September 22, 2019 (MLN): The country’s financial picture was brought into clearer picture with the following data releases over the course of the week:

• The Weekly Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the Combined Group increased by 1.01% during the week ended Sep 19, 2019 while the SPI increased by 18.1% compared to the corresponding period from last year.
• Pakistan's Current Account shortfall narrows to $1.3 billion in first two months (Jul-Aug) of the year 2019-20 as compared to $2.85 billion in same period a year ago, showing a decline of 55%, State Bank of Pakistan reported on Thursday.
• Pakistan's services trade deficit for the first 2 months of current Fiscal year (July-August) was $1.04 billion, as compared to the deficit of $803 million in the corresponding period of previous fiscal year, displaying an increase of 30%.
• Imports into Pakistan during the month of August, 2019 amounted to Rs. 578,294 million as against Rs. 638,338 million in July, 2019 and Rs. 614,126 million during August 2018 showing a decrease of 9.41% MoM and by 5.83% YoY.
• Exports from Pakistan during the month of August, 2019 amounted to Rs. 293,933 million, as against Rs. 300,875 million in July, 2019 and Rs. 249,240 million during August, 2018. This resulted in a decrease of 2.31% MoM but an increase of 17.93% YoY.

• Large Scale Manufacturing Industries (LSMI) output decreased by 3.28% for July 2019 compared to July 2018 and increased by 0.98% if compared to June 2019, revealed PBS data.

• Pakistan's Forex Reserves increased by USD 146.40 Million or 0.93% and the total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at USD 15,898.10 Million on Sep 13, 2019.
• Foreign Investment in Pakistan during the month of August, 2019 rose by 42%, from $110.6 million in same period of last year to $156.8 million. This brings the cumulative investment in the first two months of FY2020 to $264 million.
• China remained the biggest investor in Pakistan as net-flows stood at $28.9 million in 2MFY20, decreased by 86%, from $216 million during July-Aug last year, as per the data released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
• Among the country’s major economic sectors, Oil and Gas Exploration sector has received the highest FDI worth $21.3 million during Jul- Aug FY20, which is down by around 52% YoY when it compared with the figure of $44.5 million received in the corresponding period last year.
• According to a weekly report on SCRA released by the State Bank of Pakistan, the gross sale of securities during the week was recorded at Rs.5.4 billion, which is around 25.2 percent lower than the figures recorded last week. Similarly, the total purchase of securities stood at Rs.6.6 billion, which is 9.5 percent lower than the prior week.
• Out of the total allocation of Rs154966.835 million for National Highway Authority (NHA) road projects under Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), the government of Pakistan has released Rs10125.294million so far.
• The government has released Rs334.670 million for several agriculture uplift projects under its Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) for financial year 2019-20 as against the total allocation of Rs1,2047.516 million.
• The government has released funds amounting to Rs 31.710 million during first quarter of the of current fiscal year to execute petroleum projects under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP 2019-20) against the total allocation of Rs 581.812 million.
• The government has released Rs275.639 million for various ongoing and new projects of Revenue Division under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for the current fiscal year (2019-20).
• The government of Pakistan has acquired an additional debt of Rs.72.41 billion during the week ended September 06, 2019, which brings its total net borrowing for ongoing fiscal year 2020 to Rs.84.83 billion. As of prior week, the government had borrowed a net sum of Rs.12.42 billion.
• The non-government sector has retired another net sum of Rs.6.9 billion during the week ended September 06, 2019, which brings the cumulative net retirement for ongoing fiscal year FY2020 to Rs.105.72 billion. The net retirement as of prior week was recorded at Rs.98.82 billion.
• Cotton arrivals in the local markets have gone down by 26.41% as of September 15, 2019, as about 1.8 million cotton bales reached ginneries all over Pakistan, as compared to 2.5 million bales recorded in same period of last year.

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