April 19, 2020 (MLN): A brief account of the latest financial data releases and economic developments over the course of the week is highlighted below:

• The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has decided to reduce the Special Cash Reserve Requirement from 15% to 10% of total FE-25 deposits effective from April 20, 2020.

• The Weekly Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the Combined Group increased by 0.15% during the week ended Apr 16, 2020 while the SPI increased by 7.69% compared to the corresponding period from last year.

• The MPC decided at its emergency meeting on April 16, 2020, to cut the policy rate by a further 200 basis points to 9 percent.

• The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a purchase of Pakistan under the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) equivalent to SDR 1,015.5 million (US$ 1.386 billion, 50 percent of quota) to meet the urgent balance of payment needs stemming from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Imports into Pakistan during March 2020 amounted to Rs. 525,410 million as against Rs. 645,648 million in February 2020 and Rs. 572,815 million during March 2019, showing a decrease of 18.62% over February 2020 and of 8.28% over March 2019.

• Exports from Pakistan during March 2020 amounted to Rs. 287,411 million as against Rs. 330,188 million in February 2020 and Rs. 274,761 million during March 2019 showing a decrease of 12.96% over February 2020 but an increase of 4.60% over March 2019.

• In the month of March 2020, export receipts of Petroleum group & coal have been recorded at $24 million, showing a decline of 28% MoM and of 26% YoY. While imports of the same group plunged by around 39% MoM and 33% YoY to value at $668 million in March 2020.

• In the month of March alone, textile exports declined significantly by 18.4% MoM and 4.46% YoY to $1 billion. Similarly, its imports also nosedived notably by 20.6% MoM and 10.8% YoY to $283.8 million.

• Foreign sell-off continues as international investors pulled out a net amount of Rs 45.26 billion from local securities during the week ended April 10, 2020.

• Foreign investors withdrew further $52.3 million on April 14, 2020 from government securities particularly T-bills, bringing the total outflow for the month to clock in at $464.7 million.

• Foreign investors withdrew further $53.74 million on April 13, 2020 from government securities particularly T-bills, bringing the total outflow for the month to clock in at $412.4 million.

• Risk-averse international investors continued to divert from the government’s denominated debt securities as another outflow of $37.2 million has been witnessed on Friday i.e. April 10, 2020.

• Despite global recessionary pressure and adverse impact on global economic activity resulting from the outbreak of COVID-19, worker’s remittances in Pakistan reported a healthy growth of 9% YoY and 4% MoM to USD 1.89 billion in March 2020.

• The LSMI output decreased by 1.15% for February 2020, as compared to February 2019 and 0.91% when compared to January 2020.

• The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has so far made refund payments of Rs 51.5 billion to the exporters and businessmen through FASTER, the fully automated Sales Tax E-Refund System.

• The federal government has so far authorized the release of Rs 470.8 billion for various ongoing and new social sector uplift projects under its Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2019-20, as against the total allocation of Rs701 billion.

• The government has released an amount of Rs 4,118.810 million for various power projects under the annual Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for the fiscal year 2019-20 so far.

• Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) on Monday said the investors of Rs 40,000 prize bonds have withdrawn Rs 253 billion by April 10, out of the overall reserves of Rs 258 billion in CDNS in these prize bonds.

• The non-government sector has borrowed another net sum of Rs.7.39 billion during the week ended April 03, 2020, which brings the cumulative net borrowing for ongoing fiscal year FY2020 to Rs.316.28 billion. The net borrowing as of prior week was recorded at Rs.308.89 billion.

• The government of Pakistan has retired Rs.40.29 billion during the week ended April 03, 2020, which brings its total net borrowing for the ongoing fiscal year 2020 to Rs.955.14 billion. As of prior week, the government had borrowed a net sum of Rs.995.44 billion.

• The production of tractors in the country decreased by 37.88 percent to 23,266 units during the first nine months of the current financial year 2019-20, against the production of 37,457 units in the same period of last year.

• The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet approved supply of 200,000 metric tons of wheat for Utility Stores Corporation (USC) from Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO) reserves on April 13, 2020.

• The Federal government has so far authorized the release of Rs 7109.03 million for various ongoing and new projects of the Finance Division under its Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2019-20, as against its total allocation of Rs11834.749 million.

• The Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) has achieved a collection net target of Rs165 billion by April, 10 of the fiscal year 2019-20.

• Central Development Working Party (CDWP) meeting on Wednesday presided over by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan. CDWP approved 03 projects worth Rs. 1.04 billion and recommended 01 Position Paper worth Rs. 20.337 billion to ECNEC for consideration.

• Japan has decided to provide the third cache of assistance worth $1 million to Pakistan through United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to equip the Pakistani people and Afghan refugees to fight against COVID-19.

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