Weekly Economic Roundup

October 20, 2019 (MLN): The financial picture of the country in full details was highlighted with the economic and financial data releases over the course of the week.

• The Weekly Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the Combined Group decreased by 0.44% during the week ended Oct 10, 2019 while the SPI increased by 13.97% compared to the corresponding period from last year.
• Pakistan current account deficit during the first 3 months of FY20 stood at USD 1.548 Billion compared to USD 4.287 billion from the corresponding period last year.
• Imports into Pakistan during the month of September 2019 amounted to Rs. 591 billion as against Rs. 589 billion in August 2019 and Rs. 545 billion during September 2018, showing an increase of 0.2% over August 2019 and 8.36% over September 2018.
• Total exports from Pakistan during the month of September 2019 amounted to Rs. 276.2 billion (provisional) as against Rs. 294.3 billion (provisional) in August 2019 and Rs. 213.7 billion in September 2018, showing a decrease of 6.13% over August 2019 but an increase of 29.24% over September 2018.
• Food group imports into the country during the first 3 months of the current financial year has decreased considerably by 24.7%, whereas, exports increased by 13.98% as compared the corresponding period of last year.
• The sales of motorcycles and three wheelers dipped by 19.48 percent during first quarter of current financial year 2019-20, compared to the corresponding period of last year, Pakistan Automobile Manufacturing Association (PAMA) reported Tuesday.
• Foreign Investment in Pakistan during the month of September 2019 rose by 393 %, from $126.4 million in the same period of last year to $622.6 million.
• Overseas investors partook in excessive selling of securities via Special Convertible Rupee Account (SCRA) during the week ended October 11, 2019, which resulted in a net sale of securities worth Rs.1.43 billion, as opposed to net purchase of Rs.573.87 million in the last week.
• Pakistan's Forex Reserves increased by USD 149.70 Million or 1% and the total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at USD 15,142.60 Million on Oct 11, 2019.
• The total money supply in the economy during August 2019 stood at Rs 21.28 trillion, marking a negligible growth of 0.24% as in last month it was Rs 21.23 trillion, shows provisional statistics of Monetary Aggregates for the month, released by the State Bank of Pakistan.
• The non-government sector has retired another net sum of Rs.1.79 billion during the week ended October 11, 2019, which brings the cumulative net retirement for ongoing fiscal year FY2020 to Rs.66.22 billion. The net retirement as of prior week was recorded at Rs.64.42 billion.
• The government of Pakistan has acquired an additional debt of Rs.59.48 billion during the week ended October 11, 2019, which brings its total net borrowing for ongoing fiscal year 2020 to Rs.242.14 billion. As of prior week, the government had borrowed a net sum of Rs.182.67 billion.
• The government has so far released funds amounting to Rs116.362 million during the current fiscal year to execute petroleum projects under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP 2019-20) against the total allocation of Rs581.812 million.
• Central Development Working Party (CDWP) meeting on Thursday, presided over by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan, approved 09 projects worth Rs.40 billion and recommended 02 projects worth Rs. 55.5billion to ECNEC for consideration.
• The Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) member companies spent Rs 5.5 billion during 2018-19 and directly benefited 5.8 million people across Pakistan as part of its CSR activities.
• Seed cotton equivalent to over 4.44 million bales have reached ginneries across the country as of October 15, registering a shortfall of 1.6 million bales as compared to the corresponding period of the last year.

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