Weekly Economic Roundup

February 07, 2021 (MLN): The financial highlights of the country are 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 0.53% during the week ended Feb 04, 2021 while the SPI increased by 7.82% compared to the corresponding period from last year.
• Pakistan's Forex Reserves increased by USD 56.60 Million or 0.28% and the total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at USD 20,163.10 Million on Jan 29, 2021.
• Pakistan's Yearly Inflation Rate (New Base 2015-16) in January 2021 was 5.65 percent compared to 7.97 percent in December 2020 and 14.60 percent in January 2020.
• The arrivals of seed-cotton into ginneries witnessed a massive decline of 35% to 5.57 million bales by January 31, 2021, its lowest level in Pakistan’s history.
• The cement sector posted growth of 16.28 percent in January 2021 as compared to January 2020. Total Cement despatches during January 2021 were 4.73 million tons against 4.07 Million Tons despatched during the same month of last fiscal year.
• Pakistan received its first batch of COVID-19 vaccine doses, 500,000 from China's Sinopharm on Monday.
• The overall sales of Oil and Marketing Companies (OMCs) continued to witness double-digit growth in Jan’21, registering a 12% YoY increase to 1.52 MTs driven by Furnace Oil (FO) demand that improved by 34% YoY.
• The non-government sector has borrowed another net sum of Rs.17.16 billion during the week ended January 22, 2021, which brings the cumulative net borrowing for ongoing fiscal year FY2021 to Rs.225.25 billion. The net borrowing as of the prior week was recorded at Rs.208.08 billion.
• The government of Pakistan has retired Rs.83.7 billion during the week ended January 22, 2021, which brings its total net borrowing for the ongoing fiscal year 2021 to Rs.123.62 billion. As of the prior week, the government had borrowed a net sum of Rs.207.32 billion.
• The gross sale of securities during the week ended January 22, 2021 was recorded at Rs.7.6 billion, which is around 75.8 percent lower than the figures recorded last week.
• Pakistan’s exports have maintained growth and for the first time in 8 years, the exports have crossed the $2-billion mark in four consecutive months.
• Pakistan's outstanding debts as of December 31, 2020 stand at a colossal amount of Rs.23.56 trillion whereas total debt at the end of the prior month was Rs.22.99 trillion, meaning that around Rs.566.14 billion were additionally borrowed during this month alone.
• The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) increased the locally produced LPG price by Rs122.44 per cylinder of 11.8 kilograms.

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