January 31, 2021 (MLN): The latest weekly roundup covers the latest economic and financial data releases over the past week to keep an eye on next week's trends. 

• Pakistan's Forex Reserves decreased by USD 13.80 Million or 0.07% and the total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at USD 20,106.50 Million on Jan 22, 2021.
• The Weekly Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the Combined Group increased by 0.52% during the week ended Jan 28, 2021 while the SPI increased by 7.48% compared to the corresponding period from last year.
• SBP launched an FXPortal for end-to-end digitalization of Foreign Exchange requests.
• Pakistan’s rank slipped by four places to 124th among 180 countries in International Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) in 2020.
• Multinational companies operating in Pakistan repatriated $892.3 million in profit and dividends on investments in the country during the six months of FY21 which was 7% higher than the profits of $836.3 million repatriated in the corresponding period of last year.
• Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority has ‘provisionally’ determined the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC)’s shortfall in estimated revenue requirement for the fiscal year 2020-21 at Rs14,270 million including ‘prior year shortfall of Rs50,983 million. Accordingly, the prescribed price at Rs778.59 per MMBTU [Million British Thermal Unit] has been determined by the authority against each category of the [gas] consumer as determined u/s 8(2) of the Ordinance.
• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) endorsed a new 5-year country partnership strategy (CPS) to help restore economic stability and growth in Pakistan, enhance people’s wellbeing, create jobs, and expand economic opportunities as the country works to overcome the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised Pakistan’s GDP growth rate forecast upward to 1.5 percent for the current fiscal year 2021 and 4 percent for the next fiscal year 2022 in its World Economic Outlook update for January 2021.
• The government of Pakistan has retired Rs.65.82 billion during the week ended January 15, 2021 which brings its total net borrowing for the ongoing fiscal year 2021 to Rs.207.32 billion. As of the prior week, the government had borrowed a net sum of Rs.273.14 billion.
• The non-government sector has borrowed another net sum of Rs.18.46 billion during the week ended January 15, 2021, which brings the cumulative net borrowing for ongoing fiscal year FY2021 to Rs.208.08 billion. The net borrowing as of the prior week was recorded at Rs.189.62 billion.
• The gross sale of securities during the week ended January 15, 2021, was recorded at Rs.31.3 billion, which is around 88.1 percent higher than the figures recorded last week.
• Among Pakistan’s top trading partners, China remained the top source of imports for Pakistan during July-Dec FY21, followed by United Arab Emirates (UAE), Singapore, and Saudi Arabia.
• USA remained as the top export destination for Pakistan with $2.28 billion worth of shipments in July-Dec FY21, against the exports of $2 billion in the same period of last year, showing an increase of 10% YoY.
• The total sale of DAP during the month of December 2020 was nearly 205 thousand tonnes, representing an increase of 6.2 percent over December 2019.
• The overall urea offtake during the month of December 2020 amounted to 881 thousand tonnes, which is lower by 34.5 percent as compared to the same month of last year.
• The overall nutrient offtake during the month of December 2020 was about 597 thousand tonnes, which represents a significant decrease of 25.1 percent over December 2019.
• The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on Monday approved two projects worth Rs 3.25 billion and agreed on one concept clearance proposal worth Rs 808 million under Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for further proceedings.

Copyright Mettis Link News

39478