May 02, 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.

• Pakistan's Yearly Inflation Rate (New Base 2015-16) in April 2021 was 11.10 percent compared to 9.05 percent in March 2021 and 8.53 percent in April 2020.
• The Weekly Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the Combined Group increased by 0.05% during the week ended Apr 29, 2021 while the SPI increased by 16.9% compared to the corresponding period from last year.
• The federal government decided to discontinue Rs7,500 and Rs15,000 denomination prize bonds from January 1, 2022, in order to address concerns raised by Financial Action Task Force (FATF) related to corruption and money laundering.
• Pak Rupee's Real Effective Exchange Rate Index (REER) increased by 3.37 percent in March 2021 to a provisional value of 100.50 from the revised value of 97.22 in February 2021.
• Pakistan’s Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) was 80.8 points in Q1 2021, compared to 90.3 points in Q4 2020, translating into a 10.5% q-o-q decrease.
• Pakistan's Forex Reserves increased by USD 307.40 Million or 1.32% and the total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at USD 23,520.20 Million on Apr 23, 2021.
• The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Wednesday, approved a reduction of up to Rs0.68 per unit in tariffs of Distribution Companies (Discos) on account of fuel charges adjustment for the month of March 2021.
• The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Power Division regarding the releases of subsidy for the supply of 100 percent RLNG to export-oriented industry for the month of March 2020.
• The non-government sector borrowed another net sum of Rs.550.67 million during the week ended April 16, 2021, which brings the cumulative net borrowing for ongoing fiscal year FY2021 to Rs.370.46 billion. The net borrowing as of the prior week was recorded at Rs.369.91 billion.
• The government of Pakistan retired Rs.109.6 billion during the week ended April 16, 2021, which brings its total net borrowing for the ongoing fiscal year 2021 to Rs.52.49 billion. As of the prior week, the government had borrowed a net sum of Rs.162.09 billion.
• The Government of Pakistan and the Government of Japan signed debt suspension agreements amounting to $ 367 million under the G-20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (Phase-I).
• USA remained the top export destination for Pakistan with $3.56bn worth of shipments in July-March FY21, against the exports of $3.10bn in the same period of last year, showing an increase of 14.82% YoY.
• Textile products remained the major exportable goods for Pakistan as they accounted for 56% of the total exports during July-Mar FY21.
• Global rating agency Fitch on Friday projected that Pakistan’s GDP growth will rebound to 2.3% during the current fiscal year, following a contraction of 0.4% in FY20 amid high-frequency data point to strong momentum for manufacturing and consumption, but a fresh wave of coronavirus cases poses risks.

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