Border tensions between Pakistan and India remained on the forefront during the past week. As the conflict between Pakistan and India threatened to escalate into something much more serious, a meeting of the federal cabinet convened on Thursday to discuss the current situation, following Indian incursion and Pakistan's befitting response to it.

In addition to this, the other economic events and developments in public policy that took place during the departed week include: On Saturday, Ministry of Energy, through Power Holding Private Limited, a company hundred percent owned by the Government of Pakistan, issued the first Pakistan Energy Sukuk of Rs 200 bn in order to resolve the Circular Debt faced by Pakistan economy.

Meanwhile, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) announced to increase the limit applicable on foreign persons or institutions for acquiring or holding of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) shares under the Stock Exchange (Corporatisation, Demutualistaion, and Integration) Regulation 2012. As per this announcement, the limit of shareholding of PSX shares by foreign persons or institutions increased to 20% of the total issued share capital of PSX.

On Friday, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) issued a price-revision notification of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) for the month of March. According to the notification issued by the OGRA, the authority increased the locally produced LPG price by Rs. 95.02 per cylinder of 11.8 kilogram.

The government on Thursday increased prices of various petroleum products for the month of March 2019. According to the notification of Finance Ministry, the prices of petrol have been increased by Rs 2.5 per liter, bringing up the price of the product from Rs 90.38 per liter to Rs 92.88 liter which would be effective from Friday (today) till March 31.

On Wednesday, The Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) approved proposals from Power Division providing for all future Renewable Energy investments to be treated in line with the RE Policy 2019 that envisages a framework consistent with the current international market norms and greater consumer benefits.

On the upside, South Korean firm on Saturday expressed interest in investing in Pakistan to manufacture various products, including light-emitting diode (LEDs), solar cells, machine tools, vacuum products and others.

Moreover, Member House of Common United Kingdom Faisal Rasheed said on Monday that British investors were keen to set up energy and logistics related projects in Pakistan as environment had improved considerably.

Furthermore, Fitch Solutions in its latest research note published on Tuesday said that Pakistan and the IMF will soon reach an agreement over a bailout with a potential size of about USD12bn.

The statistical data released this week apprising the economic standing of the country are listed below:

•             Government sector’s cumulative net borrowing in the eight months of FY19, reached a sum of Rs.716.38 billion while net borrowing for budgetary support in particular touched Rs.866.2 billion.

•             Pakistan earned $539.710 million from the exports of telecommunication, computer and information services during the first half of the current fiscal year, showing growth of 3.78 percent when compared to $520.043 million trade of these services during corresponding period of last year.

•             Private sector’s outstanding loans by the month of January 2019 declined by 0.04% to Rs.5.762 trillion as compared to the previous month. Whereas, in the month of January 2018 it stood at Rs.4.78 trillion, demonstrating a 20% increase YoY.

•             An amount of Rs.1.20 billion has so far been spent on 129 ongoing development schemes of the provincial highways department in Sargodha division.

•             During the year 2018, Pakistan's exports to United Kingdom (UK) reached to Pounds (£) 1.27 billion showing an increase of around 2 percent compared to 2017

•             The banking sector spread inched up to 5.42% in January 2019 marking an edge of 22bps over previous month and exhibiting a rise for the 4th month straight.

•             Pakistan imported tea worth $347.305 million during the first seven months of the current fiscal year, showing growth of 2.15 percent when compared to the imports of $339.992 million during the corresponding period of last year.

•             Repatriation of profits earned on foreign direct investments brought into the country, has fallen by over 33% year on year during the July-January FY19 period, as the investors sent home $776 million, as compared to $1.2 billion sent during the corresponding period of last year.

•             Ministry of National Food Security and Research has demanded Rs 1631.055 million for 18 different development projects under Public Sector Development Programme 2019-20.

•             The government has so far released Rs356.540 million for various ongoing and new projects of Revenue Division under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for the current fiscal year (2018-19).

•             The government has released around Rs 32.646 million funds for three ongoing projects of the Petroleum Division under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP 2018-19) during last eight months of the current fiscal year against the total allocation of Rs 463.175 million.

•             Pakistan’s weekly SPI for the combined group increased by 0.2 percent compared to the previous week (Feb 21, 2019) and increased by 10.63% percent compared to the corresponding period from last year (March 1, 2018).

•             Pakistan’s forex reserves increased by USD 21.20 Million and the total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at USD 14,815.80 million on Feb 22, 2019.

On the equity front, the KSE-100 index lost 477 points over the week, as it closed at 39,539 points on Friday as opposed to 40,016 points the earlier week. Evidently, the ruckus created by the ongoing tensions between India and Pakistan took a massive toll on the index’s performance initially. However, the benchmark index surprisingly recovered quickly following assurance by Prime Minister Imran Khan regarding prevalence of regional peace. The index lost 1195 points for the first two days, and then made gains of 718 points in the next three days, bringing the net loss to 477 points.   

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