August 09, 2020 (MLN): The Weekly Economic Roundup summarises key economic and financial data releases for the week, providing a more context on the current economic situation of Pakistan.

• Moody's Investors Service (“Moody's”)  on Saturday confirmed the Government of Pakistan's B3 local and foreign currency issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings with a stable outlook.

• Pakistan's Forex Reserves increased by USD 650.70 Million or 3.44% and the total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at USD 19,562.90 Million on Jul 30, 2020.

• Pakistan's Yearly Inflation Rate (New Base 2015-16) in July 2020 was 9.30 percent compared to 8.59 percent in June 2020 and 8.40 percent in July 2019.

• The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) has approved locust Emergency and Food Security Projects (LEAFS) for the uplift of the local agriculture sector and combating the locust threat in the country.

• Pak Rupee's Real Effective Exchange Rate Index (REER) decreased by 4.3 percent in June 2020 to a provisional value of 93.02 from the revised value of 97.20 in May 2020.

• Pakistan's trade deficit for the month of July 2020 was recorded at USD 1.64 billion compared to a deficit of USD2.12 billion from June 2020 showing an improvement of 22.64 percent.

• Exports from Pakistan during the month of July’20 showed a growth of 5.8%, in dollar value terms, as compared to the same month last year.

• Exports of Fish and Fish Products in July 2020 have increased by 50% YoY to US$26 million from US$17 million. Similarly, the export of Food Preparations increased by more than 300% to US$6.4M from US$1.44M.

• Despite a challenging global environment, the country’s external account position remained stable during the fiscal year 2020. The current account deficit was reduced by 77.9% to $ 2.9 billion (1.1 % of GDP) against $ 13.4 billion last year (4.8 % of GDP).

• Pakistan has resumed trade with China through Khunjerab Pass temporarily.

• Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) shared the results of its Business Confidence Index (BCI) Survey – Wave 19, which shows that the overall Business Confidence Score (BCS) in Pakistan stands at 50 percent negative, a further drop by 5 percent from the already – 45 percent negative score in Wave 18 Survey conducted in August 2019. 

• The non-government sector has borrowed a net sum of Rs.3.28 billion during the week ended July 24, 2020, which brings the cumulative net retirement for ongoing fiscal year FY2021 to Rs.89.97 billion. The net retirement as of prior week was recorded at Rs.93.26 billion.

• The government of Pakistan has retired an additional sum of Rs.146.44 billion during the week ended July 24, 2020, which brings its total net retirement for ongoing fiscal year FY2021 to Rs.265.21 billion. As of prior week, the government had retired a net sum of Rs.118.77 billion.

• Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved project for up-gradation of Pakistan Railways' existing Mainline-1 at the cost of over 6.8 billion dollars.

• The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) announced the auction calendar for August – October 2020 in which it plans to raise Rs.3.59 trillion through the sale of Government Securities.

• The new fiscal has started well for the cement sector as the cement despatches increased by a healthy 37.75 percent from 3.512 million tons in July 2019 to 4.838 million tons in July 2020 due to buoyancy in both exports and domestic market.

• The overall volumetric sales of Oil and Marketing Companies (OMCs) in Pakistan increased by 3% MoM in July 2020 to stand at 1.66 million tons against 1.62 million tons in June 2020.

• The overseas investors have shied away from the local market as the net sell-off of $124.35 million has been recorded by them during the month of July’20.

• The rate of National Saving Schemes (NSS) has been increased in the range of 12 to 36 basis points.

• FBR has collected Rs.300 billion in the first month of the current financial year i.e. July 2020, overshooting the target by a staggering Rs.57 billion, which is 125% of the assigned revenue target of Rs.243 billion.

• Japan has extended grant assistance worth 318 million Japanese Yen to Pakistan for The Project for Human Resource Development Scholarship for the fiscal year 2020.

• Council of Common Interests (CCI) has unanimously approved Alternative and Renewable Energy Policy 2019.

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