Weekly Economic Roundup

October 24, 2021 (MLN): The weekly economic roundup summarizes the country's key economic and financial data for the week from various sectors to keep an eye on next week's trends.

• The Weekly Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the Combined Group increased by 1.38% during the week ended Oct 21, 2021, while the SPI surged by 14.48% compared to the corresponding period from last year.
• The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at US$ 24,327.4 million on October 15, 2021.
• Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) proposed an increase of Rs2.66/kWh over the reference fuel charges of Rs5.023/kWh under fuel price adjustment for the month of September 2021 for Ex-WAPDA Discos.
• Pakistan’s current account balance (CAB) posted a deficit of $3.4 billion in the first quarter of the current fiscal year i.e. July-Sept FY22, compared to a surplus of $865 million in the corresponding period last year.
• Pakistan’s trade deficit in services worsened by 34.5% YoY to $717million during the first quarter of the fiscal year 2022 from $533mn in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
• Pakistan’s textile exports surged to a record high of $4.42 billion during the first quarter of the current fiscal year, 27.4% higher than the textile exports of $3.47bn recorded in the same period the previous year.
• The import bill of the Machinery group has witnessed an increase of 35% YoY to clock in at $2.85 billion during the first quarter of FY22.
• The overall exports of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Products during the month of September’21 witnessed a sharp rise of 53% YoY to $127.318million compared to $74.6mn worth of exports in the previous month.
• The trade value of food exports from the country in September’21 stood at around $359.33million, showing a strong surge of 32% YoY from $272.16mn in September’20.
• Foreign direct investment in Pakistan stood at $236 million during September’21, up by 2.1x MoM against the net inflow of $113.2mn recorded in Aug’21.
• Import bill of petroleum products during the month of September’21 stood at $1.5billion, depicting a colossal surge of 87% YoY, compared to September’20.
• Pakistan remained on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF’) s Grey List while it recognized considerable progress made by Pakistan on both the Action Plans.
• Oil and Gas Development Limited (OGDCL), being the operator of Jandran West Exploration License with 100% Working Interest, has made a Gas discovery over Mughalkot Formation from its exploratory efforts at Jandran West X-1 well which is located in Kohlu District, Balochistan Province, Pakistan.
• The Banking sector spread for September 2021 shrunk by 15.05 basis points (bps) over the month which brings its latest value to 4.11% as compared to the prior month's spread of 4.26%.
• Electricity generation increased by 7.1% to 14,032 GWh (19,489 MW) during Sep'21 compared to 13,104 GWh (18,200 MW) in Sep’20.

Copyright Mettis Link News