largest losses.
During the quarter, the index touched a high of 43,218 points on January 13, 2020, and a low of 27,228 on March 25, 2020.
The All-Share Market Index also suffered immensely during the period, as it slumped by $16.7 billion, from $50.4 billion at the beginning of the quarter to $33.7 billion by the end of it.
Foreign investors were mostly net sellers during the quarter as they dumped securities worth $138.2 million, with Foreign Corporate making the largest sale at $132.8 million.
On the contrary, local investors were net buyers, wherein Insurance Companies picked up securities worth, $113.6 million. This was followed by Banks/DFIs and Individuals, as they purchased securities worth $10.8 million and $4.2 million respectively.
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April 01, 2020: The World Bank Board of Directors approved a $700 million additional financing to help Pakistan generate low-cost, renewable energy to provide affordable electricity supply to millions of users Tuesday. This support for one of the country’s longer-term development priorities comes as the World Bank is also working with the federal and provincial governments to prepare and respond to the immediate challenge of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Additional Financing for Dasu Hydropower Stage I Project will finance the transmission line to complete the first phase of the Dasu hydropower plant that will install 2,160 MW capacity along the main Indus River. Plans for Stage II expansion will double the installed capacity to 4,320MW, making Dasu the largest hydropower plant in the country.
“Pakistan’s energy sector is aiming to move away from high-cost and inefficient fossil fuels towards low-cost, renewable energy to power the national grid,” said Illango Patchamuthu, World Bank Country Director for Pakistan. “Along with reforms in the tariff structure, the Dasu Hydropower Project will result in fewer imports of fossil fuels, alleviating the stress on the country’s current account balance.”
The project will help to lower the overall cost of energy generation in Pakistan, benefiting millions of energy users by making electricity more affordable for households and productive sectors, such as manufacturing and agriculture.
The Dasu hydropower plant will provide most of its electricity during the summer months to reduce blackouts when demand is the highest. The project also contributes to the socio-economic development of the communities in Dasu and surrounding areas of the Upper Kohistan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.
“The Dasu hydropower plant has a low environmental footprint and is considered to be one of the best hydropower projects in the world,” said Rikard Liden, Task Team Leader for the project. “It will contribute to reducing Pakistan’s reliance on fossil-fuels and producing clean renewable energy.”
Dasu hydropower station will produce electricity at $0.03/kWh compared to Pakistan’s current average cost of electricity generation of $0.08/kWh. This investment in the energy sector is an important step in Pakistan’s path towards becoming an upper-middle-income country by 2047.
Project Terms
The project will be financed from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), with a variable spread and 25 years maturity including a 5-year grace period.
Press Release
April 01, 2020 (MLN): Pakistan's Yearly Inflation Rate (New Base 2015-16) in March 2020 was 10.24 percent compared to 12.40 percent in February 2020 and 8.60 percent in March 2019.
The July-March average inflation is 11.54 percent compared to 6.32 percent from the corresponding period last year.
Market Expectation of Inflation for March was between 10.90 % and 9.60% with the average estimate of 10.09%.
On a monthly basis, CPI increased by 0.04 percent in March compared to a decrease of 1.04 percent in February.
Market expectation of Monthly change was between 0.10% and -0.50% with the average estimate at -0.17%.
CPI inflation Urban, increased by 9.3% on year-on-year basis in March 2020 as compared to an increase of 11.2% in the previous month and 8.9% in March 2019. On month-on-month basis, it increased by 0.1% in March2020 ascompared to adecrease of 1.1% in the previous month and anincreaseof 1.9% in March 2019.
CPI inflation Rural,increased by 11.7% on year-on-year basis in March 2020 as compared to an increase of 14.2% in the previous month and 8.2% in March 2019. On month-on-month basis, it decreasedby 0.1% in March 2020as compared to adecrease of 1.0% in the previous month and anincrease of 2.2% in March 2019.
SPI inflation on YoY increased by11.8% in March 2020 as compared to an increase of 14.5% a month earlier and an increase of10.5% in March 2019. On MoM basis, it decreased by 0.3% in March 2020 as compared to adecrease of 0.8% a month earlier and an increase of 2.1% in March 2019.
WPI inflation on YoY basis increased by 9.2% in March 2020 as compared to an increase of 12.6% a month earlier and an increase of 16.6% in March2019. WPI inflation on MoM basis it decreased by 0.9% in March 2020 as compared to adecrease of 0.8% a month earlier and an increaseof 2.2% in corresponding month of last year i.e. March 2019.
Core inflation measured by non-food non-energy Urban CPI (Core NFNE) increased by 7.4% on (YoY) basis in March 2020 as compared to an increase of 8.0% in the previous month and 7.2% in March 2019. On (MoM) basis, it increased by 0.3% in March 2020 as compared to increase of 0.2% in previous month, and an increase of 0.8% in corresponding month of last year i.e. March 2019.
Core inflation measured by non-food non-energy Rural CPI (Core NFNE) increased by 9.4% on (YoY) basis in March 2020 as compared to an increase of 9.4% in the previous month and 6.5% in March 2019. On (MoM) basis, it increased by 0.6% in March 2020 as compared to an increase of 0.5% in previous month, and an increase of 0.6% in corresponding month of last year i.e. March 2019.
Core inflation, measured by 20% weighted trimmed mean Urban CPI (Core Trimmed) increased by 8.7% on (YoY) basis in March 2020 as compared to 9.7% in the previous month and by 7.3% in March 2019. On (MoM) basis, it increased by 0.3% in March 2020 as compared to an increase of 0.1% in the previous month and an increase of 0.8% in corresponding month of last year i.e. March 2019.
Core inflation, measured by 20% weighted trimmed mean Rural CPI (Core Trimmed) increased by 11.4% on (YoY) basis in March 2020 as compared to 12.8% in the previous month and by 6.5% in March 2019. On (MoM) basis, it increased by 0.1% in March 2020 as compared to an increase of 0.6% in the previous month and an increase of 0.6% in corresponding month of last year i.e. March 2019.
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