November 28, 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.

• The weekly Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the combined group recorded a decrease of 0.67% WoW during the week ended November 25, 2021, with vegetable prices showing signs of decline.
• The government has released a sum of Rs18.188 billion for various projects of National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) and Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) so far under the annual Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for the fiscal year 2021-22.
• Pakistan’s Real Effective Exchange Rate Index (REER) fell further to a provisional value of 95.6 in October 2021, a decline of 0.3% compared to 95.8 recorded in the previous month.
• Foreign exchange reserves held by the country plummeted to an eight-month low at $22.77 billion during the week ended on November 19, 2021, due to an outflow of $961 million on account of debt repayments.
• The total debt of the central government during July-September 2021 surged by Rs4.56trillion or around 12.8% YoY to stand at Rs40.26tr when compared to Rs35.68tr recorded in the same period of FY21.
• Consumers’ confidence took a dip during October and November indicating their worsening financial standing and poor economic outlook for the months ahead, findings of the State Bank of Pakistan’s November Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) survey showed on Wednesday.
• Pakistan’s external debt and liabilities (outstanding) reached nearly $127.02 billion during July-Sep FY22, an increase of $12.94bn or 11% YoY.
• The country’s total nutrients offtake grew by 45.4% to 563,000 tonnes during October 2021 from 387,000 tonnes in the same period last year.
• Amid an upward trend in prices and uncertainty in supply, the sales of diammonium phosphate (DAP) jumped by 49.2% to stand at 342,000 tonnes in October 2021 against 229,000 tonnes recorded in the same period last year (SPLY).
• Pakistan’s urea sales surged by 24.4% to 514,000 tonnes compared to 413,000 tonnes in the corresponding months of last year, spurred by supply disruption and higher prices.
• The total deposits held by commercial banks have shown a growth of 16% YoY to Rs19.34 trillion in Oct’21, compared to Rs16.66tr in the same month of last year on account of strong overseas inflows.
• Pakistan’s recent policy adjustments and demonstrated access to external financing, as well as its commitment to a market-determined exchange rate, offset rising external risks from a widening current-account deficit, says Fitch Ratings in its latest report.
• The federal cabinet approved the second tranche payment amounting to Rs134.783 billion to the independent power producers (IPPs) as per the payment mechanism.
• CDWP approved three development projects with a cost of Rs 0.6bn & recommended three projects worth Rs. 60.64bn to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for further consideration.
• Pakistan borrowed fresh external loans of $3.90 billion in the first four months of the ongoing fiscal i.e., July- Oct FY22 from multiple financing sources against the annual budget estimates of $14.09bn for the entire fiscal year FY22.
• Among Pakistan’s top trading partners, China remained the top source of imports as the country imported products worth $1.39 billion during Oct’21, up by 74% YoY from $800.56 million recorded in the corresponding period of last fiscal year.
• Though Pakistan’s exports to the USA have declined by 4.03% MoM during the month of October 2021, the country has emerged as the top export destination for Pakistan with $531.52 million worth of shipments against the exports of $553.86mn in the preceding month.
• After the policy rate hike of 150bps to 8.75% by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the profit rate on bank customers’ saving account as per central bank regulation, will rise by 1.5% to a minimum profit rate of 7.25% by Dec 01, 2021.

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