June 16, 2019 (MLN): The domestic equity market commenced the week on a negative note with the market falling by about 1000 points, as the government revealed missed targets for FY19 in the Economic Survey document.

However, after the Federal Budget announcement on Tuesday, it regained the weekly loss to close at 35,573 points, up 68 points WoW, as the severity of new tax measures were considered to be lower than expectations for sectors like Fertilizer and Banks.

In addition to this, the various economic and policy-oriented developments that took place during the departed week include:

On Friday, Fitch Ratings affirmed Pakistan's Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'B-' with a Stable Outlook.

The same day, World Bank approved a package of $518 million for two projects in support of Pakistan’s ambitious efforts to raise revenue and reduce compliance cost with a goal of providing better services to the people.

On Thursday, while addressing a press conference, Minister for National Food Security and Research Sahibzada Mehboob Sultan said that the government has increased budget allocations for agriculture sector by 1200 percent to revive agriculture and livestock sectors.

In addition, the same day, a senior official of FBR said that the government through Budget 2019-20 has provided tax relief on various daily-use essential products including medicines, food and beverages as well as their inputs.

On Wednesday, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) strongly refuted the news appearing in some sections of press which stated that the new Finance Bill has allowed the non-filers to purchase immovable property or cars.

On Tuesday, PTI government presented its first budget 2019-20 in the National Assembly.

On Monday, government released Economic Survey for FY19 in which provisional GDP growth rate for the year was estimated at 3.3 percent on the basis of 0.9, 1.4 and 4.7 percent growth in agricultural, industrial and services sectors respectively.

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

• Passenger car consumption in Pakistan’s domestic market stood at a total of 192,863 during the 11 months of fiscal year 2018 – 2019.
• The government of Pakistan accumulated an additional net debt of Rs.294.32 billion during the week ended June 07, 2019, which brings its total net borrowing for ongoing fiscal year (FY19) to Rs.1.44 trillion.
• Pakistan's non-government sector borrowed another net sum of Rs.51.57 billion during the week ended June 07, 2019, which brings the cumulative net borrowing for ongoing year to Rs.931.15 billion
• Overseas Pakistanis remitted USD 2.32 billion in the month of May 2019 compared to USD 1.78 billion in April 2019 showing an increase of USD 536.84 million or 30% over the previous month, on account of Ramzan and the then approaching festival of Eid-ul-Fitr.
• Pakistani rupee (PKR) continued to exhibit extreme levels of volatility as it sharply depreciated by 2.9 rupees against US Dollar (USD) by closing the week at PKR 155.85 per USD.
• The overseas investors indulged in excessive selling in the local capital markets during the week ended June 13, 2019, as the net sale of securities logged in at Rs. 595 million. The closing balance of SCRA was recorded at Rs.28.21 billion, which marks a rise of Rs.3.2 million over the week.
• The central government acquired a debt of Rs.28 trillion as of April 2019, which is Rs.4.47 trillion higher than the amount borrowed by the same period last year and Rs.3.86 trillion higher than the beginning of ongoing fiscal year.
• Nearly 10.7 million bales of cotton arrived at a number of ginneries across Pakistan as of June 1, 2019.

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