Weekly Economic Roundup

January 30, 2022 (MLN): The financial highlights of the country are brought to light with the economic and financial data releases over the course of the week.

• The weekly Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the combined group witnessed a drop for the third consecutive week, going down by 0.11% WoW for the week ended January 27, 2022
• Repatriation of profit and dividends by foreign investors mostly remained flat during the first six months of this fiscal year (FY22).
• The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has raised Rs133.5 billion on Thursday, against the target of Rs100 billion by selling fixed-rate Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs).
• The foreign exchange reserves held by the country dipped by $868 million or 3.7% WoW to stand at $22.48 billion during the week ended on January 21, 2022, compared to $23.35 billion in the previous week.
• Senate of Pakistan has approved SBP amendment Bill 2021, as 44 votes were cast in favour of the bill compared to 43 against the bill. To note, it was mandatory for the government to revive International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) stalled $6 billion Extended Funding Facility (EFF) programme.
• Pakistan obtained fresh external loans of $9.43 billion in the first half of the ongoing fiscal year i.e., July- Dec FY22 from multiple financing sources including $3bn time deposits from Saudi Arabia against the annual budget estimates of $14.09bn for the entire fiscal year FY22.
• The country’s overall nutrients offtake fell by 31.8% to 408,000 tonnes during December 2021 from 598,000 tonnes in the same period last year
• The sales of diammonium phosphate (DAP) were recorded at 117,000 tonnes in December 2021, down by 43.4% against 206,000 recorded in the same period last year on an account of its higher prices.
• Pakistan’s urea sales dropped by 32% to 599,000 tonnes in December 2021 when compared to 881,000 tonnes in the corresponding month of last year due to its availability issues.
• Pakistan’s ranking has slipped to 140th among 180 countries, sixteen places down from 124^th rank last year in Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2021 released by Transparency International.
• Yields on seven-year international Sukuk to raise $1 billion were set at 7.95%. The issue date for the Sukuk is Jan 31, 2022, and the maturity date of Jan 31, 2029.
• The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) approved three development projects with a cost of Rs13 billion and recommended one project worth Rs108.5bn to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for further consideration.
• The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in its meeting held on January 24, 2021, in Karachi decided to keep the policy rate unchanged at 9.75%.
• The country recorded the highest monthly power generation of 8,828 GWh during Dec’21, up by 12% YoY compared to 7,880 GWh in Dec’20, backed by the higher generation from nuclear, regasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) and furnace oil (FO).

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