Weekly Economic Roundup

July 12, 2020 (MLN): The financial snapshot of the country is 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 increased by 0.98% during the week ended Jul 09, 2020 while the SPI increased by 11.02% compared to the corresponding period from last year.

• The foreign investors took a step back from investing in local markets, as the total purchase of securities via Specially Convertible Rupee Accounts (SCRA) stood at Rs.11.1 billion, which is 45.9 percent lower than the prior week.

• Pakistan witnessed an inflow of $15.11 million by foreign investors via Special Convertible Rupee Account (SCRA) in government debt securities in the first three days of FY21.

• Pakistan's Forex Reserves increased by USD 819.10 Million or 4.56% and the total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at USD 18,790.10 Million on Jul 03, 2020.

• Under the refinance scheme, SBP has lowered the end-user mark-up rates from existing 7% to 5%.

• Oil & Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) as operator with (56.45% share), Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) (28.55%) & Government Holdings (Private) Limited (GHPL) (15%) in a joint venture of Mela Drilling & Production Lease (D&PL) Block has successfully tested, completed, injected development well Mela # 07 into the production stream.

• In the month of June 2020, the total deposits held by commercial banks have increased to Rs 16.22 trillion, depicting a growth of 12% YoY and 5% MoM. The same is up by 11% YTD.

• The total money supply circulating within the economy in May 2020 has been recorded at around Rs.24.196 trillion, according to provisional accounts on Monetary Aggregates for the month, maintained by the State Bank of Pakistan.

• The export remittances from the IT & ITES sector have jumped to $1.11 billion, showing a growth of 21% & fetching over a billion dollars in foreign exchange during Jul-MayFY20.

• The government of Pakistan has acquired an additional debt of Rs.206.68 billion during the week ended June 19, 2020, which brings its total net borrowing for ongoing fiscal year 2020 to Rs.2228.41 billion. As of prior week, the government had borrowed a net sum of Rs.2021.73 billion.

• The non-government sector has borrowed another net sum of Rs.28.38 billion during the week ended June 26, 2020, which brings the cumulative net borrowing for ongoing fiscal year FY2020 to Rs.306.3 billion. The net borrowing as of prior week was recorded at Rs.277.92 billion.

• According to official data, the price of cotton in Punjab has fallen by Rs. 400 to Rs. 8,600 per maund, while the price in Sindh has fallen by Rs. 150 to Rs. 8,350 rupees per maund.

• Punjab government is providing a sixty percent subsidy on the installation of sprinkle or drip irrigation systems to farmers of the province for the year 2020-21.

• The government has released funds amounting to Rs287.289 million during the last fiscal year to execute seven petroleum projects under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP 2019-20) against the total allocation of Rs 304.997 million.

• After posting a decrease for three consecutive months, cement despatches increased by 29.94 percent in June 2020 to 4.623 million tons from 3.557 million tons in June 2019, ending the fiscal year 2019-20 on a positive note.

• Sazgar Engineering Works Limited has released the Production and Sales data for its three-wheelers, including Auto Rickshaw for the month of June 2020.

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