Weekly Economic Roundup

September 26, 2021 (MLN): The latest weekly roundup covers the latest economic and financial data releases over the past week to keep an eye on next week's trends.

• Overseas investors sold net securities worth Rs645.05 million during the week ended September 17, 2021, which was around Rs13.54 billion higher than last week's numbers.
• The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at US$ 26.402 billion on September 17, 2021.
• State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has revised prudential regulations for consumer financing to moderate import and demand growth.
• The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in its meeting held on September 20, 2021 in Karachi, has decided to raise the Policy Rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 7.25 percent.
• Ministry of Commerce (MoC) has released new refunds worth Rs6 billion under the Duty Drawback on Local Taxes and Levies (DLTL) schemes. This includes Rs5.4bn for the textile sector and Rs600 million for non-textile sectors.
• The overall power generation surged by 10% YoY to 16,078 GWh during the month of Aug’21 compared to 14,630 GWh during Aug’20.
• Pakistan's central bank is confident that the country's economy will grow by 5% in the current fiscal year.
• Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) proposed an increase of Rs2.0719/kWh over the reference fuel charges of Rs4.7334/kWh under fuel price adjustment for the month of August 2021 for Ex-WAPDA Discos.
• Pakistan received $2.38 billion foreign assistance during the first two months of the fiscal year 2021-22 i.e., July- August from multiple financing sources against the annual budget estimates of $14.09bn for the entire fiscal year FY22.
• Pakistan's outstanding debts as of August 31, 2021 stand at a whopping sum of Rs.25.19 trillion whereas total debt at the end of the prior month was Rs.24.99 trillion, meaning that around Rs201.635 billion was added during this month alone.
• Low interest rates and robust demand from consumers have taken the auto-financing to a record high of Rs326billion by the end of Aug 2021, an increase of Rs103.93bn or 47% YoY, as it was Rs221.9bn in Aug 2020, Central bank data showed.
• CDWP meeting presided over by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan, cleared one development project with a cost of Rs. 2.66bn & recommended one project worth Rs. 51.29bn to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for further consideration.
• The Banking sector spread for August 2021 increased slightly by 2 basis points (bps) over the month which brings its latest value to 4.26% as compared to the prior month's spread of 4.24%. In contrast, the spread has reduced by 61 bps as compared to the same period last year.
• The OECD warned Tuesday of an “uneven” global economic recovery as it lowered its 2021 growth forecasts for the world and the United States while raising the outlook for Europe.

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