Tag: dualization of existing

September 17, 2021 (MLN): The capital market on Friday remained positive in the first half of the session as the investors were under the influence of PKR’s gaining momentum in the interbank market.

However, the bears took lead in the later hours owing to the data of Current Account Balance (CAB) released by the State Bank of Pakistan, as per which, CAB posted a deficit of $1.47billion in August 2021, compared to a surplus of $225million in the corresponding month last year. In the previous month, CAB posted a deficit of $814mn, suggesting that the deficit jumped notably by 81% MoM mainly attributable to an increase in imports.

In addition, the news of the postponement of the cricket series between Newzealand and Pakistan due to security threats has also smashed the investor’s confidence in the local bourse.

Resultantly, the benchmark KSE100 index lost 284.38 points to close the trade at 46,636.08.

The Index traded in a range of 628.35 points or 1.34 percent of previous close, showing an intraday high of 47,183.08 and a low of 46,554.73.

Of the 98 traded companies in the KSE100 Index 34 closed up 60 closed down, while 4 remained unchanged. Total volume traded for the index was 163.22 million shares.

Sector wise, the index was let down by Cement with 73 points, Commercial Banks with 58 points, Technology & Communication with 57 points, Oil & Gas Marketing Companies with 27 points and Power Generation & Distribution with 19 points.

The most points taken off the index was by LUCK which stripped the index of 59 points followed by MEBL with 37 points, ENGRO with 29 points, TRG with 29 points and SYS with 28 points.

Sectors propping up the index were Fertilizer with 13 points, Automobile Assembler with 8 points, Refinery with 6 points, Textile Spinning with 2 points and Synthetic & Rayon with 2 points.

The most points added to the index was by FFC which contributed 43 points followed by NBP with 20 points, MTL with 17 points, KTML with 10 points and BAHL with 9 points.

All Share Volume decreased by 17.89 Million to 387.29 Million Shares. Market Cap decreased by Rs.43.89 Billion.

Total companies traded were 525 compared to 518 from the previous session. Of the scrips traded 173 closed up, 327 closed down while 25 remained unchanged.

Total trades decreased by 3,943 to 126,616.

Value Traded decreased by 0.27 Billion to Rs.16.24 Billion

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September 17th, 2021: A meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCOE) was held under the Chairmanship of the Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Asad Umar here in Islamabad on Friday.

CCoE approved the summary submitted by the Power Division on the winter incentive package on incremental consumption for all domestic, commercial, and general services consumers of XW- DISCOs and K- Electrics from 1st November 2021 till 28th February 2022.

CCoE also considered revision of Gas tariff slabs for the domestic consumers during the winter season of FY 21-22 submitted by the Petroleum Division.  The forum discussed the agenda in detail and outline that gas is a precious energy resource and resultantly import of LNG is a large drain on Pakistan's foreign exchange. It constitutes a major part of the country's total imports and consumer spending. It is now critically important to realize both on an individual and national level that energy resources need to be conserved by switching to energy-efficient appliances.  Keeping in view a committee headed by Minister for S&T Mr. Shibli Faraz has been formed. This committee will give its recommendations within 30 days on the measures to ensure the use of energy-efficient appliances through various fiscal and administrative incentives along with regulatory actions to be taken to promote these appliances to rationalize consumption, reduce consumer’s monthly expenses, and resultantly reducing the country's energy import bill.

The meeting was attended by the Minister for Energy, Minister for Maritime Affairs, SAPM on Power, Petroleum & Revenue, SAPM on CPEC, and representatives of regulatory authorities and senior officials of Ministries/Divisions also participated in the meeting.

Press Release

September 17, 2021 (MLN): Gold extended decline in domestic bullion market as the Pakistani rupee (PKR) successfully managed to hold the ground in the second consecutive session on Friday against US dollar and closed the day’s trade at PKR 168.19.

According to Karachi Sarafa Association, the price of 24-karat gold dipped further by Rs200 to Rs112,500 per tola against the previous close of Rs112,700 per tola.

Similarly, the price of 10-gram 24 karat gold slumped by Rs171 to clock in at Rs96,451 while 10-gm 22 karat gold traded at Rs88,413 against Rs88,570 yesterday, the association reported.

On a similar note, the price of 24-karat silver witnessed a drop of Rs10 and traded at Rs1,400 while the price of 10-gram silver fell by Rs8.57 to close at Rs1,200.27.

In the International market, the demand for gold dented by $18 to trade at $1,761 an ounce as higher yields hurt non-interest-bearing metal, while silver was valued at $23 an ounce against $23.47 an ounce yesterday.

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September 17, 2021 (MLN): The import bill of petroleum products during the month of August’21 stood at $1.76billion, depicting a colossal surge of 2.3x YoY while on MoM basis, the import of the same group surge by 32%, compared to the same period last year.

The group contributed 26.6% to the total imports during the month.

As per the data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), petroleum products remained the major contributor, inflating the import bill by 2.45x YoY while on MoM basis, the upsurge is limited to 38% to clock in Rs892million.

In addition, the import bill of petroleum crude stood at Rs442.46mn in August’21, showing an upsurge of 84% YoY, while on MoM basis, the same commodity witnessed an increase of 17.55% in import bill.

Likewise, the import of Natural Liquefied Gas stood at $380mn, depicting a twofold increase on yearly basis. The import bill of the same commodity jumped up by 40% on the monthly basis.

During the month, the export of Petroleum group & coal plummeted by 92% YoY to stand at $1.8mn. Similarly, on monthly basis, the export has dropped by 94%.

Commodity-wise, the main exportable product was petroleum products (EXCL Top Naphta) which stood at $1.7mn, depicting a rise of 47% YoY, while on MoM basis, the export value of the same commodity jumped by 57.38%.

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September 17, 2021 (MLN): The unemployment rate in Pakistan jumped from 5.8% in 2017-18 to 6.9% in 2018-19, the Labor Force Survey (LFS) published by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics revealed.

The survey showed that the increase was observed both in the case of males and females with the male unemployment rate soaring from 5.1% to 5.9% and the female unemployment rate rising from 8.3% to 10%. This indicates that the unemployment rate in females was more pronounced as compared to males.

In terms of number, 64.04 million people were employed in 2018-19 compared to 61.71 in 2017-18. If we divide this by gender, female employment between the same years increased by 1.17 million, while male employment increased by 1.16 million.

Province wise, the unemployment was the highest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with a rate of 10.3%, followed by Punjab at 7.4%, Balochistan at 4.6%, and Sindh with the lowest unemployment rate at 4%Region-wise LFS data shows that the unemployment rate in urban areas stood at 7.9%, up from 7.2% a year before, while rural unemployment increased to 6.4% from 5% in FY18. This suggests that the increase in the unemployment rate was more pronounced in rural regions.

As per the data, the agriculture/forestry/hunting & fishing sector provided the largest 39.2% of employment in FY19, higher than 38.5% it was providing in the previous year. The construction sector provided 8% of jobs compared to 7.6% in FY18, Community/social & personal services absorbed 15% of the total workforce during FY19 against 14.7% in FY18. While the decline was noted in Manufacturing and wholesale & retail trade sector as they offered 15% and 14.5% of unemployment during the period respectively, down from 16.1% and 14.9% in FY18.

The survey results show that the informal sector accounts for 72.4% of non-agricultural employment with more in rural (76.7%) than in urban areas (68.1%).  On the other hand, the formal sector activities are concentrated more in urban areas (31.9%) than in rural areas (23.3%). The share of females in comparison to the share of males is more evident in urban formal (39.5%) and rural informal (78.6%) sectors, while the share of males is more prominent in rural formal (23.6%) and urban informal (69%).

Moreover, employment in the formal sector decreases from 28% to 27.6%, while employment in the informal sector increases marginally from 72% to 72.4% during the comparative periods. Shares of male’s employment scale down in the formal while that of females scale up in the same sector. In the informal sector, the employment of males increases while in the case of females decreases during the comparative periods.

The working-age population of Pakistan LFS survey stood at 153.5 million in FY19 of which, 94.1 million, or 61.3% of this population is working in rural areas, while the rest 38.7%, or 59.3 million people are working in urban areas.

The labor force of Pakistan recorded at 68.73 million for FY19, indicating that 68.73 million people are willing and able to work in the country, and out of this 64.01 million were employed, and 4.71 million were unemployed.

Furthermore, the Refined Labor Force Participation rate was at 44.8% during FY19, suggesting that 44.8% of the potential workers in the economy are able and willing to work. If we divide it by gender, the refined labor force participation rate stands at 67.8% for males, and 21.5% for females.

The literacy rate in the country stood around 62.4%, with the literacy rate for males at 73% and females at 51.5%.

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