Weekly Economic Roundup

March 13, 2022 (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.

• Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has approved supplementary grant amounting to Rs747.539 million in favor of Petroleum Division for further releasing to SSGCL to undertake 85 villages/localities in the current fiscal year.
• The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved $435 million in financing for three projects in Pakistan; the Pakistan Housing Finance project, the Punjab Urban Land Systems Enhancement project, and the Punjab Affordable Housing Program.
• The sale of passenger cars witnessed a rise of 6% MoM during February 2022, clocking in at 18,054 units as opposed to 16,985 units sold in January 2022.
• Workers’ remittances have shown a growth of 7.6% YoY to $20.1 billion during the eight months of FY22 compared to the same period last year.
• The total liquid foreign exchange reserves held by the country dropped by $206.5 million or 1% WoW to stand at $22.67 billion during the week ended on March 04, 2022, compared to $22.87bn in the previous week.
• National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) on Thursday notified Rs 5.94 per unit increase in power tariff for January under monthly fuel cost adjustment (FCA) mechanism.
• The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) based weekly inflation for the week ended on March 10, for the combined consumption group, increased for the fourth straight week by 0.52% as compared to the previous week.
• The first shipment of 18 MT of Halal meat from Pakistan has been dispatched from Karachi to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Adviser to PM for Commerce and Investment said.
• Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) on Thursday achieved Rs730 billion fresh deposits in the last seven months of the current fiscal year 2021-22 from July 1st to March 8th.
• Private Sector borrowing during the Jul-Jan FY22 period reached Rs7.6 trillion against Rs6.48tr in the same period of the corresponding year, up by 17.28% YoY.
• Flat steel manufacturers have raised the prices of CRC and HDGC by Rs5,000 per ton to clock in at Rs216,500 per ton and Rs227,800 per ton, respectively.
• The government raised Rs951 billion through the auction of three, six, and 12-month T-bills while the target was Rs1,000bn.
• Sazgar Engineering Works Limited (SAZEW) sold units of 1,504 Auto Rickshaw during the month of February 2022, which was around 45% YoY lower than the sales of 2,731 units made in the previous month.
• The total debt of the central government during the month of January 2022 surged by Rs5.85 trillion or 16% YoY to clock in at Rs42.4tr against Rs36.5tr recorded in January 2021
• Consumers’ confidence in the country increased by 3.2% in March 2022, indicating improving consumer sentiments, according to a survey report released by SBP.
• Pursuing its good momentum since August 2020, the overall Business Confidence Index (BCI) managed to remain in the green zone in February 2022 as BCI remained at 53 points in the said month as was in the previous wave of December 2021.
• The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in its meeting held on March 08, 2022, in Karachi, decided to maintain the policy rate at 9.75 percent.
• Pakistan’s exports to Central Asia during July-Feb 2022 grew by 135% from $72.5 million to $172.5mn in the same period of last year.
• The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on Monday cleared three projects worth Rs49.65 billion which includes, Improvement & Widening of Chitral-Booni-Mastuj-Shandur Road, Procurement/ Manufacturing of 25 shunting diesel-electric locomotives and construction of Mangi Dam in Quetta.
• Foreign exchange inflows through Roshan Digital Account (RDA) reached $3.63 billion by February 2022 since its launch in September 2020, showing the growing confidence of non-residents Pakistanis (NRPs).

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